I got down to the pool, grabbed a towel, and laid it out on one of the lounge chairs. The pool area was really nice; it had lots of palm trees everywhere and like five different hot tubs. I heard Jason stomping up to me, before I noticed him.
“That was not funny, Nic.”
“I wasn’t trying to be funny; I just wanted to go to the pool. Unfortunately, my boyfriend, Tarzan, thought he could club me over the head and tell me what I was allowed to wear, so I had to make a run for it.”
He sat down on the chair beside me, but I knew by his expression that this wasn’t over yet. When Mads and Carter came down, we all decided to go in the pool together. It was nice, because it was really empty in there. We did chicken fights and other stupid things you do in pools, before we decided to warm up in the hot tubs.
Since there were so many and most of them were empty each couple went to their own. Once I sunk into the water, it felt like heaven. I laid my head back against the side and closed my eyes. Then I felt Jason’s arms wrap around me and pull me over to him. He sat me on top of him so I was facing him, and that’s when I noticed he had freed a certain part of himself from the bathing suit.
My head snapped up to look at him and he smiled. Running his finger down my back, he brought it around and hooked it under my bathing suit bottom moving it to the side. He put one finger inside of me and looked me in the eye. “This is mine, Nicole, and it drives me crazy that these perverts have been looking at you. So, now I want to remind you why it is mine and only mine.”
He picked me up a little and brought me down on top of him. I let out a moan and then remembered where we were.
“Let’s see how good your poker face is now.”
He grabbed my hips and started grinding me on top of him. He had also positioned us right by a jet, so every time I slid back the stream seemed to hit me in just the right spot. I had to bite my lip to keep from making all of the sounds begging to come out. I was so close, that when he leaned down to kiss my chest I lost it, burying my head in his neck to help mask the sounds of my orgasm. He finished inside of me and I couldn’t bring myself to move off of him.
When I did move and I looked over at him, and he seemed so pleased with himself. Jason always did these kinds of things to me in the craziest places, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I loved that he had these moments where he couldn’t wait and had to have me now.
We went to the board walk after that and Carter pulled Jason into some store with him and we told them we would meet up with them in a little bit. I started to tell Mads about this afternoon, when we passed this store that caught my eye.
It was called Ridemakerz and you were able to build and design your own custom car. Jason and I had talked once about things we had wanted, and of course with him being a guy he talked about his dream car. I made Maddy come in with me to look around and told her my idea.
“What do you think, Mads?”
“I think it is a great idea, Nic. Thank God I have Carter’s car keys in my purse too!”
It took me one hour and both of us a couple of missed calls and fake locations with the guys to get it done. Once we had it in the trunk, we went and met them at the sushi restaurant we had picked out for dinner. When we saw them, they looked pissed, and I really couldn’t blame them. We had been leading them on a wild goose chase for the past forty-five minutes.
We had dinner and walked around a little more after that, and it was really nice. I was not looking forward to going home tomorrow, but at least Jason and I were finally in a good place.
Chapter 9
Jason
This past month has been crazy. Nicole has had play practice at least 4 times a week. On top of that, I have had to spend time with Slutty Stacey on our final for class. The only girl that I know who is more of a pest than her is Alyssa. Now, that is one crazy bitch. Carter says that she shows up everywhere; it’s like the girl is a damn hound dog. You would think, after everything, she would realize she didn’t have a chance and give up.
Stacey just texted me and asked me if I could meet her at her room, because the library is closed today. I know this is a bad idea, but we only have a couple things left to do and I just want the girl to beat it already. When I got to her building, I signed in and went to her room. I took a deep breath, because I knew this girl was going to push my buttons in every way possible. When I knocked on the door, I heard her yell, “Come in.”
I walked in and saw all the stuff for the project laid out on the desk. She lived in one of the nicer dorms on campus and had her own bathroom. The door was closed so I assumed that was where she was. When I started looking through all of the papers and everything, I noticed that all of the things she had said she needed help with were already done. This can’t be good.
I heard the bathroom door open and when I turned around, Stacey was standing there in nothing but a red lace push up bra, matching boy shorts, and a pair of heels. Fuck my life!
“I thought we could celebrate having this finally done, Jason.” She strutted over to me, trying to look seductive, but really, the only way she looked was desperate and pitiful.
I backed away from her and started making my way toward the door. “Stacey, are you fucking serious right now? I don’t know how many times I need to tell you this, ‘I don’t want you’. I know you understand English, but if I knew any other fucking languages, I would tell you in those too. I don’t care what you think, this is not me playing hard to get. I. Do. Not. Want. You.”
I turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door as I left.
When I walked out of the dorm, I saw Nic walking into the theater building. Maybe I will go watch her practice; the show will run the week before Christmas break and I kind of want to see what she has been working on.
When I walked into the building, I could see Nicole standing toward the end of the hallway. I couldn’t see who she was talking to because they were around the corner. As I got closer I heard bits and pieces of their conversation.
“I don’t know how many times I need to say it, Aaron, this is just acting.”
