R.J. Sable's Blog, page 6
October 10, 2013
‘Stronger with You’ Price Change
I’ve decided to lower the price on ‘Stronger with You’ seeing as it’s part of a trilogy. I feel uncomfortable doing this so soon after release as it’s unfair to the people who bought the book at the higher price.
If you bought ‘Stronger with You’ for $3.99 US/ £2.54 (or the equivalent in another currency) then I’d like to offer an ARC ‘Always with You’ to make up for the price change.
If you send me proof of purchase to authorRJSable@gmail.com then I’ll make sure you get the ARC. These ARCs will be sent out without expectation of a review or any compensation.
This also means that if you buy ‘Stronger with You’ today, before the price change kicks in, you can send me a copy of the invoice and get both books 1 & 2 for $3.99.
October 7, 2013
Right There with You is Free This Week Only
October 1, 2013
Stronger with You Release
September 21, 2013
Giveaway
In order to say thank you for all the support and in honour of the release of ‘Stronger with You’ on October 1st, I’m having a small giveaway. If you’d like the chance to win an Amazon gift card or a copy of the books, please click the link above.
September 16, 2013
K. A. Robinson’s giveaway
Author K. A. Robinson is having a giveaway, in which you can win a copy of ‘Right There with You’ along with many other wonderful books and gift cards.
Click here to enter.
Cover Reveal – Stronger with You
The SUB club revealed the cover to ‘Stronger with You’ today. The book will be published on Amazon on October 1st. Many thanks to the lovely model for Jason (with a sexy Scottish accent).
September 7, 2013
Stronger with You – Chapter 1
Saturday, 5th January 2013
I watched the two of them circling each other, each coated with a thin layer of perspiration which gleamed underneath the afternoon sun. Their expressions were ones of deep concentration as they watched each other, unblinking. I grimaced as Jason ducked to avoid a blow that barely missed him. I can’t watch this. I covered my eyes with my hands but it was even worse being able to hear their anguished grunts and the sound of fists meeting flesh without being able to see that they were okay.
Craig tackled Jason to the ground and they grappled on the lawn. My heartbeat quickened and I sent up a silent prayer that neither of them would get seriously hurt. I wanted to kick the two of them for putting me through this, but of course I wouldn’t. I winced every time one of them took a blow and breathed a sigh of relief each time they missed.
I felt two, long, gangly arms wrapping around me from behind and was momentarily distracted from watching the two of them beating on each other to turn around and greet the owner of the lean limbs. I didn’t have to check who it was first. I’d know his cologne anywhere.
“Alex!” I grinned, pulling my best friend of seven years into a rib-cracking embrace.
“Jellybaby!” He giggled, spinning me round and pulling me back into him before planting a loud, lip-smacking peck on my lips.
I’d known Alex was back home but I just assumed he’d be too busy unpacking and recovering from jet lag to come and see me.
A loud thwack drew our attention back to the two muscly men who were still lying in the grass breathing heavily. Craig had landed a pretty harsh blow to Jason’s jaw and I jumped up to make sure he was okay.
“What the fuck, Jamie?” Jason looked furious as he shoved Craig off of him and made his way towards us.
“Easy, Reed,” Craig warned, grabbing Jason’s arm and pulling him away from Alex.
I appreciated it seeing as my boyfriend was aiming murderous looks at my best friend.
“Did he just kiss you?” Jason asked me, pushing Craig off and sounding very angry, and very confused.
I could hear the hurt in his voice and it upset me but I still had to fight to stop myself from giggling. “Yes,” I nodded, glancing over at Alex. He seemed amused and admittedly a little cautious as his eyes scanned Jason from my side.
Jason’s normally dirty blond hair was darkened with sweat and clung to his forehead. His exquisitely sculpted body was strained from the physical exertion of fighting which made all his abs pop beautifully and had the muscles deep inside me tensing in the way they always seemed to when Jason was around.
I was distracted from ogling my beautiful specimen of a man as he made another lunge for Alex and Craig had to tackle him to the ground again. I shot Alex an apologetic glance. He looked entirely perplexed as he hid behind me.
“Jason, please,” I pleaded, frowning as I recognised how quickly things were going south.
“This no longer looks like sparring,” Ian announced, jogging over from the patio to pull Craig away from Jason.
“What’d Jason do this time?” Danny asked when he and Rick joined us, eyeing Craig and Jason with apparent amusement.
“Alex kissed Jelly,” Craig grinned impishly, looking back and forth between Alex and me.
“I warned you to cut that shit out, Alex,” Ian frowned and Alex noticeably shrank away from him, understandably disinclined to receive another Carter-family warning about our relationship.
