Stronger with You (With You Trilogy)

by R. J. Sable

  Jason stood at the side of the mats watching, shaking his head at Craig when he tried to get him to spar. Matt slumped down onto the sofa, his hand firmly planted down his trousers. I didn’t want to see that so I drew my attention back to Ian.

  “Show me what you’ve learnt then,” he said gruffly, guiding my hands up to a guard.

  “Ian, I…” I started, not sure what he wanted me to do. All I’d learnt was a set of responses to actions. I’d learnt how to react to specific attacks. I didn’t know how to actually spar, at least not like the others did, but that looked like what he was expecting me to do.

  “I can go through it with her, Ian?” Craig offered but Ian shook his head, his eyes still on me.

  “It’s okay, Jelly,” Ian reassured me. “We’ll take it slow. I just want to see what you know.”

  I nodded and took a deep breath, glancing over at Jason for strength. He smiled back at me, even though I could see he wasn’t too comfortable. I let Ian guide me through the actions. He was true to his word and took it slow, more intent on watching me than getting a sweat on.

  As usual, he kept his face impassive and I couldn’t gauge his emotions or whether or not I was doing a good job. He told me off constantly, correcting my footing, or my posture, or just mocking my concentration face. He didn’t shout or get angry though, he just kept calm.

  “You need to activate your core muscles,” Ian explained, pulling me back up from where he’d knocked me down. “But it could be worse.”

  I smiled and took that as a compliment because it was as close as it got. He walked away from the mats and grabbed two bottles of water from the mini fridge, chucking one in my direction.

  “Thanks,” I smiled.

  “We should teach you Krav Maga,” Ian nodded before turning away and heading out of the room.

  I knew he’d been extra careful and appreciated his attempts to keep his promise to me. A big part of me wanted to believe that Ian meant that they wouldn’t hurt me any more, but I also knew that we were avoiding the bigger issue. Jason had told Ian what I’d been upset about on Friday night and Ian hadn’t brought it up. That just confirmed my suspicions. They blame me, and rightly so.

  Chapter 34

  Saturday, 13th April 2013

  I hung up the call and frowned down at my phone. That was the third time in so many weeks. The first two I’d chalked up to coincidence but now I wasn’t so sure.

  “What’s up, Jellybaby?” Alex asked from his curled-up position on my bed.

  “Nothing,” I shook my head. “Just keep getting crank calls.”

  “The kind where they pretend to be selling kinky sex toys or the kind where some old perv breathes down the phone at you?” He grinned mischievously.

  “What kind of phone calls are you getting?” I laughed. “Nothing that exciting I’m afraid. There’s no noise. Just silence.”

  “Probably somebody’s grandma who keeps pocket dialling you or something,” he smiled. “Why don’t you just call back?”

  “Number’s withheld,” I shrugged, slipping my phone back into my pocket and sitting down on the bed next to him. “Now,” I grinned, tugging at his leg as he curled up into a tighter ball. “How are we going to cheer you up?”

  “You can’t,” he grumbled, pulling the pillow over his head. “My life is over.”

  I grinned at his drama and pulled my pillow away from him. As long as he was still being a drama queen then things weren’t really that bad. I knew Alex well enough to know that he’d be over his latest crush as soon as I could get him laughing again.

  He’d come over the night before complaining of his latest heartbreak. Some guy he’d picked up at a club who turned out to be “too much of a girl”. I laughed when he said that because he’d been wearing an outfit that I could have worn without drawing attention to myself. I couldn’t blame him though. Jason oozed masculinity and it was sexy as hell, I couldn’t begrudge Alex wanting the same for himself.

  “Your life’s over? Really?” I teased him. “Well I won’t even bother suggesting what I had planned for the day then.”

  “You might as well tell me,” he sniffed, pouting adorably.

  “Well…” I started, pulling him away from the bed. “I was thinking we could go shopping and I could tell you how good you look in those stupid super skinny jeans you love.”

  “I’m listening,” he mumbled, obviously trying very hard to hide his glee. “Seal the deal for me, Jellybaby.”

