her sweet chains

Episode 33

Five weeks later

"Anther rough night?" Ashton asked lightly as I slid into my usual seat next to him yawning as he pushed a large hot chocolate towards me.

"No I good night a rough morning" I said taking a large swig. "Oh I f*****g love you." I muttered as soon as I tasked the thick sweet liquid.

"So you made first class today."

"I haven't ditched that many." I said blandly,

"You've ditched too many." He cautioned "your way too smart to just be Failing." I shrugged

"Makes no difference in the end whatever my grades I'm going to end up back home doing property law." I snarled blandly.

"Oh is that why you're hiding and really embracing student life." I gave Ashton a light smile before I pulled out my notepads, as thankfully the tutor entered. He was right of course he had been ever since he had grown in confidence enough to start voicing an opinion on the matter. Which had been quite a recent development, but he was completely right. Over the last five weeks I had really begun embracing student life, the dimension I was currently experiencing involved ditching class, drinking and casual f*****g, well it should have involved casual f*****g but I just couldn't. I found it easy to attract guys, fun to fool around with but I just could knowing how it would feel to Derek I couldn't I didn't hate him I didn't want to hurt him. So I embraced the rest and just went home alone . Jamie knew what I was doing of course but he didn't ask why he didn't seem to want to know and to be honest I don't think I could have explained it Derek didn't seem to like my new student lifestyle as he began calling constantly which of course I began screening, so he started leaving very loud messages on my answer phone, which ranged from pleading me to stop because he loved me so much to threats that if I didn't stop it he would come and drag me back home by my hair, I know which I preferred to hear. I don't know what exactly he was objecting to maybe he actually experienced something from me fooling around a little with a few guys or it could have been the girls introducing me to Jonathan who introduced me to LSD. It wasn't something I had ever planned on but I was rather drunk and pretty much at moment thought why not. This I found blanked my mind out a lot more effectively that alcohol and actually rather than just numbing my link to Derek actually made me rather pleased about the whole situation. Jonathan was pretty small time though, just trying to pay his way through university. despite my recreational drug use I still managed to say no to all the really hard stuff but I did experiment with some of the others, loving the numb disconnection from reality these produced at least temporarily anyway as my metabolism flushed them out rather quickly. Jamie knew what I was up too of course but didn't tell, which was one reason I kept my semblance of self-control which I think was part of the reason we didn't get dragged home but was mainly because I knew what he was up too as well. He still came with me on every night out his eyes silently disapproving every time I got drunk or made out with a guy, he approved of the drugs even less and had several times picked me up and just carried me home when he felt I was losing my control. Jamie agrees to let us skip the last month's annual meet. I had suggested it being in no hurry whatsoever to get home, but hadn't believed for one second that Jamie would agree to it. He had though he didn't want to be away from Emily and I didn't want to be near Derek. In the last month he and Emily became really close 'as friends' I had met her once and the look in her eyes when she looked at him made it clear she was as besotted as he was, but of course the age difference made her parents seriously disapprove so they were left being friends for now anyway. I don't know how long that would last as he and Emily were both taking part in the college production (which I was expressly banned from attending) and so were spending a lot of time together and as the days went on Jamie looked more and more like an advert for toothpaste. I know the thought of him going home even for a few days the idea of being away from her tormented him, so we made up some stories about projects and commitments we had here and called Darius not expecting much but to my amusement he had instantly agreed.

"Well Jay if you have to do that project you have to do it, no point going there for two years to just fail. Make sure your back for the Christmas break though."

"Um ok Darius are you sure everything's alright I mean the meets are a big thing for us."

"Well I know but some of the guys are out hunting and if you guys aren't here I won't need to call them back."

"You're just going to skip a meet." I said yanking the receiver from Jamie's hand "you don't do that we've never done that."

"well to be honest my daughter this little bunch of rogues are making themselves a real pain in my ass I'm quite happy to skip a meet to catch them."

"A group."

"Two or three." He said dismissively "it's never more than that." he said in a way I didn't completely believe.

"What did they do?" I asked gently

"Same old same old." Darius said in a tone that I instantly didn't believe, "but I think it is better if we skip this meet you stay put and stick close to Jamie and just make sure you get here for Christmas."

"Of course." I said distractedly.

"Good girl." He said as if I was five "although to be honest I think it might be best if you stay away for a little longer. I'm not sure what your doing there but Derek really doesn't seem to like it and you refusing to speak to him seemed to annoy him even more." I sighed but chose to say nothing "right I have to go but remember to keep calling or I will come get you and remember anything that makes you suspicious that a rogue knows your there."

