Jackson's Girl: Being His Duology Read online

  I couldn’t help the smile from forming on my face then. My first job. And getting it had been so easy.

  Fifteen minutes later, when we finally finished filling out the paperwork, Grant suggested we stay here and try some of the drinks like Jamie had insisted.

  I agreed, not wanting to go home to my dad and possibly, to Jerimiah. They were both still up and about, drinking beer and talking to each other in the kitchen when I left with Grant.

  We sat at a corner booth away from the crowd. Chloe, a senior at Ridge Falls, came and took our orders. She was tall and slender with midnight hair and the brightest blue eyes. She looked like a model, with the graceful way she moved and her pretty smile.

  She was known as the ice queen, though I couldn’t exactly figure out why people nicknamed her as such, because she had always been really nice to Grant and me. She was a bit of a loner, keeping to herself and in her books, and maybe that was why some people thought she was cold, but I didn’t see it.

  She shot us another smile before walking off with our order.

  When I looked to Grant, he was smiling at me, amusement in those bright green eyes of his. “What?” I asked.

  He let out a soft laughed then said, “I can’t believe you walked into a coffee shop and ordered green tea.”

  I frowned. “You know how I get when I drink coffee. I feel like my heart would burst out of my chest. Do you know how that feels like?” I shook my head, playing with the strings of my gray hoodie. “It’s terrible.”

  Grant laughed, but it quickly died down when he looked off to something behind me. I was going to turn around when I heard a deep, gruffly voice that froze me in my seat. “Is that so? I supposed it does sound terrible. But I bet I could think of a few ways to get your heart rate to speed up as well. And there won’t be anything terrible about it.”

  His large shadow fell over the table next and then his strong cologne hit my nostril. Slowly, I turned around at the waist and looked up to Jude’s dark blue eyes. He took in my face, then went down lower.

  I fought the urge to move back and cross my arms over my chest. The way he stared at me was dirty and intrusive. A quick glance at Grant and I could see his lips pressed in a thin line.

  Grant was big, he was more lean than he was bulky. Jude, on the other hand, was bulky throughout. Grant spoke before I could say anything. “What do you want, Jude?”

  Jude looked away from me and glared at Grant. I coughed and fidgeted a little in my seat.

  “Is there something you need?” I asked softly, not wanting to provoke him.

  The smirk was back on his face, his eyes dancing with wicked humor. “I wanted to see the girl that caught both Jackson and Aiden’s attention. And just so you know, I can make good on my promise. You won’t be disappointed, little bird.”

  I worked hard to fight the grimace from my face. I failed because his smirk was suddenly gone, a dark look taking over his eyes. I averted my eyes back to the table. “You’re wrong,” I said quietly, firmly. “Jackson and Aiden aren’t interested in me. They were just being nice.”

  But at the moment, I wished they had been jerks, because then it wouldn’t have invited Jude’s interest in me, and inevitably, Beth’s cruelty. Because it was a well-known fact that Beth was possessive when it came to Jude. She made it so that everyone in the whole school knew that. It didn’t matter that Beth had never been faithful. Jude was hers.

  I had been invisible to Jude since I started high school. I would have been happy to remain invisible.

  He clucked his tongue at me. “No, I don’t think so.”

  Before I could answer, another voice spoke up from somewhere behind us. “If you are here to start something, I suggest you leave.”

  I looked around Jude’s large frame and found both Jackson and Aiden standing there, side by side. Aiden looked mad, but Jackson looked… well, he didn’t look to be anything. He was good at hiding his emotions, but there wasn’t a way to disguise the dominance and power coming from him.

  Jude looked to the two boys, his body tense for an instant before the smirk was back on his face. He looked at me one last time, and bent down until his lips were directly by my ear. I flinched back, but the table kept me in place. “I’ll see you around, Emily,” he whispered.

