Page 17 of Jay

“I do. Not sure it will fit when the times comes but…” She leaves her sentence hanging. I bark out a laugh, which sets off her laughing, and she slaps my chest with her tiny hand. “Hey, don’t laugh at me. I’m just saying that, thatthingjust powered up in yourjeans.”

“That thing? You meanmydick?”

“Yeah that.” She giggles and I can’t stop the groan that leaves me. How the hell does her giggle affect me like this? I pull her even tighter against me and smile downather.

“Listen, I need to go. Let me pick you up on Friday and take you out for adrink.”

“Okay,” sheagrees.

“Okay, I’ll text you the details, yeah.” She nods her head and goes up on her tiptoes and kisses me before turning and walking back into the dogsalon.

This woman is going to be the one to stitch me back together. I am pretty fucking sureofit.

cassie

The last fewdays have gone by in a flash. It’s now Friday and I’m nervously pacing around my bedroom waiting for Jay to come and pick me up. It’s a little chilly outside, which is typical for a late November in the UK. I told Jay that I’m not into fancy restaurants. I’m happy with going somewhere we can talk, enjoy the good food and music. I am not a fancy, dress up kinda girl. Chris came over to help me pick out an outfit that was sexy yet casual, while saying ‘yes, I want you to pound me into next week’ - Chris’s words, not mine. So, we settled on a black dress, with three-quarter length sleeves, that stopped just above my knees. It has a thin brown belt that matched the brown knee boots I’m wearing. The dress has a V-neck that Chris said Jay would appreciate. I added a little wave to my hair and minimalmake-up.

I’ve been on dates before, but for some reason Jay is setting off emotions in me that I’m scared to explore, but I know that I have to learn to trust a man again. Dale hurt me, both physically and mentally, and I will never let a man do that again. It’s easier and safer to never let a man in like I did him, again, but Jay seems to be breaking down the walls. Even only knowing Jay for a short amount of time, he seems to be the type of man that wouldn’t hurt a woman; hurt me. He said he wants to take things slow; his eyes were saying that he had been hurt before. So, I will go at his pace, because it’s the pace that Ineedalso.

The way he kissed me the other day has left a mark on me; his mark. His lips were soft and warm against my own. He tasted of chocolate that day at the salon, invading my senses, making me moan. My poor kickers were wet and left me feeling uncomfortable all day. Chris kept laughing at me and making dirty jokes about my situation. I think I’m going to have to keep some clean knickers in my bag whenever I’m around Jay Castle. I walk out of my bedroom and towards the living room. MJ and Stark are staying over with Chris tonight; he’s that confident that I won’t be coming home. He’s just lucky that my furbabieslovehim.

A soft knock comes from the door and my heart skips a beat. I walk over to the door and pull it open. My breath catches as I take in the fine specimen standing before me. He’s wearing a thin light grey jumper under a denim jacket, black skinny jeans, and boots. A chain is hanging from his front jean pocket to the back. He looks good enough to eat, and I bet he would taste amazing on my tongue. Bugger,naughty Cassie. No naughty thoughts if the sexy, fine piece of… I slap my hand over my mouth when I see Jay smirkingatme.

“Oh God. I did it again, didn’t I?” I ask, closingmyeyes.

He nods his head, still smirking at me. “Yeah, Kitten. But hey, I’m good with being called a ‘sexy, fine piece of…’ Whatwasyou goingtosay?”

“Man-candy,” I mutter. Jay chuckles and steps closer to me. I feel his lips on my head and his hand slipping around my waist. Our bodies are touching, and the heat from his makes my belly squirm with warmth. Jay does all kinds of things to my body. I step back from him and walk into mylivingroom.

“Come in, I just need to grab my bag and jacket,” I shout over my shoulder. I hear the door click shut, so I know that he did come into my house. I pick up my short black leather jacket off the couch and slip it on over my dress. I turn to see Jay standing by my memory wall. This wall holds so many amazing memories for me. From family parties to weddings and birthdays. Every great thing that has happened is on that wall, in some form. From photos, to concert tickets, to little rubber wristbands from charity events I went to. I have two small medals hanging there, from when I did two halfmarathons.

“Are these your family?” Jay asks. I pick up my bag and walk over to him, smiling at thephotos.

“Yeah.” I point to a group photo. “This is my mum and dad, April and Stuart Dawson. These are my aunts and uncles, and some cousins. We’re a big family. My mother is the youngest of ten children. No TV in those days.” I wink at him and he laughs. He lifts his hand and fingers the medals, nodding inappreciation.

“You did two half marathons?” I nodmyhead.

“Yeah.” I know what’s coming next. Between the medals is a photo of me and Dale. He did the marathons with me; he’s a fitnessfreak.

“Who’s that?” I swallow hard andanswerhim.

“That is Dale. He’s my ex-boyfriend. I want us to start out the right way, Jay, so please don't ruin our first time going out by asking about him. He is nothing, he isn’t in my life anymore.” I can feel his stare boring into the side of my head but I refuse to look at him. I know that if I look at his handsome face, I’ll spill the beans, and I don’t need to relive that with him, not yetanyway.

“Okay, I can understand that. I can see that we both have some shit in our past. But, Kitten, if we are to go forward with this,” he flicks his hands between us, “we need to talk to each other. We need to know everything. No secrets. Got me, babe?” I nod my head again. “Good. Now come on, we have food to eat, music to listen to, and drinks to drink – well, no alcohol for me but, hey, I can get you drunk and take advantage of your inebriated state, right?” He smiles and winksatme.

“You don’t need the drink to take advantage, Jay.” I gasp and slap my hand over my mouth again. Damn it. I can feel my face getting hotter and hotter, and I can only imagine the colour of my skin right now.Holy smokes, Batman.I need to learn to speak before I think - oh bollocks, I mean think before I speak. See what this tattooed superhero doestome?

“Right, we need to go. Now.” I step around Jay and pick my keys up from the hook and open the door. I step back to give Jay room to walk out, but he stops in frontofme.

“I love that little mouth of yours, Kitten.” He kisses the tip of my nose and steps out of my house. I stand there for a few seconds, trying to calm myself down, before I make an even bigger muppet of myself. Taking a deep breath, I pull the door closed behind me and lock it. “Ready?” Jay speaks from my side. I nod my head andfollowhim.

“Let’sgo.”

* * *

We arriveat The Royal Harbour and Jay walks me into the pub with his hand on the small of my back. We come to the small hostess table, and I falter. Standing there is Mandy Stevenson, my school bully. She’s like a glorified Barbie doll. She bullied me through all my school years; the school did nothing about it. My parents even went as far as talking to her parents directly, but they just shrugged off her antics, they didn’t really care what she did as long as she was away from them. Her face lights up when she sees Jay, until her gaze lands on me, and her smile turns nasty. I slide closer to Jay and he looks down at me with asmile.

“Well, if it isn’t Jay Castle in the flesh, and what nice flesh it is.” She smirks at me, clearly letting me know that she’s had sex with Jay. My body tightens and I feel sick to my stomach. Why? Why can’t I have anything goodinlife?

---