Mutiny Below

Jayce

There was no comfort to be found in my own apartment anymore. I tiptoed around the place like a bomb was about to go off if I made the floor squeak. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get away from Nick. He was either smirking and cornering me somewhere or glaring because I was in John’s arms. It just wasn’t fair.

Wednesday morning I decided it was time for fresh air. I woke up early and showered, taking longer than necessary to do my hair and makeup just because I didn’t want to leave the safety of the bathroom.

When I finally did come out, dressed and ready, both John and Nick were sitting on the couch. Both looked half asleep until I walked into the room. I hated that Nick looked at me like that, like I deserved every bit of his attention. I had a boyfriend. I shouldn’t attract anyone’s attention but John’s.

“What are you all dressed up for, babe?” John’s eyebrows furrowed as he reached out and placed his hand on my hip. I bit my bottom lip and stared down into his green eyes.

“Girl’s day.” I shrugged and smiled the best I could.

“No time for me?” He pouted and squeezed my hip, making my chest heavier with guilt.

“Maybe later, O’Callaghan.” I teased half heartedly and leaned down to quickly peck his lips. Then I straightened up and went straight for the door to grab my shoes and purse. I hadalmost successfully ignored Nick.

“Bye Jayce!” I closed my eyes and sighed as his voice rang through the apartment. It had a certain cocky tone to it that made me half want to strangle him and half want to jump him. This was why I needed freedom.

“See you tonight.” I yelled back before skipping out the door and closing it behind me. I groaned as I realized my wording and my stomach churned as I knew just the way he’d take it.

I wasted no time getting down to my car and driving over to Eric’s side of the complex. I didn’t bother to knock either as I strode into his house and scanned the front room. Natalia was sitting on the couch, alone, with a blanket and a book. I smiled kindly as I approached and she looked up.

“Hey Jayce.” Her greeting was quiet and half heartedly warm. Her attitude seemed to be the same as mine, slightly disturbed yet forced cheerful.

“Hey Nat, whatcha doing?” I plopped down on the other side of the couch and felt a little nervous. Natalia’s eyes were eerily similar to Nick’s.

“Reading.” She answered in a duh tone and I made an ‘o’ with my mouth. It fell quiet for a second as I glanced around the room and she stared at me oddly.

“So,” I started but then sighed. “Want to go shopping with me?” I was practically begging for company. The thought of being alone with my thoughts was worse than being stuck in my apartment with the two boys.

“Uh … shopping?” She made a face as she repeated the word uncertainly. I smiled a little and nodded, hoping she said yes. “Um, I guess. Let me go change.” She slowly closed her book and set it down on the table before going back to the guest bedroom.

Relief flooded me for a moment. I pulled my phone out of my purse as I waited for her to return and opened a new text to Gemma. I invited her to go shopping too and was surprised by how fast she responded.

Natalia came back out a few minutes later. “Eric’s sleeping, should I …” she trailed off as she bit her bottom lip. “Leave a note,” the suggestion seemed like she was answering her own question.

“You can tell him the boys are over at my place, bored as hell.” She giggled and nodded, grabbing some pad from the coffee table and then searching for a pen.

It took about ten minutes to finally get to Kennedy’s place where Gemma was staying in the guest room. We didn’t bother going up to the house since she was waiting on the porch when I drove up.

“Girlie day!” Gemma exclaimed as she hopped into the backseat. “It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve done this.” She squealed and leaned forward in the middle so that her head was between Natalia and I’s shoulders.

“We had one like a couple weeks ago.” I laughed and shook my head as I reversed.

Gemma rolled her eyes. “Well, we should make it a weekly thing, like Bachelor’s Night.” She scrunched up her face as she said bachelor’s night with a disgusted tone. “Ick, I can’t stand BN. Kennedy invited me one time.” She rolled her eyes again. “I swear I’ll never go again.”

“It’s not so bad.” Natalia mumbled as she glanced out the window. My smile widened.

“They’ve probably cleaned up their act since you’re around.” Gemma sighed. “They’re way too comfortable around me.”

“All they did was watch movies and eat pizza.” Natalia kind of smirked as she looked over at Gemma.

“Yeah, they’re going easy on you, probably cause Nick said something. I had Garrett burp in my face one time, like for no reason! Ugh.” Gemma shuddered and then stuck her tongue out, making Natalia giggle. “You are more than welcome to come stay with me on BN, sweetheart.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Natalia continued to giggle as she covered her mouth with her hand.

“Alright girls, where are we going?” I grinned and slid my sunglasses on as I turned onto the highway that ran all through Tempe.

