Jem's POV
Admittedly, there may have been a flaw in my plan.
Bringing Patrick and Andrew to Nashville felt like a good idea when I made the decision but now that it was actually happening, I almost should have none better considering who I was talking about.
Andrew's love language is spending time together and we were about to have 6 hours together just in drive time. Not to mention how he tends to just be excited to just leave the house at this point. I should have been ready for the excitement that filled the car on the long drive but I forgot that this wouldn't be the usual trip with Dev and Barrett I which we normally drove in silence.
Then of course there was Patrick. Patrick who tended to stay within a 10-mile radius of his hometown, Patrick who threatened to steal a gold plated spoon at my restaurant, Patrick who was the most basic southern man I've ever met in my life; that's the guy I chose to bring to a rather big city.
Granted Nashville wasn't the fanciest place by any mean but to two people who had never been or were excited just in general, it seemed to be a big deal to them.
"We should have came at night," Andrew said from the passengers seat, his face all but glued to the window; so much so that even his words were muffled by the glass. "Can you imagine what all the lights would look like out here? I bet it's gorgeous."
"Can you imagine how much power they're using? It's fucking insane," Patrick scoffed from the backseat but he looked just as impressed.
This is how most of the conversation has been ever since we got off of the interstate about an hour ago. Andrew finding something to be excited about, Patrick making note of how expensive it had to be and pretending to be annoyed about it. Both of them were too cute though so I opted to not choose sides and just enjoy them having fun in the car.
"Is that supposed to be an aquarium? That building is bigger than a football stadium," Patrick asked as he leaned up from the backseat to point at something I was too busy driving to look at.
"Do you want to go walk around it for a while," I asked still not taking my eyes off the road to look but still ready to find a random parking lot to turn around in so we could go back.
"We don't have time."
"Says who," I scoffed, resisting the urge to make a u turn in the middle of the road in order to go back just to prove my point.
"You I guess. You have plans to do here."
"We're here to look at a building and go back home. That's the only plans I have. If you two see something you want to do or see somewhere to eat that you've never been before than just tell me. We have plenty of time." This only made Andrew's smile brighten as Patrick slid back into the backseat slowly. "So do you want to turn around or not?"
"Not for an aquarium," he mumbled but began looking out the window again.
The car didn't stay quiet for long and soon enough Andrew was back to pointing out things that would be gorgeous if we came back another time at certain time of day or year.
We had gotten a late start to the day; it was already 5 by the time we made it to the building. I had parked on the side of the road and got out without a word yet they followed me as I crossed the road to get a better look.
The building itself was shit. The foundation was cracked, mold no doubt covered the baseboards, and I could tell just from looking at it a few homeless people were using it. But the property would be decent if we fixed it. The building would have to be demolished entirely and that would cost a lot of money but the road was pretty busy and there weren't many fancy restaurants down this way so we could probably make that back pretty quickly.
"What do you think Andrew?"
"It's nice I guess," he said with a small shrug.
"He's lying to you," Patrick said as glared at the worn out building. "Are you seriously saying we drove all the way down here for this? What was the point of that?"
"No you see why I was so frustrated yesterday," I teased as I looked back up.
"Why do you even need a new building? Putting a warehouse in the middle of a crowded city like this is just asking for trouble anyway."
"It's not going to be a warehouse," I dismiss. "This isn't a Jem King building, it's Jesse Hayes'. Word is he's got a new restaurant in the works, which wasn't true until some gossip channel made it up and people went crazy over it. Now I'm just feeding off the drama, it's good for business."
"Imagine having the money to just drop on an old ass building in order to make some pristine restaurant in the middle of some random city," Andrew scoffed but a laugh escaped me before I had the chance to stop it. "I hope you find much humor in knowing we will always be dirt poor compared to you." His words were harsh but thankfully the smile on his face showed he didn't mean it.
"So are you going to buy it or not," Patrick asked, still looking up at the building with distaste.
"Yea," I said with a sigh. I didn't even really want to be doing this. I didn't have the time right now to baby a project like this but Ramsey pushed for it and Dev backed it so clearly it needs to be done. "I'll have someone finalize the details later this week and appoint someone to head the management of it because I sure as hell won't be the one doing it. With luck it will be ready to go in a few months. You won't even recognize it." I turned on my heels without another word and before long we were on the road again.
"Where are we going," Patrick asked from the passengers seat this time. They had agreed that they would switch places on the drive back. "We didn't come this way earlier."
"I have a surprise."
"What kind of surprise," Andrew asked, clearly trying to hide the smile on his face.
"Something small," I promised when I saw the skeptically look that crossed Patrick's face. "Just something to make your trip worth coming to."
"The last surprise you gave us was a restaurant that an average person would have to take a loan out for just to eat at."
"And you loved every minute of it so stop acting like it was bad thing," I said with a frown of my own. "This one actually is small so shut up."
