“Oh, my God.” Jesse gasped as she opened her front door, jumping back into Devon’s chest as she tried to avoid the bottom of her dress getting wet. His arm curled around her waist as she stared in front of her in horror.
Her house was completely underwater.
Water flooded into the lounge and kitchen in heavy streams from the passage.
“You two wait here. I’ll go look inside and see where all this is coming from.” Devon said and motioned for Jax to take his place behind Jesse before walking into her house. Uncaring that the water was splashing onto his pants and filling up his shoes.
“All my things ... “Jesse whispered in dismay as she watched him head towards the passage bathroom.
“It’s okay. Dev and I will help you replace everything that’s been damaged.” Jax told her, his breath ruffling her hair while his arms tightened around her in comfort.
Jesse frowned and turned her face towards his.
“You don’t have to do that. I can take care of it myself.”
Jax just shook his head and smiled at her.
“You’re our responsibility. Ours to look after and to care for. Whatever you want and whatever you need, we’ll make sure you get it.”
Jesse opened her mouth to argue but two awfully familiar voices distracted her. She leaned to the side to look behind Jax just in time to see Sasha and Lou coming around the corner of her house. They were clothed in black and wore the biggest smiles Jesse had ever seen on them.
“-you that I’m amazing!” Lou finished saying to Sasha who just shook her head and laughed. Her laughter quickly died, however, when she looked up and saw Jesse standing ahead of her.
“Jesse!” she squeaked as she came to a complete stop.
Lou squealed and jumped behind her friend, looking around her red hair and over her shoulder to see a very unhappy Jesse looking at them suspiciously.
“What are you guys doing here?” She asked, and Jax turned his body so that he could still hold her while she spoke to her friends.
“We, uhm, you see the thing is, uhm-“Lou stuttered, looking uncomfortable
“We just dropped your key off!” Sasha said with a serene smile as she started walking again. The only reason Jesse knew that she was lying was because her left eye twitched ever so slightly.
“Oh, really?” She asked with a raised brow.
“Why else would we come here?” Sasha asked, tilting her head to the side in faked curiosity.
Jesse’s eyes narrowed as she looked from Sasha to Lou, who kept her eyes carefully averted. Her facial expression was guilty enough that she knew that these two had been up to something.
Something they knew Jesse wouldn’t be all too happy about.
Jesse stepped out of Jax’s arms and approached her friends, both of who froze where they stood as she got closer to them. They wiped their faces of all expressions and left but a small innocent smile in place.
Jesse circled them slowly.
Jax suppressed a laugh as he watched Jesse walk around her friends, keeping her face close to theirs as she tried to get one of them to break.
Her short, blond friend was starting to fidget so much that he knew she was going to go first.
Jesse must have also realized it because she stopped right in front of her, tilting her head to the side, and slowly leaning down.
“Lou ... “She said slowly and so softly that he almost didn’t catch it.
“We were spying on your hot neighbor, alright?!” Lou all but shouted as she gave into pressure being put upon her, throwing her hands in the air in defeat.
Sasha stared at her friend in absolute horror while Jesse gasped.
“Lou! How many times must I tell you to leave Mr. Braxton alone?” Jesse said, hitting her friend on the arm. Lou pursed her lips in a pout and rubbed the area to make the slight sting go away.
“It’s not my fault! He’s just so damned sexy and you know how I have a weakness for a man in a shower!” She whined, realizing too late that she shouldn’t have added that last bit when Jesse’s eyes widened.
“You were watching him shower?!” Jesse hissed softly.
Lou dropped her eyes to her feet and shuffled her feet together, refusing to answer the question since she knew it was only going to make things worse.
“And you actually joined her in her perverse ways?!” Jesse asked as she swung towards a wide-eyed Sasha, ignoring Lou’s “Hey!” of protest.
“Well, I, uhm-“Sasha stuttered, not at all sure what the hell it was that they were talking about or even who Mr. Braxton was.
“What would you have done if he had caught you?” Jesse asked, placing her hands on her hips.
