“Here,” Gabe said, standing up and passing me the bag.
“Thanks.”
I took it from him, stroking my hand down JJ’s back and making it to his hand. His muscles loosened, and I finally managed an easy breath as his fingers intertwined in mine. I side-stepped the guys, pulling JJ with me, but then Greasy-Hair-Guy reached out to me again.
It all happened so fast that I couldn’t comprehend what had transpired until I witnessed the guy on the floor, his hands over his face and bright-red blood rushing through his fingers. JJ stood over him, his chest heaving with stuttered breaths.
“You don’t touch, Ella.” He paused, looking at the other guy. “No one touches Ella.”
Murmurs started from somewhere, and doors started to open. If we didn’t get out of here now, there’d be serious trouble coming our way.
“JJ, come on, let’s go.”
His head snapped toward mine, and he grasped my hand, his touch so much gentler than I’d expected after having punched the guy who was now writhing in pain on the floor.
“You won’t get away with this,” he sneered, his gaze settling on me.
“All I saw was you fall over and smack your head on this wall,” Gabe announced, looking over at Perfect-Hair-Guy. “Right, Vin?”
Perfect-Hair-Guy guy widened his eyes, bobbing his head as he stared at Gabe. “Right.”
“And as Omega-Phi President, I’ll be calling a meeting about your behavior.” Gabe left that hanging in the air and looked over at me, tilting his head to the doors. “Go. I’ll make sure nothing comes of this.”
I didn’t waste a second as I practically pulled JJ out of there and to our bench. I wanted nothing more than to take him home, but that wasn’t what his schedule was, and I knew he wouldn’t move off it at such short notice.
“JJ,” I whispered when we were sitting down. “You can’t do that.”
“Do what?” he asked, taking his backpack from me. He pulled everything out and placed it all back inside in the correct order.
“Punch people.”
“He touched you.” JJ’s green eyes speared mine, the gold flecks sparking to life again. “I told him not to touch you, and he didn’t listen.”
“I know, but—”
“He’s a mean person. He’s said mean things to me for four years.”
I leaned back on the bench and closed my eyes. “If you ignored him all those other times, then you should have done the same now.”
“No,” JJ’s gruff voice replied, and I opened my eyes back up. “I couldn’t. He touched you in an angry way, so I had to get angry to tell him not to.”
“You didn’t—”
JJ stood, shouldered his backpack, and said, “I have class in nine minutes.”
“JJ, please…” I wanted to ask him to stay, to talk it through with me, but in his mind, he’d been justified. The guy was a dick and shouldn’t have laid a hand on me or done what he did to JJ, but I knew JJ needed his schedule to calm down. It didn’t matter what I said right this second, it wouldn’t get through to him.
“Are you…are you okay?”
He frowned. “Yes. But I need to get to class.”
It was as if nothing had happened, and maybe that’s how it worked in his mind. He was out of the situation now, so it didn’t matter to him that he’d probably just broken the guy’s nose. Not that the doucheturd hadn’t deserved it.
I stood, shifted toward him, and placed my hands on either side of his face. “Okay, but promise me you won’t go all Hulk on anyone else today.”
“I promise.” He tilted his head down, placed a kiss on my lips, and pulled back. “I’ll see you at home.”
Home.
One word, but it meant exactly what he said. He’d become my home, and nothing would ever change that.
Chapter 17
Confession #28: I don’t trust people who smile before 9 A.M.
Never have I ever…
Had a boyfriend drop me off at the airport to go and see my gay boyfriend.
It sounded like an honest to god joke, but it was the truth. JJ stood in front of me, his gaze flicking left and right at everyone coming in and out of the airport. It was too much for him, and yet he was standing here willing to put up with it so he could see me off to New York.
My gaze moved to his right hand, wincing at the redness that covered his knuckles. I’d tried to talk to him last night about yesterday, but he wasn’t having any of it. It was an open-and-shut case in his mind. I’d even talked to Jeffery about it, and he said he’d have a talk with him while I was away.
