- TWENTY -
We had everything ready and set up for the auction to begin. Micah helped me set up a stage with a runway coming out from the middle. Cole had agreed to be the auctioneer. I had asked him because he knew how to be loud and capture a crowd. Cole and Jace came early to finish with the setup and heavy lifting. Quinn was in the back helping all the girls finish getting ready to walk the stage.
I was lifting up a stack of three chairs to carry over to tables that still needed them when they were unexpectedly lifted from my hands. Jaxon stacked them onto another set of four chairs and carried all seven behind me as I showed him where they went. I didn’t have anything to say to him, so he just followed silently. We kept up this silent exchange for four more tables and twenty-four more chairs. He didn’t say a word and I didn’t, either. I pointed to the banner stating that the football team was sponsoring the event, and he hung it up above the stage. He looked down at me from the ladder to check his work, and I just gestured my hand upward to indicate that the left side needed to be a bit higher.
After he fixed it, he looked at me for approval, and I turned to find something else to do. I heard his feet hit the stage as he jumped down off the last couple of rungs on the ladder. He came up right behind me and followed me around, lifting anything he deemed heavy, although I didn’t think a box of napkins weighed too much.
“It looks good, guys. Thank you,” I called across the room. “Might as well grab a drink from the bar before everyone else gets here.” I pointed to the bar set up in the back of the room.
“Want something, Emerson? I’ll get it for you.” I shook my head at him. “Tequila? Beer? I’m sure I can find something you like.”
“I don’t drink,” I replied, walking out of the ballroom. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him jogging up behind me.
“What do you mean, you don’t drink?” he demanded.
“It means that anything that contains alcohol doesn’t go into my mouth,” I retorted, annoyed with his dumb question.
“I understood that part; it’s the ‘why’ that I’m curious about.”
I continued walking down the hotel hallway, looking for the closest bathroom. “I don’t drink since it ruined the best thing I ever had.” With that, I finally found the bathroom and walked in, leaving him behind. Thank God there was no one else in here.
Without missing a beat, Jaxon came in right behind me and locked the door behind him. He bent down to check for feet under the stalls, and when he didn’t see any, he stalked forward toward me.
I continued walking until I reached the last stall. “Jaxon, this room is for women only. I’m sure you saw the sign.”
He grabbed my waist before I could enter the stall and pushed me up against the wall next to the paper towel dispenser. He stared at me, inspecting my face. I needed to stay strong. I couldn’t let him think that he could just seduce me whenever he felt like it now. Yesterday was a one-time thing to get each other out of our systems, no matter how much of a lie I was telling myself. He ran the pad of his thumb along my bruised bottom lip; the friction made me wince slightly.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “It looks a little better today, though. Why do you only injure your lips?” His voice was reaching that dangerously low level that made me do things I would regret later, but I was frozen up against the wall. “These are my favorite; you should take better care of them.” He bent down and started his spellbinding, tender kisses, back and forth across my lower lip. All I could do was open my mouth a little wider and let him.
“Would you rather I injured something else?” I gasped.
His lips moved down my jaw and across the edge of my neck. “Of course not. I’d rather you not be damaged at all, but I love to kiss it better.”
At the word damaged, I pushed him off of me. “Stop doing this to me. I don’t like to be teased.”
“I’m pretty sure there was no teasing last night.” He eyed me with mischief.
“You know what I mean. You can’t keep kissing me . . .” Oh hell, the damn tears. I tried to sniff and wipe my eyes discreetly, turning away from him. “Please stop trying to ‘talk’ to me,” I said, using air quotes.
“You think that when I kiss you or . . . make love to you, that’s what I mean by ‘we need to talk’?” He grabbed me and spun me to face him. “Shit, you’re crying.” He pulled me into his chest and rubbed along the length of my hair. “Please, Beautiful. Please don’t cry. I really do want to talk to you.”
I couldn’t do this. I needed to leave this bathroom. He bent down and grabbed me around the waist to lift me up. I kept my legs hanging down, no matter how much they wanted to squeeze around his waist. He grabbed one leg and curled it around himself and when he reached for the other, I let that one fall back down.