  “And then this evening,” I continued, brushing his hair back into position where he’d messed it up with the pillow. “We can go watch Jason and the guys train.”

  He looked at me sceptically and I grinned back at him.

  “Let me clarify. We’ll watch Jason and his muscly friends get all sweaty and grapple semi-naked whilst we drool over them,” I grinned. He’d given up trying to hide his glee now and it was lighting up his beautiful features. “Wanna know the cherry on top?”

  “Don’t hold out on me,” he beamed, practically bouncing in the bed.

  “I’m pretty sure one of them is gay,” I giggled.

  “Which one?” He demanded, his eyes lighting up excitedly.

  Clearly he’s not so heartbroken after all.

  “I’m not going to tell you. You can prove to me your gaydar works tonight.”

  “I knew there was a reason you were my best friend!” He hugged me tightly and I returned his hug happily.

  “So you’re over Raymond then?” I asked him as I pulled him towards the kitchen for breakfast.

  “Ray who?” He asked.

  ***

  I jumped gleefully up into Jason’s arms as he opened the door of his flat to us. Being the wonderful boyfriend that he was, he’d left me and Alex to enjoy our day together. I’d missed him like crazy but had a great morning and afternoon with Alex and I knew he needed some time alone with me. I didn’t get to see him nearly enough. This was the first time I’d seen him since the weekend of Matt’s birthday.

  “Hi there, beautiful,” Jason grinned as I reluctantly pulled my mouth away from his.

  I kissed him again before I returned his greeting and let him set me down so he could hug Alex.

  “I can’t believe she let you take her shopping,” Jason complained. “It’s like pulling nails trying to get her to come with me.”

  “The shopping trip was for Alex,” I reminded him. “It’s fun watching him shop.”

  “Buy anything for yourself?” He asked, stroking my cheek with his thumb as he held my face.

  “I got a skirt,” I smiled. “But only because Alex made me.”

  “Your legs looked ah-maze-ing!” He declared, clasping his hands together excitedly. “You’ll have him wrapped round your little finger the moment you put it on.”

  “She’s already got him there,” Josh grinned from the sofa as we followed Jason into the flat.

  “She has, and I love it,” Jason laughed, pulling me into his side. “Is this another skirt that’s going to give me a heart attack trying to beat guys away from you?”

  “No,” I smiled.

  “Yes,” Alex answered with a cheeky grin.

  Jason rolled his eyes and sighed, kissing me on the forehead before introducing Alex to Josh.

  “Nice to meet you,” Alex said, giving Josh his best innocent look: his go-to flirting move.

  “It’s not Josh, Alex,” I shook my head with a grin.

  “It’s not me what?” Josh frowned, looking very confused.

  “You’re not gay?” Alex pouted.

  “No,” Josh laughed. “Sorry to disappoint.”

  “The good ones never are,” Alex sighed melodramatically.

  “I’m seriously considering making the switch though,” Josh grinned. “Women are too much trouble. Where do I sign up?”

  I pursed my lips and shot him an apologetic frown. I gathered he’d split up with the girl he’d been seeing and it was a shame. Josh was a really nice guy.

  “Not the way it works I
’m afraid,” Alex grinned. “If it did, my Dad would have torn up my membership papers by now.”

  I reached out and squeezed his arm gently. It sucked that Alex’ Dad couldn’t accept who he was. At least he had his Mum, she was fantastic and would always love him no matter what. I knew that was the sort of mother mine would have been if she’d had the chance. I knew she’d been that way with my brothers from what I’d heard over the years.

  We walked to the gym together whilst Alex chattered happily about the gossip from back home.

  “Your brothers still behaving?” Alex beamed at me.

  “Yeah, still getting the compulsory, twice-weekly phone calls making sure I’m not getting drunk and binging on takeaway,” I laughed. “But otherwise, they’re treating me with kid gloves.”

  “Better than boxing gloves,” Jason frowned.

  “Got that right,” Alex shook his head. “Reckon they’ll extend the truce to me? It’d be really nice to ogle them a little more often.”