Jason was staring at us all as though we were insane as he knelt in the grass where Craig had tackled him. His facial expression was still angry but a look of utter bewilderment was threatening to take over. No doubt he was wondering why my brothers weren’t kicking Alex’ ass for kissing me.
Kneeling down next to him, I put my hand on his. “Jason, this is my best friend Alex,” I said softly, gesturing up towards him.
“Just because he’s your best friend, doesn’t mean it’s okay to kiss him, Jamie,” he said through clenched teeth, his eyes dark with anger and hurt.
I went to protest but Alex got there first.
“I’d be more than happy to kiss you as well if that’ll even things up,” Alex said sweetly, fluttering his eyelashes.
I was not oblivious to the round of chuckles this elicited from my brothers.
“Hands off, Alex. He’s mine,” I warned him playfully.
“Fine,” Alex sighed with an exaggerated pout. He ran his fingers nervously through his carefully styled, light brown hair, adjusting the strands that refused to stay in his well-practiced coiffure of choice.
“You could have given him a heads-up, Jelly,” Craig laughed, pulling my bewildered boyfriend up from the grass.
I shrugged. I hadn’t really seen the need; I didn’t introduce my friends by name, gender, and sexuality. Besides, it wasn’t like Alex went out of his way to hide who he was, he was pretty comfortable with himself. He wasn’t always, but he got there eventually.
“Oh,” Jason said as realisation dawned, earning an amused chuckle from my brothers.
“Jelly never mentioned quite how… well let’s just say she undersold you,” Alex winked at Jason and held out his hand.
Jason shook Alex’ hand, looking no less bewildered.
“If you don’t stop hitting on him, it’ll be me you’ll be running away from instead of them for a change,” I pointed to my brothers and gave Alex a teasing grin.
“Ooh! Feisty, I like it!” He grinned, looking decidedly shocked. “What happened to you while I’ve been away?”
I blushed awkwardly at the reminder that I’d changed, and the reasons why. I knew he was joking but the fact that he could tell I was different hit home hard. Alex had taken a gap year and had been travelling around the states for the past few months. We’d e-mailed a little but some things were just too personal to put down in e-mails and I didn’t want to burden him whilst he was away having the time of his life.
“I’ll fill you in later,” I smiled, deciding already that he really didn’t need to know all the gory details. I noticed my brothers looking particularly uncomfortable and took pity on them by changing subject. “I’m so glad you’re back, Alex!”
“Me too, I missed you!” He grabbed my hand in his and pulled me over to the chairs so that we could talk.
Craig and Jason broke off their sparring to sit with us on the patio, drinking copious amounts of water and towelling off.
“I didn’t realise you fought as well, Jason,” Alex addressed him, turning his head to me and mouthing “that’s hot!” with a wicked grin on his face.
“I don’t really, not like Craig does at least,” Jason shrugged.
“May that bruise on your jaw serve to remind you of that little fact,” Craig smirked, shoving Jason playfully.
“I was distracted!” Jason scowled, nodding his head in my direction.
I smiled as the two of them bickered. They’d become a little better friends over Christmas. They were the same age and had a lot in common but I was surprised that Craig had been able to get over the fact that Jason was my boyfriend, especially considering how protective he and the others were over me. Craig still got aggressive whenever our PDA was too much for him but he managed to rein it in most of the time.
“Sorry, Jason,” I pouted, knowing it usually caused him to forgive me. I saw the smile that graced his lips before he returned to his disagreement with Craig.
“Can we go inside, please? I’m freezing.” I crossed my arms across my chest and shivered slightly for emphasis. I was wearing several layers, including Jason’s hoody, but it was January in England, after all.
I followed Craig into the lounge but hesitated when I noticed Matt was in there surrounded by paperwork. I was about to suggest we go sit in the den but Craig and Jason had already thrown themselves into the sofa. Jason pulled me onto his knee and I watched Craig’s face turn tense momentarily but he recovered, choosing not to comment. Alex sat down on the futon in front of us and crossed his legs under him.
I took a second to appreciate the subtle changes in Alex since he’d been away. His normally pale skin now had a lovely caramel twinge thanks to his months in the sun. It complemented his looks perfectly and made his pale blue eyes appear impossibly clearer. Alex was fairly skinny, especially when he stood next to my brothers, but he pulled it off and he knew it.
“I don’t understand why not, you’re good,” Craig urged, drawing my attention back to them.
This wasn’t the first discussion they’d had about this. Craig thought Jason should return to MMA.
“I’m not interested, Carter,” Jason replied with a sigh, I could tell he was growing uncomfortable.
“Don’t you miss it?” Craig asked.
“A little,” Jason admitted.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I’ve moved on.”
I could feel Jason growing tense and understood his discomfort. Jason had given up fighting because of his brother. Even though he missed MMA, he wasn’t willing to mess up his relationship with Ben for it.
