18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

ANNIE

“You’re kidding.” I gaped. That was the only way to describe my expression that evening.

The four of us were seated around the hot tub on the back patio, me with my legs hooked over Jet’s lap as his strong hands caressed over my calves, my body melting with every second of his touch and attention. Izzy had her legs stretched out with her feet in Tucker’s lap, his hands absently massaging her ankle.

In all accounts, she and I should have been like butter. It had started out as such a relaxing evening with the sun slowly setting behind us, giving way into the early night’s stars, but after Jet and I updated our friends on our afternoon, Tucker’s news about everything that had gone down with Lisa literally made my jaw drop.

“Wish I was kidding,” Tucker answered and looked at Izzy. “You okay?”

She just blinked, her shock mixing with mine like the heated water bubbling and swirling around us. “I… I don’t know. Yes? Because Zane is going to be gone anyway, but no, because he was apparently worse than we thought. ”

“I actually feel a little bad for Lisa,” Jet muttered, and a tiny speck of me had to agree. Zane was an ass, and after all he’d put Izzy through, I could only imagine what blackmail from him would feel like.

“We’re going to have to tell Megan and Emma.” Izzy looked at me from across the water, our silent gazes already working out the details of how we should tackle it.

“Tomorrow.” Our voices mixed.

“Definitely,” Jet agreed. “Tonight is for us.” He slid his hand along my leg to my upper inner thigh beneath the water, catching my gaze with a hint of desire before looking away again. My core clenched in anticipation that I hoped he was promising. “We need to just relax after today.”

“After all the shit we’ve been through lately,” Tucker corrected, his ministrations moving to Izzy’s feet. She moaned and leaned her head back, her lids growing heavy.

“You’re going to make me fall asleep right here.”

Tucker smiled and winked. “Don’t worry, princess. I’ll carry you up to bed and enjoy every precious second of waking you back up with my mouth.”

My eyes widened, and I looked at Jet, his meeting mine with the same surprise. Our lips pressed together with our smiles as we held back laughter. “How about you save the dirty talk for the bedroom, man? I know I do.” Jet winked, and I smacked my face into my hand as I blushed.

“Okay, I love y’all, but this is starting to give porno vibes,” Izzy said, her eyes still closed, and we all fell into light laughter .

This . This was what I’d been missing. The four of us together. Happy. Whole. Complete. Things weren’t perfect, but after everything we’d been through the past two years, it was feeling pretty damn close tonight.

So much was now off my chest, but more still sat there festering, waiting in the background to drain on my thoughts and emotions until I found a better way to cope.

But I hated feeling weak. Like I wasn’t enough. I’d always been enough.

I refused to not be enough.

We spent another hour or so chatting and laughing, just enjoying the night with our friends. The knowledge of graduation approaching encroached in the background, another unavoidable and impending change on our horizon, but excitement for what was ahead hovered over it. The demons we’d been dealing with for so long were slowly fading, and I felt hope. Tonight, it was all I was willing to let in. Tucker and Izzy were now free of their torment, and Jet had really heard me this afternoon, giving me every ounce of attention I’d been craving since then.

So, I shouldn’t have been surprised when we eventually climbed out of the hot tub and he scooped me into his arms.

I shrieked, throwing mine around his neck. “Babe.”

He smirked and leaned in to wrap me up in a kiss, and without an ounce of a second thought, my fingers slid up the back of his neck to wind themselves in his dark waves, pulling him closer as we explored each other’s mouths. As if mine hadn’t known every inch of him for years. When we finally pulled away for air, Jet rested his forehead on mine .

“You know Izzy and Tucker disappeared on us, right?”

I smiled as a laugh bubbled. “Can’t say I blame them.” I sighed, knowing that unlike our friends, our time together tonight was about to end. But when Jet started crossing the length of my backyard, still carrying me, I frowned at him in confusion.

“I learned my lesson today, sweetheart.” He stared down at me, intensity darkening the ocean blue of his eyes. “I’m keeping you in my arms as long as I can. Tonight, we’re testing your theory.”

