Breaking Faith (The JackholeS Book 1)

by Joy Eileen

  He turned around and winked at her. “Thanks, babe.”

  D soon quieted down, so whatever Van did was helping. Kill looked outside, laughing at whatever they were doing to halt Amy and Jet.

  “Aren’t you going to go help them?” I asked, going over to him just in time to see Van haul Jet out of the Highlander, and D bent over to make sure his interior was semen free.

  “Nah, they had it handled,” he replied, laughing when Jet got behind D and pretended to hump him. D pushed Jet off of him, still inspecting the interior.

  “See you later tonight,” he said in my ear.

  “I don’t know if I'm going to be able to stay awake,” I said, certain I would.

  “Well, then save me a spot,” he whispered in my ear, before walking out of the house. “Bye, friend.”

  “Bye” I replied, to the closed door.

  “Be careful," Jessie said startling me.

  “We're friends.” I responded, going into the kitchen to gather the junk food we bought.

  “Friends who whisper sweet nothings in each other ears? What did he say?”

  “He wants to wear my leather bustier I bought,” I told her.

  “But you didn’t buy one.”

  “I know, it was a joke.”

  “Van was right. You two do have a weird friendship.”

  “You have no idea,” I replied. “Do you want to watch the movies out here, or in my room?”

  “Let’s go in your room and binge,” she replied, filling up two large cups with ice.

  “Ok, we'll have to take this up in trips.”

  When we had the loot in my room, I threw my purchases on the floor, and we changed into comfy clothes.

  “Which one do we watch first?” Jessie asked, as we looked over our selection.

  “Bridgette Jones's Diary, or Love Actually,” I responded, going for the British comedies.

  Jessie picked 'Love Actually' and put it in while I stacked the discarded movies on nightstand. We watched 'Crazy Stupid Love' next. Both of us sighed when Ryan Gosling did the 'Dirty Dancing' move.

  We decided we needed to watch 'Dirty Dancing' next, and recited the lines verbatim. We passed out before the movie was over, and I was cuddling the popcorn bowl when my door opened.

  My eyes snapped open, and my heart thundered in my chest. Memories of Jason attacking me while I slept viciously invaded my brain.

  My eyes adjusted just in time to see Kill at his side of the bed, which Jessie now occupied. I sat up quickly, clutching the empty bowl so it didn’t make a noise.

  “Hey, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Kill whispered.

  “Kill, stop.”

  He froze, confused.

  “Jessie's in here; we fell asleep.”

  His eyes went wide when he registered Jessie’s sleeping form. He came over to my side and kneeled down. I turned over so we were face to face.

  “This sucks,” he whispered, and I smiled at him.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Jessie stirred, so I leaned in closer not wanting to wake her.

  “I waited until all of the boys went to bed before I snuck in here. Come get in bed with me,” he said, his eyes lighting up to the idea.

  “What if Jessie wakes up and I'm not in bed with her?”

  “I don’t know if I can sleep without your snoring.”

  “I’m sorry. I tried to wait up for you, but I had a sugar crash. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t want to sleep without you.”

  I felt brave enough to admit this in the dark. A hint of a smile appeared on his face, confirming it was the right thing to reveal.

  “How was the show?”

  Jessie moved again, and I glanced over to make sure she was still asleep. When I turned around, Kill picked me up off of the bed. He shushed me when I tried to protest. He took me downstairs and deposited me on the couch.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed, not wanting to wake anyone up.

  “My legs were getting tired crouched down like that, and if I can’t sleep with you, at least I can tell you about my night before I have to go to my big bed alone. If Jessie wakes up you can tell her you couldn’t sleep, and came down here to watch T.V. with me.”

  He turned on the T.V. to make his excuse as truthful as possible. Kill pulled me on his lap and I snuggled in.

  “I’m glad you brought me down here. Ok, tell me how the show went?” I asked as his hands brushed through my hair.

  “Me too, I missed your smart ass tonight.”

