My Texas Sweetheart (book one) (11 page)

Chapter 18 (Maggie)

After the game, Jase and I head towards the swimming hole about ten miles outside of town. After everything that’s happened, I am feeling a bit nervous about being alone with him. I know that he would never hurt me, but there’s still a part of me that’s scared. Jase looks over at me, concern written all over his face. “What’s wrong, Maggie?”

“A part of me is scared to be alone with you.”
I look away from him. I just can’t look in his eyes and see the hurt.

He picks up my hand and tugs
it a little to get me to look at him, but I don’t. “Maggie, please look at me,” he pleads. I look at him and he looks so hurt that it’s breaking my heart. “Baby, I swear to you that I will never hurt you. I might screw up now and then, but I would never hurt you.”

We climb out of the truck
. “Jase, I know that you will never hurt me,” I say, smiling.

He
smiles back, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Come on, baby. Let’s just enjoy being with each other.” He pulls me towards the water. We sit down and put our feet in. “Did you enjoy the game tonight?”

I smile at him
. “Yes, I did. You played wonderfully.”

He
gives me a shy smile. “Thanks, Maggie. That means a lot to me.”

We are
quiet for a little bit, just enjoying each other’s company. Jase pulls me closer to him, putting his arms around me and his face in my hair. “It’s nice to be by ourselves for a change,” I say and I can feel his smile. He pulls away and gently grabs my face between his hands, passing his lips to mine. I can easily get lost in his kisses.

After a
few minutes, he pulls back and presses his forehead to mine. “Baby, I just want you to know that I’ll wait forever for you.”

I smile and look into his eyes
. “Thank-you, Jase.”

We sit
there, staring into each other’s eyes for a while until we hear a horn. I roll my eyes and Jase laughs.
“Adam just couldn’t stay away.”

I look over to see my brother, Amy, Sarah, Jake
, and Pete getting out of his truck. “I’m really sorry, Jase,” I say.

He shakes
his head. “No reason to be sorry, baby. You didn’t know they would come here.” No, but I should have.

Adam and the others start walking over to where we are sitting
.
I’m sorry, Amy
mouths. I nod.

“I’ll be right back.” He nods, but doesn’t look at me. I walk over to Adam and grab his arm. “You and I need to talk,” I hiss. He gives me a big smile and we walk away from everyone else. “What are you doing here?”

He looks
over at Jase, then back at me. “You know why, Maggie.”

“Adam, you know damn well that Jase would never hurt me or make me uncomfortable in any way. You need to stop the overprotective bullshit…please. I know that the last few months have been shitty, and we’re all feeling guilt. Nobody has anything to feel guilty about. You’re trying to protect me from your friend
.
He deserves your respect and blessing, not this. Trust me, he feels as guilty as you all do. I love you, Adam, but please stop this. He and I need time alone if this is going to work out, and I want this to work out. Please.”

He huffs out a breath
. “Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry, but I needed to know that you were okay. Now that I know that, I’ll leave.” I smile at him and kiss his cheek. Adam pulls me in for a big bear hug before he steps around me to go talk with Jase. They walk a distance away from the rest of us. 

“Hey, girl. I’m really sorry. I couldn’t talk him out of coming here.”
 

“No worries. It’s all good.”
I smile at her.

Amy pulls me into a hug
. “You know that Adam loves you, right?” she says. I nod at her.  I know he does, but I also know that he feels guilty about what happened and feels as if he let me down. The boys start walking back over to us.

“Want to go swimming?” Amy asks.

I look at Jase and Adam
, then back at Amy. “Sure, why not. Do you still have your bathing suit on?” She smiles and nods.

Amy and I start taking off our tops when
we hear Adam yell, “Hey! SHIRTS ON!!”

I look at Amy
, who has this devilish look in her eyes. I start laughing and turn my head to look at Adam and Jase. “So, Amy, do we listen?” I give her my best devilish smile and wink at the boys.

“Hell no, we don’t!” We quickly strip out of our clothes and jump into the water. Sarah and Jeff follow us.

“Son of a bitch,” Jase and Adam mutter, while Amy and I are laughing.

Jeff comes swimming towards us
. “He’s going to kick your asses,” he says with a smirk.

“He can try, but then he’ll have to get wet,” I say and Jeff laughs. 

“How come they look so pissed?” Sarah asks and we shrug.