My heart did a complete flip in my chest. How I loved this man. How he was making me remember the way he loved me . I swallowed, my throat tight as he opened the back gate that led to our side yards, but instead of carrying me to his window like I’d thought, he carried me straight over to his car in the driveway before setting me down.

“Babe?” I asked as he opened my door.

“Get in, sweetheart,” he directed. “I just thought of a detour.”

“But your car. We’re wet.”

“It’ll dry. You’ve gotten it wet plenty of other times.” He winked, and I raised a playful eyebrow at that.

“Cute.” I hopped inside, trying to not let my hopes dash that we might just be taking off somewhere to park.

Running around, Jet slid behind the wheel, and with all the obscurity his Mustang’s engine would allow, he pulled out, speeding off down our street and through town until he pulled out onto a back road. Finally on a long, discreet stretch, he gripped my hand in his, pulling my knuckles up to his lips for a kiss before pressing his foot to the accelerator. My back pressed into the seat as he took his hand back for the gearshift, and my hand went to Jet’s thigh, gripping with the rush and wanting to cling to him.

I rolled my window down and threw my arm out, feeling the wind push it back and rushing over us inside the car. Jet grinned and followed, wind now rushing around us from all sides. It whipped my hair around my face, and I pulled my feet up to the seat, my head falling back as I let the thrill of it all rush through me. The freedom it brought.

The dash showed that we’d reached a hundred and twenty before Jet finally had to slow for the end of the road, and I was beaming when he pulled off to the shoulder, the beach out my window with waves rippling in the moonlight.

Not wanting the rush to end, I threw open my door and raced out onto the sand. “You coming or not?” I cupped my hands to call out when Jet just stood by his car to watch.

He took off like a shot, and I stood for a beat just watching him, his strong, sturdy body racing towards me. I squealed when he got close and darted away, the two of us chasing each other back and forth in the sand until I finally tripped and Jet pounced over me.

“Gotcha, sweetheart.”

My eyes flitted between his, his sexy smile in place, so much love and promises filling his eyes, and I reached up to run my fingers through a couple of curls that fell over his brow. “We don’t have any condoms out here, do we?” I pouted, and he just grinned wider.

“No, but I can do something else. ”

He disappeared to crouch between my legs, and with one, swift move of his fingers, he had my bikini bottoms pulled aside with his tongue between my thighs.

I practically purred at his first long, slow lick, and my fingers immediately tangled in his curls. He was slow, teasing. It was driving me crazy.

“Babe, please.” I tried to grind my hips harder over his tongue, but he held me still, one of his arm’s locked over me to hold me in place.

“Patience, sweetheart. I haven’t snacked in ages.”

I smirked. “It’s been a week.”

“Exactly. Ages.”

My core clenched at the intensity in those words. “Whose fault is that?” I panted, and Jet growled, the vibration carrying right through my clit.

“Never. Fucking. Again.” He swirled his tongue over my clit with each word.

“Fuck. Yes.” My back tried to arch. I loved his freaking dirty talk.

“Yes, what?” He replaced the attention of his tongue with his thumb, pressing as he moved over the sensitive nub in circles. “Does it feel good, sweetheart? Does your pussy crave my tongue, or is my thumb just as good?”

I groaned, running my hands over my face to grip my hair. “Both. God both. But it’s your cock that owns me.”

I could feel his growl rumble through his chest through the back of my thighs. “Play nice, sweetheart. He can’t come out to play yet.”

“Then hurry the fuck up so we can get home and I can ride him like I want.”

Jet’s growl was playful and desperate that time, and he latched his mouth back over my clit, his tongue quickly working me into a withering, panting mess as his fingers thrust inside my core. He was vicious. Determined. Feasting on me with powerful strokes until I felt my release building in my lower belly.

“Oh, fuck. Yes. Yes!” I cried, my hands gripping the sand at my sides as my body fell into spasms under the moonlight. Jet didn’t stop, his mouth sucking and tongue licking until I was scrambling back and pushing his head away, the sensations were so strong.

He grinned, wiping his mouth with his fist as I sprawled back in the sand. Completely slaked as I tried to catch my breath.

