by J. L. Ostle
We walk to his bike and he climbs on and helps me get seated. I put my hands around his middle and I rest my head against his back and soon we take off.
I close my eyes and just enjoy the movements of the bike. He doesn’t drive too fast and I don’t mind the cold. I just snuggle into him, letting my mind go. I open my eyes now and then to see where we are, but everything blurs by and I don’t care. I just want to stay like this.
Me holding him.
I don’t know how long we have been riding for, but soon we stop and I look to see we are back at the house and I am reluctant to let go. I feel his hands cover mine and then he holds my hand, guiding me off the bike and then he is in front of me.
I stand there looking at him and so many emotions are flowing through me. I can see so many are going through him also. I am so scared I’m going to lose him. He holds my hand and guides me back into the house. We sit on the couch neither of us saying a word.
“I think we should do that more often,” I say to break the silence.
“Go for a ride?”
I nod. “Yeah, I enjoyed it tonight.”
He gives me a small smile. “Are you hanging out with Dante again?” he asks me and I bite my lip.
“Yes.”
“Do you like him?” He looks at the floor.
“As a friend, yes.”
“Like you like me?”
I look at him and his eyes are on me. “No,” I whisper.
“I want you so bad, kitten. I hate you hanging out with another guy, knowing they may take you away from me.”
I feel my eyes tickle with tears. “No one is taking me away from you.”
He moves in closer to me. “Tell me why we can’t be together.”
I shake my head, looking down and he lifts my chin. “Jackson, please.” Tears flow down my cheeks.
“I am falling for you, Riley. You own my heart.” I sniffle. “You own me and I know you always will.”
All the reasons why I shouldn’t be with him evaporate into thin air. He is mine and I know I am his. I was his when my eyes first connected with his. I slam my mouth against his, his tongue entering my mouth without hesitation.
I push my body against his, wanting us to get closer. I grip onto his arms as I feel like I could fly away any second. His hands glide all over my body like he wants to touch every inch of me and he doesn’t know where to start.
He pulls back, both of us breathing heavily. “Say you want to be with me.”
I nod.
“I need to hear you say it.”
“I want to be with you.”
His lips slam back onto mine. “Say you won’t leave me.” He kisses my jaw and neck.
“I will never leave you,” I say breathlessly.
“You are mine now, kitten, and no one is taking you away from me.” He kisses me again and I straddle him and I feel his fingers dig into my thighs. I groan into his mouth, grinding myself against him. “I need to tell you something and I will go crazy if I don’t.” I wait for him to speak. “I am in love with you, Riley. I know I said I was falling for you before, but I didn’t want to scare you. But I am so deeply in love with you.”
I look at him in shock and my heart skips a beat. “I love you, Jackson.” I start to cry. “I pushed you away because I didn’t want you to break my heart but I can’t deny it anymore. I love you so much.”
His eyes brim with tears and he kisses me again, but this time more gently, softer. “I will never hurt you. I made you a promise, remember? You are it for me.” I lean forward and kiss him again. “Let’s go to bed,” he whispers against my lips.
“You want to get me into bed already?” I tease.
“I want you in my bed so I can hold you. So I can watch you sleep.” He stands with me wrapped around him as we head up the stairs and into his room. He lays me down on his bed and spoons me, his fingers entwining with mine.
“I can’t believe we are here.” I shake my head.
“In my bed?”
I laugh. “No. You and me. When I first met you, I could hardly look at you without blushing.”
“I loved how you blushed.” He smiles into my neck.
“I never expected us to fall in love with each other. I never expected someone to love me.”
He squeezes me tighter into him. “You are an amazing girl, kitten. How can anyone not fall in love with you?”
“Why do you call me kitten by the way?”
“When I first saw you asleep on the couch, well more pretending to sleep,” he chuckles. “You were all curled up, and you looked so vulnerable, so cute. I just knew then that you were my kitten, even if I didn’t know it at the time.”
