by Tigris Eden
That sounds bad. I knew it was coming. Could feel it in my bones. But I refuse to go into a panic. He hadn’t slept with Viola or Talia, so anything else he was going to hit me with I could handle.
“To be fair, I’m going to admit I’m a little concerned, but I’m not going to assume the worst. I’ll hear you out.”
“Fair enough.”
Jackson pulls up into his drive and shuts off the lights. He leans across the cab, pulling me over into his lap.
“I thought–”
I don’t get a chance to finish my sentence because Jackson’s tongue has invaded my mouth. His arms tighten around me and I’m swept out to sea, only to be dragged in by his strong current. His mouth overpowers mine. Controls my every action and response to the onslaught he is delivering. I don’t want to pull away, but I need us to be firm. I want us to have the conversation so we both come away winners in the end. Finally, he releases me. His face is so close to mine, his eyes are all I can see.
“I love everything about you, Anna. Everything. This thing between us, it’s real. You understand that don't you? You get that you're it for me, and I’m it for you?”
I nod my head yes, because I can’t speak. If I say anything right now, it would be a jumbled mess.
“Okay, baby. Let’s have that talk.”
He opens his side of the door, taking me out with him. His arms go around my waist and he shuffles us up to the porch and through the front door. The lights are on inside his house, which isn’t odd. What is odd is that Inara comes out of the kitchen dressed in nothing but his uniform shirt, and a big smile on her face. Until she looks up and sees me.
This was turning out to be one of those days where life had it in for him. It was the only explanation of why Inara was in his home, in his shirt, and in front of Anna. He had every intention of telling Anna he’d slept with Inara, but he wanted to go about it a different way. He wanted to approach and proceed with extreme caution. Inara had gone and fucked up that plan.
Anna was rigid in his arms. She didn’t try to get away from him, but stood planted to the ground. Instinctively, he brought her into his chest. He didn’t want her running off. Her fingernails dug into his forearms painfully and he took it. He deserved a lot worse.
“Inara, what the fuck are you doing here in my house?”
Her hands went to her hips, his shirt rising to expose her bare thighs.
“What do you mean what am I doing here? What is she doing here, Jackson? You said it was over between you two.”
He had thought so at the time. But he hadn’t promised Inara any happily-ever-afters. She knew that. Everything was coming to head and quickly. He wanted to explain about Inara, not that there was a good explanation. But he was going to do his best to try.
“Things changed.”
“Don’t be too sure about that, Sheriff.” Anna interjected. She still hadn’t tried to rid herself of his arms. But he could tell she was pissed. The anger she was holding back was tangible. He could feel it as it repeatedly beat at his brow along with the nails digging into his skin.
“Anna. Now there is a good explanation for why this looks a certain way.”
She huffed before she let out a string of curses.
“I’m trying real fucking hard to be understanding, but I gotta tell you– it doesn’t look good for you.”
He knew it didn’t. First, he needed to deal with Inara.
“Baby, can you go in the living room while I talk to Inara?”
“That would be a big hell no. I’m staying right here. No more sending me away while you deal with your shit. I’m here,” she turned and narrowed her eyes on his. “I’m staying put.”
“You gonna let her talk to you like that, Jackson?”
“Shut it, Inara.”
“Why? She’s the one that shouldn’t be here. This is between you and me. You said you cared about me, Jackson.”
Shit. Here comes the crazy.
He knew Inara was bad news, but he’d been trying to forget Anna any way he could, and although it hadn’t helped, he was stuck with the fallout. Inara was his to deal with. He should have never started things up with her.
“I do care about you, Inara. That’s who I am. But I don’t love you.”
She flinched, her entire body going stiff as she locked eyes on him and then zeroed in on Anna.
“This is all your fault, bitch. Coming in and out of his life like a fucking yo-yo. I was here for him when no one else was. Did things for him that you couldn’t even stomach.”
“That’s enough, Inara. You need to leave.”
“Oh, no. She’s staying. We might as well let it all hang out. Right? She wants honesty? Let’s be honest here. We’re all adults.”
She walked closer toward them, her plans clear. Jackson didn’t know how to stop the collision that was about to happen. He just hoped he’d be able to control the result of the crash.
“Jackson here likes it rough. Sometimes a little too rough. Before you came along and that brat sister of his, it used to be me, Jackson, and Treat. Now he’s married to Joey, couldn’t invite her to the party because you know that’s just wrong. But you know, I didn’t complain. I still had Jackson. He’d promise to take care of me, and for a while, he did. I didn’t mind the other women in his life because I knew he’d come back to me. He always did. Still does. Because that’s exactly what he did when you left a few months ago. It didn’t even take him an entire week before he was back in my bed. We partied, and I mean we got down to the nitty-gritty. He ever take your ass?”
Anna was the one to flinch this time at her words, because yeah, he’d brought it up to her, but hadn’t acted on it. And he wouldn’t if it was what she decided.