We were pulling up at home not much later, and just like before, Jet ran around and immediately scooped me into his arms. “I was planning on us sneaking through my window tonight, but now that we’re covered in sand, it might be a safer bet to sneak up to your room so we can shower. I meant what I said earlier. We’re testing your theory, and I believe you promised to ride my cock.”

My core clenched again, loving every second of his mouth.

“I’ll walk you straight past Mom and Uncle Blake and not give a fuck if I have to, babe, but how were you planning on making your room work?”

“I asked Nic to sleep out on the pullout in the living room. The room’s ours tonight if we want it.”

“But the sand.”

“The sand… ”

“My place it is, then.” I grinned, and by some grace or miracle, the front of the house was empty when we walked in.

“Put me down,” I whisper-mouthed, but Jet shook his head, quickly carrying me up the stairs. We could already hear sounds coming from Izzy and Tucker’s room as we passed by, spurring Jet on faster. I swung the door shut behind us as he rushed to the bathroom, only setting me down to start the shower.

I was already pulling my bikini strings free while he tested the water, excitement coursing through me at having him in the shower. That was one place we hadn’t tried before.

“Shit,” I mumbled, darting back into the bedroom when Jet’s thumbs reached under the waist of his board shorts. I dug in my nightstand and held up the condom between two fingers as I walked back, Jet now watching me from the doorway. “Almost forgot this. Not taking chances.”

“Agreed.”

He pulled me against him as soon as I was close, his cock hard as steel and pressing into my stomach between us. “Now, or once we’re in?” I wiggled the fingers that held the protection.

“Now. Once we’re in there, I can’t guarantee how long I’ll wait.”

I ripped the package open and stepped back to roll the condom on, and as soon as it was in place, Jet yanked back the curtain and was dragging us both under the water. His mouth met mine as his arms went around me, simultaneously steering me backwards so that my back pressed against the shower wall.

My hands slid up his chest, droplets of water already sliding down in beads to make his skin slick. I clasped my fingers behind his neck, drinking him in. The scent of spices, ocean, and oil that I knew as him filled my senses as the water sprayed over us.

Jet’s lips left mine to trail along my jaw and then my neck as he nipped and sucked at my skin, every single bite mark electrifying and sending a small jolt to my clit. My hands ran down his shoulders and arms, his muscles strong and firm, and I leaned forward to lick some drops of water from his chest before reaching between us to grip his cock.

He groaned, and in a second, Jet had flipped me, sending a surprised gasp through my lips. Anticipation building with my excitement as he placed one hand at the top of my back, pressing me to the wall. I could feel his cock bobbing against one of my cheeks, and I waited, dying to know what he would do. Knowing I trusted him with anything.

He ran a hand along the other side of my ass, like he was savoring. Worshiping. And I cried out when he smacked it.

“That’s it, dirty girl. Make those sounds. Let me know how you like it when I worship you.”

I moaned, and he smacked me again.

“God, you’re such an ass man,” I murmured as he rubbed away the sting.

“I’d be insane not to be with an ass this perfect in my hands.” He grabbed both cheeks before smacking again, and the whimper I released turned into a moan as he slid into me from behind. “Fuuuuck… You are perfect, sweetheart. The way your pussy grips me…”

“It knows who it belongs to. Now, fuck me,” I demanded, pushing back with my ass to rock on his dick.

With a growl tearing from his chest, Jet gripped my shoulders and thrust. I cried out, the angle deep, and from that moment on there were no words between us. Just panting, grunting, and moaning. Every sound we could draw from each other. I just held on, Jet pounding me into oblivion, and when my pussy clenched with the wave of my orgasm, I had to cover my mouth to hide my scream. It was only a few thrusts later that he came spiraling after me, and he leaned forward to press his head against his arm on the wall a few feet above mine when he was done.

I wiggled my ass, and Jet huffed a small laugh, finally pulling from me so I could stand from the awkward position. I leaned against him, tucking my head into his shoulder as he caught his breath.

“Thank you.” I placed a kiss along his collarbone.

“For?” he asked, his voice behind me with how we stood.

“For making me your priority again.”

His arm came up, wrapping me securely to him. “I’m here every night that you need me from now on.”

“Promise?” I asked, emotion filling my chest.

“Promise.”