Paradise Island: Complete Edition (37 page)

“Let’s go upstairs,” he whispered in my ear.

I was just about to take his hand when the swinging doors opened and his mother came in. Jack positioned himself behind me. I could feel his bulge rubbing against my back. I wasn’t the only one who was ready for some fun I thought and smiled.

Margaret walked past us as we adjusted our positions to let her walk through.

“Dinner will be at nine, in the main dining room,” she said sternly. “Lizzy is coming over to cook for us.”

Lizzy? I looked up at Jack with an obvious question in my eyes.

“That’s mother’s part-time maid slash cook,” Jack explained.

“Oh,” I said. For some reason I didn’t think they had a maid, but it made perfect sense. I couldn’t really see Margaret or any of the her sons doing all the cooking and cleaning. Though Aidan was a chef, but I guess even chefs needed days off.

“We’ll go get ready,” Jack said and took my hand and took me the hell out of there. I followed him up the stairs to our room. He locked the door behind us and immediately started undressing me, starting with my top. “You smell so good,” he moaned as his hand cupped my boobs and he kissed my neck. His hard on was back, he was defiantly ready to have some fun, I thought.

“I took a bath,” I said.

“Mmm,” he whispered as he went down lower. “We should take one together one of these days.”

He unbuttoned my jeans and his tongue was on my sweet spot in no time, making me moan as I played with his hair, urging him on.

“I wanna fuck you so bad, baby,” he moaned, as he went up for air.

“Fuck, Jack,” I whispered, “just fuck me already.”

It didn’t take a lot to make Jack listen because immediately he lifted me up and carried me over to the bed. He quickly unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down just enough to reveal his gorgeous thick cock. My jeans and panties were on the floor in no time. Jack reached in the drawer for a condom and I waited impatiently as he put it on, using a little lube on the tip, though how wet I was, I hardly thought we needed it. The moment he entered my depths, I gasped in pleasure, and immediately felt like I was home. Jack fucked me long and hard, just the way I liked it, and once we were done, we lay exhausted in each other’s arms, breathing hard.

“Fuck, that was amazing,” he said as he breathed hard, his cock still semi hard.

“Can’t say I disagree,” I said as I made my way down to his crotch. Condom already off, I took his cum stained cock in my hands and into my mouth. I loved the taste of him. One of these days I’d let him fuck me without a condom, but pregnancy wasn’t something I was looking forward to, especially when I remembered how Josie’s had ended.

We stayed in bed until nine and enjoyed each other until we heard the bell announcing the dinner.

“Really?” I said.

Jack looked at me like it was no joking matter. “Really,” he said.

We quickly got dressed. I loved the thought that we were covered in each other’s kisses and other things. I loved that I had the taste of Jack in my mouth and he mine, and no one was the wiser. It was like our little secret. I gave him a long deep kiss and when we parted, we both sighed hard. It was hard to let him go once I had him, but social obligations needed to be met, and besides, I guess we needed food to sustain us as well, not just each other.

Halfway down the stairs I realized I was only wearing jeans and a t-shirt, though I did have the sense to put on a bra. “Shit,” I whispered to Jack. He looked back at me, his hand still in mine. “Should I change? Is this gonna be a fancy affair?”

Jack smiled, his grin wide. “You’re just fine. The only one who gets dressed for these things is my mother. The rest of us don’t care.”

“Fine,” I said, “but if she starts a scene...”

“I’ll be right there by your side. Don’t you worry about a thing, baby.”

We made our way to the dining room and I was a little intimidated by the scene. It was a candlelit dinner, it seemed. The table was already set. Margaret was sitting at the head of the table, dressed fancy as always. She wore a different outfit than the one from the hospital. Aidan was on her right, while Hunter was on her left. Jack sat by Aidan, and I sat across from him at the only other setting on the table: right by Hunter. I wished I could sit next to Jack, and by the look on his face he felt the same. I knew he didn’t want to sit so close to his mother, though, so I couldn’t see him trading places with one of his brothers. Brandon, unsurprisingly, wasn’t at the table. He was probably already asleep from all the pain meds they’d given him.

We started our meal with some soup. Aidan, who was a vegetarian, had his own soup made. I joined him and was glad I wouldn’t have to eat scraps.

“You’re a vegetarian, too?” Aidan asked me, a pleasant surprise on his face.