  Grant cursed and stood abruptly from the table, making his way to me. I worried for a moment that Grant would get into a fight with Jude. He was nothing if not overprotective, and being overprotective with me could get him hurt. But Jude didn’t spare Grant a second glance. He was already walking to the door, his football buddies right on his heels.

  “Are you okay?” Grant asked, coming to my side. I nodded.

  We both looked up at the same time Jackson and Aiden came to our table. Jackson took the seat right across from me, while Aiden sat next to him. Grant stared at them for a moment, a frown marring his face before he relaxed and sat down next to me.

  Chloe came back with a tray in hand.

  She placed my tea and Grant’s coffee in front of us. She also set two other cups in front of Jackson and Aiden, shooting them a smile. She was obviously fond of them. And knew what they usually ordered.

  “Thanks, Chloe,” Aiden said. He waited until she walked away before turning his attention over to us.

  He looked at me first, a soft smile playing at his lips before he turned to Grant, and his smile widened.

  “You must be Grant,” he said, putting out his hand. “I’m Aiden, and that’s Jackson.”

  I watched as Grant shook Aiden’s hand. He coughed. “I know who you guys are.” I could see the tips of Grant’s ear turning pink, though I wasn’t sure why he was embarrassed.

  Grant was always so confident. Sure, he didn’t have the kind of confidence Jackson and Aiden possessed, but Grant was confident in who he was, and that wasn’t something I could ever say about myself.

  Grant was almost as tall as Jackson, coming in close to six foot three. He had messy, curly brown hair with the sides cropped short, leaving the top long and swept to the left side of his face. He also had expressive green eyes hindered by black frame glasses.

  He usually preferred shoving his face in a book then watching any type of sports on TV. He was quiet but assertive and sure. He was also fiercely loyal to a fault and was the only thing keeping me grounded most days.

  “So have you talked to Jamie, yet?” Aiden asked, bringing my attention back to him.

  I nodded while Grant spoke, telling Aiden about our meeting with his aunt. I looked across the table, and my breath caught.

  Jackson was staring directly at me, a hint of a smile curving up the tips of his lips. My face burned as I untucked a strand of blonde hair from my ear so that it flowed down and covered my face.

  There was something unnerving about his stares. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. I sneaked a peek at him and found he was full on smiling then. His smile was a dangerous thing, I decided.

  I was sure his smile could do some damage to my sanity more than anything else could. The table got quite all the sudden, and when I looked up, I found all three set of eyes on me. Jackson looked thoroughly amused then, and Aiden looked happy, while Grant was frowning.

  Grant cupped my shoulder to get my attention and asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, sorry. Did you say something?”

  “Jackson asked how you were feeling.”

  I turned my head to Jackson and gave him a small smile. “I’m fine.”

  I noticed his eyes were on Grant’s hand. He looked away and met my eyes. “Are you sure you don’t have a concussion or something?”

  “I don’t,” I said. And it was the truth. It was my back that took the brunt of the damage, not that I would ever tell him that. It was obvious he felt bad about hurting me. It was the only reason why he was even talking to me in the first place.

  “Thanks for getting us the job,” I told Aiden, trying my hardest to ignore amber eyes burning holes on my skin. It was an impossible task, but at least
I could pretend to do it.

  “No problem. My aunt needs all the help she could get. This place had gotten so busy over the past couple of years, so…” Aiden shrugged like it was no big deal, only it was. To me.

  The bell chimed when the door opened, and someone walked in. Grant turned around to the door and immediately tensed. Frowning, I followed his gaze, and I felt…

  I wasn’t exactly sure what I felt. But happiness wasn’t one of them. Mediocre, at best.

  Ethan Rollins walked in with Max Landon by his side. They were like each other shadow, and it seemed Ethan hung out with Max more than he did with me… his girlfriend.

  I hadn’t seen him all day at school, which I supposed, could be a blessing in disguise. Still.

  We hadn’t seen each other all weekend, and I hadn’t heard a word from him. No phone call, no text, nothing. Ethan’s eyes brightened when it connected with mine until he moved past me to my companions. Then he was frowning.

