Command Me

Chapter 19

By the second round of cocktails, conversation had slowed to a halt among our small group. Mum had insisted on waiting for my father before ordering, and he was over an hour late.
"I don't know what could be keeping him," Mum said, apologizing again and checking her phone.
"I'm in no hurry," Jade said serenely, but the hand stroking up my thigh told a different story. She definitely had other things on her mind.
"We should order," I said as the clocks around us struck eight. My fatigue, coupled with low blood sugar, was wearing through my already fragile patience.
"Let's give dad a few more minutes," Caitlin suggested, sipping her cocktail. "Tell us how you two met."
"Pick up a newspaper," I snapped, unable to contain my ill mood any longer.
Caitlin gave me a reproachful look, her red lips pursed over her drink. She looked exactly like my mother as she did it. "I want to hear it from the source."
I opened my mouth to tell her off again, but Jade stopped me.
"I was stuck at another boring party, trying to hide out," she said, "and then this beautiful girl showed up and started telling me off." Her hand caught mine and raised it to her lips, but I caught Jade's cocky grin before she kissed my knuckles.
My mother's eyes widened, a small gasp escaping her lips. Sometimes I wondered where the ambitious, bohemian feminist I'd seen in pictures had disappeared to.
"Perrie!" she said, scolding me as she had when I was a little girl.
Jade chuckled and set her drink on the table. "No, I deserved it."
"So why did you kiss her?" Caitlin burst out.
"Now that is a long story," Jade said, her grin on glorious display now, "and seeing as it didn't make the papers, I'm going to keep it to myself. But I will tell you that I spent the rest of the day trying to find out who your sister was."
My mother sighed at this. "Perrie's not very social. I did my best, but sometimes nature has other plans."
"I find her company intoxicating," Jade said in the low voice she usually reserved for whispering indecent thoughts in my ear. "I want her all to myself anyway."
Mum's eyes flashed to mine, gauging my reaction, and I tried to look nonchalant, turning my attention back to my drink. She had her concerns about my relationship with Jade, but that wouldn't stop her from jumping to conclusions.
"Aren't you coy?" Caitlin murmured. She regarded Jade for a moment, as though she'd issued a challenge.
Jade dismissed the comment with a shrug, waving to the waiter peeking in at the door. No doubt the poor server was beginning to question if we'd ever place our orders.
"Are you ready?" the man asked. His eyes darted around the group, but I couldn't help noticing that he skipped over Jade as though she was intimidated him.
"Can you bring us this evening's appetizers?" Jade asked. "We have another guest coming, but I can't allow these ladies to wait any longer."
I thanked her quietly, grateful that Jade had been the one to defy my mother's dinner gag order. Jade leaned over and kissed me. The soft brush of her lips was tender and protective a reminder that she considered it her job to watch out for me. My eyes closed instinctively, waiting for more, and my mother cleared her throat.
"I read up a little on your company, Mrs Edwards," Jade said, changing the topic quickly.
"Former company," Mum said. "Let's not talk business."
"She gets enough of that from Dad," I explained.
"That's true," she said with a rueful smile. "At least, it used to be."
The offhand comment struck me as odd. My mother had always been supportive of Dad's start-ups and ideas, I checked the clocks again, wondering where my dad was this late. Something was going on with my parents. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly, but things were off.
Caitlin leaned forward eagerly, more than willing to fill the awkward silence. "Tell us about growing up in a palace!"
"Don't they have books devoted to that?" Jade asked.
"They do," she admitted, "but I hear that the reality is quite different. Although I am a sucker for happily ever afters."
Her eyes flickered to mine, and I sucked in a steadying breath, keeping my face blank. She had heard Jade's and my conversation, and I was going to pay for that later. For now, I tittered with forced laughter.
"It's not as exciting as it sounds." Either Jade hadn't picked up on her none-too-subtle hint that she'd been eavesdropping earlier or the women knew how to bluff.
"Lies!" she cried. "I bet you've been all over the world and that you grew up riding horses and hunting foxes."
Jade's mouth curved up, her eyes growing distant with memory. It was obvious that Caitlin had hit upon something. "I suppose I did. It's rather boring really. Dinners with foreign dignitaries. Riding lessons. Although I've never enjoyed hunting."
""I don't approve of hunting."
I scowled at this. Evidently her concern over animal welfare didn't extend to her leather shoes and handbag.
"Unfortunately, it's a tradition in our family. I'm not particularly interested in it either." Jade paused, and this time when her eyes glazed with memories, she laughed. "Actually, when I was eight my father told me I was going on the hunt for the first time. I was incredibly excited. I'd had riding lessons before then, but I'd never been allowed to go with them."
It was the first time Jade spoken of her family and childhood with such lightness, and I listened with rapt attention. Jade's past was a heavy burden on her, so to see her smile over a memory made my heart burst. I couldn't help but wonder what might be different if she hadn't endured so much tragedy and loss early in life.
"I couldn't sleep the night before," she continued, "so I crept to the stables to brush my Horse in preparation. Anyway, I'm in there with my horse and I see this red fox locked in a cage. I couldn't believe it. The second I saw him, I remembered the hunts I'd watched begin at my family estates, and I realised we were going to hunt him."
We were all silent, hanging off her every word as she added, "So I did what any eight year old kid would do, I hid him."
"Oh my god!" Caitlin exclaimed, fluttering her lashes. "Where did you put him?"
"I didn't really think it through," Jade explained with an uncharacteristically sheepish smile, "so I took him to my bedroom."
"I bet your parents loved that," my mum said dryly.
Jade paused, a pained look flashing over her features. It vanished nearly as quickly as it had appeared. Only one of her parents would have been present for her act of vigilance, and I could imagine her mother had found it less than amusing. "My father," she said slowly, "would have, I think, but my mother did not. In fairness though, I did make one, tiny mistake when I brought him inside."
