Chapter Twenty-Six
After dinner and a few showers later, the Barakat’s and Gaskarth’s slept under one roof. Mr. and Mrs. Barakat and May were held up in the guest room while Jack slept in my room, “on the floor”. That’s what I told my parents, said it would be too weird to have him in my bed half naked. But as soon as I closed the door, Jack was already making himself comfortable on my bed. I slid onto the other side and let him put his arm around my stomach, resting his head on my chest.
“Did your parents talk to the construction workers?” I asked, stroking the sides of his hair.
Jack sighed. “Yeah, they did. Reconstruction of that side of the house should take a few weeks, a month or two at most. And then refurnishing is a whole other story. My mom loved her kitchen and decorating May’s room just how she wanted it took time on its own.”
“The fire didn’t touch your room, right?”
“No, thankfully it didn’t spread that far. Or to my parents room. But it’s still going to take a lot of work.” He closed his eyes. “I’m so tired.”
“Go to sleep,” I murmured, reaching over to turn the lamp off.
Jack didn’t protest, snuggling under the covers. I pressed my body against his, leaning my forehead against his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," I whispered in the darkness.
Jack turned his head. "For what? You didn't do anything."
"For everything that happeend to you today. It's just not right."
Jack sighed. "No one deserves to have their house burned down. I'm just the idiot who left the toaster on."
"Hey," I reached up and cupped his face, "it was an accident. It could have happened to anyone."
"I know that." He looked at me and smiled. "Can we got to bed now?"
I grinned. "Of course, Jack."
Jack turned on his side, facing me as I wound my arms around him.
"Goodnight," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of my jaw.
"Goodnight," I whispered back in the same volume, watching as his eyes slipped shut and sleep quickly overtook him.
I followed shorty in suit.
_ _ _
[Jack POV]
"Jack! Hey, Jack!"
I turned around at Rian's frantic voice, watching as he rushed around people to get to me.
"Hey man," I said, slinging my backpack over my shoulder.
"I heard about the accident yesterday," he said breathlessly. "Is everyone okay? Your parents? May?"
"Yeah, Ri, everyone's perfectly fine. No one was hurt. In fact, no one was home when it happened."
"Damn that's rough. How'd it happened?" He questioned.
"My dumbass self left the toaster on before I went off to school," I explained, rolling my eyes because it sounded dumber and dumber everytime I said it out loud.
Rian's mouth fell open. "You're joking right."
"I know, I'm an idiot. I get it."
"Hey, guys!"
Alex appeared the next second, a giant grin on his face as he stood beside me. "What's going on?"
Rian clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Just making sure Jack here hasn't burned down his whole street. Heard he's moved in with you."
Alex nodded. "You've heard right."
"Well if you get sick of him and the rest of the Barakat Clan, you send them my way for a few weeks."
"I'll definitly keep that in mind," he said, chuckling.
I turned to Rian. "Have you seen Zack yet this morning?"
He shrugged. "No, why?"
"Just wondering. The last time we lost track of him we found him with a black eye."
"I'll keep an eye out for him," Rian promised just as the bell rang.
"See yah after school, Rian," I said as we went our seperate ways. Alex followed me, leaning against the locker beside mine, watching as I gathered my books.
"What are you staring at?" I asked bashfully.
"Someone cute," he answered, biting his bottom lip as he smiled. But that smile quickly faded away as he looked past my shoulder.
"What is it?" I asked, following his gaze. Emma was turning down the hall and seemed to be making her way. She passed us without even making a glance.
Alex sighed heavly, banging the back of his head against the lockers. "She hates me."
"Well you kind of did break her heart," I said.
I earned a slap to the arm. "You were basically the reason we broke up, Jackass!" Alex shouted.
I rolled my eyes. "Hardly the point. She doesn't hate you, Alex, she's just hurt."
He shook his head. "I've never cheated on a girl before. Hell, I've never broken a heart!"
"There's a first time for everything," I murmured.
Alex threw me a death glare. "This isn't funny, Jack, I don't know how to deal with this!"
I shut my locker. "Alex, it's been weeks. She'll move on, I promise. I thought we were past the Emma thing anyway."
"We are! I just . . . I can't look at her without feeling disguested with myself."
I reached out and squeezed his arm. "Don't think about it that way. Alex, you would have been leading her on if you dated her for longer than you did."
"You make it sound like I did her a favor."
"In a way, you did. You're gay, Alex. If you stayed with Emma for much longer and then realized that, it would have been like a slap in the face for her."
Alex frowned. "I guess I didn't look at it that way."