  I kept my gaze on him, and had I not, I would have missed his hesitation, before he slowly walked over to us, putting on a happy face I didn’t exactly trust.

  “What is he doing here?” Grant asked with a bit of venom in his voice. Grant had never made any effort to hide his dislike toward Ethan. And Ethan was the same. Hanging out with both of them at the same time was often, very exhausting.

  Ethan stood behind me and place both hands on my shoulder, making it so that Grant had to removed his. “Hey, babe,” he said, bending down to give me a quick kiss on my cheek. “I didn’t know you like to hang out here.”

  It was true, I was usually at home. But the fact that he knew I was never here made me wondered if he hung out here a lot.

  I turned around and met his brown eyes. They seemed a little dull. Exactly how lucid he was at the moment?

  “Grant and I got a job here,” I told him.

  “Oh.”

  It was my turn to frown. I shrugged his hands off my shoulders so that I could look at him clearly. “What?”

  He shook his head before putting on a forced smile. “Nothing. I didn’t know you were looking for a job.”

  “I told you… never mind.” I pointed to Aiden who didn’t look happy at the moment. Did he know Ethan, and like Grant, he didn’t very much like him? Ethan was hard to like. “Aiden got me a job here,” I told him.

  Ethan’s smile tightened. “That’s good.”

  Grant scoffed before he took a sip of his coffee.

  Ethan looked to Aiden and Jackson, doing the universal greeting that boys do with their head, before turning back to me. “Are you done? I can drive you home.”

  I looked down at my teacup, still full. I hadn’t even taken a sip. “What about Max?” I asked. Max was sitting on one of the couches by the fireplace, eating a muffin while playing on his phone. He always made a point to ignore me, and I couldn’t figure out what it was I had done to make him dislike me so much.

  “Max will be fine. I’m sure he can find his way home.” Ethan pulled me up before I could say anything.

  “Emily’s not even done with her drink,” Grant pointed out, his eyes crinkling at the corner, as his lips turned downward into a grim line.

  I subtly shook my head. “It’s fine. I have to talk to Ethan anyway. I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

  Grant looked like he wanted to say something, but thankfully remained silent. He nodded and stood up to give me a hug. I hugged him back. I saw Grant shooting Ethan a look in warning before he sat back down.

  I turned to Jackson and Aiden, who had been quiet throughout the whole exchange. I was taken back by the expression in each of their faces. They looked almost… angry. And I wasn’t sure what to make of that. “I’ll see you later,” I said with a hesitant smile.

  Aiden eyes soften as he nodded. Jackson remained stoic as he continued to stare Ethan down. Ethan fidgeted before he grabbed ahold of my hand and roughly pulled me away from the table. He briefly stopped in front of Max and told him he needed to find a ride home. If Max was upset about it, he didn’t show. He didn’t show much of anything, really. He nodded and that was all.

  We didn’t speak to each other on the way out. Not when we both climb in, and not when he drove away from the coffee house. He pulled up to my driveway and put the car in park, but didn’t turn off the engine. He wasn’t planning on staying here long. I wasn’t sure if I was happy about that or not.

  I stared out at the window, to the street light no more than five feet away from where I sat.

  The neighborhood was in complete silence, not a single person out and about. At least, not from what I could see. Nighttime always gave me the creeps. Being with my boyfriend didn’t exactly make me feel safe, no matter that we were in the enclosed space of his car with the doors locked.

  “What are you doing, hanging out with Jackson and Aiden?” Ethan asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that was setting in the car.

  I angled my body to him. “What do you mean? I never talked to them until today. And even if that wasn’t the case, what’s so wrong about being friends with them?”

  The street lamp provided enough lighting for me to make out the contours of his face, but not enough to gauge his mood. Ethan was unpredictable on a good day.

