Page 55 of Four Letter Feelings

Chapter 22

“What the fuck happened to your face?” Jess exclaimed, as Jeremy stepped out of the car.

“Hi honey, I’m hoooome!” he chirped, cheerily.

“Don’t give me that coupley shit or I’ll give you swollen balls to go with that swollen face. And before you say something not-at-all hilarious, I don’t mean fun swollen balls.”

“Oh, she’s a real peach,” AJ said clearly trying to control the amused smirk on his face, but failing miserably.

She grabbed Jeremy’s chin and inspected the damage to his face.

“You should see the other guy,” he answered with a lopsided grin.

“You should see the other guy,” AJ agreed with a nod. “Not many get the upper hand on Ryan, but Jeremy Mayweather over there…” he jerked his chin at Jeremy. “He did better than I expected.”

“High praise, Pim. AJ, this is Jess, Jess, AJ.”

Jess looked at Jeremy in disbelief. “Introducing me to your friends? Gonna start sending me love letters next?”

AJ laughed. “I like her,” he said as he opened the front door, made his way into the living room and turned on the TV, making sure the volume was insufferably high.

“I like him, too,” Jess called over the blaring noise. She looked at him as though he were a piece of meat and he kinda loved it. Knowing she had a need that she felt he could satisfy gave him a rush of confidence. He dropped the bag of food next to the door, picked her up and draped her over his shoulder and grabbed the milkshakes before making his way up to his room.

“What’s your deal about carrying me?” she asked, as he plopped her on her back on his bed and put the milkshakes on his bedside table.

“It’s easier than you giving me crap about something,” he answered, standing over her and taking off his shirt. “I need a shower though, so you’ll have to wait.”

“Or, we can shower together again,” she countered, as Jeremy dropped his pants and boxers to the floor. “Yeah,” she said biting her lip and gazing up at him with a fierce hunger in her eyes. “You’re not showering by yourself.”

She giggled and pushed herself up off the bed. She was wearing a well-worn purple T-shirt with Rainbow Brite on the front and some ripped denim short shorts. Her long and slender dancer-legs seemed never ending and she took her time removing her clothes, knowing he was watching her with a hunger of his own. She plucked her shirt over her head, painfully slowly, tossed it at him with an airy laugh and stepped out of her jean shorts when they hit the floor. She stood in matching red lace underwear and was enthusiastically eyeing Jeremy’s obvious excitement. She pulled the red thong off and dropped it on top of the pile of her clothes on the floor, turned away from him and bent over, peeking back mischievously over her shoulder to look at him expectantly.

“Fuck it. Shower can wait,” he growled.

***

Jessica left just before midnight, she didn’t want to stay over, and if he was honest with himself, Jeremy didn’t want her to, either. When she left, he closed the door behind her, picked up the abandoned bag of food and found AJ still sitting on the sofa watching TV at a much more acceptable volume.

“You’re still up,” Jeremy remarked, as he dropped onto the opposite end of the sofa and opened the bag.

“Thankfully you’re not,” AJ retorted. “You think I could have slept through… that? That’s hilarious. I think everyone in our zip code is officially jealous of your sex life, Jer. That was… loud. Let’s go with loud.”

Jeremy grinned as he bit into a chicken nugget.

“Dude, aren’t you even going to microwave those first?” AJ’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “Wait, did she have to re-stitch your lip?” he asked with a laugh. “She’s not squeamish then.”

“Thankfully my very intelligent roomie reminded me that we have a fully kitted-out first aid box, complete with paper stitches,” Jeremy answered, proudly. “It kinda burst in a moment of passion and covered both of us in blood like a scene out of The Vampire Diaries. Felt like Damon frickin’ Salvatore!”

Jeremy realized that AJ was staring at him blankly. “What?”

“The… Vampire Diaries?”

“Guilty pleasure,” Jeremy answered, eating another chicken nugget. He winced as he chewed. “I’m gonna need to ice… all of this…” He gestured at his face.

“Zero sympathy for you, man. You did that to yourself!”

“Uh, I’m pretty sure Ryan did this to me.”

“And you made it worse by doing… eh… God only knows what with that woman!”

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