LOGINJACKSON
I didn't know if I should be irritated or concerned about how aware I’ve become of her.
I was ALWAYS aware of her.
Was it at school, where the wind always finds a way to carry her scent to me as if saying, “Here. You can’t have her.”
Or was it at the cafe where I sat by the window, pretending to work on my laptop while I stole glances at her?
Or at the house, where I wanted to be out there as soon as possible, else I might find an excuse to be alone with her, when she clearly doesn't want that?
The time and the place don't matter: I was always aware of Siri.
She had become the bane of my existence, and I don't even know how that happened.
And now she was calling her a plaything? A fucking plaything? That itched my brain the wrong way, and I didn't know when I had her cornered, her back to that fridge, those honey-brown eyes that I've had several dirty thoughts about blinking up at me.
Her scent was everywhere, invading my senses. I breathed in that sweet scent of coconut and honey until it clouded my head. The wind won't tease me with it any longer.
“C-consume you?” she stammered, her cheeks slightly red, just like they were that night.
Things might not have gone the way I wanted that night, and I might have lost control for a second there, but I couldn't stop thinking about everything about that night. The intensity of it, the heat clouding the air and making her eyes drop in a way that made me want to rip her clothes apart and devour her whole.
Everything about that night has haunted me for weeks, and I had stroked my cock to the image playing over and over again in my head.
And now I have another scene to visualize while I do that. This scene right here. It was arousing. I’ve come to know that everything with Siri was arousing, even the way she breathes.
God, I've lost it. I’ve totally lost it.
“Yes, Siri,” I whispered, my voice softening even when I didn't want it to. “Consume me.”
I could tell she was waiting for me to say more. Her body was vibrating with anticipation of my next words, but I would let her suffer the same way I've been suffering. I will be cruel the same way she was to me, even though that was nothing more I wanted to do than to close this space between our bodies, and grind myself on her soft stomach. Feel her. Touch her. Breathe her in, and just–
“Fuck,” I cursed harshly as I pulled away from her, turning my back to her, and running my hand through my hair, breathing through my mouth.
This was torture. Sweet, cruel torture. How long will this keep up? How long will I keep touching myself to the thought of her? What can I say or do to make her feel the intensity of my want and not use that fucking word again?
What on bloody earth am I supposed to do before I go fucking insane?!
When she remained silent, I turned my head over my shoulder to see she was staring at my back, blinking slowly like she was in some kind of trance.
“Siri?” I called out softly, my eyebrows furrowed.
She looked down at her feet. “Y-you can’t just say something like that and pull away, Jackson.”
Christ, I loved it when she was this way: bashful, flustered, with colors creeping into her cheeks.
“You’re going red, darling,” I said softly, my lips lifted in a smile. I was grateful she couldn't see it.
The color deepened. “No, I'm not.”
“No? Could’ve fooled me. And to answer your question: yes, I can.”
She scoffed as she rolled her eyes. “And he’s back to being a prick.”
I ignored that. “You’re not going to ask me why?”
She raised her eyes to mine. “Why?”
“Because you will call it a joke. Or bullshit. Or spit some nonsense in my face.”
She lowered her eyes in shame. “Someone’s bitter.”
I scoffed and looked away.
We stood there in silence until she whispered in a small voice, “Tell me a little?”
My chest tightened, and I slowly returned my gaze to her. Her eyes were low, her hands busy picking at the threads in her sweater. She wanted to know. She was desperate to.
She looked like she needed to hear those words to loosen something that had been painfully curled inside her. She looked like she needed the validation even though she might not believe it.
Who did this to her? I wanted to find the arsehole that made her feel like she could never be the subject of want or desire. She had everything that could make a man with a good head on his shoulders lose his mind. I know I was already losing mine, and the worst–and best–part was I didn't want to find it.
“Say please,” I whispered, and she scoffed softly. Not her usual harsh or sarcastic laugh, but a laugh that made her raise her eyes and turn her cheeks even redder.
“Please, Jackson.”
I swallowed. Well, that had a different effect on me than I thought.
Her eyes stayed on mine, and she waited. I let her wait.
And then, “You have filled my days, Siri.” Her breath hitched. “You are all I think of even when I try not to.”
“I’ve met a few people who think about me like that too, and it’s in ways to murder me and bury my body in the woods,” she tried to push it aside as a joke, but my gaze remained serious.
Her eyes dropped. Her fingers went back to picking the thread.
“This can’t work, Jackson,” she whispered.
My body turned before I could stop it, and I went back to her, my body so close to hers. She took her time, but eventually her eyes lifted to meet mine.
“Tell me why,” I pleaded softly.
“It just… it just can’t, okay?”
“That’s not a reason, Siri.”
“Well, that’s all I have!”
“And it’s not enough.”
“What do you even see in me, Jackson?” she asked, her bottom lip trembling.
I touched her chin softly, my thumb stroking it. “Everything.”
Her eyes turned glassy, doubt shining through it. “You could have anybody you want.”
“And yet, why can’t I have Siri?”
She bit her lip, and my eyes dropped to them. And stayed there.
“Jackson,” she said, a warning in her voice when I leaned in closer.
