18 | Back on course
1776 Words
Jackie watched as it looked like Verin had just shut down. "Hey!" She clicked her fingers. What the actual f**k?
Verin blinked, looking embarrassed. She hadn't seen the look on his face before. She decided she didn't like it.
"I don't really understand what the f**k you guys are going through right now. I kinda feel like the unwitting designated driver during a really bad trip." She raised up onto her knees, forcing Jo to sit up a little straighter.
She turned Jo so she could see her face. She knew this woman more than anyone. Jo's silence wasn't right.
"Verin? Can you give us a minute?"
Verin smiled at Jackie, and she felt a flutter. He really was beautiful. "I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed."
"Uh, how about you wait a little bit, okay?" She took his hand, his smooth fingers gently wrapping around hers. "I'll come get you in a few, okay?"
He nodded and left them in the living area of his suite.
"Jesus f*****g Christ," she mumbled. She felt like she was stuck at a high school sleepover that got real but on steroids.
"I'm sorry, Jackie," Jo wiped her face hastily, "I'll do the rejection… or give him my full name so he can."
Jackie exhaled, "that was…"
"I know," Jo kissed her quickly, "I'm sorry. I should have told you last night when we realised. I–"
Jackie raised her hands. "Enough of that. That was intense. He already has an amazing way of zeroing in and just bringing you to an absolute point," she shook her head. She hadn't lied to Jo. She liked the guy. “Jo, he just declared his love to you through me." Jackie kicked her legs out and leaned back against the sofa. You sure can pick 'em, huh?" Her smile came easily.
Jo's puzzled look only made Jackie laugh. "You were very quiet throughout all of that."
"I didn't know what to say to him," Jo splayed her hands, "he seems so vulnerable…"
Jackie couldn't fully understand why this was causing such a reaction in the two, but she understood her woman.
"Three," Jackie said.
"What?" Jo frowned.
"Three out of five guys fell in love with you, if I don't even count Verin."
Jo's frown deepened, "So?" The track record was a sore spot.
"So? Every single one of them you laid out in no uncertain terms that you didn't reciprocate." Jackie pinched her lover's chin. "Everything Verin said, you just kept quiet. He seems to think you have no feelings for him, and you're letting him continue to think that."
"Of course, I can't let him have false hope," Jo sounded annoyed.
"What false hope?"
"That– that I could have you both."
Jackie thought about that. "Do you want that?"
Jo was quiet for a few beats, "I love our life."
"I love it too, but you're not answering me."
Jo's face twisted in anguish, "I'm such a horrible person."
"Jo–" Jackie took her hands. "I like what you said about our love. What you and Verin seem to have– it sounds overwhelming, but it sounds like what has you hurting is your denial that you want him too. I'm super confident in us. Always have been. You're mine."
Jo flashed a tear-streaked smile at her wording.
"Let's at least get to know him better. I can be the impartial decider in this."
"Impartial," Jo snorted, "I seem to recall you were ready to let him–"
Jo's words were cut off by Jackie tickling her, a yelp turning to laughter as Jackie kissed her on the neck.
"Let's see if we can get that boy off the ledge." Jackie stood up with effort, "I swear, my thirties will be the death of my knees."
Jo's hand trailed after her. "I'm not sure how to act with him."
"Don't act, precious," she stretched her legs on the short walk to the bedroom door.
"Yo Verin." She knocked, waiting a few beats of no answer before opening it. The light was out. She hesitated, not wanting to bother him if he'd actually fallen asleep–no way she could leave him to think Jo wanted to reject him, though. Urg, she thought. The word rejection felt nasty to her. So much worse than dumped.
"Hey," she called softly. She wandered to where she knew there was a switch for the side lamp.
Light cast across his back as he lay facing away from the door on the bed.
"Come on out."
"Okay."
When he didn't get up, she walked around the bed to look at his face. He rolled on his back, gazing at her. "I'll be out in a sec."
"It's going to be okay, man."
"Yeah?" He pulled himself up to seating, "Maybe… I'm sure Celeste would have something perky to say. After calling me a soft t**t first."
"Sounds like I'd like her," Jackie perched on the corner of the bed.
"You wouldn't," he didn't smile.
"I feel like I'm in primary school passing messages between crushes," Jackie grumbled.
He sighed. "I didn't understand any of that."
