Текст книги "Misbehaving"

Автор книги: Abbi Glines

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

“Enough!” Rock said, stopping Krit. “Get him the hell outta here before I shut him up myself.”

I no longer cared that Rock was the size and build of a brick wall. I needed to know what the hell Krit was yelling about. “No!” I said, moving toward him. “I want to know what he’s saying,” I told no one in particular. “Who is stripping to pay her mother’s hospital bills?” I stopped as the words coming out of my mouth clicked. “No,” I said, shaking my head. They didn’t mean … “No!” He was lying.

Krit looked at me incredulously. “You don’t know,” he said, almost too quietly. “She didn’t fucking tell you.” He shook his head and slung off the guys holding him. “Motherfucker!” he roared. “You don’t even fucking know!”

I turned to look at Rock, still feeling the horror of what he was saying register in my brain. “What hospital bills?” I managed to ask through the gripping tightness in my throat.

“Her momma’s. She’s got cancer. They don’t have insurance, and she’s got to have a mastectomy. They had to move to a cheaper place, and Jess had to get a job that paid the bills and paid the large monthly payment she has to make to the hospital for her mother so she can get the surgery and get chemo.”

My chest felt like someone had just dropped a load of fucking bricks on it. “When did she find out?”

“About four weeks ago.”

“He doesn’t even fucking know,” Krit was still ranting. “She told me it wasn’t his problem. I thought she was fucking protecting him, but she hadn’t even told him.”

I looked at him and her story all started to make sense. “She never slept with you four weeks ago.” It wasn’t a question. I knew the answer.

“Fuck, she wasn’t even talking to me four weeks ago. She was too busy escaping town without telling anyone. I ain’t had Jess since you took her away from me.”

My blood pounded in my head, and I knew I was heaving, as my breathing was difficult. “Where is she?” I asked Rock.

“She’s in Mobile at Delilah’s,” Krit answered instead. “Rock don’t know shit. I’m the one who goes there and pays for all the damn lap dances so she doesn’t have to give them to those horny-ass men.”

The image of Jess’s body being on display to a bunch of men was all it took. I turned and took off running.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

JESS

Krit hadn’t been back since I had yelled at him outside. I needed to call him and apologize. He hadn’t deserved that. And without him here deflecting all the lap dances, I was having to stomach my way through them more and more often.

It was almost my time for the stage. This was the easiest time of night. The lights blinded me, so I couldn’t see the men watching. I was all alone up there and dancing for fun. I adjusted the top of the red velvet. My nipple was almost showing, it was cut so low. I would be taking it off soon anyway, but Dee liked us covered when we walked out onstage.

“You’re up,” the stage manager called, and I checked my lipstick to make sure it was on correctly before heading up the stairs and to the curtains. The first night I had done this I had been so sick I was afraid I would throw up onstage. But then I’d walked out there and realized I couldn’t see them.

The beat started, and I knew it was my cue. I pulled back the curtain and lifted my leg before slowly setting it outside, then let the rest fall back until I was standing there in my costume and stilettos. I heard the usual catcalls and cheers, but I tuned them out. The cool metal of the pole touched my hand as I started my routine and focused on the music.

A loud shout startled me, and then some other noise. I stopped dancing and squinted into the dark room. I could see a man moving through the crowd to the stage, but it was so dark all I could tell was that he shoving people out of his way. I glanced around, looking for one of the bouncers before he made it to the stage. I had heard horror stories about men climbing onto the stage to get to a dancer. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to get back up here again after that kind of experience.

I backed up, ready to run offstage, when the stage lights hit the man’s face.

Jason.

That wasn’t right. Why was Jason here? I watched as he jumped up onto the stage and stalked toward me with a determined look on his face.

He wrapped a coat around me.

“Off the stage, Jess. If you don’t want me to take on every damn man in this club, you’ll get off this stage for me.” His voice was urgent. T.J., one of the club’s bouncers, jumped up onstage and started toward Jason. I had to act fast. I pushed him behind me and shook my head at T.J.

“No. He’s with me. It’s okay. I’ll deal with it,” I told him, pushing Jason back as I walked backward.

“Garrison wants him out of here,” T.J. informed me. I was sure Garrison did, but that wasn’t happening. At least, not the way they thought it was.

“If Garrison wants me here, then he’ll let me handle this,” I replied.

