Changing His Game (6 page)

Jared.

I have his number in my phone. Would he come? I wouldn’t want to inconvenience him. I debate this for a few seconds before the trembling of my body wins out. I really don't want to be alone. I give the female officer Jared's information before she brings me over to the ambulance to get checked out.

A half hour later I'm wearing a sling on my arm and drifting in and out of consciousness from the pain medication the paramedics gave me. My shoulder isn’t dislocated, but I am going to have some nasty bruises in the morning.

"Autumn," I hear a male voice shout from a distance. It's Jared's voice and when I look up I can see him jogging towards the ambulance.

"Are you okay?"

I don’t answer. For some reason his presence is bringing back all the emotions my attacker brought out of me. I start bawling ugly tears.

"Shh..." Jared says as he hops up into the ambulance and joins me on the gurney. He sits next to me and pulls me into his side. His right arm reaches around my shoulder as his left hand comes up to caress my face. "Shh, it’s going to be okay. I'm here," he whispers.

I'm oddly comforted by his words and the touch of his hands on my skin. I turn my head into his shoulder and breathe him in. He smells of cigarette smoke, soap, and mint. Does Jared smoke? It doesn't matter, he smells comforting.

After answering a few more questions from the police and getting my at-home care instructions from the paramedic, I'm free to go home. When I tell Jared I will meet him back at his house, he gently grabs my arm and pulls me towards his car.

"You must be crazy if you think I'm going to let you drive home. You were fucking attacked; you could have been raped or murdered. I'm taking you home and I can get someone to pick up your car tomorrow."

I'm not going to argue with him. Deep down, I don’t want to be alone right now. Jared is being an amazing friend to me and I need this comfort from him.

We drive home in silence. Every once in a while I see Jared grip the steering wheel so tight his knuckles turn white, then he looks at me and visibly relaxes, loosening his grip on the wheel. When we pull up to Jared's driveway, he stops the car and walks around to open the door for me. We make our way into the quiet house and Jared flicks on the lights.

"Stay here, I'm just going to grab a few things from the fridge," Jared says to me as he walks towards the open kitchen area. I nod my head in response and stay standing in the entrance.

A few moments later he's back with two bottles of water and a box of saltines. He carries these in one hand and grabs my hand with his free hand. He loosely grips my fingers as we walk upstairs and down the hallway. Jared brings me into his room and closes the door behind me.

"I thought it would be best if you stayed in here tonight. You're shaken up and on pain medication, and I'm worried about you. I can sleep on the floor if you want, or if you're okay with us sharing a bed, I'll use a separate blanket. I just want you to feel safe tonight."

Jared is being so incredibly sweet to me. I never would have imagined such a playboy would have such a tender heart towards me. The truth is, I don't want to be alone. Every time I close my eyes, I see my attacker and feel his hand across my mouth, his groin digging into my back. I need the comfort that Jared will bring me.

Not trusting my own voice to speak, I move towards his bed and lay on the side furthest from the door. Jared lifts the comforter and I nestle down into a comfortable position. He lowers the comforter back on me before stripping down to his boxers and joining me in bed under the covers.

"Are you thirsty? Hungry? I brought some crackers to help settle your stomach and some water to keep you hydrated. You really should probably eat something."

Jared seems nervous, like he is afraid of possibly saying the wrong thing.

"I'm not hungry, but I'll take the water. My throat is incredibly dry."

"Okay, Billy," he says as he hands me a bottle of water. I open the cap and guzzle down all twenty ounces in the plastic bottle. When I finish, I put the bottle on the nightstand and turn in his direction. We're both lying on our sides facing each other.

"I'm afraid to close my eyes and go to sleep. I keep reliving what happened in my mind. What if the cops hadn't shown up, Jared? I would have been just another statistic if the cops had shown up a few moments later."

I'm starting to work myself back up again, but luckily Jared is here to bring me back down.

"You can't think about the what ifs, babe. You made it through for a reason. The man upstairs was looking out for you and you should remember that. Live for that." Jared reaches his hand out and gently strokes my exposed arm.

"You believe in God?" I ask him, shocked.

"Don't seem so surprised. Something had to create us and I've got to believe there is something out there better than this life."

Jared's voice drifts off, almost as if he's in another place and time.

"Jared?" I ask him tentatively. "You seem like you have the life, you seem happy. Isn't it every guy's dream to be a porn star?"

He laughs and moves his eyes back to me. "It wasn't my dream. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do and I'm very happy. I couldn't see myself doing anything else, but it wasn't what I dreamed of being when I was a kid. I didn't decide to do this until I moved to L.A. and fucked an adult film star. She thought I was..." Jared drifts off and looks away, almost embarrassed. "Lets just say she was impressed with my talent and I had the looks to go along with it."

I smile shyly at him. This isn’t the first time I've heard about his "talent". My sister couldn't stop talking about it.

"Enough about me, how about you? What do you do?" Jared asks me.

"Nothing at the moment. Today was supposed to be the day I walked for my graduation. I just graduated from MSU with a degree in Secondary Education. I want to be a teacher."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing," Jared laughs as he sinks further under the comforter.

"No, that huh meant something. What?"

"Nothing, it's just that, I never had any teachers who looked like you. If I had, I might have wanted to stick with my education, and I definitely wouldn't have ditched as much."

My cheeks feel warm and I'm glad it's dark in the room; otherwise Jared would be able to see the blush covering my cheeks.

"Are you... Jared, are you saying you think I'm good looking?" I ask him, immediately embarrassed that I said something.

"Don't act so surprised, you know you're a catch. I'd have to be blind not to think you weren’t attractive. The whole innocent thing you got going for you adds to the attraction."

