Chapter Thirty
Jackson
C.J. started talking about what I knew how to do and how to make something I loved work for me, and it was like I’d been sitting in the dark and she’d walked in and turned on all the lights. She turned on Green Day and pranced around the kitchen while I sat down and started on my next beer.
Stiles wound himself between my legs and I wondered how he’d react to a nice, calm hound dog in the apartment. After all, if I was transplanting Texas to LA, and bringing country to computer video entertainment, I should have a dog. Especially one that would be as unique, and as much an oddity here, as I was. Then again, trying to guess C.J.’s next mood was as pointless as a weather forecast.
I pulled out my phone and started a list of what I’d need to stream properly. I looked around the apartment. There was no way she and I could expand the sound booth. Not without taking all her costume supplies out of there. I didn’t see her agreeing to that. I totaled the cost of a new setup. It would be a chunk of my savings I hadn’t wanted to part with, and I had nowhere to set it up, even if I bought it all.
I dialed my phone and sighed, listening to it ring. If I was lucky, he wouldn’t pick up and I could leave a very brief message. I figured, long as I wasn’t asking for money or a ride home, Daniel would be happy to help me out. Fortunately, my big brother wasn’t much for answering his phone at the best of times, let alone when he and his pretty wife would be out by the fire, cold beers in the cooler, and Pete on his guitar. I felt a surge of homesickness and hung up without leaving a message. If called back, I’d have him send me my computers and monitors.
“You know, right now back home, my whole family and half the ranch hands are drinking cheap beer around the fire pit, and Patty’s probably roasting marshmallows,” I called out to C.J. I checked my watch and added, “Pete and Verica just left to go have loud sex and go to their respective cabins, so everyone can pretend they haven’t got past second base yet.”
“In Texas, they still use the baseball system?”
“No, just in Pete’s world. He’s like, almost fifty, and Verica is I don’t know, our age? But she thinks the moon rises and sets in his eyes.” Carina scoffed at me. “No, really, they’re a damn country song. It’s disgusting.”
“It sounds sweet. You jealous?”
I looked her over, her long legs in tiny ass-baring shorts, tank top that barely covered her high, round breasts, green eyes that changed color like the sea, and I laughed. “I got the better deal. Don’t know if you did.”
She stalked over to me, hips swinging like a bell. “Best two out of three rounds of King of the Kill, not teamed. If I place higher, I tie you up, if you place higher, you can tie me up.”
“Spanking allowed?”
She laughed, a deep throaty sound that made my pulse jump. “You that sure you’ll win?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.
“You so sure I don’t like being spanked?” I replied drily.
She threw her head back and laughed again, that full sound that made me smile just hearing it. “We’ll celebrate with Shelby and company after you visit Stanford. Everything will be perfect, except your tight little butt-cheeks, which will be sore for days when I’m done kicking it online, then beating it when I tie you to the bedframe,” she gloated.
I’d been considering letting her win, right up ‘til that moment. “Can that Murphy bed even take rough sex?” I muttered to myself as she started up the game. “How about best three of five? I mean, it’s early yet.”
“Skerred?” she chortled and leaned down to kiss Stiles on the nose. “Daddy’s afraid Mommy will give him welts on his ass.” Stiles turned his face and looked at me, both ears forward. I could have sworn his round yellow eyes were laughing at me. Suddenly, I felt like I was at the wrong end of a conspiracy.
“You betcha I’m scared.” I got out my laptop and set it up to play, sitting at the kitchen counter and using the marble countertop as a desk. At first, I hunted her, figuring if I took her out first, I had to place better than her no matter what.
I finally found her in game, cornered in a warehouse by some guys who recognized her name from her stream. I killed them all from behind, and after that, we just played together. After all, with C.J., I knew eventually I was going to end up face down, ass up, tied to a bed somewhere.
I looked over my shoulder and she was sitting cross-legged on the bed, bottom lip between her teeth as she concentrated. She wore her headphones and talked to the other players in game, while I preferred to keep my sound low and not talk to anyone. It made her cursing and ranting even more enjoyable when I could egg her on from across the room, and no one else could hear me working her up into a healthy nerd-rage. She was even pretty while finding new and inventive ways to describe male anatomy while cursing out the other gamers.
Finally, after one particularly stubborn stalker began sexually harassing her in game, she let loose with a tirade I couldn’t have repeated to anyone, even if the opportunity rose. When the kids’ voice cracked and I could hear the tears in his voice, I reminded C.J. that she might be dealing with a twelve-year-old. Immediately, she demanded his mother’s name, and gave me the chore of finding the woman so she could tell her what her son was up to. I had an epiphany of my future: saving nations from the torment of cyber-terrorism, and then in the evenings, helping my ex-model wife strip rude gamers of their anonymity.