“I’ll be back Sunday night,” I told JJ, gripping the handle of my carry-on and wishing I wasn’t leaving him right now.
“Okay.” He shuffled on his feet and pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.
“I’ll see you then?”
“Okay.”
I lifted up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, taking a deep breath and relishing in the distinct woodsy smell. I didn’t know if I could survive three days without him close to me.
Stepping back, I tried to catch his gaze, but he was soaking everything in around him, drawing further and further into himself. He needed to get out of here and back into the car his dad was waiting in. I could feel the tension rolling off him in tsunami-style waves.
“I’m going to head in, but I’ll call you tonight. If that’s okay?”
His gaze zoned in on me. “What time will you call?”
I tried to work out the time difference and blurted out, “Ten p.m.” I paused and waved my hand to his dad’s car. “Go and get into the car, JJ.”
“I want to watch you walk inside.”
I smiled. “Right. I’ll go inside now then. Speak to you later.”
I didn’t wait for him to answer me as I spun around and headed inside. Coming here I flew first class, but going back I’d be with the normal people in coach. Not that first class wasn’t freaking awesome, but coach was more my speed. Who didn’t like sitting between two people and having no armrest for a flight that lasted several hours?
Checking in and making it through security took no time at all, and before I knew it, I was sitting next to the window and zoning out as we took off.
Vi said she was meeting me at the airport, and I had no doubt it was because she couldn’t handle keeping a secret. She’d hounded me constantly over the last couple of days telling me how much she hated me for making her keep the secret. She’d never make a good spy, that was for sure. All I knew was that I felt like I was living a double life: one in LA and one in New York. The problem was that my family were in New York, but LA felt like home. Part of that was because it was where I grew up, but the main reason was JJ.
I made a mental list of what I needed to do while I was here and at the top of it was having a talk with Chad. My stomach fluttered as we hit the runway in New York and I zoned out of my own brain until I came out of arrivals and saw Vi standing complete with a sign showcasing my name.
“Vi!” I let my carry-on go and wrapped my arms around her, squeezing the life out of her and getting a mouthful of her frizzy hair. A lump built in my throat at seeing her again, and I hated how emotional I was. Maybe it was because I knew what was to come this weekend?
She pulled back and framed my face with her hands. “You look sad.” She frowned at me. “And stressed.”
“I’m…” I looked at her chin. “Nervous.”
“Right.” She nodded. “Want to have some liquid courage before you see Chad?”
I threw my arm around her waist and spun her so we were side by side. “Nah.” I grabbed my carry-on handle. “If I have any tequila, I probably won’t make it to Chad.”
She snorted. “Ain’t that the truth.”
We walked out of JFK arm in arm and right into a town car that was waiting for us. Once we were comfortably in the back, I leaned my head against the cool leather and let out a breath. “What’s the plan for the weekend?” I asked and moved my head to
the side.
“I think Axel said that we’d pick you and Chad up tomorrow and head up to the Hamptons.”
“So that means I need to tell Chad tonight.” I closed my eyes.
Vi’s small hand covered mine on the seat. “It’ll be okay. Just...tell him the truth.”
“Right.”
“And the truth would beee…”
I raised a brow and sat up straight. “Are you fishing for information, Ms. Purple?”
She smirked. “Maaaaaybe.”
I chuckled and stared out of the window, mentally calculating how long it’d be before we’d be at Chad’s and my apartment. I raised my hand. “Hit me with your questions.”
“Yeah?” Vi asked, her voice high.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
She spun on her seat. “Do you love him? Have you been on a date with him?” She took a breath. “Does Jeffery know? Do you—”
I placed my hand over her mouth. “So you don’t have many questions then, huh?” I quirked my lips. I may have told her she could ask me, but I had no plans of answering any of them. The car pulled to a stop, and I smirked. “Looks like your time’s up!”
