THE PRESSURE OF THE hot water beating down onto his muggy skin felt heavenly. The knots in his shoulders loosened just a bit as he rolled them back and forth. He pushed his wet hair out of his eyes and spread both of his hands against the white tiled wall of the shower.
He was stuck.
Never-you-mind a rock, he was stuck between a boulder and a hard place.
Less than a few hours ago, they’d received news from Brandon’s surgical doctor that there was a possibility of damage to the nerves in the brain and if so, his best friend would wake up brain dead.
Talk about life’s irony.
With an angry fist, he struck the wall and gritted his teeth as the pain quickly seared through his knuckles. Realizing that the physical pain distracted him from the emotional whirlwind threatening to destroy him on the inside, he slammed his fist into the wall again and again… and again.
When he finally relented, his knuckles were bruised and bleeding with pieces of skin scratched off but still, he felt no relief. He set it under the running water and forced himself to refrain from crying out in pain while the searing hot water made contact with his bleeding hand.
“Damn it!” Jason swallowed hard and tried his best to choke down the urge to cry. He hadn’t shed a tear since the day his father passed and he wasn’t going to change that now. He was going to be alright. Even if life had a way of kicking his ass when he was down, he was going to make sure that he was alright.
Machayla needed him to be alright. Jason understood that she doesn’t necessarily want him to play her hero but it was too late. That’s what he wants to be for her: the man she ran to when she was in trouble. He’d asserted the role the moment he’d notice that first bruise on her delicate skin so many nights ago and he was going to keep that role.
Now if only the hero of this reality could find a way to save everyone he cared about. That was where his problems laid.
How does a man single handily get rid of a crooked cop out to kill an innocent girl because of who her father was meanwhile stop her fiancé whose out to get him and his crew? How the hell was he going to deal with the possibility that his best friend was knocking on death’s door? And his brother, one of the people he trusted the most, betraying his trust for a damn girl.
“Jason?”
Jason quickly swallowed down the feeling of helplessness that all but demanded to come forth, cleared his throat and answered to the call of her sweet voice. “In the shower, I’ll be out in a minute.” He waited for her answer to come but except for the shower running, he heard nothing.
Feeling more paranoid than ever, he twisted the knob for the water and was ready to hop out of the shower when the curtain were ripped away to show an almost naked Machayla clad with nothing but her under garments on.
Jason’s jaw slacked open at the sight and his chest tightened instantly. Suddenly, not only was he incredibly stressed but he was also sexually frustrated and her standing there in nothing but two pieces of cloth, barely covering her womanly parts, was not helping… not at all.
He acted fast as he could when he realized that he was indeed in all his naked glory and his arousal for this woman with beautifully sun kissed brown skin, who’d somehow gotten him hooked on her, was starting to show it appreciation for the sight that she was giving him.
All of a sudden he start to feel a bit shy in front of her and he quickly tried to grab a hold of the striped curtain to cover himself. Too bad for him, Machayla’s grip became ridiculously tight when she realized what he was trying to do. Getting ready to try again, he clasped both hands on the curtain only to hear her suck in a deep breath.
Her gaze quickly zoomed onto his injured hands and she looked up at him, brows knitted. He saw nothing but worry in her brown eyes. “I’m guessing that whatever fight you had with the wall, you lost,” she said with a slight hint of humor but her eyes continued to show her concern.
Jason shrugged, grabbed a towel from the towel rack—to hide his burning desire for wanting to drag her into the shower and having his way with her— beside the shower and wrapped it around his lean hip. “It’s no big deal.” He was trying his damnest not to ogle the way the sunshine yellow bra hugged her impressively full rack and contrasted against her silky skin but he was failing—miserably.
With his libido going haywire and all the stress the day had brought on, he was wound up so tight that if a fly flew his way, he’d probably punch it. Putting his good hand through his soaked hair, he stepped out of the shower, towel clutched in his bad one. “Next time, can you give me a warning?”
Her brows scrunched together in confusion, “warning for what?”
“Stop acting oblivious, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” he huffed.
Her arms went to her hips and her stance became defensive “do I?”
Jason groaned on the inside. She honestly looked confused. She couldn’t possibly be that dense. Of course he knew that he was at times but he pegged her as a woman with quick wit. She sure had a quick mouth that goes lovely with it.
Training his eyes away from her ample breast he tried his best to not think about what he really wanted to do to her where they stood in his bathroom. Instead he was trying to convince himself that she was in a fragile place. She was vulnerable and he was supposed to be the guy who was considerable of her feelings but damn it, he was only a hot blooded human male on edge and he needed some type of release.
With a heavy sigh, he flexed his battered hand in order to regain composure in front of this ridiculously hot woman. “Never mind. Did you girls get what you needed from the store?” After they’d stop at the hospital earlier on, everyone decided on grabbing some food to fill their empty stomachs and a take care of their suddenly noticeable lack of hygiene.