“I love you, Jackson.”
“I love you, Riley.” He kisses the side of my head and we both fall asleep.
I wake up the next morning with Jackson still holding me and I turn, kissing his nose but he doesn’t stir. I climb out, heading to the bathroom to do my business and brush my teeth and when I get out, Kendra is standing there with her arms crossed.
“Do you have any idea how worried I was last night?” I shake my head. “You never came to bed and I thought maybe Dante had kidnapped you and did God knows what.”
I roll my eyes at her exaggeration. “I am fine. But I am so sorry I didn’t let you know I was home.”
“Where were you, anyway?”
We both turn when Jackson's door opens and he steps out looking at us both. He smiles at me as he heads my way, and when he is in front of me, he dips me, slamming his lips onto mine.
“Morning, beautiful.”
I beam at him. “Morning.”
“What the fuck just happened?” Kendra has her hands in front of her.
“Jackson and I are together.” Jackson pulls me into his side.
Kendra’s mouth hangs open. “You two are together? As in together, together?”
We nod.
“When did this happen?”
“Last night.”
“So that’s why you didn’t come into bed, because you were in his? Holy shit, did you have sex?”
“Kendra! No, we didn’t. He held me and that’s it.”
“I’m going to use the bathroom quickly and I will let her ask you a million questions in peace.” Jackson kisses my lips softly.
“Thanks,” I tell him, rolling my eyes and he smirks at me as Kendra drags me into her room.
“You need to tell me everything. I want to know what happened starting with Dante and ending at the point where you woke up next to Jackson, with him being your new boyfriend.”
I smile at that. Boyfriend. I have a boyfriend.
I tell her everything from Jackson getting angry about my date, to the date with Dante, to our bike ride, and to what happened when we got home. Kendra eats up every single word with wide eyes.
“He said he loved you?”
I nod and she screams. “I told you! Didn’t I tell you? I love being right. I think I should have my own TV show.”
I push her. “He loves me, Kendra.” She smiles at me. “After everything I went through …” I start to cry. “I found true happiness. I finally get loved.”
Kendra holds me. “You were always loved by me but I know that’s different. I am so happy for you, Riles. I can’t wait until campus hears how goody-goody Riley tames the bad boy.”
I groan into her and she laughs.
Chapter Twenty-Five
We head to campus and Jackson walks me to my first class, kissing me in front of everyone before walking away. For the next hour, I can feel everyone’s eyes on me and I know rumors are already spreading when I get a text from Kendra saying people are already talking about me and Jackson and this is just the first class.
I head to the cafeteria where Jackson is waiting for me. When he sees me, he jogs over to me, entwining our fingers and his lips land on mine.
“I don’t think I will ever get bored of kissing you.” He smiles against my lips.
“I hope not.” We start walk
ing and when we get through the doors, everyone stops and looks in our direction. Jackson squeezes my hand and we sit in our seats and I try to not look around me. Jackson stands and I quickly grab his hand. “Where are you going?” I whisper, and he leans down, kissing my lips again.
“Going to get us a drink and something to eat. You will be fine.” I nod, watching him walk away and I notice some girls watching him as well and I quickly turn around. I know I have to get used to women wanting Jackson but seeing it up front is a little harder than I thought. I sigh in relief when Kendra and Jayce finally take their seats.
“This place is like a circus.” Kendra looks around the room. “It’s like their lives are that shit that they have nothing better to do.” She glares at a few people who gawk at our table. “Guys, stop it,” Kendra shouts at the guys at the table and I see them looking away from me.
“Here you go, baby.” Jackson passes me a can of Coke and a strawberry and white chocolate muffin. He kisses my forehead and takes his seat. I look at my muffin and while I don’t feel hungry, I love the term of endearment.
I am sipping my drink when Jackson takes my hand, entwining his fingers with mine and placing it on the table, like he wants to show everyone I am his.