“Let’s go to Phoenix. They’ve remodeled the theater in the downtown area. I hear it’s super nice.” Gemma winked and I laughed.

“Even though I hate Phoenix and I have to drive there tomorrow.” I glanced back at Gemma with a smirk. “I guess we can walk around downtown. It’s been ages since I’ve gone there anyway.”

“Natty, darling?” Gemma sweetly batted her eyelashes and Natalia turned to her worriedly.

“Yeah?”

“Can we pretty please doll you up tonight?” Gemma begged and Natalia frowned. “It’ll be so much fun! Jayce is freaking loaded; we can buy a new dress and new shoes and new accessories. Jayce and I’ll do your hair and makeup. Please, please, please!” I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Being ‘dolled up’ isn’t really my thing.” Natalia hesitantly answered as she bit her bottom lip.

“We promise not to make you look like a tramp.” I added, trying to reassure her a little bit. “We’ll go classy.”

“Please?”

Natalia sighed. “I guess.” Gemma squealed and clapped. “Just, no heels, okay?”

“We can work with that.” Gemma smiled and turned to me. “I’m thinking converse?”

“Always.” I nodded and smirked as I turned onto the familiar interstate that would shoot us straight to Phoenix.

About seven and a half hours later, the three of us stumbled into Kennedy’s place laughing hysterically. Kennedy came from the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in his hands and a befuddled expression on his face.

I fell into a chair and Natalia fell onto the couch, both of us clutching our sides. Gemma went straight for him. “I take it you guys had a good time?” He arched his eyebrows as Gemma grabbed hold of his shirt.

“You have … to go.” She took deep inhales as she tried calming herself down. Kennedy looked at us even stranger.

“Why?”

“We’re, we’re getting ready to go to 8123.”

“That’s like three more hours away.”

I piped up as Gemma started to lose control again. “And we’re three girls. We need time and space to get ready.”

Kennedy rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He went back to the kitchen and then came out with a slight scowl on his face. “It’s ridiculous that you’re kicking me out of my own house.”

“Aw, stop being a baby. It’s only a few hours.” Gemma kissed his cheek and then plopped down beside Natalia.

“You should go check on the boys at the apartment. They’ve been alone all day and trouble has surely found them by now.” I shook my head and smiled.

“Yeah, yeah.” Kennedy muttered as he put his shoes on and then grabbed his keys.

“Bye Kenny!” We all yelled and he grumbled some more before slamming the door behind him.

“He’s not really upset, is he?” Natalia asked with concern as she sat up.

“Nah, he’s just bummed he’s not getting any.” Gemma winked and then hopped up, quickly skipping over to the massive entertainment center. “Now, shall it be Madina Lake or National Product?” Gemma mused as she sat down cross legged.

“John Mayer!” Natalia raised both her hands over her head and then giggled.

“Mayer, it is, dear.” The soft guitar started playing and I wondered how she’d put it on so quickly if it wasn’t even one of her options. “So, are we starting with hair or makeup?” She turned around and smirked at Natalia who stopped giggling immediately.

“Neither?”

“But you promised!” Gemma whined as she threw herself on top of Natalia, making her smile again.

“Okay, okay. Hair! Start with hair.” She tried pushing Gemma off while I laughed at the two of them.

“Yes!” Gemma whispered and hopped up. “Jayce, warm the curling iron and pull out the hairspray.” She demanded as she pulled Natalia up with her. “Halvo is so going to die.” She muttered and snickered as poor Natalia turned red as could be.

“Eric has nothing to do with this.” She mumbled, horrified and I felt sorry for her as I followed them down the hall.

“Right, sweetheart.” Gemma patted her shoulder and then glanced at me over her shoulder. “Halvo is a bit of an odd one; it’s why he still doesn’t have a lass.”

“Did you just say lass?”

“So not the point, Jayce.”

“But you did say lass?”

Gemma sighed. “Yes, I said lass. Can we focus now?”

I rolled my eyes and the two of us got started on Natalia. She didn’t complain much after the initial start of the ‘dolling up’. She frowned here and there, but for the most part we kept her laughing.

She was drop dead gorgeous when we got through. Natalia had a natural beauty to her, but what we did made her look flawless, exactly like a doll. It was almost eerie when she’d turn her head or talk. Gemma and I felt dull standing next to her.

The boys’ reaction was even better. As we drove up to the parking lot, the three of us fell into a fit of the giggles again, and when Natalia stepped out of the car, everyone’s attention turned to her. Gemma and I smiled proudly as Natalia shifted uncomfortably.

There was about a two second warning of “Natalia!” before Eric ran and tackled the poor girl to the car. I could hear her back smash against the door as he practically squeezed the air out of her lungs.

