Come Back To Me (26 page)

they’ll call.

‘How’d it go?’ asks Kit the minute I step backstage.

I shrug. ‘I have no idea,’ I answer. ‘They said they’ll

call. I think they say that to everyone, though.’

‘How do you feel?’ he asks as we step outside into the

sun.

I stop and turn to him, throwing my arms around his

neck. ‘I feel amazing. I don’t even care if I don’t get a call-

back. It was fun. Thank you. Thanks for making me do

that.’

‘You can thank me after,’ he says.

In the truck on the way home I think of where I’d be

and what I’d be doing without Kit in my life. I would

never have gone to that audition. I would never have

learned to drive. I would never have discovered this bold,

brave, fearless side of me. I’d never have come close to

feeling this happy. I’d never be on my way to a multiple

orgasm.

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Kit

Two days after Jessa auditions, the doorbell rings just as

I’m finishing up a weight session in the basement. I jog

up the stairs and find Jessa flinging open the door. I love

it that she has a key and is starting to use it. It feels like

we’re living together when I see her coming in the door

like this.

She’s bursting with excitement. Behind her I see her

bike thrown haphazardly on the lawn, the wheels still

spinning. She biked over? She throws herself on top of

me. ‘I got it! I got the part!’ she screams.

I pick her up and spin her around. ‘I told you!’ I say

triumphantly. ‘Didn’t I tell you?’

She squeezes me around the neck like a boa constrictor.

‘Kit, I can’t believe it. Thank you. Thank you.’ She starts

covering my face in kisses. ‘It’s not the main part or any-

thing, but it’s a professional production! And I’m in it!’

I pull her towards me and kiss her on the mouth. Her

excitement transmutes into desire almost instantly, her

legs tighten around my waist and she seems only then to

become aware I’m not wearing a shirt. Her hands hun-

grily start to explore and she lets out a series of moans as

I kiss her throat and slide my hands beneath her T-shirt.

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‘Let’s go upstairs,’ she whispers hoarsely.

I don’t need any encouraging. Hoisting her around my

hips I carry her up the stairs. Before we make it to the

bed, Jessa’s already half naked, her clothes littering the

floor. I toss her down on the bed, but she gets to her knees

and pulls me down then flips me onto my back and

straddles me with a seductive little smile before shimmy-

ing down my body.

And then she returns the favour.

Afterwards, I lie cradling her head on my chest. My heart

is still hammering like crazy. I can’t stop marvelling at

just how uninhibited and confident Jessa’s getting in all

areas of her life, not just the bedroom. I’m not sure I’ve

ever seen anything sexier than her straddling me, taking

control like she just did. I love seeing her coming out of

her shell, not just for obvious reasons (like getting to bene-

fit exponentially) but because of the happiness flooding

out of her like sunlight.

She starts telling me all about the role and how she’ll

need to rehearse three days a week for the next eight weeks.

‘What about your dad?’ I ask. ‘Are you going to tell

your parents?’

Jessa shakes her head. ‘No way. He’ll probably tell me I

can’t do it. The performance dates coincide with the first

few weeks of college. I think I can manage, but if he finds

out I know he’ll say it’ll interfere with my studies.’

‘What about all the rehearsals?’ I ask warily. The lying

is getting too easy. All the deceit is starting to leave a bad

taste in my mouth, as though we’re constructing a house

of cards that one day is going to collapse on us.

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Jessa shrugs. ‘I figure I can lie and tell him I’m volun-

teering at the hospital, taking more shifts.’

‘I can’t believe I’m going to miss it,’ I say, running my

hand up her back.

She lifts her head and looks at me.

‘I won’t miss the next one. I promise,’ I say.

She kisses me and I get a kick from the fact that she

hasn’t said there won’t be a next time. I’m confident that

now she’s back in the game she’s not going to quit acting

again. I’m not going to let her, anyway. This is what she

was made to do. I can totally see her one day gracing bill

boards and walking red carpets.

Jessa rolls out of my arms and gets up. She stretches

languidly and I prop myself up on my elbow to watch

her, scoring her onto my memory. This girl is the only girl

I’ll ever need, is what I’m thinking. She walks naked over

to the dresser and I grin to myself as I get a double view

of her perfect ass and her front reflected in the mirror.

She opens the drawer filled with her clothes and pulls

out some clean underwear. I watch her get dressed, wish-

ing that she lived with me full time and I could get to

watch her get dressed every day. In her white lace bra

and panties she walks over to me. She sashays, in fact, no

doubt driven to tease me by the naked desire she sees in

my eyes.

‘Stop,’ I say. ‘Let me look at you.’

‘Take a photo. It will last longer,’ she smirks.

‘OK,’ I say, reaching for my phone in jest.

She doesn’t stop me and I realize with surprise, and

not a little bit of excitement, that she isn’t joking. She

tosses her hair over her shoulder and turns, giving me a

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view of her perfect ass, the flat of her stomach and the

curve of her breast swelling over the white lace of her bra.

Holy shit. I take a photograph. And then she turns to-

wards me, biting on her bottom lip, and I take another.

‘I want you to have something to remember me by,’ she

whispers as she turns her back and pulls her panties

down offering me a perfect view of her ass.

I nod dumbly. That works for me.

‘Don’t you dare show anyone, though,’ she growls.

‘As if,’ I say. ‘You’re for my eyes only.’ I reach for her

but she dances out of my way.

‘I have to go,’ she laughs, hopping over to grab her jeans

off the floor. She does her hair in front of the mirror as I flip

through the photos on my phone. I wish I could use them

for my screensaver, but yeah, probably not a good idea. I’ll

have to password-protect my phone or someone in my

unit is bound to scroll through and find them, and I’m not

having anyone jerking off to these except me.

