Chapter 40 Jake #3
Zander nods, a pout set on his lips like someone just kicked his puppy, and though she still looks down at him seriously, I can see her soften just the tiniest bit.
I expect that to be the end of it, for her to go back to eating with Trent and us to drop the subject. Instead, she takes a step toward me before dropping into my lap. I barely manage to move my coffee before we would have worn it, but still, I can’t complain.
I’d never complain about getting the chance to hold her.
“I was only protecting you,” Zander says, crossing his arms like a child, and I can’t help but snort a laugh at him. Jade does the same before she drops her head back over my arm onto his lap with a smile.
“I know, Zan, but I don’t need protection, at least not from the people in this room. Not everything is fun to talk about, but I don’t want to keep secrets either.”
She’s draped over my lap so that her head lies on Zander’s lap, a gentle smile on her lips as she looks up at him. It’s honest and open in a way that she wasn’t when we first met her, before she trusted us, and it eases some of my guilt at asking.
“Now,”
Jade pops up, leaning into me and pressing her lips against my cheek before quickly pulling away to turn on my lap and face the others. I can feel my cheeks heat as I look up to find them all staring at us with knowing looks.
Jade and I have been more lately, but not as much as the others. While her kiss was welcome and not uncommon, her ass in my lap, pressed against me while she turns and squirms, isn’t.
I can’t think of anything else right now; my mind is fully fixated on her body and where it rests on mine.
Fuck, what did she say?
“So what? You’d be amazed how many adults can’t swim.” Spencer says with a shrug, and I feel some of the tension drain from her as she relaxes slightly at his words.
Spencer stands, making his way slowly toward us before crouching in front of Jade to look her in the eyes. “That being said, I’ve never known you to shy away from something before, Demon, so why start now?”
His lips curve in a slow smirk, and I see the glint in his eye a moment before he lunges.
Jade lets out a squeal of surprise as he grabs her around the waist, tossing her over his shoulder as if she weighs nothing.
“Spencer, put me down,” Jade grumbles in irritation, slamming her fists on his back, but he pays her no mind.
Standing, he slaps a hand to her ass, making her kick and thrash more, yet he still doesn’t let go.
The red outline of his hand is visible on her very bare ass, and I’m not sure if I’m happy to have been right earlier or not.
These pants are feeling tighter by the second.
“No can do, Demon. We’ve got fears to face.”
She growls at him before trying to bite him, but he bounces her a bit with a laugh, making it impossible.
“Don’t you trust me?”
He’s still smiling, but I hear the slightest bit of hesitation in his words, as if he’s afraid to hear her answer.
Jade pauses in her beating, sighing heavily.
“Of course I do,” she tells him sincerely.
“I also know you're an asshole, though, so you’ll have to excuse my reaction when you start acting like a caveman.”
Jade rolls her eyes before delivering a smack to his ass in repayment.
The relief on Spencer's face is clear as we all laugh. Zander is damn near falling off the couch.
Spencer doesn’t waste another second, though.
He takes off running toward the indoor section of the pool, and I understand what he’s doing a second too late to intervene.
They hit the water with a splash, and, as one, the rest of us move to the edge to watch.
The water is incredibly blue and clear, making them easy to see.
Even underwater, I can see Jade’s panic as her eyes pop open and she looks around, searching for a way out of this situation.
Spencer stays under, well within her reach, watching her. I know he has her; he won’t actually let her drown, but that doesn’t stop the urge I have to hop in and grab her.
Come on, Princess, you've got this.
Her head breaks the surface with a loud gasp as she stands, the water coming up to her mid-shoulder, and we all let out a sigh of relief.
Spencer stands behind her with a smile that says how proud he is of himself. That is, until Jade turns on him, and I don't need to see her expression to know she’s mad. The flash of fear in his eyes tells me enough.
“Are you crazy!?” she shouts, shoving him hard enough that he stumbles back a step, splashing around.
“I had you! Nothing was going to happen, and you did great.” He tells her as he continues to back away from her with his hands up in surrender. The shirt Jade stole from either him or Zander is soaked and hugging tight to her body, making her movements slower as she wades through the water.
Spencer has the advantage, considering the water hits just slightly higher than his stomach, making moving easier.
Not to mention the fact that he can swim away, which is exactly what he does when she finally gets within arm’s reach.
He lets himself fall back, slipping under the water, and I watch as he pushes off the ground, darting around Jade’s legs to surface once again near the edge we all stand at.
“UGH!” Jade yells, slamming her fists on the water's surface. “Get back here.” She demands, once again, trying to make her way toward him.
It’s not funny, but I can’t help the smile that pulls at my face watching her.
She’s never going to catch him like this, not when the water is so high on her, and she’s walking while he swims. Judging by the smirk on Spencer's face, he knows that, too.
She might kill him, but she has to catch him first.
He lets her get within lunging distance before he disappears under the water again, this time swimming away into the deeper section.
