He headed straight for the bar when he entered the shiny doors of the casino. Doubles, he had no time for single shots. Unfortunately, his alcohol tolerance also went up with his bank balance. It must have been all the practice.
Nick always got everything he wanted—since they were young kids living in that small town with the wide streets. His family were always better off than Adam’s, he’d always had nicer toys. Adam had made peace with it long ago already, he was happy with his life. He came from a loving family and his parents looked after him as best they could.
He was never good at sports the way Nick was, he wasn’t built like that. He used to console himself with the fact that at least he had the brains… But it soon became apparent that Nick was smart as well as athletic, he just pretended to play the dumb jock at school because that’s what everyone wanted from him.
When they played video games in their big garage in the afternoons after school, Adam would see the real Nick. The nerdy boy with the big dreams of changing the world. Who would’ve thought they’d end up making it?
Technically, the idea for the app was his, but without Nick’s skills, it would never have happened.
Both boys went to varsity after school, both on scholarships even though Nick’s parents could have easily have afforded the luxury of tertiary education. Sport for the charming boy and academic for the dark-haired one with the compassionate eyes.
Neither finished their studies, but Nick lasted longer before they kicked him out. Adam got bored of ‘the institution’ after only a few months, opting to rather go work at his dad’s petrol station, helping out where he could. Or at least that was the story he told everyone. But Nick knew it was because his dad had gotten too sick to carry on taking care of the day-to-day of the business.
This is where Adam first had the idea for an app to make things easier for small businesses such as his dad’s. But he lacked the skill to turn it into something real.
Nick ended up changing his law degree for a more IT-based field after the first year, realizing where the real future lay.
He would never finish his degree as he and Adam finally cracked the app two years in, working on the weekends Nick came home from varsity. The frequency of these visits always depended on Nick’s current relationship status. When he was single, he’d party through the weekends but on those rare occasions a woman managed to hang on to him for longer than a night, he quickly used Adam and his family as an excuse to run away for the quick two-hour drive.
Once or twice he brought a girl home with him but they usually didn’t make it that far. Sometimes he brought friends, but Adam never really got on with them. He felt out of place with his small town existence. Still, they clung to their dream until it happened and even in those years where Nick lived in another world, they remained best friends—nobody understood how or why. They were so different but they somehow got one another on a level where others disappointed them. Maybe it was the freedom to be themselves fully, to be vulnerable around one another. But they never talked about it or really even question why. It worked, that’s all that mattered.
Jacky was still with Paul at the time and they mostly kept to themselves. Paul was too jealous to let her hang out with any men on her own, so while he was away, Adam mostly kept his distance—he knew how difficult his friend could be. They all drifted apart from Paul since he got into the relationship. He also grew up on the same street, but he was always a bit more of a bully and the boys only kept him around because he’d always been there.
There were a few times that Adam did run into Jacky while the guys were studying. At the library or the shops, sometimes she’d come to his dad’s shop to come say hi. He lived for those moments. She always brought a spark to his directionless world at the time.
Just the thought of her pained him and he ordered another double whiskey from the casino VIP bar, heading to the blackjack table with his stash of chips.
It wouldn’t take long before a crowd gathered around him. Money always seemed to attract strangers. Especially women. But he hardly took notice of them as he threw the chips onto the table, making careless bets he knew he shouldn’t make. It was just money after all.
All the money in the world and Jacky was still hooking up with Nick. 23 – bust. You lose. Bets off.
By the time the other two had taken off in the plane to Prague, Adam was $340,000 down and still losing. He didn’t give a single fuck.
By the time they landed, he woke up in a pool of his own vomit in his lounge. He had no recollection of how he got home but he didn’t care. If he bothered to look, he’d notice the smashed Bugatti outside. He vaguely remembered taking the taxi to the office and getting in his car.
He didn’t remember hitting anything but at the same time, he didn’t care. He woke up moaning in pain. Everything hurt. He dragged himself over to the bar, drank half a bottle of tequila neat and crashed on the couch—the only piece of furniture in the entire massive room. It had been months but the mansion still stood empty save for the mattress upstairs and a single couch that he moved out of his parents’ house. The bar was fully stocked, there were a few outfits in the closet, but for the rest, he pretty much lived elsewhere.
The only thing he had spent money on was a giant sound system. But even this could not drown out the sound of his depression.
Jacky would never be his.
Adam drifted into a drunken, concussed sleep.
Chapter Seven
Jacky banged on the door again, still not getting any response. She’d rushed to Adam’s mansion the moment the plane landed. Nick tried to stop her, to change her mind, but she was too worried. She had to see Adam.
The flight home felt significantly longer than the trip there. She wasn’t really in the mood for conversation, her mind was a mess. Nick kept trying to talk to her but she put her headphones in, blocking him out as best as she could to try and get her thoughts in order.
He eventually stopped trying, took to getting drunk and watching movies on the fancy in-flight entertainment system until he eventually blacked out. She was somewhat relieved.