“Please, Emerson, put your legs around me,” he begged.
I stayed there, slack in his arms, with my feet dangling a foot off the ground.
“Please, don’t do this,” he whispered.
His familiar words hit me and I wiggled out of his hold. “I seem to remember saying, actually yelling, begging, pleading, those exact words to you a month ago. Let me respond the same way you did . . .” I saw him flinch right before I turned and walked out the door.
Halfway back down the hallway toward the ballroom I heard Micah say, “Dude, that’s the chick’s bathroom. Gents are that way.” Jaxon didn’t respond.
The ballroom filled up quickly. Professor Patterson was beaming ear to ear at all the attendees. Even the dean had made it tonight to donate to our trip, although obviously he wouldn’t be participating in the auction. I was weaving through the crowd of people, thanking them for coming, when Cole’s booming voice came through the speakers to welcome everyone. He handed the microphone to Professor Patterson, who explained our trip to Africa and what we would be learning. I noticed Jaxon walking in and taking a chair a few tables away from the stage. When Patterson began talking about the dangers of Africa and how we needed to be prepared, I noticed the stress on his face and his hands twisting the tablecloth. He looked over at me with a nervous expression, and I turned my attention back to the stage, where Cole had taken back the microphone.
“Okay, guys, I hope you packed your wallets because we have twenty beautiful women back there ready for you to bid on them. Cash only—pay before you leave or I’m giving them to someone else. Treat them with respect or Jace and I will pay you a little visit.” He pointed to the back of the room at Jace.
I’d never thought of Jace as anything but a teddy bear, but he looked different with his tall body leaning up against the back wall. He had his muscular arms crossed over his wide chest. He looked dangerous and mean standing there glaring at everyone. I wanted to giggle at the apprehensive looks the other guys were giving him.
“All right, get your wallets out and raise your paddles high. If I can’t see your paddle, then you aren’t working hard enough for these beauties. Sorry, Quinn; you’re still my number-one beauty!”
Someone in the crowd shouted, asking if Quinn would be auctioned off, and I burst out laughing at the face Cole gave him.
“I’ll see you after, McAdams,” he growled in a low tone.
Cole began introducing the girls, one by one, and calling out for the auction. Each girl had an admirer, and these guys came prepared to duke it out with their wallets. We were all laughing and having a great time watching the guys get extremely competitive over the girls, who were perfect. They were eating up the attention and taunting the guys from the stage. I was right to choose Cole as the emcee because he knew exactly how to egg on the guys. He knew what their weak spots were and how to get the most money out of them. When Tatum’s turn came, I saw her eyeing Jaxon from the stage, silently begging him to bet on her. I was thankful he never bid on any of them; I wouldn’t have been able to watch that. Each girl went for two hundred to four hundred dollars. With twenty girls, we were making a good amount for our trip, plus all of the donations we had gotten on the side. After the last girl was auctioned off to Garrett for two hundred fifty dollars, Cole thanked everyone for participating.
“I have a surprise for everyone. Don’t put your wallets away just yet. I have one more pretty lady to auction off for you gentlemen.”
I whispered up at him, “Cole, there are only twenty girls!”
“No, there’s not, Emmy, because I’m going to auction you off! Emerson Moore, gentlemen!” he hollered into the microphone.
“What?” I whisper-shouted.
Jaxon shoved his chair back and walked right up to the stage where Cole was standing. “What the hell are you thinking right now, man?” he snapped in a harsh tone.
Cole ignored him and smiled. “I present the elusive Em. You guys had better take advantage of this opportunity, because I’m sure you won’t get another. Em doesn’t do dates, but I’m sure for a good price, she’ll go out to a movie with you. She’s beautiful and tons of fun!” Cole gestured for me to get on the stage and I shook my head back and forth. Micah came up behind me and lifted me onto the stage.
“Traitor!” I whispered at him.
Guys in the crowd began rising in their chairs and clapping their hands together. Jaxon was fuming. I decided to work with this because it was nice to see him getting riled up for a change.
