by J. C. Allen
“Sort of. It’s not as… I never really met my dad, so I guess it’s different.”
“Shit. Sorry.”
Though I could speak about the topic with ease, I knew some people could not handle it, and the last thing I needed to have happen was for me to have genuinely upset someone because of this.
“It’s okay. It’s not like I was missing out on anything.”
I nodded, deciding that her answer was just deflective enough that she didn’t want me to push further. I had no interest in pushing my luck, either.
“How many people are in the club, are there like any requirements?”
By now, it was obvious that she was really interested—maybe not seriously enough to see me again, but serious enough that she had a genuine interest in learning more.
“There are quite a few of us, thirty or forty, maybe, if the prospects stick around. And I can’t say there are any standard requirements. Every prospect was different. We accepted them for different reasons.”
Isabelle gives a crooked smile and nods once.
“It kind of sounds like a frat or something. Next thing you’ll say is that it’s like a brotherhood.”
“Well, it is. Minus my real brothers, I feel close with all the guys. We’d probably do anything for each other. And that includes going to jail for each other too.”
I only realized after the fact that I had confessed that to her after saying we didn’t do illegal stuff. It probably wasn’t the best look… but Isabelle had heard a lot here and hadn’t run off yet, so I couldn’t be too concerned yet.
“So! You do participate in some illegal shit.”
“That’s neither here nor there,” I said with a gentle chuckle under my breath.
“Hey I’m not one to judge. As long as you’re not the one going to jail or anything.”
I couldn’t say why I saw an opening there, why I saw an opportunity to pounce, but I did. And with my experience, when I got the chance to strike, I didn’t pass it up.
“Why, will you miss me?”
I leaned closer to her, close enough to inhale her soft lilac scent again. It was a scent I knew I would never forget.
“I didn’t say that.”
But her blushing gave away her true feelings.
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”
“A quick change of the subject, are we?” I said with an arched eyebrow, but Isabelle didn’t bite. She’s good. “I haven’t done much, honestly. There are guys in the club that do some shit on the side, but we don’t take ownership for it. Some of us are criminals, I can’t lie to you. But I haven’t done anything official, and I don’t condone the club doing anything official.”
“Official?”
I smirked softly. She was as good a listener as she was a looker.
“I guess I’m saying I haven’t been arrested.”
Isabelle laughed. I think she was thinking I was kidding—which I was happy to leave it that way for the time being.
“You’re kind of a funny guy when you aren’t so uptight.”
Now it was my turn to laugh.
“I’m not uptight, trust me. My brother Simon, that’s who is uptight.”
“What are your brothers like?”
Really digging into all the icebreakers today, huh?
“Mostly the same as me, I guess. Except Zeke, he’s just a grown-up kid.”
“You’re lucky to have siblings,” she said with a hint of envy in her eye. “I’m an only child, so I don’t know anything about that.”
“I’m really glad I’m not an only child. Sorry, but not sorry.”
Isabelle laughed at that.
“That’s okay. I get it. I’ve never known anything else.”
It was only then that I realized just how much the sun had gone down since we started, but it was for all the right reasons. The remaining light hit Isabelle’s brown hair in a way that made it more than brown, almost a spectrum of brown. It made her skin look more tanned than I thought, too. And not the artificial kind—it was more like she just looked that way naturally.
“If you weren’t in the club what do you think you would be doing?”
I had moved past the stage of answering questions. Maybe it was her hair, maybe it was the timing, but I needed to move forward with this. For everyone’s sake, I had to make things happen.
“I have no fucking clue. It’s all I have done, so I don’t think I want to do anything else.”
“That’s nice. It took me two majors and two colleges to figure mine out.”
“Shit. My life has always been simple, I’ll give myself that.”
Time to make that move.
“Until now, at least.”
“Why?” she said, but she knew the answer.
“Because of you.”
I took a deep breath. Put it all out there.
“In the past twenty four hours, I have kicked you out of my club, about lost my mind when I saw you so close to what could have been a dangerous fight, and then ran into you at a fucking grocery store and had dinner with you. And I don’t even know you, and yet you have captivated me like almost no one else has. I just… know that I want to close this out right.”
I let out the biggest exhale I’ve ever had beyond my memory. She just stared back at me blankly.
“It’s getting late,” I said, making my move. “We should get out of here.”
8
Isabelle
He really just put it out there like that, huh?
As I walked to his bike, I replayed his words in my head over and over again. I just wished I knew what to say. I felt like shit for not replying, for more or less forcing Jaxson to just grab my hand and lead me out. It wasn’t that I was without opinion, but…
Well, he had officially left me speechless.
The walk out to his bike was silent. He helped me put the helmet on again but didn’t say anything and avoided looking me in the eye. If I could have figured him out by now, I would have known what to say, but he was just too tough of a cookie to crack.
