Jaided (21 page)

Leith walked her back to their table before excusing himself to go talk to the DJ. They seemed to have become buddies.

All the boys were gathering back at the table.

"You guys ready to go? We should probably get back to school."

Jaide nodded. "Yeah, probably."

Everyone was soon ready to go but Leith was still over chatting with the DJ. They waited a few more minutes before getting impatient.

"You guys can go, I'll wait for Leith," Jaide suggested.

"No, we can wait," Alex said.

"It's getting late. You guys should go. He could be here for a while. There’s no need for everyone to stay and you have the biggest car."

"You can go, Jaide. I'll wait for him. You should get to sleep," Blaize said.

Jaide looked at him. "You know I'm not going to sleep without you there. Just go, I'm sure and Leith and I will only be a few minutes behind."

The boys all looked at each other. Chance finally nodded. "At least go let him know what we're doing so you're not standing here alone."

"Okay, I will. Now get." She grabbed Blaize and kissed him quickly. "In case this takes too long don't wait up for me alright? I'll try to be quiet when I come in."

"I'll call if you're not back in 45 minutes, okay?"

"I'm sure we'll be back by then, buh-bye." She kissed him again before he left the club. Jaide crossed the room to stand beside Leith. She didn't interrupt. The conversation seemed to be important. She just leaned against the table near Leith after he acknowledged her presence with a nod.

Fifteen minutes later, Leith and DJ shook hands. Jaide didn't know exactly what they were talking about but she had heard something about setting up an audition with a band.

Leith turned to her and smiled. "Hey, sorry I kept you waiting. Did the guys leave?"

"Yeah, I told them to. No sense in everyone being out late. We do have school tomorrow."

"Yeah." He took her hand to pull her through the crowd without losing her.

Instead of heading for the door, he guided her to the bar where they sat down. He got the attention of the bartender and order two rum and cokes.

"Shouldn't we be going, Leith?"

"Just one drink. No big deal. I can drive if you don't feel safe. One drink won't touch me."

The bartender set the two drinks in front of them. It had been a while since Jaide had had a drink of alcohol, but it definitely wasn't a stranger to her. She sighed and took a drink. It was heavy on the rum but still tasted good.

After one taste, she found herself incredibly thirsty. She downed the drink quickly, and Leith did the same.

He pulled her up again. "Come on, let's dance."

"We should be going."

"One more dance?"

She couldn't deny that she wanted to. She wasn't anywhere near tired. She hopped off the bar stool and they headed back out onto the dance floor.

J
aide woke up with a dull headache but was still incredibly comfortable. She was resting atop a warm chest, wrapped tightly in strong arms.

She shifted a bit, rolling over onto her other side. She laid her cheek back down again. Her cheek hit something cold and metallic. She lazily opened her eyes and looked down. Bright light assaulted her eyes, and she gave them a second to adjust.

It took her mind a moment to register the small piece of metal. It was a piercing, a nipple ring. She closed her eyes and put her head back down, preparing to fall asleep again.

Oops! Blaize didn't have his nipples pierced.

Jaide lifted her head again. She looked down, confirming the nipple rings and then looked higher. The body belonged to Leith.

"Shit!"

She sat up and scrambled off Leith but the sudden vertical position exploded the dull ache in her temples to a full-blown beast of headache.

"Oh, God."

She fell back down, clutching her head. The body below hers let out a grunt as she collided with his chest.

"What the ... ohhhhh, fuck!"

Now awake, Leith’s arms released her and both hands went to his head.

Jaide and Leith both lay there groaning for a minute before their headaches subsided enough to move.

Jaide sat up slowly and carefully. She squinted in the morning light.

“Morning light?” she mumbled with a thick tongue.

She looked around. No bed, no walls. She was in the backseat of her own big new Audi, with dawn sun flooding in all the windows.

And, she realized, she was naked – bare-ass naked.

Jaide squeaked and slid off Leith. she grabbed the closest piece of clothing to cover herself, Leith's T-shirt.

Jaide looked around. No other clothes were visible except Leith's jeans. There were six bottles of beer and a bottle of Jack Daniels on the floor, three quarters empty.

She looked over at Leith, who still had his hands on his head and eyes clenched tightly shut. He was lying on his back, boxers still on, taking up all of the backseat except the small corner where she crouched.

She nudged him with her foot.

No response.

She nudged him again.

He mumbled something along the lines of “Go away.”

She kicked him.

"Ow!" He opened his eyes and looked around the car. "What the ... hell? Jaide?" He slowly pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Yes!"

"What are you doing here?"

"It's my car!"

"Oh." He looked around, his bloodshot eyes adjusting to the light. He looked down at himself, saw his jeans on the floor, and then he looked her over. “Are you ... naked?"

"Yes!" she said, clutching the T-shirt to her. "Will you just find my clothes please?"

He rubbed his head again and looked around. He picked up his jeans, and finding her black underwear, handed her panties to her. He looked around some more. Not finding anything, he climbed into the front seat and discovered her bra on the driver's seat. He climbed back into the backseat and handed it to her too, then looked into the cargo bay. Nothing.

"Where are the rest of your clothes? Why were you naked in the first place?"

"How should I know?" she snapped. "Turn around."

He rolled his eyes and turned to face the window as she pulled on what little clothes she had. Once she had her underwear and bra on, she looked for the rest of the clothes herself while Leith pulled his jeans on. She didn't find any more clothes anywhere. She sat back in the seat again, opposite Leith, eyeing him.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" he asked, rubbing a hand through his hair. "Here." He picked up his T-shirt and handed it to her. "You can wear that if it will make you more comfortable."