“I hear she’s been wanting to go for a ride on a motorcycle, if any of you riders are interested,” Cole teased, knowing it was a weak spot for Jax.
Dalton Fisher, the quarterback, moved right up to the stage then. I happened to know that he owned a motorcycle. Jaxon’s teeth were bared now. Dalton was a sexy guy and he knew it. He was almost the same size and build as the Riley boys.
Cole began shouting out for bids, and they were coming from all corners of the room.
“Two hundred fifty dollars!” Jaxon said.
“Three hundred,” Dalton retorted.
Cole clapped his hands at the rising dollar signs. I gasped at the amount of money we had reached in less than ten seconds.
“Dude, I will kick your ass again if you don’t back away,” Jaxon sneered at Dalton. What did he mean by that? It seemed as though Jax got into more fights than I knew about.
“Four hundred dollars, Cole—call it,” Jax said, sounding more pissed by the second.
“Stop it, Jaxon!” I yelled at him in a whisper. He continued looking at Cole.
“Four hundred fifty,” Dalton countered, raising his paddle and smiling up at me. I gifted him with a brilliant grin in return.
“Fisher, if you don’t back away from this stage right now, I will rip your fucking throat out.”
“Five hundred dollars,” a voice hollered from the back.
Jaxon slammed his fist on the stage in frustration. “One thousand! Cole, you better call it.”
My eyes went wide at his bid. Cole laughed. “All right, let’s put the poor bastard out his misery. Going once . . . going twice . . .”
Dalton stepped forward to raise his paddle, but Jaxon reached over and smacked it from his hand. Dalton bent forward, laughing at his antics.
“Sold! To the very possessive Jaxon Riley.” Cole bent down and handed Jax his ticket so he could pay later. I watched as Cole whispered to him, “I’ll make sure you never get within fifty feet of her if you hurt her again.” Jax nodded his head once.
Instantly, he turned toward me and pulled me over his shoulder, so that my hands and face hit his back. I would kill him. This couldn’t be more embarrassing. I was in charge of this event and he was dragging me out over his shoulder. I didn’t fight it because I didn’t want to create more of a scene in front of everyone. Thank God that I didn’t wear a skirt today. He didn’t stop until he got to his truck out in the parking lot, where he sat me down on the passenger seat and closed the door to walk around to the other side.
When he put the keys in the ignition I finally spoke. “I’m not leaving, Jaxon. This event was my responsibility.”
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and began calling someone. “Woods, yeah . . . can you cover the rest of the event for Emerson? . . . Yeah . . . I fucking know . . . I understand . . . Okay, thanks, I’ll owe you.” I’m pretty sure I had entered the twilight zone.
“You just called Micah?” I said, shocked. “Why would you even have his number?”
“I had to call him today to talk to him about stuff,” he responded, but I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it. He drove past our apartments and I had no idea where he was headed.
“Why would you need to call him today?”
“Emerson, I don’t want to talk about Micah.”
“He’s my friend, so I do. Why would you need to talk to him?”
“I called to apologize. Happy?” he grumbled.
“You apologized?” My shocked voice rose.
“If he’s really your friend, and he’s going to Africa with you, I needed to apologize. I’ll need him to watch over you when I can’t. It’s pissing me off, but there’s nothing I can do about that; the internship is full.”
“You tried to get in the Africa internship?” It was one surprise after another with him. He nodded his head. “Why do you need someone to watch over me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Because I’ll need at least an ounce of peace while you’re away from me for three months. Because I love you so damn much. Because if something happened to you, I wouldn’t survive.”
“Why do you say that kind of stuff to me? It only hurts me, you know,” I whispered. He pulled the truck into an empty parking lot at the beach and put it in park.
“I can’t live without you. I’m done trying,” he said, looking into my eyes while pulling me across the seat closer to him. He sat me in his lap facing him with my back leaning up against the steering wheel. I stayed quiet, not sure how to continue this subject.
