Blaze (2 page)

My eyes widened.  I wasn’t used to J talking to me like this.  Ignoring him, I scrolled through my phone looking for the phone number of my only friend who hadn’t been out drinking with me tonight; hopefully she’d be able to come and pick me up.  I finally found her number and hit dial, returning the glare that J was sending my way.  She finally answered her call and agreed to come and get me.

J folded his arms across his chest and planted his feet wide.  He was angry now and didn’t hold back.  “Why the fuck couldn’t you just let me take you home?”

“Because you’re being a prick and I don’t want to be anywhere near you,” I threw back.

“So now I’ve got to wait here until your friend arrives.  Would have been a lot easier to do it my way.”

“No-one’s asking you to stay!”

“Jesus, Madison.  As if I’d fucking leave you alone at this time of the night.”

I was exasperated.  On the one hand, I wanted to punch him, but on the other hand I wanted to rip his clothes off and screw him. 

The next ten minutes were ten of the longest minutes in my life.  We didn’t speak while we waited for Sally to come and get me.  Instead, J paced and threw me a foul look every now and then.  I sank further into my disappointment.  When she pulled up, I quickly got in her car without a backwards glance at J.  I could feel his angry eyes on me though.  I must have been out of my mind to think that he and I could take our friendship further. 

***

I
woke up on my birthday and felt like shit.  Not only did I have a headache from the slight hangover I had, but I felt ill over what had happened with J last night.  Luckily I hadn’t planned anything special; it meant that I could pretty much just keep to myself.  And so it was that I spent most of the day at home, reading and eating junk food.  I wallowed in my heartbreak, because it was true, I was heartbroken that not only did I screw up a chance at a relationship with J but I’d probably screwed up our friendship too. 

He never called or came by but at three o’clock that afternoon, I heard the rumble of a bike outside.  Figuring it was Scott, I ignored it, stuck my headphones in and went back to my book.  I didn’t want to see anyone.

A couple of minutes later, my headphones were ripped out of my ears and J stood in my bedroom, staring down at me.  I couldn’t pick his mood.  He seemed mildly annoyed but at the same time, he had a soft look in his eyes.

I moved off the bed so I was face to face with him.  “What are you doing here, J?”

“Came to say happy birthday.”  His voice was soft.  It did things to me and I mentally cursed him; it wasn’t fair that he could make me feel this way when I was so upset with him.

“Thanks.” 

His eyes scanned my face.  I wasn’t sure what he was looking for but I figured he hadn’t found it when he muttered, “Fuck.  This isn’t going to be easy, is it?”

Good God, he confused the shit out of me.  “What isn’t going to be easy?” 

His chest rose and fell in a heavy movement.  “Us.”

“What, our friendship?”  I really wished we were doing this on any other day than today.  Today I wasn’t feeling the best so I was struggling to keep up with him.

A look crossed his face and then he appeared to settle something in his mind.  He grabbed my hand and began walking us out of the bedroom.

“Where are we going?” I asked while trying to slow him down by pulling back.

It was futile though; he just kept powering through the house and out the front door.  He let go of my hand once we were outside so that he could lock the front door.

“Where did you get a key for my house?”  I had no clue that he had that key.

“Scott gave it to me.  We’ve both got one in case you ever needed us.” 

He said that like it was the most normal thing in the world.  As far as I was concerned, it wasn’t.  “I want that key back.  And Scott’s too.  You guys don’t need to worry about me.”

His amused eyes landed on mine and he shook his head.  “Not going to happen, babe.”

Before I could say anything else, he grabbed my hand again and directed us to his bike.  He handed me a helmet and indicated for me to put it on. 

Again, I argued.  “Tell me where we’re going.”

“Got a place I want to show you.”  He pointed at the helmet and then the bike.  “Put it on and get on the bike.”

I assessed the situation and decided it was just going to be easier to do what he said so I did.  Moments later his bike roared to life and we took off.  I held onto him tightly and eventually relaxed.  Having grown up around bikes my whole life, I loved being on the back of one.  And being on the back of J’s, with my arms wrapped around him, felt amazing.  Exhilarating.  It felt like I was home, and I had no idea where that thought came from, but it was what was swirling around my mind.

