22. Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-One
Lisette
“I had sex with Kaleb.”
I go still before looking at Harmony in the mirror, and she’s looking at me as if she wasn’t supposed to tell me that.
“It was so bad.” She buries her face in her hands before quickly looking up at me. “I mean at first it was good,” she clarifies. “Like when we had our clothes on, it was really good. Then we were naked and it was still good when he was touching me, but then he put it in and it was just awkward, and it hurt and it was just bad .”
I shake my head at her as I turn back to her hair.
“Aren’t you going to say you told me so?”
I steal a glance at her and she looks like she’s holding her breath.
“Did you use a condom?”
She nods slowly.
“Good.” I return to combing her hair. “It will get better when you’re with a guy you like instead of the first boy who calls you pretty when you’re sad.” I give her a knowing look and her guilty eyes cut to the side.
“Ana and I got into a fight and I invited him over. But he’s my boyfriend now.”
I don’t answer, although she doesn’t really give me time to.
“Ana overheard me telling my friend you were teaching me how to drive and she was being such a bitch .” Her eyes quickly cut to mine, but when I don’t comment on her language, she continues. “She said really mean things about you and I think she was more mad that I defended you.”
My eyes trail to hers now. “What’d she say?”
Her eyes cut to the side again. “Is this Sage? I wish I could model like her.” She changes the topic as she focuses on the Polaroid I have on my mirror of Sage on the runway.
“What did she say about me?” I push harder.
She lets out a defeated breath as her eyes meet mine. “The same stuff… you’re a drunk and I shouldn’t be in a car with you. You’re not family to us.” She shakes her head. “Nothing that’s true.”
I nod in return as I gesture to the picture of my sister.
“Yeah, that’s Sage.” I smile to myself as I focus on the good in my life. “Her boyfriend is so damn obsessed with her. I love them together.”
Harmony takes the picture off of my mirror to get a better look. “She’s so pretty.”
“Right?” I lean over her shoulder to look at Sage. “She deserves the world.”
A smile touches Harmony’s face as she steals a glance at me. “You sound so proud of her.”
“I am.” I stifle a laugh as I turn back to the mirror to finish my hair. “Success came naturally to my brothers. I mean, sure, Sire had a shitty start, but the second he met August and picked up a baseball, his life started falling into place.”
I shake my head at my thoughts. “Sage doesn’t talk about how she fought tooth and nail to make it in the industry. I was up with her most nights as she cried about how hard it was, especially being a black girl. There were countless castings I had to literally drag her to. She has come such a long way. I feel like it was just yesterday that August and I were teasing her for sucking her thumb in her sleep at ten years old. She’s older than me, but she’s still my baby sister in my head.” I laugh at the memories but falter when Harmony’s smile fades.
I realize my mistake, but she only musters up a smile as she picks up the other picture I have on my mirror, this one of all of my siblings and me at the twins’ birthday.
“You’re happy with them.” She tells me rather than asking. “Can you be honest with me?” She looks over at me.
“I won’t start lying to you now,” I tease but she remains serious.
“This is your life and this is your sister.” She picks up the picture. “If I’m not what you want, I can go and take my Ana drama with me.”
I roll my eyes at her as I take the pictures from her. “If I didn’t want you around me, you wouldn’t be here.” I stick the picture back onto my mirror.
A small smile touches her lips, but she doesn’t look convinced. I shake my head at her as I open the drawer in front of us. She looks down and a genuine smile touches her lips as she picks up a picture of us eating ice cream a few weeks ago.
The next picture she grabs is of her driving for the first time in my car. She stifles a laugh as she grabs a picture of her sleeping with Piglet on her forehead.
“You’re my life too.” I pick up an older picture and she lets out a gasp as she grabs it.
“Is this us?” She pouts as she focuses on younger me holding her as a baby.
“I never forgot about you, Harmony, and if I knew you were back at that house after your mom got clean, then I would’ve gone back for you. I didn’t see you after this day because your grandma took you and I had no clue where she lived.”
She keeps her eyes on the picture. “Why did you print all of these?” She looks back at the drawer and shuffles through more pictures of her and my other siblings.
“I like to keep my reason close.”
“Reason for what?”
“To stay sober.”
Tears build in her eyes before she pulls me in for a hug.
“Don’t ruin your makeup after I just spent an hour on it.” I shake my head at her and she lets out a laugh as she pulls away to fan her eyes. She looks back in the mirror with a smile as I continue working on her hair.
“Jackson kissed me,” I voice when the brief silence starts to feel too heavy.
Her brows furrow before a smile touches her lips. “I knew he liked you.”
“It wasn’t just any kiss.” I shake my head at myself as images of his hands on me come in flashes. “It was a fuck me against the hood of this car, kind of kiss. Like, please keep kissing me, I’d rather this than air.”
“Oh.” She nods as she smiles at me in the mirror but she looks worried. “I didn’t know kissing was that good?” She looks down in thought now. “Am I kissing wrong?”
“Kissing him is that good,” I say more to myself.
“Am I a bad kisser?” Her brows furrow as she looks at herself in the mirror. “What am I doing wrong?” she nearly whispers.
“But that was a few days ago and he’s ignoring me.” I shake my head at my reflection, more disappointed by how annoyed I am by this.
She lets out a gasp as she looks up at me. “What an asshole.”
I roll my eyes at myself. “Okay, he’s not ignoring me, but I was supposed to go over yesterday for tutoring and he canceled at the last minute via text. ”
“Well, what’d he say?”
