by Jordan Bell
I gave a little scream and threw my hands into the air. “I am a genius! Quick, someone call Disney, tell them I’m on my way.”
Shannon jumped up and ran around the table, tackled me in my chair so we both almost went over. The Silvers, even the extended clan, joined us in a round of applause.
“We should celebrate having two geniuses, what do you think?” Mr. Silver raised his glass and the rest of the room followed suit.
“That’s a fantastic idea! Meredith!” Mrs. Silver called and Meredith appeared in the doorway. “Pick up lobsters and steak. We’ll eat on the beach tonight. We’re celebrating the girls passing all their classes.”
“And Jonah’s graduation,” I added and they all looked at me, all of them, like I’d just flashed them. Jonah’s light mood vanished instantly, the excitement held on the edge of a knife to see what Mr. Silver might say to this.
Mr. Silver scowled, but it was Mrs. Silver who threw down the gauntlet. “Enough. Enough! He’s talented and successful and is already making more money than either of us did at his age. It’s time to let him go.”
Jonah’s eyes didn’t waver from mine. He looked like, I don’t know, like maybe he might never forgive me for this. It made my heart ache, but this weird thing the Silvers did to pretend Jonah wasn’t in the room was insane and someone needed to pull him back to Earth.
“Let him go from the family the way he let us go?” Mr. Silver shoved his plate away as if it disgusted him now.
“It’s fine, Mother, please.” Jonah finally ripped his eyes from mine but she shook both men off with a look.
“No, the way you let your children go when it’s their turn. No, Meredith, we are celebrating all three of them. Loudly and with fantastic pomp. That’s an order.”
“Yes, of course Mrs. Silver. I’ll get to work on the pomp as soon as breakfast is cleared.”
Mrs. Silver seemed very pleased with herself, but the two eldest Silver men were both despondent and inarticulate. Mr. Silver left the table first, but only because Shannon seemed to brave the Jonah waters long enough to squeeze him around the neck and for a moment, he let her. Then his gloom returned, thicker than ever. It made me regret what I’d done only briefly, but nothing could fix what had transpired between my father and I, but Jonah and Mr. Silver were not so far gone that they couldn’t reconcile, if only one of them would loosen their grip for half a second.
When breakfast filed out, the Silvers each had to hug me and Shannon as we filed out of the porch, and it made me feel a little drunk on attention. Jonah barely touched my body when he hugged me, but I dug my nails into his back and his grip on me became suddenly crushing and maybe we lingered a hair longer than anyone else in line. I shivered involuntarily when he finally pulled away, still feeling the place where I could feel his heart beat between us.
This was nothing like my family, nothing. I wanted to always be a part of this. Always.
Out on the back porch, Shannon and I followed Jonah and Eva and Henry. My body flushed with jealousy as Eva leaned into him, mine!, and said something coy that made him nod and respond close to her ear. It was horrible, how unfair it was.
“Shannon,” I said. Be bold, Jessica. “You said I had your blessing to flirt shamelessly, right?”
“Oh, yes. Shamelessly. Which cousin can I accidentally shove into your path? You can seduce him and marry him and have lots of pretty babies and we’ll be as close to real sisters as we could possibly get. Channel your inner Trixie, it’ll help.”
I laughed and flushed. Sisters, she had no idea. “Well, when you put it that way. Is that what helped you? Channeling Stella?”
She nodded. “Yes, Trixie, but instead of stripper poles, I employed trees and provocative looks.”
“Wait, what?” We both fell into each other laughing which earned us a sour glance from Eva.
“Must be nice to be young,” she mumbled. Jonah nodded, but said nothing. He produced his sunglasses and hid behind them.
“Jonah!” We all stopped as Mr. Silver and a couple of their uncles waved from down the beach. “We’re taking a boat out, men only. Meet us at the dock in five. Not optional, boy!”
One of the uncles already had a beer in his hand and saluted us. I felt Jonah glance at me. He sighed, resigned. I had a feeling they were going to trap him and talk him to death about his wrong decisions, especially after Mrs. Silver’s outburst. I bet he thought that too. When Shannon and I resumed walking toward the pool area, I brushed him, gave his hand a little squeeze. I hoped no one noticed. After we were out of reach, he started down the beach toward the men.