“Your current competition not enough for you?” I teased Craig in an effort to rescue Jason.
“Nope,” Craig grinned. “It gets a bit boring,” he added with mock complacency.
“I’d be happy to remedy that if you lot don’t keep it the fuck down,” Matt grumbled from the other end of the L-shaped sofa.
Now it was my turn to tense up. Craig and I both knew that Matt wouldn’t stand a chance against Craig, but we also knew that Karl would kick his ass if he had a go at Matt.
“Sorry, Matt, what you working on?” Jason intervened smoothly.
“Lesson plans,” Matt grunted.
“I didn’t realise P.E. lessons needed planning,” Alex chimed in, thinking out loud. I doubted he realised he’d just insulted Matt’s chosen career.
Matt scowled at Alex and put down the papers he’d been reading. “What the fuck do you mean by that?”
“I… eh… nothing. Sorry, sir.” Alex squirmed nervously in his seat.
“He didn’t mean anything by it, Matt. He just didn’t th-”
“I wasn’t talking to you, Jelly,” he cut me off with a heated glare, gathering up all his paperwork and standing up.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Alex said quietly, standing up and taking a few steps back, away from Matt.
Matt closed the distance between them with a few long strides. “If you’d actually taken part in any of the lessons instead of pretending to be asthmatic then maybe you’d know a little more about the subject,” Matt growled, his face very close to Alex who cowered under his icy glare.
I watched nervously, praying for Alex’ sake that he wasn’t planning on a smart aleck comeback. He lowered his gaze and mumbled another apology. Matt seemed satisfied and stormed out of the room.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Alex came back to sit on the futon.
“Sorry, Alex,” I frowned. “I’ve told you a million times though, you don’t have to call him sir when we’re at home, especially not now we’re not at school anymore.” I’d hoped that would lighten his mood but it seemed to have somewhat the opposite effect.
“I wasn’t faking the asthma,” he grumbled sulkily.
“I know,” I smiled sympathetically and leaned over to give his knee a gentle squeeze.
“Must have been weird living with your teacher,” Jason said, wrapping his arms round my waist once more as I leant back into him.
“Matt’s pretty good at keeping the two things separate,” I shrugged. “At school I was just another student, at home I was just his best friend’s annoying little sister,” I sighed.
It was true, Jason didn’t need to know that Matt had gone out of his way to make P.E. lessons impossibly difficult for me. They had trouble getting on as it was.
“He was way harder on you than he was on the rest of us,” Alex chimed in, destroying my plan to keep those details to myself.
I shrugged it off, feigning indifference. I didn’t want to get into it right now. Matt had only ever been hard on me because he wanted me to push myself, even if I didn’t appreciate it at the time.
Ian popped his head in to tell Alex that he could stay for dinner, which made me squeal with excitement and earned me a disapproving look from Ian. It was worth it though; I hadn’t seen Alex for so long and he had so much to tell me about his adventures across the pond.
Ian cooked, which was good news because he was the biggest culinary talent in the family. He made falafel – from scratch – for Alex and me, and some chicken and beef, flavoured with about a million different herbs and spices, for everyone else. This was served with whole-wheat wraps, salad and a homemade yoghurt and cucumber dressing.
“This is so good!” Alex made appreciative moans as he devoured his wrap. “I want the recipe!”
“There is no recipe,” Ian shrugged, in surprisingly good humour. Maybe a small part of him has actually missed having Alex hanging around all the time. I laughed inwardly at that thought. I doubted he’d even missed me whilst I was at uni.
“How can there not be a recipe?” Alex said in his usual overdramatic tone, which made me grin but normally had Ian grinding his teeth.
Ian just shrugged and I stepped in to rescue him from the barrage of questions I knew was bound to come from Alex’ inquisitive mind.
“Ian just mixes stuff together until it smells good, then he’s done,” I grinned.
“How did you learn to cook like that?” Jason asked.
“Cooking for them,” Ian nodded his head to my brothers and me.
I knew he wasn’t being entirely honest. Ian’s cooking had gotten considerably better after he’d joined the military. He often came back from one of his mysterious disappearances with a tan and a sudden talent for mixing exotic flavours, but I understood that he didn’t want to talk about it.
“A man that can cook, your brother just got a little hotter!” Alex teased me, just loud enough for my brothers to hear.
Jason choked on his food; I think he was preparing for a show down. Ian just grinned at Alex and shot him a wink. I scowled at Alex, he knew that I didn’t like him hitting on my brothers – it was creepy. He gave me his adorable pout and I found myself forgiving him almost immediately.