After a few more minutes
, both Adam and Jase strip and jump in. “Oh, shit. We might be in trouble,” I say to Amy. We both start swimming away.

“That’s okay, girls! You gotta come back this way eventually!” Jase yells.

“Shit, I wasn’t thinking about that,” Amy groans. I can’t help but laugh at her, getting water in my month in the process.

As I
start to cough it up, Amy swims over and pats my back. “That’s what happens when you laugh at me.”

“I’m sorry, but it was funny,” I say, coughing and laughing at the same time.

Neither one of us
notice that Jase and Adam are right behind us. “What the hell are you two doing?” Adam asks.

We both
jump. “Shit, Adam! What the hell?! You scared the crap out of us!” I yell. Jase and Adam both just smirk and shake their heads.

Jase swims closer to me
so I swim backwards, trying to get away. “Maggie…? Are you worried I’m still mad?” I bite my lip and nod at him. He glances at my lips, then looks back into my eyes. “I’m not mad, baby. Seriously, I’m not. I was, but I already forgave you. Now, get your sweet ass over here.” If he’s not mad, why does it look like he is?

I start to swim over to him when
, out of the corner of my eye, I see Amy waving at me. I look over at her and she is shaking her head. Jase grabs me and kisses me hard. “You know, I had them leaving before you and Amy decided to take a swim.” So that was why he was pissed off.

“Maybe they’ll still leave,” I say, hopefully. We all get out of the water and dry off.

Adam walks over to me.
“Hey, baby girl. We’re going to take off.”

I smile over at Jase and mouth
, I told you so.

Chapter 19
(Jase)

After everyone finally leaves, Maggie and I lay down on the blanket that I brought with me. We were silent for a while, looking at the stars and holding hands. I can’t believe that Adam showed up here tonight. He should know that I would never do anything to hurt his sister. I do understand it, though.  They’ve all been through a hell of a lot in the last six months, but so have I. She means the world to me, and I had to watch her go through it. That’s something that I can never erase from my mind. There are some nights I have nightmares about that night, but she dies at the hospital in my dream. Maggie snuggles up to me, pulling me from my thoughts. I put my arms around her and kiss the top of her head. “It’s nice being out here with you, Jase,” she says. I smile.

In a few more weeks
, Chase and his friends will be coming home for a week. Maggie will love that.
“What’s on your mind, baby?” I ask.

She looks
up at me and smiles. “Just enjoying being here with you.” I nod.

After a few moments of silence
, I clear my throat. “By the way, I have some news to share with you, baby.” She turns and looks up at me. 

“What is it, Jase?” She murmurs. Her brilliant green eyes sparkle as she lays there staring at me.

“Mom and Dad just purchased the ranch down the road from you guys.” 

A very desirable smirk
flashed across her face. “So, does this mean you and I will be spending a lot more time together?” She starts giggling. Oh, my god, I do love her. This is truly turning out to be a night that I will never forget.

“Well, is that something that might interest you?” I tease her.  Without warning, she leans over and kissed me so tenderly that I took that as a definite “yes”. 

After she
pulls away, I say, “Um, wow…anyway…Mom and Dad were wondering if, after we get settled, you and your family might be interested in coming over for a good, old-fashioned bar-b-que with all the fixings. Ooo, hey, maybe your mom can make some of her famous pumpkin pie.”

“Oh, I bet that would just make your night. Maybe I should get her to make one just for you. You are the only one I’ve seen that can down one of those in one sitting.” She starts laughing
. I never thought I would hear such sweet music again. Now, in my heart of hearts, I know she is the one for me, but I wasn’t about to admit that…not yet, anyway. “I’ll tell Mom and Dad about the bar-b-que. I’m sure Mom will be more than delighted to make some pies and help out with the cooking. I’ll even volunteer Adam’s muscles for the move.  It might get him out of my hair for the day.”

A smirk crossed my face
. “Now that’s why I love you!” Oh shit, did I just say that? How stupid can I be?  I’m scared to even look at her. Slowly, I turn my head to look…and she has a very warm glow in her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper.

She puts her fingers on my
lips. “Shh, Jase. I love you, too,” she whispers.

Did
she just tell me that she loves me?  I don’t think I have ever known this feeling before. I cannot really believe that this amazing girl loves me…Jase Landon Jacks! Okay, time to come back down to earth. I’d love to lay here and hold her in my arms all night. Come on, Jase, pull yourself together. You’re starting to sound like a fucking pussy. I chuckle to myself.  I glance at Maggie and she was laying there with a big smile on her face.
“And just what do you find so funny, my love?”
I ask, nervously.

