Mutiny Below

Jayce

“Jayce?” I jumped and widened my eyes. His voice was so soft spoken and laced with a twinge of sadness. My heartbeat increased as I clutched to the kitchen sink. He knew. This was it.

I turned around slowly and bit my bottom lip. John stood in the middle of my kitchen with a guilty expression and a bruise forming on his jaw. Terror kicked in instantly. “Oh my god, what happened?” I ran up to him, surprised he let me cradle his head in my hands as I examined his bruise.

John frowned and sighed. “It’s a long story.”

I swallowed hard and locked my eyes with his. He stared at me for a few minutes. His mossy green eyes swirled with a few emotions, but none of them were what I expected. Then it clicked. This was not about Nick. I furrowed my eyebrows and removed my hands from him. I pursed my lips for a moment as I stared at him harder. “Kay, why don’t you shower and then you can tell me about it?”

He smiled a little but it didn’t even come close to being a real one as he wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me to his chest. “I love you, Jayce Lynn.” I closed my eyes and squeezed his middle.

“Love you too. Now please go to bathroom. You smell like sweat mixed with smoke.” I scrunched my nose up as I pulled away and John chuckled.

“You love it when I smell like smoke.” He teased and I rolled my eyes as I tried desperately not to think of how Nick smelled.

“Not tonight.” I crossed my arms and couldn’t help it as my eyes darted to his jaw again. John frowned as he caught the glance and his half smile fell some more.

“I stopped by Halvo’s on my way home. That’s where the smoke came from. Nick was outside. He said he’s spending the night over there with Nat so I guess it’ll be just us tonight.”

“Good.”

John kissed my forehead before he shuffled out of the room and toward the hallway. I shook my head and glanced around for something to keep me busy. God only knows if Nick talked to Natalia and God only knows if she’ll keep our secret. I noticed my hands were back to shaking and I knew if I didn’t distract myself soon I’d slip back into another panic attack.

I exhaled loudly and went in search of my phone. I figured I could spend a few minutes texting or something while I waited for John. There were already a few missed calls on my phone when I picked it up, along with one voicemail and one text. I checked the text first and sighed with a little relief.

Nick : Everything’s alright ; )

I wasn’t sure if that meant he’d spoken to Nat or if it was simply just to reassure me again. I ignored it for the time being and checked the missed calls. All were from Gemma, as was the voicemail.

“Why aren’t you answering your phone, Jayce? I just got a call from Jess. She said my boyfriend and your boyfriend are over at the Gomez’. Do you have any idea why they would be there? I mean, they have no real reason to be there. It’s not like hanging out is a common thing for them to do. And on top of that, Kenny’s not answering his phone! I even tried John and it went straight to voicemail. I’m freaking out here and no one will answer a god damn phone! Ugh! Just call me if you hear from the boys. Please? I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

I had a bad feeling too as I closed the phone and set it on the night stand. I didn’t bother calling her back just yet, since Kenny was already probably home and the two were talking things out just like John and I were about to. I fiddled with my fingers for a few minutes.

I wondered why John hadn’t told me about going to Stephen and John’s. He’d mentioned Kennedy, but nothing about Scottsdale. Something was not in place. I was stretched out on the bed, staring at the ceiling, by the time John finally came out of the bathroom. I forced my eyes to stay on the ceiling as I listened to him walk into the room. My peripheral vision told me John had taken clothes with him to the bathroom since he was already dressed.

I bit my bottom lip hard and scooted over to my side of the bed. John sighed heavily again before crawling in beside me. He pulled me to him and settled his chin on top of my head. I waited a few heartbeats before starting. “So …”

“Jayce.” He said my name in an uneasy tone. My stomach flipped over and knotted. It must be bad if he doesn’t want to talk about it.

“You and Kenny hung out today?” I pushed him further but he stayed quiet. I could feel his fingers tug through my hair as he played with it. “Did you guys go anywhere?” I thought it would be best to let John tell me what happened instead of telling him what Gemma told me, but that didn’t work either. He still stayed completely silent. I sighed this time and propped myself up on my arm, raising my eyes to his. He still had that guilty look on that made me frown. “Just tell me what happened, John.” I stretched my other hand out and lightly placed it over the bruise.

“It was an accident.” He blurted and I gave him a look, like that one sentence was going to really explain anything. John rolled his eyes sarcastically and flipped over on his back. “Kenny called me this morning, when I was outside with Nick.”

I swallowed hard and tried not to have a noticeable reaction to his name. John reached over and took my free hand, lacing our fingers.

“He didn’t tell me much to start with, just that he needed me and that it was more important than sitting on the couch watching movies with you.” I couldn’t help but snicker.

“He knows us too well.”

“Yeah.” John didn’t even crack a smile as he fiddled with my fingers. “He was waiting outside when I pulled up. That’s when he told me about the phone call.”

“The phone call?” This was starting to sound like a bad horror movie.

“Stephen called Gemma sometime during the night and Kennedy listened to the voicemail this morning where Stephen confessed his love for her for apparently the second time. He was drunk as hell but Kenny still wanted to drive over and talk to him when he was sober … so we went.” John snorted and I frowned. “It was a fucking mess. Stephen continued to talk about how he’s in love with Gem, and that just pissed Kenny off to where he started yelling and Stephen was yelling back. It got real quiet all of a sudden and it almost felt like the stupid thing was over, and then that prick just says ‘I slept with her’. I knew what was coming next just by the look on Kenny’s face so I stepped in.”

