Jaided (30 page)

She didn't look up. "I don't know whose those are."

"Does it matter?" He pulled her away from her bag.

"Damn it, Mason!"

"Just put some clothes on before you start yelling at me."

She took the clothes from him and forcefully pulled them on. "I can't believe you. God, I don't… you ruined everything!"

"I didn't ruin anything, Jaide."

"What is with today? First I get assaulted, then I hit someone that I care about, and then my best friend goes around telling one of my deepest darkest secrets!"

"Just calm down. About the assaulted thing… are you okay? I mean, you can yell at me for the other stuff later. I just need to make sure that you're going to be alright to go back to school. Do I need to give you a ride?"

"I'll be fine."

"With a bus load of boys? Including Blaize, who you are still scared of right now?"

"Like I can help it!" Her voice was frustrated and angry.

"I know that, sweetheart, but that doesn't change the fact that you're still not going to be able to get too close to him for who knows how long. I know you Jaide. I know you better than you know yourself."

"I'll be fine."

"I'll talk to Leith. He’ll sit with you on the bus, make sure you’re okay."

"I don't need your help, Mason."

"Yeah? And that's why after you almost got raped, you asked for me and only me?" His words were harsh but she knew they were the truth.

She sat down on the bed, putting her face in her hands. The entire situation was coming down on her. "God, I can't believe this happened."

Mason sat down too, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her onto his lap. "You'll be okay with everything. It’ll just take a little time."

"I'm sorry about what I said. I do need your help. You're everything to me. You keep me in one piece."

"And I'm sorry that I told Blaize your secret but he needed to understand. Still, I shouldn't have said anything so you could tell him on your own time."

She leaned against his chest. "I forgive you, but the Jaide-and-Blaize thing is probably over, huh?"

"Why would you say that?"

"Well I'm sure he's repulsed by it all. By me."

"No way, Jaide. He said it doesn't change a thing, and I believe him. It doesn't matter to him, Jaide. He's a good guy. You have to give him a chance."

She nodded. "I just ... I need some time."

"I'm sure he's willing to give you all the time you need." Mason rubbed her back soothingly.

"Thanks for all this, Mason."

She felt glad when he wrapped his arms around her again.

"Try to sleep. I won't let them leave without you."

Jaide got comfortable in his big arms and felt a nap coming on. "Thanks again for everything."

"No problem."

I
t seemed to Jaide that the melodrama in the Arlington Hotel had provided so much confusion and excitement that the only possible recovery would be a long autumnal snooze. She found during the return bus ride, nothing but the pleasant sound of 20 boys and a girl snoring away. The bus unloaded at their Exeter Creek dorm a weary but fairly content load of students, each of whom managed in his or her own individual way to stumble to their appointed room.

That evening, the inevitable recalcitrant demeanors of two at odds roommates coalesced around a now familiar scene. Tentatively, Jaide reached up and touched his cheekbone where a faint bruise was appearing. "I'm really sorry about that."

Blaze took her hand. "It’s nothing. I shouldn't have crowded you in that situation. I just didn't have any idea what I should've been doing."

"I'm still sorry."

"I'm sorry for being so thick about everything and that you feel bad about it now."

"You're not thick."

"I didn't handle myself very well. I just wanted to make you better."

"I know."

"Is there anything left bothering you? I mean, obviously I think it's fair to say you are going to be a little shaken up for a while but other than that, is there anything that I can do? Anything that I need to do on my end?"

"Just, well, I'm really, really sorry about how I reacted."

"You had every right to react that way," he assured her. "Anything else?"

"About what Mason said. I want you to be perfectly honest because I know it should really repulse you, and I don't know how you can even sit in the same room with me right now."

"Jaide, please, when I said it doesn't change anything between us, I meant it."

"I know you said that but I just want you to know that you have the right to change your mind about it at any point. If you ever start to feel weird about anything, it's okay. You won't hurt my feelings if you want to just go another way.”

Blaize kissed her soundly on the lips, effectively cutting off her sentence.

Jaide seemed surprised and he pulled back, giving them a little space. "Sorry, didn't mean to push you or anything. I know you're going to need a little time or whatever on that front but I just wanted you to know that none of that matters to me. I mean it."

Jaide took a deep breath and closed the space between them, sliding under his arm and wrapping both of her own arms around his waist. "I'm sorry it's hard for me to understand and believe all this, but I think I'll get it down soon. I'll try my best okay?"

Blaize wrapped his arms around her also. "Of course. Just keep me informed, okay? I want to be good for you. I want everything to work out."

"I'm tired of drama."

"Me too."

"So we're agreed, no more drama."

"No more."

A knock sounded on the door. "Pizza!" Alex's voice called through the door.

Blaize kissed Jaide on the head before standing up to get the door. Alex was standing in the hallway with five pizza boxes and a few other small boxes.

"Wow, that was fast. Five pizzas? Really?"

Alex nodded. "I wasn't sure what Jaide liked so I got 10 different kinds. Each pizza is in halves. Um, cheese and pepperoni, sausage and extra meat, extra cheese and vegetarian, pesto chicken and barbecue, and then deep-dish half pepperoni and half cheese and extra thin crust half pepperoni and half cheese. Bread sticks, too: cheesy bread sticks, garlic bread sticks and cinnamon bread sticks." Alex leaned around Blaize to look at Jaide. "Hey, Jaide, how are you? What sounds good?"

Jaide jumped off the bed and ran to Alex. She handed the stack of food to Blaize before pulling Alex and into a bear hug. "Thanks so much."

He rubbed her back soothingly. "Uh, no problem sweetheart. It’s just pizza."

"I know. I mean thanks for everything, for being my friend."