"I know. I tell you immediately and I swallow my damn pride and come home I know Darius I know if they find me I'll die and I don't value my pride more than my life."

"Yes you do." Darius said blandly I chuckled.

"Okay take care of yourself princess." He said in a tone that was so soft and gentle I didn't say anything about his choice of using my pet name. "I love you." He said gently I frowned my father didn't talk like that, he obviously suddenly thought that too as he hung up before my awkwardness faded enough to allow me to say anything. Leaving me just sitting there holding the receiver staring at it blankly as I wondered what was going on at my home.

"Jess." Ashton said sharply jerking me from my daydream.

"What?" I asked looking around vaguely and noticed the lecture was actually over I looked vaguely down at my notes which consisted mainly of a very elaborate doodle of a forest.

"You're lucky it's our last day it was nothing new."

"I was listening." I muttered.

"Mmm hmmm. So that's why your notes look suspiciously like a doodle of a cat in a field." he said peeping over my shoulder.

"It's not a cat." I snapped slamming my notepad and shoving it roughly into my bag. "It was a wolf."

"Oh good that's much better." he said with a smile which I couldn't help but return.

"I'm hungry."

"I'm shocked."

"Want to get some lunch?" I asked

"When are you going home?" Ashton asked casually as I picked at my baguette my appetite shockingly deserting me as soon as I was faced with food which was oddly becoming normal. We had both purchased take always and sat on the edge of a low stone wall on the edge of a large empty courtyard huddled away from the cold wind hopefully ignoring the heavily overcast sky.

"I don't know a couple of weeks." I said fiddling with a rogue segment of lettuce.

"But today is our last day," he said slowly.

"I know but Jay is still at school for a while yet."

"And you don't want to go home." Ashton said quietly inserting the opinion I wouldn't voice.

"It's complicated." I said beginning to pick small segments out of the end of my baguette.

"You gonna eat that or just deconstruct it?" I smiled"The guy?" he put in tentatively

"Isn't it always about a guy?"

"Not for me." He said mildly I smiled and pulled a little closer to him resting my head on his shoulder, Ashton shifted a little nervously like he always did when I was too affectionate but he didn't move away we were obviously making progress. I sighed breathing in the smell of him I liked the way Ashton smelled one thing I had learned in my f*****g experiences was that men tended to wear aftershave way too much of it for the liking of my oversensitive nose, Ashton though didn't. he smelt like a human should smell he smelt of a warm body and a light waft of his melon scented shower gel.

"I tell you what you go to my house and I'll go to yours." Ashton put in lightly; I chuckled lightly but still didn't remove my head from his shoulder.

"Your family should he proud of you." I said lightly, Ashton snorted

"I'm sure they would be if I wasn't such a freak."

"HEY JESSICA." A shrill voice cut across the courtyard I cringed,

"It's your friends," Ashton muttered into my ear.

"Maybe if I'm really still they won't see me." I muttered nuzzling into his shoulder. Ashton smiled,

"I'm the one whose invisible Jess not you." He muttered as Amy sat down next to me as Always pretending Ashton was a tree or something she just launched into conversation,

"I thought you'd be here. well not here but here somewhere you had a lecture this morning we didn't we have one later but were gonna ditch I told you yesterday you should have rung and that still goes it's much better than sitting here alone. After all I told you we had better get out tonight because tomorrow Amy's off home for four weeks and you know by the weekend we'll all be gone." Her voice drowned on as my attention disappeared. Ashton tried to discretely slide off as I slid an arm around him holding him in place in what I hoped was a discrete way. He turned and glared at me but I just smiled flirtatiously at him. "I've just text Lauren she'll be here in a sec. and how bout we go have like a girly day get some tequila shots and later we can go find that guy Matthew who was making eyes at you." I sighed flopping my head back down on Ashton's shoulder.

"Jessica." Lauren said brightly as she and Zoe walked into the courtyard again completely missing Ashton's presence.

"We were just talking about Matthew." Amy continued to prattle on stupidly, "I reckon he's got something for Jessica huh?"

"Well I'm afraid he'll have to keep It." a husky voice said which made my heart stop, my head snapped up off Ashton's shoulder, "but I think Jessie has had enough of everything, men have to offer these past few weeks."

