On His Knees by Tabatha Kiss

Chapter 79

Seth

Jenna opens the freezer door and grabs a small icepack from inside. I wait at their kitchen table on Shanty Row, gently probing my throbbing cheekbone while Heidi tends to Drew across from me. She slowly places a butterfly bandage along his split right eyebrow, but presses it down a bit too hard.

“Ouch,”Drew says.

She winces. “Sorry.”

“Gentle,little sister,” I tease. “You gotta be gentle.”

“Yeah, where was your gentle touch when you clocked him?” she asks, her expression dripping with playful ire.

“Hey, it could have been much worse,” I joke. “I was aiming for his nuts.”

Drew laughs with me as Heidi rolls her eyes. “Aw, man. I miss nights like these.”

“Me too, brother.”

“Big, dumb decisions at big, dumb parties.”

“Waking up covered in bruises in some random bed across campus.”

“Nearly getting the frat shut down...”

“Twice,”we say together.

“It’s a miracle that tonight was the first and only time we ever got banned,” I say.

“Only until the end of the semester, and then we’re back.” He points at Heidi and Jenna. “Your graduation parties cannot be missed.”

“Oh, I remember yours,” Heidi says pointedly. “I still have nightmares of you two in that giant animatronic gorilla suit.”

“No,” I say. “That was Taint Night.”

“Taint Night.” Drew sighs. “Good times.”

I extend my hand across the table. He takes it. “It’s going to be just as good — nay, better — at our bar. Every night is gonna be one big party.”

He squeezes my hand. “Hell yeah, brother!”

“Yes, one big party,” Jenna says. “With payroll and liquor licenses and building codes and all that fun party stuff.”

“Do you mind?” I say. “We’re manifesting here.”

She smirks. “Sorry.”

She approaches me from the side with the icepack wrapped in a thin towel. I sit back and tilt my bruised face toward her. She rests the pack against my cheek in just the right spot, soothing my pain without an ounce of discomfort.

“See, Heidi?” I smile at my woman. “Gentle.”

Jenna smiles back, her trained eyes scanning my face for other injuries.

Heidi screws up her face. “So, you guys are really doing this, huh?” she asks, more curious than judgmental.

“Yeah,” Jenna answers, softly shifting the pack to my jaw. “We are.”

I look her in the eye. Maybe it’s just this particular night altogether, but a wave of nostalgia brings a sense of peace. My life, for all its difficulties, set me down in this exact spot. With this exact woman. At this exact time.

“So, fun Seth and Jenna fact,” I say to Heidi and Drew. “We had our first kiss in this exact spot.”

Heidi swoons. Forever the romantic. “Really?”

Jenna nods. “Uh-huh. It was a wonderful memory,” she adds with sarcastic bite.

“Hey, I look back on that night fondly, as a matter of fact,” I say.

“What was your favorite part, exactly? The kiss or the fist you took to the face?”

“What?” Heidi flinches. “You hit him?”

“I didn’t,” Jenna says. “Bobby did.”

“Bobby?Bobby was here?!”

“Briefly.”

“What happened?”

“I kicked his ass,” I say, puffing my chest out.

Jenna raises a brow, but she lets me have that one.

“To answer your question: Neither,” I say. “My favorite part happened after the kiss.”

Jenna bites her bottom lip as a little blush invades her cheeks.

Heidi bristles nervously. “What happened after?”

We don’t answer, but I accidentally look too long at the table between us.

Heidi pulls her elbows off the table.

Drew clears his throat and points to the front door. “We had our first kiss on the porch,” he says, expertly bringing the conversation back on course.

Heidi swoons again as she reaches for his hand. “We did.”

Jenna nods. “Yeah, this house has seen some shit, that’s for sure.”

“Good shit mostly, though,” Heidi says, then pauses on us. “In our case, anyway...”

Jenna looks at me again. “Eh, it all worked out. So far.”

“Yeah.” I smile softly. “So far.”

We share a lingering glance, one full of affection.

“Whoa.”Drew sits up, his eyes locked on his phone.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“I haven’t checked my messages all night,” he says, looking up. “Nora went into labor tonight.”

“What?” Heidi asks. “I thought she wasn’t due for another month.”

“She’s not. I mean, she wasn’t. It’s a boy.”

“Aw!” She bounces with excitement. “A Scorpio, just like me!”

Drew drifts into a thousand-yard stare. “I’m in charge of a company right now.”

Jenna winces. “Maybe don’t tell her you celebrated the night by getting thrown out of a frat house,” she suggests.

I reach across the table again, placing a firm hand on his. “You’re going to be great, Drew,” I say. “This is our year.”

The words bring his eyes back. He nods with a wide smile as that Delta Xi confidence returns to his shoulders. “Yeah,” he says. “This is our year!”

I raise a fist. “Delta Xi!”

He raises his. “Delta Xi!”

* * *

Jenna’s bedroom.

It was off-limits once. Now, I stand here without fear of getting yelled out for being on her side of the house. Now, I stand in full view of the hallway without fear of getting caught by my little sister. Tonight, I stand by her desk without fear of getting scolded for going through her private things.

Life is certainly strange sometimes. One day, you kiss a little girl’s ouchie. The next thing you know, you’re standing in her room in a pair of boxers and a T-shirt, getting ready for bed.

“Goodnight, guys!” Jenna says just outside in the hallway.