  “I know. I was afraid without being insulted by me all day, your ego would overrun the city.”

  His chest rumbled, in that delicious way it does, when he chuckled. I put my hand flat on his chest, wanting to catch every movement.

  “Well, I think your text messages kept it at bay, but it wasn’t as good as the real thing.”

  “So the show, the way you keep avoiding answering me makes me wonder if you didn’t screw up completely. I told you practice doesn't always make perfect. And to be honest, I don’t know if your voice is ever going to be good, practice or not.”

  He tugged on my hair lightly.

  “It was good. There were a lot of people tonight, and some asked about you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you. They heard about your performances at Ray’s, and wanted to know if you were going to sing with us at The Note.”

  “Did you explain I only sing at Ray’s because I'm messing around with you guys?” I said, panic rising up inside of me.

  “No, I told them you would come next time.”

  “What?” I screeched, moving my head so I could glare at him.

  “Slick, you're good, and you give the band another facet that will help us get discovered. You need more confidence.”

  “Kill, I can’t.” I couldn’t keep it the terror out of my voice.

  “Hush, we'll talk about this later. I don’t want to argue with you.” He rubbed my back soothingly, and guided my head back to the spot on his chest. I bit his chest lightly, causing him to jump.

  “What was that for?”

  “For telling people I would do something without talking to me first.”

  “I told them because I know I can talk you into doing it. So what would be the point of telling them no?”

  “So sure of yourself, aren’t you?” I asked, offended he thought he could manipulate me so easily.

  “No, I'm sure of you. I know you don’t want to let us down, and if that didn’t work, I was going to offer to buy you a new pair of shoes.”

  “New shoes?” I perked up, making him laugh.

  “You're so easy, Slick.”

  “You know, that's the second time today somebody told me that,” I grumbled.

  Kill laughed, and I nipped his chest again. “You do that again, and it's going to be very uncomfortable on my lap.”

  I snorted into his chest. "So…. about those new shoes?”

  “Alright, if you come with us next Tuesday, I will buy you a new pair.”

  “I’ll go on Tuesday, and you don’t even have to buy me a new pair. You already bought me a beautiful pair, and I can’t take advantage of you. Let’s just say you prepaid for my services."

  “I don’t mind buying you anything, Slick.”

  “It’s fine, Killer. Tell me more about tonight,” I said, changing the subject, not feeling comfortable with him shelling out more money on me.

  “Nice try changing the subject. We'll talk about the shoes later.”

  I picked up my head from his chest ready to argue, but he pressed it back down.

  “It was different without you; in the audience, or onstage. I kept glancing around the bar looking for you.”

  “You missed me. I think you like me,” I teased.

  He grabbed my hand and nipped the tip of my middle finger, sending electricity zinging through me and making my breath hitch. I yanked my hand back, tucking it in between us.

  “I did not miss you. I missed your smart ass. You keep fishing f
or me to tell you missed you. Are you projecting your feelings on me?”

  I laughed so hard, I had to wipe the tears from the edge of my eyes.

  “Did you really just psychoanalyze me?”

  “What, you didn’t think I knew what projecting was?”

  “Shut up, that's not what I meant.”

  “Ok, well, maybe I missed you a little, but only because I had nobody smart enough to come up with witty comebacks. I honestly thought I would to have to give people a ten minute reprieve to think of something clever.”

  “Ahh Killer, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. I missed you too,” I admitted into his chest.

  I could hear his powerful heartbeat through his t-shirt, and it sped up after my confession.

  “You're kind of addicting. I think your snoring has special powers, because while I waited for the boys to fall asleep, I was wide awake.”

  “I can record it for you so you can listen to it while you're in your room. I wonder if I could market it for other egotistical, moody musicians that can’t sleep,” I snarked back, snuggling deeper into him as he ran his fingers through my hair.

  He laughed quietly into my hair, and my eyelids dropped down, too heavy to keep open. “Nope, you're my discovery for sleeping soundly at night, and I refuse to share. I missed that day in kindergarten.”