No matter how much hassle my brothers gave Alex about the two of us being close friends, they never gave him any jip for being gay. I loved that about them and knew how much it meant to Alex. Even Jake, who hated Alex with a passion, had once smashed a guy’s face in at school when he overheard him calling Alex a faggot. Our Dad had impressed the importance of treating everyone as equals onto my eldest brothers and they made damn sure the same values were hammered into the rest of us.
“Aren’t there a few of you missing?” Alex asked Rick as we did the dishes together.
“Karl and Elise are on holiday,” Rick explained.
“To celebrate their anniversary,” I added.
“And Jake’s not been back home much,” Rick continued.
I winced with guilt. I knew Jake had gone home early because I was here. He was still avoiding me at all costs. It hurt really badly to have somebody I loved hate me so strongly. Jason kept telling me that it wasn’t my fault but that didn’t stop me from feeling guilty. Jake and I may not have had the best relationship, but I still missed him. The others avoided the issue, so I tried not to bring it up around them.
“How long are you home for, Jellybaby?” Alex asked as he followed me down the stairs to the den.
“We’re heading back tomorrow, I have exams starting Monday.”
“Aww, okay,” he pouted. “I was hoping to have some company. I’m going to be bored out of my skull hanging out with my mum until September.”
“Sorry,” I frowned. “But you’re welcome to come and visit me in Leeds whenever you want, you know that right?”
“You can crash with us,” Jason offered from behind us.
I blinked up at him and he smirked back with that hint of mischief in his eyes. He’d been pushing for me to move in with him. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to live with Jason, I spent most of my time at his anyway, but it felt too soon. I loved the man whole-heartedly but he featured heavily in all aspects of my life and I felt like I still had a little bit of growing left to do.
“Jason, I still haven’t decided,” I frowned at him.
“I know, baby,” he said softly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pressure you.” He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of my head as we reached the bottom of the stairs and I leaned back into him and took a second to enjoy the feel of him against me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I wiggled against him contentedly. I may have accidentally rubbed my backside against his crotch, which earned me a growl that was sexy as hell and a warning squeeze on my hip.
“You’ll pay for that later,” he whispered in my ear.
I turned around and kissed him on the lips as I murmured a half-hearted apology. Jason’s version of “paying for it” usually involved mind-blowing orgasms, and lots of them. My simple kiss turned into something a little more meaningful as Jason pulled me into him.
Danny quickly dragged me away from Jason with a warning glare. I rolled my eyes in response and squealed as he pinched the back of my arm.
I gritted my teeth, trying to make sure I didn’t retaliate. The arm pinches were really starting to grate on me. When I glanced to my left, I caught Jason glaring at Danny. I knew he was only holding back because I begged him not to get into fights with my brothers. He hated it when they did things like that.
“So… Jason,” Alex grinned at me wickedly as we sat whispering in the far corner of the sofa.
The others, Jason included, were all watching some car racing film which didn’t seem to capture Alex’ interest at all. Not that that surprised me.
“Jason,” I nodded, feeling the grin break out on my face.
“He’s hunky,” Alex whispered with a giggle. “You seem so happy with him, like you’ve come out of your shell a bit. I’m really happy for you, Jellybaby.” He gave me a genuine smile and pulled me into a hug, which I returned gratefully. Alex knew better than anyone how shy and reserved I could be. I was trying not to let myself get swept aside as much though, trying to stand up for myself more often, with Jason’s encouragement. That was my New Year’s resolution.
September 6, 2013
Right There with You – Chapter 1
Saturday, 15th September 2012
Why did I agree to do this? This is so not me. I sighed as I reluctantly pulled my stubborn, chestnut hair into a ponytail after ten minutes of trying to coax it into some form of style. My reflection stared at me from the small bathroom mirror. My blue eyes looked back, pale and scared. I wished I was better with makeup. I wished I owned more makeup. I resigned myself to the fact that the simple mascara and eye shadow combination was the best it was going to get for tonight. The less I have on; the less chance there is of me looking like a clown, I reassured myself.
Turning the lights off, I smoothed down the folds in my tight-fitting green dress, which ended just above my knees, slipped on my kitten heels, and grabbed my purse. Locking my room behind me, I squared my shoulders and headed into the kitchen to meet with the rest of my new flat mates.
“You’re ready?” Adam asked, trying and failing to hide the surprise in his voice.
“You said eight o’clock. It’s five to,” I answered, puzzled.
“Yeah, but you’re…” he broke off.
“I’m what?” I answered, starting to worry. “Is the dress not right? Should I get changed?” I could feel my cheeks turning pink. I’ve never been out like this before; I don’t know what to wear. I’ve made a fool of myself again. I never sh-
“No, no, no! Not at all,” Adam interrupted my train of thought, shooting me a cheeky grin. “You look great. More than great.”
His eyes quickly scanned my dress and I saw them flick over to the two other guys sat at the kitchen table.