  And there usually wasn’t anything wrong with unpredictability. It kept my life from feeling repetitive and bland for the last three years that we went out. But it was in our junior year that I had come to hate his unpredictably. Because it was the year he met Max.

  And Max was a whole other brand of unpredictability. He was like the calm ocean water before the storm, whereas Ethan used to be the small flutter of waves coming in on the surface of the sand on a quiet dawn morning. You always knew the waves were coming. You just didn’t know when. But when it did, it was beautiful and soothing.

  I was sure that was what had attracted me to Ethan in the first place.

  “They’re not someone like Grant. You don’t just hang out with them,” Ethan said, his voice pitch so low, I had to strain to hear him.

  “What’s wrong with Grant?” I asked sharply.

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Jackson and Aiden are… well, they’re Jackson and Aiden.” There was slight paused before he added, “They have a reputation.”

  I turned to him. “And what kind of reputation do they have?”

  “Emily, don’t talk like that. You know I am only looking out for you. They have a reputation of going after one girl together. They make her fall in love with them both, use her, and then dump her.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I have never heard about this. And even if it is true, do you honestly think I’m going to fall victim to this.” When he didn’t say anything, I scoffed. “Be honest, Ethan. You’re not trying to protect me. You’re trying to protect yourself. Because if I had fallen victim to their ploy, you wouldn’t dare try to defend me.”

  “That’s not what this is about,” he said with a bit of edge to his voice.

  “It’s not? So if they offended me in some way, will you stick up for me?” I asked. When he didn’t answer, I unlocked the car door and got out.

  I wasn’t surprised. I knew Ethan was only looking out for himself when he asked about my relationship with Jackson and Aiden.

  He didn’t come after me, didn’t call out my name. Didn’t even stay behind. I wasn’t even halfway to my front door when I heard his car engine roared, the loud noise unnerving in the deadly night before he sped off mere seconds later.

  Grant frowned at me the next morning when he caught me by my locker.

  “What did the bastard do this time?” he asked.

  I looked at him, feigning innocent. “What do you mean?”

  “You have bags underneath your eyes,” he pointed out. I was sure it was noticeable.

  Under the orange glow of the bathroom light at home, it was easy to pretend the bags underneath my eyes weren’t really all that bad, despite my fair skin. But there was no way disguised it from bot
h the fluorescent light and the natural light coming in from the many windows in the school hallway.

  “We had a small argument is all,” I said. And it was true, even if I would never tell Grant what the argument had been about.

  Grant shook his head, and after a slight paused, said, “I don’t know why you put up with him.”

  Lately, I wasn’t sure why either. But then I remember the way Ethan used to be. How nice he was. How understanding. I remembered he sent me a dozen red roses to get me to go to the homecoming dance with him. Or how he would listen to me whenever I needed to rant about my dad.

  I remembered the boy he used to be before Max, and I supposed, I was still caught up in our past, as I desperately clung onto the way we used to be. I could feel my grasp on him slipping each and every day though, and I couldn’t make myself care that he was slipping away.

  “I love him,” I said, finally.

  “Loved, Emily. You loved him. And no matter how much you want to make it work, I think you should let him go. You deserve to be more than Ethan Rollins’ second thought.”

  “Can you really fall out of love with someone that easily?” I asked. Because I didn’t think it was possible. I always thought that once you gave your heart to someone, it would always be theirs.

  I had my parents to set that example.

  As flawed as my dad was, he loved my mom to a fault. Her death broke something inside of him that I was sure he would never be able to get back.

  And if I could so easily fall out of love with Ethan, then did I ever really love him to begin with? Even still, how did you go about leaving someone? How exactly was I supposed to leave behind the past three years of my life as if they were nothing?

  The bell rang, preventing me from saying anything more. I flashed him a small smile before turning away and walked to Calculus.

  I noticed everyone’s eyes on me on the way to class, and I had a sinking feeling on why that was, and it had nothing to do with the fight between Jackson and Jude the day before.