Femme Fatale

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Innocence

Jake carried a big bowl of popcorn into his living room and frowned when he saw the seating arrangements. Jo and Thomas were both sitting on the brown leather sofa.

Damn you, Tom, Jake cursed to himself.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennett were on a "business trip," so their kids were staying with the Foleys for the time being. Jake was ecstatic when he heard the good news. He loved spending time with Jo. Oh, and Thomas, too.

Thomas had his feet on the granite coffee table, and he was furiously typing away on his Blackberry. Undeterred, Jake made his way to the big sofa and nudged his friend's legs with his knee. "Get your nasty feet off the table," he said.

"Yes, mom," Thomas said with an eye roll, but he planted his feet on the Persian rug obediently.

Jo giggled at the exchange, and Jake smiled at her. Her cheeks became rosy and she quickly turned to the blank television screen.

Jake placed the popcorn bowl onto the table in front of Jo and nestled himself between the siblings. "Ahhh," he said as he stretched out both arms along the back of the leather couch.

"Dude!" Thomas flinched when his friend's arm rested upon his shoulders.

"What?" Jake asked innocently, spreading his legs as wide as they would go. "We're all friends here."

Thomas recoiled from Jake's man thigh as if it had diseased properties.

"Not cool, Jake." Thomas stood up with a huff and moved to the adjacent loveseat, but not before smacking his friend in the face with a couch pillow.

It was worth it. Jake grabbed a cable knit throw and covered Jo's legs. When he was sure Thomas wasn't looking, Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out a Hershey's bar. He handed it to her.

Jo squealed with pleasure before tearing the wrapper open. She loved chocolate, but Jake knew her parents didn't allow any in the house. They were strict about food and, well, pretty much everything else.

"Thanks," she said to Jake with a radiant smile. He could feel his heart palpitating through his flannel shirt and the living room suddenly felt uncomfortably hot.

Jo was wearing a white cotton tank top and low-rise jeans. Jake could see the faint outline of a blush pink bra through her shirt. He gulped and clicked through Netflix's movie offerings on the television screen, but he was having a hard time focusing on the task at hand. His brain was a jumbled mess and it was all because of her.

"Ooh. They have Order Of The Phoenix!" Jo piped up excitedly.

Thomas groaned. "You know I always fall asleep during Harry Potter movies."

"Harry Potter it is," Jake said with a grin.

Jo stuck out her tongue at her older brother.

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Jake had scooted closer to Jo on the sofa, and she was fighting the urge to run her fingers through his wavy chestnut hair. She bit her thumbnail instead.

He looked so handsome in his navy and green plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms. She wanted to press her face into the soft material of his shirt and breathe in his cologne. He always smelled so good.

Thomas began to softly snore. As if on cue, Jake gently took hold of Jo's hand under the blanket they were sharing. His fingers laced through hers, and Jo audibly gasped at the strange sensation caused by his touch. Her cheeks were aflame, and she could hear the rush of blood pounding in her ears. Jo was being electrocuted in the best possible way, and it was all because he was holding her hand.

Jo was having trouble breathing. She was giddy, nervous, confused, and a whole host of other emotions. Jo never wanted to let go of his hand, even though she knew her palm was getting sweaty, which was probably unattractive. Oh God.

The movie credits were rolling when Jo finally started to blink her eyes open. She had somehow fallen asleep. Her eyes widened when she realized her head was resting on a pillow on Jake's lap. She gulped and moved her head slightly to glance up at him. He was staring at the movie credits with a goofy grin on his face as if they were the most interesting words he had ever read.

Jo's body began to tingle when she realized he was playing with her hair. Jake was twisting strands from her ponytail around his finger and it felt amazing. Jo closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, not wanting him to stop touching her.

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Jo had been reliving old memories in her dreams, and when she woke up she realized her head was on someone's lap.

Wait... Jake?

For one short wonderful moment, she imagined she was still on Jake's lap. But then the harsh reality sank in.​ She​ was not a nervous, lovestruck teenager in the presence of her crush. That couldn't be farther from her current situation.

She had killed a man who had tried to rape and murder her.

No, she couldn't think about that. Jo wasn't ready to process the gravity of those events and the possible repercussions. Not right now. Maybe not ever.

She sighed and turned over, lying on her back and looking up at the man whose lap she had commandeered. Michael. He looked down at her lovingly, his blue-grey eyes soft with emotion.

"Hey," he greeted her with a sad smile.

"Hey," Jo whispered back, immediately wishing that she hadn't. Her throat was painfully sore, and it hurt to even whisper. She knew there would be an ugly purple bruise around her neck like a brand, if there wasn't one already.

Jo closed her eyes and willed the Ambien she had taken to work its magic. She needed to sleep off the pain. She was in so much pain. Her neck hurt, her head hurt, the space between her legs hurt, and her heart hurt.

Stop thinking about it, she screamed to herself. And so she did. Jo shut off her thoughts like a faucet - a skill she had learned at sixteen - and the soothing sounds of rolling waves and the warm, salty smell of the ocean lulled her into a deep sleep.

By the time the boat had reached their destination, Jo was dead to the world. Michael had to carry her off the boat and into their private villa in the Maldives. He carefully tucked her into the bed as Jax grabbed two beers from the fridge.

Jax popped the caps off the bottles, then handed one to Michael. They drank in silence, watching over the sleeping figure who had somehow managed to capture and break their hearts.

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