Burned

by Gabrielle Gibson

  Hot tears slipped down her cheeks as she felt sorry for herself. God, she was an idiot! Neither of them really wanted her.

  Jack preferred freedom and random hook-ups to being with her.

  And Scott didn’t want to sleep with her at all. He just wanted a partner, someone to experience life with. Someone respectable that he could call his wife, someday be the mother of his children. There was no passion between them. None at all.

  It was hard not to think that she was the problem here. She felt like a complete failure. She had read every article she could get her hands on about what guys want in bed, how to make a guy crazy with desire. It was all useless when Scott refused to do anything but the most basic attempts at foreplay and then brief missionary position sex.

  He got angry if she even made a sexual joke, telling her it wasn’t appropriate for her to talk that way. He would remind her that they had agreed to let God be a part of their marriage and he doubted that God would approve of a married woman acting like that.

  Well, what was done was done. They were married now and she would make the best of it.

  She turned and smiled brightly at her new husband. “I don’t know, honey, what do you think?”

  “WELCOME BACK!” ZOEY HUGGED HER close. “I missed you so much!”

  Jessie hugged her, a huge smile on her face. “Oh my God, I know! I missed you too!”

  “Your trip looked amazing. I followed you on Facebook every day. I can’t wait to hear all about it.” Zoey pulled her inside.

  Jessie had smelled barbecue as soon as she and Scott had pulled up in front of Chris’s house. Sure enough, Chris and Jack were on the huge deck, Chris manning the smoker.

  “It smells amazing!” Jessie said as she stepped outside.

  Chris turned and reached out for a hug.

  “Hey, welcome back.”

  “Thanks.” She glanced at Jack, who was watching her from across the deck, leaning against the railing. “Hi, Jack.”

  He nodded stiffly. “Hey.”

  Scott walked outside and put his arm around her.

  “Hi, Chris.” Scott shook hands with Chris. Then he reached his arm out to shake Jack’s hand as well. “Jack.”

  Jack shook his hand, his facial expression blank. “Scott. Welcome back. How was your trip?”

  “Oh, it was great,” Scott replied. “Jessie’s so much fun to travel with. She’s so full of energy. She can go all day long, never gets tired. Wants to see and do everything.”

  “I bet.” Jack smirked slightly.

  Jack had also been following Jessie’s posts on Facebook for the past three weeks, part of him enjoying seeing her excitement at all of the places she was visiting, the other part of him jealous as hell that it wasn’t him enjoying those places with her.

  And he bet Scott had been in pussy heaven, with three weeks of nothing to do but sightsee, eat, and drag Jessie back to a hotel room and wear her perfect little pussy out.

  Fuck, it still pissed him off to think about anyone else tearing into her! Why did it feel like she was still his? Jessie belonged to Scott now. She was his wife. He was just going to have to get that through his fucking head.

  She had looked so glowingly beautiful and happy in the pictures she posted. Just more reassurance that he had done right in letting her go.

  “How was Paris?” Zoey asked. “Was it romantic?”

  Jessie shrugged and glanced at Jack quickly. He was watching her, his face its usual mask of indifference. But his eyes were fiery with interest.

  “Yeah, of course it was,” Jessie said, smiling at Scott.

  Jack noticed that her smile was fake. He wondered what that was all about.

  “Did you recreate the Lady & The Tramp spaghetti scene?” Zoey teased. “Jessie’s such a romantic. She always wanted to do that.”

  Jessie blushed and laughed. “Yes, we did, actually. Now stop making fun of me and go get me a beer. Geez, some hostess you are. You haven’t even offered us a drink.”

  Zoey laughed with her. “As if you’re a guest! You’re family, girl! That means you help yourself and get your own damn beer!”

  Kennedy came running through the yard.

  “Jessie! Jessie!” she called out excitedly, jumping up in Jessie’s arms.

  “Hey, baby girl!” Jessie laughed, hugging her close. “I missed you so much!”