“Do you let him tie you up? Blindfold you? Or how about fuck you any and everywhere he sees fit? Darlin', my guess is he doesn’t. You can’t possibly keep a man like Jackson interested in you. Not acting like you do. Jackson craves that. His body is hardwired for what I can give him. You...” Inara gloats, looking Anna up and down. “Why, honey, you can’t keep him satisfied.”
There was silence as they listened to what Inara had to say. All of it, except for the last part had been true. He had kept Inara around because she was willing to do just about anything. But Anna was all he needed. She was more than enough for him. She was everything that every other woman in his bed wasn’t, and the possibility of so much more if given the chance to explore her darker side. Jackson wasn’t a fool. He knew Anna couldn’t be expected to jump right into the things he liked. He’d resolved himself to that long ago. Whatever she wanted is what he would give her, and he had no doubts in his mind they were compatible in all things. But for her to hear it this way and from Inara, was fucked up.
How to fix this?
He didn’t know how, but all he could do was tell the truth. Not that he hadn’t intended on telling her to begin with, but now he would have to go with the ugly version, before he could get to the beautiful reality.
“Inara, I’m not going to ask you again to leave. We were never a couple to begin with. You understood that. The stuff with us recently was a mistake. Now don’t make me tell you again.”
Jackson watched as Inara’s face dropped. There was real confusion on her face. He didn’t understand how. He’d made it clear when they’d started messing around it wasn’t serious. Part of him felt bad, but he hadn’t been with her in days.
“I don’t have a ride.”
“I’ll call you a cab, then.”
Anna eased herself from his arms and walked over to the kitchen. She opened the fridge, pulled out some juice, and poured herself a glass. She was being unnaturally calm. This worried him.
“Have you eaten anything?”
This came from Anna who was now in the kitchen going through the cabinets. This didn’t bode well. He was expecting all hell to break loose. But she hadn’t done anything remotely hellish. He knew there was a countdown, and it was only a matter of time before she exploded all over his kit
chen.
“Baby, lets order takeout. We still need to talk.”
Jackson pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialed the number of the local cab company. Looking over at Inara, he motioned for her to get moving.
“You need to get dressed and be ready to go in five. The cab will be here shortly. And Inara....”
“What?”
“What happened tonight, it doesn’t leave this house. If I so much as hear one word whispered about what went down here tonight, I’ll be making that call that I should have made months ago. You understand?”
Inara visibly paled. She nodded her head once and then walked past him toward the bathroom. She was dressed in record time.
“Jackson, can I talk to you for a second?” She said as she made her way to the front door.
Anna stepped from the kitchen then and waited. She didn’t say anything but the look on her face was clear. Whatever Inara wanted to say she could say in front of her as well.
“Say what you need to say, Inara.”
“Are you going to let this get in the way of our other arrangement?”
“No. All will remain the same as long as you keep your distance.”
Inara quickly nodded and walked out the door. He turned back and watched as Anna made her way back into the kitchen. She still hadn’t erupted. A pissed off woman was bad in his book. That hadn’t been the plan. He’d wanted to talk to her first, before he hurt her feelings, and he knew she was in pain. He’d been feeling the same thing when he thought she was in bed with another man, and he’d done what he thought would chase the pain away. He got in bed with Inara. It hadn’t solved anything, had only added to the headache he knew he was going to have to deal with at some point, because Inara was clingy. She latched on and wouldn’t let go until she drained her target dry. It was one of many reasons his captain had agreed to have her watched in Beauville. No one wanted her father to get a hold of her. In exchange for her cooperation, she was in the custody of Jackson and Treat. Kind of like witness protection, only they were guarding her.
“Are we talking or what? I’m tired, hungry, and I’d like to eat so I can figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life, and whether I want you in it.”
Anna was always straight to the point when pissed.
“Alright, darlin’, we’ll have that talk, but first you have to let me explain about Inara.”
Anna held up both hands.
“I don’t want to know the gory details. You two were sleeping with each other. I get it. Why, I can only guess. What I will say about this evening’s event is two things. One, you and I, like you said are it for each other. I get that. In some strange unexplainable way, I can’t work you out of my system.”
That made him smile.
“Don’t go getting excited, Sheriff Storme, I’m not done. Second, there will be no more sexing, or sleeping together until we’re both sure about what this is we’re building. That means I sleep in the guestroom. And before you even think to argue, you had better think very hard about the next words that come out of your mouth. That will make or break this little tète-a-tète you want to have.”
They weren’t sleeping together? Oh, he was not having that shit at all. He’d give her tonight, but tomorrow she was back in his bed. Permanently.
“Well since we’re handing out ultimatums, I’ll go ahead and say that number two on your list is a moot point. I’ll give you tonight, Anna, but after that, you’re in my bed. Don’t fucking try to argue with me either. Sleeping without you isn’t an option.”
“Well it was when you were fucking Inara. You had her here in your bed. So it wasn’t all bad now, was it?”
“You’re testing my last nerve.”
“You got some nerve if you think for one minute I’m sleeping in your bed. A bed that had another woman in there within the last few days.” She laughed then. It was cynical and so not like his Anna. “You got jokes if you think that is going to happen.”