“As if you don’t know.” She roared with laughter. Damn, this night is going to end way too soon and I will have to take her back home but, for now, she’s mine and she loves me!

“Don’t even say it baby” I growl, it only makes it laugh harder. Well shit! Fuck it I know how to get her to stop laughing… thinking for the matter. I lean in and press my lips to hers, she stops laughing and kisses me back. I deepen the kiss.

“Um… nice way to shut me up” she sighs. I love how her eyes look after I kiss her, she gets this dreamy look in them. I lay back down and pull her into my arms again. “I’ve been in-love with you for a long time now Mags” sitting up so she can look at my face. She says

“So have I, maybe that’s why I hated seeing you with all those other girls” she admits. Just as much as I hated seeing her with the bustard. Maybe if I would have stepped up a while ago….. Fuck it’s my fault that she went through being raped, almost dying! I don’t deserve her. As if she can read my mind, she says

“No! Jase it is not your fault. None of it was, stop blaming yourself” she can say that all she wants but it doesn’t change the fact that if only I would of stopped dicking around, she wouldn’t of went through any of that. Getting up I start pacing in front of her, why does her brothers and parents trust me with her? This could have been prevented in the first place. God I’m an asshole! It makes it wanna go and kill Christian, all over again….

Maggie breaks though my thoughts when I hear the pleading in her voice.

“Please Jase, stop blaming yourself. It wasn’t your fault or anyone’s if that matter, no one even knew what he was really like. Besides if we wanna place blame it should be on me, I’m the one that let him in my life, I’m the one that was stupid enough to go out on the path by myself. I’m the one that didn’t stop to think” like hell she’s going to place the blame on herself. She didn’t know what would happen. None of us trusted him and we didn’t say anything to her about it. Dropping down by side her again I say

“No baby it wasn’t your fault, you didn’t know. Don’t ever say shit like that again” she raises her brow her me, fuck she’s trying to make a point. Why didn’t I see
that? I’ll have to hide my feelings from her, there’s no way I’m not going to blame myself. Grabbing her hand, I get up and pull her with me. It’s getting late. I need to get her home, by the looks of it she’s also starting to get cold.

“Come on baby let’s get you home” I say, we gather up our stuff and head to my truck.
     

Chapter 20 (Maggie)

When we pull into the driveway, the only light on is the porch light. It looks like everyone has gone to bed, but then I see the curtain in the living room moving slightly. Oh, my god, my snooping brothers are gawking at us. I am tempted to give them the finger when I see mom push them all aside, and the curtain closes.
“Thanks, Mom,” I whisper. I hear Jase laughing. “What’s so funny?” I giggle, knowing that he saw the curtain, too.

Instead
of replying, he gives me a deep kiss. “Well, baby, I think I should get you inside before they kill me and grill you.”

I want to protest
, but I know that Jase was right.  He gets out of the truck, comes over to my side, and opens my door. Wow, I thought chivalry was something only my parents did. A warm flush pours over my body as he puts out his hand to help me down. Why does this night have to end? For once, I feel free from everything, and who would have thought that Jase would be the one to make me feel this way? He slides his arm around my waist and gently places another kiss on my lips. “I love you, baby,” he whispers into my ear.

Smiling I say “I love you too, so much”

As we
walk hand-in-hand up to the porch, a shooting star catches my eye. “Wow, did you see that?” I ask him, astonished.

“Yeah, baby. I ordered that up just for you.” I roll my eyes but smile at him anyways. So cheesy.

I know I’m not his type so
I never imagined that Jase would be someone that would ever want to be with me,  but  here we are, holding hands and looking up at the night sky together. And, to top it off, I was able to truly share with him that I love him. If it were not for him, I would not be making the progress that I have been. With another gentle kiss, Jase bids me goodnight, gets back in his truck, and drives out of sight.  

Letting out a deep sigh, I open the front door
, trying not to make it creak too loud.  Now I just have to sneak up to my room. Just as I get to the top landing, a voice from the corner spooks me and almost sends me flying backwards. “Did you have a good time?” came a whisper from the dark and an arm reaches out and grabs me.