“Poor Jonah,” Shannon said. “He tries very hard to be free of my father while still being a part of the family. He has it rough, being the oldest.”
“Has it always been like that?” I asked. The gate was open and I could hear music from inside the pool area.
“Always.” Shannon stopped me, took my hand. “He’s not a bad guy, Jess. I know he comes off as hard and intolerant, but he’s not. We were very close growing up even though he was older. He’s very protective and loves his family, but it’s rarely enough for my dad. He wants him all-in. He wants him to get married, settle down in one of the houses we already own. He wants Jonah to be mired in our money so he can exercise some control over him. Instead Jonah has gone off and learned how to be a better investor and trader than my dad. He’s made all his own money in the last few years, enough to pay my dad back for his undergrad tuition, and pay for his own grad school. He has his own apartment in New York, his own car. We all have allowances, money my dad sends us to keep us happy and spoiled. Jonah’s goes into a trust fund he doesn’t touch. I have no idea what he plans to do with it, but my dad keeps giving it to him anyway.”
It makes me sad, hearing this. We both have similar problems, but also very different. A part of me is jealous, terribly jealous, that he has a father so invested in his future, that he wants to give his entire fortune to him. Most of me understands how unhappy it makes him. His success makes me proud of him though, and also very nervous. How could he possibly be able to accept my lack of wealth, my uncertain job future? Not that what we were doing had any bearing on what happened in a week and a half when I left Camp Silver. I needed to not think bigger than what we had. In that was trouble I couldn’t possibly deal with.
“I don’t think he’s a bad guy, Shannon. I like him very much. If anyone understands how hard it is to have trouble with a father, it’s me.”
She nodded. “I just didn’t want you to have a bad opinion of him. I know he hasn’t been very nice to you.”
You have no idea, I thought. I was about to tell her the truth, tell her how he makes my heart break through my chest, how turned on his dark, intense gaze makes me. How much I love the soft vulnerability that overtakes him in the dark when nothing separates our bodies. Mrs. Silver appeared then, her arms full of warm, fluffy towels.
“There you girls are! Ready for a swim? Meredith sent these down for you.”
Shannon gave a little shriek and took the towels from her mom. “Pool time! If the boys are going to go out on the boat and talk about guy things, we’ll have to slave ourselves to the sun and talk about girl things. What do girls talk about again, Trixie?”
“Boys,” I answered and followed her into the pool area.
“That’s right! What do boys talk about?”
Eva appeared beside us and leveled a gaze on me that just about knocked me over. “They talk about women. Too bad, girls.”
“Ouch, pull those claws in, girlfriend.” Shannon made a claw motion and Eva rolled her eyes, wandered to a chair under an umbrella and got down to stripping off most of her clothing. “What crawled into her oatmeal and died?”
“I have no idea,” I answered, but that was a lie.
***
The boys did not return until late when the beach was buzzing with staff, tables, food, and drinks. There were even presents, I had no idea how they managed all of this from their cell phones, but Jonah, Sha
nnon, and I had actual graduation presents on a table. With freaking balloons.
While Shannon held court over the cousins on the beach, I snuck away behind the pool house where I’d seen Jonah carry a stack of life jackets.
I snuck up on him, pressed my palms against his back, kissed his spine through the thin material of his shirt. He was still warm from being under the sun for so long. He turned, had me pinned by the wrists against the wall of the pool house before I even knew what was happening.
“Naughty girl.” He leaned his face into my throat, breathed me in like oxygen. “You smell like coconut and chlorine. I’ve missed you.”
“What did you boys do out there all day? I’m told you must have been talking about women.”
He nipped at my throat, moved to the other side and locked his mouth along the soft curve between my neck and shoulder. “Yes, women. International trading and women. I bragged about my conquest of you. Regaled them with tales of your,” he groaned when I pressed my hips into his. He was solid, straining against his shorts. “Mmmm, talents.”