Despite the ridiculousness of the idea, it made me glad I’d decided to try California on for size. My vacation with her was a rollercoaster, but no matter if she ever returned the feelings I’d already admitted to her, I had a feeling I wasn’t leaving soon. The convention had been loud, crowded, and quite frankly, smelled like gamer-geek stereotypes. I’d been happy every second that I hadn’t been worried for C.J., and I hadn’t minded that part, either. But, when it was just us, it was like we’d found a new level of compatible.
I’d already come up with a couple ideas for new characters for her cosplay, and with me helping her with cost and building, the sky was the limit for what she could accomplish. I dug around in the junk drawer I’d found in the kitchen by accident when trying to make her shakes, and found a notepad and a pencil.
“Hey, C.J., you don’t mind if I borrow some paper and a pencil, do you? I had an idea for a couple characters, and wanted to write them down.”
She frowned at me and pulled off her headset. “Don’t you have your own stuff to worry about? Don’t get distracted, picturing me half-naked with horns or anything.”
I laughed and added a succubus to my character list. “That’s a great idea, I hadn’t thought of that. I already called my brother to send my computers, it’s cheaper than buying a whole new setup, believe me,” I scoffed. “Don’t worry, I’ll only draw between games.”
She winked and put her headset back over her ears. “You better hurry up then, the queue is up!” She said, louder than she probably intended. I got back onto my barstool and joined her in game, grateful that my back was to her and her ears covered, so she couldn’t hear me laughing at her angry outbursts at the other players.
Our three, ten minute games turned into two and half hours of play, punctuated by a constant stream of obscenities from my lovely nerd-flower and occasional bursts of laughter from me. I called it a night before she did, more interested in the ideas swimming around my head. I began doodling on the pad, sketch after sketch in a way I hadn’t done since I put away my comic books for computer chips. My phone buzzed angrily on the counter top and I grabbed it before it shook itself off the edge.
“Daniel, I didn’t expect you to call me back so late. Trust me, it could’ve waited.” I said.
“Well, actually, it’s already waited longer than it should have.” He paused, and I waited.
“Danny?”
“When you coming home, Jackson? You haven’t checked in, and Mom’s a bit worried that you didn’t give us a return date.”
“You do know that I’m not a kid, right? This was never a vacation. One way or another, I’m moving away from home.” I cleared my throat and fell silent.
“So, you’re just moving to California to shack up with some chick you met online playing video games?” His sounded exasperated, but there was something else underneath that I couldn’t place.
“You need to be careful here, Danny. It wasn’t so long ago you were screwing the veterinary intern, and now she’s the lady of the house.”
“Look, Jackson, you’re treading on thin ice here. I’m just trying to help you.”
“If you have something to say, spit it out. Otherwise, I need to get to bed. Lots going on in the morning.” I felt a hand on my arm and caught C.J.’s concerned face.
“Hey,” she whispered, “if they need to know that this wasn’t some five-minute romance, I can facetime with your brothers or something.” I held a up a hand for her to wait, so I could concentrate on what Danny was scolding me about, and sighed when she stormed off in a pout, tuning back in just to hear the tail end of what Danny was saying.
“…Tucker’s not a piece of ass, but he’s been there for you, and you should be there for your family.” He broke off and I could hear his breathing, loud and unsteady, on the other end of the line.
“I’m going to ignore anything else you say about C.J., so we’ll get a lot further if you don’t bother,” I ground out through teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached. “Please repeat what’s going on with Tucker, and why the hell hasn’t he called me?” My voice started to crescendo and I worked to speak at a normal level. “None of you have bothered to check in with me either, but the moment it sounds like I’ve made a decision to stay, I’m a traitor?”
Control forgotten, I was full on yelling into my phone. I’d been gone less than a week, and the people who noticed the least whether I stayed or went, were now victims of my selfish desire to move out of my parents’ house, as a full-grown adult and college graduate student. Most families would have thrown a party and called it a long-overdue event.
“Look, Jackson. I’m sorry that’s how it came out. That wasn’t what I meant.” He sighed again, and I heard another, muffled, voice on his end. I guessed it was Rachel, trying to calm him down the same way C.J. had tried to calm me. I joined her on the bed, where she was sitting cross-legged, balefully looking at me, with Stiles draped over her lap. I joined her, sitting across from her and letting Stiles drip in between my legs while she rubbed his belly.
“Just tell me what Tucker needs, and the rest can wait.” I shook my head at C.J., and she winked and smiled wanly at me, which was close enough to forgiveness to ease the cramping in my stomach to a loose knot of tension that spasmed whenever Danny spoke.