“Halvo! No one can see how pretty she is when you cover her like that!” Gemma yelled and stomped her foot like a small child. Then Kennedy came up from behind her and the rest was history.

Eric, on the other end, was still wholly focused on suffocating Natalia. Until Nick stepped in.

“Dude, get off my sister.” Nick angrily shouted and I cringed. I didn’t even want to glance at him.

“But I lurrrve her!” Eric shouted back and I smiled as I heard Natalia giggle. How she was able to giggle was beyond me.

“Eric,” that stern voice gave me a chill as an arm wrapped around me. I looked up at John and frowned. His expression was similar to Nick’s, slightly angry.

Eric sighed and backed off, still keeping his arm casually around Natalia’s neck. “Jeez, guys. Can’t I give Nat a hug when I haven’t seen her all day?”

“What have you three been up to, anyway?” Nick arched one eyebrow and changed his gaze from Natalia, briefly to Gemma, and then he settled on me. My stomach churned.

“We went shopping.” I smiled uneasily.

“Hey, Nat! You’re looking good!” Someone yelled from the crowd behind us and Nick quickly swiveled around, breaking his concentrated stare on me. I sighed with relief and then almost smiled as I was pretty sure that voice belonged to his own guitarist.

Natalia blushed an even darker shade as she casually buried her face in Eric’s shoulder. He laughed and pulled her closer to him. That was when I decided to pull the attention away from her because it was easy to see how uncomfortable she was with all of it.

“Who wants to play flip cup?” I smirked as quite a few hands flew up and the crowd dispersed to find alcohol and set up the game. Natalia sent me a small thankful smile that I returned with a wink before I pulled John over to the table.

Normally, I was really good at flip cup. It was one of my favorite games, to watch and to play. Somehow though, the universe made it so that I had to play against Nick, and not just that we were on opposite teams, but we were both last in line meaning the game came down to us.

It was hard to focus with the way he was staring at me, so intently. I bit my bottom lip as we waited for the three people ahead of us to drink and then successfully flip their cups. Nicks lips were pressed together, and his eyes just bored into mine fiercely. I nearly fainted, but then the laughter roared in my ears and it was my turn to drink.

I chugged the liquid with no problem. I was thankful for the distraction and the lightheadedness. Flipping my cup was another story. I just couldn’t get the right amount of pressure and the damn thing just kept flopping to the side. I groaned as I reached for the cup for what felt like the billionth time and then Nick’s hand touched mine as he reached for his own cup.

I froze. My eyes widened and snapped up to him. He grinned and kept on going, picking the cup up and flipping it one more time. It landed perfectly and he threw his hands in the air. My mouth fell open a little as his team cheered and mine pouted.

I couldn’t take it. It felt like the tension just kept building and building. Something as simple as his hand brushing against mine made my whole body shut down. I couldn’t handle it.

“Where’s your magic touch, Jayce?” Tim joked from beside me and I swallowed, putting all my feelings aside for now.

“It’s right here.” I raised my right hand wiggled my fingers, smirking. Tim laughed.

“Round two, then?”

“Let’s go, baby!” I high fived him and we started setting the game up again. The teams changed some and my main goal focused on one thing, drink as much as possible.

It didn’t seem like much time passed before I stumbled into John and he gripped me tight. Then again, our simple game of flip cup had turned into a hardcore one-on-one tournament that I almost won. I giggled uncontrollably as I let him stabilize my wobbling.

“Jeez, Jayce. How much have you had to drink?” John chuckled as he slowly sat me down on his lap. I shrugged and rested my head on his chest. The world was spinning madly and it hurt to try and look at any one think.

“Time to pack up?” It sounded like Justin Godsey and I wanted to jump up to squeeze the life out of him because it had been so long since I’d last seen him, but there was no way I was moving an inch without emptying the contents of my stomach, yet again.

“Probably, I saw baby Gomez running around with Gemma on his shoulder just a minute ago. That means troubles coming if someone doesn’t get the drunks into bed.” That was, for sure, Justin Richards.

“Kenny’s cool with them still being close.” John’s words echoed through my head.

“Psht, I wouldn’t let that girl anywhere near them if I knew about the things they’ve done together.”

“It’s all in the past.” I felt John shrug as he tried to smother over the problems.

“Right, but it only takes a second for the past to come back up with alcohol in your system.” I cringed at Richards’ words and groaned, burying my face into his chest even more.

John rubbed my back softly. “Gemma’s just in love with Kennedy as he is with her. They’ll be fine.” He reassured everyone and there was a few ‘humph’s as John started to move me around.