"Now you're saying you're attracted to me?" I'm not sure where this conversation is going, but I kind of want to find out.

"No, I said I could see the attraction. Let's talk about something else."

I yawn, feeling very tired after the long day I've had.

"What’s your favorite movie?" I ask him. I want to get to know him a little better.

"I'm not a favorite movie kind of guy, but one of the best movies I've ever seen is Requiem for a Dream. That movie is intense and brilliant. You've probably never seen it."

"I have actually. It was during my Jared Leto phase. I was glad I watched it. I balled my eyes out during it and the movie stuck with me for weeks. I was in a movie hangover and couldn't find anything remotely comparable. It was brilliant."

I can see the intrigue in Jared's eyes, "I'm... it's the little things that amaze me sometimes."

I smile, knowing he's talking about me.

We stay up and talk for half the night, mostly about trivial things, but Jared does a great job of keeping my mind off the attack. I don’t remember when I fell asleep, or if I fell asleep first, I just remember the feeling I had right before I'm dead to the world.

I feel like I'm home.

Chapter Four

I have to pee. These are my thoughts as I'm slowly waking up to the world. The sun is bright and I'm incredibly warm under the thick comforter. I open my eyes and take a look at my surroundings. I’m in an unfamiliar room. Right, I'm in Jared's room.

I say room, but it's more like the size of a small house. I could fit four of my bedrooms in here. Two walls are painted navy blue with the accent walls painted white. The large space is very open. Jared only has the mattress we're laying on, two nightstands, and a dresser with an outdated television on top of it.

I look over to the other side of the bed and see a sleeping Jared. He looks so peaceful in his sleep, and gorgeous. So many things about him should turn me off, and they do, but somehow I still want him. I need to stop thinking about him and start figuring out what I want to do with my life, starting with getting up and going to the bathroom.

I pull the comforter back and climb out of bed, stretching my arms above my head and letting out a yawn. I turn around to pull the comforter back up the bed.

"Holy shit!" I scream, much louder than expected.

When I pulled the comforter off myself, I also pulled it off Jared. A very naked Jared. Didn't he have boxers on when we went to bed?

He's lying on his back and his morning wood is saluting me, but that's not what has my attention. It's the piercing that's attached to his large, firm erection. I've never seen a pierced dick before. I cover my eyes and I can hear Jared get up.

"What? What's wrong?"

"You're... You're naked," I rattle out. I move my hands to look at him and I see him look down at himself, almost as if he didn’t realize he was bare to me.

"Huh, I guess I am. Must have pulled my boxers off in my sleep."

"You have a piercing." I state, just in case he isn’t aware.

"Yes, I was there when I got it. I had a tough time deciding what kind of piercing I wanted because there are many kinds of piercings you can get for your dick. I decided on this beauty, the Apadravya. It's-"

"I don't care what it's called. Can you cover up?" I say cutting him off. I don’t want to think about his piercing anymore. I don’t want to think about his cock anymore His large, thick cock that looks like he knows-

No. No more thinking about Jared.

"It's safe to look now."

I hesitantly peak through my fingers and see Jared standing in front of me with his boxers back on. I exhale a sigh of relief and lower my arms to my sides.

"Jesus! You'd think you never saw a dick before."

"I... I just wasn't expecting to see yours this early in the morning."

"But you were expecting to see it?" He asks cockily.

"No, that's not.. That's not what I meant," I say flustered. I storm past him and rush into his adjoining bathroom, closing the door behind me. I had almost forgotten the reason I got out of bed.

I use the washroom and rinse my hands before going back out to Jared's room. He's lying back down on his bed talking on his cell phone. I stand in the doorway awkwardly. I’m not sure if I should hop back in bed with him until he gets off the phone, or leave the room. I decide to leave the room so I can possibly avoid any awkward conversation that might ensue when he gets off the phone.

I make my way downstairs to get the coffee going. I have no desire to leave the house, but I need to wake up so I can start fresh on the job hunt today. Instead of going to places of business, I'll apply online, from the safety of Jared's couch.

I brew my cup of coffee and decide to brew Jared a cup. I stick the single serving cup in the machine, close it, and hit brew. I lean against the counter, sipping my cup of coffee. I thought I would be preoccupied with thoughts of my attacker this morning, but instead all I can think of is Jared's body. His lean, tone muscles and his black ink tattoos covering his chest, arms, and back. The v-shaped muscles leading to his impressive length. God, I've never seen anything like it. I never really thought a guy's dick could be beautiful. I just liked the idea of what it could do to me, but Jared's dick is beautiful. I want to get down on my knees and suck on a Jared popsicle.

"Earth to Billy," I hear as Jared snaps his fingers in front of my face. I’m startled and brought back to reality.

I'm in Jared's kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. There will be no Jared popsicle. I need to stop daydreaming about him. Hopefully it won't happen again.

"Where did you go just then? I was calling you for almost a minute."

I blush, trying to think of some kind of excuse.

"I was just thinking about my plans today and how I need to apply for some more jobs."

"You can't be serious. You're not going back out there by yourself and I have a shoot today."

I smile, a feeling of warmth coming over my body. He's being protective of me.

"I'm not going to leave the house. I'm going to apply for some jobs online."

"Good. Listen, I've got to run. I'll be working all day and should be back later this afternoon. There's some cash in the ceramic cookie jar by the toaster if you decide to order food. You have my number, so call me if you need anything. I mean it, Billy. Call if you need anything."

It's then that I notice he changed before he came down here. He's in a pair of loose fitting jeans and a Pearl Jam t-shirt. He has black chucks on his feet and he’s holding his car keys.