Chapter 15 Jericho
JERICHO
Raiden: Can we talk?
The message is still sitting with no response three days later. I’ve typed at least a hundred responses at this point, but none of them make it far enough for me to feel confident enough to send.
No, absolutely not.
Not no but fuck no.
Fuck off.
Fuck you.
What do you need?
Why are you trying to talk to me now?
Do you know how much I’ve missed you and of course we can talk.
Exactly my point. There’s no good response.
But my curiosity is killing me, the need to know what he wants to talk about.
Does he finally want to apologize for everything that has happened between us over the years?
Is there something majorly wrong? Or is it he’s needing a favor and he knows I’m pathetic enough even after all of these years with no contact that I would still drop whatever I’m doing to help him.
Liam walks into the room, and I quickly exit out of the text exchange and tuck my phone back into the pocket of my pants. Out of sight, out of mind.
“Are you about ready? We’re meeting Ace at my house in forty minutes and I’m starving. I’m going to swing by Culver’s and pick something up.”
I gesture for him to come towards me and I see his playful eye roll before he walks over to me. I spread my legs, making room for him to stand in between them. Palming his ass, I squeeze the two muscular globes massaging them and his moan makes my dick thicken.
“Did you look in the fridge?” I ask casually, like my dick isn’t hard as a rock in my pants as I rub his crease through his jeans.
Liam thrusts his hips back, pushing against the pressure of my fingers and shakes his head. He’s biting on his bottom lip, abusing the soft flesh until it’s flushed pink. A drip of precum leaks out of my tip, creating a small wet patch in my boxers that I can feel against my warm skin.
“I made lunch for you, I knew you would be hungry when you came over.” And I did, because he told me last night he was having to take his sister to the airport at the ass crack of dawn.
He’s already not a morning person, but add in having to go somewhere early in the morning?
Even I feel bad for his sister for having to put up with the attitude.
“You think you know me so well?” He taunts, his dick starting to press against the fabric of his jeans, the swell pushes against the thick material and my mouth waters in anticipation.
“Are you saying I don’t?” I keep one hand on his ass, and snake the other one into the waistband of his jeans. His skin is warm and pliable under my hands, molding under the ministrations from my fingertips pushing against the hard muscles.
“I’m saying–” his words are cut off on a gasp when I press my dry finger against his puckered hole.
The ridges of the flesh create a pattern that I want to tease and touch and trace my mouth and fingers across.
“Fuck, Jericho.” He moans my name loudly, the three syllables are a prayer, begging me to take him how we both want.
“What is it baby? Keep going, don’t stop,” I warn, pressing the tip of my finger inside the rim. The pressure is Liam’s favorite part, being able to feel me tear him apart piece by piece until he’s nothing but a pleading mess for me to do whatever I want with.
His phone rings, the chorus of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga starts and he pulls away from me.
Giving me an apologetic look, he swipes his finger across the screen to answer it and puts it up to his ear.
I lie back on the bed listening to him speak into it while he talks to his boss.
Today is supposed to be his day off, but by the sounds of it, he’s going to have to go into work.
Liam hangs up and he drops his head back on his shoulders, exhaling loudly.
“I have to go to work, Marissa called in sick again.” He pinches the bridge of his nose and counts silently backwards from ten, never making a peep but his lips move with every syllable.
“They should fire her, or promote me. It's such bullshit that she can call in whenever and I’m the one expected to drop whatever I’m doing and show up. ”
I stand up, and pull him into my arms, securing his head against my shoulders and running my hands through his hair. He wraps his arms around my waist, and we stand there holding each other until he pulls back.
“What would happen if you didn’t go in?” He doesn’t move far, barely enough to where I can look into his eyes.
“I don’t know, but I also don’t want to find out, you know?
It’s so annoying, but I need this job. I have so many clients and potentials lined up.
It's not like I can leave and go somewhere else.” He huffs, completely pulling back from me now and pulling on his pony tail.
“We should go on vacation, escape from this town for a week or a weekend or something.”
“That’s a great idea baby. While you’re working, I’ll go help Ace set up the Halloween decorations, and after we’re done I’ll find a couple of places that would be good for us to visit. Do you want to go before Halloween or after?”
He thinks on it for a minute, pacing my bedroom and typing furiously on his phone. I give him the time, not trying to pressure him into responding at this moment. He already has work stressing him out, he doesn’t need me to do it as well.
“Let’s go after. I don’t want to miss the fall fest next week and it’s probably too short of a notice for me to take off.
Is Hollis going to have a problem with you taking off?
” Liam asks, nibbling on his bottom lip.
It’s not sexy this time, it comes from a place of anxiousness.
I stand up and pluck his bottom lip out of his mouth, smoothing my thumb across it and placing a gentle kiss against the swollen flesh.