T.J. flicked his gaze back over my shoulder toward Jason, then back at me. “I’ll tell him. Hurry,” he said.

I nodded and turned to Jason and pushed him backstage with me.

When we were out of view, I stared up at him, trying not to think about how clean he smelled. How unlike me. I started to back away, realizing he was touching me. I was dirty. He didn’t need to touch me. His hands tightened on my arms. “You’re getting your clothes and we’re leaving.”

I didn’t know why he was here or how he knew where to find me, but I couldn’t leave. I would lose my job. I wanted to leave with him. I wanted to look at him and hear him talk. But I couldn’t. “I can’t. They’ll fire me.”

“Good, because you’re done here,” he said, grabbing my hand. “Where is your dressing room?”

“I need this job. You don’t understand. This isn’t something I’m doing because I want to.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he interrupted me. “The only reason you’re stripping in front of those men is because you’re desperate. I’ve talked to Krit and Rock. I know everything that you should have told me.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe you lied to me. You …” He stopped and closed his eyes, then muttered a curse. “I’m gonna beat the shit outta Jax when I see him. He knew.”

Jax? What the hell did Jax have to do with this?

“This isn’t your problem. It’s mine. I had a way to fix it, and I knew you wouldn’t be able to handle me stripping, so I did what I had to,” I explained.

“Because you were protecting me,” he said, staring at me like I had done something noble instead of something degrading.

“If you weren’t such a crowd-pleaser, I’d fire you,” Dee said from behind me. “We finally get rid of the tattooed guy, and now this? Really? Can’t you tell your boyfriends to stay the hell away when you’re working?”

I started to explain, but Jason took me and pulled me behind him as if he was protecting me from Dee. “You won’t have to deal with it anymore, because she won’t be coming back,” he said.

Dee cocked an eyebrow and a hip, then looked over his shoulder at me. “Is that so?”

I opened my mouth to say no.

“Yes, it is. Jess is done here,” Jason said.

I had to do something. “No, Jason, stop,” I said, struggling to get around him. “You can’t come in here and do this. I have bills to pay, and this pays them. You can’t just—”

“Do you love me, Jess?” he asked, interrupting me.

Why was he asking me this? He knew I loved him. I’d told him that already.

“Do you love me?” he repeated as I stared at him.

“You know I do,” I finally replied.

“Say it,” he said.

I didn’t have time for this. I had said it once and he hadn’t said it back. I wasn’t saying it again. I had a job to save. “I don’t see what that—”

“Say it, Jess,” he pleaded, pulling me close to him. His voice had dropped to that sexy deep sound that always made me melt.

“I love you,” I said, unable to tell him no.

“I love you more. And I won’t let one more man see what belongs to me again. I will take care of it. Everything. Your mother will have the absolute best medical care available. I won’t argue with you about it. That’s how it’s going to be. I’m taking care of you because you’re the reason I wake up in the morning, and when you took that reason away from me I was miserable. Fucking miserable. I never want to feel like that again.”

“You love me?” I repeated, still stuck on that part of everything he’d just said.

A grin tugged at his lips. “More than life,” he said.

“Really?” I asked, needing to hear it again.

“Oh, for chrissake, he said it already. He loves you. Get your clothes and get going. I couldn’t figure out why you didn’t have a prince charming running after you to save the day.” Dee’s voice reminded me that we weren’t alone. I turned to look at her, and she nodded toward the back door. “Go on. You never belonged here to begin with,” she said, and turned to walk away.

“Let’s go,” Jason said in my ear.

“You can’t just pay for my mother’s medical bills. It isn’t right,” I argued. “You don’t even have the money. Your mother does, and she hates me. She tried to pay me to break up with you.”

“She what?” he asked.

Crap. I hadn’t meant to say that. “She, uh … The day after you left me last time. She came by my house and offered me money to break up with you and disappear. I didn’t take it and I told her no. Then I found out about Momma that night, so she got her wish anyway.”

Jason took a deep breath and clenched his teeth. “She offered you money?” he repeated in disbelief.

I just nodded. She was really going to hate me now.

“Why didn’t you take it? When you found out about your momma, why didn’t you take it? Why did you do this?” he said, looking around him with distaste.

“I couldn’t take money to break up with you. I love you. I couldn’t do that,” I said, thinking that this was self-explanatory.

He didn’t say anything at first. He just held me against him. “Let’s go,” he finally whispered.