“I think what Adam was trying to say was that you’re ready on time whilst the other two girls are still locked in their rooms trying on ninety different outfits,” Bradley intervened.
I felt my shoulders sag with relief. Was that all he’d meant? I sat down on the plastic chair next to Bradley and beamed up at Adam.
“When you grow up with six older brothers, you learn to get ready quickly.”
“I can imagine,” Bradley answered, grinning sheepishly. “We had the honour of meeting a couple of your brothers while you were at Tescos yesterday.”
I winced, knowing from experience that it had probably not been pleasant for them. “Sorry, I hope they weren’t complete arseholes,” I joked, surprising myself with my boldness.
If any of them had heard me saying that they’d be kicking my ass right now. I’d only moved out the day before and I was already feeling a little brave knowing they were all at least seventy miles away.
“They’re protective, I’ll give you that,” Bradley joked. “Me, Adam, and Eric were unpacking our kitchen stuff and they sort of cornered us,” he nodded his head towards the third guy in the room with a clean-shaven head and kind green eyes.
“I think they just wanted to make sure we didn’t have any un-gentlemanly intentions towards their little sister,” Eric said, his eyes alight with humour.
I groaned, my head in my hands. That was so like them. There’d been a massive argument about me living in mixed halls of residence. Leeds University had been my second choice. When I didn’t get into my first choice, most of the halls were already full and I had to take whatever I could get. Personally, I was pretty happy; I was right on campus and only a twenty-minute walk from the city centre. But that didn’t mean my brothers weren’t going to give me hassle about it.
“Don’t worry, Jamie,” Adam said, flopping down in the seat beside me and brushing his caramel hair out of his hazel eyes. “We promised to look after you,” he said sticking his tongue out at me in a playful fashion.
I couldn’t resist smiling. “Thanks,” I said, looking up at him.
Eager to draw the focus away from me and my dysfunctional family, I looked around at them and asked what they were studying. We’d only moved in the day before and, aside from quick introductions, I’d only really had chance to chat with Adam. He’d knocked on my door to say hello last night and ended up staying to watch a film on my laptop. We’d missed the film completely and talked until two in the morning.
We had so much in common and I was delighted to discover that we were both taking English. It was a relief to have made a friend so quickly. I was so used to being surrounded by my brothers all the time; I never escaped them. I’d had a part time job at the gym the twins owned and, even though Matt wasn’t technically my brother, he’d lived at our house since around the time I was born so he was practically family. He’d taught P.E. at my school so I’d not even been able to escape their watchful eyes there. Even though I often resented their constant over-protection, now that I was actually alone, I felt pretty scared and vulnerable. Not that I’d admit it to them.
“I’m studying Engineering,” Eric said, bringing me back to the now.
“And I’m studying Law,” Bradley said, raising his beer to his lips and taking a long sip.
“You want something to drink, Shorty?” Adam asked, heading to the communal fridge.
I shook my head, feeling the all too familiar blush returning to my cheeks. “We’re both studying English,” I said, gesturing to Adam.
“Cool,” Bradley replied, “You know what the other girls are studying?”
“I think Sarah was studying Fashion, I’m not sure about Emma though.”
The guys nodded. Phew, embarrassing moment avoided. I sighed inwardly.
“You sure you don’t want a beer or something, Jamie?”
Or not. I cringed, not really sure what to say. “I can’t…I mean, I don’t…” I trailed off, trying to focus all my attention on a crack on the linoleum floor and waiting for the awkward silence to pass.
“You don’t drink?” Adam asked, sounding a little surprised, but admittedly not as surprised as I had expected. I shook my head, sure that my cheeks were going to set off the fire alarms.
“No worries, you want some juice or something?” He said coolly.
“No thanks, I’m good,” I smiled, relieved that nobody was making a big deal out of this.
Friends and classmates had been nagging me to have ‘just one’ since year ten. It wasn’t like I’d never been drunk before, but in my experience, the benefits weren’t worth the consequences. I’d come home drunk once after a party when I was fifteen. It was stupid; I’d had to beg for a week to be allowed to go, and made all sorts of promises. Ian, my eldest brother and legal guardian, had eventually caved on the condition that my youngest brother, Jake, came with me.
The party was bigger than expected and Jake had gotten distracted playing football with some of his sixth form friends. I’d gotten a little excited by the situation and been talked into playing a drinking game with some others.
Jake had to carry me practically all the way home. I barely remember any of what happened. Both of us had gotten a good ass kicking the next morning. Jake hadn’t talked to me for weeks afterwards and made a point of making my life a living hell for a good while after that.