Just under an hour later, he pulled the bike off the road and killed the engine.  We were at Mt Glorious.  It was beautiful but I was curious as to why he’d brought me here.  He led me along a path until we eventually came to a small clearing.  I’d been to Mt Glorious before; it was a great ride on a bike.  But I’d never been to this particular part of it.  The view was stunning.  We could see out across the valley and it was just beautiful.  There was no-one else around and the sounds of any cars were muted by the bush.  There really was only one word to describe what my senses were getting from all of this; peace.  It was peaceful here and it calmed me.

J was watching me quietly while I took all of this in.  Finally, I looked at him and asked, “Why are we here, J?”

He nodded slowly.  “This is where I come when I need to clear the shit out of my head.”

“Okay,” I said, waiting for him to go on.

“I’ve been coming here a lot over the last six months.”

I raised my eyebrows.  “Had a lot of shit to clear out, I take it.”

His mouth curved up slightly in a small grin.  “Yeah, you could say that, babe.”

“Okay, so tell me.  What’s this got to do with me?”

“Everything.”  He was watching me intently.  It looked like he had a lot to say but he was holding back for some reason.

“Goodness, J.  You need to get to the point.  I don’t have the patience today to -“

He cut me off.  “This is where I decided to make you mine.”  His words were rough but tender if that was even possible. 

Whoosh.  The butterflies took hold of my stomach at those words.  I was speechless.

He continued.  “Been thinking about you for the past six months, Madison.  Can’t get you out of my fucking mind.  So, I’ve been coming here to think.  Last night, after I screwed the fuck up with you, I came here.  And I decided you’d be mine before today was over.”

He was so bossy.  I’d never had a guy like J before, but standing there, listening to him claim me like a caveman, I knew that I was ruined for all men.  J was going to ruin me and consume me, and I was going to let him.

I moved into him at the same time that he reached his hand out and wrapped it around my neck to pull me closer.  Our lips found each other and he began to ruin me.  Our bodies were pressed together, our hands were on each other and I came alive under his touch.  Desire spread through me as I fought to get even closer to him, as I gave myself over to this kiss.

Eventually we pulled apart, but he kept a hold on me, keeping me close so that we were still touching.  “Fuck, babe.  Those lips of yours might be my fucking downfall.”

I smiled up at him; at his words.  And then my smile turned wicked.  “I think there’ll be other parts of me that might be your downfall.”

His eyes widened and then he shook his head, and muttered, “You might be fucking right there.”

“So, now that I’m yours, are you going to take me home and have your way with me?  Because, even though this will always be known as our special place, I’ve got to admit, I don’t really like to rough it.”

He moved his mouth close to my ear, and murmured, “I’d love to fuck you here, babe.  Out in the open; could be kinda hot.  But I totally get that you’re not a roughing it kind of chick.  And I want you completely fucking relaxed when I finally get those panties off you and my cock into you.”

Holy fuck, he had a dirty mouth.  And I fucking loved it.

I grabbed his hand and started walking us towards his bike.  When he slowed and pulled on my hand to slow me down, I turned and muttered, “Hurry up, J.  You’ve got a promise to fulfill.”

His face spread into a huge smile.  “Just making sure this is what you want, sweetheart.”

“Oh, so now, after you tell me how it’s going to be and promise your cock to me, you decide to see what I want.  Well, even though you’ve already decided for me, you can rest assured that I want this too.  But what I really, really want right now is for you to take your dirty mouth home and show me just what you can do with it.”

“Fuck me,” he growled, and with that he grabbed my hand and took me home.

S
eptember - Current Time

(Picks up where Storm finished, J has just returned)

Madison

“Babe, what the fuck happened to our bathroom?”

I looked up from the book I was reading to find J standing in the doorway of our bedroom with a perplexed look on his face.

“Huh?”  I was engrossed in my book and had no idea what he was talking about.

“Madison, when I left two months ago the bathroom was white.  Care to tell me why it now has different patches of colour on the wall?”

“Oh, that.”  I was still dividing my attention between my book and J; it was a damn good, sexy book and I was slightly annoyed that he’d interrupted me when I was just at a good part in the story.