“He’s in a bad way with one of the partners. You know the one.”
“Sure do. Is he still sexin’ up Sara Abbott? Seriously, that girl needs to grow a set and move along.”
“Apparently, she finally did. You’d never believe it, but Jason Steed. Rachel’s ex-boyfriend made an honest woman out of her. She said nearly losing him in that accident scared her worse than anything she had ever felt.”
“Good God. She tried to sleep with you that night, before she found out about his accident. Sorry, sidetracked by shock. What’s the old fart trying to do to Tucker?”
“One of your little cyber-ninja attacks on Austin’s bad guys dinged someone with enough connection to think they were above the law, and deserved compensation for you humiliating them.”
“Any idea who?”
“God Jackson, how many rich business man have you hacked?” The anger and frustration were gone from his voice and I had to smile at the sheer amount of incredulity that replaced it.
“Enough that I have truly no idea who’s at the other end of the chain that’s yanking my brother.” I rubbed my face. “Every one of them was involved with illegal activities. All I did was post a few documents and IP addresses to the forum. If anyone went after them, including the police, it’s not my fault.”
“You gonna say that to Tuck’s face?”
“Christ no. I’m going to break into his law firm computers and sneak a peek at the partners’ correspondence. It’ll make a great first stream.”
“Stream? What are you talking about?”
“God, you’re out of touch. Never mind, old man. Just think of it as me discovering my true calling, as an educator.”
“You know what, you’re right. I don’t want to know. But, please get in touch with your brother. He’s so excited for you, he didn’t want to say anything that might ruin your big chance.” I smiled at the pretty girl still watching me carefully, and reached out a hand to her.
“I’ll help Tucker, even if it means flying back to Texas. You get some rest now, and we’ll talk later.” He signed off, and I even called out a ‘love you’ to Rachel, who I heard giggling in the background before he hung up.
I lifted Stiles off C.J.’s lap and took his place, lying with my head in her lap as she stroked my hair. Neither of us spoke for a while, and I felt the knot in my stomach loosen with every pass of her fingers through my hair.
“You know,” she finally said in a soft voice, “if you ever wanted me to go with you to prove my intentions, I would. I’m not afraid to stand by your side. Hell, you already did the same for me, and you managed it in less than five days.”
I chuckled and leaned in so she could reach farther down my back, and was rewarded with a back scratch that would’ve made Stiles jealous. But, she had me thinking. What if we did go back? My family had never been able to correlate my near-genius IQ with the ability to take care of myself or make good choices. Maybe getting to meet C.J. would set them at ease. Or at least assure them she was real.
“Hypothetically speaking, how much notice would you need to go to Texas?” I asked, my eyes still closed as I savored her fingernails on my back and shoulders. I felt her tense, and waited for her to back track.
“I don’t have another competition for months, and frankly, I don’t have any ideas to even start a new project, so, with a good long stream tomorrow while you go to Stanford, I could leave as early as Tuesday morning.” I opened one eye to peer at her and she shrugged.
“Well, from the yelling, it sounded important,” she scoffed and shook her head again. “I wish I had family to care about, or to care about me.” I sat up and held her hand, examining the long graceful fingers that I held against my own.
“Well, it is my fault that my brother’s having issues… career, not legal,” I added hastily. “I won’t ask you to adopt my family or anything, but it would be pretty cool to watch their faces when I show up with a hotter woman than any of them have seen outside the pages of a magazine.”
“You do mean high fashion magazine, right?” She urged.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Miss November.” She punched me in the arm and I coughed out a laugh past the sharp pain in my bicep. I responded with a tweak to her nipple through her tank top and then dove on top of her before she could retaliate, until my tickling turned to groping and her kisses went from teasing to searching. In a heartbeat, our clothing was gone and we were back to one of the things we did best, hot and sweaty and wet.
She didn’t take her time, but was on top of me gliding over me like wet silk, digging her fingernails into my chest as she closed her eyes and threw back her head. I tilted my hips for the best angle to keep her rhythm, and bit off a painful snarl from the scratches she plowed into my chest in narrow pink troughs that quickly turned red. She screamed wordlessly as her muscles tightened around me and pulled me into the abyss with her.
She collapsed onto me and let me hold her while our heartbeats slowed their frantic pounding. She smelled of sex and sweat and the sweet florals of her perfume. Her scent was a memory of everything good I’d ever wanted to create or have in my life, and I felt a flash of hot anger at my brother that I fought to push away before it could ruin the perfection of the moment.
Carina was mine. Wild, unpredictable, moody, artistic and spontaneous, she was mine, and I was willing to fight anyone, Hargrave or not, who tried to come between us.