“God, he is very caveman, isn’t he?” Kendra whispers in my ear and I giggle.
“He can go caveman on me anytime he wants.”
Kendra laughs, nudging me.
“I can hear you.” Jackson leans towards us. “Don’t worry, kitten, I will go all caveman on you anytime.” He winks at me and I feel my face heat up and he kisses my cheeks. “Love it when you blush.”
“You both need to stop eye-fucking one another.” Jayce throws his napkin in Jackson's face.
“I can look at her any way I want, she’s my girl.”
I beam at him, loving hearing him say it. “Say it again.”
Jackson looks at me. “Say what?”
“That I’m your girl.”
He kisses my nose. “You’re my girl.” I grab his shirt, pressing my lips to his, not caring if anyone is watching. I pull back and I notice Jackson's eyes have gone dark. “If that’s all it takes for you to kiss me like that, I will say it more often.”
“You do that.” I smile at him. For the rest of lunch, the guys seem to watch us at times but Jackson reassures me that soon they will get used to the fact he is actually in a relationship.
“I heard it, but didn’t think I would see it with my own eyes.” Darren comes up to us with two guys standing behind him. They have their arms crossed and I wonder why they are standing there like they are his bouncers.
“Fuck off, Darren, or do you want another hit?” Jackson says calmly.
“So, what did it take to tame the famous womanizer Jackson McKenzie?” He looks at me. “Did you give up that pussy of yours? Finally opened your legs, Riley?”
I feel my whole entire body heat up and I look around the room as everyone watches.
“Get lost or else, Darren.” Jackson glares at him.
“If you finally get tired of her, do you mind if I get my fill? I bet she is very submissive in the bedroom.” He winks at me and Jackson stands, jumping onto the table to get to him and he punches him in the face. One of the guys tries to hit him but he ducks and Jackson knees the guy in the stomach. He looks at the other guy, who is stepping back with his hands up in surrender.
“You are a joke,” Jackson spits at him. “Get a life.” Jackson walks over to me, grabbing my hand and pulling me up and we walk out with Jayce and Kendra trailing right behind us.
I turn to Jackson and his jaw is set tight and his face is scrunched up in anger. “Jackson,” I say softly.
“Give me a few minutes, kitten.” I do. I let him calm himself down but every now and then I will squeeze his hand, letting him know I’m here. “I am really sick of his shit.”
“You are not the only one,” Kendra adds in and we all take a seat in the middle of campus on the fresh cut grass. “Girls are complaining because he is always hounding them. I am so happy he is going to be out of my life as soon as we graduate. The pig.”
“Are you okay, baby?”
Jackson looks at me. “You called me baby.” His lips turn up.
“You called me baby and you call me kitten. I need a nickname for you too.”
He pulls me so I’m sitting on his lap. “I like it.” His lips press against mine.
“You two are so sappy,” Kendra chuckles.
“Hey, we had to deal with all your sappiness,” I point out to her.
We are talking, when Kendra nudges my leg and points behind me and I turn to see Dante walking towards me. I turn to Jackson and he is looking at him also.
“Go.” He kisses my cheek and I stand, walking towards Dante until I’m in front of him and he gives me a small smile.
“So, you and Jackson huh?”
I nod. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t plan it, and I didn’t plan on Jackson to have feelings for me.”
“You don’t need to apologize, I guess I always knew that there was something there between you both. He would ruin the end of our dates and the way he looked at me at times …” He laughs. “How could he not like you like that? I hope we can still be friends?”
I hug him tightly. “Thank you, Dante, for understanding, for not being angry with me. You will make some girl very happy.”
“Take care, Riley, I will see you around.” He squeezes my hand and walks away. I head back and they are all staring at me.
“What did he want?” Kendra asks.
“He knows me and Jackson are together and hopes we can still be friends.” I sit down, holding Jackson’s hand again.
“He wasn’t angry?”