Sometimes, he acted like a tough guy, with his arrogance and dominance. But in reality, I had a feeling he wasn’t, or at least he wasn’t only a tough guy. He had feelings, empathy, and a past that had affected him in some way.
But the notion that I would figure it out anytime soon was laughable.
For now, I got on his bike and latched myself around him like last time. My fleshy thighs around his rock hard ones, my soft middle against his back, and my arms wrapped around his waist all contributed to a heavy arousal in me that was getting more and more difficult to ignore.. He kicked off the parking spot and peeled out and down the road, with the wind whipping so hard that it almost hurt.
And yet, he seemed perfectly comfortable.
I gripped onto him tighter around his waist. I felt him clench more than before.
So I kept doing it. I splayed my hands open to feel his warmth and the hardness of his muscles. I wished I could communicate with him this way. I want to know you too, Jaxson.
We arrived faster than I wanted, with me barely having the time to ponder whether this was something I wanted to go through with. At least he had dropped me off on my bike, but the “get out of here” line wasn’t so he could drop me off here—it was so he could literally make my dream come true.
I took one last inhale of his natural, intense scent before I swung off the bike. He parked right next to my car and gave me an intense stare that did nothing to mask his intentions—in fact, if anything, he seemed to relish in them.
I had to make a decision.
And if I was forced to make a decision on the spot, it wasn’t a difficult one.
“Look Jaxson,” I said before I could make a decision I would regret. “I’m sorry I—I’m not really good at normal kinds of stuff, like…this. I didn’t mean to leave you hanging, is all I’m trying to say. I just… I don’t know.”
Well, that didn’t go at all like I wanted to. Couldn’t even directly ad
dress the de facto elephant in the room.
His eyes scrunched up at the sides as he stared me down. The wind blew and carried his scent my way again. Somehow, it pulled me closer to him. Every time I breathed, my chest hit his and send sparks flying through the rest of my body. His eyes left mine, going down my face and body before meeting mine again.
This time, it nearly split me apart. I was this close to changing my mind.
“I’m not all that good with it either.”
His voice was so gruff and deep and strained that it went right to a part of my body that hasn’t been touched in over a year—the part that was yearning for his touch at that very moment.
“Well, then I guess… um…”
But then, he started to get closer.
And closer.
And closer.
And soon, before I knew it, his hands had cupped my face and his lips were up against mine.
He suckled his lips around mine. I felt all the passion from him and could taste him. I swung my arms around his neck, holding him tight to me as his body pressed into mine. My back hit my car door, but he just pressed even further. One of his massive, rock hard thighs split mine, and I felt his cock against my hip, hard beyond imagination. It didn’t even feel like it was fully hard, which was incredible and slightly terrifying.
His tongue collided with mine, swiping mine aside and easily gaining the upper hand. And I let him, because it would be no fun to fight against his dominance.
It really was the kiss of my life.
My hands moved down his shoulders, tracing every inch of his hardened muscles. They tightened as he gripped me more, his hands moving from my face down my back, stopping at the cusp of my ass as he began holding me there. The heat of his hands was so close to where I really wanted him to be… so so close. I lost myself in his kiss, in the way he touched me, the way he possessed me so easily.
There was no place I would rather have been then right there.
“Fuck, Isabelle. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“I—oh, Jaxson…”
I trailed off, desperately trying to catch my breath. I swallowed hard and licked my lips, the last of his moisture and taste on them—but hopefully there was more to come.
Jaxson pulled back. I got an uninterrupted view of his eyes boring into mine. His hair was all tousled and even sexier, the skin around his lips colored from the effort. If this was what he looked like after just a kiss, I was just about dying to see what he would look like after more.
But for now…
“What’s your number?” he said, that gruffness is his voice is even more prominent.
“Um…yeah, one sec.”
He took his phone out of an inner pocket in his jacket, letting me put my contact in. I even added my last name in it, Isabelle James. There was going to be no mistaking me for anyone else.
“I’ll call you. Get home safe.”
He gave me one more kiss and then wheeled around without another word.
“Jaxson…”
But he didn’t say anything else.
Admittedly, my hormones were out of control. I couldn’t bear the sight of him leaving, and after the way he had kissed me, I couldn’t help but keep replaying what had happened. I kept feeling his hands, his mouth, and his body all up on me. He was by far the hottest man I have ever seen and ever kissed.
And I didn’t even know how it happened or how I got there. One minute, I was just going to a party with Riley, the next I was getting chastised by the handsome man, the next I was at a shop, the next… and the next… and the next…
It was all a bit much to handle. I just needed a mini-vacation of sorts, although I knew that wasn’t happening. So I just headed home and did my best to calm myself down, especially considering the semester officially started in less than twenty four hours.
As soon as I got in, though, Riley’s inquisitive nature ensured that wasn’t happening.
“Oh my god, where have you been? It’s after nine.”
“Um… out.”