  “Kill, I can’t keep my eyes open,” I said, my voice thick with sleep.

  “Go to sleep. I'll wake you up before everyone else wakes up, and if Jessie asks where you were, you can just tell her you couldn’t sleep and fell asleep on the couch.”

  “What about you? Aren’t you tired?” I asked, ready to fall asleep as soon as he gave me the reassurance I needed.

  “I sleep better with you near me, but I'm a light sleeper. If I hear anyone coming, I'll move you off of me and make it look like we fell asleep watching T.V.”

  He yawned and slipped his hand under my shirt, touching my bare skin and causing a small fire in between my thighs. If sleep hadn’t been so consuming, I wouldn’t have been able to bank my desire so easily.

  “Are you comfortable like this?” I asked, my voice slurring from the amount of effort it took to speak.

  “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

  “We can lie down so you will be more comfortable.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  I nodded my head, too close to falling asleep for words. He shifted us around, until we were spooning. My brain registered I was no longer buried in his chest, and his smell was fainter. I turned, burying my nose in his chest. I hitched my leg in between his, so we were properly intertwined.

  “Better?” he asked, and I could hear the smile in his voice as I nodded my head.

  “Night Slick.”

  “Night Killer, I hope my snoring lulls you to sleep.”

  Not much later, I felt Kill shifting me around so we were no longer tangled together.

  “Where are you going?” I mumbled, reaching for his hand.

  “I'm going to make my protein shake, don’t get up just yet; sleep some more.”

  He brushed his lips over my forehead, and I burrowed further into the couch where he had been.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder. I nudged it off, wanting to stay in my current dream of Kill. After another nudge, I recognized the electrical current accompanying the touch, Kill stood above me with a smile on his face.

  “Morning, do you want some coffee?” he asked, his half-smile doing naughty things to the lower half of my body.

  “Water,” I croaked. “I had so much sugar last night that anything but water sounds wrong.”

  Kill pulled the blanket off, taking my hand and hauled me off of the couch. “Come on, let’s go get you your water.”

  My stomach knotted up from moving so fast, and my bottle of Tums was nowhere nearby to help me. I winced from the pain.

  “Did I hurt you?” he asked, his face coated with worry as he searched my face.

  “No, my stomach hurts from all of the junk,” I explained, giving him the half-truth.

  His face relaxed when he realized he hadn't done anything to cause me pain. “Come on, let's detox you then. We'll skip our run today.”

  “I'll be fine after I drink some water. We don’t have to skip our run,” I replied, not wanting to be the broken girl anymore.

  “Alright, let’s get you hydrated.”

  “I'll meet you in a second. I'm going to go change and check on Jessie.”

  He nodded his head and went to the kitchen as I went upstairs. Jessie was still asleep, and I didn’t think she had moved from the position she had been in when I left with Kill.

  I was shaky, and weak from the short walk upstairs. I threw a handful of Tums in my mouth as I pulled out some workout clothes. I got ready in the bedroom, not wanting to wake Jessie up. I hoped she would never be the wiser to my nocturnal abandonment.

  I gathered everything we didn’t annihilate last night and took it downstairs for the boys. Kill was at the kitchen table with his protein shake when I came down with my arms full of leftovers. He helped me put it away.

  “Jeez, no wonder you don’t feel well. Did you buy the whole store?” he asked, handing me a bottle of water.

  I took a long drink, letting the cool liquid coat my parched throat.

  “We did, in fact, I'm the new owner of Target,” I quipped back as we made our way toward the table.

  “Nice to meet you. I love your store,” he replied.

  “Are you hungry?” My stomach rolled, causing the boulder to dislodge and trample my already painful stomach.

  “Judging by the fact your face turned green at the mention of food, I'm going to take that as a no,” Kill responded, concern etched on his face. “We don’t have to go running today.”

