Page 42 of Jacked and Jaded

“Calliope’s forgiving me for being the worst friend ever.” Zoey smiled and gave Calliope’s cheek a big smacking kiss.

“Is that right?” He leaned against the doorframe. “Does that mean she’ll forgive me, too?”

Calliope watched him from where she was lying on the floor with Zoey, their arms around each other, their heads together on a pillow. She studied him, quietly weighing the pros and cons of giving him another chance, he imagined.

“Yeah. I guess I can forgive you, too.”

“Aww. Does that mean I need to get in the floor too and roll around with you guys?”

The two women looked at each other then burst into laughter. “No,” they both said at the same time.

“Should I be offended that you guys don’t want me in your,” he waved his hands in their direction, “whatever that is?”

“No. You don’t need to be offended.” Zoey sat up and tried to peek around Jackson’s legs. “Where’s Ryke?”

“Dad’s. Mom’s making cookies.”

“Oh, gotcha.” She sat up and gained her feet. “I’m gonna take off for now.” She pulled Calliope to her feet and pulled her into a hug and whispered in her ear, “God, I’ve missed you. Please give Jackson a chance. I think he could really make you happy.” She pulled away, smiled and told her they needed to get together and have a girls’ night so they could catch up on everything.

Calliope agreed to catch up with her and waved goodbye. That left her alone with Jackson. His eyes almost crossed when she bent over in a pair of super short cut-offs. Her ass cheeks made an appearance and he almost fell to his knees. She bent to pick up another plastic drop cloth, this time giving him a clear shot of her tits. And what nice tits Calliope had. She groaned a little when she stood up and he could’ve slapped himself. “Hey, you shouldn’t be doing that. I’ll pick up whatever you need picked up. I’m sure it’s still really sore to being doing some things.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” She pushed loose strands of hair out of her face and headed for the doorway.

“Where do you want these?”

“Um, there’s a big trash can in the garage. You can throw them in there.” Calliope stood at the sink doing her best to wash the paint off her hands and forearms.

He found the trash can she was talking about right next to the door and dumped the plastic. He came back in to find her drying her hands. “You’ve, ah, got a little,” he pointed at her face, “right there.”

“What?”

“Paint. You’ve got some right there.” She tried to get it, but kept missing it. “Here. Let me.” He wet a dish cloth and put a little dishwashing liquid on it and was able to get the paint off her cheek. She’d had a couple of spots on the right side of her face. He tossed the cloth in the general direction of the sink, afraid to take his eyes off of her for fear she’d take off and he’d have to start all over again.

Staring into her eyes, he wanted so badly to kiss her. Her plump pink lips had always drove him crazy. Especially when she let her tongue sneak out and wet her bottom lip like she was doing now. Fuck it. He was going for it.

Cupping her cheek, he lowered his head slowly, giving her time to pull away if she wanted. He prayed she didn’t. His eyes closed at the same time his lips met hers. Everything inside him sighed with relief. He only intended to sample her lips, but quickly found himself taking it deeper. She met him thrust for thrust, moan for moan. His heart was hammering in his chest. It was everything he remembered it to be. They’d kissed some that single night they’d spent together and it had been amazing. Her hands moved from his hips to his chest as she pressed herself closer.

The sound of his fucking phone broke them apart. He swore under his breath as he looked at the caller ID. “Hey, Mom. Yeah. We’re good. Okay. I’ll tell her. Okay. Bye.”

“Mom says dinner is ready. Come and get it.”

Calliope knewa lot of people would think she was crazy for giving her friendship with Zoey another chance. They’d think she was an even bigger idiot to forgive Jackson. And they’d be right. Despite telling them she forgave them, she still had a long way to go before she completely processed everything in her head. For now, she had to make the decision to forgive them and move forward, possibly getting back to where things used to be with her best friend and taking a chance on seeing where things could go with Jackson, or she could choose to hang on to her anger and bitterness until she ended up hating them both, ensuring she would move far far away and never have anything to do with either of them again.

That being said, she wasn’t sure she was ready to meet his son yet. The thought of having dinner with his family and son was downright intimidating. She felt like Jackson was pushing too hard. She’d just agreed to forgive him and he already wanted her to meet his son.

“Hey,” Jackson tugged on her hand. “Breathe. It’ll be fine. You’ve eaten dinner with my family for years.”

“I know, but you never had a son then.” He started to pull her down the hallway until she stopped him halfway. She rubbed at her forehead, feeling a stress headache coming on. “What am I doing? Why is this so hard? This feels like too much, too soon.”

Jackson dropped her hand and cupped both sides of her face, tipping it back until he had her eyes. “Calliope, it’s fine. Don’t go freaking yourself out and running away from me again. I guarantee if you run this time, I will chase you down and bring you back. I should’ve never let you go the first time, but that was on me and my stupid hangups.” He grabbed her hand and started walking once more only for her to pull on his hand, stopping them again, this time in the living room.

“I know I said I forgive you, but a part of me is terrified you’re going to end up pushing me away again and that’ll hurt me worse than Clint ever could. I wouldn’t be able to survive it a second time.”

Jackson gazed into her eyes for what felt like an eternity, not saying a word. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but it was making her nervous. “Fucked up bad with you.”

“What?”

“I fucked up worse than I thought with you. Pushed you away, had a kid with your best friend and made you scared to put your trust in me again.” He nodded his head as if coming to a decision. “That’s fine. I’m willing to work for it.” He started to pull her toward the door, only for her to stop him again.

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