Never in a million years would I have thought I'd wake up next to the son of a drug lord and not be afraid. But there I was, wrapped in his arms, completely content for the first time in weeks.
Somehow, we'd kept our clothes on all night. And I was unashamed to say that it was because of Jett's stubbornness of not wanting to "deflower" me—his word, not mine. I had assured him that he would most certainly not be doing that, but apparently, I hadn't experienced anything yet.
"Morning," Jett said in a husky voice.
I pulled his hand up to my neck and hugged him. "Morning."
My head dipped back as he lifted his off the pillow, then he kissed me just below my ear. "As much as I'd love to keep you in here all day, it's almost nine, and your next exam starts in an hour."
I rolled over and sat up. Just as my feet touched the floor, a hand snaked around my middle and pulled me back onto the mattress. My laugh was cut off when Jett's lips found mine. All the built-up passion that I'd put to rest when I fell asleep last night came back with full force.
But like before, he pulled away. "You're going to be late if you don't get up now."
Groaning, I climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom. After my shower, I wrapped a towel around me and opened the door. I expected Jett to still be in my bed, but he was gone. I got dressed, gathered my stuff, and went downstairs to the lounge.
Jett came out of the kitchen, holding two coffees. "Such a shame I'll only get to see you in that uniform for another three days." He put the cups on the table, grabbed my tie, and pulled me to him.
I traced the lines of his tattoo. "It could always make a reappearance."
He grinned. "I'm going to hold you to that one."
I stood on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek before picking up my coffee to take a sip. The whole time I could feel his eyes practically undressing me, and I loved it.
Jett wrapped his arms around my waist from behind me then leaned in and inhaled deeply in that funny way. "How about we take my bike?"
I choked out a laugh. "Yeah, probably not such a good idea," I said, holding up my coffee.
***
When we arrived at school, Lilly was leaning against the fence. Her eyes lit up when she spotted us.
After we parked, she strode over, her smile growing bigger the closer she got. When I got out of the car, she said, "Two guesses why you weren't answering last night."
I tried to squash the grin that spread across my face, but it was hopeless. My mouth seemed to have a mind of its own.
"Hey, Lilly," Jett said, coming up behind me.
"Morning," she said with a smile. Lilly looked to me. "We better hurry, or we'll be late."
I furrowed my brow. "We take history together?"
"Sure do," she said.
Jett laced his fingers with mine as we walked through the school gate. Lilly led the way, and I listened absently as she chattered the whole way there. She seemed so much more self-confident over the last week, and I wondered what was responsible.
Lilly slapped my arm with the back of her hand. "You're not listening to me, are you?"
I shook my head. "Sorry. I was just... thinking about the exam."
"How do you think you'll do?" she asked.
"I think I've got it." History was always one of my stronger subjects. "How about you?"
She nodded. "With the way my mum had me studying, I think I've memorised the whole bloody textbook."
When we reached the classroom, the bitches were huddled to the side of the door. History class was where I had first met them.
Emily nudged the other two girls, then all three of them looked up at us. I waited for the smart-assed comments, but nothing came. I looked over at Lilly, expecting to see her cowering as she'd done every other time she was near them, but her back was straight and her head held high. It was like a complete role reversal.
Jett squeezed my hand. "I'll be here waiting for you when you've finished." He leaned down and kissed me, then pulled me into a hug, where he once again buried his head in the crook of my neck and slowly inhaled as if smelling my hair or my skin.
"All right, that's enough," the teacher said, walking past us into the classroom.
Lilly giggled and grabbed my free hand.
"See you," I said as Lilly dragged me inside the room.
***
When Lilly and I finished the exam, we walked outside to the parking lot. Jett was sitting on the garden wall under a tree, playing on his phone.
"Want a lift home?" I asked Lilly as we headed over to the tree.
"If it's not too much trouble." She adjusted the strap of her bag. "I can't believe we've only got one day left."
"Ah, you do realise that it's only Wednesday?"
"You know what I mean. You can't really count Friday as a school day because we finish by ten o'clock."
I tipped my head back. "I can't wait 'til Friday."
Jett hopped off the wall and slipped his phone into his pocket. "How'd you do?" He kissed my forehead then slung his arm over my shoulders and turned me in the direction of the car.
I laced my fingers with his. "Piece of cake."
He looked over at Lilly. "Are we taking you home?"
"If it's no trouble."
"It's no trouble," I answered. I nodded at Jett. "Another good reason not to bring your bike."
