KICK IT | JENLISA

60

Jennie

"Yeah, oh." She gave me an unamused glare. Leaning over, she picked up a ball and slapped it in my palm so hard the divots pressed into my soft flesh. "Judgmental is an ugly look, Jennie. If you ever want to know what's happening with me, ask."

I squeezed my eyebrows together. What did she mean? The surface-level appearance of Lisa's relationship seemed so shallow and superficial. Worse? She was right. I didn't know her well enough to judge her relationship. How long had I been judging her?

Since the moment she and Kendall burst into my room and Kendall tried to turn Lisa's dick into her personal lollipop. How could I have been so close-minded? Jackson's frown conveyed an obvious message: our parents raised me better than this. I dropped my gaze down the length of my club. Jackson's cleared throat shifted my eyes to him looking at Lisa. "Let's take a breather."

"Good idea." Lisa muttered, picking up her bag and flinging it over her shoulder.

I dragged my lip between my teeth until the rattling club heads faded. Exhaling out puffed cheeks, I wiped my damp palms on my thighs. My club's leather grip depressed under my finger grip.

Irene waited until I reset my feet, drew my club overhead, and coiled my upper body. "You like her."

"Whaaaa!?"

The club slipped through my loose fingers. It hit the plexiglass behind me with a loud smack. The metal head clanged on the cement, and the grip bounced on my AstroTurf square. I wanted to crawl under it. What level of hell was this? Because it felt like the penthouse. I hadn't recovered from her accusation that Lisa liked me, and she dropped that gutter bomb?

"I'm so sorry." I said to the startled older couple in my ball's impact zone. Their glares said enough. With a heel spin, I whirled around and fisted my hips. "Irene!"

Her palms flashed with her apologetic smile. "Sorry. Don't talk on the backswing."

"Don't talk blasphemy." I corrected. "Or I'll be puking in a toilet before your next round. And before you correct me, I know you're grateful for the reasons to puke."

"It hasn't been that bad." Pursing her lips, she shot through my diversion, "And don't change the subject. You like Lisa."

"What exactly between this..." My finger pointed between my chest and Lisa's empty spot. I gripped the club she picked up and handed to me. "Read likes? She's barely tolerable, she..."

Her warm hand cupped my elbow, and her voice dropped to a whisper, "Because you let her affect you, Jennie."

If the casual person said those words, I would've laughed or ignored them. Or, more likely, I would've insulted their intelligence level. But Irene was my third-eye observer. No matter what the context, she saw through my smokescreens of bullshit.

Annoying as fuck. In my silence, her smile widened. Glimmers of satisfaction shone in her eyes. She caught the mid-day sun in them. She didn't need to say anything because the words were written all over her face: I'm happy for you.

"Jennie." Back from his Lisa recess, Jackson offered Irene a glass of lemon water. "You should apologise."

"I..." I leaned down and picked up my club. One look at Irene's smile showed it wasn't going away anytime soon. "Pfft. Fine."

I found Lisa returning with glasses of water in a peace offering. I picked my thumb's cuticles with rough tugs. "Lisa? I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

She shoved a water glass in my face. "It was. I only wanted Kendall to be happy in her own skin."

Cold condensation wet my palm. "I'm getting that impression."

"Again." Her eyes narrowed. "What pisses me off more is that you didn't ask. Why are you so fucking closed off?"

Very valid reasons, none of which I could explain unless she wanted a repeat meltdown. Hot tears wet my lashes and clumped them. I blinked at my water glass, stirring with the straw and fighting to hold them back. "I'm not an easy person to deal with. I get that, Lisa."

A gentle touch captured my chin, Lisa's thumb and index finger. She lifted my gaze to the warmth in hers. "You make it sound like getting to know you is a bad thing."

"It is." My skin tingled under her touch. "Trust me, you don't want..."

"Trust me." she interrupted with a tense grasp. My lips parted when her thumb dented my skin with pressure. It didn't hurt. She held me with the security of... holding me. "I do if you'll let me."

I swallowed the cotton patch that sprung up in my throat. Ten sips of water weren't enough. My voice still cracked, "I... I'll try, Lisa."

She had better luck asking me to lasso the moon to test if it was Swiss cheese, but I owed her an attempt.

"Good." Her finger skimmed over my lower lip in a gentle touch that collected a drop of water at the corner. My lips parted from the soft brush of skin. When she drew it back, I couldn't breathe, let alone think. Another bead of sweat trickled between my breasts. Fuck, don't tell me I have a praise kink. Let me maintain some dignity.

A jackhammer version of my heart punched a fresh hole in my chest when her mouth closed around the pad of her thumb. Warmth pooled in my belly. A beat pulsed between my legs as her lips pursed and popped off her thumb. Shivers trailed down my spine when the corners of her mouth curved.

The air between us incinerated as Lisa leaned over. Her hot breath rushed over my lips, and those damn goose bumps erupted on my skin. The thundering beat of my heart made it difficult to ignore the prickles of awareness from her closeness or how it filled me with a yearning to drop my gaze and blush. Only her teasing smile kept my eyes locked on hers. "You're trembling, Jennie. Looks like my game isn't weak as shit."