“I can’t. Your mother won’t pay my mother’s bills,” I reminded him.

“I wouldn’t touch my mother’s money. Besides, she’s about to take a hit to her allowance. Jax owes me, and I have no doubt he’s waiting for me to call him with this specific request.”

I couldn’t have him ask his brother for that kind of money. “No. I won’t let you do that. I love that you want to help me, but I can’t let you ask your brother to give you that kind of money.”

Jason frowned. “Give me? Hell, Jax won’t give me shit. He loans me stuff, but he won’t be giving me anything. When I turn twenty-three, my grandfather’s entire estate will become mine per his last will and testament. Jax is keeping tabs on what I’ll owe him in a couple of years, I assure you. But I’ve got more money in the bank than that rock star brother of mine, and he knows it.”

JASON

Jess was wrapped up in my coat and sitting quietly while I drove her truck. She hadn’t said much since we’d left the club. Seeing her on that stage and hearing the men around me talking about her tits had all hit me at one time. I had acted on impulse, needing to protect her. Now I had her out of there, it was all starting to sink in, and I wanted to break something.

She should never have had to do that, but it had been her means of survival. It was all she knew to do, and she had been willing to do whatever she had to in order to help her momma. Everything but take money from my mother. Because she loved me.

I wished she had taken the money from my mother. I wouldn’t even be mad about it right now. I would have been fucking relieved that she had had money to take care of her mother and that she was still safely in her home.

“Here,” she said, breaking the silence, and I glanced at the run-down apartments to my left. It was just getting worse. I pulled into the parking lot, and the darkness surrounding the place from the burnt-out streetlights wasn’t helping me deal with this. I turned off the truck and sat there, staring straight ahead.

“How long have you lived here?” I asked.

“A little over three weeks,” she said softly.

“What time do you get home at night?”

She fidgeted with her hands in her lap. “About three,” she finally said.

She was fine. Nothing had happened to her. She was alive. I kept reminding myself over and over again that she was okay.

“Jason?” Her voice sounded unsure.

I shifted my gaze to hers. “Yeah.”

“I carry Mace with me when I go from the truck to the apartment, and Momma has a gun. There are three locks on the door,” she said, trying to reassure me.

“Let me get your door,” I told her, and opened the truck door. Kane had already parked the limo and was walking over to us. He was going to make sure we made it safely inside. Even Kane saw the danger here. It wasn’t just me being overprotective.

“I’m getting them out of here tomorrow,” I told him as I walked over to get her door.

“Good” was his single response.

I opened her door and helped her down. She pulled the coat tightly around her and let me lace my fingers through hers as she led me up the stairs and then to the far corner of the building. She opened the door. I had prepared myself for the inside, but seeing it was still hard to deal with.

“I need to get a shower,” she said, looking around unsure of what I was planning on doing. There small room with one sofa had a mini kitchen attached to it. Then two doors. One had to be the bedroom and the other the bathroom. They were sharing a room.

“Go take a shower. I’ll be out here,” I told her, nodding to the sofa.

“It takes me a while. I like to get … clean,” she said, the last word so soft I almost missed it. The meaning behind her words made my heart feel as if it had exploded. She thought she was dirty.

“Okay,” I said, and when she turned to go to the bathroom, I followed behind her. She glanced back at me when she reached the door.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to bathe you,” I told her, and didn’t wait for her to say anything more. I stepped into the bathroom and found the light switch. The small room had a tiny shower in the corner.

“It’s too small for both of us,” she said.

“I don’t need to get in to bathe you,” I told her, and opened the shower curtain. “Take off your clothes, Jess. Let me do this.”

She slipped my coat off her shoulders and hung it on the door. “Why?” she asked as she went to a button on her shirt.

“Why am I going to bathe you?” I asked her, reaching for her shirt and unbuttoning it and slipping it off her.

She nodded and let me take over the job of undressing her.

“Because I’m going to make sure you know by the time I’m finished just how perfect and beautiful you are. I intend to wash all those bad memories off of you with my hands. We’re going to leave them here. We won’t be taking that with us.”

Her eyes filled with tears, and I stopped unzipping her skirt. “I love you,” she said, then grinned through her tears.

“I love you more,” I replied, and let her skirt fall to the floor. “It’s time you felt safe. I intend to make sure you feel that way every day of your life.”

