Page 46 of Anyone But Me

With my permission, she sucked even harder this time. Her body moved against mine as she did, and I honestly thought I might come with all of my clothes on.

“Jax! Carter! Where are you two?”

Olivia. Shit.

Jax stumbled off of me and I scrambled to my feet. The sound of Olivia running down the stairs shattered some of the tension, and we both broke into a fit of laughter.

Jax pointed toward the door. “I better get out there. Thanks to you I’m probably gonna have to tell Olivia I need to poop, so I can go into the bathroom and touch myself.”

“Jax!”

Jax shrugged and laughed again. “What? You have me all hot and bothered. If I don’t get release, I might die.”

“Fine.” I walked over to her and kissed her cheek. “Please don’t die.”

“Jax? Carter?” Olivia’s voice shouted again.

“I really need to go.” Jax snickered. “You, on the other hand, need to stay in here and figure out how you’re going to hide that massive hickey from your family.”

As Jax ran from the room, giggling uncontrollably, I instinctively brought my hand to my neck. Fuck.

***

The next morning, I woke up early so I could work at hiding my hickey. I used some coverup that I had luckily brought along, but the spot was such a bright red, even that didn’t hide it completely. Thanks, Jax.

I looked through my clothes but couldn’t find anything with a high enough neckline to cover the hickey.

In a last ditch effort, I opened the closet in my mama’s room and was happy to find it still held some of her old clothes.

I rummaged through the clothes until I came across a red turtleneck. Perfect.

I slipped it on with a pair of jeans and checked myself out in the full-length mirror hanging on the back of the bedroom door. It probably wouldn’t have been my first choice of outfits, but it would do. At least the one person I cared about impressing would understand why I was wearing it.

“Breakfast is served!” Ronan shouted up the stairs.

Speck jumped from the bed and began spinning in circles in front of the door as if my brother had called for him personally. I opened the door and watched him dart for the stairs as I followed slowly behind.

When I walked into the kitchen, everyone else was already there, including my moms and uncles.

“How nice of you to finally grace us with your presence,” Ronan teased.

As soon as Olivia looked at me, she started to laugh. “What were you doing up there? It definitely wasn’t picking out your outfit. That’s for sure.”

My mama slapped Olivia’s arm. “Hey, don’t tease your-” She paused when her eyes landed on my turtleneck. “Is that my old shirt?”

“Yeah. I got distracted looking through the closet and thought this was cool,” I said as nonchalantly as possible.

Olivia laughed even harder now. “Cool in what decade?”

My eyes instinctively found Jax’s, and we shared a secret smile that caused goosebumps to pop up on my arms and a shiver to run down my spine.

Ronan set the last of the breakfast items on the table and sighed. “Could we please move our focus from Carter’s questionable outfit to this amazing breakfast I prepared?”

My grandma patted my brother’s hand. “Of course, sweetie. Thanks for making it. This is more food than your grandpa has cooked in the last month combined.” She shot my grandpa a dirty look, before smiling over at me. “I saved you a seat, Carter Girl.”

I looked around the table and realized the seat by my grandma, which just so happened to be the farthest one from Jax, was the only one available. Chill out, Carter. You can survive one meal at opposite ends of the table. “Thank you, Grandma.”

I took my seat, and while we ate, the conversation shifted to multiple topics that didn’t involve me. Thank god. What I wasn’t thankful for was how damn itchy this turtleneck was. I pulled at the top of it, hoping I could get some relief.

“Carter, what are you doing?” my grandma asked. “That’s not very lady-” My grandma gasped, and I dropped my hand. “Aw, my poor little girl, what did you do to your neck?”

“N-nothing. It’s fine.” If my face was as red as it was hot, I was sure that lie wasn’t going to fool anyone.

“No, really. It looks so red and irritated.” As if her words weren’t embarrassing enough, she rolled down my turtleneck, revealing the hickey to the whole table. “Did you burn yourself?”

I brought my hand to my neck, but if the look on everyone’s faces was anything to go by, I hadn’t done it quickly enough. “Maybe. I’m not sure.”

My grandma pulled my hand away and stared at my neck. “I don’t understand. That wasn’t there when I saw you last night. It doesn’t appear that you did your hair or else I’d say it’s from a straightener.”

I stared at the table and closed my eyes, praying this would all end. At least one person was definitely snickering, but I couldn’t tell who it was, and I refused to look up.

My grandma gasped again. “Jim, do we have bed bugs? Do bed bugs even bite?” She rubbed her finger over the hickey, which I could only imagine was making it even more visible.

“It would have to suck really hard to make a spot like that.” She sighed loudly.

“You really need to have that looked at. I don’t want it to get infected.

And Jim, we need to call an exterminator. ”

“We don’t need to call an exterminator,” my grandpa said sternly.

Great. He’s pissed. My grandpa is going to hate me all because I couldn’t keep my hormones under control for one night.

“Why not?” my grandma asked.

Poor, naive, grandma.

My grandpa dropped his fork, and it clinked against his plate. “Just drop it, okay?”

