Jesse’s Story by Rosa Mink
Chapter 2
Maddie
Ihaven’t taken my eyes off the huge hunk that saved me since I realized he’d thought I was gay. The idea of it makes me laugh because shit, even if I had thought I might be since I’ve never wanted any of the guys I’ve dated. One touch from Jesse and I knew that was right out the door. My body lit up like a freaking Christmas tree when he was gently cleaning my knees, putting me completely at ease.
I was dying to kiss him when what he was saying finally got through the haze that he had me wrapped in. He’s way out of my league but I wasn’t about to have him thinking I would never be interested in him. I want to at least have the illusion that I have a chance with him. I can do what I pretty much do all the time, pretend I’m prettier and richer and that every guy I meet leaves puddles of drool at my feet.
The only way to make it through the long hours of work is to play pretend. Every time my prick of a boss orders me to do something, I mentally assign it to one of my many servants who are all too willing to obey my every wish.
It’s a game I’ve played since I was little. It started when Kayla would be upset listening to our parents’ arguments. She was sensitive and as her big sister, it was my job to watch out for her, protect her. That there was no one to protect me was part of the reason that I continued the game long after Kayla didn’t need it any longer. I did, to keep my sanity in our house.
I didn’t move into a dorm when I started college. One, because it was way too expensive, and I had just enough scholarship to cover tuition and books. Room and board were out of the question. But I also didn’t leave because of Kayla and our parents.
I was eighteen to her fourteen when she told me she liked girls. At first, I didn’t think anything about it, didn’t get what she was saying because I was preoccupied with getting to work on time. It was when I saw her fallen face as she sat huddled on her twin size bed of the room, we share that it hit me.
I ended up calling in to work, mentally telling my boss off when he screamed at me that it was unprofessional to call off fifteen minutes before I had to be there, but I didn’t give a damn. My sister meant more to me than the measly seven bucks an hour I was paid at the fast-food joint.
I sat with her, hugging her tightly as I let her get it all out. The fright in her eyes when she mentioned our parents was what had me keeping my ass there when I’d been saving up for the last two years to get out. The determination to stay grew more when I came home the next night, fired from my shitty job and my dad laid into me for losing it. He made me pay him two hundred a month for my car, money he used to buy his booze, and he wasn’t happy to not have it coming in.
If Kayla had been older, I would have taken her with me that night and gotten a motel room somewhere. Anywhere would be better than living with our parents but I knew they’d make a fuss back then.
Now, they still might make a fuss. Kayla’s seventeen though, and it wouldn’t be as hard for us to convince someone to let her stay with me instead of them.
It’s taken me three years to get enough saved up to get us out of there. After I graduated my father began charging me rent on top of the car payment and made me donate money to cover my part of meals. I have just enough to cover a security deposit and one or two months of rent. That will give us a bit to get beds and all of that if we don’t find somewhere that’s furnished already.
Jesse’s hand rests on my back, keeping me up against his side and I have to fight against the sigh wanting to come out. I feel safe next to him. Yes, part of it is due to his sheer size. I mean, holy cow, the man is huge. Little memories of him carrying me three blocks like it was nothing are coming back to me, and I know it’s going to fill up a whole lot of the parts that have been vague in my little games.
Men and the sexier parts of my game are sorely lacking. As much as I work, I don’t have time to date. Then when I did manage one here or there, all they wanted was to fuck, and I couldn’t do it.
I have serious issues with people touching me thanks to my parents and the way they would grab us, jerk us around when they were angry. Other than Kayla, I don’t do physical touches with anyone. Expect Jesse.
It feels so good though. Safe and warm. I want to dive into it and stay. So yeah, definitely going to give me a whole new little avenue for my play.
A ringing pulls me from my thoughts, and I see him pull out the latest model phone, reminding me of the building we left. My breath slows as I mentally smack myself. Oh my god, that was the Cartwright Building and I’m pretty sure we were on the top floor. The place was empty, and I don’t see just anyone being able to come in and out of it.
“Hey Julie,” Jesse says, his hand on me slipping to my hip a bit, keeping me closer as people move the other way past us on the sidewalk. “Yes, if you see her let us know. Maddie and I are almost to the park, and we’ll start looking from the side closest to the offices.”
I can’t hear what his sister says but he smiles, and it makes him even sexier. And that makes me tear my gaze away from him when a conversation with Kayla about a year ago filters back through my head. She’s always been ambitious, wants to be a lawyer. Some jerk at school told her it wouldn’t happen if she was gay, and she was bummed for a couple weeks. Then it was as if some switch flipped, and she was beaming.
I’d asked her about it, and she told me her friend had sent her a blog about some hotshot CEO of Cartwright Construction. It’d noted that both Julie and Serena Cartwright were powerhouses in the company, with Serena running a home décor line that even we’d coveted.