Her eyes widened and I tugged her panties down. She stepped out of them, and I took her hand and walked her to the shower before turning the warm water on. “Let me know if it’s too hot,” I told her as she stepped inside.

“I like it as hot as it gets.”

I reached out and touched the smooth skin on her arm. “That would burn your skin,” I said, stroking the soft flesh.

“It washes the dirty away,” she said simply.

I reached for the soap. “I’ll wash it away. No scalding water needed,” I told her as I lathered my hands, then placed them on her shoulders and began massaging her body, slowly worshipping her with each touch.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

JESS

I opened my eyes to see my momma drinking a cup of coffee and staring down at me. She took a drink while I rubbed at my eyes and rolled back to find Jason no longer curled up against me on the sofa.

“Relax. Your white knight is outside on the phone dealing with our moving arrangements. He didn’t want to wake you.”

I sat up and looked out the small window. I could see Jason’s back as he stood there, talking on the phone. “Moving?” I asked.

“Yep. Glad we didn’t get around to unpacking most of the boxes, not that all that shit would’ve fit.”

“Where are we moving?” I asked her.

“Not sure. He’s been making all kinds of plans. I could only hear bits and pieces, but it sounds like they have the best doctors for my surgery and treatment in New York City. He’s moving you to be with me there. Then when I’m finished and have a clean bill of health, he’s making arrangements for me to have a nice gulf-front condo, and you’ll be with him.”

She had been listening to everything he said. “Not sure? Sounds like you know exactly what he’s doing,” I told her.

She shrugged. “He’s right outside the window, and he talks loud. He also isn’t a fan of this place. It makes him get all loud and angry when he mentions it.”

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to smooth it before walking to the door.

“Stop fussing with your hair. The boy is so sunk it ain’t even funny. I walked in here this morning to find him watching you sleep.”

Smiling, I opened the door and stepped outside.

Jason turned his head to me. “Yeah, I want it done today. Let me know when it’s handled. I have movers on their way now.” He didn’t say bye before ending his call and slipping the phone into his pocket and closing the distance between us. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” he teased, then pressed a gentle kiss to my lips.

“Good morning,” I said, wishing he would kiss me like I wasn’t about to break. He had treated me so tenderly last night, and now this. The memory of last night was one I would never forget, but that was then. I wasn’t fragile.

“We’ve got a lot to talk about, but right now why don’t you go get dressed and I’ll take you and your mother to breakfast.”

Letting him handle everything was easy, but it wasn’t right. Handing all my problems over to him wasn’t what this relationship was about. “What about the movers?” I asked, not sure where to start.

“They’re coming to pack your things and move them to Jax’s place in Sea Breeze for now.”

“We can’t stay at Jax’s place,” I said, thinking about his mother showing back up again. There was a good chance my momma would scratch her eyes out.

“We’re only staying tonight. We leave for New York in the morning, and your mother’s surgery is scheduled for the next day, with the best surgeon money can buy. Her recovery and chemo will also be held there, and you’re staying in the penthouse we stayed in when we were there together. It’s reserved for Jax when he needs it. He’s already got it booked for you and your mother. When she’s ready, her things will be waiting for her in a two-bedroom gulf-front condo at the Turquoise Place. Complete with maid service.”

“Jason, you can’t.”

“I can and I’m going to. I told you I was taking care of you. Let me do that.”

“Buying my momma a condo is going a little overboard,” I said.

“I have an ulterior motive,” he said, bending his head so he could press a kiss to my neck. “If your momma is happy and secure, I can convince you to move in with me. I’ve got my own apartment in Boston and no roommates. I don’t want to leave you for entire weeks at a time, and if I have you with me, I can focus on actually passing my classes.”

This all sounded too perfect. “What happens when you get tired of me or you realize I’m not cut out for your future?”

“I’ll never get tired of you. In fact, the more I’m around you the crazier I get about you. And what future of mine are you not cut out for?”

“I wasn’t raised to be a politician’s wife like Johanna,” I said.

Jason chuckled and took a nip at my earlobe. “Thank God, because I’m not letting a politician near my woman. Can’t trust the bastards.”

I tilted my head so he had to look at me instead of kissing my ear. “I’m talking about you,” I said.

He nodded. “Oh, right. More of my mother’s talk, I assume. Well, let me assure you that I don’t intend to ever be a politician. Not interested in it and never will be.”

He didn’t want to be a politician. I wasn’t hindering his career. “Then my history as a stripper won’t hurt you in the future?” I asked, hating to point out an obvious concern.

