Chapter 22 Jake and His Sexiness While Taking Care of Kids #3
“What is shit, Maddie?” Paige asks, and I turn to her even more wide-eyed. I look at Jake, and he is amused.
“That is not a very nice word, Paige.”
“Only when your parents are out can you repeat them. Oh, and in school.” Jake says dead serious, and then winks to spite me, and I glare at him.
I turn to the rest, and the twins are smirking, and Lindsey and Alana are laughing.
“Kids, curse words are illegal. I’m talking like murder-illegal. Whoever,” I turn to the twins, because this speech is mostly for them. “Says one, will be in big trouble.”
They turn to me with devilish smiles and defiant eyes.
“That’s bullshit.”
“Fuck yeah.”
I start to get pissed off.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I ask. Only when I finish do I realize the stupidity I had just said. “Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.” Again?! “Fuck! No-”
Jake’s hand covers my mouth in order to shut me up and takes advantage of the situation to kiss my temple. Holy shit…
“How I love my road worker.” He releases my mouth, and I avoid shaking my head in plain sight to release me from this medieval form of torture that is- Him.
“What movie are we watching?”
“After a lot of arguing, we finally settled on a movie.” I say.
“We decided to watch Hercules.” Alana cuts in.
“Don’t start the movie yet, I have to get me some popcorn!” I light up. I could be fueled by popcorn. When someone asks me what I would eat for the rest of my life, and that it could only be one thing, I always say popcorn.
“You know what, you can start without me.” I run to the kitchen, grab a package of salted popcorn, and place it in the microwave.
Never in a million years did I ever think I would be babysitting…
In fact, it’s in the infamous Never list. And babysitting with Jake!
I got to see the other side of him. The side that cooks amazingly and is patient with kids.
Not bad, West, I’m impressed. Also, it’s insufferably hot when boys take care of kids.
Besides, it was always me and me being babysat and not the opposite.
When the microwave rings, I take the package out and the mouth-watering smell.
I smile at them — and yes, I’m smiling at food.
Food and me, just work, it comforts me and my dark issues, okay?
I get to the living room, and it’s like my heart pumps blood to my entire system in one second, spreading warmth across it.
The twins are lying on the floor with their stomachs down and holding their heads with their hands.
Alana and Lindsey are with their knees to their chest and hands around their legs.
And Paige… Paige is sitting between Jake’s legs on the floor.
“Hey, you stole my spot.” I whisper to her. It’s called lying, okay? Stop doubting me, I know you are.
“Oh, sorry, Maddie. I didn’t know…” She whispers back, earnest as you’ve seen her.
“You can have it.” I assure her.
I sit next to him and start to eat. He turns to me and mimics if he can have one popcorn, and I mouth, of course, no, but when I turn to the TV, a hand flies to my bowl and takes a too-generous amount of popcorn.
I make a face that indicates that I could cry.
He shrugs softly and puts the popcorn, one by one, in his mouth. Scoundrel.
After a while, I Won’t Say I’m In Love starts to play, and I glance at Jake as he peeks at me. I throw a tight smile his way, and the corners of his mouth lift too, only for him to look at his lap and then the screen.
“Why doesn’t she say she likes him?” Paige asks, breaking me and Jake’s silent moment.
“Because she’s not sure if she loves him or not. I mean, deep down she knows the truth, but she’s in deep denial.” I shrug it off, and Paige is content with my answer, and also, I’m pretty sure she stopped listening to me about halfway through my explanation.
My head starts to feel heavy and simply falls on Jake’s shoulder. I’m too tired to care, and I end up closing my eyes. When I open them again, my head is being shaken by his shoulder aggressively.
“Dammit, West!” I shout, scared. “Couldn’t just wake me up like a normal person?”
“Where would be the fun in that?” He grins, making me groan.
“Alright.” I retort and turn to the kids. “Alana, you can have my room with one bed.” They all stare at me, and not a single thought is behind those eyes. “You can go now.” I shoo them all upstairs, and only two people remain in the living room.
Paige is leaning against Jake’s chest, asleep.
“Do we wake her?” I whisper.
“No.”
He gets up, lifts her and carries her upstairs, and I follow them. We get to Paige’s room, and it is fairy tale worthy. Pink walls with flowers all over them. Many, many toys and a bed with transparent curtains around it.
Jake slowly puts her in bed, and I watch it happen, against the door frame. When he’s returning, we hear someone ask, “Can you tell me a bedtime story?”
“Sure.”
He goes to a little shelf nearby and takes the Princess and the Frog book. He then pulls a chair, and I take another one.
We do not look like a real couple. I just need to rest, and I also want to hear the story, okay?
Just as he’s about to read, I grab the book from his hands, and I start to read. I think I’m too jittery by the image of us reading a bedtime story to a child, so I have to control it somehow.
My voice, soft and relaxed, makes Paige fall asleep in under five minutes, but she’s not the only one. Jake is sitting and asleep. I hold my grasp on the book strongly and smack it in his head.
“What-” He suddenly wakes up and shuts up immediately, remembering Paige is asleep. I silently laugh, covering my mouth.
“You’re done.” He yawns while ushering, and I bite my lip while holding back the biggest smile.
I close the book and put it on her bedside table. When I get out of her room, all the lights are out, and it only makes me more sleepy. I move to my bedroom, and when I get there, I throw myself onto the bed.
“Goodnight, Brown.” I hear Jake say, getting out of the room.
“G’night.” I don’t even think twice, you know? And I usually have so much trouble falling asleep that I just take this opportunity to do just that.
But as I’m falling deeper and deeper into sleep, I feel a deeper and deeper pit at the bottom of my heart.
He’s all alone downstairs, while we’re sleeping on beds…
I groan. Why does this make me feel so weird?
I hit my head against my pillow and somehow make my arms lift my body.
I walk down the hallway, down the stairs, and into the living room. He’s fast asleep on one couch and having spasms. I just shake my head and drop my body on the other couch.
I pull a blanket over myself — because I can’t sleep without something on top of me — and close my eyes. The silence is gratifying, and the stillness in my head is rare.
“You just couldn’t stay away from all this raw sexiness, couldn’t you?”
“People who say sexiness aren’t sexy, Jake.”
But still, my heart has to calm itself down for the remaining minutes it takes me to fall into oblivion.
I didn’t realize this was the first time I called him Jake.