“Night Jayce.” The boys called as suddenly my body was vertical and hands were heavy on my hips, guiding me along.

“Night boys!” I called back and forced my eyes open again. Things were a bit blurry, but not as bad in the spinniness. John chuckled from behind me as he continued to guide me to the car.

He gently helped me into the backseat where he let me lay down. He kissed my forehead and pushed my hair away from my face before closing the door. I frowned when the driver’s door didn’t open immediately thereafter, but then I heard him yell Nick’s name.

A few minutes later, both front doors opened and closed. The car started and the radio turned on. I curled up and listened quietly. It didn’t take long before the two boys started talking.

“So what’s up with Jayce?” Of course it was Nick who started it. I swear he’s trying to cause trouble. “She was guzzling down beer faster than Max, and that’s kind of a record.”

John sighed heavily. “I don’t know.”

“She won’t talk to you?”

“No.”

“She won’t talk to anyone else?”

“She just keeps saying she’s fine.”

“But she’s not?”

“This is the second time, in a row, that she’s gotten completely smashed at 8123. She used to barely touch the alcohol because she leaves so early to go to Phoenix. I don’t know what it is, but something is wrong.”

“Is she better or worse when she comes back?”

“Worse.”

“So maybe it’s going home that’s got her so upset.”

“No, man. She’s been doing this for almost a year. Her parents are dicks, but there’s something else.”

It was silent for a moment and I wished it would have stayed that way.

“I could try talking to her. You know, fresh ears?” I almost groaned again.

“I doubt it’ll work, but anything’s worth a shot right now.” John sighed and I felt the car shift into park. He shut it off and the two boys got out. A minute later, the door at my feet opened and John cooed at me. “Jayce? Baby, we’re home.”

I frowned as I slowly sat up, not bothering to open my eyes as I outstretched my arms toward him. He grabbed my hands and pulled me from the car, sweeping me up into his arms once the car door was closed.

I could hear the keys jingle a few feet ahead of us and guessed John had given the keys to Nick before he’d picked me up. The boys mumbled goodnights to each other once we got into the apartment and John headed straight to the bedroom with me.

I didn’t mind as he laid me on the bed and stripped off my jeans. His fingertips lightly grazed my hips as he went to take off my shirt and suddenly all the tension from early, the tension I’d been fighting so hard because it was all focused on Nick, it all came rushing back.

A devilish smile curved my lips as I opened my eyes and took John by surprise. I pulled on his wrist so that he fell on top of me. He let out a weird noise and I giggled as I attached my lips to his skin. I kissed his jaw and then kissed a little lower so that my mouth was just at the perfect spot on his neck.

I nipped at it and smirked as John pushed his face into the pillow to muffle his moan. I kissed the same spot softly and then bit it a little harder. John quickly rolled us over so that now I was lying on top of him. His arms pinned me down to his chest as he furrowed his eyebrows.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” I smiled innocently before straining to press my lips against his. He kissed me back and loosened his grip on me. I took that opportunity to move some so that I straddled his hips. I deepened the kiss easily as my fingers dragged his shirt up.

Once I’d successfully thrown the shirt across our room, I settled for running my nails just along the line of his boxers, teasingly. He moaned again into my mouth and then groaned as he pushed me away feebly.

“Jayce,” he exhaled my name and then frowned. “Babe, you’re drunk.” There was such regret in his tone, I almost wanted to rethink my decision, but then my body quivered. I loved that my boyfriend was sweet enough to not want to take advantage of me, but right now I didn’t want sweet.

I pushed my lips against his again fiercely. I put all the pent up frustration and friction into my movements as I grinded my hips against his and lightly traced his bottom lip with my tongue. John’s hands gripped my sides tighter and I smirked. He was just where I wanted him.

He pulled back and smiled crookedly. “What about our guest?” I giggled and pecked his lips as I used one hand to unbutton his jeans.

“He won’t mind.” John chuckled and pushed me over again, making me lay flat on my back as he hurriedly slipped out of his jeans.

I smiled at the familiar feeling of John hovering over me as he was surely making a mark on my neck and my back arched instinctively. His hands reached around me to unclasp my bra. I giggled as he had some difficultly, but finally the only thing between us was our underwear.

He kissed me hard on the mouth as his fingers hooked into the tops of my panties, smoothly pulling them down. I bit his bottom lip and forced his boxers down.

There was a small moment where John leaned over me to reach for the condoms left in the nightstand draw, like always. That moment was enough. I closed my eyes and breathed in and then out. I knew it instantly. This wouldn’t be enough.

I could have sex with John as much as I wanted, but it wouldn’t make a difference.
I needed his touch.