Chapter 196
Jack
“Hey!” Jack called, running to catch up with Fiona. She stopped walking and turned to give him a curious look. “I’ll walk you home,” he said when he reached her side.
She gave him a bemused look. Technically, her place was only five minutes from campus, but that didn’t mean she should walk alone at night. Plus, he hadn’t seen her since she moved back in with her roommate, and he wanted a moment alone with her.
“Alright,” she said with a shrug. “If you insist.”
He smiled. “Better safe than sorry.”
“Bye,” Celeste called, waving at them. She gave him a knowing smile, and he glowered at her. She clearly knew something was going on, but it wasn’t her business. They needed to figure this out for themselves.
She and Matt were headed in the opposite direction, back toward the house. Matt was still haunting the halls. Everywhere Jack went, there he was. In the bathroom, when he needed to piss. In the kitchen, when he was hungry. Even in the living room at night, making out with his sister. Which was the last thing on earth he ever needed to see. He couldn’t escape the guy.
He guessed he shouldn’t complain too much. Matt had to move out of his dorm because he stopped showing up for classes, and that was partly Jack’s fault.
“Bye,” Fiona called. “Text me!”
“Will do.”
Matt waved, then the two of them headed down the sidewalk together, Matt’s arm around her shoulders. Jack wondered if Fiona would hit him if he tried that. They pretty much clung to each other in the days after the fight, but things were different now. They were home. He didn’t know if she actually liked him or if she just needed someone’s support at the moment.
He was hoping desperately for the former.
He knew for sure that he liked her. He liked her so much he felt like a giddy teenage girl. Every time she looked at him, or texted him back, a flutter of butterflies swarmed through his gut. It was almost embarrassing. He’d never felt anything like it before.
“You’re blushing,” she said, peering at his face.
“What? No, I’m not.”
He started walking at a quick pace, and she jogged to catch up with him. “You totally are.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She grinned. “Something making you nervous?”
“Nope.”
“Then why is your face all red?”
Jack stopped walking and leveled her with a glare. She halted in her tracks and curled an eyebrow at him, not at all phased by the expression on his face. “I don’t blush,” he said. “It’s just cold out here.”
She laughed and clapped her hands together. “It’s not cold out here, and you’re totally blushing. That’s so cute!”
“Stop,” he grumbled.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. She could see right through him. She probably knew every embarrassing thought he’d had in the past few days. Thoughts of the two of them together. Holding hands. Sleeping in the same bed. Making out on the couch. God, he was losing it. And he was nervous. He couldn’t remember the last time he was nervous about talking to a girl. Suddenly, the words he wanted to say to her seemed impossible.
Fiona’s smile turned more genuine as she surveyed him. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
She reached out and took his hand. “Come on, after everything, I think we can be honest with each other. You’ve already cried in my arms.”
He gave her a dark look. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that.”
“I agreed not to tell anyone you have actual human emotions. I never agreed not to remind you of it constantly.”
“Wonderful.”
She took a few steps and pulled on his hand. “Come on, I want to get home before the sun comes up.”
He trailed after her, letting her lead him by the hand across the street. Eventually, he stopped resisting and walked beside her, letting their hands swing comfortably at their sides.
“Was there something you wanted to say?” Fiona prompted. Her rundown white house appeared up ahead. It was now or never.
“Uh, yeah.”
She shot him another bemused look but waited for him to go on. He scratched the back of his head with his free hand, the wound in his arm staining. He let his arm drop back to his side, but it still throbbed like hell. It was taking forever to heal. Despite being a through and through shot, it would take months and months to stop hurting.
If only he were a werewolf, he’d be healed already. The thought stunned him so much that he almost stopped in his tracks. Being cool with the wolves was one thing. Wanting to be one was quite another. He was fine as plain old human Jack.
“So, um…” he trailed off, giving her a sideways look. They reached her house, but she stopped at the end of the porch, turning to him with a slight smile.
“Yes?”
“Well, I know you probably need some time to adjust to being home. But maybe when you’re, uh, adjusted, we could go out or something?”
“Aw Jack, are you asking me on a date?”
Now his cheeks were hot. This was just great. He couldn’t possibly be embarrassing himself more. He seriously doubted that Matt was this pathetic when he asked Celeste out. He was probably all cool and suave about it.
“Like a date?”
He couldn’t quite bring himself to meet her gaze. “Sort of like that, yeah.”
“Yes Jack, I’ll go on a date with you. I’m free tomorrow.” His gaze shot to her face. “Don’t give me that shocked look. Why wouldn’t I say yes?”
She pulled on his hand and marched up the steps to her front door, dragging him after her. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
Jack let himself be led into the house. She motioned for him to be quiet, and the soft snores of her roommate drifted into the living room. Jack tiptoed over to Fiona’s room with her, his heart pounding. Did she seriously just bring him inside her house?
She closed her bedroom door behind them and pointed to her bed. “Sit.”
He sat down. “Um, what are you doing?”
She sat beside him. “Come on Jack, we shared a bed for like a week. Surely, you’re not too shy now.”
“I just didn’t think you’d want–”
She silenced him with a kiss. He returned it without hesitation, running his fingers through the silky strands of her hair. His heart only picked up speed as she pushed him back into her single bed and climbed on top of him, deepening the kiss.
Suddenly, she pulled back. She looked down at him, her hair framing her delicate face and her green eyes shining in the moonlight coming in through the window. “Am I being too forward?”
“Huh?” he said. Her shirt had ridden up, giving him a nice view of her toned stomach and the edge of her pink bra.
She poked him in the face. “Earth to Jack.”
“I really don’t think you’re too forward. Can we go back to kissing now?”
Fiona giggled and ran her fingers through his hair. A shudder ran through him as she kissed her way down his neck.
“Sounds good to me,” she murmured against his suddenly feverish skin.
He wrapped an arm around her and turned them, so she was lying beneath him. She stared up at him, her cheeks flush. It occurred to Jack, just as he leaned down to kiss her again, that she was perhaps the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.