It wasn’t that she regretted what happened the night before. It was beautiful; it was special. But she was confused by it and she didn’t know how to fit it into the framework of her current reality. She wasn’t sure what she felt. Part of her wanted to blame the alcohol but she knew it was more than that.
At the same time, she’d seen so many women throw themselves at Nick’s feet over the years. She didn’t want to be another name in his little black book. She wasn’t sure any of it meant anything to him and the last thing she wanted was to be made a fool of.
Then there was Adam to consider. Adam who still wasn’t answering the door despite her insistent banging. Her gate remote still worked and getting onto the property was easy, but he’d shut the security system from the inside and she couldn’t get in the front door. Fancy house with fancy security for a fancy fuck up.
She was so worried about him. He’d always been the more sensitive of the two and the last thing she wanted was for a misunderstanding to ruin it all.
But then again, what was this supposed misunderstanding? She did sleep with Nick in the end. But it wasn’t like that, she reasoned with herself.
“Goddammit, Adam, just open up already!” she shouted at the door for the umpteenth time.
Silence. Nick had wanted to come with her but she rushed out of the airport and flagged down a taxi, ignoring him. She needed to make sure Adam was okay and Nick would just add fuel to the fire. She wasn’t worried about him. He’d find another distraction soon enough.
The only stop she made was at the store to finally get out of that damn black ball gown she still wore, swapping it for a more appropriate green summer dress. And sneakers. There was no way she was putting on those heels ever again. She felt instantly more comfortable. But still extremely restless.
She wasn’t sure why she so anxious to see Adam. Only a few days ago she was actively avoiding him with ever
y fiber of her being. Things couldn’t end like this, she wasn’t going to be the one who ruined the power duo.
“Adam!” she pounded on the door, almost falling when it suddenly swung open unexpectedly… finally.
“Adam.” She smiled with relief and pushed inside. Her look quickly turned to concern when she saw the state of him, dried blood from the car crash still smudged on his temples. “Jesus, Adam. What happened?” she reached out to him but she shrugged her off, turning around and walking away without a word. He looked as bad as he felt and his house was in an even poorer state. Her relief quickly turned to concern again.
Jacky closed the door behind her and followed him into the house. It stank of stale beer and vomit. He still hadn’t said a word, simply went back onto the couch.
“Adam, are you okay? Please talk to me,” she was starting to become panicked. She had never seen him in such a state. He was normally the more together of the group.
“Why are you here, Jacky?” he finally said. He looked at her slowly, calmly, almost in a trance, like he wasn’t really there or really drugged up. Probably both. He never called her ‘Jacky’. It felt so formal. She felt like crying but she wasn’t sure why.
“Because I’m worried about you.” She sat down on the couch next to him. He still wasn’t looking at her.
“Since when do you care?” he spat out.
“Don’t be like that, you know I care about you. You mean the world to me.”
“But not as much as Nick?”
“Nick has nothing to do with this. This is about you.”
“About the one who isn’t good enough for you? I was never good enough. You know, I could still understand you choosing Paul over me. But Nick? I thought you were better than that.”
“I didn’t choose Nick. I didn’t choose anyone. I don’t know what you think you saw when you stormed off that night of the awards, but it wasn’t that.”
“So you didn’t hook up with Nick?” he asked accusingly.
She lowered her head. She couldn’t lie to Adam.
“I thought so,” he got up from the couch and poured another whiskey into a dirty glass on the bar counter. “Please leave my house, Jacky. I don’t want to see you right now. You’ve done enough damage.”
“I didn’t want to complicate things…”
“Is that why you pushed me away after our kiss the other night?” It was the first time they’d talked about it.
“I was confused, Adam. I didn’t want to come between you guys…”
“But you weren’t confused when you fucked Nick? I would ask ‘why him’ but I know the answer. Please leave now. I’m not going to ask you again.”
She’d never seen this side of him. It was like talking to a stranger.
“Adam, please,” she pleaded, tears snaking down her cheek. “I don’t know what do to.” Jacky looked down defeated.
The sight of her in that state melted the anger and hurt he’d been stewing in since the awards.
She looked up and they just stood there, looking at one another.
“Adam, I don’t want to be these people,” she said earnestly.
“Jax…”
“I don’t know how we got here but I hate it. I can never not have you in my life, Adam. That is the only thing I know right now. I just want it to be how it was before. I can’t lose you.”
He didn’t even care whether she meant singular “you” or plural “you”. He closed the distance between them and put his arms around her. Her sobs wet his shirt. He held her even tighter.
“Adam, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, stepping back just enough to look at him, her sad eyes only inches from his. His compassionate brown eyes looked intently at her.
This time it was Jacky who pulled him in for a kiss.
“I think it’s ready now,” Jacky said as she turned off the tap in the giant bathtub in Adam’s master bedroom. “Come here,” she said, caringly looking at him.
Adam obeyed, bringing his broken body closer to her in the candlelit room. She sat on the edge of the bath, one hand playing in the steaming water distractedly.
She reached towards him as he stood in front of her, slowly unbuttoning his torn shirt, one button at a time.