I sat contentedly listening to the guys chat about their A-level results and which sixth forms and colleges they’d been to. At around twenty past, the other girls came in. They looked fantastic. They were both wearing tiny dresses which barely covered the essentials. So much for me worrying about my dress being too short. Emma had styled her auburn hair into luscious curls that fell around her shoulders and onto her milky white skin. Sarah had plaited her straight, dark brown hair into a fishtail plait, which she had worked round the side of her head to fall over her right shoulder. I once again cursed my hair and my inability to do anything attractive with it. The girls were both wearing impossibly high heels that amplified their curvaceous figures and I found myself extremely disappointed with my boyish, flat body. They popped open a bottle of Lambrini and poured it into a couple of highball glasses.
“Classy, ladies,” Eric joked, flashing them both a cheeky smile.
“We’re students now, guys, no point fighting it!” Emma giggled as she took a generous sip from her glass.
“Looking forward to tonight?” Sarah asked, sitting down on one of the spare chairs and glancing around at us all.
Everybody nodded and the discussion turned to the bands that were going to be playing. Emma pulled up her chair next to me and handed me her smartphone.
“I can’t find you on Facebook!” She whined. “Type in your name so I can add you!”
I did as I was told and handed the phone back to her.
“Jamie-Lea Carter,” she said, seemingly to herself, as she read my name and searched for me. “That’s cute, you should use your whole name!”
“Thanks,” I smiled shyly at her. “I haven’t been called Jamie-Lea in years, barely anyone even calls me Jamie anymore. It’s a refreshing change,” I admitted.
“Oh? What do people usually call you?” She asked just as Eric shot his empty beer can into the bin on the other side of the room, making an impressive but noisy shot.
He was met with eager squeals and a round of applause. He’d thankfully distracted Emma who bounced up from her seat and decided it was time to take a group photo.
“You know, before we all start hating each other for being awful flatmates!” She joked as we all stood up.
I tried to position myself behind Adam and Bradley but Adam grabbed my shoulders and pushed me in front of him.
“No chance, Shorty, nobody’ll be able to see you back there, you’re too little.”
I glared at him. I’m 5ft 5” that’s not really that little. Seeing as he was a good few inches taller, I didn’t correct him.
Half an hour and an empty bottle of Lambrini later and we were on our way to the Student Union. It was only a five-minute walk from the halls so we braced the September winds with our jackets wrapped tightly around us.
When we got to the SU building, there was already quite a queue. We joined the end of it and looked around at the sea of freshers and returning students ready for the start of a new academic year. Emma and Sarah were chatting away with Bradley and Eric about music and I stood just behind them listening with Adam. I shivered slightly, feeling that bare legs weren’t really appropriate for the time of year.
“You okay, Jamie?” Adam asked.
“I’m fine, just a little chilly. I’m sure it won’t be long until we’re inside,” I smiled up at him.
“You’re nesh,” he scoffed putting his arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his side.
I would have protested but he really was quite warm.
“You’re vibrating,” he said
“I’m not that cold,” I retorted, looking up at him quizzically through my pathetically mascaraed lashes.
“No, I mean your phone,” he chuckled.
“Oh,” I mumbled, quickly tearing myself away from him and searching through my clutch purse like a mad woman. I grabbed my phone and saw Karl’s name on the screen. My second oldest brother. I sighed and pressed the answer button.
“Hi, Karl,” I answered as cheerily as I could.
“Where are you?” He said abruptly, sounding less than happy.
“What do you mean? I’m at uni, of course.”
“Don’t be a smartass, Jelly. Where are you?”
“I’m outside the SU, queuing to get in, but-”
“Dressed like that?” He sounded pissed.
“How do you know what I’m wearing?”
I glanced around, half expecting to see a few of my brothers dotted around, keeping tabs on me.
“Facebook,” he grunted in reply.
Emma must have uploaded the image and tagged us already. I sighed inwardly. I’ve been away from home one night and nothing’s changed.
“Karl, I-”
“You’re asking for the wrong sort of attention, Jelly.”
“But-”
“You look like a right slag!” He spat and I could feel the tears threatening at his harsh words.
“I’m sorry, sir,” I said quietly, taking a few steps towards the bushes so that people were less likely to hear me. “Everyone else is dressed like this. I wasn’t trying to dress inappropriately, I swear,” I pleaded with him. I heard his exasperated sigh down the phone.
“None of us are there to clean up after you, Jelly. Don’t do anything stupid and text me when you get home. I don’t care what time it is. I swear down, if you don’t text me, I’m driving up there first thing and bringing you home.”
He hung up the phone without giving me chance to reply. I sighed deeply, trying to blink back the tears forming in my eyes and remind myself that this was just his way of showing he cared.
“You okay, chick?” Adam asked, replacing his arm around my shoulder and guiding me back to the others. “You look kinda upset, who was that?”