She quickly pulled the T-shirt on and looked at him again. "What and how and why are we here? I don't remember anything at all from last night."

"Shit, me neither." He rubbed his head again. "I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and say that we got in your car," he looked out the window for moment, "drove up to Saddlerock ridge and parked on the side of road," he glanced down at the alcohol on the floor, "we got drunk," he looked over at her, "and then we had sex."

That's what Jaide had been worried about. She tried desperately to remember the night before, "Why don't I remember anything?"

"Probably all the alcohol."

"Did you get me drunk?"

He looked horrified. "I don't get girls drunk to have sex with them!"

"I believe you,” she said calmly. She grimaced. The taste in her mouth was awful.

He faltered. "You do?"

"Yeah. I don't drink beer, period. That means you drank six beers and I drank the JD. It’s my favorite, you know."

"Great."

"But Leith, are you sure we had sex?"

"I don't know. You were naked."

She shifted on the seat. There was an odd sensation between her legs, the kind you got after having sex for the first time in a month or so.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"It's something."

"We had sex, okay!" she snapped at him again, her headache still pounding.

"How do you know for sure?"

"I just do. God, I feel terrible." She rubbed her hands down her face.

"Aw come on, I don't remember it but I'm sure it was great sex," he joked.

"This isn't funny, Leith!"

"Yeah, but it kind of is," he said, bending over to pick up the bottle of Jack.

"Please tell me you used a condom," Jaide said.

Leith looked up. "Shit, no."

"If you don't remember, how do you know?"

"I don't carry condom's around, unless you had one but I don't see any around."

"I didn't have one."

"What kinda girl doesn't carry condoms around in her glove box?"

"This car is brand new!"

"Shit, shit, shit." Leith started to look panicked.

"I'm on birth control though."

Leith's panic dissolved. "Then what the hell is the problem then?"

"I don't want STDs!"

"I don't have any!" he said defensively. "I don't sleep with just anyone, you know. I'm careful."

"Right." She rolled her eyes. "You swear you don't have any?"

"I get tested regularly."

"Me too."

They both sighed, relieved.

After a few seconds of silence, Leith started laughing.

"This isn't funny, Leith."

"It is a little bit." He smiled. "I mean, you've been craving sex. Blaize probably told you to have sex with me and then we finally do, and you can't remember it anyways." He laughed again, harder this time.

"Oh har, har, har." She glared at him. "I can't believe I did this."

"You can't really blame yourself. We were drunk. It happens."

"But Blaize, what am I gonna tell him?"

"Are you going to tell him?"

Jaide didn't have a response. She knew it was the right thing to do, but would telling him be worse?

"Look, Jaide, you and Blaize aren't in a relationship. We did nothing wrong. Not technically. He obviously doesn't have a problem showing other girls affection. Did you see him dancing last night? He was practically having dry sex with those girls. We just did it with our clothes off."

"He was just having a good time."

"I'm sure we had a good time, too."

"Why are you trying to justify this? It was wrong." She felt frustrated.

"What good is it going to do? The act is done. Unless you've got a time machine in your pocket, we can't change it. Either you're going to tell him or not. It’s your call, or mine, whatever you want."

"Would you tell him, if you were me?"

"No." He didn't hesitate, he sounded very sure. "I mean, I wouldn't flat out lie if he asked me straight up, ‘did you have sex with Jaide?' but short of that, I wouldn't tell him."

"Why not?"

"You two aren't dating, that's the fact. What you do is your business and only your business. And I can see why you feel so bad, but is telling him going to make it all better? No."

"Don't you feel bad at all?"

"Of course I do. Blaize is my friend and if you want to tell him, that's totally cool. Just let me know so I can be warned. I wouldn't be surprised if he started throwing punches."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I've gotten in fist fights with Blaize before. Don't feel bad though. If you had slept with any of the other guys, he would still come after me."

Jaide felt confused. "I don't get it."

"When Blaize gets pissed, hurt or frustrated enough with any of his friends to the point that he actually wants to beat them up, he always comes to me and we fight it out."

"Why?"

"Because he knows that his friends are his friends, and doesn’t want to ruin that. So he comes to me and tells me the story and we bruise each other up a little bit and everything is better. He picks me because I'm a jerk and he doesn't have to worry about hurting my feelings."

"You're not a jerk," she mumbled.

"Yes, I am."

"No, a jerk would have woken up and bragged about getting me drunk and getting laid. You didn't."

"Maybe I'm a jerk disguised as a good guy."

"Or maybe you're a good guy disguised as jerk to keep anybody from getting too close." She met his eyes with a withering look that dared him to challenge her.

He just shook his head and looked away.

A loud knock on Jaide's window caused her to shriek and jump away from the window, landing in Leith's lap.

"Chill Jaide, it's just a cop." He moved around her and rolled the window down. "Good morning, officer."

The cop leaned down to look in the car, his eyes skimming over the alcohol on the floor and Jaide's half-clad body. He quickly assessed the scenario. "Everybody willing?"

Leith nodded.

Jaide was lost. "Willing to do what?"

"He's asking if I raped you," Leith said bluntly.

"What! No, no, it was ... ah ... consensual."

"Good. Are you sober, young man?" the cop asked Leith.

"Think so. Slept all night, as far as I can tell."

"Can you step out of the vehicle, please?" The officer stepped back from the door to allow Leith to step out.

Jaide made to step out also but the cop closed the door on her. "Miss, you may stay in the vehicle."