"Which was?" Caitlin prompted. She was swept up in the story, making her look much younger than her age. Apparently the Jade effect extended outside the bedroom.
"My brother let him out of the cage," Jade confessed, spreading her hands innocently. "It took the staff two days to trap him, but the hunt was cancelled!"
"So you were the hero," I said.
"That's one way of looking at it." She shrugged and sat back in her seat again. "I doubt the staff thought so."
We laughed at this, and I drank in Jade's full-bodied laughter. It was the first time she'd mentioned her brother Karl casually, and I wondered if she'd even realised she had done so. She'd made it clear that she was off-limits, implying it would only cause her more pain if I pushed her to speak of him. But was avoiding her memory helping? It seemed a shame for her to forget the happier moments the two shared.
The arrival of my father delivered Jade from having to entertain us further, and a glowing warmth settled over me as I watched the two shake hands and exchange introductions. But one glance at my mother's face immediately dampened the mood.
"Again, I am sorry," Dad said, taking a seat beside my mother. "Have you been waiting for me? You should have ordered!"
"I called you," she said frostily, not bothering to disguise the recrimination in her voice.
"I got caught up at the office," he explained. "We get such terrible mobile service there, but I should have found a phone and called you."
My mother didn't reply, even as her posture stiffened. My stomach flipped over at her obvious resistance to my father's apologies.
For once, it didn't seem like my mother was being delicate. It felt like she was being strong.
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The strange behavior of my parents occupied my thoughts as we rode back to my flat. Dinner had gone off without incident, but her aloof attitude had lingered throughout the evening. Mum had said something offhand about Dad's work last week on our lunch, but I'd dismissed it. Now it had reared its vicious teeth again, and I had to figure out what to do about it.
"Perrie?" Jade said. Her hand slid between my legs as if to coax me from my thoughts.
Tonight was supposed to be about us, our relationship and I'd spent the evening analyzing what was going on with my parents. Maybe I was avoiding the obvious. Jade and I had our own issues to deal with. It was a lot easier to worry about someone else's marriage.
"Sorry, Jade." Swinging my legs up, I crawled into her lap.
"Something's on your mind." She didn't ask me to share, and the message was clear: no pressure.
It was unlikely she could help me figure out what was going on with my parents, but I appreciated that she was here. "I was thinking about my parents. They barely spoke to one another."
"And that's not usually the case?"
I shook my head. I couldn't quite articulate what was bugging me. "My mum tends to be a little high maintenance. She was definitely giving my dad the cold shoulder."
I shrugged it off and wrapped my arms around Jade's neck. I'd been so preoccupied with my parents that I'd almost forgotten that I had her all alone. Shifting, I straddled her, brushing my body across her's in invitation. The contact stirred my blood, sending it to pool in my core.
Jade traced the line above my breast with her index finger, and my breasts swelled under her touch, and I rocked against her as desire engulfed my senses. Jade caught the nape of my neck and pulled me forward, her mouth slanting over mine as she captured my lips. Her breath was hot, laced with a lingering tinge of liquor, and I licked across her teeth, savoring the taste of her.
"I owe you sexual favors," I purred, my hands going to Unbutton her pants to free her thick erection.
Jade groaned, her hands sliding to cup my jaw as she held my lips to her in a languid kiss that left me breathless when she broke away.
"Come to the country with me this weekend," she breathed.
Time alone with her, outside London and its shameless paparazzi? "Do you even have to ask?"
"I'm not asking," she said, a smile playing at her lips. "I already told them you would be there."
I froze. "Them?"
"My family."
"You want me to spend a weekend in the country with your family?" I asked.
"There will be some friends there as well."
If that was meant to reassure me, it failed miserably. "Jade—" I began.
"You said anything," she reminded me. "I said that I wasn't asking. I expect you to be there with me."
"Don't you want to spend some private time with them?" That was a reach, and I knew it.
Jade cocked an eyebrow, aware that I was getting desperate for excuses. "The only person I want private time with is you. Three days apart is too long. I need to know you're being taken care of."
"I can take care of myself," I reminded her.
"You can get dressed." Her hands dropped to my hips and skimmed lightly down them. "You can eat and drink and sleep, but you won't have everything you need." Jade rolled her hips against my groin. My sex clenched as her erection ground into me.
"You raise a good point," I panted, running my tongue over my lips.
"Do I?" She asked, her words raspy as she continued to circle under me.
"Mmhmm," I moaned, losing myself to the lurid motion of her hips. "You owe me."
"I thought you owed me sexual favors," Jade said, a devilish smile coming over her face.
"I promised that before I found out I'd be dealing with your family for a whole weekend. Let's call it a draw, Jade, or you'll be repaying me for a long time." But as desire pooled between my legs, thrumming through my clit, I knew it was a lost cause.
"Oh, Perrie." Her mouth cruised leisurely across my collarbone. "I am more than happy to be in your debt."
She hooked her hand over the band of my pants and underwear touching my trembling sex.
"You know there are finite resources in the world. You might spare a few pairs of panties."
Jade flipped me onto the seat taking my pants and underwear off completely, moving between my spread thighs. "I'd love to hear more about your panties," she said with a smirk,

"Later."
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Hey guys!

I'm not one hundred percent sure but I think this book will only have five or six chapters left, I don't know I'll have to look back at my planning, but it's something like that.

Anyway sorry for any mistakes there might be some weird ones because I have been drinking tonight my friend is like passed out on the floor and I can still write but at times it's blurry so yeah haha

See you next update