Page 34 of Disorderly

Katy

I kissed Jarrod!Or maybe he kissed me. I didn’t know which, but the result was the same. His lips touched mine. And it wasn’t like a kiss between brother and sister.

I stared at the almost finished movie on the TV. It was something they’d put on after Peter arrived home, interrupting my kiss.My kiss!But I couldn’t even remember what it was called or any of the story. From the moment it started, I spent the time remembering how Jarrod’s lips felt on mine. The slight rasp of his stubble sliding across my skin as his lips moved over mine, over my cheeks, my neck. And when I wasn’t replaying those scenes, my overactive imagination continued, giving me ideas of what could have possibly happened if Peter hadn’t returned home when he did.

A return I wasn’t sure if I was happy or angry about.

The words “The End” rolled across the screen.

“Stay here with us, tonight.” Peter dropped his hand onto my thigh from where he’d had it draped over my shoulders during the movie. “You haven’t slept over in so long. And with your mom at work, and the police tonight, I’d feel better if you were close by.”

I glanced out of the corner of my eye to Jarrod, wondering how he felt about Peter’s invitation. He’d sat silently beside me, pressing his side into mine during the movie, but that was it. He never took my hand or touched me anywhere else. Just his arm to mine and his upper leg to mine. And when my mind hadn’t been replaying the kiss, it worried about how Jarrod felt about it. Did he regret it? Had I pushed him into it, and he kissed me back out of pity? But now I had new worried. Would Jarrod want me to stay? Or did he want me to leave so that he didn’t have to face me?

And…oh, God, what did I do?I kissed Jarrod. Jarrod who’s with Peter. And I’m with Jason.Jason may have told me that he didn’t care if I kissed other guys, but that didn’t stop the yucky feeling of shame and guilt crawl through my body. I felt like I should be pressing a large A to my forehead to let everyone know that I was a cheater. And that I got Jarrod to cheat on Peter. That meant I was lower than scum.

I couldn’t stay. Not with all the harm I’d done. “I, uh, should probably go home.” Peter’s disappointment nearly had me changing my mind and giving in. I’d already avoided him so much. The hurt and betrayal continued to prick my conscious. I know that he apologised, and I said I forgave him—I did—but like my earlier irrational anger after the waterpark, I couldn’t seem to shake those feelings.

“Stay. We miss having you over.” Jarrod wrapped his hand around mine. “And I promise we won’t snore. Well, I won’t. But if Peter does, I’ll help you kick him out of bed, okay?”

“Hey, I don’t snore.” Peter’s eyes flashed with merriment. “We all know that it’s Katy-bear who snores in the cutest way.”

“I don’t snore.” I reached behind me, snagging the cushion I rested against. With quick movement, I pulled it out and smacked Peter’s chest.

“Oh, is that how you want to play it?” Peter didn’t give me a chance to answer before he tickled my ribs, causing me to squirm against Jarrod.

“Help me?” I pleaded with Jarrod in between laughs.

“Oh, I’ll help all right.” Jarrod wrapped his hands around my biceps, holding my upper body in place. He held a silent conversation with Peter, something I’d seen them do before. My guard went up. I knew they’d planned something, but I didn’t know what.

My gaze bounced between them, waiting for them to enact their plan. Whatever it was, I’d fight it. This game was on, and I planned on winning it.

I barely caught the nod, but still, I didn’t have enough time to brace myself, to prepare for their attack.

Peter slid to a crouch on the floor while leaning into my midsection. As he stood, straightening his back, Jarrod lifted me, hanging me over Peter’s shoulder. “Take her into our room while I turn everything off.”

And just like that, I was carried into their primary bedroom and tossed onto the bed. Peter followed, crawling across the bed until he was on all fours above me, caging me in.

“Stay. Please.”

I nodded. I really hadn’t wanted to go home, but it seemed like I should. Like it was the correct thing to do. But now that I was here, lying on the mattress that Jason picked out, on the bed he’d made, I could no longer resist. The kiss tonight might have been my first and last with Jarrod. And due to my actions, I might never have another shot of staying in their bed with them. Something I thought might happen if I left them now. Not that I thought they wouldn’t continue to invite me, but rather, I’d talk myself out of it every time. After all, sharing a bed with them wasn’t something we advertised even though I’d been doing it since I was a little girl. The only time it had stopped was when my body changed enough, and I hadn’t wanted them to know. But Jason had talked me through those issues, giving me the confidence to embrace my new body. And with that confidence came the new clothes, but also the willingness to curl up with them again.

He dropped his upper body to press against mine as he placed a sweet kiss on my forehead. “I’ll grab you one of my shirts.”

And then he was gone, faster than I could comprehend, making me think I imagined it all. Only the bouncing of the mattress proved it had been real.

A shirt landed on my face. “You can use our bathroom first.”

I nodded and scrambled off the bed. I needed a moment to myself. So much had happened today, things I needed to examine. As well as someone I needed to talk to.

With the door closed behind me, I could barely hear Peter moving around in the bedroom. It would make my phone call tougher to hold without him hearing my side of the conversation, but I’d manage. I’d have to because if I didn’t confess to Jason, tell him what happened, I’d toss and turn all night. And that would lead to questions from Peter that I wasn’t ready to answer yet.

I dropped to the heated floor beside the shower. Maybe sitting on the floor would help to keep my voice from carrying outside the room. I glanced at the shower and wondered if being behind the glass wall would be better but brushed it aside. I wasn’t about to be caught sitting fully clothed in the shower. That would be too difficult to explain.

“Baby Girl. How was the dance? Did you get everything donated that you needed?” As the sound of Jason’s voice wrapped around me, all the chaotic thoughts calmed, making me feel safe. I wasn’t even worried about telling him about my kiss. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the complete truth since my stomach muscles cramped at the thought.

“We did get everything, maybe even more than we expected once we add in the donations from some of the local businesses. As for the dance, well, it had some excitement that brought in the police.”

“What happened?” Gone was the sweet, loving voice. Instead he used hisI mean businessgrowl that sent shivers down my spine. Good shivers though. That tone always triggered those butterflies, making me want to pull him to me and kiss the living daylights out of him. And since I now knew how he kissed—that time up against the wall in my house played on repeat in my mind as I fell asleep every night—it made it that much harder to ignore what that tone did to me.

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