Chapter 14
Jack
The next few days, I get what I need: texts in the morning and night. Mostly sweet. A few barely scandalous images. I keep my cock away from the camera, reminding myself she’d ask if she wanted one.
I can’t scare her off.
And that’s the weird part. I am not getting nudes. No explicit, ‘wish you were touching me’ texts. Nothing. Just chats about our day. It shouldn’t entertain me, but they do. They’re the highlight of my day.
Kinda fucked.
Then, every night, she ends our chats with a random question.
dumb girl: want to come to church?
Nope.
Next day.
dumb girl: want to go to a street race?
She remembered.
And, yeah — but not happening. Texting only.
Next day.
dumb girl: want to go with me ANYWHERE??
Oh, fuck. She’s not satisfied with just texting.
I put the phone down like it’s a loaded gun. Nope. Not doing it.
Buzz buzz.
dumb girl: My parents are out of town. Come to my place and we can talk about your brother’s case. 11AM
Oh, she’s good.
Me: Talk about it over text.
dumb girl: Have it your way.
dumb girl: CONTACT BLOCKED.
My heart stumbles.
Oh, she’s really good.
I pull up to Morgan’s gilded palace and grip the steering wheel. Iron gates. Manicured hedges. Stone glowing white in the sun. I was sure security wouldn’t let me through since her dad hates me, but Morgan put me on a list. That alone feels wrong.
Don’t fuck up, Jack. Get in, get out. Keep the conversation about Noel and it’ll be fine.
I open the car door and some butler with polished shoes and no smile escorts me through the house to the backyard.
In a crystal clear pool, Morgan swims to the edge. I stare as she pulls herself out of the water. It seems like slow motion as droplets cascade down her body. She’s wearing a white and gold one-piece, but with those curves, she’s lethal. Too much sex wrapped in wet elastic.
“Hey, Jack,” she says sweetly. “Decided to stop by after all, hm?”
I can’t look. My jaw tightens. Instead, I stare into the distance. I am about to recite my Noel-speech, but growl, “Unblock me.”
“Oh?” She steps into my line of sight, forcing me to look at her. “Why bother texting if you won’t hang out with me?”
Before I can answer, her gaze dips to my waist. Hesitantly, she reaches for the hem of my shirt and tugs. “Take this off and swim with me.”
I’d love to jump into that sparkling water and hold her soft body close to mine. Touch her skin. Fuck her senseless.
A toxic combination.
“I don’t have swim trunks,” I say.
“Wear your underwear.”
I search around, assuming her dad arranged babysitters for his spoiled princess.
Nobody.
That’s when it hits.
She thinks she’s in control. And maybe she is. She had all of this planned. She’s teasing me, half-naked, hoping I’ll bite for some reason. Why? Either way, I won’t. I can’t.
I glare down at her. “Let’s get one thing straight. This? You and me, ain’t happening.”
“Jack,” she says and wags her finger. “Conceited much? There’s no us. The couch-thing was just a sleepy kiss. Honestly, I was about to stop you.”
The words land hard. I blink several times, unsure if this is the same girl. She was into it... I thought. If she wasn’t, what the fuck does that make me? My body tenses and heart races.
My voice lowers. “Your panties were drenched.”
Her face flushes, but she resets fast. “Just hormones. Thank God nothing happened. My faith is very important to me, and losing my virginity out of wedlock, to an atheist...” She places her palm over her heart. “It would have been a lifelong regret.”
That one word guts me.
I grind my molars to powder.
A regret.
Me.
Exactly what I figured she’d think, but hearing it from her lips guts me in a way I didn’t anticipate.
“If you are not coming in, that’s fine.” She spins and walks to the pool. Her bathing suit rides up her plump butt cheeks. Water beads on her skin, and every step makes her body glitter like a halo in the sunlight. Before she jumps in the water, she calls back, “But I am not unblocking you.”
A splash.
She surfaces and swims away, ignoring me. I don’t understand the game she’s playing, but I feel sideswiped, questioning every interaction I’ve had with her. I misread her. It’s not often I am around girls like Morgan. It makes sense her motives are more innocent than I assumed.
Although I am confused and disoriented, I push forward — cautiously.
My shoes and socks come off, then I roll up my pant legs and sit on the edge, knees apart with my feet in the water. Coolness laps at my shins.