“Yeah, that,” he said, and the tone he took crawled across my skin.  I quickly looked up at him; he was pissed.  But I had to give him credit because he was containing it.

I turned my Kindle off and laid it on the bed before getting up and walking towards him.  “I thought we could paint the bathroom and I was trying out different colours to see what they would look like.  I didn’t think you would mind,” I said softly because I knew that J reacted favourably when I used my soft voice on him.  I was trying to work out why he was mad about this; it was just paint for goodness sake.

Our eyes locked and we were both silent while he processed what I’d said.  Finally, he blew out a breath and ran his fingers through his hair.  “Sorry, babe.  It’s all good; I’m just on edge at the moment.  I didn’t mean to take it out on you,” he apologised before pulling me close and wrapping his arms around me.  When he pressed his lips gently to my head in a kiss, I melted a little into him and let my annoyance at him go.

We stayed like that for a moment and then I pulled away, and asked, “What’s got you on edge?”

I watched his silent war as he fought his natural tendency to shut me out.  He’d been back in Brisbane for a day and I’d sensed club problems already.  J had spent the day taking care of club business and had come home in a subdued mood.  The only time I’d seen him perk up was this afternoon when everyone had been giving Scott grief about trying to hook up with a guy that he thought was a woman.  We’d been home for about four hours now and he hadn’t even tried to have sex with me; instead he’d sat playing his X-box after dinner so I’d retreated to the bedroom with my book.  I figured it might be a good idea to give him some space.

“We’ve got some staffing issues at Indigo,” he said.  I watched him closely and knew from the way his eyes avoided mine that there was something else bothering him. 

“And?” I gently nudged him. 

His eyes found mine again and I saw the shift in them as he finally decided to open up to me.  I wasn’t going to push him on this; I’d have been happy to let him slowly sink back into our relationship after his time away.  But it seemed that J was ready to take us to a new level and I was happy about that.

“Marcus is being a prick.  I know he’s your dad, Madison, but he and I will never have a good relationship again.”

“I don’t care, J.  I hate him for what he’s done to our family and I don’t want anything to do with him anymore.  I told you that already.”

“Yeah baby, but it’s all still fresh for you.  In time you’ll move on from that but I don’t think he and I ever will.  He’s changed in the last couple of months.  I mean, he’s always been an asshole but I at least had some respect for him.  That’s all gone now, especially after the way I saw him treating some of the boys today.  He doesn’t seem to have any respect for us anymore so why would we give that to him?  He’s my President and I’ll do what he says as far as the club’s concerned but outside of that, I don’t want anything to do with him.”

I took in the tenseness of his jaw and the worry lines creasing his face, and ached to take all of that away for him.  Reaching my hand up to his cheek, I softly ran my thumb across it.  “J, you’ve been back for twenty-four hours and already you’re worrying about stuff that you don’t need to be worrying about.  Your relationship with my father is exactly that; yours.  I don’t want you to factor me into that at all.  In fact, forget he’s my father because I sure as hell want to.”

He reached his hand up and placed it over mine, stilling me.  “Babe, it’s all well and good to say that now but what’s to say in six months or sooner, you patch things up with him.  What then?  I don’t want him coming between us and I worry that he will.”

Shaking my head, I tried to ease his mind.  “No, I won’t let that happen.  I promise.  We’ve worked too damn hard to get us back on track; I’m not going to let anything or anyone mess it up again.”

J still didn’t look convinced.  I needed him to be but I had no idea how to do that so I resorted, for now, to the one thing that always brought us closer together.  I moved into his space, pushing my body as close to his as I could get.  The feel of him against me caused me to moan; we’d been apart for too long and I craved his touch like never before.

“Fuck, babe,” he growled, and circled my waist with his arm, letting his hand rest on my ass.  Our eyes locked and in that moment all outside issues took a back seat as we came together.  He lowered his lips to mine and kissed me.  I was surprised at the gentleness of it; J and I didn’t do gentle very often.  This kiss enveloped me though, with its tenderness; it joined us and connected us in a way that we desperately needed to be connected after months apart, and especially with all the problems surrounding us and my family.