  “Where have you been? I missed you. You went away for too long,” Kennedy pouted.

  “Hey,” Jack interrupted. “We talked about this, remember? You’re supposed to be happy for Jessie. Don’t be a brat.”

  Kennedy made a face.

  “I mean it,” Jack said. “You want to stay home tomorrow or go to your friends’ birthday party?”

  “I want to go to the party,” Kennedy said, hanging her head down like she was so sorry.

  He had noticed this sort of bratty, pouting, spoiled attitude lately and he didn’t like it. He was going to nip in the bud. Last thing he wanted was a little spoiled brat princess to deal with.

  “Okay then, fix your attitude. Everything isn’t about you. Tell Jessie how happy you are to see her and that you’re glad she had a good time on her trip.”

  Kennedy obeyed and apologized to Jessie.

  “That’s okay, sweetie,” Jessie said. “I brought you some presents. Want to come with me to get them out of the car?”

  Kennedy nodded enthusiastically.

  “SO WHAT WAS THAT ALL about earlier?” Jessie asked, finding Jack alone in the kitchen.

  “What do you mean?” Jack asked, reaching for another beer out of the refrigerator.

  “With Kennedy. She was just excited to see me, Jack. I think you were kind of hard on her.”

  Jack laughed bitterly.

  “Well, you haven’t been around much lately, so you wouldn’t know what a brat she’s been the past few weeks. Maybe your daddy always let you have your own way and made everything about you, but my kid’s going to learn that the whole fucking world doesn’t revolve around her. I’m not raising a spoiled princess, Jessie.”

  Jessie frowned.

  “I wasn’t spoiled by my father, Jack. And I don’t think Kennedy is either. She’s only five years old. There’s nothing wrong with her wanting attention. It’s normal.”

  “She needs to get over this attachment she has to you. You’re not really going to be a big part of her life anymore. She’s just going to have to adapt,” Jack said simply.

  Jessie felt like he had punched her in the gut. She loved Kennedy so much. Was he saying he didn’t want her to spend time with his daughter anymore?

  “I don’t understand, Jack. Have I done something to upset you? Why wouldn’t I still spend time with Kennedy?”

  Jack sighed. “Jessie, you’re not being realistic. Your husband isn’t going to be okay with you spending a bunch of time with some other guy’s kid.”

  “Scott knows how much Kennedy means to me. He understands and he won’t stop me from seeing her. Only you can do that, Jack.”

  He ran a hand through his hair and didn’t say anything.

  “Jack. You know how much Kennedy and I love each other. If you’re trying to punish me for something, please don’t do it that way. It will hurt Kennedy as much as it will me.”

  Punish her? Fuck yeah he wanted to punish her.

  For moving on like he’d told her to do? For marrying Scott?

  Fuck.

  “I won’t keep you from her. Why would I do that?”

  “I don’t know, Jack. You seem angry with me. Have I done something?”

  He shook his head.

  “No. I’m not angry with you. I just don’t want Kennedy to get her feelings hurt when you decide you don’t have time for her anymore.”

  “That won’t happen, Jack. You know me better than that.”

  He nodded.

  “Are you sure everything’s okay? You seem a little… I don’t know…” Jessie began.

  “I’m fine,” Jack cut her off. His voice softened. “I’m g
lad you’re back, Jessie. It’s good to see you.”

  “You, too, Jack. Back to work on Monday. Any good cases while I was away?”

  Jack visibly relaxed when the topic turned to work. She listened attentively as Jack caught her up on work stuff. She didn’t even notice that an hour had passed.

  Scott poked his head in the room. “Want something to eat, honey?”

  Jessie stood up quickly. “Oh yeah, sure. Jack?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute.”

  “YOU AND JACK WERE TALKING for quite a while today,” Scott observed, as he entered their bedroom.

  She had moved in with Scott when they returned from their honeymoon. Her sweet little house on the water was up for sale now, though it kind of broke her heart to let it go.

