I wasn’t going to waste another minute of my precious time with Payton worrying about my confrontation with my dad because all I cared about now was having her in my arms.
“Can I call Claire real quick? I sort of need to check in with her and Jessie because I could possibly owe them an apology.”
“What happened?”
“I went over to Claire’s this morning because I needed to talk to her. When I walked in, the house was super quiet so I thought everyone was at work and she was sleeping late. I was gonna wake her up by jerking her covers off and screaming, “Rise and shine.” Well, there was some rise and definitely some shine because Jessie was in bed with her and they weren’t wearing clothes.”
“I knew he was sneakin’ into her bed.”
Payton’s phone rang right before she reached for it and she saw that it was Claire. “I swear I think we have telepathy sometimes.” She slid the bar and said, “Hey, I was just about to call you to tell you again how sorry I am for walking in on you and Jessie. I had no idea. I swear I thought he was at work.”
She looked at me and smiled. “He’s at my house right now.”
She drew an invisible heart on my leg with her finger. “We’re together together.”
She pointed to her phone and rolled her eyes. “I know that. We took the same Biology class. Remember?”
That had the ring of a safe sex talk about it.
“Maybe you should take your own advice because I’m pretty sure that was you I found naked with your boyfriend this morning. The same boyfriend who you say you aren’t having sex with.” Yep, she was definitely trying to give Payton the safe sex talk.
“I believe you.” She held the phone out to me. “Jessie wants to talk to you.”
I fell back against the couch and groaned. For real? When was he gonna stop this protective brother bullshit? I was gonna seriously blow my top if he tried to add insult to injury by giving me the safe sex talk when I wasn’t gettin’ any.
I took the phone from Payton, prepared to tell Jessie to screw himself if he started lecturing me. “Waddup?”
“Claire says you and Payton are together now.”
I felt myself immediately becoming defensive. “That’s right.” Wait for it. Wait for it and here we go with the warnings about how I better not hurt her, but that’s not what came next.
“I’m happy for you, man. I think you’ll be good for each other.”
That wasn’t what I expected to hear. “Thanks, man, and just so you know...I plan on being good for her.”
“I believe you, but if you hurt her, Claire will make good on her threat to yank your balls up over your ears.” Now, this was more like it. That’s more like what I expected to hear out of him.
“Neither of you have to worry because I’m not gonna hurt her. I swear it.”
I wrapped up my conversation with Jessie and passed the phone back to Payton so she could say bye to Claire. When she got off the phone, she looked at me and smiled. “Overprotective, huh?”
“Maybe a little bit.”
“A little bit my ass. I think they’re afraid we’ll get it on before they do.”
“What? They live in the same house. Do you really think he’s not banging her every night?” Ooh, bad choice of words to say to my new girlfriend. “Sorry. That didn’t come out right.”
“Nick, I may be a virgin but my ears aren’t. I’m okay with you calling it ‘banging.’ I happen to have some very colorful names for it myself.”
Man, she was already an awesome girlfriend and I couldn’t wait to hear what her colorful names were.
“I’m not saying he hasn’t tasted her nectar, but trust me. They aren’t locking loins. Claire’s dad put a c**k block on Jessie. He warned him before he moved in with them that if he found out they were having sex, he was out on his ass. It was actually a very smart move on Dr. Deveraux’s part. If he hadn’t let him move in, Jessie would be hidin’ the snake in Claire every day. This way, he gets to keep an eye on them and he guilted Jessie into keeping his daughter a virgin.”
Another virgin? I had no idea there were so many. Must be a Franklin thing because it sure wasn’t a Collinsville thing. “There’s plenty of places he could take her so her dad wouldn’t catch them.”
“Claire has begged him, but he won’t because he promised Dr. Deveraux he wouldn’t. I think it’s an honor thing with him because of the way he grew up. He wants to prove that he can do the right thing even though he was raised by two of the most unfit people in the world.”
“So...what’s the deal? He’s gonna marry Claire before they lock loins?”
“You’ve got it and from the looks of it this morning, they’ll be gettin’ married a lot sooner than I thought. There’s no way they’ll hold out until they’ve finished college if they’re already gettin’ naked together. That little sneak didn’t tell me they were doing everything but the deed itself.”
Wow. Jessie had really turned out to be a stand up kind of guy and I suddenly felt inferior. Payton wanted someone like him so that’s what she would expect from me and I wondered if I could be this person for her? I only knew one thing for sure. I would try my damnedest to be anything she wanted me to be. Her game, her rules.
She got up from the couch and grabbed my hand, giving it a tug. “Come upstairs with me.”
Whoa! I knew she wanted me to stay all night, but that sounded like an invitation to sleep upstairs with her, maybe even in the same bed. While I freakin’ loved the idea of being so close to her, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Getting into bed with her would be like starting a fire I might not be able to contain.
I had to quit thinking that way. That was the old me and I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. It was wrong for me to assume she would want me to sleep with her in the same bed. She was probably putting me in the guest room. They certainly had enough of them.
Please. Let her put me in the guest room.
Nope. She took me into her bedroom. She let go of my hand and went over to the bed and started tossing the pillows over into the corner of her room. “You can use my bathroom while I turn the bed back.”
“Okay.” That’s all I could say and it sounded like it came from a twelve year-old boy going through puberty when it squeaked out of my mouth.
I went into her bathroom and shut the door behind me. I looked around and saw her toothbrush in a holder. As if on cue, I heard her call out from her bedroom. “You can use my toothbrush if that doesn’t gross you out.”