I hated that asshole; he was so entitled and thought that he was God’s gift to women because he had money.
“Nicole, you can’t tell me that loser is really good enough for you. Let me show you what you are missing, doll.”
I am going to fucking kill him.
“Aaron, I am not going to stand here and listen to your shit. You don’t know me, or Jason, and how dare you—“
I couldn’t see her anymore, so I started running. When I turned the corner, that asshole had her pushed up against the wall, kissing her. I grabbed him and shoved him against the opposite wall. I looked back at Nicole to make sure she was alright.
“Sorry you had to see that, Jason. You know sometimes romances start onstage then carry on off stage as well.” Was this dickhead serious right now? I pulled back my fist and slammed it into his face. “Fuck! My nose!”
I turned back to Nicole. “Are you ok, babe?” She just nodded her head.
“How did you know I was even over here?”
“I saw you walking in and was going to come watch your rehearsal.”
“Well, thanks for being my knight in shining armor, Tarzan. Do you still want to come watch?”
The dirty thoughts running through my mind when she asked me that were endless. “I don’t know if Romeo will be up for rehearsal today.”
We both looked at Aaron still laying on the floor and laughed. She grabbed my hand and started walking toward the theater. “I don’t have any scenes with him today, so it doesn’t matter.”
I was sitting in the audience watching Nicole and she was amazing. I have never been the type to go to plays and things like that, but she was such a natural. As far as the story, I couldn’t understand half of the shit they were saying.
Everyone was going out to Shattered Glass tonight, mainly because Nicole tortured us every day to go. I know she loved to perform and I really liked seeing her up there too.
What I didn’t like, was the fact that every guy in the club would stare at her the entire night.
Madison
I was meeting everyone tonight at Shattered Glass, because I was coming straight from work. My manager offered to drop me off, even though it was only like 5 blocks away, to help ease Carter’s mind. He has been so concerned lately with my safety and I get it, but sometimes it can be a little much; like now. He has been taking me shooting once a week and I am just now starting to get over my fear. I even hit the target last weekend, but I think that is because I finally had my eyes open when I pulled the trigger.
When I got out of the car, I saw Shawn walking down the street. I had texted him earlier about meeting us out tonight but he had told me he couldn’t, because he had a study group. I’m glad he changed his mind though, he hasn’t been around and I really miss him. As he is walking toward me he passes under a streetlight and I see a huge gash on his face. I run up to him and I realize he hadn’t seen me before now. “Shawn, are you okay? What happened to your face?”
“Nothing, Maddy I’m fine.”
He starts to walk around me but I grab his arm. “You are not fine! What is going on with you? I’m not stupid and I know something is up. We all do!” I am not a person who usually yells at people but I am so frustrated with him. Not only that, but I am a little bit scared of what he has gotten himself into.
He jerks his arm away from me and starts to walk away again at this point we are back in front of the club. “You are going to speak to me, Shawn Matthews!”
This time when he turned around the look in his eyes scared me. “I said, back the fuck off Madison!”
Just then I noticed Carter had come out of the club. He pushed Shawn away from me and out of my face. “Watch how you fucking talk to her!”
“You really going to push me right now, Carter? Because now is not a fucking good time!” He pushed Carter, who went slamming into me, causing me to fall on the ground.
Just as Carter was about to go after him, Jason came out and got between the two of them. “What the fuck is going on?!”
“Don’t ask me, J! Ask him! He is the one always sneaking around and disappearing. Then I come out here and he is screaming and cursing in her face.” I could hear the anger in his voice.
“Shawn, what the hell is going on?” Jason looked just as pissed; the guys have been getting more and more irritated by Shawn’s behavior over the past couple months.
“You know what, I am not dealing with this shit right now! You can all go play Dr. Phil with someone else!”
He turned and walked away from us, leaving us all wondering what the hell happened to our friend.
Nicole
When everyone came back in, they all looked ready to kill someone. I went right up to Jason when he sat down. “What happened, babe?”
He looked at me and I could tell he was trying to calm himself down before answering me. “Maddy saw Shawn walking by outside, and he had a pretty big gash on his face. She was trying to get him to tell her what was going on, when he started flipping out and yelling at her. That would be when Carter walked outside and the shit hit the fan. I had to hold them back from getting into a fight. I don’t know what is going on with him, Nic. He is not the same person he used to be.”
This was a lot to take in. Especially because Shawn was the last person I would expect stuff like this from. “Have you noticed anything weird around the apartment?”
“No. I even went into his room and looked around a couple of days ago. Nothing was out of place and everything seemed really normal, for the most part. I’m scared he is into drugs or something, but then I think-- wouldn’t I have found something?”
I could tell by his face that there was something he wasn’t saying; I wasn’t getting the whole story. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He looked up at me and I knew I had caught him. “I found an envelope with a lot of money in it, and I mean a lot. It was in his underwear drawer under a bunch of clothes.”
“Could it be something that his family sent him?”