  “You have no shame,” I slapped his arm playfully.

  When we got to the building where fights were usually held, Alex took my hand and squeezed it excitedly. I glanced over at Jason but he just raised his eyebrow at me and winked. He’d seen Alex hold my hand before and apparently it didn’t bother him. It was just kissing that had him turning into a possessive crazy man. My possessive crazy man.

  The moment we got into the back room, Jason and Josh started pulling off their clothes so that they could change into their shorts. I covered Alex’ eyes because I knew muscly men in their skivvies could quite possibly send him into overload. That was what I told myself, at least. Really I just didn’t want him ogling Jason. That didn’t mean I couldn’t indulge though.

  Jason raised his eyebrow at me and made a point of kissing me before he pulled his shorts on. I really wished he didn’t have to put the shorts on.

  “Wanna meet the guys?” I smiled at a sulky looking Alex once Jason had his shorts on and I’d removed my hands from his eyes.

  “Are you going to let me look at them?” He pouted.

  “I suppose so,” I sighed with a smile, wrapping my arm around his.

  I was pretty comfortable around the MMA guys. Most of them were friends with Grayson or Jason, even the ones that didn’t know them knew who my brother was, or knew Simon well enough to be polite and respectful. I never felt threatened and got along pretty well with most of them.

  It was like being back home with my brothers. They all looked out for me and there was a fair deal of good-natured ribbing. I usually used one of the cardio machines or got martial arts help from one of the others, but tonight was different. Tonight, I would be enjoying watching Jason get his hot as hell, fresh paper scented sweat on. I was practically overheating just from the thought of it.

  Jason had been happier and happier since he’d gotten back into MMA. I knew it was doing him good to rekindle the love he held for the sport, even though I was always worried he’d get hurt. He insisted he was fine though, he was even after for an opportunity to cash in the coupon I gave him to fight Craig again. I was regretting that coupon more than the underwear one. I actually didn’t regret that one at all. Jason’s eyes lit up every time he saw me in one of those sets of underwear.

  I introduced Alex to all the guys and grinned as he scanned them hungrily, obviously trying to engage his normally useless gaydar.

  “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!” Alex sighed, resting his head against mine as he looked over the guys who were already warming up.

  “I knew you’d cheer up,” I smiled.

  “You’re the best,” he grinned. “Hey, how’s your search going?” He lowered his voice as he talked to me so that we weren’t overheard.

  Alex knew all about my hunt for Jason’s mother, he’d been helping me look through electoral registers and phone books to find the addresses and phone numbers I’d been contacting. I was a little frustrated that I hadn’t gotten anywhere. I didn’t know what else to do. A few women had taken the time to write back and say that they weren’t the woman I was looking for, which I appreciated. I just wished I could find the woman I was.

  “Not so well,” I admitted with a sigh. “The only thing I can think of is asking his father and there’s no way I’m doing that.”

  “Are you sure Jason won’t be pissed off when you do find her?” He asked me, not for the first time.

  “He probably will be,” I repeated, feeling my forehead wrinkle. “But I think he’ll be glad in the long run. He needs answers.”

  Alex nodded and I watched as his eyes fell on Rab. I tried to hide my smile because I’d been hoping he’d notice him. I didn’t know Rab very well but I had my suspicions and I hoped I was right, because by the way Alex was looking at him, he was hoping so too.

  “Enjoying the show?” Grayson smirked at me as he came to sit next to us by the edge of the mats.

  “Of course,” I grinned. “I reckon Alex is too.”

  “Most definitely,” he beamed. “Remove the shorts and you could make a fortune with this stuff.”

  “That’s one way of paying off my student loan that I hadn’t considered,” Grayson laughed.

  “Reed!” I heard Simon shout, calling Jason away from holding pads for Tony. “You’re up.”

  I rolled my eyes at Simon’s bossiness but Jason didn’t seem too bothered. I suspected he was secretly looking forwards to sparring with Simon as payback for the first time they met.

  I knew Craig was a cut above Simon and I suspected that Jason could probably take him as well but I doubted Simon would make it easy for him.