“Ran?” Lou asked making Jesse frown,” Oh, stop worrying so much. That man hasn’t caught me in the year and a half I’ve been spying on him and I doubt he’ll catch me now.”
Sasha’s mouth dropped open, and Jesse looked at Lou as if she had gone completely mad. Lou just looked about her as if she hadn’t just blurted out one of her most well-kept secrets.
Jax walked up behind Jesse and put his hands over hers, pulling her closer to him as he tried to distract her. He sensed she was this close to exploding.
“Ladies.” He greeted the two women with a grin.
Sasha dragged her eyes away from her crazy, perverted friend to look up at the man standing behind Jesse, holding her close to him which, strangely enough, Jesse didn’t seem to mind as she continued to glare at Lou.
“Mr. Monroe.” She greeted with a smile and a slight tilt of the head.
“Sasha, good to see you.”
“And you, sir.”
“Please, call me Jax. ‘Mr’ has only ever suited my brother.”
Sasha smiled and nodded her head at his request.
“And you are?” He asked, turning towards Lou who was staring at him with wide eyes.
Sasha kicked her in the shin, jerking her out of her shock-induced stare. It seemed unfair to her that the hunk in front of her.
Not as good as her Mr. Braxton but it was close.
“Lou.” She stated as she shook his hand.
“It’s wonderful to meet you.” He said as he once again wrapped his arm around a blushing Jesse.
“Likewise,” Lou said in a breathless whisper and scowled at Sasha as she smacked her over the head.
“Behave!” Sasha hissed softly before smiling sweetly up at Jax, who just chuckled. Jesse groaned in embarrassment and shook her head.
“So, what are you guys doing out here?” Sasha asked.
“My apartment somehow got flooded. Devon is checking to see what caused it.” Jesse said.
“Oh, no! What are you going to do now?” Lou asked, her hand over her heart as she sympathized with her friend.
Sasha almost rolled her eyes at Lou’s pathetic attempt at acting.
“She’s going to be staying with my brother and me,” Jax informed them, ignoring a spluttering Jesse. He noticed the movement of Jesse’s friends as high-fives behind their backs even while they continued to look sympathetic.
He tried not to frown.
These two were definitely up to something.
“Jax, I need your help here quickly,” Devon called from Jesse’s apartment door.
“I’ll be right back.” He said, dropping a kiss on Jesse's head and turning towards his brother.
“What?” Jesse asked defensively when she looked up to find both her friends giving her wide grins and knowing looks.
“Nothing, nothing!” Sasha said, still smiling.
“It’s just that you two seem rather comfortable with each other,” Lou said, wiggling her brows suggestively.
“Very comfortable,” Sasha added, making Lou giggle.
Jesse scowled at her friends and crossed her arms under her breasts even as she fought not to blush.
“Oh, don’t be like that, Jess. You know it’s not worth staying mad at us,” Lou said, batting her lashes and cupping her hands together in front of her as she leaned toward her friend. Giving Jesse her best baby face, big innocent eyes and all.
Jesse sighed and dropped her arms, making Lou and Sasha smile triumphantly.
“I hate that face,” Jesse said, but smiled, making both her friends blink in surprise. During the time they had befriended Jesse; neither of them had ever seen her really smile. They’d seen her fake one, the one that never seemed to reach her eyes, more times than they could count, but never one like this. Where her eyes seemed to lighten and shine. Obviously, those two men were doing something right, which made them feel less guilty for what they had done to force Jesse to move in with Devon and Jax.
“So. Jesse, “Lou said slowly with another suggestive eyebrow wiggle.
“What?” Jesse asked, even though she knew what her friend wanted to know. She wasn’t going to tell them anything, no matter how much they begged and pleaded.
Not just yet.
She knew them well enough to know that they’ll never shut up about it and then they’ll constantly hound her to loosen up some more. To take what the two men in her apartment were offering her and to hell with the consequences.
She had already caught herself thinking about doing just that during dinner and if they were to join the side of her libido, she was fucked.
Figuratively and literally.
“Tell us everything!” Sasha said encouragingly.
“There’s not much to tell. We just went to dinner, we came here and my house was flooded.” Jesse said with a shrug. Feeling bad for keeping so much from her only two friends.
