Chapter 11 Jamie
JAMIE
There was a small first aid kit in one of the coat closets in the hotel room.
Reign was being oddly quiet as I set about cleaning the wounds and putting some ointment on him.
He had thankfully put on some boxer briefs, at least, so I didn’t have to worry about the towel slipping and end up seeing more than I bargained for, but it wasn’t much better.
While the towel had looked like it was on the verge of slipping at any moment, at least it covered him well.
His boxer briefs just showed the outline of… everything.
I was working hard not to let my eyes stray to where they weren’t supposed to. Thankfully, his back was to me.
I didn’t know what he was thinking, and for the first time, I wished I could read minds, just to get some insight into what was going through his head.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked when I got to the last wound. It was the one by his shoulder blade—the worst one.
“About my mom,” he answered, surprising me. I didn’t think I would ever not be surprised by Reign. He was surprisingly full of depth.
“Why your mom?”
“She used to do this for me when I was little.”
Used to do this? Were there a lot of instances with him where he needed this kind of tending to when he was little?
“Not anymore?”
He shook his head. “Not anymore.”
There was something about the way he said it that made me think there was more with his mom than he let on.
He tilted his head back slightly to meet my eyes. “It feels good.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I said nothing. He smiled at me, this smile different from any of the previous ones he had given me. This one was much softer.
And it didn’t help my racing heart one bit.
“All done,” I said, closing the cap on the ointment bottle and placing it back inside the first aid kit.
Reign stood up to his full height, facing me. I resisted the urge to squirm from the look in his eyes. Then he surprised me when he bent down and lifted me up in his arms.
“What are you doing now? Put me down.”
“I’m taking you to bed.”
“I already told you. I’m not—”
“I know. You’re not fucking me. Not tonight, at least.”
Try not ever. I was not going to fuck Reign Mahankov.
“Then why are you carrying me?”
“I already told you. I’m taking you to bed. We’re both adults. There’s no reason we can’t innocently sleep in the same bed.”
“There is nothing innocent about you.”
He chuckled. “You don’t know that. What if I told you I’m a virgin?”
I slapped his chest for the outrageous lie.
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Try not to take advantage of me, baby. You do something I’m not ready for, and you’ll have to take responsibility for me.”
“Take responsibility for you?” I shrieked.
He winced. “Don’t yell. I can hear you just fine.”
I grabbed his head with both hands and pulled him in closer to me, then let out a high-pitched scream.
He unceremoniously dropped me onto the bed. I bounced a little from the move, and before I could right myself, he was already climbing into bed with me, reaching out his arms and pulling me in closer to his body.
I wiggled against him just as he got the covers over us.
He squeezed me. “Go to sleep, baby.”
“I can’t,” I said. “Not when you’re touching me like this.”
That feeling of ants crawling all over my body only intensified the longer I stayed in his arms, making it almost unbearable.
“Reign.”
He let go of me, and I quickly moved over to the edge of the bed.
“Okay,” he said, as if he were talking to a frightened child. “I won’t hold you. You’ll stay on your side of the bed, and I’ll stay on mine. Like a good boy.”
I let out a small sigh. “You’re not a good boy. I don’t think you’ve ever been one in your entire life.”
He smiled, though this one didn’t quite reach his eyes. I didn’t say anything as I turned my back on him. We lay there in silence for a long moment before I heard the lamp click off, then the room was bathed in darkness.
I closed my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep faster, wondering why I was feeling so out of it. I should be angry with him for touching me without permission. I was angrier at myself for my reaction to it. And not for the first time, I wished I were normal.
I was warm.
Uncomfortably and unusually warm.
I didn’t tolerate heat very well, so I usually kept my apartment more on the cool side, but this morning…
I frowned when the sunlight hit my eye, and I moved my face away, trying to hide from it, only to pull up short when I realized my bed felt different.
Why did it feel different?
This wasn’t my bed. And I wasn’t lying on top of a mattress. It was just too… hard.
My eyes startled open, and I pressed my hands against the hard planes of someone’s chest, pushing myself up.
I was met with the clearest blue eyes.
“Morning,” Reign said, his signature smirk in place.
“You told me you were going to stay on your side of the bed.”
He laughed, and I scowled at him. I did not find his amusement amusing.
“I am on my side of the bed,” he said. He pointed to his left, where I had been lying the night before.
I looked around. Sure enough, we were both on his side of the bed, and I was still on top of him.
I quickly pushed him away and climbed off the bed.
He slowly sat up, taking me in lazily. I couldn’t even imagine how I might look right now, while he…
Fuck, how could anyone look this gorgeous having just woken up?