  “You worried?” Grayson grinned at me.

  “A little,” I admitted because I didn’t want to lie and I didn’t want Jason to get hurt.

  “They’re just sparring, Jamie,” Grayson reassured me. “Look.” He motioned his head towards Jason and Simon and I looked up and saw that they were grinning and chatting away in between bouts.

  “Simon can be an ass,” Steve nodded, joining us on the mats. “But he respects your brother, and your brother gave Jason the okay.”

  “Did he now?” I said with surprise. “Took him long enough.”

  “Jellybaby,” Alex laughed. “If it had taken ten years I still would have been impressed your brothers accepted it so quickly.”

  I grinned, I knew he was right. I loved that Craig was okay with me and Jason being together, even though he would never say it to me out loud, and definitely never admit it in front of the others.

  “Are you guys done for the night?” Rab grinned brushing his sleek black hair away from his forehead.

  “They’re just keeping me company,” I smiled. “We were getting lonely. Have you met my best friend Alex?” I nodded my head towards Alex who was looking so innocent I wanted to wrap him up in cotton wool and protect him from the world.

  “No,” Rab smiled. “Hi.” He blushed a little and sat down next to us.

  Grayson pulled Steve back up again and the two of them went off to use the free weights.

  “Haven’t seen you before,” Rab said, leaning back to grab a towel and clean the sweat off his body.

  I saw Alex lick his lips and congratulated myself on my awesome match making skills.

  “Nope,” Alex shook his head. “I live in Derby, I’m up here visiting Jelly.”

  They chatted away and I subtly shuffled away to watch Jason, who’d now moved onto the weights. They were getting on like a house on fire and I was starting to feel like a third wheel.

  “Hey, little squirrel,” Jason grinned, sitting up on the bench press and beckoning me over.

  I happily sat down on his lap and kissed him, breathing in the delicious scent of fresh paper, deodorant, and Jason. I loved the slightly salty taste on his lips as his mouth claimed me, his tongue exploring my mouth as eagerly as if it was the first time. I pulled away and pressed kisses along his cheek, down to his ear, licking up the bead of sweat that was trickling down his neck and nibbling gently on his lobe
.

  “Jamie, you can’t do that when I’m wearing these shorts or you’re gonna make things very awkward for me in front of the guys,” he grinned, his eyes dancing with the usual intense heat.

  I pouted and reluctantly pulled my lips away from him. I watched him looking over at Alex and Rab who were still involved in conversation and apparently laughing at something very funny.

  “You two have fun today?” Jason asked, resting his hands on my hips, his thumbs slipping under my blouse.

  “Yep, it was great,” I grinned. “Alex did my hair, do you like it?” I asked, shaking my head gently for emphasis and feeling the tips of my hair tickle the exposed skin on the tops of my arms.

  “It’s pretty,” he nodded. “But that’s because you’re pretty,” he grinned and I mouthed the word cheesy at him. “I think I like it better when it’s not straight though. Your waves suit you. They’re all soft and sexy.”

  “I love that you think that,” I smiled. “They’ll be back by tomorrow. My hair is practically immune to straightening.”

  He smiled and kissed me before turning his head back to Alex and Rab again. Rab had pulled Alex onto the mats and was trying to teach him the basics.

  “Those two seem to be getting on alright,” Jason nodded his head towards the pair who were using a lot more body contact than was strictly necessary.

  “They are,” I smiled. “Is Rab gay?”

  “I have no idea,” Jason frowned. “Never occurred to me to ask. You think Rab knows Alex is gay?”

  “I think he’d have to be pretty dim-witted not to,” I teased, remembering back to the first time Alex and Jason had met. “He doesn’t seem to mind though.”

  “Definitely not,” Jason laughed, his eyes following the two of them on the mats. “I feel like it should bother me more that all your best friends are guys.”

  “You do?” I chuckled. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want anyone touching what’s mine,” he frowned, squeezing my hips gently.

  “You’re very possessive,” I teased. “But Alex is gay and I promised to behave around him, and Adam never seemed to bother you.”