“No fair.” She groaned. “Wait!” I halted my hand on the handle of the door and raised a brow. “Do you like him like him?”
I bit down on my bottom lip. Maybe I should give her at least a little something. “Remember Jack in ninth grade?”
Her eyes widened, probably thinking back to the huge crush I had on him. Okay, crush was too small of a word. I was obsessed with him and went full-on stalker mode.
“It’s that bad?” she asked, her voice merely a whisper.
“No.” I pushed open the door. “Worse.”
The apartment was exactly how I left it, and I had no doubt Chad had cleaned like a crazy person because he knew I was coming home for the weekend.
I left my suitcase by the door and pulled in a deep breath. There was a feeling you got when you walked into your home, mainly being at peace, but this time was different. This wasn’t my home anymore. I was more sure of that than anything right now.
Footsteps echoed down the hallway, and my stomach dipped, butterflies swarming in my stomach like a crazy flock trying to break out. I wanted to escape into my room and feign jet lag, but I had to get this over with. Rip the Band-Aid off and all that.
“El!” Chad’s deep voice flowed through me, and then I was being picked up and spun around in a wide circle. I held onto his broad shoulders for dear life as he maneuvered us into the living room while simultaneously squeezing my ribs and taking my breath away.
“Can’t. Breathe.” His deep chuckle vibrated down my ear, and he let me go. The first thing I noticed was the “scruff” on his face. “What the hell is that?” I pointed at it and raised my brows. “You look like you have a face full of baby hair.”
He ran the palm of his hand down his cheek and jaw. “I wanted to try something different.”
“And how long has it taken you to grow that little bit of fluff?”
He glanced up at the ceiling and scrunched up his forehead. “How long have you been gone?”
I snorted and shook my head. “Well, you need to shave the bum-fluff off for starters. You can’t go to this party with that on your face.”
“What?” He gasped and stumbled back. “I think it looks cool.”
“Nope.” I flopped down on the sofa. “You look like a weirdo who can’t grow a beard but is trying to be in the beard gang when you just can’t apply for it.”
“Pffft.” He sat down next to me, his hand pulling on mine. “The guys seem to like the beard so…” He stuck his tongue out at me.
“Fine. Keep it.” I pointed at him and yawned. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
My gaze flicked around the open-plan living room and kitchen. It was all the same but somehow different. I felt like a stranger imposing on someone else’s life.
“So. Tell me all the gossip about LA,” Chad said, his voice higher than usual. “Have you been living it up with the frat boys? Have you finally had your vagina serviced?” I froze, my muscles tensing. “Ohhhh, you’ve had sex!”
“Shut up,” I whispered.
I could feel Chad’s eyes burning a hole in the side of my face, but I refused to look at him. If I did, he’d see that it was much more than sex and then I’d have to face everything head-on instead of living in my own cozy little bubble.
“El?” His tone was softer this time, probably sensing what I wasn’t saying.
I leaped up off the sofa, yanking my hand from his grip in the process, and said, “I’m so tired, I need to sleep and—”
“No.” Chad stood and blocked my path, his stupid big muscles getting in my way. How dare they. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I told his pecs. God, his shirt was so fascinating.
I’d gone over and over what I would say to him on the flight here, and then promised Vi I would talk to Chad so she didn’t have to keep the secret, but now I was standing here, I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth. What if I just continued doing what I did before LA? I could be Chad’s pretend girlfriend in New York while having a real boyfriend in LA. The two would never meet so it’d be fine, right? Chad could keep going with his secret and I could—no. I shook my head. Neither of them deserved that. I didn’t deserve that.
Right, pull up them big girl panties, El. Don’t give yourself a wedgie, but just enough so that you can actually look at Chad and tell him about JJ.
“I found someone,” I blurted out.
“You found someone?” he repeated. “As in they were lost and you found them?”