Patrick grumbled something that sounded like 'I'll believe it when I see it'.
The next time we stopped a smile was plastered on Andrew's face while Patrick nodded in approval. Like I said, it wasn't much, just a bar with a damn good menu with a club upstairs.
The bar was loud to say the least but I had managed to get us a quieter table in the back, thankfully secluding us from the frat boys taking body shots off of each other.
The meal passed quickly but it had honestly been a while since I laughed so hard. Patrick and I took turns making fun of Andrew's innocence every time he caught eyes with the rowdy crowd making crude gestures or doing something less than work place appropriate. There was even a time that Andrew was bought a drink from some guy at the bar.
His face turned so red as he turned away from the man while Patrick held steady eye contact with him as he downed the drink in one go. The man's eyes had gone wide; clearly surprised that Andrew was already taken before moving his eyes over to me.
I couldn't blame him. In a table of three, if two people are going out you naturally assume the last person is simply a third wheel. With him just trying to get lucky tonight he was willing to move onto the next available guy.
Patrick watched me closely, his eyes bearing into my soul, as he got ready to step into this interaction too if something he didn't like happened. I had to admit, a jealous Patrick was a gorgeous thing but it wasn't fair to play him twice in a row.
My attention turned to Andrew, who was sitting in front me, his hands balled up tight on the table as he hid his still very red face into Patrick's chest. I smiled to myself as I let my fingers brush against his knuckles just to grab his attention.
He turned to look at me skeptically but didn't have time to question me before I connected our lips. He gasped at the connection allowing me to shove my tongue into his mouth before pulling away as if it never happened. He looked at me in a daze, his lips already beginning to match the shade of his checks at the force I had used.
"You think he got the message," I asked as I turned to look back at the guy who had started all of this but a hand wrapped around my jaw before I even had the chance. I raised an eyebrow at Patrick while his grip tightened. I waited in silence just to see what he would do if I allowed him to.
I could feel his pulse from the hand on my jaw as he squeezed it a bit harder before bringing my head to his, forcing me up from my chair to lean over the table. The second our lips met, his tongue was at the seam of my lips. A smile crossed my face as I refused him. His mood soured quickly but he didn't give up. The hand on my jaw moved down to my throat as his teeth dug into my bottom lip.
My mouth fell open as a moan left me, leaving Patrick plenty of time to shove his tongue down my throat as moaned under him.
When he pulled away the man was gone and Andrew was watching us with wide eyes and his hands covering his lap.
"It's been a while since I was treated like that," I admit as I leaned into Patrick's ear, his hand still on my throat but no force was put into it. "Do it again some time?" I whispered into his ear before giving the shell of his ear a light kiss. He only nodded as I pulled away and settled back into my seat.
"Now it's already 7 and we have 3 hours ahead of us so why don't we get going. Dev will have a search party started if we're not back by midnight," I said as I stood up from the table, a smirk on my face as they trailed behind me, still in a daze at what happened.
Sadly the bar didn't have it's own parking lot so it was a bit of a walk to actually get to the car but it was spent with me in between Andrew and Patrick with each of hands having one of theirs.
Andrew went on about the lights, Patrick still found the negative in everything, and I only listened to them and their petty fights.
The night was quiet and colder than normal. The walk to the car felt like it took an hour but I had to admit my anxiety eased at the sight of the parking garage coming into view.
We didn't even make it to the car before Andrew's hand was ripped from mine. A gun was in my hand the second his was gone as I turned to see what took him from me. A man now hid behind Andrew as pistol was being shoved into his temple.
"Let him go and you don't have to die," I seethed as I aimed at the man. The shot would be hard, if Andrew moved even the slightest bit he risked dying, but I could take the shot.
Patrick's hand squeezed my harder as he trembled beside me; whether in fear or anger I couldn't tell.
"You're not the one making decisions here," the man teased, his hand faltering on the gun for a split second. "Besides, you wouldn't kill in front of them would you Jem?"
His question was answered when my gun fired and the bullet hit its mark between his eyes. His body dropped like a weight and the second he let go Andrew flung himself away from the man.
His arms wrapped around my neck while my free arm held him close, gun still in my hand in case more followed his lead. His quiet cries echoed in my ears as Patrick moved closer as well, holding Andrew tighter than I was.
"It's okay," I soothed, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. "He's not going to hurt you now. It's okay."
A sickening crunch sounded before a blinding pain on the back of my head was felt. I fought the darkness as I held onto Andrew and Patrick but I could feel myself falling against them as the darkness only continued to invade my sight.
I landed on the ground hard. I couldn't fight but my hand moved slowly to the pocket with my phone in it. I didn't have to see in order to type 'SOS' into the last conversation I had on this phone before hitting send but without being able to do anything else, my mind slipped into the black as panic took over.
Let's all just remember there is a discord link in my bio if anyone need emotional support after this.
Last updated June 29, 2022