‘What’s this?’ Jessa suddenly asks.

Her tone makes my head snap up. Shit. She’s holding a

piece of paper in her hand. Fuck. She’s found the letter

from my commanding officer. It arrived today and it

contains the details of my next deployment.

She turns towards me, her expression stony. ‘Why

didn’t you tell me?’ she asks.

I jump off the bed and walk towards her, but she steps

backwards out of reach.

‘Jessa,’ I say, ‘of course I was going to tell you. I just got

it today.’

She waves the piece of paper in my face. ‘Kabul?

They’re sending you to Afghanistan?’

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I nod.

She stares at me and I see her eyes are bright with

tears. ‘And Riley too?’ she asks.

I nod.

‘Why? Why Afghanistan?’ she asks. ‘You were just in

Sudan. I thought they couldn’t give you a second danger-

ous posting? I thought that was how it worked? One easy,

one hard.’

‘We don’t get to choose. We go where they send us.’

She shakes her head at me. ‘I’ll talk to my dad. There

must be something he can do.’

I step towards her, ease the letter from her grip and

toss it to the ground. I take her hands which are fisted

and close my palms around them. She won’t look at me.

Her jaw is pulsing and she’s fighting to stop herself

crying.

‘Baby, this is my job. It’s what I signed up for. I knew

the risks. Your father can’t do anything and even if he

could I wouldn’t want him to.’

‘But . . . ’ she starts to say, her bottom lip wobbling.

‘No buts. Nothing is going to happen to me. I swear it.’

‘You can’t swear it,’ she says. ‘Afghanistan is one of the

most dangerous postings in the world.’

‘It’s safer now,’ I argue.

‘According to who?’ she asks. ‘Not according to the

State Department. It’s top in the danger rankings.’

She’s been doing her research. Damn.

‘Jessa,’ I say. ‘I’m going to be fine. I promise. I’m good

at my job.’

She’s turned her back on me and her body is as tense

as a tripwire. I wrap my arms around her waist and

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nuzzle her neck. Finally her shoulders slump and she

turns around to face me.

‘Come back to me. Promise you’ll come back to me,’

she whispers, her lips against mine, tears pouring down

her cheeks.

I stroke that stubborn strand of hair behind her ear.

‘Always,’ I say.

Barely two minutes after she leaves and just as I’m about

to step in the shower, the doorbell rings. I figure it’s Jessa,

that maybe she’s forgotten her keys, but when I open the

door I find Riley on the doorstep and he’s not smiling.

I stagger backwards, blood draining to my feet, my

hands coming up to block the blow I’m anticipating. Does

he know? Did he see Jessa leave?

‘Yo,’ he says, walking past me into the hallway. ‘Did

you get the letter?’

‘Yeah,’ I say, gradually pulling my shit together and

breathing out slowly with relief. He doesn’t know. But

thank hell he didn’t time his visit five minutes earlier.

‘Afghanistan?’ He shakes his head. ‘We got screwed,

man. May as well have just stayed with our old unit.’

‘Yeah,’ I say.

‘You just work out?’ he asks me, frowning at the towel

slung around my waist.

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I was just about to take a shower.’

‘Wanna go hit some balls?’ Riley asks.

‘Yeah, sure,’ I say, aware that apart from our morn-

ing runs I haven’t had much chance to hang out with

Riley, and since our confrontation at the prom we haven’t

really talked. A tension hangs over every conversation,

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probably compounded on my part by the fact I’m having

sex with his sister. But there’s also something about his

expression, the furrowed brow and distracted air, that

tells me something’s playing on his mind and he needs

someone to talk to. ‘I’ll just throw some clothes on.’

I’m hoping he’s going to wait for me downstairs, but

he follows me up to my bedroom. I open the door,

already cringing.

‘Woah, dude, did you just get some?’ Riley asks, taking

in the bed with the sheets all rumpled and my clothes

strewn across the floor.

He crosses straight to the foot of the dresser and picks

something up, holding it between thumb and forefinger.

It’s one of Jessa’s bras. Fuck. He waves it in my face, grin-

ning. ‘Holy shit. You did!’

I fall mute. What can I say? I’ve been busted. He looks

admiringly at the bra before putting it down and turning

towards the bed. ‘Check out this room!’ he says. ‘When

did you do all this? Wait . . . ’ He stares at me open-

mouthed. ‘You did this for a girl? Holy shit, bro − who

the hell is she?’ He’s grinning at me like a maniac,

reminding me of when we were both fifteen and first

experimenting with girls. ‘What’s she like in bed?’

Oh man. ‘Quit it,’ I say, turning to my closet and

grabbing a pair of sweats.

‘What?’ Riley laughs. ‘Come on, give me the details.

What’s her name? When can I finally meet her?’

‘I’m not sure,’ I say. ‘It’s complicated.’ I reach for a

T-shirt and pull it on over my head, smelling Jessa on it.

It was one she wore the other day while I made her

breakfast.

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‘What the fuck?’

I whip around. Riley’s staring at me and his face is

turning purple. My gaze drops to the phone in his

hand.
My
phone. The phone with the pictures of Jessa

half naked on it. I snatch for it but I’m too late. Riley

steps backwards away from the bedside table, holding

it out of my reach. My arms drop to my sides in defeat.

It’s not like there’s anything I can say to get me out of

this one.

He stares at the screen. ‘You’re screwing my sister?’ he

asks, his voice a serrated blade.

I wince. ‘It’s not like that.’

‘Then how the fuck is it?’ he shouts, thrusting the