AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hopefully, that means she’ll enjoy the books that, for the most part, are forgotten in the extensive basement library between Rick’s room and the gym.
I walk down the hall toward her room, passing by Spencer’s. His door is closed. I haven’t seen much of him this week, other than when Kratos called him in to help with the tech side of setting up Jade’s transcripts and family past. I can’t say I’m upset about that after what happened Friday night. The only way I want to see his face is if he’s apologizing to Jade, and even then, I’m not sure I want to.
I walk up to her door and knock twice before I push it open, not waiting for her to respond. Since she moved in, we’ve spent a lot of time in each other’s rooms and company, and after the first few nights, she told me I was welcome in her room. I didn’t know exactly what she meant until the night of the party when I knocked at her door to see how she was after Spencer lost his shit. She yelled at me for waiting for her to let me in. Now, I just knock out of habit, but so long as I go in right after, I don’t get yelled at anymore.
I close her door behind me after I let myself in. I expect to find her on her bed listening to music or working out, but she isn’t.
We brought up a few simple weights, a jump rope, and a few other small things so that she could work out a little here instead of always going to the gym. Now that she’s eating more, she has more ability to build muscle, and even after just a week with us, I swear I can see the difference. She looks healthy, less like she could blow away with a strong breeze. I can only imagine how she will be in a year or two.
Imagining her here for an extended period of time has me stopping midstep. I’ve never thought long-term with most things in life, even less so regarding women. They have always been like a revolving door for me: women come and go. The only constant in life was the guys and our position in Vengeance. But something about her being around feels right to me, and while the idea might be scary, I can picture her here easily. Having made a place for herself and built a home with us.
Surprisingly the idea of her not being here in a year or two is actually worse. Having the options laid out like that in my mind makes me want to ask her what her plans are for the future, but I know this is all new to her, and pushing those questions now could scare her away. I’ll ask her someday, but for now, I’m just going to enjoy this.
I take a few steps further into her room before I hear the water running. One thing Jade seems to be obsessed with that really threw me at first was the fact that she had a shower in her room. During one of her first days here, I teased her about it because who doesn’t have a shower in their room?
Apparently, she didn’t.
She explained that when she was living with the dirtbag who owned her, they rarely got to shower, mostly when she was going out to see a client. Even then, the showers were very short, only allowing her to get clean with just the bare necessities. There were no beautifully scented shampoos and body wash. Hell, conditioner wasn’t something she even knew about until I showed it to her.
Hot water, forget it. Before coming here, she had never had a warm shower, let alone a hot one. So now, I just let her enjoy her showers even when she decides to take two or three a day sometimes. I can’t imagine the life she lived before coming here, where something so simple as a warm shower and things I consider basic items to live were unheard of.
I plop down on the end of the bed as I try to imagine the kind of hell she had to endure, not for the first time. But, like always, my thoughts take a dark turn, and I have to push them from my mind. It makes me want to stab people when I think of how hard it had to have been for her and all the shit she had to endure to get here. While I intend to do just that if I’m ever given a chance, I would rather not focus on that now before I get to spend my night with her.
I sit on the bed, lost in my thoughts. I must have missed the silence that filled the room when the water shut off and the click of the bathroom door as it opened, letting steam waft out of the bathroom.
The smell of her pomegranate shampoo pulls me from my thoughts as she walks out into the room and heads to her dresser. She doesn’t look at me as I watch her, but I know she knows I’m here. Another fun fact I’ve learned about Jade is that she’s damn near impossible to sneak up on. Years of being on high alert seem to have made that her default setting, again, not that I can blame her. It’s still weird just how well she pays attention, though. Other than Rick and Spencer, most other people are easy for me to get around undetected. Shit, most of my roles in our early runs with grunt work consisted of sneaking around. It’s something I’m damn good at, if I do say so myself.
Even with my thoughts in other places, my eyes never leave her. I can’t help but smile as I watch her stop before the dresser and grab long, loose-fitting pajama pants and a tight tank top. It doesn’t escape my notice that she seems to have skipped over not only a bra but also panties.
“So, what do we have planned for tonight?” She asks me, her back still mostly to me, before she pulls her towel off her body to work on drying her hair.
I intend to tell her it’s a surprise, but the words get caught in my throat as my eyes trace down her body, over every curve and bare inch of skin that is now visible. The water from her hair beads down her back before she gets the towel to it, and I follow down it with my eyes. It trails around the side of her breast that's on display, even with her mainly facing away from me.
Her body’s riddled with scars, most of which are small and hard to notice if you're not looking for them. The only real exception is the one across her back. Just looking at it makes me want to stab people, but again that's for another time.
I pull my eyes away from her scars and let them wander the rest of her. She has to feel my eyes on her, but if she has an issue with my wandering gaze, she doesn’t voice it.
Even covered in scars, she’s beautiful. I think they add to her beauty, honestly.
It sounds crazy. Trust me, I know. But seeing her on display, knowing she’s fought to be here and stay alive, makes each scar add to her value instead of taking away from it. I know she’d disagree, I’ve seen how she looks at herself in the mirror, but maybe I can show her how wrong she is. If she gives me a chance, I intend to worship the ground she walks on.
“Earth to Zander.” Jade says with a little laugh, and I have to physically shake my head to clear it.
“Oh shit, what did you say? I was distracted.” I know she asked me something, but I can’t for the life of me recall what it was.
I feel like a teenage boy who saw a girl naked for the first time. I rub my thumb against the handle of my blade on my hip, a nervous tick I’ve picked up over the years. I don’t know what it is about her, but she makes me feel like a nervous virgin all over again. It’s ridiculous considering the number of women I’ve not only seen naked but slept with over the years, yet here we are, and I can’t say I hate it.
As she watches me, her smile only grows, and for a moment, I worry she’s laughing at me, that I’ve made a fool of myself. But, looking closer, I can see the humor in her eyes is playful, and that has me smiling back at her as my worries all but melt away.
I’msofucked.
“I asked what we’re doing tonight.” She repeats, and as soon as she says it, I remember her asking, and I nod.
She drops the towel from her hair and picks up her brush before working it through the long wet strands. I fucking love her hair, I loved it when it was blonde, but now, it’s just so her; I can’t even picture her going back.
She turns a little, facing me more, and I can’t hold back the groan that comes out of my mouth as I take in her body that she so shamelessly put on full display.
“Doll, if you want any hope of us having a conversation, I’m going to need you to put those clothes on.” I tell her as I scrub my hand down my face. It almost physically hurts me to ask her to cover herself, but I really have no hope of talking, let alone us ever leaving this room if she doesn’t.