Sierra and Tabitha decided on their own accord to bum rush Machayla and dragged her off to whatever girly store that they went to. And since there wasn’t any way for her to get any of her belongings from Mason’s house other than going back there –and that definitely wasn’t going to happen—Jason and the guys waved them off. Apparently, Tabitha never went anywhere without “protection”.
Whatever that meant, an hour later they’d drop her off at his doorsteps with a ridiculous amount of bags in her hands and he’d immediately felt incapable for not thinking on his toes and giving her some spending money.
“Yeah, I guess,” she answered him an irritable look in her eyes.
“Good,” he answered warily “lets get some clothes on.”
Her eyes lingered on his bare chest before they moved down to where his injured hand was clutched at the towel around his hip. “We need to take care of that hand.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it later.”
Machayla frowned and crossed her arm over her chest. Unfortunately for Jason, it only caused him to want to get out of the bathroom faster since pushing her breast up halfway up to her face only served to make his manhood throb to the hardest it’s ever been.
He went to walk out of the door again but was stopped when Machayla, latched a hand on his wrist. “But your fingers might be broken,” she stressed.
Jason looked down at her as his constantly growing agitation became unbearable. His friends and family have always told him that as nice as he was, when pushed he did have asshole tendencies and at times, they were right.
“Look, I said don’t worry about it damn it,” he snapped.
Surprise etched its way onto her face and she released her grip on him. “Fine!” She pushed passed him and quickly stormed out of the bathroom. Jason had to take a second to berate himself for losing his cool with her before he went after her.
Two hours later, they both were fully clothes and Machayla was giving him the cold shoulder as Jason sulked. He was but a blink away from ripping his hair out of his head.
He watched her intently. She sat on the couch with her legs up and her chin resting on her knees. Every so often, a deep frown made its way onto her delicate face or she’d put a hand through her hair in frustration but she refused to look his way.
He’d given up trying to apologize about an hour ago after deciding that she needed some time to cool down in order for them to be able to talk but now, his patience was wearing thin.
Sliding off the stool beside the kitchen counter, he made his way over to the couch and sat down at the other end of it. Just in case she still wanted some space, he told himself. She looked up and finally blessed him with her attention but still with a brow cocked in question, she said nothing.
Jason searched her face for any signs that indicated that she wasn’t as angry as she was earlier, anything that showed a crack in the armor she’d put up against him but he found nothing but her blank mask.
If you asked him how to get a girl into his bed, he’d gladly show you, if you asked him to teach someone to drive, he’d show them, and if you asked him to tell you about the most important rule in business, he will. But ask him, Jason Mills, to get a girl to stop being so angry at him and he’s a lost cause.
He didn’t know what to do and it looked like he was going to have to resolve in… groveling? Maybe. He wasn't sure how well that would work but at this point, anything was better than nothing.
Sighing, Jason scoot closer to her until he could feel her body heat. Grabbing both of her hands, he looked into her eyes. “I am so sorry Machayla Daniels. I am a complete dumbass and I promise to try my best to not ever snap at you like that again. If I do, you have my complete permission to hit me over the head with whatever you please.”
He caught a faint smile on her lips as she finally spoke. “Are you groveling Mills?”
With a nod he crowded her personal space. “I am.”
“Good,” she answered looking down it their joined hands –specifically his swollen one— “how’s your hand?”
“It hurts like a bitch.”
“Good. Maybe next time you’ll listen to me and let me check you up instead of bitching at me,” she answered with a now full blown smile.
"I wasn't bitching..."
"So you say." Machayla closed the short space -- whatever was left of it-- between them and pressed her soft lips against his. “You got a First Aid kit?”
“I do.” His response came out short and breathy as he slipped one arm around her waist, the other behind her head and crushed her lips to his in a heated kiss. He couldn't help how much he wanted her both physically and emotionally. Her touch was soothing to his over worked muscles but her smile seemed to sooth his burdened soul.
He laid back against the couch and positioned their body so each point on their person were touching. One arm snaked down to her jean clad thigh and pulled a leg upward in order to get more comfortable.
It wasn’t until his injured knuckles scraped against the leather of the couch and he let out a hiss of pain which quickly alerted Machayla and had her scrambling out of his grip. She quickly stood up and plastered an apologetic look on her face. “I'm sorry! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Jason sat up and looked down at his bruised knuckle which by now was an angry purple/blue color where there was skin still intact.
“It’s bleeding.” Machayla knelt down in front of him and carefully grabbed his injured hand and examined it. “It’s most likely fractured but you’re going to need to get it cleaned and dressed. Where’s your First Aid?”
“In the bathroom; cabinet underneath the sink.”