  My skin was clammy as my abdomen started an acidic burn. I took another sip of my water, trying to dilute it.

  “I'll be fine,” I said, but my voice sounded just as shaky as I felt.

  “Nope, you look like you're about to pass out. We're not running today and you're resting until you have to go to work. You haven’t been working this schedule very long. You need to allow your body to adjust.”

  I hated to see the worry on his face, but I couldn’t focus on making him feel better, as the water was now traitorously stabbing my abdomen with the tiny swords it had stowed away unbeknownst to me.

  I put my head on the cool table, as the urge to vomit ran through me. Kill got up, and turned on the faucet. A wet cloth was placed on the back of my neck, and the shock brought me away from the precipice of fainting.

  Jessie came downstairs, and when she saw me plastered on the table with Kill hovering over me she ran over.

  “Faith, are you ok? What happened?”

  I went to answer her, but bile started to rise, so I snapped my mouth closed.

  “She had too much junk food last night, and she couldn’t sleep. We watched T.V. downstairs until we both fell asleep. She didn’t get much sleep though, and I don’t think her body's taking the lack of sleep and sugar shock very well.” Kill's voice was calming as he explained, and my stomach stopped trying to revolt.

  I carefully lifted my head, but when the room spun, I clamped my eyes shut and put my head back on the table, groaning.

  “I'm so sorry, Faith. What can I do?” Jessie pleaded.

  “I’m fine. I think I just need to drink some more water, and maybe sleep for a couple more hours.” I put my hands flat on the table, letting the coolness seep into my wrists. My stomach rolled around, upset I moved.

  “I'm going to pick you up and take you to bed,” Kill said, removing the cool cloth on my neck.

  “I can walk, Kill, you don’t have to carry me.” My voice was weak, and I hated he once again had to rescue me.

  “I know I don’t have to. I want to. Let me be your friend. You can pay me back by letting me wear that leather bustier,” he replied as he lifted me up.

  I pushed my face into his neck, breathing him
in as my body revolted from the movement. He stood there for a moment letting me adjust to the change.

  “Ready?”

  I nodded my head, and he gently carried me upstairs. Jessie followed.

  When he put me on my bed, I immediately curled up into a ball.

  “Do you want me to stay with you?” Jessie asked, sounding frantic.

  “No, you need to go crawl in bed with Van.”

  “Faith, I want to make sure you're ok,” she whined.

  “Jess, you aren’t going to stay still, and I can't handle movement right now. I'll be fine, I just need another hour or two. Go get in bed with Van, and make him a happy boy.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Go on Jessie, I'll take care of her,” Kill urged, as he led Jessie out of the room.

  I took the alone time to grab my bottle of Tums and chomp on a handful, not wanting him to discover my secret stash.

  Kill came back just as I swallowed, and I was thankful I didn’t have to explain why my bedside partner was a bottle of Tums. He got into bed, making as little movement as possible. He placed the cloth on my forehead, and I slid over until I was pressed on his side.

  “I'm sorry. I should have let you sleep longer.”

  I reached out a shaky hand and placed it on his stomach. “It wasn’t your fault. I had too much junk, and not enough sleep the past couple of weeks; it all just compounded on me. I'll be fine after a couple more hours of rest. You don’t have to stay in bed with me. I'm just going to sleep.”

  The second round of Tums seemed to be doing its job, and I was already feeling better.

  “I know I don’t have to, but this is what my friendship entails, so get used to it.”

  “You can turn on the T.V. if you want,” I told him, already letting my body sink into a healing sleep.

  He flipped through channels as I drifted off to sleep listening to the T.V. drone on in the background.

  Chapter 24

  I woke up groggy, and sprawled on top of Kill. He slept with his arms over his head. I studied him, reveling in him for a moment, afraid if he woke up and saw me staring, he would consider me a stalker. His lip curled up on one side, and I leaned in closer.

  “Do you see something you like, or are you plotting my death?” Kill asked, not moving from his position.