I could see it all playing out. Kennedy was not the type to lose his temper, except when it came to Gemma. Violence would quickly escalade when someone talked bad about her, and it was understandable considering how close the two were. “So Kennedy punched you by accident?”

“No.” John rolled his eyes again. “I could handle Kenny. That idiot hit me. Who the fuck says shit like that and then throws punches? Kenny had every right to be angry like he was and I should have let him knock the shit out of that kid.” He grumbled and I couldn’t fight the smile as I leaned down to press my lips against his firmly. And for once, I wasn’t thinking about someone else as I kissed him. When I pulled away, John was staring at me with his eyebrows furrowed together. “What was that for?”

I smiled as I disconnected our hands to gently brush it against his bruise again. “Because you’re the good guy.” I smiled wider. “You will always be the good guy.”

John smiled a little. “There is no good or bad guy in real life, Jayce.”

“I hate to break it to you, Mr. O’Callaghan, but you are one of the most amazing good guys out there.” I bit my bottom lip and dropped my eyes from his. I couldn’t look at him as I spoke the truth. “I don’t deserve you.” I muttered and I could feel my eyes start to sting.

John groaned. “Don’t tell me we’re starting this shit again.” He placed his hand on my hip and pushed me so that I was now lying on my back and he was hovering over me. He held my chin with one hand so that I had to look into those green eyes that made me feel even more guilty. “You are a beautiful person, inside and out, so don’t you for one second think I’m better than you, Jayce Lynn. Because I’m not.” He spoke sternly before leaning down slowly to kiss me.

In the beginning of our relationship, I had always told John how I didn’t deserve him. I truthfully thought I didn’t then because of how sweet he was and because of all the terrible things I had done. But now I had just proved myself right. I was sleeping with one of his closest friends behind his back. I am a terrible person. I deserve to be alone, not to have two great guys in the palm of my hand.

“Stop thinking about it and kiss me back.” John mumbled against my lips and I giggled. It took some effort to push thoughts out of my head, but I did it. I wrapped my arms around John’s neck and pulled him closer to me as our kiss deepened.

* * * * * * *

I woke up to the loud banging on the front door. The bed was empty and my head was foggy. I tiredly pushed myself out of bed and threw on one of John’s shirt on my way to the front door. I was still yawning and wiping sleep from my eyes as I stumbled through the hall. Chances were, this was Gemma coming to complain and gossip about what happened yesterday with our boyfriends.

“Holy mother of God! What fucking time,” my mouth glued shut as the door opened and there stood the fake ginger. He seemed to be just as surprised at seeing me as I was to be seeing him. “Nick.” His name came out in a squeak while his eyes roamed over my body. My cheeks flooded with heat as I realized just how not clothed I was.

Nick didn’t even say anything. He just stared at me. Hard. His pretty hazel eyes turned cold faster than I could really recover from shock. He pushed past me and went toward the living room. I closed the door and followed him numbly. I didn’t understand what the sudden change was, but as I tiptoed into the front room and John came from the kitchen, I got it.

“Hey Nick, I thought you were hanging out with Nat today.” I bit my lip as I looked John over. He was only in his old high school gym shorts and I was wearing his shirt. I knew exactly what this looked like as Nick switched his disgusted glance from me to John and then back.

“I just came to get some clothes.” Nick shrugged and did his best to cover up his distaste. I chewed on my lip as John smirked at me and stepped forward to wrap his arms around my waist. Nick rolled his eyes and headed back to the hall.

John brushed his lips against my neck while I frowned. “I am the luckiest guy to have you.” He whispered the sweet words in my ear and kissed from my jaw to my lips. I wished it was butterflies that bubbled up inside me instead of more guilt.

I pecked John’s lips and forcefully pulled myself out of his arms. “I’m going to put pants on while you finish my pancakes.” I also forced a smile.

“How did you know I was making pancakes?”

“I can smell it on you.”

“Cheater.”

“I want some toast with them please.”

“So demanding.” He teased with an eye roll and a goofy smile before he went back into the kitchen. I sighed and tiptoed back into the hall. I stood there, staring at Nick’s closed door for a few minutes before it opened.

My heartbeat got faster as he stepped out in fresh clothes and those hazel orbs met my blue ones. His face was blank and reserved. I bit my bottom lip hard and leaned against the wall.

“What did, um, Nat say?” I rubbed my arm and averted my eyes to his shoes.

Nick scoffed. “She’s not going to say anything.”

“Is … is she …” traumatized? I would be.

“She’s fine, Jayce. And no one’s going to know about it. Everything’s fine, just like I said. Happy now?”

I raised my eyes to his and frowned. “I didn’t sleep with him.” The simple phrase softened his expression and his whole body relaxed. It was mere seconds from the time the words slipped from my lips to when he put his arms around me. To an outsider, it would look like nothing but a hug. To me, it was everything.

Nick’s embrace was becoming comforting and that was starting to mean a whole lot more to me then it had at the beginning of his stay. Unfortunately, he had to pull away. He left a small gentle kiss on my cheek before his hand brushed against mine.

“I’ll see you later, Jayce.”

“Yeah. Invite Halvo and Nat over for dinner. I’ll make something special.”

“Okay.”

He winked and then went out the front door. I hated to admit it, but the boy was definitely growing on me. More so than he should, even in our circumstances. I shook my head and started back to the bedroom.

Before my feet even made it in, the smoke alarm went off. I groaned and turned right around. “John!”

“It wasn’t me!”

I smiled to myself as I trudged back to the kitchen. It wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t leading either boy on. John knew I loved him and I’d never leave him. Nick knew this was just a silly little pre-summer fling thing and it would be over by the time summer came. It was easy. Lies