She hurried to the bathroom in pursuit of the kit meanwhile mumbling something about guys and their egos. As Jason sat there waiting on her, he heard the front door knob rattle once, twice then it stopped.
Every nerve ending in his body went on high alert as he focused on listening to his surroundings. After ten seconds or so he was on his feet and walking towards the door. He put his ear to the wooden door and once again listened. It rattled again once, twice then it stopped.
He heard foot steps and whispers then it fell silent. For a moment he heard nothing but the sound of his own breathing. For a while he heard nothing... till, his ear caught a familiar click right when Machayla walked back into the foyer.
"You need to get a new-"
"Get down!" Jason yell at the same moment that three shots rang out and pierced through the front door hitting the couch which they were just on, the coffee table and an erect lamp which shattered to the floor.
Then, silence.
Jason, who was now laying flat on his stomach on the floor, looked over and spotted Machayla crouched into a ball in one corner of the room with eyes wide open and full of shock. A sigh of relief slipped from his mouth when he realized that she was physically OK and no stray bullets had made its way near her.
She went to say something but he placed an index finger on his lips and shook his head from side to side. She swallowed hard and he watched her nod that she understand him. He didn't want to hear the shake he knew would be in her voice if she spoke now. He knew his person well enough to know that he'd get distracted enough and let his defenses slip and that was the last thing they needed right at the moment.
He wanted to be on his toes when he decided what he was going to do to the piece of shits who just shot up his home when he found them. The only problem was that it could've been anybody.
They had a bulls eye on their backs and the prize was ridiculously enticing to anyone who was greedy enough to take a life for a payoff or anyone who just simply didn't like him.
He has never regretted making so many enemies but if he had a second chance, he'd change nothing. All this trouble was worth it when he thought of the woman crouching less than twenty feet away from him.
It was five minutes later when Jason was sure that the shooters were gone and were most likely not coming back. He quickly got up and without a second look to Machayla, went straight to the bedroom where he'd left his gun.
He was in the closet fervently searching for more ammunition that he kept in a lock box when he heard Machayla walk into the room.
"What's going on Jason? Who just shot at us?" Her voice was borderline frantic but he could tell that she was trying to reign in her panic in order to look strong.
"I don't know," he answered stiffly. He continues to toss items aside in the closest as he looked for the box.
"What do you mean you don't know?" She questioned again.
"Dammit Kayla, I don't know! Just help me look for this damn box. Please." He felt the stress of the day return with full throttle as the muscles on his shoulders became stiff once again. If he was honest with himself, he didn't have a clue how he was going to get out of this mess alive but he was ready to fight Mason on till death.
"You looking for this?"
Jason dropped the white t-shirt which he was ready to toss out of the closet and turned to Machayla who'd move beside him with the lock box in her hand. "Where'd you find it?" He asked as he took it out of her hands and set on the bed.
"It was on the night stand. And you're welcome," she bit out.
Jason discontinued all movements and turned to her meanwhile feeling a little foolish. "Thank you," he said to her and kissed her cheeks. He turned his attention back to the box and started to fiddle with numbers until it popped open.
Grabbing four out of twelve clips of ammunition out of the box, he grabbed the semi-automatic off of the bed, load it with a clip, turned the safety on and slid it in the small of his back under his shirt.
He wondered if what he was going to ask Machayla to do was a good idea but then thought better of it. He needed her alive and if for any reason he wasn't around to protect her, she needed to have at least something to defend herself.
"You ever held a gun before, Machayla?" His tone was strained.
"I have," she answered rather easily.
Surprised, Jason faced her with questioning eyes. "You have?"
"Did you forget who I was with? Mason taught me everything you know about this life. I can drive just as well as Sierra and Tabitha and I can shoot a gun better than Eddie. I just, don't. Of course, he only taught me for his convenience and I've never had to shoot an actual living thing but still..."
"Alright," still a bit stunned, Jason turned back to the box and grabbed the spare that Drake slipped him a few nights ago. Once again, he faced her and held out the gun. "Just in case."
She stared at the cool metal contraption in his hand for a few seconds before she decided to take it from him and looked into his eyes. "Just in case," she repeated.
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Are you wondering where hell i've been? Well, I've been busy trying to make it in life. I AM SOOORRRYY!!! I genuinly am sorry about being gone for 3 months but i've been caught up with everything but a social life lol I moved back to Miami and i had to get settled in and get used to living with my parents again, SUCKS!
Also I've doing an intership from M-F and working on the weekends but thats still not why i havent uploaded. To simply put it, i lost my files on my old laptop and i was not going to pay to get it back so i had to wait for my genuis big brother to work his magic and tranfer them to my new lap top. But anyways, here i am! I'm back :)
Thanks for your patience and support XOXO