I jumped from my seat. I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew I had to get out of there. I mumbled something about going to the bathroom before running out of the kitchen. I didn’t stop until I was back upstairs in my mama’s old room.

I had no idea how much time passed before there was a knock on the open bedroom door. When I looked over, Jax was standing in the doorway with a sheepish grin on her face.

“Carter, I can’t tell you how sorry I am,” she said as she walked into the room and sat next to me on the bed.

“Why are you sorry? I literally remember telling you, and I quote, I didn’t fucking care if you left a mark.”

“Yes. I seem to remember that too.”

I’m not sure which of us cracked first, but soon, both of us were laughing. I put my face in my hands. “I still can’t believe that happened.”

“Yeah, probably not the best way for your family to find out, huh?” Jax asked between giggles.

“I just hope Olivia doesn’t kill us.” I didn’t mean to kill the silly mood, but that reminder seemed to sober us both.

“What should we-”

Jax’s question was interrupted by another knock at the door. This time it was Uncle Ethan standing in the doorway.

He took two steps into the room, then stopped. “I’m really sorry to interrupt, but Jax, if you want to ride to the cafe with me, we need to leave now.”

Jax looked from my uncle to me. “If you want me to stay, I will. Seriously. I’m not going to leave you to fend for yourself.”

I shook my head. There was no way I was going to take this opportunity away from Jax. “This weekend is about you. Don’t worry about me. I’ll sort this out.”

Jax didn’t budge. Instead, she continued to stare at me. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.” I playfully pushed her away. “Now go.”

Jax gave me a hug before standing from the bed to join my Uncle Ethan.

Uncle Ethan put his arm around Jax’s shoulder.

“Careful, Carter. If I have my way, I’m going to convince this one to take over the cafe from me.

God knows Finn has no interest in following in his old man’s footsteps.

” He dropped his arm and gave me a sweet smile.

“By the way, don’t worry about what happened down there.

You’re not the first person who has fallen victim to your grandma’s big mouth.

Just ask your moms.” He winked at me before walking out of the room.

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

As if sensing my question, my mom came to the room next. “Welcome to the club,” she said with a laugh.

“What do you mean?”

“Your grandma put me and your mama in so many awkward situations throughout the years. They were so uncomfortable, I don’t even want to repeat them now, but all you need to know is that your grandma accidentally proposed to your mama for me. It doesn’t get much worse than that.”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but the fact that she wasn’t acting weird around me made me feel better. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Also,” my mom leaned in to whisper to me. “Just for the record, I’m a big fan of Jax. So is your mama.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or crawl under the covers in embarrassment, but I didn’t get the chance, because the next family member was waiting to talk to me.

My stomach dropped when I saw who it was. My mom squeezed my shoulder before leaving me and Olivia to talk alone.

Olivia sat down on the bed beside me, but didn’t say a word.

My mouth was dry, and my throat felt heavy as I tried to force myself to speak. “I was going to tell you today. I promise.”

“Which part? The fact that you’re fucking my best friend or that you’re in love with her?” Olivia was stone-faced, but after a few seconds, she broke into a smile and then laughed. “Both of those things are okay. Just for the record.”

Relief swept through me. I was so happy Olivia wasn’t mad at us, but I still felt guilty about what had just happened. “This isn’t how I wanted you to find out though.”

“I kind of already knew. At least I suspected.”

“How?” There’s really only one way she could have figured it out. “Was it New Years?”

“That helped to confirm my suspicions, but I was starting to figure it out before that. I know you and Jax better than I know anyone else in this world, and for the last few months you’ve both been happier than I’ve ever seen you before.

The biggest difference in both of your lives was each other, so I just kind of put the pieces together. ”

“And you’re sure it’s okay?”

“My best friend and sister dating? Hell yeah. I’ve always felt like Jax was family. Maybe you can make that official.” She elbowed me playfully.

I sighed. I knew this conversation was supposed to be making me feel better, but it was reminding me of the next big step I needed to take. “It might help if I told her how I felt.”

Olivia’s eyes went wide. “She doesn’t know?”

I shook my head. “She might have figured it out by now, but I haven’t told her. I didn’t think I was brave enough to fall in love again, but Jax makes me brave.”

Olivia scoffed. “So, tell her for fuck’s sake. What the hell are you waiting for?”

I pointed between us. “This. I wanted to make sure I had your blessing before I confessed my feelings and hope to god that she feels the same.”

“My blessing?” Olivia laughed. “Are you eighty-five?”

“What can I say? I’m an old soul.”

Olivia put her arm around me and leaned her head on my shoulder. “I know. It’s one of the things I love about you. I’m sure it’s one of the things Jax loves about you too.”

“I don’t actually know if she loves me. Or even if she definitely likes me for that matter.”

Olivia snorted out another laugh. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” She bumped her hip against mine. “So, when are you going to tell her?”

“As soon as possible.” I gasped when the perfect idea popped into my head. “And I think I know exactly how I’m going to do it.”