Coveted {FINISHED}

|Chapter Nine |

By this point, I knew that the annoyed part of it all was probably Ian but still I felt like a complete i***t. A constant reappearing theme in my life, I should just get used to it. What the hell was I doing back there? I mean 'you can punish me' really? He's probably rolling around in laughter down there. 

But that wasn't even the worse part, it wasn't what had me cringing into my pillow completely. No, it was the fact that I was caught slutting it up with brothers. 

Why the hell should you care? It's not like you were dating them. They came on to you. 

It's not like I'm exactly single . . .

Oh come on! Danny does not count. Crazy psycho boyfriends automatically equal ex with or without the break up talk. 

Fair point.

But it didn't make me feel better. I had no idea which to be upset about, I was just a mess in complete numbness. Until there was a knock at the door. By that point my head jumped from the pillow, my eyes wide as my fingers automatically curled around the duvet. My heart stopped in my chest and it took a second for me to actually move and face the door to see Jeremy's curious eyes poking through the small opening. 

Thank god! But still, a little part of me seemed to sink like some addict craving another pull. 

"Oh hey, um what's up?"

"Heard you come in, didn't see Regan or Ian anywhere so I was . . . Uh. . ." He pushed the door open a little further and took a step inside, his hand sneaking to the back of his black hair roughing up the short sides as his eyes jumped from to the window a few times. "I uh thought maybe you'd be bored or something . . ."

I couldn't help the small smile pulling at my lips as I felt my shoulders relax. Was he nervous?

"You wanna . . . Hang out or something?" He finally forced out, his voice slightly gruff by the end as his hands fell to his sides, his eyes glancing up at me with that same genuine warmth he'd shown the first time. For once I could be sure it wasn't some extended mingle of emotions and I didn't have to worry about a bunch of visions destroying whatever it was I think I'm trying to protect. Jeremy was normal. He was like me in all this. 

"Sure. What you have in mind?" I said far happier than I had meant too, thankful for the normalcy this could bring right now. 

As if on cue, his whole face seemed to brighten up, his lips pulling into that cheeky grin I was starting to notice on him almost all the time now. 

"You play video games?" The only response I had to that was to start laughing. What else was I expecting?

"Hey! Are you mocking the greatest thing ever created by our holy lord?" He yelled, his faces pulled into mock horror as his hand flew to his chest. 

"Pretty sure God didn't create video games but for sure! I play, not that great though. My brother kicked my ass a lot-" my words cut off as I felt my heart come to a complete stop in my chest, my blood cold as my eyes fell to the ground. It had been a while since I'd thought about him. Ever since he left for the army . . . Things just changed. We stopped being close. We stopped being family. My whole world had titled upside down and I was drowning and he was nowhere. When everything changed, when normal felt like a fantasy I just stopped thinking about him. Things haven't felt normal in such a long time . . .

"You have a brother?" Jeremy asked, his eyes wide. Not with shock but with wonder like we suddenly shared something in common. Something more than being powerless beings maybe. 

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and forced myself to nod. This wasn't comfortable territory for me at all and something told me that Jeremy didn't exactly have the same 'personal life boundaries' like his brothers. 

"Cool! You the youngest or oldest?" With each question, it looked like he was only getting happier and happier. 

"Y-youngest."

"Yeah, I get what that's like. How comes you don't call him? If you tell him to come here maybe we can-"

"No!" I yelled, jumping to my feet forgetting that there was no way they'd ever be able to call him when I didn't even know his number. But just the mention of it made my heart race right into a panic. "Y-you c-can't. His um on uh," I stuttered, my hand falling to my forehand as I closed my eyes trying to remember the right lingo. "Deployed. For like a year."

"Oh." He muttered, his eyebrow raised as he took me in not quite sure what to say next. "Well." He breathed, his arms crossing over his chest as the corner of his lips tugged upwards, "let's go play video games!"

A small smile broke out as I followed him out and down towards his room. He held the door open a I stepped into the same room as I did my first night. My eyes flew straight to the trophies on the shelves as I stood against the closed door, Jeremy hurrying over to the desk with a tv complete with all his gaming gear. Everything that wasn't here before. Either way, I whipped the confusion from my face and took in the room again surprised at how much more was in here now. "Regan doesn't like gaming and Ian's too mean to play with. His emotions ya know don't make well for the whole gaming scene." 

My eyes fell to Jeremy as he muttered away sounding almost disinterested in what he was actually saying as he scanned a row of games before finally deciding on one and slipping it into the machine. 