"Hey Beautiful." Dean called as Lauren, Amy and Zoe all stood too still eyes focused unblinkingly on my beautiful Dean there mouth's hanging open. "Have you replaced me my love?" he said in a mock offended tone as he nodded at Ashton. I shuffled a little further away from Ashton my eyes not even shifting to Dean they had been captured by the first speaker, Derek who was stood next to Dean his intense golden gaze locked on me.

"Are you okay?" Ashton asked quietly his expression of pure sweet concern.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I snarled,

"Nice to see you too." Dean said lightly as Derek said nothing, I kept my eyes locked on him,

"You're forbidden from coming here Derek you know that." I snapped, he smiled,

"Who told you that?" I bit my lip, "aaaah." He said slowly his smile widening "I forgot you were eavesdropping on me weren't you."

"You can't be here." I echoed with as much of the authority as I could muster standing up putting my hands on my hips. Probably not the best response as we were beginning to attract a lot of attention, most of which though was ogling. All the girls and a fair few of the guys were shooting hopeful or leering gazes at Dean the rest were shooting envious looks at his Porsche. Derek in normal circumstances was also gorgeous but right now was far too scary looking to be the recipient of any ogling

"Technically." Derek said slowly "I didn't bring us here, he did." Derek said gesturing at Dean with a mere flip of his head. "Orders always have wriggle room." Derek said smiling more broadly clearly very pleased with himself. "there are forms of interpretation like the phrase I love you. you and me for example have very different interpretations of that." I ignored this and swung my intense glare around to Dean,

"What the hell did you do that for?" Dean didn't answer.

"well we called the school and found out that your term had finished but you weren't coming home for two weeks so we thought we'd come get you." Derek said, I folded my arms and growled under my breath Derek again looked highly amused with himself. Dean gave a minute gesture with his eyes that I understood he was telling me to downcast my eyes, but I want in the mood to listen to him.

"This is not your decision." I said firmly, Derek took several steps forward his movements as always conveyed pure grace they were the movements of a hunter, his golden gaze still locked on mine he stopped a pace away.

"And this is not a negotiation." he growled his voice husky.

"Hi." Amy said stupidly moving up beside me her voice light and girly as she batted her eyelashes at Derek "I'm Jessica's friend Amy. Derek and Dean right." Derek tore his eyes from me to regard Amy for an instant but his expression didn't change and after a mere second he decided to dismiss her and return his gaze to me. His hand shot out and gripped my wrist in a grasp so tight it was verging on painful.

"Get your ass in the Car Jess." He snarled.

"Dare." Dean said appearing at his side placing a hand gently on his shoulder; Derek looked over his shoulder at Dean,

"Stay out of this mate." He said firmly, Dean backed down I knew he would Derek had a higher status than him in the pack and anyway right now Derek was just too damn scary to argue with. I sharply yanked my arm out of his grasp

"Have you gone mad?" I snarled,

"Have you?" he asked his gold eyes shinning as he reached out and pressed something into my hand. "We popped into your flat." He said lightly I peeped into my hand and bit my lip as I realised what I was seeing a small plastic bag containing several small ecstasy tablets. "Your supposed to be telling me that's it's not what I think right?"

"Derek." Dean snarled harshly, but he didn't move or give any signs that he had even heard him.

"Car." He said ignoring Dean,

"Is that an order?"

"more of a friendly request." Dean piped up,

"shut the f**k up Dean." Derek snarled before turning his gaze to me, "yeah Jess it's an order so Here's the deal you walk to the car or I'm going to drag you there by your hair." He snarled harshly. "I do not care if I have to lock you in the boot to get you home."

"Derek." Dean said his expression controlled as if saying that was out of order.

"Um Jess." Ashton said awkwardly and bravely as Derek snarled at him. I reached out and gave his hand a quick squeeze and a reassuring smile.

"It's alright." I said lightly "I'll see you new year."

"You don't have to go Jessica." Lauren said awkwardly a slight tremble in her voice I looked over and saw just how badly Derek had freaked them out Dean was trying to make amends by smiling at them and yet they seemed to barely notice.

"Yeah I do I should get home." I said picking up my bag and pulling it onto my shoulder.

"Well call us." Lauren said nervously,

"Of course she will gorgeous." Dean said brightly as Derek already had my arm not lightly and was steering me away towards his waiting car. Dean flashed his best smile at Lauren and without seeing it I knew she would be getting all fluttery what woman wouldn't.

"I need to get my stuff." I said petulantly as Derek shoved me into the car door. I hit the metal with enough force that I knew it would leave an immense bruise on my hip and side.