  Jessie looked up quickly, caught off guard as she stood naked next to their bed. She hesitated only briefly before continuing to rub lotion into her skin.

  “Yeah, he was catching me up on work stuff.”

  Scott’s eyes barely skated over her before he looked away.

  “Why don’t you do that in the bathroom?”

  “This bothers you?” Jessie asked, a hot flush staining her cheeks.

  Scott shrugged. “I just think that’s the kind of thing you should do in private.”

  “I think most guys would love to watch their wives rub lotion all over their naked bodies.”

  “Most guys? Like who? Jack?” Scott’s tone turned nasty.

  “What? Why would you say that?” Jessie averted her eyes.

  “Seems like he’s always got his eyes all over you. I’m not stupid, Jessie. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other.”

  “Scott, I don’t…” Jessie began.

  He cut her off. “Don’t say anything, Jessie. I honestly don’t want to know. I don’t know if anything ever happened between you and Jack and I don’t want to know. I just think it would be better if we didn’t see that group socially so much anymore.”

  “That group? You don’t mean Zoey and Chris?”

  Scott shrugged. “Well, Jack’s a part of that group, isn’t he?”

  “Zoey’s my best friend. I’m not going to cut her out of my life because you feel uncomfortable with the way Jack looks at me.”

  Scott walked around the bed, standing next to her. He wrapped his hands around her waist.

  “You’re my wife, Jessie. Not Jack’s.”

  His hands stroked over her breasts and down to her hips. He pushed her down on their bed and hovered over her.

  “Of course. I’m yours, Scott. All yours.”

  “Is this what you want? What you’re always after, right? Sex? It’s all you ever think about, isn’t it?”

  “Not all the time, but yes, I want it. More than we do it. I just think most couples do it more often than we do.”

  “Is that so?”

  She nodded.

  She felt his erection grow against her.

  He kissed her then, his hands roaming over her in a way he had never touched her. Briefly she felt desire flare deep inside of her, her neglected body coming to life, eager for attention.

  She moaned and reached for his waistband. He helped her with the button and unzipped his pants, pushing them down.

  “Is this getting you hot?” Scott whispered.

  “Yes,” Jessie responded. “I want you to touch me, Scott… please.”

  She reached for his cock, sliding her hand gently around it.

  “Dammit,” Scott swore, looking down as his erection deflated at her touch. “I’m sorry, Jessie, I’m sorry this keeps happening.”

  “Is it me?” Jessie asked, tears slipping down her cheeks.

  “No. I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Scott, please talk to me. Maybe we can make this better.”

  “Talk about what? I treated you like a whore just now and you liked it. Not exactly how I envisioned my sweet, innocent wife acting. I don’t understand you sometimes, Jessie. You were always such a nice girl, but it’s like you’ve changed. Did you turn into a slut for him?”

  Jessie felt tears sting her eyes. What was happening?

  “Scott, that’s a terrible thing to say. Why would you say something so hateful to me?”

  He sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, zipping up his pants.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I guess I just thought you were a different person. The girl I used to know never used to act that way. Guess the whore act just doesn’t do it for me, Jessie.”

  She felt like she’d been slapped. She lay there quietly as he left the room.

  She didn’t bother reminding him that his problem with maintaining an erection had happened in the past as well. She didn’t know why it kept happening, but it had nothing to do with Jack, or who she had become since she’d met him.

  She swallowed her sobs and held them in. This was all her own fault. Her feelings for Jack were unfair to Scott. She couldn’t blame him for being angry.

  She deserved every nasty thing he had just said to her.

  When he came to her a few hours later, he apologized and held her close. She forgave him, knowing there was so many things she had done wrong, too. She couldn’t possibly hold one angry outburst against him.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  JESSIE SAT DOWN NEXT TO Jack on the couch at Chris and Zoey’s.

  “Hi, Jack.”

  Chris and Zoey had both gone upstairs to finish getting ready for Kennedy’s dance recital, leaving Jack and Jessie alone in the living room.