“Hmm?” I answered without taking my eyes off her lips.
“We can't," she said, but didn't move.
“Yes, we can.”
Slowly, I inched lower to her lips, and when her tongue snaked out to wet them, I decided that fuck taking it slow, but just before I could dive in, the door opened.
Yeah, fuck Toria and her stupid advice. Fuck that happy ending nonsense. Sure, I do want a happy ending with him. I want a happy beginning, middle, and ending with Jackson. All of that and more! Damn it, I had even been thinking of the perfect future together with him. Yes—and fuck you—I’ve been thinking of going somewhere with him, getting a house, three dogs, and maybe one cat. We could live like that for a few years, then get married, and decide if we wanted kids. I'd already mapped out the perfect future, the perfect ending.So yeah… Use him? USE him? How on God’s green earth can I use him when I was in love with him? I was madly in love with that man, and it made me realize that I was never in love with Michael. No. No, I was just in love with the attention and the idea of love, the idea that someone finally wants me. But this painful shit with Jackson? This soul-crashing devastation? Yeah, this was love. This was love in its purest, fucked up form.So how was I going to us
“I thought you might be gone already,” Toria said as we settled into my hotel room. “Jackson already booked my flight,” I said, opening a beer. “I leave in two days.”“Hmm. So what are you going to do till then? Stay cranked up in here?”“Probably.”“I could show you around, you know.”I thought about it for a second and shook my head, sipping my drink. “Thank you, but no.”I had thought about leaving and just going to tour on my own, but every time I thought about the possibility that I might run into him out there, I shook off that thought. Maybe I would have seen him with his hand around another woman’s waist, laughing with the boys and acting like that night didn't happen. But seeing him on screen tonight, I don't think any of that might have happened. I wanted to ask Toria what happened and why he looked that way, but then I might sound like I care, which I very much do, and I wanted to stay cool and keep up this nonchalant act until I was out of here.And so I sipped my drink
SIRIHe… lost. I stared at the TV screen in my small hotel room, my eyes wide, hands squeezed together and pressed to my chest.“He lost,” I whispered it out loud like it would make sense if I did so. I told myself I wasn't going to watch the game, that I would stay away from my screen and just wait for my flight back home two days from now, but I couldn't. I couldn't let the chance of seeing him, even though it was from a screen, slip away. As soon as his team had skated onto the ice and the camera zoomed in on them, my eyes had found him immediately, and I knew something was wrong. His skin was too pale, his eyes looked too sunken, and he kept flexing his wrists over and over, to the point I was sure everyone in the arena must have noticed. And I could have sworn that he was trembling. The game started, and it was even worse. Everything about the way he moved, to the way he could no longer hide his trembling, was wrong. It filled my heart with dread and panic. I couldn't relax a
PRESENTThe smoke of that cigar, laced with a chocolate scent, burned into my nose even though he was across the street. The scent was the same: the cigar lit, resting on his lips, lifted in a smile. A small smile, soft and gentle. Not like that frightening smile he had on his face that night that still sends a chill down my spine. Elijah M’Call still looked the same even seven years later. His black hair was slicked back from his face, dotted with gray. His grey eyes were wrinkled at the corners from age. His shoulders were still broad beneath his tailored suit, and black leather gloves covered his hands.He still looked and dressed the same. Nothing had changed.After that night, I had cut every tie with this man. I made sure I never heard a word from him or received a single penny. I moved into Jacob’s house, and his mother accepted me without a single complaint, letting me stay until I could rent my own place. I didn't speak to my mother for two years after that. She came to my
CONTENT WARNING: This chapter contains references to domestic abuse and may be triggering to some readers. Reader discretion is advised. ~.~“I can think of a few things that can make you quit hockey,” my father said, his voice relaxed, but his face was filled with hell. He stood chest to chest with me, and I fought every instinct screaming at me to lower my eyes, to pull back. I fought them and stood perfectly still, not letting that dark look intimidate me.“What?” I spat. “Are you going to pay the coach to kick me out of the team? Then I'll just find another team to join.”“Jackson, please,” my mother whispered, and that just made my fists clench harder. Why was she calling me back and not her husband? He was the one threatening to take my dream away from me! My hopes for a better future, and still I was the one being called back? Did she really think I would just roll over and accept this bullshit? Bloody no. “That is way beneath me, Jackson,” he said in a low voice, acting li
SEVEN YEARS AGOThe sun had long since set, and the neighborhood was dark by the time I strolled in through the back door, my shoes tied together by their laces and hanging around my neck, my hands shoved into my pockets. Hopefully my parents were asleep by now, and I wouldn't have to deal with either of them. It was exhausting to look into their eyes these days and act like everything was fine when I harbored a little bit of hatred for my father. Okay, maybe it was more than a little bit, but I won’t tell if you don’t. I spent time at Jacob’s house long after practice, then came home and lied through my teeth, saying the coach sucked us dry with practice, which is why I was so late.You can’t blame me. The atmosphere in this house was depressing, and hearing my father whistle while he smoked his cigar, acting like all was right and fair in the world, was pissing me off when I could see my mother was losing weight, when I could clearly see she was losing her shine. She just needed