She swims to me and stands in the shallow water, which rises up to her waist. Her hair is slicked back and her wet eyelashes clump. She holds her elbows, naturally pushing her breasts together, as if posing.
Before, I’d say she’s gotta be fucking with me. Now, who knows.
I close my eyes and draw in a deep breath to focus.
Noel.
Yet, the wrong words spill from my lips.
“Morgan, I need you to keep texting me.”
“Why?” she says.
“I don’t know. It starts and ends my day right. A routine. I like it.”
She shrugs. “Text as friends?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
She grabs a bag poolside and pulls out sunscreen, a towel, then a box. With a playful grin, she hands the box to me. “Since we’re friends.”
I furrow my brow and freeze.
It’s a new phone.
“Yours is broken,” she adds.
“You bought me a phone?”
“Mm-hm.” She lifts her chin, proud.
“This is like, over a thousand dollars.”
“Do you like it?” She steps closer, her body between my knees. Her fingertip presses to the top of the box. “The camera is supposed to be really good. You can text me more pictures.”
I flick my eyes to hers, conflicted. Torn. I want us texting, but this phone is too much.
“I can’t accept this.” I set the phone by her bag. “It’s too expensive.”
She scowls in frustration, used to getting her way. “Jack, let me help you.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Yes, you do! How can you see past all the cracks on your screen? And the pics you send are grainy and faded. Your phone is old.”
“Morgan—”
“Please! I want to help.”
My gut twists. Her words rub me the wrong way. Her church can help the center, but not me. She isn’t trying to help, anyway. It’s pity.
“I’m not accepting your fucking phone.”
She scoffs loudly. “Then no texting.”
“Come on, Morgan,” I growl.
“And I won’t talk to my dad about your brother.”
My skin burns hot. I grab the phone with death grip, anger buzzing under my skin. “If I accept this stupid thing, you’ll get the charges dropped?”
“And if you to take me to a street race. I want to go with someone who can explain everything to me.”
I suck in a sharp breath. “Listen, you manipulative—,” I stop myself and rephrase. “You can’t use my brother to get what you want.”
She puts her hands on her hips, and her expression darkens. “Noel scared me. He was taking pictures of me through the kitchen window. I have every right to ask for a few little favors if you want me to forget the stress he caused.”
My heart sinks, and I gawk in disbelief.
“He took pictures of you?”
“Yep, and it was creepy. I get paranoid every time I am by a window.”
I sigh but hold up my index finger. “One drag race.”
For my brother.
“After that, you can’t use Noel to get your way.”
She claps excitedly, like I agreed to something far better than crowds of people watching cars race down streets.
“What do girls wear at these races?” she asks.
They dress like whores, but I’m not telling her that. The guys there will eat her up.
“The girls dress like nuns.”
She smirks and thumbs the cross on her gold necklace. “I can’t wait.” She leans over my thigh to grab her phone. Her wet bathing suit soaks through the denim of my jeans. Heat flares instantly, and her closeness makes my body ache to touch her.
She taps the screen. “Unblocked.” Then, she recedes into the water, keeping her eyes on me. “Pick me up when?”
I obviously cannot read this woman, but I know it isn’t a date, so I shake my head.
“We’ll meet there. Tonight. Eight o’clock. I’ll send the address.”
She frowns but nods. “I’ll bring my friend then.”
“Hey!” says a redheaded woman. Her assistant. She glances down at me. “What’s he doing here?”
“Just leaving,” I mutter and stand.
Morgan panics. “Don’t listen to Bailey. Wait, Jack—”
“I’ll see you tonight,” I grumble.
Bailey scoffs. “Tonight? Where? If it isn’t youth service, your dad will be furious, Morgan.”
“Gabe can do it without me.”
They continue bickering but I leave.
Tonight, I have one goal: get Noel’s charges dropped.
As I drive home, reality sinks in steadily. I wanted her to keep texting me, but the more I think about it, it feels wrong, because it is.
She made it clear it would’ve been a mistake sleeping with me.
I’m just another guy preying on her. Even though I have no intention of touching her again, the texting routine I crave isn’t innocent.
I want the escape she offers. Filthy words.
Dirty pics. Worse... The illusion this untouchable woman is mine for just a few precious minutes a day.
Hopefully, she upholds her end of the deal, and we go our separate ways.
For my sake.