“Damn you,” I sneer at Adam.  I could tell that he was aching to let out a belch of laughter, but he keep his mouth shut because our parents’ light is still on. I put my finger to my lips and glare at him, giving him the finger.

Once again
, he gently grabs onto my arm. “Not so fast there, baby girl. I think you have some talking to do.”

Angrily
, I look up into his eyes and, with the calmest tone I can find, I say, “Adam, let me go now, or I will be sure to get Mom and Dad’s attention. It’s none of your business what I did tonight.” Knowing that I was good to my word, he let go of my arm, glaring at me. “Oh, Adam. You know I will always love you. Get your ass to bed before you get into shit with Mom and Dad.”

With that
, I bolt to my room and quietly close the door, leaving Adam in the hall. I lean against the door, giggling. For the first time in a long time, I am truly happier than I have ever been in my life.  After changing my clothes, I curl up into my pillows, dreaming of holding Jase. My eyes, getting heavy, slowly shut and there was Jase. It was as if he was lying right there beside me. How the sensation of his body next to mine made me tingle.  His hand gently brushes the hair from my face as he leans in and begins to gently place kisses upon my forehead, then down my cheek, coming to rest upon my lips.  The kiss starts out gentle, then I open my mouth, wanting for him to explore and kiss me more deeply.  Our tongues start to dance, wild with so much passion and fever. I want more and he senses my urgency. His lips leave mine and he begins to place kisses down my chin, inching even lower as he trails kisses down between my breasts. I feel his hands gently exploring my stomach, moving my shirt slowly upwards.   A moan escapes my lips.  My hands tangle in his hair, holding him there.  He comes back up my body and kisses me again. Our eyes meet and I arch up, longing to kiss him again…

BANG BANG!! “Hey, baby girl! Time to rise and shine!” yells Adam from the hallway.
 

Oh
, my god. Did I just dream that?  I’m going to kill him for waking me before the good parts. “Asshole!” I yell back. All I can hear is a snicker, then he was gone.

Flopping back down on my pillows
, I look over at the clock. 7:30 already? Damn, where had the night gone?  I suddenly sit up, knowing that if I hurry, I will have time to see Jase before school.  Dressing as fast as I can, I rush downstairs. “Morning, Mom. Morning, Daddy,” I say, as I rounded into the kitchen and stopped short.  Jase was leaning on the counter, as casual as can be.  I can feel the heat rise over my body, remembering the dream I just had.

Adam saunters in right behind me. “Baby girl, that’s a pretty color of red that you’re wearing. Is there something you want to share?”

Giving him the finger, I
grab a piece of toast and turn my attention to Jase. “Let’s get out of here before I smack him silly.” Adam snorts as I roll my eyes at him.

Jase starts to say something as Creed comes into the kitchen
, and looks between Adam and I. “Did I miss something,” Creed asks. We all turn to stare at him. Once again, I am beginning to flush, and I just need to get out of here before I say something that I shouldn’t. 

As I
start to turn to Jase, a screaming pain tears through my head, and everything goes black…

****

I am running, faster and faster, not sure where I am going. I feel so scared. I cannot see anything and, even worse, I cannot hear anything.  It is so dark. Where am I? Why is my head hurting so badly?  It hurts more with every breath, but I just have this feeling that I have to keep running. The further I go, the darker it gets. Where has everyone gone?  I try screaming for Jase, for Daddy or Mom, but I can’t make a sound. I feel a pair of hands grabbing at me. No, please, not again. How did I get back here?  The hands are starting to run up the length of my legs.  My heart is pounding so hard that it feels like it is going to explode out of my chest. I feel like I am suffocating. The hands are moving slowly upwards, higher and higher.   I try to call out, but to no avail. The hands are now around my waist. I hear the sound of a zipper, and feel the loosing of the button on my pants.  Fight Maggie, fight!

****

From behind my eyelids, I can see a faint white light.  Then I hear voices, everyone calling my name.  I feel so frightened. What is happening to me? The voices are getting louder and louder. I can hear them more clearly now.
“Wake up, baby girl. Come back to us. We’re all here. Wake up for Daddy and me,” my mom pleads.

I can feel the pain in my head subsi
ding a bit, and I feel a hand gently massaging my fingers. Then there is another voice so I concentrate harder.  It sounds so familiar. “Jase, is that you?” I mutter, barely audible. It sounds like the whole room took a deep breath.

“Baby, I’m right here.”

I black out again, after hearing his sweet but worried voice……………