Submission

Chapter 49

 Jesse was lightly running his fingers along Lorelei's arm when she woke up. She was curled on her side facing the wall. She yawned and rolled onto her side to see Jesse propped up on one arm looking down at her.

"Sleep okay?" he asked.

"I slept great," she said. "Did you get any sleep?"

Jesse shrugged.

"Only a little bit," he said. "I was worried about you."

"Why?" she asked.

"I didn't want you to wake up in the middle of the night and experience sub drop."

Lorelei pushed herself up. She yawned again and stretched her arms over her head.

"I feel fine," she said. "You don't need to worry."

"I'm always going to worry about you," he said.

Lorelei kissed Jesse. He cupped the side of her face as he broke the kiss. He pressed his lips below her jaw and trailed them down her neck. Lorelei closed her eyes and rolled her head to the side to give him more access.

Lorelei's phone rang and Jesse pulled away from kissing her neck. He groaned as he turned to look at the phone.

"It's an unknown number," he said.

Lorelei rolled her eyes.

"Leave it," she said. "It's my ex-boyfriend."

"Want me to deal with it?" he asked.

Before she could respond, Jesse reached forward for the phone. Lorelei's heart dropped as she watched him place the phone against his ear.

"Lorelei's phone," he said. "Jesse speaking."

"Who the hell is this?!" she could hear Matthew yelling on the other side of the call.

"This is her boyfriend." Jesse looked at Lorelei and was smirking. "How may I help you?"

"I need to talk to Lorelei." Matthew was loud and she could hear him.

"Her mouth is busy on my cock. She can't come to the phone."

Lorelei's eyes went wide and she reached for the phone. Jesse turned his body to block her grab. She could not make out what Matthew was saying on the phone but she could hear him yelling.

"That's a shame," Jesse said. "Have a good day."

Jesse ended the call and turned back around. He was smiling, and Lorelei shook her head.

"You shouldn't have done that," she said.

"I was defending your honour," he said.

Lorelei rolled her eyes as she climbed off of the bed. She wrapped herself up in the blanket on the end of the bed. She dragged her feet over to the bathroom.

When she came back into the bedroom. Jesse was looking down at his hands with his brows furrowed together. His jaw was tight as he was gritting his teeth. She saw the phone in his hand, and when she saw the pink case she realized that it was her phone that he was going through.

"Is that my phone?" Lorelei asked, already knowing the answer.

"What is this?" he asked.

"What is what?"

He turned her phone so that it was facing her. The photo that Mateo had taken was on the screen. Lorelei tensed as she looked at her scantily dressed picture.

"Are you cheating on me?" Jesse asked.

"Excuse me?" Lorelei asked, shocked.

"You have this photo in a message from an unknown number," he said. "An unknown number calling you gorgeous."

"It's Mateo."

Jesse's eyes went dark. It was the same look he had when he punched Bryan in the face. That cold rage was what scared Lorelei. She swallowed past the lump growing in her throat. Jesse was clutching her phone in his hands.

"You're cheating on me with Mateo?" he asked, raising his voice.

"No." Lorelei shook her head. "He just took that photo."

"So now he's taking photos of you? I can't believe that he is doing this to me again."

"You don't understand-"

"What don't you understand? You're fucking him."

Lorelei's face went pale. She knew taking this photo was going to blow up in her face. She should have never let Jody convince her to take this photo.

She was curious as to why Jesse was going through her phone while she was in the bathroom. She wondered how many times he had checked her phone when she was not looking.

"I am not having sex with Mateo," she said.

"Are you sucking his dick?" he asked.

"Jesse, let me explain," she said. "I went to one of Jody's photoshoots and she convinced me to do it. I swear it was only one photo."

"When did you even do this?" he asked. "You never told me you were going to one of Jody's shoots."

"It was last weekend."

Jesse's shoulders tightened. Lorelei clutched the blanket around her so tight that her knuckles ached. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest.

"While I was in jail you were posing nude in front of Mateo?" he asked.

"It's not nude," she said.

"You might as well be."

Lorelei shook her head. She wanted to rip her phone out of Jesse's hand, but she was frozen. She couldn't move.

"The photo was for you," Lorelei said.

Jesse scoffed.

"Seriously?" he asked. "The last thing I would want is you naked in front of Mateo."

"Jody told me how much you love photos," she said. "So I thought that it would be a good idea."

"Of course she did," he said. "She always knows how to get under my skin."

"I'm sorry," Lorelei said. "I did it because I thought that you would enjoy it."

"Well, I don't."

"And now I see that it was a mistake."

"It's more than a mistake."

Lorelei stuck her hand out.

"I want my phone back," she said.

Jesse tossed her the phone and she caught it. She held the blanket to her chest as she picked up her clothes off of the floor. She changed as fast as she could and did not dare look at Jesse. She knew that their relationship was holding on by a thread and the thought made her nauseous.

"You're just going to leave?" Jesse asked as he watched her pick up her purse off of the counter. "We're not going to talk about this?"

"Why?" she asked. "So that I can listen to how wrong I was even though I admitted it was a mistake?"

Jesse scowled. A heavy moment of silence fell over the room.

"Exactly," she said. "Goodbye, Jesse."

She slammed his apartment door behind her.