Page 38 of Jacked and Jaded

“Yeah, yeah. Save it. I let her in and we had a couple of shots. She turned the movie on and we ended up having sex,” he ended on a rush.

“As long as she was legal age, what’s the big deal?” Tuck wanted to know.

“Yes, asshole, she was legal. The problem was the next morning. I woke up with her in my bed, both of us naked. I felt like shit. I felt like I took advantage of her.”

“She didn’t want to have sex?” Tuck asked.

“Actually, we both kinda went at each other. It didn’t stop me the next morning from feeling like I took advantage of her. I got out of bed and told her I’d take her home after I got a shower. While I was in there, she took off. I tried to find her, but she avoided me until I texted that if she didn’t let me know she was okay I was coming to her house. She texted back she was fine.”

“Okay. That doesn’t sound so bad.” Trick crossed his arms over his chest.

“I may have told her it was a mistake and never should have happened.” He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to relieve the tension setting up shop there.

All three of his club brothers groaned at that bit of news. “Yeah. I know. I fucked up. I went to Boulder once to try and talk to her but she was kissing some guy outside her apartment, who wasn’t Clint. He was closer to her age, so I thought fuck it. Leave her alone. Then along came Ryker and I thought about telling her, but she was moved in with that asshole, Clint, and I didn’t. Plus, I couldn’t find a way to tell her Zoey was the mother of my son.”

“And now?” Race watched him closely.

“And now, since I realized I could have lost her, I want her. I want her to be mine.”

“Wow, brother. You’ve got a tough road ahead of you. Trying to earn her trust is going to be an uphill battle,” Trick told him something he already knew. He patted Jackson on the shoulder in sympathy.

“Let’s ride, brothers.” Race swung his leg over his seat. “Gotta get Romeo home so he can salvage his love life.” One side of his mouth kicked up as he started his bike, preventing him from hearing Jackson call him an asshole.

The ride back was long and exhausting because as Jackson’s luck would have it, it started to rain. They’d had to pull over and wait for the worst of it to pass them by twice. Each time he texted his dad to check on Calliope and each time he got the same answer. She wasn’t doing well. Fuck, he felt like shit.

He pulled into Calliope’s driveway around nine o’clock that night. Not only did they hit a couple of hard downpours, but he’d had a flat tire an hour away. Trick had given him his bike, allowing him to continue on, while Race called one of the prospects to come with a trailer to pick up Trick and Jackson’s bike. He felt bad leaving his brothers behind to wait on the prospect, but if he didn’t get to Calliope soon, he was going to lose his fucking mind.

His dad stood in the open doorway, the light shining behind him. He slapped him on the back as Jackson followed him inside. He looked around the living room, but didn’t see Calliope anywhere.

“She took a shower and went to bed early.” His dad stared him in the eye. “Make this right, Jackson. Her heart’s broke right now. Bad. You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“I’m going to head across the street. If you need me, call.” He started to leave, but threw over his shoulder, “Left you some Chinese in the refrigerator.”

“Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate it. I’ll do my best to straighten things out with Calliope.” Jackson locked the door after he let his dad out, then went to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a soda. He found the Chinese and made quick work of heating it up and finishing it off. God, he was tired. He cleaned up his mess and made his way down the hallway. He turned the knob and slowly opened the door. Thank God it didn’t squeak.

He could just make out the outline of Calliope lying on her side in the middle of her queen size bed. She looked so small under all the blankets. He sat in a chair near the window and pulled his boots off, careful not to drop them and make noise. Next, he took his cut off and laid it over the back of the chair. He pulled everything out of his pockets and dumped it on the side table next to the bed. Peeling his wet clothes off, he hung them over the back of the chair, hoping they’d be dry by morning. Holding his breath, he pulled the covers back and eased in behind her. He gave it a good ten minutes to see if she woke up. When she didn’t, he scooted so that he was spooning her, his hand settling on her hip, afraid to hurt her side.

“Mm. Jackson?” Calliope’s voice was so faint, he could barely hear it.

“Shh. Go back to sleep. You’re safe.” He kissed the top of her head and relaxed into the covers. It didn’t take long and he was out. He prayed Calliope gave him a chance to talk to her in the morning. If she didn’t, he wasn’t above tying her to a chair and making her listen.

Calliope awoketo sunlight shining on her face. Her head hurt from crying and she was still tired. The last thing she wanted to do was get out of bed. Her bladder, however, had other ideas.

She tossed the covers back, eased out of bed and shuffled her way to the bathroom with her eyes half closed. Maybe if she didn’t open her eyes all the way, she could pee really fast, then get back in bed and go back to sleep. That sounded good. She wondered if Maverick slept on the couch last night or if he’d gone home to his own comfortable bed. Was Chris going to be sitting in her kitchen when she decided she was up for the day?

She pushed the bathroom door open, light streaming through the window. She was getting ready to sit down when the shower curtain was yanked back. Her eyes flew wide, she screamed and jumped, causing her to flinch. Jackson was standing in her shower, naked and wet, and too damn hot for his own good.

“Jackson!” Calliope yelled once she stopped dancing around the small space. Pissed off that he’d scared her, she stomped her foot and caused herself to flinch again. “What the hell are you doing lurking in my shower?”

“I wasn’t lurking. I was taking a shower.” This early in the morning his smile shouldn’t be affecting her as much as it was. And she wasn’t in the mood for his stupid word games.

Calliope took the moment to check him out. If he was going to use her shower without permission and he was stupid enough to stand there in all his naked glory, he could just deal with her staring at him. It just wasn’t right that he was so beautiful. Her gaze took in his broad, firm chest, his six-pack abs and his toned long legs. Moving back up, her gaze stopped and fastened on what was between his legs. His cock was long, thick and growing harder the longer she stared at it. Her eyes flew to his face and found him smirking at her, knowing she was liking what she was staring at.

“Grrr. Get dressed. I’ll use Mom’s bathroom. And put that thing away,” she tossed over her shoulder. She stormed out and slammed the door behind her. How was a girl expected to come up with a coherent thought when she had a much too sexy, naked man standing right in front of her, completely comfortable with her fucking him with her eyes? She did her business and headed to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. She needed all the caffeine she could get if she was going to have to deal with Jackson already this morning.

“You got coffee?”

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