Jackie ran her fingers through her short hair. "Man. I've gotta get you to watch some key movies–it'll get you right into the zeitgeist."
She could see him absorbing the word.
He smiled shyly, "I've never really spent much time with people."
"I could have guessed,” Jackie quipped, but her voice had a playful edge. It got her a sexy glare from Verin.
He continued, "Apart from Celeste, I don't think I've had a conversation with someone outside of work in years…"
"Jesus Verin, can you stop making me feel bad for you." She gently punched his knee, just to give him physical contact. "I'm going to say this once and once only. You try to take her from me, and I'll castrate you."
Verin's eyebrows raised, not just at the threat but the implication of the words. "Meaning?"
"Meaning, come out and have a drink and, I don't know, a wank?"
He couldn't stop the laughter she brought out in him. "She's…"
"Willing to get to know you," she answered, "let's start there."
~*~
They were close to the halfway mark of the whisky now.
They had started to talk slowly, just about childhood things, schooling, and growing up.
Jackie shrugged, "We had more friends early in our relationship, but as everyone got older, we fell out of contact. We have a few friends left, but we just work and hang out." She took Jo's hand and kissed it.
Verin sat across from the two women as they sat together on the carpet. Jo and Jackie were leaning against each other. He didn't feel excluded, but he wished he could touch them.
"Why a cafe?" He asked, more out of trying to keep the conversation going.
Jackie snorted, "'cause we're sadists." She poured them all another glass of champagne. "We met working at the place, so when the owner wanted to sell it, we decided to buy it. We're trying to settle the loan so we can start to hire other people, but it's been a tough couple of years."
Verin relaxed into the atmosphere as the conversation continued. This felt so natural. He felt a charge every time Jo met his eyes. Jackie was smiling easily and became playful again–their easy friendship was still in place. He examined his level of comfort with the other woman. While an element where they felt the need to challenge each other, Jackie didn't feel like they were rivals.
They shared a collective boo when they finished the champagne.
Jackie picked it up, turned it upside down in the ice bucket, and twirled it.
"I'll take an e for empty, Jackie," Jo joked.
Jackie smiled slightly and grabbed the bottle. "Wanna play spin the bottle?"
Jo rolled her eyes. "We're not fifteen and need an excuse to kiss."
"Oh really, 'cause that's what it felt like to me all night."
Verin perked up, "What is it?"
Jackie grinned wickedly and sat back from Jo so they were in a triangle shape.
"Whoever the bottle lands on I have to kiss and so on and so forth," Jackie explained. She shook her head, "It's so wild you didn't grow up with this."
"We had a similar game."
They gathered closer, only three of them to make up a circle. Jackie spun it, and it landed definitively on Verin. "You didn't use any magic, did you?"
He laughed, "No. Jo vouch for that."
Jackie shrugged and knelt to bend over the bottle and kiss him. Her lips lingered, so he took it as an invitation to deepen it. He rocked forward a little in his crossed legs, positioning himself forward and cupping her face with his hand.
She pulled back, catching his eye. Game on.
Jackie had shown her interest. He needed Jo now.
He glanced at Jo to see the effect of the kiss on her. She was biting her lip. He could see she was uncertain about being intimate now that they felt their matebond.
He spun the bottle. It landed on Jo. She tried to brush it off, still dismissing the game as silly. Which it was. He leant on his hands, coming up to his knees. He was deliberate as he leant forward for his kiss. He didn't like how hesitant she was. He hoped it was just her worried how Jackie would respond to her want for him.
An electric buzz of magic ignited his skin where they met. She moaned as he teased her mouth open for him.
He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers, taking a deep breath. "You feel that, don't you?" He needed to know. Needed her to tell him that this wasn't all him.
"Yes," she breathed. He took her mouth again, tasting her like it was the first time.
It felt like a long time before he could pull back from the kiss. She opened her eyes slowly as he withdrew.
"Whoa," she mumbled.
"Whoa indeed," Jackie said in awe. She had come up on her knees, drawn to watching them together.
Jo grabbed the bottle and pointed it to Jackie, pulling her by the front of her shirt and crushing their lips together. She leaned against the couch, reaching for Verin as Jackie fell on her. She turned her face to take his mouth again. She roiled under them, their hands joining her body. Verin found Jackie's mouth as he grinded against Jo, Jackie straddling Jo's leg.
~*~
- Writer
