Hold My Hand || J.Seresin

Chapter 22

Returning to work in a few days was going to be an adjustment. For the past four days, I'd been able to sleep in and truly relax. It was refreshing having this time off, plus it worked well for Jake and I to get everything settled at my house. He'd sent for his belongings from Greece, well I guess he sent for his life really with moving here. I worried that he would regret not returning for his things personally, but he assured me that most of his stuff had been in storage. A part of me worried that he was sacrificing too much to be here, but there'd been no hesitancy in his eyes when he'd initiated this move.

Even though we'd spent plenty of nights together, it felt different now. Jake and I had woken around the same time. Today was the last day he was living on base, so we'd celebrated with sex. Now, Jake was in the shower and I was lying in bed wearing one of his shirts. A knock on the door pulled me from bed. I swung open the door, not bothering to check who it was.
"Bradley?" I asked, surprised to see him here.
"Hey," he said, his eyes glancing over me. Looking down at myself, I realized that I was still in Jake's shirt. I tugged at the hem, having not thought to grab pants before answering the door. "Why don't you come in?" I stepped aside and Bradley stepped in enough for me to close the door. He was looking around the house.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, getting him to turn back to face me.
"Hangman and I are going for a run."
"Oh, well, Jake's in the shower. I'll go let him know you're here." I began walking backwards, still facing Bradley. I wasn't entirely sure how much the t-shirt covered my butt, but I really didn't want Bradley to see anything.
"Jake?" He questioned.
"Yeah, Jake." I said matter-of-factly. "Did you think I referred to him by his call sign off base?" Bradley chuckled a bit before responding,
"I don't know. Ever since I met him, he's been Hangman." I smiled, thinking back to when I met Jake,
"Well, when we met, he was just Jake."
"How long have you two known each other?"
"About 10 years. We met at the Naval Academy."

This seemed to answer Bradley's questions for now, so I continued walking to the back of the house to enter the bathroom. The room was steamy and a little hot.
"Babe," I called out. I heard a muffled response, the water being too loud to fully hear him, "Brad-" I stopped myself, "Rooster is here. He said you two are going for a run." It was quiet for a moment and then the water shut off. The shower curtain was pulled back and I had to put all my focus on not looking at his wet lower half. He smirked, noticing the expression on my face.
"You're allowed to look, ya know. I'm yours." A small smile crept onto my face at his words,
"Bradley is right down the hall, and he's like a brother to me. He already saw me in your shirt, so I'm going to keep my eyes on your face." I paused for a moment when he met my gaze.
"Why didn't you tell me he was coming by?"
"It slipped my mind." He told me, running a hand through his wet hair.
"You better hope he doesn't kill you on this run." I responded, hoping my tone was light. Bradley had always been overprotective and I didn't know how he felt about this relationship.
"He's not going to kill me. He's not strong enough to." He flashed me a grin. I rolled my eyes at him,
"Really? I'm like his sister, Jake. I'm glad you two are getting along, even if it is a little weird, but it doesn't change the fact that he's overprotective and if seeing us at The Hard Deck wasn't enough reality, he just got thrown into the deep end seeing me in just your shirt."

Jake closed the distance between us, pulling me against his warm, damp skin. He caught my gaze,
"He's not gonna scare me away. The only way I'll leave you is if you tell me to." He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. I knew tears were forming in my eyes, so I leaned forward and kissed him. Instinctively, his arms wrapped around me, squeezing my hips.
"I love you." I told him, pulling away much sooner than I would have liked. "You should get changed and go, or else Bradley will be waiting a little while and we'll have to be quiet." Jake's eyes lit up at that. His eyes darted towards my lips, but I pushed him away, towards the door,
"Go!" I laughed lightly, "We're not having sex while Bradley's in the house."