“I’m fine, honest,” I replied, forcing a smile. “That was just my brother worrying about me going out. They’re somewhat over-protective,” I said resignedly.
“Yeah, I noticed. Isn’t that more your parents job?” He joked.
“I, eh… my brothers raised me,” I stammered awkwardly. You’d think I’d be used to answering that question by now but the stab of pain never went away.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” he said, a slight blush gracing his fine cheekbones.
“No, it’s okay,” I smiled as best I could.
At that moment, the queue started moving forward and Adam was spared the awkwardness hanging in the air.
As we all made our way into the middle of the dance floor, my anxiety returned a little. I don’t dance. Sarah had grabbed my hand and was already gyrating her hips and clearing a space for us all. The music was deafening and the general level of intoxication was obvious in the atmosphere. I glanced cautiously around at all the other people dancing and tried to copy some of the less indecent, simpler moves, feeling completely ridiculous.
After an hour and a half on the dance floor, I was hot and sweaty and only slightly less uncomfortable. I’d witnessed several people making complete fools of themselves around me, but that didn’t mean I was any more willing to do so myself.
I glanced at the group, trying to catch somebody’s eye to let them know I was going to step out, but they all seemed pretty engaged in their dancing. I grabbed Adam’s elbow and shouted into his ear but he shook his head and pointed to his ears, indicating he couldn’t hear me. I shook my head at him and waved him off and he went back to dancing with a pretty blonde girl, a boyish grin on his face. I forced my way through the crowd, getting bashed around a fair bit in the process. Eventually, I broke though to the somewhat cooler edges of the room and could finally breathe again.
A glass of cold water was just what I needed so I made my way towards the bar. I hesitated when I saw how packed it was. Sighing heavily, I placed myself behind three rows of sweaty students, all clambering to be served. After ten minutes, I hadn’t made any progress so I gave up. I turned around and found my way blocked by a wall of muscle. I looked up and was met by a pair of startlingly clear, green-blue eyes, framed by thick, black lashes. His dirty-blond hair was tousled in a ‘just-out-of-bed thanks to £50 of product’ look.
“Careful there,” he said, steadying me as I almost fell into him.
“S…Sorry,” I stammered, regaining my balance as he took his strong hands off my shoulders. I was slightly breathless and I wasn’t sure that it could be entirely attributed to my near fall.
I took a closer look at the man that I’d fallen into in my usual clumsy style. Those eyes. There was so much colour in them, so much emotion. It was like looking into a well; thousands of shades of blue and green, hiding treasures and wishes in their deepest depths.
“Decide that the booze wasn’t worth the wait?” He grinned at me, gesturing to the bar. He had an air of control about him, as though he was aware of everything happening around him. It was a familiar expression, one that I associated with Ian. He always knew exactly where everyone in the room was standing and nothing ever escaped him. Feeling the same aura from this enticing stranger made me feel inexplicably safe and slightly cautious at the same time.
“I was only after some water,” I said, standing on my tiptoes and leaning into his ear so he could hear me over the music.
He nodded and motioned for me to follow. Unsure if I really ought to be following a strange man in a club, I hesitated a little. He turned back and looked at me quizzically, but smiling.
“I’m just going to get you some water, don’t worry,” he said, bending down to meet me at my level.
I felt his warm breath against my ear and felt my skin break out in goose bumps in response. Deciding that there were plenty of witnesses, I followed him to just outside the nightclub, next to the now closed Co-Op and coffee shops.
“They always have a water machine out here,” he gestured to the contraption behind me. “The SU’s attempt to promote responsible drinking,” he grinned.
I helped myself to a glass of ice-cold water and knocked it back straight away, refilling my cup.
“Not working for you, I see,” I nodded towards the beer bottle in his hand.
“I’ll have you know this is alcohol free,” he said, showing me the label. His eyes flashed with what almost looked like hurt. As though he was a small child being reprimanded.
“I was only kidding,” I said quickly. “Thanks for the help,” I smiled up at him.
“Anytime,” he answered, offering his hand out to me. “I’m Jason.”
“Jamie-Lea,” I replied, taking his hand.
I felt my fingertips tingle as he shook my hand firmly and I started to wonder if it really had been water that I’d just drunk.
“Nice to meet you, Jamie-Lea,” he said, flashing me a million dollar smile.
“And you,” I said, taking in his appearance more fully now that the light permitted. He must have been in his mid twenties, he looked around the same age as my brother, Craig. He was wearing a tight fitting pinstripe shirt, rolled over his muscular forearms. The top two buttons were open, revealing a toned chest with a spattering of light chest hair. He had a woven rope bracelet around his right wrist and a pair of perfectly fitting stonewash jeans that hung loosely on his hips.
“I’m guessing you’re not a fresher,” I said quietly, lowering my gaze down at the floor and blushing as I realised I’d been quite obviously staring at him.