He laughed and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “Stop worrying, Jess. The only thing that can hurt my future is if you don’t agree to move in with me, because I can’t concentrate without you near me.”

I wanted this. All of it.

“Is this for real?” I asked him.

The door to the apartment opened. “I’m starving, and he said he was gonna feed me. Go get your clothes on and deal with the fact that you got that fairy tale you wanted,” Momma said with a wink, and turned to walk back inside, then stopped and laughed before looking back at me. “Guess in the end it was Logan after all. And all this time I assumed it would be Jess who won Rory in the end. Huh. I was wrong. I’ll be damned. I need to go rewatch that last season and see where I missed it.”

When she closed the door behind her, I turned back to Jason. His frown was directed at me. “Who is Logan?”

I covered my mouth to muffle the laugh I couldn’t hold back and shook my head.

Jason’s frown wavered. He couldn’t figure out why I thought this was so funny, which only made me laugh harder.

“Logan, Jess. Who is Logan?” he repeated.

I managed to control my laughter and wiped the tears from my eyes. “He is Rory Gilmore’s wealthy boyfriend,” I managed to get out over another giggle.

“Rory who?”

“Gilmore. My mother thinks all life’s problems can be solved via Gilmore Girls,” I said, and his confused expression was still there. “You do know what Gilmore Girls is, don’t you?”

He shook his head.

“A television show. It ran for, like, seven seasons,” I explained.

Jason looked back at the apartment door Momma had walked into. “I’m so confused.”

I just laughed again and pressed a kiss to his lips.

JASON

Jess stood in my bedroom at Jax’s beach house, looking out the window and smiling. I walked into the room and wrapped my arm around her. She loved me, and she trusted me to take care of her. I followed her gaze outside and saw her mother in a skimpy bikini lying out at the pool.

“She might be enjoying herself just a little too much,” Jess said, the amusement in her voice clear.

“I can see where you got those excellent genes,” I replied, and a small elbow jabbed me in the stomach. “Ow,” I said, laughing.

“Don’t go checking my momma out. I know she still looks good in a bikini,” she said.

“She’s hot for her age. That’s all I’m saying. You by far have the more rocking body,” I assured her, turning her around in my arms. “And I can’t seem to stop touching it.”

Jess looked up at me through her lashes. “You’ve been holding me. Not touching me,” she said.

She continued to stare at me with that sexy pout, then stuck her tongue out and let it run over her bottom lip. “Sit down, Jason,” she said, and shoved me back until the backs of my legs hit the chair behind me.

“Turn on your music,” she said, handing me my iPhone.

“What are you doing?” I managed to ask as she bent forward and ran her hands up my thighs.

“Turn on the music. Something sexy,” she said, standing back up so that her cleavage was right under my nose.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I was afraid I would miss something. I glanced down until I found Nelly and clicked “Hot in Herre,” then sent it to the speakers in my room before dropping my phone.

Jess grinned wickedly at my song choice and started moving her hips in ways that should be illegal as she slowly began removing her clothing. I wanted to help her and get her naked fast, but her eyes stayed locked on me as she danced, making it hard for me to move. I was fascinated. Nothing had ever been this sexy. Ever.

I could hear myself panting as each piece of clothing fell to the ground forgotten. When she wiggled out of her panties, I started to reach for her, but she held up her hand and shook her finger. “No, no,” she said, and kicked open my legs. She moved between them and grabbed the back of the chair and began giving me a lap dance.

“You get to touch,” she whispered in my ear as her hard nipples brushed against my chin.

“Does that make me special?” I asked, playing along.

“Very, very special,” she said, pressing a kiss to my lips.

“Good, because I don’t think I’m gonna last through the entire song,” I told her.

“Then don’t,” she said, grinning at me and biting her bottom lip.

I reached up and cupped her face with my hands. “Give me that lip,” I said, pulling it into my mouth and enjoying the plumpness of it before tasting her. She sank down onto my lap and gave up all pretense of dancing when she wrapped her arms around my neck.

I had never expected to fall in love, but then, I’d never imagined anyone like Jess. She was one beautiful contradiction. The idea of letting someone else own my heart wasn’t appealing. It sounded weak and foolish. Something meant for the words of a song. I was wrong. When I thought about my future now, Jess was all that I could see, and that was all I needed. I couldn’t ask for more.