I shake my head. “He said he had a feeling that you saw me as more than a friend. He was fine with it and hopes that I’m happy.”
“He is a good guy.”
I look at Jackson, pushing him. “You hated his guts. You wanted to kick his ass every time you saw him.”
“How could I not? He was hanging with a girl I was crazy about. But he’s a good guy to not be an ass over it. I respect him for that.”
I shake my head at him. “Men are so weird,” I chuckle.
“Aren’t we just?” he smirks at me.
A week later and we are still the talk of the school and girls have upped their games in flirting with Jackson and a few even have the nerve to do it with me right there. Jackson declines each girl and never even leads them on in any way, but it doesn’t stop them.
We are sitting on the couch watching TV, my legs over his legs as he strokes my calf teasingly. I am feeling so content and Kendra and Jayce have gone out so we have some time on our own. Kendra’s room back in the dorm is ready but I think we all have got so comfortable living with each other, we don’t want to bring it up. I like us all here together. It’s like we are a proper family.
“I’ll be right back.” I try to stand but he pulls me back down.
“Where are, you going?”
I smile kissing his cheek. “I need to use the bathroom, is that okay?” I joke and he pretends to think about it.
“I suppose so, just don’t take too long. I will miss you.”
I look at him and can’t believe this man is mine. He is so ridiculously cute. “I’ll be quick.” I stand and the doorbell rings. “That must be our pizza.” I head upstairs as Jackson walks to the door. I do my business and wash my hands and I quickly brush my hair, looking in the mirror, making sure I look all right. I am wearing one of Jackson’s T-shirts since he says he loves me wearing his clothes.
I am walking down the stairs when I hear a girl’s voice and I pause. “Come on Jackson, you know you want to.” I recognize the voice but I’m not sure from where. “I bet you are gagging for it,” she purrs.
“Hilary, I told you I am with Riley now. You need to go before she comes down,” he says sternly.
“Oh, come on, that nerdy girl isn’t going to give you what you need. Does she even fill
your needs in the bedroom? Does she let you go hard and fast on her?” I feel my stomach tightening up.
“My sex life is none of your business, now go.” I hear a scuffle.
“You know I know how you like it.”
“Hilary, seriously fuck off,” he growls and I open the door further and I hear them near the front door.
“You can’t seriously be thinking of settling down? Guys like you aren’t boyfriend material and you know it. You know you are going to break that poor girl's heart. You are going to get bored and horny and you better pray that I will open my door when that time comes.” I feel tears prickle my eyes. I had all these insecurities but hearing it out loud from someone else hurts.
“I love her, Hilary, she is it for me. I’d rather die than hurt her.”
“Sometimes love isn’t enough.” I walk further and I see them at the door, him trying to close the door and her holding it open. Her eyes connect with mine and she smirks and leans up, kissing his cheek. “You know where I am when this falls apart.”
Jackson turns when he notices her staring behind him. “Riley.” I cross my arms around my middle, hugging myself. “She is just leaving.” He stares back at Hilary who smirks at me again and starts to walk away. He slams the door and walks over to me. “Don’t listen to that bitch. She is jealous that I chose you and not her.”
“I know, I heard you defend our relationship. It’s just not nice to hear. You wouldn’t like it if a guy was offering me sex.”
I see his eyes go dark. “I would kill him and bury him six feet under. I mean what I said, kitten, I love you. I am sorry these girls won’t get the hint that I’m happy. It will die down.” He holds me, rubbing my back but I stare into space wondering.
Will our love be enough?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jackson has a gig tonight at the fraternity house so Kendra and I have a pamper session in her room. We wear facials, do our nails and with much insisting, waxing. I am now hairless apart from the hair on my head. We doll ourselves up and when it is time to go I feel good and the look on Jackson’s face is priceless.
“Where is the rest of the dress?” He looks down my body. I am wearing a black dress that has slits on the sides of the waist so you can see some of my skin.