“No,” he laughed. ”I’m a PhD student, I did my masters here and loved it so much I didn’t want to leave,” he said with another of his heart melting smiles.
“Oh, cool,” I said, suddenly feeling a little stupid. “I guess that makes you a bit of a genius”. Oh way to go, Jamie, real smooth. I cursed myself inwardly, feeling more and more awkward by the minute.
“I don’t know about that,” he said smoothly. “How about you? You’ve got that scared squirrel fresher look.” He shot me a cheeky grin.
“Scared squirrel?” I scoffed, realising that it was probably very true. “Yeah, I just moved here yesterday. I’m studying English.”
“There you are, Jamie-Lea!” Emma said coming up behind me.
“Hi, sorry, I was just grabbing some water. It was hot in there.”
She took a few seconds to look at Jason, her eyes taking in his well-toned body for just a little too long, which made me inexplicably uncomfortable.
“Hi, I’m Emma,” she said to him, fluttering her eyelashes.
I frowned.
“Jason,” he replied, returning his eyes to me. “Listen, you should drop by the athletics booth at the freshers’ fair on Monday morning. I’ll be there. I can show you around a bit,” he said enthusiastically. He held my gaze for a few seconds. I couldn’t ignore the intensity which gleamed out from behind his dark pupils. I smiled and opened my mouth to answer but Emma got there first.
“We’ll be there,” she nodded vigorously.
“Cool.” His eyes flitted to her and back. “Enjoy your water,” he winked and strolled back off towards the nightclub.
“He was fit!” Emma announced as soon as he was out of earshot.
I giggled and she dragged me back towards the dance floor. We danced for a while longer until we decided to call it a night at around two. We lost Adam to the leggy blonde, and Sarah disappeared with a well-built Italian. The rest of us made a hasty retreat through the chilly air back to the flat. It had been a pretty good night, all in all. I smiled as I thought about the freshers’ fair. It would be nice to get a better look around.
Relieved to be home and somewhat exhausted, I changed into some shorts and one of Craig’s old T-shirts. I climbed over a few as yet unpacked boxes and slid into bed with my phone. I plugged it into the charger on the bedside table and sent a quick text to Karl.
Hi Karl.
I’m home. Sorry it’s late.
Had a good night.
Sorry if I worried you.
xx JL
I shut my eyes and was asleep before I knew it.
***
Sunday, 16th September 2012
I woke up to the sun shining through the fairly ineffective, vomit-coloured curtains in my room. I picked up my phone and glanced at the time. It was half past eight. Pretty late rising for me; I was used to being up at six. It felt like a real luxury to have been allowed such a lie-in.
I noticed a few blinking messages on my phone. I had a few notifications from Facebook taggings and comments, and a few texts. I opened my inbox to read the texts I’d missed from last night. Two from the twins at around 20:45 and one from Karl at 02:20 this morning. My identical twin brothers had sent me identical texts.
Karl’s pissed.
You’re in trouble!
Cursing myself for not reading them last night so I at least had a warning, I messaged them both back.
Thanks for the heads up.
Miss you all
xx JL
I opened the message from Karl.
Ok. This isn’t over.
I groaned loudly into my pillow. Why can’t they just let stuff like this go? I get the whole wanting to protect me thing, but I’m eighteen now. They have no right to tell me what I can and can’t wear, do they? I sighed, feeling guilty that I was questioning them after everything they’d done for me. I rolled out of bed and, in a moment of defiance, didn’t re-make it. Ian and Karl made sure our beds were made up every morning, making us redo them if they weren’t up to scratch.
I nipped into the cupboard-sized, en-suite bathroom and pulled on my running gear. I enabled the GPS programme that Ian had put on my phone so that anybody on my friends list could see where I was when I was running. For my safety, they’d insisted. I headed out the door, locking it behind me and trying to put my ear buds in so that they sat comfortably. I almost crashed into Adam as I went through the building doors.
“Hey, Player!” I greeted him with a small hug.
“Ugh, don’t judge me!” He groaned, sounding a little worse for wear.
“I’m not!” I protested, giggling slightly. “Six brothers, remember!”
He grinned back at me. “You off for a run?” He looked at me as if I was insane.
“Yeah, I thought I’d look around a bit before breakfast.”
“You’re a mad woman!” He grinned and waved as he headed inside.
I turned up the volume and set off to explore the campus, making a mental note to make my bed when I got home, because staging an impromptu Skype bed inspection was exactly the sort of thing Ian was likely to do.
August 31, 2013
August 1, 2013
Stronger with You Teaser #2
Originally posted here.
The second teaser from 'Stronger with You' which is book 2 in the 'With You' trilogy.
I also added a blurb to the Goodreads page.