I always knew he was beautiful—the kind of cold beauty that just attracted attention wherever he went—but this was something else entirely.
His dark-blond hair was in a messy heap on top of his head, which only added to his appeal, giving the true definition of sexy bedhead.
“I have to get ready and meet Johnny back at home,” I said.
“Of course. I’ll order some breakfast and drive you afterward.”
“Oh, you don’t have to…”
I trailed off when he climbed off the bed, the cover falling and revealing more of his skin. He never bothered to put more clothes on last night, and while it was easier to ignore him then, this morning was completely different.
There was no ignoring this, ignoring him.
I had never seen so much skin on a man before. And there was no shyness on Reign’s part. He was the kind of man who was truly comfortable in his own skin.
Slowly, he moved over to me. I resisted the urge to back away, determined not to show him just how much he affected me.
“We’re going to have breakfast, then I’ll drive you home. Okay? I’m sure Johnny has the key to get inside, so you don’t have to worry about letting him in. Got it?”
It wasn’t that I didn’t want Johnny to wait. It was more that spending so much time with Reign was fucking with my mind. And I was supposed to be the one to make him fall in love?
Exactly who was playing who here?
Before I could come up with a plausible excuse, my stomach chose that moment to growl. Reign shot me a knowing smile.
“It’s decided.” He grabbed my shoulders and turned me around until I faced the direction of the door. I felt him lean down until his lips were close to my ear. Goose bumps instantly broke out from the move, and I could feel my stomach dropping all the way down to my feet.
“Go get ready, sweetheart.”
I nodded and walked out of there before I could think better of it. Just as I reached the bathroom door, I looked back to see Reign still standing there, watching me, with a thoughtful expression on his face that made my heart race for no apparent reason.
I rushed inside the bathroom and closed the door behind me, leaning against it.
When I looked up in the mirror, it was just as I suspected—I was flushed red.
Two days passed, and everything was back to normal at my apartment.
The water was fixed, and I was back home, where I felt the most comfortable.
At least…
I had felt comfortable before.
Now, there was just something about my home that made me want to redecorate the entire thing, to throw most of what I owned out and start over.
It was only the thought of doing it, of all the work I would have to put into it, that stopped me.
I wasn’t sure if the changes would give me the result I wanted or even if I really did want this change in the first place.
I left things alone and tried to pretend it didn’t bother me.
My phone flashed with a notification from Reign as I was waiting at a restaurant for my takeout.
I hadn’t seen him since that morning when I woke up in his arms. We had breakfast like he wanted, then he drove me home.
Work must have been busy for him because, aside from a few occasional texts here and there, he hadn’t really made any plans to meet up.
And I was going crazy, wondering if I should be the one to contact him and set up another “date.”
Knowing him, he would probably make me plan the entire thing again and pay for it.
I didn’t know much about wooing men, but something about being the only one to take the initiative didn’t sit right with me.
If I chased him too hard, wouldn’t that make me no different from the long line of women who had chased him before and were still chasing him?
I wouldn’t stand out the way I wanted.
My phone buzzed. I picked it up and looked down at the message.
Reign: Hang out with me this weekend.
Me: All weekend?
All weekend? That would be too much of Reign—too much of his mouth, his cocky little smirk that sometimes made me want to punch him in the face, and an entire weekend of trying to dodge his wandering hands.
Yeah, that didn’t sound fun at all.
Reign: I’m heading out to the cabin with my friends. Come. It’ll be fun.
His friends?
Was I ready to meet his friends?
I didn’t even realize we were at that stage.
If I were meeting his friends, did he expect to meet mine?
A pang hit my heart, and I dropped the phone down on the table.
What friends?
Before, I would say I had Preston and Etta.
There were also people I hung out with sometimes, but I wouldn’t say we were close. They were mostly people I had met in college, and they were mostly Etta’s friends.
I hadn’t contacted anyone since her death.
I didn’t want to contact anyone.
And Preston… things were awkward between us. He was expecting something from me that I couldn’t give. How would he feel if I introduced him to Reign?
Besides, it wouldn’t take him long to put two and two together.
Yeah, it was best if I didn’t introduce Reign to Preston.
I looked down at the table.
Etta had been the one connection I had to everyone else who wasn’t my family.
And I hadn’t cared about that. Still didn’t because she was the only one I truly cared about, and now she was gone, and it felt like an impossible feat just to keep going.
I picked up the phone and looked down at Reign’s text again.
Me: Pick me up tomorrow morning then.
He texted back right away with a “Perfect.”
Before I could respond, they called my name for the food.
I stood up, grabbed it from the girl at the register, and walked out of there, heading back to my apartment to eat my meal alone.