“Anna,” he growled taking a step toward her.
“Jackson,” she tossed back.
“Don’t test me, woman. I’ll pass and you’ll fail. All the time.”
She put her hands on the counter in front of her and shook her head.
“Stubborn man, I’m not sleeping in that bed with you. Not now, not ever. We clear?”
So, it was the bed she had a problem with. He could fix that. He would fix it.
“Fine, but that will only be true for tonight.”
“Whatever,” huffed Anna, “We talking or what?”
“I thought that’s what we were doing.”
“Fine then,” she walked over to his table and sat in one of the chairs. “I’m hungry so call takeout, so we can eat and talk. I’ll open a bottle of Moscato.”
He loved her, he really did. She was getting on his last nerve. The very last one. If she so much as looked at him sideways, he was going to throw her over his knee and spank her ass.
Give and Take: Chapter 14
We’re staring at each other. Jackson doesn’t know what to say to me, and I sure don’t know what the hell I’m going to say to him. Not after what happened with Inara. I’m hurt. A hurt that travels soul deep. How could he sleep with another woman after such a short period? I had suspected as much, and at the same time, I even tried to excuse it. But was I willing to overlook it and move on with my life? With him? I don’t know. What I did know was that Jackson was right. He was it for me. I define insanity when it comes to him. I am fatally flawed where Jackson is concerned.
Were his actions forgivable? Could I even be the mature person I said I was going to be moving forward? My mind tried to counter attack my heart’s decision. My logic had gone into defense mode, and my heart was still trying to decide whether or not his actions were forgivable. He hadn’t tried to come and get me back. There was no fight, on either side. We both were wrong in our actions, but this wasn’t about pointing fingers or laying blame. It was about accepting what was and moving forward.
He needs to explain himself, so I don’t say anything. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but after a long moment, he finally begins talking.
“I know I handled the incident with Vivian wrong. I should have gone after you. You’re the most important person in my life, besides Ava. She will grow up, she’ll leave, and if I don’t have you by my side, who will be there for me? Who will be there for you? I want to be the guy who wakes up to you every morning and goes to bed with you wrapped up in my arms every night. I can’t make excuses for my actions, except to say I was an idiot. I was dealing with issues that we could have easily handled together. I didn’t tell you about Vivian, and I should have. You would have been better equipped to handle the situation had I opened my mouth and talked to you. Baby, I didn’t give you all the facts about my life. I know some couples start where they start, but you and I have been ingrained in one another’s life for a long time. You need to know everything there is to know about me. The good and the bad. I’m not going to apologize for my actions in the past, but I will apologize to you for finding out from someone other than me.”
I nod, not wanting to interrupt him. He is right. It would have gone down differently if I had known certain things about him. Since we are laying it all out on the table, I’m not sure if I needed to mention Treat. I hadn’t even talked to Treat, himself, about him being my brother. It isn’t something that’s necessary as we are family already, but as Jackson apologizes for how he handled Vivian and Ava, I wonder how I should approach the situation with Treat. Do I, or don’t I bring it up at all? I decide to wait. There will be time enough for that later.
“The situation with Inara was messed up. I take full responsibility for that. I thought we were done, Anna. When Talia said you were in bed with another man, I lost it. I should have known you’d never do anything like that. You’re not the kind of woman who goes from one man’s bed to another. But when you left, I thought I’d made the same mistake I’d made with Vivian. And because I was hurt,
I did something I thought would make me feel better. It didn’t.”
“So why’d you keep doing it?”
He rubbed a hand down his face and sighed before answering.
“I only slept with her twice. The last time we were together was three days ago. Even then, I knew I was doing something wrong, but because I thought we were over, I didn’t bother to care.”
Oww. That hurt.
Men could be so cruel.
“So the next time we should happen to need space, what happens then?”
“Anna, you didn’t leave a note, you didn’t tell me you needed space. You just took off.”
“Right, but you didn’t even try to come after me.”
He growls before slamming his fists down on the table. Next on our list of issues to talk about was his aggression towards inanimate objects.
“This is real life. We’re ordinary people, Anna. This isn’t some romantic chick flick, or romance novel. I’m not going to chase after you, not because you’re not worth chasing after, it’s because if we’d just cut out the bullshit and talk to each another, you’d see what we have is real. No gimmicks, nothing fake. It’s just you and me. I asked you to trust me, and you didn’t. Then you left without saying goodbye. What reassurances do I have that it won’t happen again? That you won’t run away when we get into a disagreement?”
“I want to open a studio here in Beauville. Maybe even go in with India. She wants to do event planning. I can do the pictures.”
What little circulation we had in the room stalls out. Jackson stands, and then sits back down. Stands again, walks in the kitchen, grabs a glass and pours himself some juice. He doesn’t look at me, and I don’t know why, until I stand and walk over to him.
“Jackson, what’s the matter with you? Didn’t you just hear what I said?”
His voice is gruff when he responds. “Yeah,” he whispers. “I heard you; just want to make sure I’m hearing what you’re saying.”