I mean holy hell, he’s not just some hot hunk, he’s a hot hunk that’s richer and more powerful than I’ll ever manage to dream up. No one in town doesn’t know the name. No one in the state, the entire western half of the country likely doesn’t know the name.
“I sent you all her photo. Yes, Serena has it too. If you see her keep her in your sights, okay? I don’t know how she’d react to you just coming up to her,” Jesse adds to his sister, his gaze coming down to me, and his brows furl a bit. He lowers his phone against his side, stopping our movement, staring at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Huh?”
“You look…I don’t know, it’s more than just worried. We’ll find her, I promise,” he adds, bringing me into his chest and I sink into his hold, wanting it desperately. No, it wasn’t just worry on my face, it was pure disappointment knowing he’s more than out of my league. He’s out of my solar system.
“I know, just don’t want her worried about me,” I tell him, ignoring the ache in my chest.
My heart is not broken. I don’t even know him. There’s no way that my heart is broken because that’s absolutely ridiculous.
I’m not in love with him. Love at first sight—competent sight, isn’t a thing. “Can you tell them if they see Kayla, tell her I’m trying to find her, and pixie sticks.”
“Pixie sticks?” Jesse says, his brow lifting as a hint of a smile hits his lips.
“It was our code word when we were little to let each other know that the others around us were okay, safe. We live a lot further out from here,” I add when his eyes softened yet hardened at the same time. “It wasn’t the best neighborhood and there were always people moving in and out. When she was in elementary, and I was in middle school, I didn’t always know who was good to her and who wasn’t.”
“I’ll let them know,” he says softly, before going back to the call for another minute.
He hangs up but doesn’t let me go. Instead, his hand lifts my chin and the look in his eyes is incredible. I’d give anything to drown in that look the rest of my life, but there is no way that he’ll want me once he knows where I’m from, what my life is really like.
“You have nothing to worry about when it comes to you or your sister anymore, Maddie. I’ll take care of it, all of it now.”
“I can take care of myself,” I force out, not adding that I have to because no one else will.
“You don’t have to, not anymore,” he replies before leading us the rest of the way to the park. He keeps me right up against his side and I slip my hand onto his back, turning further into him as we squeeze past a group.
I barely contain the shiver from the electric connection that forms at the touch. It fills every bit of me, and I don’t drop it, or acknowledge it, pretending like I’m only doing it so I can stick close and not get lost.
Fifteen minutes later I see a couple moving towards us, grins growing on their faces spotting us.
“Hey Sis,” Jesse says, leaning down to hug one then the other of them. “This is Maddie. You haven’t seen Kayla?”
“No, not yet, but it’s pretty crowded this year,” his sister Julie says. “We can try to get them to make an announcement to find her, but we didn’t want to do it if…”
“She’s out, but I don’t think she’d like me treating her like a little kid being paged,” I tell them, smiling at their huge grins. They’re contagious.
“Let me talk to security, see if they can help find her,” Jesse says, making Julie’s eyes widen as a man in a dark t-shirt appears just to our left.
“How did you know they have security here?” she asks as Serena laughs, shaking her head.
“You paid for it, didn’t you?” Serena states, pulling a shrug from Jesse and fuck, there goes my denials. This man is too good not to fall for and my dumb ass isn’t getting the message to steer clear.
“I’ll be right back, stay with my sisters,” Jesse tells me, brushing the hair that’s slipped from my ponytail from my cheek. I nod, unable to speak. “Watch out for her, she had a run-in with some assholes earlier near the office. And I owe you some new band-aids.”
“We’ve got her,” Julie says, putting a hand on my arm and I can’t help but watch his tight ass walk away in those jeans. “Are you okay? I know my brother and he was about to lose his shit when he mentioned your run-in.”
The words spew out before I can stop them, my fingers wringing the edge of the top that is softer than anything I’ve ever owned. “I’ll wash this and bring it back.”
“I didn’t even know I had that still,” Julie says stopping me.
“I think it was when you were trying to be more girly, baby,” Serena says and Julie nods with a laugh.
“Yeah, love our girl to bits but I am not the dresses and skirts type.”
“I’d say she doesn’t care, and I know your brother doesn’t. He was trying to calm me down earlier and thanks to my shirt and where I was coming from thought I was gay and just didn’t want to report the guys because the cops are jerks. You’re really lucky to have him.”
A blush hits at the look that slips onto Julie’s face at my words but it’s true. If I had someone like Jesse in my corner, I’d never let him go.
“He’s pretty great and all of the nieces and nephews adore him. He’s our daughter’s godfather as well,” Julie says pulling up photos on her phone.
Oh my freaking god, seeing him holding a little girl without a shirt on wearing a pair of tight swim trunks…new fantasy game hell. That right there is prime material for tonight in the shower. No way am I keeping my hands off my clit remembering this.