“No. His dad has a construction company but it isn’t doing very well right now. There is no way they gave him that kind of money. I don’t want to believe it, but whatever he is into, I know it can’t be good and I seriously doubt that it is legal.”
I had no idea how to respond at this point. Everything I thought I knew about Shawn was now slowly fading away. I can’t even imagine how Jason and Carter felt; they had known each other for years. We all ended up leaving shortly after, because no one was really in the mood to sing and have a good time.
Carter and Jason went back to his apartment; they wanted to wait and try to get through to Shawn, or at least figure out what was going on. I took Maddy home so that we could hang out, because we hadn’t really had that much girl time lately. I don’t know how she was dealing with all of the crap in her life, between the miscarriage, Chris’s trial, Carter taking her to the shooting range every weekend, and school. I would have had a major meltdown by now, but I always knew she was strong. We decided to make some popcorn and just hang out for the night.
“So, how are things with Jason?”
“They are so good, Mads! He seems like is getting more comfortable with the whole relationship thing, and the sex is phenomenal. I umm…I think I’m in love with him.” I can’t believe I just said that out loud. I know that Mads would never say anything, but it feels so much more real now that I said it to someone.
“Nic, I can see that you love him, mama. I think he does too. He won’t admit it for a very long time, though. He may not even know that is what he is feeling right now, but I see it when he looks at you.”
She thought that Jason was in love with me? I don’t think that there is any way in hell that is true. He likes me, and he is definitely attracted to me, but I don’t think love has crossed his mind at all. Has it?
“Stop overanalyzing it, girl. That boy has fallen and fallen hard for you.”
“Alright, enough about me, woman; how are you?”
“I’m fine.” I know that she didn’t think that answer was really going to work on me. “What? I am!”
“Listen, girl, I have told you before and I will tell you again, I can see right through it. You, my dear, are not fine and I thought we did this shit after New Year’s. You cannot keep everyone out, Mads. You don’t always need to deal with everything yourself.”
“I know that I can’t deal with it all by myself, Nic. The thing is, that it hurts less to bury it.”
Her answer did not surprise me at all, this was how she always dealt with things and old habits are hard to break. “Mads the way that our life has been going this past year, if you try to bury everything, the cemetery is going to be overflowing in no time. Talk to me about it. I’ll even make it easy…let’s start with dickhead’s trial.”
Her face dropped. I know bringing up Chris to her was hard, but it needed to happen. “It sucks. Their lawyer is actually suggesting that I wanted to leave with Chris and that Carter has pressured me into changing my story! We have absolutely no evidence to prove my claim either. Nic, I am scared to death that he is going to walk.”
The legal system these days is so screwed up; as long as you knew people you could get away with anything. I knew that Jason had said Chris’s dad was powerful, but this shit was ridiculous. ”I know it’s hard to do, but you just need to trust that things will work out in the end. That answer sucks and it is so cliché, but it’s the truth. So let’s go with issue number two; how are you doing after losing the baby?”
She wouldn’t even look at me, but I started to see tears fall into her lap. ”How is it possible to miss someone that you never even knew? I wasn’t far along, Nic, I don’t understand how it still hurts this much. When I first found out I downloaded one of those pregnancy apps on my phone; just to see what was happening and learn. I still check it everyday and read new stuff.” She looked up at me and all I could see was pain. I scooted over closer to her and wrap
ped my arms around her.
“Mads, it is perfectly normal to miss the baby and grieve for it. The thing is, that you need to find a way to not let that grief consume you. Checking that damn app everyday is only going to make you sink deeper into depression. I can’t imagine how you feel or what you are going through, but I am here for you.” Sitting here holding her like this made me want to go to that asshole’s house and castrate him myself. I hated him from the moment I first met him, and I knew he would bring her nothing but pain.
He didn’t just take her pride, or her self-esteem this time. He took a life that never got to be, and he needed to pay. I am so scared of what will happen if he is found not guilty, because one thing I know, is that the guys will do a whole lot more than a black eye this time.
Mads and I sat there for a while just talking and I could see it was making her feel better to get it all out. Thank God I was able to convince her to delete that damn app on her phone.
When I got back home, Christen and Holly were hanging out on the couch. It still amazed me how much Holly and Carter looked alike; you would almost think they were twins.
“Hey, Nic! I can’t believe we are seeing you come home without crazy sex hair. Did Jason not feel up to it tonight?”
I sat down and threw a pillow at her. “Shut up, Christen! Don’t be jealous because Shawn hasn’t been around enough for you to make your move!” Christen had a huge crush on Shawn, but with the way he was lately I don’t know if that was a good thing.
Holly stood up and started walking toward the stairs. “Thank the Lord you are home, Nic. If I had to hear her talk about that boy for one more minute, I swear my ears might start bleeding. Good night, bitches.”
We all started to laugh as Holly made her way upstairs. I am so glad that Mads had told me they were looking for a roommate. We all clicked really well, and the house that Christen’s dad rented was amazing! “So, what’s up chick? Are you really trying to get with Shawn?”
Breaking Through The Wall (Guarded Hearts) Page 11