"Ah, I see, how are you doing?"

"I'm good."

"Not great?"

"I'm getting there."

"Well you keep working on it, and keep me posted."

Jaide pulled back and smiled up at him.

"So. What'll it be?" Alex gestured at the pizzas.

"How about the cheese and pepperoni pizza and the cinnamon bread sticks?"

"Coming up." He sorted through the pizza quickly, leaving Blaize holding one pizza and one smaller box. "There you go. Are you sure you don't want the rest of these?"

"I'm pretty sure."

"Alrighty, I'll distribute these to the rest of the guys." He gave her a one-armed hug and stepped out the door. "I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye, thanks again."

Alex left and Blaize set the food down on the closest desk, opening both boxes. "So you're hungry now, right?"

As soon as Jaide smelled the pizza, she got some of her appetite back. "Yeah, I could go for a slice."

"And a bread stick?"

"Sure." She sat down on the bed and he brought her a paper plate with a slice and three bread sticks. "Thanks."

She took a couple bites and then looked up at him. He still looked worried, stressed, anxious and uncomfortable. Jaide felt bad because it was mostly her fault. "So, can we go back to our conversation?"

"Sure. What did you have in mind?"

"Just that I know what I want. Like, you asked before if there was anything you could do."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"I want everything to go back to normal, like before all the drama, just normal. Is that okay?"

"Of course, of course. How about I put in a movie and we finish off this food?"

"Sounds like a plan."

The next day, Blaize and Jaide were heading back up to their room after breakfast when her phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket. The little screen flashed Mason's name. "It’s Mason."

She answered the call while Blaize unlocked their door.

"Hey, Mason."

"Hey sweetheart, how are things going?"

"Good, actually great, way better than I expected. Everything seems, uh, normal. It’s nice. The guys are really great."

"That's good to hear. How’s Blaize doing? Everything working between you guys?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. He's been great, really great." She glanced at Blaize, who smiled. He knew she was talking about him.

"That's cool. So are you up to talk about this whole Parker thing?"

"What is there to talk about?"

"Well I don't know if you've been worried about it or what, but I just wanted to let you know that there is no way you are going to have a make a court appearance or anything. They are going to take whatever will land Parker the least amount of jail time and least publicity. They don't want this to get out. They are trying to sweep it all under the rug and I figured you'd be happy about that. Now he's still going to get punished and you might have to sign a few papers, but I figured you would like to stay out of it as much as possible."

"Yeah, definitely. Thanks for letting me know. I wasn't worried about it. I guess I just forgot, but yeah, I definitely don't want to do the trial thing - not again."

"I know how much you hate court rooms."

"Thanks Mason, you're a life saver."

"No problem. Can I talk to Blaize? Unless there was something else."

"Nope, thanks for calling. Here he is."

"Love you."

"Love you, too."

Jaide handed the phone to Blaize. "Hey, Mason."

Jaide got into the shower while they talked on the phone. She turned the shower on to warm up while she looked in the mirror. She had a very faint bruise near her hairline on the one side of her face. She had figured it would bruise and was glad that none of the guys had said anything. The bruise brought a quick flashback of Saturday. It overtook her mind but she got rid of it quickly and got into the shower, enjoying the hot water.

A knock sounded on the bathroom door and Jaide peeked out of the stall door. "Blaize?"

"Yep."

"It's unlocked."

He stepped into the bathroom. "Hey, want some company in there?"

She smiled. "Sure, everything okay with Mason?"

"Yep, he just wanted to make sure you were actually doing as good as you sounded on the phone." He stripped and got into the shower with her.

"Thanks." She looked up at him in the close proximity of the shower. "Thanks for everything, especially putting up with Mason."

"It's not a problem. Mason is just a concerned friend. I don't mind talking to him at all." He leaned down to kiss her quickly on the lips but Jaide pulled him closer. They hadn't kissed in a while and Jaide had almost forgotten on nice it was.

Blaize stepped back, putting as much distance between them as possible. "Uh."

"What is it?"

"It's just, I know we talked about, well we had planned today ..."

"To have sex?" Jaide filled in.

"Well yeah, but I figured that you would want to postpone it or something."

Jaide shrugged closed the space he had put between them. "That makes sense, very logical. But I'm not really feeling logical right now." She wrapped both arms around his neck and kissed him.

"You're sure? Because ..." Blaize trailed off. He took a good look at her body and let his hands roam around a little.

"I'm sure I need this. I don't want to wait anymore."

"Just let me know if…" He hesitated and looked a little worried. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

"Okay, but ..."

She cut him off with a kiss then pulled back. "Yeah, I know, communication, got it."

Jaide took Blaize’s hand in her own and slowly led him toward the bathroom, hoping he wouldn’t get spooked. To her surprise, Blaize allowed himself to be led without any hesitation. Closing the bathroom door behind her, Jaide turned the shower knobs until the water began to steam up the room.

Blaize leaned down, softly brushing his lips against Jaide’s as he raised her shirt over her head. A low moan escaped her lips as she lifted Blaize’s own shirt. Within seconds, the two entered the shower.

Jaide drew Blaize in closer, pulling his arms around her and kissing him hungrily. The gentleness from before was gone now. She probed his tongue with her own, pausing to gently bite his lip as she pulled away.

“Touch me,” she whispered.

Blaize didn’t hesitate. He kissed her lips, then trailed down her neck as his hands slid up her inner thighs. Gasping, Jaide reached for Blaize, taking him in her hand. Blaize couldn’t wait anymore. With one swift motion, he picked Jaide up and wrapped her around his waist as he balanced them against the shower wall. Slow movements quickly gave way to nearly frantic thrusts.