I recite the message from memory since I’ve been picking it apart for the last twenty-four hours. “Canceling tutoring today. My mom wanted to see your favorite student. Sorry for the short notice.”
Her face scrunches. “Sorry for the short notice ?” she mocks. “Is this a fucking email? Ew, why is he being so formal?”
“Formal is bad, right?”
“Uh, yeah.” She shakes her head at me. “You’re going over today, right?”
I nod in return as I finish up her hair.
“Okay well, wear a cute outfit and act like nothing happened. Don’t even bring up the kiss or the text. Just walk in, say hi to him if you normally do, and go straight for the kid.”
I hum in thought, and I probably shouldn’t take advice from a seventeen-year-old, but I go into my closet and change my baggy clothes into something cuter.
After I get her stamp of approval, I drop her off at her friend’s birthday party before heading over to Jackson’s.
When he opens the door for me, I smile up at him like I normally do. I’m about to voice a flirty hello but decide against it.
“What’s up?” I walk past him and he nods in return as he lets the door shut.
“My mom is going to drop Belle off in a few, but we should talk.” He walks into the kitchen and I follow after him.
“Don’t tell me you’re ending things.” I hold my heart. “I told my mom about us.”
A smile grows on his face as he shakes his head at me. “About Halloween,” he starts, but he doesn’t add more.
I raise my brows, gesturing for more.
“That can’t happen again.”
I nod in understanding as I lean against the counter in front of him. “I understand. Trick or treating can be very detrimental. I’ll find a different hot firefighter to go with next year.”
He gives me a knowing look, but I don’t make this easier for him.
“The kiss,” he forces out. “No more of it… If I kiss you again, I don’t know if I can stop.”
I bite back a smile. “Who says we have to stop?”
He gives me a slow once over before letting out a frustrated breath. “I’m hanging out with Sire on Tuesday. I’m going to tell him, then this can continue.”
I nod before pushing off of the counter.
“I mean it,” he says when I take a step away.
“You sound very convincing.” I’m about to walk off when he takes hold of my hand, turning me back to him.
His eyes scan my face before he pushes off the counter, but he doesn’t make another move. “Your brother and I are very close friends.”
“Best friends some might say.” With his hand still holding mine, I rub my thumb along his.
He nods as his eyes trail down my frame again. “And my daughter likes you.”
“She actually told me she loves me,” I correct him before cocking my head to the side and he watches my ponytail swing from side to side before his throat bobs.
“Right.” He nods to himself. “So if this goes south, I’ll be ruining multiple relationships.”
“You’re that big of a heartbreaker, huh?”
He shakes his head as he takes a step towards me. “No, but I don’t bring women around my kid. I know you already knew her, but we’ve been too risky around her.”
I nod in understanding, that part making more sense. “So no more kissing.”
“For now.”
I nod and his eyes follow the small movement. His breath grows heavier as he watches me and I can see the fight in his eyes. I feel my heart rate pick up and my entire body heats as his eyes slowly focus on every inch of me.
“You don’t normally wear this to tutoring.” He closes the distance between us, bringing us inches apart, his fingers threading through mine.
“I don’t.” My eyes land on his lips now as he licks them. “But I like it when your eyes are on me like that.”
He smirks as he trails his eyes back up to my face. “You didn’t have to wear those shorts to get my eyes on you.” He steps between my legs, forcing me to walk backward. “That pretty face gets my attention on its own.”
I smile up at him as my back hits the counter. “You think I’m pretty?”
His arms come beside me on the counter as he cages me in. “You already knew that, baby.”
My stomach does that thing as his eyes focus on my thighs. “It’s called a praise kink, JJ. Humor me.”
He looks between my eyes before leaning down. Rather than kissing me, he rubs his nose along mine. “You always look pretty, and right about now, you’ll look very pretty on your knees, but that can’t happen, so I need you to walk away for me.” He squeezes his eyes shut. “Right now.”
My chest rises and falls quicker as his lips brush against mine feather soft.
“ Please walk away, Lissy.”
“What if I don’t want to?” I whisper, my lips grazing his. “What if I get on my knees instead?”
“Halloween won’t be happening again until Tuesday,” he replies, his eyes burning into mine.
“I know that.” I rub my nose against his. “No more kisses until you talk to him… on Tuesday.”
“Right.” His eyes fall to my lips before he shakes his head. “But fuck, I want more.” His lips crash into mine as I pull him in by his shirt.
My knees practically go weak as he brings his hands to my waist. Without much effort, he lifts me onto the counter and I wrap my legs around him, pulling him closer. My stomach is doing cartwheels as his hands snake up the sides of my shirt.
I’m moaning into his mouth, begging for more with my tongue as I grind against him shamelessly.
He pulls away and leaves a trail of kisses on my throat before he buries his face in my neck. A suck in a breath when he kisses and sucks just where I like it. I run my hand through his hair before guiding his hand to my pants, but he stops, leaving me breathless.
He keeps his face in my neck, his hands on either side of me as he catches his breath.
“Why’d you stop?” I rub his head and he brings his hand to mine as he rests his forehead against mine.
“Because I’m going to come in my fucking pants if you keep making that sound.”
I feel my face heat and he kisses my neck twice. He’s sucking on my neck again, but when the doorbell rings, he pulls away quicker than light.
I hop off the counter, escaping into the bathroom to avoid meeting his mom. By the time I come out, she’s gone and our kiss is the only thing I can think about as I work with his daughter.