“Oh Adam, what did you do?” she asked as he revealed the bruised body beneath. She threw the shirt onto the carpet-less floor. He really never did get around to decorating the place. At least there was bath.
“It’s nothing serious, merely scrapes and bruises. I think I drove into a stationary car when I came around the last corner too fast. But it wasn’t really fast at all. I never did learn how to drive that thing properly.”
She put her hands tenderly on his chest. She was crying again, she couldn’t help herself.
“Hey, Jax, don’t stress. I’m fine, promise. The car looks worse than I do. I never liked it that much anyway. It wasn’t my color,” he said, forcing a chuckle.
“I don’t know what I’d do if I had lost you…”
“But you didn’t. I’m here. Lesson learnt. I’ll take an Uber next time.” He knelt down in front of her, pulling her head down with his left hand so he could kiss away her tears. “I cannot stand to see you cry. I never could. It breaks my heart, something much harder to bear than a broken body.”
“Silly man.” She laughed through her tears, pulling him towards her. He was still kneeling on the tiles below her and she pulled him towards her chest. He rested his face in her warm bosom as she stroked his hair.
She stood up and so did he. In the dim flickers of the candle light, she unbuckled his jeans, pulling them down. Adam stood in front of her in his white briefs, his body still perfectly toned despite the thin scrapes of dried blood from the shattered windscreen that had landed everywhere.
Jacky pulled his underwear down as well, for the first time getting a sight of his beautiful cock only inches from her face. She smiled, looking at him in such an exposed state.
Adam got into the bath, clenching his teeth as his wounds sunk into the warm water. He closed his eyes, lowering himself in slowly, his body parts disappearing one section at a time into the dark water. He slid all the way in until he was completely covered in the burning water, head and all.
He came back up moments later, opening his eyes to stare at Jacky, water running down his face, dripping from his soaked brown hair.
He smiled and grabbed her close with a sopping hand, pulling her face to his as he passionately kissed her.
She didn’t even care that her new green dress was getting wet. So was she, in more ways than one.
Jacky pulled away, taking the sponge lying on the side and carefully dipping it in the water. She gently washed the blood off his body, massaging the sponge over his tender flesh.
“Why did you come back, Jax?” he asked earnestly as she worked her way over his body, her arm disappearing under the water too.
“I’ve been asking myself that the entire time but I honestly don’t know.” She stared deeply into his eyes. “I just know I had to see you.”
He pulled her closer for another kiss. Jacky completely lost herself in the moment, unable to hide her feelings for Adam any longer.
Adam pushed her away and pulled himself out of the water. She stared at him confused, uncertain about what was going on. Did he not want her?
Neither of them said anything.
He wrapped one of the giant white towels over his toned, dripping body. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Even in the dim lighting, he was unmistakably handsome. She’d never looked at Adam in a sexual manner, but now she didn’t know how she’d ever look at him differently.
He took her hand and led her away from the bath, leaving sopping footprints along the passage to the master bedroom. The giant room was bare except for a mattress on the floor. She didn’t know what else to expect but she also didn’t spend too much time thinking about it.
All she could think about was how fast her heart was beating, how her pulse raced as she followed him to the tangled s
heets on the mattress. The towel fell off as he lay down, his naked body sprawled on the expensive sheets. Adam pulled her down on top of him. She was still fully clothed in her damp green dress, the tight fabric clinging to her erect nipples.
She hunched on top of him, his semi-erect penis pressing against her. He snaked his hands around her back, gripping the dress’s zip firmly as he tugged it down her naked back, splitting the dress in two as it fell over her shoulders, wet fabric clinging to her excited body.
He ran his hands over her bare ass before pulling the dress over her head in one smooth sweep, discarding it on the bare wooden floor at the top of the three-story mansion he called his castle. His castle that now finally had a princess—one it had needed for so long. It was suddenly a fairy castle instead of a grim hideaway for a beast.
Jacky wasn’t wearing any underwear under the now-discarded dress. She’d been in such a rush to get here, she bought the green dress and threw away everything she was wearing from the awards night still. The dress and sneakers. No underwear.
She never expected the visit to go this way. But then, what did she expect?
Her entire body felt on fire as he pressed her naked figure against his, devouring her lips in his. The feeling was almost unbearable, the anticipation. As he hungrily moved his lips to her left nipple, sucking them, teasing them, biting them gently but firmly, she felt her knees give way under her. His hard cock dug into her stomach. She could feel herself getting wetter.
His other hand cupped her right breast, quickly kissing it before rolling her onto her back. Adam swung his leg over as he kneeled on top of her, slowly parting her lips beneath him as he guided his hard cock to her greatest desire. Despite his size, he slid right into her, slowly as her body accepted every inch of him.
Jacky let out a groan as he pressed himself deeply into her, grabbing her tight ass towards him. He rhythmically rocked his hips, bending down to kiss her as he increased his pace. He pulled away a bit, only far enough to reach his hand down to her crotch, finding its way to her clit like a child on a treasure hunt. Another involuntary groan escaped her but there was nobody hear them for miles. They were inside Adam’s kingdom now and he was entering into hers.
Housekeeping Page 23