"What about Shane?" I asked, walking over to the edge of the bed sitting down and taking the controller he held out to me.

"He's barely ever home." Jeremy replied with a shrug. "When you've got awesome powers, the world calls. You're needed everywhere." He said taking a seat next to me with a roll of his eyes as the game started up. "I personally, like the lazy lifestyle." 

I could hear the humour in his voice but I could also see the loneliness in his green eyes, the way they seemed to dull slightly as he spoke. Everyone around his was different, 'chosen'. I guess in this world, he is the different one. I never really stopped to think how hard that could be. I guess maybe he needed normal as much as me. Maybe that's why he was so nervous before . . .

"Lazy?" I replied faking disgust, "it takes a lot of concentration to sit and play video games all day okay."

"Gotcha." He nodding facing the screen and starting the match. 

Four hours later would have been an exaggeration if halfway through there wasn't a large pizza lying in the middle of the bed. But after the sixth round neither one of us were willing to back down and that was Jeremy's cue to disappear downstairs and order as I chewed the s**t outta my lip trying to beat his high score putting our duals on pause.

I had to admit it, this was the most fun I'd had in ages. 

"Oh my god! No! No, no, no NO!!" Jeremy screamed jumping to his knees as he slammed his fingers down on various buttons, his face contorted into pure anger at the scenes unfolding in front of him. I lay flat on my stomach, sucking the blood from my bottom lip with my eyes narrowed at the screen. "f**k! NO YOU TOTAL c*m BUCKET DONKEY FUCKER!! I TOLD YOU BLOCK! f**k LISTEN TO MY COMMANDS YOU JERK OFF!"

The minute he fell silent everything changed. One minute I was jumping from the walls summoning my tiger and s**t to finish him off and the next I know, I'm flying halfway across the goddamn screen!

"What?" I whispered staring in disbelief as he ran up to me and threw his fist right through my chest and yanking me right down to his knee. My lifeless body falling to the ground as my eyes jumped to my life bar. More than half completely gone as I jumped to my knees feeling my blood heat up in rage at Jeremy's shrieks of success. 

"NO f*****g WAY!" I screamed, completely forgetting this was not my house as I repeated a mantra of combinations into the controller. Both tense trying block and attack at the same time. "Get the f**k away from me! I will f*****g kill you!"

"Ha! You can f*****g try princess!"

"Princess?!" I yelled in disgust, our eyes completely drawn to the tv. "Ohhh I'll show you a f*****g princess when I f*****g wipe the screen with your lifeless ball sacks!"

At some point, our insults and threats became nothing, it was more like we were insulting the characters in the game. A normal commentary that seemed to add to the whole competition. 

"Yeah! Suck on those fists you f*****g b***h!" He screamed landing a three combo move. My muscles tensed as a growl escaped my lips. 

"I. Am. Going. To. f**k. Your. f*****g. Mum. In. Hell. With. The. Devils. f*****g. Pitch. Fork!" I screamed between attacks before my entire body went limp as he caught my guard down and flipped in the air and flew right back down almost completing his fatality leaving me with less than an inch of life left. 

"YES! IM GONNA KICK-" I had no choice. I didn't play for four hours to lose now. 

Desperate times call for desperate measures. 

Holding my controller to the side I sat up and threw myself against Jeremy, scurrying on top of him as he cursed dropping his controller to the cold wooden ground as I tackled him to his back and sat up straight straddling his hips as he grunted shifting so that his shoulders hung out over the bed slightly before looking up at me as if he finally just pulled himself from the game. I glanced down at him, my controller now in both hands with a wicked grin. 

"Beat me now asshole!" Without missing a beat, his long arm swooped down to the ground, his waist lifting from the bed while his other hand gripped my thigh down against him stopping me from being thrown over as he grabbed his controller, a small gasp leaving my lips as my hands fell to his chest. He quickly fell back against the bed, his head rolling back to stare at the tv upside down as I threw myself trying to block his attacks again. The screen seemed to shift a little at first, the sudden change in focus throwing me off. 

But it wasn't enough. I hit the right buttons at the right time and with the screen pausing to play out the final moments he cursed over my characters witty final words.

"YES!" I screamed as I watched his characters limbs hit the ground one after the other. "Suck on that loser!" I screamed discarding the controller to the side of the bed and leaning down on his chest, my hands flat against his top and my hair brushing either side of his face. My whole body was pumping with energy from the game that it felt like I'd forgotten who he was, who I was and what the hell was happening outside that door.  