“I ended things with us, Emerson, because I didn’t think I was strong enough to be with you. When you went off the deep end that night before . . . your birthday, Quinn told me you usually got sad and became a little reclusive during that time. When she said you had never acted the way you did that night, I knew it was because of me. I was hurting you, somehow making you worse. I knew you deserved to find someone who could build you up, not tear you down. When you ran off with Devon, I figured that’s what you were searching for as well.”
“Jaxon . . . that’s not it at all. I got a voice mail right before that party from a lawyer who spoke of my mom and dad. Hearing their names so close to the anniversary of their death set me off . . . I know I never should have left.”
He nodded his head. “Quinn told me about the lawyer. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you during that; I beat myself up every damn day. After she told me that, it had already been a week since we broke up. You seemed sad at first, but then it seemed you were getting over me, and I didn’t want to hurt you more by asking you back. I started going to parties you were at because I had to know if you had found someone new. It sounds awful, but I was elated every time I saw you just sitting down talking to Cole, Jace, or Quinn all night. You never left with any guys. I figured you would move on quickly. But week after week, you still came out to that tree by yourself and I started wondering if you missed me as much as I missed you.
“A smart lady,” he continued, “once told me that I would screw up—we both would—but that it was how I handled it afterward that mattered. I didn’t handle it the right way; I should have never let Cole take you away that day,” he said and I smiled at his sweet mom’s words.
“Jax . . . it’s been a hard month for me. That day in the courtyard is high on my list of most painful days. I don’t think I can put myself in the position to be hurt like that again.”
“Since that day you walked out of the frat house with barely any clothes on, I’ve been calling you mine. Before I’d gotten to know you, I knew I had to make you mine. It only got worse the closer we got. When Cole carried you away from me that day, I realized you weren’t mine at all. I. Am. Yours,” he avowed, while pounding his chest. “When I wake up in the morning, my first thought is of you, and every minute for the rest of my day is spent thinking about you in some way or another,” he ground out.
“Jax . . .” I didn’t know how to respond.
“I’m yours, Emerson.”
“How do I know that if I panic again and need space, you won’t walk away from me? I understand how hard I am to be with. I still have a mile-long list of issues with my parents’ death, and I’m sure I’m not done freaking out.”
He took my face into his hands and looked into my eyes. I loved being this close again to those brilliant blues. “You don’t walk away from your heart.”
I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to me. He stopped his lips from mashing into mine; instead, he stopped them right against me. We sat there waiting for the other, our breath intermixing. I could feel the softness of his lips on my mine, but he wasn’t moving any closer.
“Please, Jaxon . . .” I whispered against his mouth.
Without moving his mouth, he brought his hands up and slowly undid each tiny button down the front of my blouse. When he finally had it open, he slowly removed it from my shoulders and tossed it in the backseat. I glanced out the windows to see if there were any people around. He caught me searching.
“Trust me, Beautiful. I’m not going to let anyone else see you.”
With his reassuring words, I closed my eyes and let him take charge. I realized that five months ago, I wouldn’t have cared if anyone else saw me. Now I understood that I wanted to save everything I had for this man right here. I couldn’t imagine sharing any part of me with anyone besides him. For that, I’ll always be grateful to him.
“You do make me stronger.” I opened my eyes to look at him as he was freeing me from my bra.
“What?” he asked while trying to stay focused on my eyes.
I grabbed both of his hands and interlocked my fingers with his. “You said you thought you made me weaker, and that’s just not true. You make me stronger. You make me appreciate what I have and make me want to be a better person for you.”
I finally moved his hands to my breasts and he moaned. I couldn’t handle it any longer, so I kissed him fiercely. My fingers moved to thread through his hair, which was longer than it was a month ago. I know we had just been together yesterday, but I hadn’t been able to appreciate any of it. I had been full of angst and need, and I was too busy thinking about how destroyed I would feel afterward. This time, I could revel in the changes that had happened in a month, like the length of his hair. I pulled his shirt over his head, needing to press myself up against his skin.