“Liar.”
“It’s true, Miss Nosy who can’t mind her own business. In a moment of incredible stupidity and too many beers, I told my father I’d tell him about you when I was ready. He seemed surprised I had a you to tell him about. I think it pleased him, he stopped complaining about my career choices immediately. Then he said there was merit in having the Silver name brandished across the world.”
I grinned, pleased with him, pleased with myself, and he flushed briefly before reasserting his hips against mine. “I’m still angry with you though. Someone needs to deal with that mouth of yours.”
I wiggled my wrists free and pushed him back, fell to my knees in front of him. He groaned, as I unzipped his shorts.
“I think I have an idea about what we can do about my mouth.” I eagerly started unzipping him. He sucked in a breath and leaned his hands against the wall over my head as I tugged his shorts down his hips.
“Oh, Jess, no. Not here.” He groaned when I pulled his underwear down, freeing his cock. It jerked when my hand closed around it. “Anyone could walk in, you know that right?”
I smiled wickedly. “I’d better be quick then.”
He dropped his head back, moaned, and eased his hips toward me. “Listen to you. I love you on your knees.”
I took the head into my mouth, made little whimpers against it. Jonah moaned my name and I could tell it was all he could do not to start pushing it into my mouth. He let me take it slow though, teasing my tongue along the length of it, licked it playfully before pushing it back in, slow, so slow, down his shaft.
“That’s it, Jess. Take it into your mouth. Don’t resist me, take it all.” Jonah was already panting, rocking ever so slightly in my hands.
I took hold of his hips at that lovely cut area above his thighs, and held still while he started pumping his member into my mouth, slowly, letting me lick the whole of him, getting him wet and slippery. “So good. My girl…that’s it Jess, take it.” We both moaned, his language making me crazy.
“Imagine what I’m going to do to you tonight. I’m going to tie you to my bed. I’m going to enjoy every inch of you. What do you think about that?” His words came out quicker, husky, and heavy. His erection swelled, jerked against the roof of my mouth. His words turned him on as much as they turned me on.
Jonah grabbed the back of my head and thrust deep, making me gag softly as he came suddenly. I swallowed like a good girl and bobbed twice as he softened in my mouth, cleaning him with my tongue. I’d never get tired of the taste of him.
I did this, I made him this horny. I couldn’t wait to be tied up by him.
He stroked my hair, watched me from above, enthralled by my behavior. “You are absolutely insane, do you know that? And beautiful, but insane too.”
I grinned and he took my hand, drew me to my feet, and brought my fingers up to his mouth and kissed them, each of them. I shivered as his tongue slipped across the pad of my fingertip. “I love the way you taste. I want to carry you back to my room. This is going to be the longest party of my life.”
“Jonah,” I said seriously. “Let’s skip the party.”
“Insatiable little girl, aren’t you?” He smiled, pressed his forehead against mine. His smiles were coming easier and easier. I kissed it, wanted to bottle it.
“Yes, that’s true. Good thing you’re so good at satisfying me.”
“It’ll be a bit suspicious if we both don’t show up. We can cut out early though.”
“Promise?”
He nodded, “Promise.” He kissed the tip of my nose, then buttoned himself up.
We rejoined the party a few minutes apart. Shannon immediately took my hand and showed me where a team of pyromaniacs were setting up a field of fireworks. “For us!” she exclaimed, and I stared dizzily. Did the Silvers know no bounds? Who had a fireworks show set up at the last minute for a girl they’d only just met?
A sudden and terrible feeling came over me. We were almost a week into the vacation. What would I do when it was over? How could I survive a whole summer without Shannon, without Jonah? Would he disappear from my life, just like that, and then fly off to Japan?
Japan.
My heart dissolved in my chest. Shannon saw the panic in my face and grabbed my hands quick. “Jess, you ok? You look like you’re going to pass out.”
“Too much sun,” I whispered and let her lead me over to a towel in the sand. What would I do when he left for Japan? What the hell was I going to do when I just went home?
This couldn’t last. I had to have known that, right?