"You'll change your mind once you've had a ride." He opened the passenger door and waited for me to get inside before closing it.
Lilly crawled into the backseat and leaned forward. "Did I hear right? Does he want to take you on his bike?"
I twisted in my seat to face her. "Yeah, why?"
"That has got to be the hottest thing ever. Sitting on the back of a bike with him in—" She cut herself off mid-sentence when Jett opened the driver-side door.
On the ride to Lilly's house, I couldn't get the image of sitting on the back of Jett's bike, with him between my legs, out of my mind. Lilly was right. That would be hot.
By the time we dropped off Lilly and got back home, it was almost two thirty. We pulled out the left-over Chinese and sat at the table outside to eat.
"Are you ever going home?" I asked. "Not that I don't like having you here, but doesn't your family miss you or something?"
He shook his head. "There's no need for me to go home. They know where I am."
"And they don't have a problem with it?"
"I'm almost twenty. They stopped having a say in what I did two years ago." He shrugged. "Besides, I think they understand, considering someone shot you less than a week ago."
I twirled some noodles around my fork as I thought about that night. So much had changed, and so much was unexplained. "Hey, do the police have any leads on who did it?"
"Nope." He shovelled some pork into his mouth.
I slumped back in the chair. I felt so useless that I couldn't even help the police with a description so they could find my attacker.
"Hey." Jett put down his fork and placed his hand over mine. "You need to stop worrying about it."
I gave him a half-hearted smile. "Easier said than done."
He squeezed my hand. "So what test do we have to study for tomorrow?"
I raised my eyebrows. "You plan on helping me study?"
He scooped the last of his food onto his fork. "Well, I am the expert on..."
"English?" I finished for him.
"Exactly."
Jett's phone buzzed. He pulled it out and checked the screen. He typed something in response then stood up. "I have to take care of something at the club for a bit." He picked up his bowl then came over and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Please don't argue with me on this, but I'm taking you over to Jenna's to stay while I'm gone."
Tilting my head back to look at him, I said, "I don't need anyone watching me." I got to my feet and put my hands on my hips. "You go take care of what you need to, but I'm not going anywhere."
He stared at me for a moment. "Fine. I'll get my brother to come over here." He pulled out his phone again.
I barked out a laugh. "He is so not coming over here."
He swiped the screen. "Well, if you won't go over to Jenna's, then Zane's coming here."
I snatched his phone out of his hand. He looked mad, but I didn't care. "You're worried that whoever shot me may come back to finish what they started, but you're okay with letting your slimeball brother get all up in my shit?"
His face softened. "I'm not okay with my brother touching you, but it's better than the alternative."
"Which is?"
Jett put his hands on my waist and drew me to him. "Call me crazy, but I'm worried about you. And I think I have every reason to be."
I laid my hand on his chest. "I'll be fine." He looked so worried that I gave in. "Fine, I'll go to Jenna's."
He cupped my face and kissed my forehead. "Thank you."
***
My stomach churned the whole way over to Jenna's. I was a little nervous about being in her territory, where I couldn't lock her out as I had done when she was over at my house. I hoped that my needing to study would give me some reprieve.
Jett squeezed my hand when he met me in front of the car. "You'll be fine."
Putting on my best fake smile, I walked with him up to the porch. Before Jett could knock, the door swung open.
"Hi," Jenna said. She wrapped her arms around Jett's neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then she turned, pulled me into a hug, and kissed my cheek as if we were best friends who hadn't seen each other in weeks. And I was almost certain she smelled me again.
"Okay, okay," Jett said. "Give her some space."
Jenna pulled away, chuckling. "Sorry. I can be a bit full on at times."
"That's okay," I said just to be polite. The last thing I wanted was to have a problem with every one of Jett's family. Zane was inevitable, but I would try to get over the whole sniffing thing. Maybe she'd had too many drugs and had some kind of brain damage.
"Anyway," Jett said, gripping me around my hip and pulling me to him, "I better go now. I'll be back as soon as I can." He tucked his face in the crook of my neck and inhaled deeply as he kissed me, making my stomach dip. Reluctantly, he pulled away. "See you." He looked at Jenna for a moment, and I was sure some sort of unspoken message passed between them, then he turned around and left.
She put her arm around me and ushered me inside. "Jett tells me you guys are together now, huh?"
Wow. I hadn't realised he would be so quick to tell everyone. "Um, yeah, I guess you could say that."