I finally looked up at him and wished I hadn’t because I knew he could see the truth in my eyes. “There’s this guy.”
“Mmmm.”
“He’s...different. He makes me feel...I just...he’s...I really like him.”
“So much so that you can’t even form a proper sentence?”
I rolled my eyes and huffed out a breath. “You have no idea. He makes me forget who I am sometimes but also makes me feel more like me than ever before. He’s kind, and honest, and gives me the best orgasms.”
“Ahhh.” Chad’s lips lifted into a smile. “So it’s just the sex?”
I stepped back and closed my eyes. For a second there I thought it was going well. “No. It’s more than that.” I sensed Chad moving closer so opened my eyes. “He’s—”
“You love him?” Chad’s eyes were as wide as saucers.
“I…” Did I love him? It wasn’t even a question I needed to think about.
Chad shook his head. “You love a guy you’ve known for what? Three months?” He smirked. “You’re just infatuated. The orgasms have clouded your judgment.” He placed his hands on my shoulders. “Once you move back after the semester ends, you’ll get back into the swing of our life, and it’ll go away.”
I tilted my head to the side. Had he lost his mind? Why was he saying that? “Chad.” I blinked several times. “This is different. He’s different.”
He scoffed. “What’s different about him?”
I swallowed. “Everything. Every single thing is different when I’m with him. I’m trying to tell you—”
“Tell me what? You haven’t even said his name, so he can’t mean that much to you.” He rolled his hand in the air like he was flicking away an annoying fly. “And this is the first time you’re mentioning him so...”
“His name is JJ, and he’s a senior in college.”
“Wow.” He raised his brow and stepped back. “You’re such a rebel.”
“Shut up.” I chuckled, but it wasn’t normal. Even I could hear the nervousness in its tone. “It really is different. I want to go back and stay—”
“Are you…” He stumbled back several steps. “Are you breaking up with me for some college guy who probably thinks it’s hot to fuck his teacher?” He frowned and stared at me like I’d lost the plot. Maybe I had. I heard love could do that to y
ou. “Can you not see that he’s probably using you, Ella?”
“I can’t believe...I can’t believe you just said that.” My hands curled into fists. “You don’t even know him. You haven’t even given me a chance to tell you—”
“You’ve had months to tell me, but apparently I’m not as important as fucking one of your students because I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve spoken to you since you left.”
“Wow.” He felt like a stranger at that moment, not the man I’d leaned on over the last two years, and certainly not my best friend.
“Wow what? You’re breaking up with me over some casual fuck.”
Warmth flooded my cheeks as my nostrils flared. “If you’re gonna act like a dick, then maybe you should put a condom over your head so you at least look like one with those minuscule pubes on your face.”
I stomped—yes stomped—across the room to get my suitcase. The fucker thought he was right, but I saw what he was doing. He could see that whatever we had going on here was over and was trying to save it. Well, he could go fuck a duck.
“El, come on. Why can’t you see what he’s—”
I spun around, my breaths sawing in and out of my body. “Why can’t you see it?” I raised a brow. “Why can’t you see that I like someone, and instead of standing there asking me to tell you all about him like I’ve done to you countless times over the years, you’re ripping it apart like you have the right.” I pointed at my chest. “For two years I’ve played this game with you. I’ve been the good girl on your arm and said and done what you needed me to. I practically grew back my virginity while you were out doing what you wanted. You’re gay, Chad. Tell the world, for god’s sake. No one cares!”
His nostrils flared. “Yeah, right. My mom—”
“Would still love you!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Your dad wouldn’t care. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t put my life on hold because you’re too chicken shit to be honest with everyone.”
“You don’t understand—”
“You’re right. I don’t. Because I know your family, and I know they wouldn’t give a shit if you liked to fuck plastic dolls instead of people. Get your shit together, Chad.”
Confessions Of A Chatterbox (Confessions Series Book 2) Page 17