It was kind of true, but it certainly was a deflection meant to keep her from asking more. I grabbed a bottle of water and guzzled it down in the kitchen before meeting back up with her in the living room. But there was just one problem.
“Oh no, what is that smile? I have literally never seen that before.”
I might have been able to not say what had happened, but I could not hide on my face what had happened. I took a deep breath.
“I kissed Jaxson.”
It took me almost all night to explain how everything had happened.
At the end, Riley both loved the fact that I had hooked up—kind of—with the guy she wanted me to be with but also gave me a warning that it would entail things that I wasn’t used to. I was aware of these things, but I didn’t think the ominous tone Riley spoke of quite applied to Jaxson. No doubt, he could be a jackass and a bit stubborn, but I didn’t take him to be a sociopath or anything like that.
I then headed to my room and tried to get to sleep. I almost succeeded, too.
And then my ringing phone blared through the room.
I was pissed as all hell, seeing as it was an unknown number taking away my beauty sleep.
And then I thought of who it might just be as I grabbed my phone.
“Hello?” I groggily said.
“Hey Isabelle.”
I knew the voice immediately. He didn’t even have to introduce himself.
I sat up and tried to calm my breath. My heart rate immediately spiked just at the sound of his voice and the sound of his breathing. I just didn’t think Jaxson would have called at this particular hour.
But, then again, separate worlds lead separate lives and probably have separate schedules.
“I said I would call.”
“So you can check this off your to do list then,” I said with a smile.
“Were you sleeping?” he said, his voice spiking.
I felt like he was smiling too, a rarity—but fatigue reveals the truth of many people. It was eerily silent on his end. I figured he was alone—perhaps even wishing I was there.
I imagined him in bed, probably shirtless… or even naked.
“No. Just… in bed. Trying to get to sleep, I mean.”
Well talk about sending him certain messages.
“You sleep early,” he said with a soft laugh.
“I have to teach a class in the morning and then I have a workshop!” I said, sounding a bit more defensive than I’d meant.
“A workshop?” he said.
I knew I should have been going to sleep. I knew I should have told him to call tomorrow. I knew I probably shouldn’t even have answered the phone.
But “should” was getting thrown out the window right now thanks to Jaxson.
“Yes. Basically other people read my work and say if it is bad or not.”
“Oh. So you’re writing plays?”
I didn’t think Jaxson had any semblance of understanding my world, but that he was taking an interest in it… there was certainly a very nice appeal to it.
“Yes, I do.”
“Shit,” he said, as if he’d heard the greatest thing ever. “That’s impressive, Isabelle.”
I bit my lip and looked up to my blank ceiling. The way he says my name got right to me and.got me unbelievably aroused. I could feel my pussy clenching just at the sound of his voice, of him breathing through the phone.
It was too much. I had to have more.
“Thanks. Are you in bed too?” I said gingerly.
I was treading awfully fast toward dangerous territory—danger I wanted to experience.
“No, I don’t go to bed at midnight. Do you want me to get in bed?”
Choose your next words carefully. You might have him in bed with you before the end of the night.
Not that you don’t want that.
“I—no. Um. If you want.”
I cleared my throat and tried to roll away the awkwardness, but it didn’t work. I held my brea
th as I nervously awaited his next words.
“You’re real cute, Isabelle.”
Oh, Jaxson…
“You’re… yourself.”
I couldn’t find the words, deciding against telling him that I thought he’s hot and sexy, or arrogant and pompous. It’s better to tell him in person, anyways. That’s what I’ll go with.
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
Trying to find a way to get together.
“Um, I don’t know. Probably study after class.”
It was a weak answer… but I wanted to give him a weak answer, give him the chance to suggest a much more fun option. I felt pretty confident he wouldn’t disappoint me.
“Let’s go for a ride. I’ll come pick you up.”
I only took about half a beat before I decided to respond, though it wasn’t like I had much of an option. I knew what I would say regardless—I was going to submit to him..
“Okay.” I whisper.
“Perfect. I will text you the time tomorrow. Goodnight, Isabelle.”
And then, just like that, he hung up before I could respond. As quick to connect and disconnect as anyone I have ever met in my life.
Now, it was even harder to fall asleep. Everything that had just happened took me right back to our kiss and the way it made my body hum, the way it brought me and so much of my self to life, and the way it felt like the most unique of sensations.
A sensation that I wanted to bring to life even more…
I slipped my fingers between my legs and shuddered at the immediate contact. It really had been too long. I closed my eyes to thoughts of Jaxson.
For it being the first time in ages, it initially felt so dirty and wrong… and yet so right at the same time.
And so I continued until I carried my body to climax, using Jaxson and his sexy voice and body in my mind to push me over the edge.
9
Jaxson
Calling Isabelle before I even went to sleep was yet another thing I’m not used to.
But, like many other things that had happened with her, it was something that felt surprisingly natural when it did happen.