“Yeah, I never liked meat, and I liked animals, so it seemed like a good fit,” I said.

Aidan nodded. “Same here.” I looked at him, really looked at him now. His hair was the lightest of all four brothers. Almost blonde. He had great handsome features just like the rest of his brothers, and beautiful blue eyes. I almost got lost in them, I had to look away. I wondered how a guy like him managed to stay single for long. I remembered hearing his brothers tease him about his lack of dating. I guess he was too focused on his work. I wondered if Rory would like him, since he was obviously into guys as well as girls, though since he slept with Jack and me, that might be a little too weird. I put the thought out of my head, though I couldn’t help but picture Aidan and Rory hand in hand, even though Rory was thousands of miles away and had never met the man.

Margaret, of course, looked upon me and Aiden disapprovingly as she sipped chicken soup. “Animals are meant to be eaten,” she said sternly. “But in this household, we accommodate all kinds of beliefs.”

Beliefs? Well, at least she didn’t say “lifestyles,” I had to give her credit for that. Jack and Hunter seemed to agree with their mother, enjoying their chicken soup, lapping it up ravenously. I wished now that I was the one sitting next to Aidan and not Jack, since our food preferences were the same. Could have made the food thingy a lot easier, instead of having to pass the plates with veggie dishes from one side to the other. Aidan seemed to take it in good stride.

“So, do you own a restaurant?” I asked him, curious.

“Yeah, it’s right in the middle of New York City. And yeah, it’s veggie only. I’d love it if you and Jack decided to stop by sometime.”

“I’d love that as well. I’ve never been in a veggie restaurant before.”

“What?” Aidan looked shocked. “Why not?”

“They didn’t have them where I grew up,” I said. When everyone waited for me to continue, even Margaret, I did. “It’s a very small town down in Minnesota,” I said. “I’m glad I got out of there.”

“I couldn’t imagine living anywhere but New York,” Aidan said. “It’s my home.”

Hunter laughed. “Oh, Aidan, must you always be so dramatic?”

“Enough,” Margaret said sternly. Everyone went quiet. “Can’t we have a nice quiet dinner without a fight breaking out?”

“That wasn’t a fight, mother,” Hunter said, but when he saw the look Margaret gave him, he immediately shut up.

The rest of the dinner was a non event, thanks to Margaret’s stern request. I couldn’t wait until I was back in Jack’s room, in his arms, laughing about how stuck up and serious his mother was. Though once I remembered what she actually did to Jack as a child so she could live such an extravagant lifestyle, it only made me sick to my stomach. The thought that she could get away with betraying her own son like that, it just made me incredibly angry.

“You okay?” Jack whispered across the table when Lizzy came to take away our plates. She was middle aged, with red hair. Her hair reminded me a bit of Lucy, and that made me feel even worse.

“Yeah,” I blushed as Lizzy took my plate. “I’m fine.” I took a huge gulp of the mineral water by my side and felt a lot better for it. “Just fine,” I added for good effect.

Margaret excused herself and wished us all a good night. It was time for her to retire to her chambers, she said, and I breathed a sigh of relief when she left the room.

Jack immediately put a hand on mine across the table. “We survived,” he said. “That’s all that matters.”

“I’ll go check on Brandon,” Aidan said and left as well.

“Meet us in the media room,” Hunter yelled after him. And then to me: “You’ve gotta see some of Jack’s best moments. Though I bet you’re already familiar with his work.”

“Actually,” I said. “I’m not. Let’s just say I lived a sheltered existence.”

“In that case, this should be very entertaining indeed,” he said and smiled wickedly.

Jack put an arm around me as we followed Hunter to the supposed media room. “What did you do now, Hunter?” He yelled after him as we tried to catch up.

It seemed like Jack wasn’t going to be having too much fun, while the rest of us definitely would.

Once we entered the media room I was more than a little taken aback. It was like being in a little theater. With theater seats included for good measure.

“Popcorn, anyone?” Hunter asked as he turned on a popcorn machine that I didn’t even notice being there. “What the hell, I’ll make enough for everyone whether you want it or not,” he added.

I took a seat next to Jack in the front row. It felt weird. I felt like I was in some kind of surreal movie or something. Aidan joined us, sitting by my side, while Hunter sat by Jack’s.