  Scott was at home. He wasn’t really interested in attending things for Kennedy anyway. They had only been back from their honeymoon for a couple of weeks and he had already started to voice his objections to Jessie spending so much time with her, just as Jack had predicted he would.

  He had made it very clear that he didn’t want her around Jack anymore. She couldn’t really blame him for that.

  “Hey. How’s it going?”

  “Pretty good. You?”

  “Good, I guess.” Jack picked up his phone and scrolled down the screen.

  “Was Kennedy excited about the recital tonight?”

  “Yeah, she was bouncing off the fucking walls.”

  “Wish I could have come over and done her hair for her. But Scott needed me…”

  He put his phone down and gave Jessie his full attention. “You don’t have to explain. Not your responsibility. Sarah took care of it.”

  Jessie felt a little stab in her heart.

  “How’s married life?” Jack asked, smirking as he lifted a glass filled halfway with what appeared to be whiskey.

  Her cheeks turned pink. “Fine, I guess.”

  “Fine, you guess? Only been a month or so. Not sick of him already, are you?” Jack joked.

  Jessie’s eyes filled briefly with tears. What was wrong with her? She knew he was just joking but he was hitting too close to home without realizing it.

  “Of course not. But it’s real life, Jack, not a fairy tale.”

  “Everything okay?” Jack asked, concern making his voice rougher than he intended.

  Jessie nodded weakly. “Sure.”

  “He’s treating you good, right? I swear to God, Jessie, I’ll kick his ass if he pulls any shit with you.”

  “Jack, please, everything is fine. All I’m saying is real life isn’t all romance and rainbows.”

  “Jessie… does he… I know before you said that the two of you didn’t really… click, or whatever. Has that gotten… I mean, is that better now?”

  She shrugged as her face turned bright red. “It’s fine, Jack. There’s more to marriage than just sex.”

  Jack nodded, wondering if he was imagining that sad look in her eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “BE A GOOD GIRL FOR Jessie, you hear me?”

  Jack kneeled down and handed Kennedy her overnight bag.

  He was nervous about his decision to allow her to spend the night with Jessie on Scott’s b
oat.

  “I will, Daddy. I promise.” Kennedy grinned.

  She was so excited to go on this overnight trip. She’d been talking about it all week.

  Jack trusted her with Jessie, but Scott was another story. He didn’t like the guy. Not that Jessie would ever let anything happen to her. Not intentionally. But he knew better than anyone that accidents can just happen.

  He had watched Scott walk into the bait and tackle store, while Jessie made her way toward him and Kennedy.

  “Hey,” she greeted them with a big smile.

  Damn, she looked adorable in a blue and white striped romper. Her long blonde hair fell loose and wavy down her back. He resisted the urge to reach out and tangle his fingers through it. He knew how soft it would feel in his hands. Almost as soft as her skin had felt pressed against his.

  “Hi.” He stood up and smiled at her.

  “We need to run out and get fuel conditioner before we get going. Scott thinks the boat was running a little rough yesterday and that there might be some water in the tank.”

  Jack nodded. “Okay.”

  “We should be back tomorrow by dinner time. I’ll drop her off to you.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t mind meeting you back here to pick her up,” Jack offered.

  “No, this will work out. I’m helping Zoey with the nursery tomorrow night anyway.”

  Zoey was pregnant. Their first baby was due in mid-February. It was only late September, but Zoey was too excited to wait on the nursery anymore, now that she knew they were having a boy.

  “Sounds good. Have fun.”

  “You too, Jack. Have a good weekend.”

  Jessie took Kennedy’s hand and walked toward her new silver BMW. A wedding gift from Scott.

  Jack stood and watched them walking away.

  Later, he would remember what happened in slow motion.

  Scott walking from the bait and tackle shop and reaching Jessie’s car first.

  Jessie and Kennedy, hand-in-hand, walking toward Scott.

  Scott opening the door to the car and sliding into the driver’s seat.