Pressing my nose against his I couldn't help but rub it in. I barely ever win at anything so this was massive. 

"Yeah? You sure about that?" He replied, his voice light before I threw my hands up in the air doing a little celebration dance, completely forgetting how I was sitting on top of him until his hands jumped to my waist squeezing tightly. I stopped mid-dance and looked down at him to see a faint blush creep across his neck and cheeks. "Uh I might not be bursting with the psychic powers but uh . . . Still a guy."

"What?" I breathed confused for a second before it hit me. I was grinding against him! Oh for crap sakes, is there any brother that's actually safe from?

At least this time you skipped all the paranormal aspects to it. Improvement? 

"Oh!" I quickly moved, falling to the side and tucking my over the bed ready to stand and hide the massive paint of red spreading all over but before I could stand Jeremy was on his feet. 

"So same thing tomorrow?" His voice was so hopeful, it took my mind away from that little embarrassing moment. 

"Sure," I said with a chuckle. 

"Sorry." He muttered quickly, his lips pulled into a shaky smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Company like yours is kinda rare here."

I can imagine. 

"What makes you think I'll still be here tomorrow?" Maybe because of the shopping? You i***t. 

"Dunno. Guess I'm hoping you will be." His eyes locked with mine but just as quickly they were gone and I was left sitting on the side of his bed a little confused but feeling my chest warm up a little and my stomach jump. "Anyway, I'm guessing Regan probably has a plan or something. We can go down and check-"

"Actually," I said standing up and cutting his off still not ready for the whole confrontation part of all this. I mean he's been so cool so far, the minute all this Regan and Ian s**t kicks off how awkward would it be? I really enjoyed today's gaming session to be fair and it would be a perfect end to the hell of a day. "I think I might go rest. It's kinda late and we've been out all day. . ."

Jeremy seemed to deflate a little at that but stepped aside and let me hurry away to my room but not before I stopped turning to face him just as he closed his bedroom door. "Thanks for today, it's been a while since I've just had fun." He smiled down at me, his lips parting to say something but stopped as I reached up and kissed his cheek. 

I wasn't exactly thinking, I just did it. Either way, I walked away with a smile and no flushing cheeks. For once. 

Whatever hopes I'd had of a perfect ending to the day went up in smoke when I stepped inside my room, the door sliding closed. The room was pitch black, the curtains drawn but I could make out the faint outlines of various bags scattered on the ground. I let my hand tumble across the wall, cursing a few times until I felt the rim of the switch. But before I could press it on, my heart caught in my throat. 

A warm breath tricked down my neck, a tense pressure building between my back and whoever was standing behind as I struggled to breathe, my blood pumping through my ears.

"We have to talk . . ." I couldn't help let my eyes close at the tightness in his voice, the restraint causing me to dig hard down on my poor lip and forget everything for a split second. I could feel him getting closer and with him, all the pent up frustration, that familiar craving to feel him, the savage need that only he triggered. 

"A-about w-what?" I managed to breathe out, 

Hold on, keep calm. Just focus and you'll be fine. 

I could feel his breath getting closer to my skin, my shoulder heating up the more he spoke. "You know exactly what about."

Every nerve under my skin screamed out, my mind fighting the bubble of emotions that wanted to take us over. But fighting the images of the shower was even harder. He groaned, his hand shooting out against the wall next to mine as he tried keeping himself focused too. 

Seriously? Confront me like this?!

Shouldn't he be a little more . . . Pissed?

"Unless . . . you want less talking . . ." I felt his lips hover cms away from my cheek, his fingers tenderly brushing the exposed skin on the curve of my back. The contact sending an electric jolt through every inch of me. I couldn't help the moan escaping my lips as I fell against the wall feeling his fingertips dance across of my skin a little slower. "Maybe my brother tired you out already."

There it is. 

But I didn't feel anger, a little jealousy sure. I could feel it biting away deep down, sneaking to the surface with every tensing muscle. He was jealous. But it was driving him, sucking the air out of the room as I slowly turned, my back pressed to the wall as I tried to make him out in the darkness. 

"So what," I forced out trying to keep my voice from wavering. "You came here to . . . Have a go-" 

His chuckle forced my words to halt, his lips dangerously close to mine. "No. See, punishing you is Regan's job. Mine? Mine is to give him a reason to punish you."