“Really?” Lou asked, looking slightly disappointed when Jesse nodded but Sasha wasn’t that easily fooled.
“Well, if you just went to dinner, why are you wearing something I know would have killed not to wear with a very fine man unable to keep his hands off you?” She asked with a raised brow, crossing her arms. Lou quickly copied her posture and looked at Jesse suspiciously.
Jesse’s heart flip in her chest as she thought of how Devon and Jax constantly seemed to find a way to touch her, even if it was just a fleeting caress.
It made her feel as if they couldn’t keep their hands off of her.
“Because you're looking for something that isn’t there.”
Sasha opened her mouth to challenge what she had just said, but Devon’s voice behind Jesse interrupted her.
“We closed the pipe that seemed to have come loose, but we’re going to have to get someone in to look at it and dry the up the water.” He informed Jesse, nodding in greeting at her friends before turning to Jesse.
Jesse sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly.
Tonight had just too much drama for her.
Devon saw Jesse’s friends flinch and look at each other guiltily when they saw Jesse’s shoulders droop in defeat.
“It’s alright, Lou, and I got this. You go on home with Mr. Monroe and get some sleep in.” Sasha finally said.
“What? No, it’s alright. I won’t take that long anyway.” Jesse said, straightening up once again, sparing Devon a quick look when he took her hand in his. Ignoring her friend's pointed looks as he did so.
“Exactly. It won’t take long. So you can leave this to us. We honestly don’t mind helping you,”
Before Jesse could argue, Devon pulled her to him and slipped his arm around her shoulder to whisper in her ear.
“Stop being so stubborn and let your friends help you. They want to. Besides, if we leave now, you’ll be in a nice warm bed within the next 15 minutes.” He said, and Jesse shivered as his breath ran down her back. Almost like silk sliding against her skin.
Jesse hesitated before nodding.
The thought of curling up in bed was just too much for her to resist.
She looked at her friends just in time to see Sasha smacking Lou’s hand away from reaching for Devon’s ass. Cradling her hand to her chest, Lou pouted and glared at the redhead who just hissed something softly to her.
Jesse rolled her eyes.
They were like two little kids.
“Thank you for helping with this. Could you let me know when you’re done? And just leave the keys where you did before? I’ll figure out the rest tomorrow,”
“No problem.”
“We can definitely do that.”
“Okay, I just need to grab a few things-“
“I already packed some of your clothes in here for you,” Jax said as he joined them, carrying a sports bag in his one hand. “With this and what you already have by us, you should be good for a few days.”
“Oh, well, thank you.” She said and made to take the bag from him, but he held it out of her reach with a grin.
“I’ll carry it.” He said and took the hand she held out in his own.
Sasha and Lou watched them with wide grins, which had Jesse blushing slightly.
Damned nosey friends.
“We’ll handle everything here. Go home.” Sasha said, sweeping both her hands in front of her in a shooing motion.
“Thanks you guys,” Jesse said as Devon turned her around after muttering a quick goodbye to the two women. Jax did the same but added a grin which had the woman sighing to themselves.
“No problem, sweetie. Just remember, you owe us.” Sasha said giving her a meaningful look and Jesse knew that she meant all the juicy tidbits about her relationship with the two men.
“You spy on her neighbor?!” Sasha hissed at Lou as soon as Jesse disappeared around the corner with Devon and Jax.
Lou just shrugged and headed towards Jesse’s house they had broken into an hour earlier.
“He’s sexy.” She said in a way of explanation.
“Well, thanks to you, Jesse now thinks that I’m just as perverted as you.”
“Hey, no judgment, alright? It was either that or blurt out the real reason we were here.”
Sasha closed her mouth and nodded reluctantly.
Neither of them wanted to be there when Jesse found out that it had been them that had caused her place to become flooded.
“Anyway, you would be spying on him too if you had seen him. “ Lou said as they entered Jesse's house and closed the door behind them.
Happily describing to her friend how she had first seen Mr. Braxton.
In the nude.
In his backyard
With company.