"No you don't. You have your books in your bag and the rest is irrelevant." He said his voice harsh and husky. I growled at Derek but yielded silently sliding myself into the passenger seat as I honestly believed his threat about the boot. He slammed the door closed as Dean walked over to him and the two of them had a very rapid exchange in savage snarling whispers that I was too distracted to attempt to eavesdrop on it didn't matter anyway as seconds later Dean jumped in the car sprawling out on the backseat.

"So beautiful did you miss me?" Dean asked flirtatiously as Derek slid into the driver's seat slamming the door too hard before slamming the Porsche into first and allowing it to speed away far too quickly. I gripped the armrests hard as he sped Dean's car through the campus far too fast. I bit my lip hard as we swung out of the campus and sped through the roads. I turned my head just slightly to regard Derek his eyes were locked on the road ahead of him with far too much intensity his knuckles were clenching the wheel so hard they had turned white so I knew better than to antagonise him and in his current state anything might be perceived as an attempt at Antagonising. After a few minutes my phone buzzed away in my pocket I pulled it out and flipped it open there was a message from Amy of course and one from Ashton. Ashton was just telling me to have a good Christmas and reminding me if I needed to talk he was there. Whereas Amy's was frantic and demanding some explanation. I began writing a flippant reply but before I could finish the phone buzzed again a message from Marcus (a new guy I had met) I smiled at the phone but before I could do anything else Derek reached over and plucked the phone from my hand. He kept his eyes locked on the road before him as he effortlessly opened his window and flung my phone out of it.

"That was my phone." I snarled,

"Yeah and the persistent buzzing was irritating me." He snarled, still not removing his eyes from the road in front of him. I gritted my teeth and turned my eyes back to the road before us, knowing it wouldn't do me any good to argue with him he was in a real mood and besides the phone was broken. I settled back into the seat with a sigh as we pulled into the outskirts of the city but rather than moving onto the motorway Derek swung the Porsche into the car park of a small hotel. I turned round to look at Dean quizzically who looked as baffled as me.

"kinky." He said brightly " But mate it ain't gonna happen coz I think this may turn out to more of a two way and I don't think you'd respect me in the morning ." Derek growled at him as he turned off the engine and stomped out.

"What the hell is this?" Dean shrugged,

"I honestly don't have a clue doll."

"Since when do you let him drive your Porsche?" Dean smiled,

"Ever since he gave me that look."

"Ah. I know the one you mean." I said passively leaning back in my seat closing my eyes for a second. Derek suddenly jerked the door open roughly.

"What?" I snapped he held out a key I took it a baffled look on my face.

"you stink of whoever that guy was and whatever guy you were draped around last night and I refuse you spend the next four hours with his smell wafting around me so your going to go take a shower," he said confidently "we'll wait here." I looked from Derek to Dean and back again. Dean just shrugged vaguely so I stood up and just stomped away into the hotel room not even pausing to consider what I was doing because if I did I knew I would stop I wouldn't do what Derek wanted I would be my normal rebellious state and it really wasn't worth it. Besides he sort of had a point I knew a guys smell was lingering on my skin but I hadn't felt it was a problem as I hadn't realised I'd be going home today, but on reflection I definitely didn't want Darius noticing and questioning it. Hence I jumped into the hotels shower and began scrubbing at my skin vigorously rubbing it harshly with the free soap and lathering my hair with the tiny bottle of shampoo.

I re-emerged from the hotel bathroom less than half an hour later my scent completely mine beneath the cheap flowery scented soap. Derek made no comment as I slid back into the passenger seat, he simply pulled the car harshly out of the car park and within minutes it was roaring towards the motorway. I leaned over and retrieved my MP3 player from my bag and jammed the earphones in but before I could even turn it on Derek's hand snapped over and yanked it out with a single sharp motion. His hand froze and his gaze flickered to what had formerly been his MP3 Player, he harshly threw it down into the foot well his expression unfathomable. I silently retrieved it stowing the small item back into my bag, I settled back into my seat silently it was safer that way. The rest of the journey passed without incident all of us sitting silently, Dean once or twice made a brave stab at conversation but Derek's growl instantly stopped these attempts. I didn't say anything and neither did Derek but as we moved on the tension between us rose so that as we pulled up the driveway towards the den I could taste it in the air between us. Not to mention that the four hour drive had given me plenty of time to dwell on his actions and become angrier and angrier at Derek so by the time that we arrived home I was positively seething.