She squeezed my arm. "He's a lucky guy."
I was thankful that she couldn't see my face because I was sure I wasn't hiding my internal freak-out. She wasn't my friend, so I didn't get why she would say something like that other than... Oh, God. What was with Jett's family and me? I hoped that the rest of them weren't so... friendly toward me.
Jenna pointed at the couch. "Have a seat, and I'll get us something to drink. Coke?"
"Yeah. Thanks." I sat on the sofa and dropped my bag on the floor.
Her place was immaculate to the point that it looked more like a display home than a place someone actually lived. To the left of the couch were bifold doors that opened up to a large patio. Most of the small backyard was taken up by a pool.
I stood and walked onto the patio. My heart practically stopped when I looked to the right and saw the bridge, the same one I had jumped off of and nearly been raped under, and the very spot where I had first seen my black-eyed boy.
"There you are," Jenna said from behind me.
I whipped around, feeling as though I had been caught snooping. She held out a bottle of Coke.
"Thanks," I said taking the soda. "How long have you lived here?"
"About three years." She walked over and stood beside me, brushing her shoulder against mine. "My parents bought me this house as my twenty-first birthday present."
"Holy crap. That's a pretty amazing present." I wondered if my father would ever do something like that. The answer was probably yes, but not for the same reason most parents would. "Or was it more like a 'here's a house, please move out' kind of gift?"
She laughed. "No, it wasn't like that. My parents knew I wanted to move up here, and I guess this was their way of giving me their blessing."
I stepped out and sat on the wicker lounge. Jenna followed, but fortunately, she left a little space between us.
I opened the bottle and took a sip. "Where did you live before?"
"Sydney."
"Seriously? I used to live there, too."
Turning to face me, she put her knee up on the couch. "Whereabouts?"
"In Bronte. How about you?"
"That's so funny. We lived just up from you in Vaucluse."
"Huh." I leaned back and took another drink. "So what do you do up here?"
"As in work?" When I nodded, she shrugged and said, "I help Jett and Zane out when they need it."
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
"Not a fan of Zane?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Let's just say the few times we've met, he overstepped some boundaries."
She chuckled. "He can be a bit like that, but I wouldn't worry about him. I think he's probably a bit jealous that Jett found you first."
A nervous laugh escaped my lips. Even if I had met Zane before Jett, there was no way I would've ever fallen for that creepazoid. "I don't get why. He seems to have his hands full as it is."
She laughed. "Let's just say you're not like most of the girls from around here."
"Why? Because I didn't throw myself at him?"
She grinned then took a sip of her drink. "So, you've only got two days of school left. Are you excited?"
I was a little irritated by the obvious subject change, but then I decided I didn't really want to discuss guys with her, anyway, especially not her cousins. "Relieved is more like it. But I've still got one last exam tomorrow that I really should be studying for."
"What subject?"
"English."
"Seriously?" She leaned toward me. "That was one of my best subjects. I could help you if you like?"
"Um, yeah, okay. Thanks."
Jenna stood. "Let's go inside and sit on the couch."
I followed her in and got out my study notes. Amazingly, Jenna was practically an encyclopaedia, and I was thankful I'd gone over to her house rather than insisting on staying home by myself.
When Jett returned, I had to do a double take. His hair was wet, and I was sure he was wearing something different from when he'd left. It seemed pretty weird that he would have gone back home to have a shower without picking me up first, but I didn't give it too much thought because I was actually grateful that Jenna was able to help me so much.
Jett sat beside me, draped his arm over my shoulder, and pulled me close. He kissed the side of my head. "Miss me?"
"Actually, no." His eyebrows shot up, and I chuckled. "Jenna's been helping me study."
"If I'd known you wanted a study partner, I could've helped."
"Right," I said with a laugh. Jett so didn't come across as the academic type.
"Actually, he's pretty smart," Jenna said. "Of course, not as smart as I am." She grinned.
"You wish." Jett picked up a cushion and threw it at Jenna, who caught it with ease. "Come on. Let's go," Jett said to me.
I gathered my things and shoved them back in my bag. "Thanks again for helping me with this," I said to Jenna.
"Don't mention it." She walked us to the front door. "Maybe next time we can do something a bit more fun."
"Sure thing."
Jenna pulled me into a hug. "Take care."
She did the smelling thing again, but it didn't bother me as much. Over the last two hours, I seemed to have gotten over the discomfort I had felt around her.