I Swear I Love You

Brian’s POV

“Woah!” Jason almost dropped the large box in his hands as Holly stormed past, nearly flattening him in the process if he hadn’t jumped out of the way in time. One thing I have learned over the years is when a female is on the warpath you get the fuck out of her way and stay the fuck out of her way- unless you have to. “Who’s the chick with the nice rack?”

I helped him balance the box back in his arms. Fuck knows what was in it- then again I probably wouldn’t have cared if he had dropped the box at this point. “Rev’s death in female form,” I muttered. “You haven’t seen Matt or Val around have you?”

He shook his head. “They’re still at that water park last I heard.” Zack’s head dropped. He really wanted to go.

“Is Jim still here?”

“Yeah. Hasn’t left the hotel since sound check. Johnny’s with him I think.”

“Cheers.” Immediately I set after Holly who had since managed to slip from sight, Zack at my side.

“Hey Syn!” I stopped momentarily to turn back to Jason.

“What?”

He grinned. “Get me that chick’s number!”

I just shook my head and continued on my way, muttering under my breath. “Fucking idiot.”

--

“Holly, don’t do this!” I pleaded. I tried to tug on her arm and pull her away but she merely kept going. Somehow she had managed to get Jimmy’s room number from the front desk- well, not really somehow. I know exactly how she got it; if that guy’s lustful expression when she left was anything to go by. “Come on Holly!”

“No!” She snapped. This was the flipside to Holly; most of the time she was your average bubbly girl, ecstatic about anyone and anything, but in an instant if you threaten her sister, then you better be a fucking fast digger because you’ll be in your grave soon enough. “He hurt my sister so I’m going to hurt him back!”

She stormed up the stairs at a fast pace that Zack and I couldn’t keep up with, leaving us with some space to talk. Zack decided to ask fearfully what was going to happen. I replied that I didn’t know, but it probably would be best if we just tried to stop it before it could.

Except of course, we couldn’t.

We got to their room just as Holly had barged her way past Johnny who had opened the door, first glaring at him thinking he was Jimmy then realising she had made a mistake once she saw the other man leaning against the bed. In an instant she had crossed the room and knelt down in front of him, his shirt in her fist as she hauled him close to her.

“Who the hell do you think you are to hurt my sister,” she snarled. “What gives you that right?!” Jimmy remained silent, allowing himself to be pushed around. He didn’t even try to defend himself. “Who do you think you are?!”

His eyes rolled to her seething aquamarine orbs. “I’m Jimmy. Nice to meet you.”

“Fuck you,” she hissed, pulling her other hand back ready to slap him. However this time Jimmy did defend himself and caught her wrist in mid-strike, stilling her attack. “How dare you.” She wrenched her wrist from his grip but in that single motion her gaze must have slipped to the hand holding hers, since she locked upon the gold band on his finger. Holly may not have been school-academic, but she certainly had the smarts when it came to piecing things together. “That gold band on your finger… where did you get it?” He shrugged. “Tell me!” She shook him violently. “Where did you get that ring?”

“My wedding.”

“To who?!” She tightened her grip and pulled him closer to the ring she produced. “Is this the other band?”

His gaze slid down to the ring she produced. “Yes.”

She faltered for a moment, the force behind her voice dropping slightly. “Did you marry my sister? Jessica Fawn?”

He answered with a blank tone; one devoid of any kind of emotion whatsoever. “Yes.”

The marriage was the one part of the story I had left out; I knew it would hurt her to know that her sister had kept something this important for her. Secrets were a non-existent thing between the two Fawn sisters. It was a key aspect of their beliefs; firstly no secrets to be kept from one another and just the sheer bond of family. Even now, with a new member to her family being forced upon her, she couldn’t help but allow her anger to dissipate.

Instantly her fingers dropped the cotton material in her hands. “You…” She slowly backed away. “You married my sister.” She raised her trembling hands and clutched at her head, as if in pain. “Why didn’t she…?” She looked back at him through her fingers. “When… when did this happen?”

“A few months ago.”

“Few… months…” She mumbled under her breath. The betrayal was evident in her tone. “She never said…”

“Holly…” I started to walk to her with the intent to comfort her but she just ducked under my arms and headed straight for the door.

“No Brian.” She paused in the doorway. “Just no.”

“But-”

“I can’t help my sister out this time. It’s not my place anymore.” She sounded hurt at her own words, but continued anyway. “Jimmy?”

He turned to look at her. “Look… look after Jess for me, okay?” She kicked gently at the ground. “I can trust you… right? Because you’re my brother.” She took a deep breath and exhaled before repeating herself, believing herself more the second time round. “I can trust you to look after my older sister, because you’re my brother. You won’t let anything hurt her, will you?”

Something in her words must have stirred something in him because I could swear, even though it was barely anything now, parts of the old Jimmy were breaking through his depressive state. Right now, it was the fierce protection he has for those he cares about. “I…” He faltered in his words just like he faltered getting to his feet, but the expression emitted every ounce of strength he could muster. It wasn’t much, but it was more than he had expressed throughout the past week. “I promise. I promise to look after your older sister.”