“Fuck!” Jade roars, pushing her soaking hair out of her face as she watches him, unable to do anything about it. She waits until he surfaces again before she continues, and this time she isn’t yelling.
“When I get my hands on you…” She lets the threat trail off, and, honestly, that might be scarier. We all know what she’s capable of.
“If you get your hands on me, you mean,” Spencer says, splashing water at her.
“Ten bucks says he’s dead when he gets out,” Trent says to Rick, who huffs a laugh.
“No way I’m taking that bet,” Rick says, shaking his head.
Smart man, anyone who bets against Jade either doesn’t know her or isn’t right in the head.
Zander crouches down near the edge, watching with a huge smile on his face. And why wouldn’t he? Zan lives for chaos, so this is right up his alley. Honestly, I’m a little surprised he wasn’t the one to drag her into the pool.
Spencer splashes Jade again as he treads water safely in the deep end, the smile on his face so wide it almost looks painful. It’s been a long time since I saw Spencer happy. He’s usually so fucking mellow no matter what’s going on, as if everything in life is boring to him.
Jade opens her mouth to say something, but before she can get a word out, Spencer splashes her again. Jade spits out water like a fountain, and Zander fucking loses it, teetering on the edge as he clutches his stomach in laughter. Everyone else has the decency to laugh quietly, but never Zander.
Jade turns to him with an unamused look on her face, but he doesn’t even see it as he continues to howl in laughter.
He also doesn’t seem to notice as she walks closer to the edge of the pool where he is, and none of us tells him either.
Whatever he’s got coming is on him. No way am I getting dragged into it, something it seems the rest of us are in unison about.
Jade reaches the edge of the pool as Zander wipes away tears, and before he even has the chance to notice her.
She’s reaching out, her hand closing around his wrist, yanking him forward off the edge.
Zander's eyes fly open as he falls face-first into the water, and this time, I can’t stop myself from laughing aloud.
Zander sinks like a stone for a moment, and I watch as Jade tracks his movement, eyes full of concern.
She has no reason to be. All of us can swim.
They made sure it was a skill we practiced back in high school.
I’d always hated it because it seemed pointless.
I already knew how to swim. We had our own private pool.
I've been swimming since I was a child. It never even occurred to me that others might lack the skill or the means to acquire it without school.
Zander stays underwater as he stretches out, planting his feet on the wall before shooting off into the water, only to resurface between the two of them.
“Not cool, Doll,” he says teasingly as he flicks some water at her, pulling a chuckle from her as he shakes his hair out like a dog.
“Well, it’s not cool to laugh at me, so now we're even.” She says, folding her arms underwater, and it’s really hard to take her seriously like this. The water damn near reaches her ears as she steps toward him.
“Touche,” Zander says with a smile before his eyes turn to us, and somehow I know what’s coming even before he moves.
Too bad understanding the mind of a psycho doesn’t help keep ahead of their actions. Zander pulls back his arm and, in one large sweeping motion, skims his arm across the water, creating a wave aimed at us.
Kratos is the only one able to step out of the blast radius in time, and even he just barely makes it.
“Not bad for an old man,” Zander says with a nod as if he truly thinks he’s just complimented him.
Kratos is in the pool the next second, making a beeline right for Zander.
Bad move, messing with him. Zander might be crazy, but the guy has some serious balls.
Even now, as we grow closer every day, I’m unsure if I’d ever be able to talk to Kratos like that, but not long ago, he wasn’t able to either.
Hell, a few months ago, Zander couldn’t even talk to him at all, let alone joke around with him.
Zander’s eyes go wide as he attempts to swim away. His crazy, chaotic energy gets in his way, though, as he slips and slides around the pool, seeming to think he might have a chance of evading him.
He doesn’t.
It doesn’t take long before Kratos is on top of him, slamming him into the water, where they wrestle around, splashing and yelling.
The smile on Kratos’s face lets me know that he’s only playing with him, but I can see the worry in Jade’s eyes as her eyes track them farther into the deep end, where she can’t follow.
I hop down into the water behind her and wrap her up in my arms. I’m already soaked, anyway. Might as well make it worth it.
“They’re fine, Princess. Kratos wouldn’t hurt him, not really. He knows how you feel about him. We all do, and none of us would ever do anything to hurt you.”
I whisper reassuringly in her ear and feel her take a deep, shaky breath.
“I know it seems scary, but we can all swim just fine. The water isn’t scary if you know how to navigate it,” I tell her, hoping she will understand what I’m hinting at here.
She turns in my arms, looking up at me, and instead of her earlier annoyance with Spencer or her fear of the water, I see nothing but determination shining in her eyes.
“Teach me?” she asks, her words quiet and lacking their usual confidence. I know it took a lot for her to ask for this, to show us her weakness, and to trust me to teach her to be better than it.
“Of course, there isn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do for you,” I tell her truthfully, and she rewards my words with a beautiful, full smile before she pushes up on her toes to press her lips to mine.