“I wish Brandon could see this,” Hunter said. “Hopefully he gets better soon.”

“The doctors say he should be ready for rehab therapy in a couple of weeks, and things can only improve from there,” Aidan said.

“Oh, the lights,” Hunter said as he got up and turned a switch off.

We were in near darkness now, the only visible light coming from the huge screen in front of us. It wasn’t really a screen. There was projector behind us, and it was a huge flat surface that captured the images. Just like a real movie theater, I thought, only on a smaller scale. Still impressive, though.

Once the screen started counting down from ten to one, I remembered some old movies I’d watched and feeling like I had time traveled back to an earlier, simpler time. The house, now the home theater. Maybe I did. But then the booming sound came on, and the images on the screen were in perfect color. This was definitely a modern production.

The title flashed across the screen: The Many Faces of Jack Stark: a film by Hunter Stark.

“Don’t tell me you want to be a filmmaker now?” Jack asked his brother.

“Shh,” Hunter said and kept his eyes on the screen. “The show is about to start.”

Images flashed. All Jack. All different hairstyles, clothes, time periods. This was a montage, or clip show, of all the different roles Jack had played over the years. I watched, all my attention on the screen. There was Jack young, older, and how he looked like now. I laughed at the appropriate times, because Hunter had made it so that all the scenes would be entertaining in their own right.

I sat fascinated by all the different roles Jack had played over the years, and so convincingly it seemed. I recognized a few from my marathon with Lucy, but most seemed new to me.

Hunter had spliced the different scenes together so that it seemed that multiple versions of Jack were talking to each other and we all laughed at it, even Jack. But mostly I just took it all in and was amazed at how amazing Jack really was. It was easy to think of him as an actor before, but now I knew he was. And not a bad one at that. There were many different characters presented in the montage, and I thought Jack did well on all of them. I squeezed his hand while my eyes were glued on the scene, to show him that I cared. He kissed me lightly on the cheek and went back to watching himself.

And then it was over, and I wanted to see it again. I wanted to see every film or show Jack had starred in.

“Okay, I gotta admit, that was funny,” Jack finally said after the credits rolled.

“So I definitely have a shot at directing?” Hunter obviously joked, though I sensed there was something more underneath it, perhaps a hidden desire he was afraid to show anyone?

“Definitely,” Jack said and hit him on the shoulder.

“Well, that was fun,” Aidan said. “But it’s been a long day. I’ll got check on Brandon again and then I’m going to turn in for the night. Goodnight guys.”

“Goodnight,” I said.

It was just me, Jack and Hunter now.

“What shall we do to pass the time?” Hunter mused out loud as he popped popcorn in his mouth. Each of us had taken a little from the big bowl in his lap, but it seemed that he was going to end up eating most of it.

“I’m game for anything,” Jack said. “What about you Sophie?”

I shrugged. “Sure, anything,” I said.

“In that case, I will show you guys my new skill: bartending! I’m a alcoholic drink master now!” Hunter seemed excited. He put his bowl of popcorn to one side and sat up from the seat. The rest of us did the same.

“Since when?” Jack asked, genuinely surprised.

“Since a few months ago. But the details aren’t that interesting. Let’s just say I tended bar for a bit and learned some valuable skills.”

Jack looked surprised. “If you needed...” he started to say, but Hunter cut him off.

“Let’s not have that conversation again. Remember how it ended last time?”

Jack nodded. Neither decided to elaborate, but it was pretty easy to figure out that it had not ended well at all. I guess money was a touchy subject. It seemed that Hunter wasn’t fond of handouts and wanted to make some himself and not just rely on his big brother. It made sense. From the little I knew of him, he seemed like he didn’t want to be known as Jack Stark’s brother, but as his own person. It made some kind of sense, especially since being Jack’s brother probably attracted a lot of people who weren’t really good for him.

So Hunter made us drinks. I requested a girly drink with as little alcohol as possible. I didn’t want to be dealing with a hangover in this house, especially under the scrutinizing eye of their mother. Plus, if I got drunk, I didn’t know if I could keep my mouth shut about the things that I knew. It still made me sick on the inside that none of Jack’s brothers knew what their mother actually did to him. I guess every family has its secrets, but this was a pretty big one. But then again, Jack and I had some pretty big secrets as well, so in a sense I was glad he could keep some things to himself, even from his closest family members.