She smiled sadly. “You’ll promise because you are her husband.” She reached her hand out for him from the doorway. “Come with me. I’ll take you to her.”

--

Jimmy’s POV

It was weird- I knew Jess and I were married, but until now, I hadn’t actually realised what that meant. Even though we did it accidentally, it still meant something, and all it took was some chick ready to kick the shit out of me if she needed to get the message across. I just needed my sister to tell me.

“She’s by the pool,” Holly said softly. “Take this with you.”

She left without saying another word; it wasn’t until I looked at what she had pressed into my hand that I saw a gold wedding band, a twin to my own. My gaze saddened slightly at the thought that Jess had taken it off, but I guess in all of our drama, it probably hurt her to see it there.

“Jessica… Jess,” I corrected, taking a seat beside her at the pool. She didn’t look at me when I called her but at least she didn’t just get up and walk away. “About that time… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you. It’s my fault.” I sighed, playing with her ring in my hand. “It’s all my fault. The kiss, the fact we got thrown in jail… It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

“You keep saying that,” she mumbled.

“Saying what?”

“That you’re sorry.”

“Well I am.”

“But for what?”

I just stared at her blankly. Clearly there was a point I wasn’t getting. “For the kiss thing. I shouldn’t have done it.”

“But didn’t I kiss you first?”

“Well…” I was about to say something but realised she was right. She did kiss me first. “Well… yeah, you did.”

“So shouldn’t I be the one apologising?”

Throughout the entire conversation she hadn’t lifted her gaze from the ripples on the water’s surface. I started to do the same without realising it. “I don’t want you to apologise.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” I looked up at her despite the fact she wouldn’t do it back. “Because you only apologise for bad things you’ve done.”

“And you don’t see that as a bad thing?”

“Well… no.” I reached out and began to brush my fingers across the surface of the water, creating ripples of my own that mingled with hers. “I… I remembered that I enjoyed it.” I sighed. “I did enjoy it. Why should anyone apologise for making someone else happy?”

“They shouldn’t. But…”

“But…?”

Finally, she looked up at me. “But we shouldn’t have done those things. What about the others? What about the band?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t particularly care.”

“You don’t care?”

“Well it’s not like we did anything bad. I mean we are married after all.”

Her eyes drifted to her fingers, obviously looking for the ring that was no longer there. “I took my ring off.” She looked back at me. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” I said, smiling. “I’ve got your ring right- ah shit!” The ring was no longer in my hand. Where the fuck has it gone?“Oh no… Where did it go?” Then I realised that I had held it in my left hand… which was also the one I had used to play with the water, and at the bottom of that water was… “The ring!” I don’t know why, but ignoring all reason I simply dived in the pool to get the ring, holding my breath as I went under to grab it off the floor before breaking the surface again, waving it triumphantly. “Got it!” I walked so that I was in front of Jess in the pool, looking up at her. “Here.”

She smiled, taking it and slipping it back on. “Thank you. You could have let me though. I’m wearing a bathing suit under this shirt.”

“Well there’s still time for you to get wet,” I said slyly. I grabbed her by the arms and pulled her into the pool with me before she could protest. “See? Putting that bathing suit to good use.”

“Jimmy!” She whined. “My hair’s wet!”

I rolled my eyes. Barely the tips got wet. So I decided to splash her. “Now it’s wet.” I laughed as her eyes narrowed. “Aw, come on Jess.” I gently pulled her into the deeper sections of the pool to the point where she had to begin treading the water while I could still stand beside her, helping her by holding her waist. “Come on, let’s see that smile.”

“You’ll get no smile from me, James Sullivan.”

“You wanna bet?” I challenged.

She scowled. “You wouldn’t dare…”

Lunging for her stomach I started to tickle her stomach, knowing that it was her main weakness. It only took about ten seconds but sure enough, there was a great smile shining from her. “Got it!”

“Alright! Alright! You win,” she relented, gently pushing away from my tickles. “Geez Jimmy, any longer and you’ll make me wet myself or something!”

“That’s a lovely image,” I remarked.

“You can sleep with it at night,” she responded with a smile. “God knows you need to sleep with something.” She thought about what she said and then quickly added something else. “Which isn’t me while I’m drunk. Although, I guess that’s how you get all your girls, right?”

This time it was my turn to scowl. “I am fantastic; I don’t need alcohol to get me laid.”

“Maybe not if you’re in a gay bar,” she chuckled.

“Hey!” I pushed my arms out in front of me and created what essentially was a minor tidal wave. This then started a war between us as we tried to splash each other, both of us laughing like last week didn’t happen. In a space of a few hours, everything seemed alright again.

“Hey Jimmy?”

“Yeah?” I turned just in time to see Jess crash her lips against mine, taking me by shock. When she pulled away, the emotion remained. “What was that for?”

She winked at me. “Well we are married, aren’t we?”

I grinned. “Hell yeah we are!” I pulled her back to me. “Now come back here, I’m not finished yet…”