"I'm sure you didn't want to.
The kid went silent, probably yelling at himself inside his head. I rolled my eyes, thinking he was too hard on himself most of the time.
Quickly, I pressed my lips against his forehead, catching him off gaurd. He looked up at me with confusion which soon melted into admiration as he came forward, leaning his head against my shoulder.
I wrapped my arm around his back. "It's gonna be alright, kid."
_ _ _
[Alex POV]
"Jack! Can you help me with dinner please?" I called from the kitchen. Jack was tucked away in my room, surrounded by his school work, taking a keen interest in his studies lately. But I was two seconds away from dropping my pot of pasta sauce if he didn't come and help.
"Let me get that!" He said, rushing into the kitchen and grabbing the pots' handles.
I sighed. "Thank you, I was about to drop that."
"What's for dinner?" He asked, sniffing the sauce.
"Just regular pasta," I said, stirring the meat around in the pan. Jack came up behind me, pressing his hips into my backside.
"Smells amazing," he growled, kissing my neck. The scratchyness of his tiny beard tickled my jaw, making me insticntivly push him away.
"Stop that, Jack, before someone come's home and sees."
"I don't care who sees," he murmured, sneaking a quick kiss.
I shrugged him off. "Well I do. Jack, if my parents ever caught us they'd send me somehwere far, far away so they'll be no you and probably no internet. Jack, I can't live without internet!"
Jack laughed, wrapped his arms around my waist and pulling me forward. "Alex, relax. I talked to my parents; no one's gonna be home until well after midnight. We have all night together."
"Really?"
Jack nodded, letting go of me.
"Well then," I said, "I guess we should eat fast then so we can enjoy it."
Needless to say we scarfed down our food. And then I was pulling Jack towards the backyard and to the hot tub.
"Hot tub? You've had a hot tub this whole time and you're just telling me now?"
I shurgged. "Didn't occur to me." I stripped off my shirt and stepped out of my pants. "You coming or what?"
Jack picked his mouth off the ground and copied me until he lowered himself into the bubbling water. He leaned back against the edge, sighing in contempt.
"Hey," I murmured, catching his attention. "I'm almost glad you're house burned down."
Jack chuckled. "That's something you don't hear everyday."
"I know, it sounds selfish. But I like waking up with you next to me in the morning, and laying my head on your shoulder at night."
He smiled, reaching over to graze his wet finger down my cheek. "It's not selfish at all, Alex. I like it too. I just wish we didn't have to tiptoe around this house."
I sighed, scooting closer to him. "We'll get away this summer, just you and me. No judgmental parents, no pestering friends. Just you and I. I promise."
"That sounds amazing," Jack murmured before pressing his lips to mine. I snaked my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. His lips made their way to my neck, biting down gently, sending shivers down my spine.
Jack, taking the lead as always, turned me around so that I was pinned up against the edge of the hottub and he was on top of me, chest-to-chest.
It was dark enough that we could get away with anything and I was too eager to stop Jack from what he was doing to my neck.
His sneaky hands made their way down my chest, stopping at each of my nipples to give them a teasing squeeze. I bit my lip to control myself because even though it may have been dark out, people could still hear.
"Jack, J-Jack . . . maybe we should take this inside," I panted, sqirming around and splashing the water as those rough hands of his grazed my hips.
Jack acted as if he didn't hear me, going for the waist band of my boxers. It took me grabbing his hands and holding him in a tight vice to get his attention.
"No one's gonna hear us out here, Alex," he said in a reassuring tone. "Don't be so paranoid."
I frowned. "Please, Jack?"
Jack hung his head in defeat. "Will it make you feel better?"
"Yes, very."
"Well come on, then. I've just started my fun."
I quickly rushed from the hot tub, Jack right behind me. He scooped me up from behind, throwing me over his shoulder.
"Jack!" I laughed, holding onto his shoulders. "You drop me and so help me God..."
Jack didn't need any direction to my bedroom. He kicked open the door swiftly, laying me down on the bed before him.
Jack's eyes wandered up and down my body and I almost felt a little insecure. What was he looking at? Did I have everything he was looking for? Did I appeal to him in ways no other has before?
Jack grinned, chuckling to himself. "You are just so . . . sexy. I must be the luckiest guy in the world if I get even a moment with you."
Insecruites terminated. "I think you'll be getting a little more than a moment of me tonight."
With that, Jack hooked a finger inside my boxers and pulled them down and just like that I was fully exposed. But with those light brown eyes connected with mine, I had no reason to feel insecure.
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