“Goodnight!” Heidi and Drew shout back from her room. “Goodnight, Seth!” she adds.

“Goodnight!” I respond.

Jenna enters the bedroom in a white tank top and bright pink pajama pants. “Whatcha doing?” she asks as she notices me lingering over her desk.

I point at her calendar. “Lunch with Mom tomorrow,” I read.

“Oh.” She wrinkles her nose. “Yeah.”

“Not looking forward to it?”

“Oddly enough, I kinda am. I was dreading it at first, but after tonight...” She shrugs a shoulder. “I’m feeling very much on the forgiveness train for now.”

I smile. “You want me to come with?”

She hesitates. “Maybe not the best idea...”

“Save it for the holidays?” I joke.

“As if they aren’t awkward enough.”

Jenna spins toward the bed and sits down to check her phone.

I glance at the closed door. “Are you sure it’s cool I stay here?” I ask.

“Yeah. Why? You’ve stayed here before.”

“I’ve snuck in and out of here before. This seems different.”

“Oh, trust me. It’s fine.” She throws open the covers and climbs inside. “Heidi and I talked it out and if you could handle all the nights she’s stayed over at your place with Drew over the last few years, then she can handle you staying over with me. It’s only fair.”

“That is an interesting point,” I say. “I have handled that situation with maturity.”

She lets that slide. “As long as everyone treats everyone else with respect and keeps audible bedroom activities to the bare minimum, then everyone will be happy.”

I nod. Sounds reasonable. And mature.

Jenna pats the empty side of the bed. My side. “Turn off the light and come to bed.”

I obey, flicking off the light before climbing in with her. Jenna instantly curls up with me, resting her head on my chest as our legs entwine beneath the covers. I wrap an arm around her, thrilled to hold her without worry of consequence. With closed eyes, I settle in, happy to get a good night’s sleep after the night we’ve had.

“Hey, Seth.”

I hum in acknowledgment.

A moment of quiet. “What’s on your vision board?”

I chuckle. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I want to know!” She tilts her head up to look at me in the dark. “And I want to help.”

“Honestly, I had trouble thinking of what to even put on it. I got the idea to run a 5k from the internet. By the way, you want to run a 5k with me?”

“Sure! Number one done. What else?”

I draw a blank. “I don’t know.”

Jenna twists onto her belly and props herself up on her elbows. “Where do you see yourself a year from now?” she asks. “Or three. Or five.”

“Employed, hopefully,” I quip.

She playfully smacks my arm.

I open my eyes, peeking at her as she smiles at me. “Well, a year from now, I’ll be out of school. I’ll have my MBA.”

“There you go! Sounds like a good number two. Graduate.”

“Then...” I think it over. “Well, number three on Drew’s board was open the bar, so... I wanna open the bar. Number three.”

“How long do you think that’ll take?” she asks.

“Now that I can devote some full-time hours to it...” I think aloud. “A year-ish? Maybe?”

“That’s quick.”

“That’s me and Drew. Put our minds to something, we get it done.”

“Keep going!” She lightly kisses my cheek, careful not to press too hard on my bruise. “You’re on a roll.”

“I guess I’d like to pay down at least one of my loans, if possible.”

“Manifest it, babe.”

I laugh as I look at her. “What should my number five be?” I ask.

“Well...” She licks her lips. “I usually saved my number five for something relationship-related, so... where do you see us a year from now? Or three? Or five?”

I pause, unsure how to answer. It’s a good question, though. A year ago, I never could have predicted where we’d be right now. In fact, if I were to travel back in time and tell Seth Newbury that a year from now I’d be lying in bed with Jenna Abrams and planning our future together, I’d have kicked my own ass.

“Actually, maybe you shouldn’t answer that,” Jenna says, chuckling awkwardly as she turns her head away. “Learn a new life skill. It’s the Heidi classic. Stick with that.”

I touch her face in the dark. I turn toward her, guiding her onto her back as I crush her lips with mine. It’s a firm kiss, one passionate enough to say everything I want to say out loud.

A year from now? We’re together.

Three years from now? Still together.

Five years from now? Guess what? Still together. We might have even bought a house by then. Or a nice condo, if that’s more our style. The bar will be profitable and thriving. She’ll be working at a hospital nearby. I’ll get off work at three in the morning, just in time to come home and cook her dinner as she comes home from a sixteen hour shift.

Yeah. I think that would be nice.

I deepen the kiss. I touch down her body, slipping my hand into her pants to cup her ass and pull her even harder against me.

Jenna gasps as a moan escapes her throat.

“Shh,”I warn, dropping to kiss her neck. “You better be quiet...”

She bites her lip, and her breath quickens. Her chest rises to meet me as I slide down her body. Hidden beneath the covers, I kiss her collarbone. The hollow of her throat. The valley between her breasts as I squeeze them.

Silently, she squirms. She combs her fingers through my hair, wanting more, and I’m going to give it to her. She wanted a man who didn’t mind spending a little time on his knees, after all...

But first...

I return to her. I kiss her one more time on the lips. Then the tip of her nose. Her forehead. One beneath each eye.

Jenna laughs, her ouchies more than smothered. “What?”

I smile. “I love you.”

She caresses my cheek with her thumb. “I love you, too,” she whispers.

Of all the girls in the world, it was this one?

Yeah.

It really was.