“He’ll bitch about it, sure. But he won’t stop me from going. He likes to complain, you know that. We’ve been pretty slow this week, and I doubt we’ll have another big case come up before Halloween. He’ll put Connor or Ace on it if he feels like he’ll need to.”
Liam smiles, leaning forward and kissing me.
“I’ll meet you at my house after work,” he says, turning and walking through my bedroom door. I follow behind him, making a detour to grab the food out of the fridge to give to him before he leaves.
“Be careful, baby. And text me when you make it to work.”
“I will.”
I close the door behind him, resting my back against it.
I shouldn’t do it. Every atom in my body is screaming at me. Reminding me how much pain I’ve suffered. How much can a man go through before he breaks?
Me: i have twenty mins
Text bubbles pop up immediately, setting my nerves on fire.
Raiden: When?
Fuck my life. This is the worst decision I could have made today.
Me: nineteen mins
Me: meet me at lola’s
Raiden: Too public. Can we meet at your parents?
The ache that I should be used to be now returns with a vengeance.
Even after all these years, he thinks he should be the one who controls how our relationship works.
Not anymore. I might still harbor those deep feelings for him, but I refuse to let myself go down this path that has hurt me time and time again.
He can’t even be seen in public with me now? He’s too good for that?
Fuck that, and fuck him by default.
Me: no
Raiden: Please, Jer? It’s important that we talk, and I can’t be seen out roaming the streets. Please.
I slide down the door, feeling its hardness between my back and using it to steady me.
Raiden: I know you don’t want to talk to me and I understand why. But I really need my best friend right now.
A sarcastic laugh bubbles up, the cracked noise sounds psychotic to my own ears. He’s going to play the best friend card, after all these years, and he thinks I’m going to what? Give him a free pass to treat me how he wants and drop me at any moment if it doesn't suit him anymore?
Raiden: Please, Jer. Just hear me out, and then you can still hate me afterwards. I need someone to talk to that I trust.
That’s not me, that shouldn’t be me. We haven’t talked in years and he’s left me behind one too many times to allow this to go any further.
I lock my phone, feeling it still vibrate in my clutched palm.
Even after all this time, I hand over my emotions so easily, trusting him to take care of them and protect them as if they were his own.
The same way I would treat his if he trusted me with them, to help ease the burden he carries on his back.
That’s not my place anymore, he made his decision and he should be happy with it.
I stare at the clock on my mantel, watching the hands tick down the minutes until I need to leave and meet Ace at Liam’s house.
Each second that goes by is another one wasted.
A second that someone was experiencing their first heartbreak, or hearing the words I love you for the first time.
Important life-changing things can happen in a matter of seconds.
Each one is more precious than expensive jewels.
I stand up, and make my way out of my place.
Down the steep, concrete stairs to the first floor where my truck is neatly tucked away into the private garage I splurged on when I moved in.
Ace is already waiting on me at Liam’s. I missed his call and he left a voicemail bitching at me to get my ass over there.
He refuses to do all the work by himself.
Who could blame him when he’s doing a favor for my boyfriend but I’m not even there to help?
The drive from my apartment to Liam’s takes about thirty minutes, traffic at this hour on a Sunday is a pain in the ass to navigate through. Ace is dragging a wooden cutout the size of him from the bed of his pick up, while Connor stands on the porch and supervises with a coffee cup in his hands.
“It’s about fucking time! Come help me grab this. If I scuff the paint your boyfriend is going to hang me up by my balls. And not in a hot way,” Ace says, shielding his eyes from the sun as he watches me approach.
“Is there a hot way to be strung up by your balls?” I ask, grabbing the edge of the wood. It’s a huge, hand painted snoopy with pumpkins painted all around him.
“Duh, Coco. Haven’t you ever heard of Shibari?” Connor yells, slurping down the last sip of his coffee before he sets it down on the porch and rubs his hands on his pants. “I’ve let a person or two tie me up. It’s so good, especially–”
“Can we not talk about your sex life right now? That would be great. Come help us grab this, or you’re going to be the one explaining to Liam about how his expensive decorations got fucked up.
He definitely won’t tie you up in a fun way either.
” Ace glares at Connor until the man throws his hands up in agitation and comes over to help us.
“Spoilsports, both of you,” Connor mumbles, but grabs the opposite end of the cutout and helps us take it off the bed of the pick up and place it gently on the grass.
“Only five more to go!” Ace cheers and Connor groans.
By the time we’re finished setting up all the huge cutouts, my shirt is damp with sweat. I wipe my forearm against my brow, trying to mop away some of the sweat so it won’t land in my eyes. Connor is placing stakes in the last one while Ace holds it.
Liam’s house is all decorated for Halloween, and the custom wooden pumpkin that I had carved for him and Jojo is on the porch right beside the door. I can’t wait for him to come home and see it.
I take my phone out of my pocket, letting the exhaustion lower my inhibitions and send the text I’m going to regret.
Me: meet me at my parents in an hour