I bent down and started kissing the lines of his tattoo, from his collarbone down to his bicep. If I hadn’t been admiring it so closely I would have missed it, but there was definitely something different. I felt his body freeze when he knew I had found it. Wrapped in the already existing lines was a black heart with an “E” carved out in the middle. It was amazing how the artist could make it seem as if that heart had been there all along. It was perfectly tucked behind one wide sweeping black line. I traced the outline of it.
“You’re my heart. You don’t walk away from your heart,” he whispered in my ear.
I looked at it in awe. This was permanent. This meant he wanted me in his life permanently. I couldn’t stop kissing him; it was freeing to once again be able to do that whenever I wanted.
“Did Jace get one too?” I giggled as he pinched me in the side with a faux-angry expression.
His face turned serious again. “Emerson, have you . . . been with anyone else?” he asked nervously.
“Absolutely not,” I responded with a disgusted face, and he sighed in relief with a chuckle. “Have you?” I continued.
He cupped my breasts and lifted them up so he could kiss the swells of them. “No, Beautiful, you’ve ruined me. No one else compares.”
“Do you still want to stand next to me holding my hand?” I asked, thinking of the message I had pieced together from the textbook.
His eyebrows rose. “You found it finally?”
I nodded. “Not at the best time, either. It was after we had that fight by my tree.”
“The night I started playing your CD out loud for you, instead of playing it through my headphones?”
Now this made my eyebrows rise. “You listened to it before that night?”
“Every night. I’ve listened to it every single night since you gave it to me.”
Later that week, we had our official date that he had paid for at the auction. He came into my room while I was getting ready, handing me a huge present wrapped in light blue paper with a massive black bow on top.
“A black bow?” I laughed.
“It’s fitting for the present. Open it,” he said nervously.
All I saw was black at first. When I reached in to pull everything out, I realized it was a black leather jacket and helmet that matched the one Jaxon wore to ride on his motorcycle, only smaller. I looked up at him with wide eyes, considering what he was telling me with this gift.
“You’re going to take me on the bike?” I asked excitedly.
“I may only be able to do it once, but you’re going to wear all of this stuff. I don’t want an inch of you exposed. It probably won’t be any fun because I’m going to drive about twenty miles an hour. But yes . . . I’m going to take you,” he said, taking in a deep breath.
“Let’s go right now!” I squealed.
We walked down to the bike and he immediately went into education mode. “Don’t put your legs down at all. Never touch this”—he pointed to some metal pieces—“because it gets really hot. Tap my shoulder, once to slow down and twice if you want me to stop. Always hold my waist and try not to lean against my turns; it’ll make it harder for me.” He was getting nervous.
“Jaxon, I trust you.” I patted each side of his face.
“It’s not me I’m worried about. I’m an excellent rider; I’d never put you in danger. I worry about the other idiots on the road.”
“Jaxon, I trust you,” I repeated and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him.
He mounted the bike and I swung my leg over to get behind him. I knew I would love this. The way I was molded against his backside was sexy already. He started up the engine and I could feel the vibration underneath me. He ran my hands along his sides and over his stomach until my arms overlapped. I hugged myself even closer to his back.
The ride was exhilarating; he wound up and down the road that ran parallel to the beach. Each turn he made with his body had me pulling in closer. Eventually, I tuned out the ride altogether and focused on the body I was holding onto. My hands started roaming across his stomach and chest, and he quickly pulled over next to an oceanside picnic area and turned off the engine. I slid off and he followed behind. He unsnapped his helmet and then did the same for me.
“Your roaming hands are a distraction.” He nuzzled into my neck as he picked me up and walked us to a picnic table.
He sat up on the table with his feet on the bench. I laid my head down on his shoulder. We sat there, enveloped in a peaceful silence, while he rubbed my back softly.
“I love you, Jaxon.”
“I love you, Beautiful, more than you can imagine.” The feel of his lips on mine was heaven.
“I think we need to go back home now . . .” I whispered to him with a guilty smile on my face.
He leaned back to look at me, confused, until he saw the lust and desire in my eyes. It hit him hard and I saw the same flames in his. He picked me up and almost sprinted back to the bike, and I laughed the whole way there.