It was hard to be upset and be showered by the Silvers’ affections. The lobster melted in my mouth and everyone was kind and optimistic. Several times Jonah snuck in a touch or a kiss on the back of my neck when no one was looking. If they did look, I don’t think he would have stopped. Trouble, indeed.
“A toast!” Mr. Silver yelled and we all came over to him in the sand. I’d lost my shoes hours before when there was still sun. Now it was dark, lit by twinkling torches stuck in the sand. Jonah took advantage of the darkness to stand behind me, to put his hand on my hip and pull us as close as he dared.
“To my daughter, beautiful and brilliant. She’s going to design our next home and build skyscrapers in New York, just watch!” Shannon blushed, waved the applause away, but I clapped so hard I nearly spilled my drink.
“To my son, Jonah, who finished grad school with top marks and will be soon be going to Japan to work for another company, but…” he paused and I felt Jonah stiffen behind me, “but I think he’ll do very well for himself. I hope he comes back soon, maybe he can give my international division some advice.”
I felt him exhale a lifetime of tension. He wrapped his arm around my waist and I don’t know how anyone could have missed it, even in the dark. My body tensed, but the sky didn’t fall. The applause was thunderous.
“And to Jessica, my daughter’s best friend. Jessica, we’ve heard more about you some days than we heard about Shannon. As far as Mrs. Silver and I are concerned, you’re part of our family now. We expect you for every holiday, if your parents can part with you.” Mr. Silver gave his wife a conspiratorial look and I smiled politely. They had no idea how easy that would be. “In fact, we have a surprise for you.”
Mr. Silver raised his glass up the beach and we all turned.
My horror could not have been more palpable. My father and his wife, Katherine, descended through the sand like two ghosts, pale and shimmery in the moonlight. Katherine wore a white shift that showed off her tiny, slim figure and expensive boob job. My father’s arm held her close. They had drinks in their hands and approached Mr. Silver. Neither of them looked at me.
“It was so last minute, but we wanted your family to be with you the way we’d want to be for Shannon.” Mrs. Silver said with such beautiful enthusiasm. The other Silvers and McCallisters cheered, but it was Shannon that appeared at my side, grabbed my drink
before I did something crazy with it, like throw it at Katherine’s head.
“Jess, it’s going to be ok,” she whispered, but I couldn’t breathe. I heard Jonah say my name, but all the noise in my head were variations of my own scream because my father and Katherine had invaded my paradise and were gazing around the beach drunk on the pleasure of the money at their feet. Did they even care why they were here?
“You have such a beautiful house, Tom,” my father said, slapping Mr. Silver’s shoulder like they’d been friends forever. Katherine nodded in agreement.
“A beautiful house, a beautiful view.” Katherine leaned vaguely away from Mrs. Silver when she tried to greet her with a hug.
“And you have a beautiful daughter,” Jonah said between clenched teeth. I could feel his body tensing against mine, felt him try to hold me still. “Or didn’t you notice?”
“Jessica?” Katherine kind of laughed. Both of them looked towards us, surprised I was there, surprised anyone would say such a thing. Everyone was looking at us then, surprise on Mr. Silver’s face. He looked from Jonah, to me, to Jonah’s arm around me. Understanding dawned.
“She’s no private jet!” my father laughed and raised his glass to clink with Mr. Silver and found no glass waiting to cheer with.
I couldn’t, couldn’t stay there and watch this moment taken away from me. I thought, for such a brief beautiful moment, that I’d been accepted and then they had to be here, after everything they’d said to me only weeks before. No, I couldn’t.
“I can’t,” I pushed Jonah away, slipped between him and Shannon. Before I knew what was happening I was sprinting up through the sand to the road. Behind me I heard Jonah yell, “Jessica stop!” Shannon called for her mom, someone called for a car. I went straight into the trees on a path I thought maybe would take me back to my cabin. I’d barely unpacked, it would only take me a few minutes to shove my stuff in a backpack. I’d leave the rest, I didn’t need it anyway. I’d run for the gate, climb it, run until I was back at school, far from this place and them. Far from the humiliation that broke across my skin like a rash.
