Baby, You Save Me

There's some sexual shit and cussing so if that offends you then don't bother reading this chapter or the rest of the story… It's rated R for a reason.

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Four months later, life was actually going really well. Jack and I were very good friends with the Jonas boys, Billy’s cancer was still in remission, and for the first time in three years, the farm was actually making money due to the Jonas mentioning how much fun they had in an interview. Due to the demand for tours, we even hired on a new member to the team. He was a sixteen-year-old delinquent, and the first step in my idea to make Serendipity a place to help troubled kids.

“AJ, I need you,” Joe barged into the stall I was cleaning, while I jumped in surprise. “We need to go have fun and do something stupid and crazy, because I need to get this anger out somehow without causing physical harm to anything or anyone.”

I looked at Joe and realized that he was fuming. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen him this mad. Not even when he was telling me about how one of his exes made him out to be the bad guy, or when he got into a fight with his brothers.

“What happened?” I asked cautiously.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to go get drunk or something and feel better,” Joe growled.

“No.”

“No?” Joe looked at me incredulously. “What do you mean no??”

“I mean that you want to go get drunk to self medicate. And on top of that, it’s only eleven o’clock in the morning. That’s not you, Joe. What happened? Why are you so upset?” I raised my eyebrows in concern. What could have possibly gotten Joe so upset?

“Camilla and I got into a fight,” he said shortly.

“So? You guys fight all the time. Why is this one so different?”

“She told me that her ex-boyfriend was in New York and wanted to visit her. I told her I didn’t like the idea and she didn’t care. He was going to stay in her hotel room with her!” Joe exploded. “Of course I don’t feel comfortable with that! He can pay for his own damn hotel room. She’s dating ME, not him. So I told her that if he stayed in her hotel room, then we would be done. And she said ‘I guess we’re over’. What the actual hell? I thought eight months would mean something, but I guess not.”

“Oh I’m sorry, Joe,” I walked over and wrapped my arms around his neck. He hugged me back really tight, and I couldn’t help but relax into his body. Four months later, and this boy still affected me more than I care to admit. I think its because I haven’t been able to get it out of my system. But now that they were broken up… No. I promised myself that I would do this the right way this time. “How about we just go for a ride? Relax in nature? We can go rock climb or swim?”

“Let’s go swimming at that one water hole. Not the cliff jumping one, but the quiet one, by the barn,” Joe decided.

“Ok. Let me finish this stall and then tell Lewis where we are going.” Joe walked off to get his suit from my room. After coming to the barn so often and not having one, he just decided to leave a pair of anything he might need here, because it was such a long drive to go back to his apartment in the city.

I finished up the stall and then headed down the row to where Lewis was working. I didn’t know that much about him, but he seemed like a decent kid who had just gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. He went to juvie for possession and intent to sell, so at least it wasn’t murderer or anything.

“Hey Lewis? I have to take off and handle something. I’m going to take Betsy. There is one more stall that needs to be finished. Can you do it? I’ll cover for you next time you need to leave early,” I asked the brunette boy cleaning tack.

“Sure, AJ. Have fun,” He responded with a quiet smile. I think he was still trying to settle in. It’s a culture shock getting out of juvie and it takes some adjusting. It’s also hard getting used to a world that you know nothing about and having people rely on you.

“Thanks!” I walked down to Betsy’s stall and grabbed her bridle. I didn’t feel like tacking her up, so Joe was just going to ride bareback today. I walked her outside where Joe was waiting and whistled for A. I gave Joe a leg up, while A came over to us. Joe was actually becoming a pretty decent rider, considering he was terrible to begin with. I jumped on A’s back and we headed off into the woods toward the pond by the old barn.

“Joe, you need to relax. You’re kind of freaking Betsy out,” I called out quietly to Joe. I could see Betsy was getting a little antsy, and I knew it was because she could feel Joe’s anger. “Joe, she just knows you’re angry and upset and she can feel it. Control yourself until we get to the pond, and then you can get your anger out.”

I watched Joe sigh, and then visibly relax. He was still tense, but he had relaxed enough that Betsy wasn’t worried anymore. We continued our ride quietly until we got to the pond. We dismounted and took the bridle off Betsy. I put her in the round pen and let A wander off. I knew he would make sure that she was ok. It was funny, any horse that I had out with me, A treated like they were part of his herd. He kept them safe, and never left them alone until they were back in the main barn.

Joe and I stripped and sat on the dock, taking in the sun. “Alright, now spill. Everything.” I turned to him and waited for the words to spill out of his mouth. I knew he wouldn’t have a filter and would say some really awful things, and he knew I wouldn’t judge him for it.

“How the hell could someone do that to another person. I don’t think that she would cheat on me, but if he’s staying in her room then how could I not question that? And then she goes and picks him over me.” And with that Joe broke down, and I froze. I have no idea how to comfort people. I’m not good with emotions, and I’m not used to being there for someone when they are this upset. It’s Joe though. I just wanted to pull him into a side hug, so I did. For the first time in my life, I felt like comforting someone was something I knew how to do. Joe and I had become so close over the past couple of months that I knew what he needed in this moment.

After a few moments, I stood and pulled Joe to his feet. “Where are we going?” he asked me.

“You need to write. Come on. You and I can only get rid of emotions by putting them on paper and singing them away. And the best songs are always written by broken hearts,” I told him.

“I don’t even know where to start. Everything that I write right now would just be trash,” he responded as we headed inside. He sat down at the piano, and started messing with the keys. I noticed that he started playing just the black keys. I watched as he fell into the music as the release I knew he needed.

“She walks away
Colors fade to gray
And every precious moment’s now a waste

And the black keys never looked so beautiful
And a perfect rainbow never seemed so dull

She hates the sun
Cause it proves she’s not alone
And the world doesn’t revolve around her soul

And the black keys never looked so beautiful
And a perfect rainbow never seemed so dull

She loves the sky
Cause it validates her pride
Never lets her know when she is wrong

And the black keys never looked so beautiful
And a perfect rainbow never seemed so dull

That’s all I have for now,” Joe turned to me.

“Joe that was amazing,” I breathed out in awe. He truly was incredible. “You still need to finish it of course, but that song needs to go on your next album. No doubt about it.”

“Ugh I don’t even want to feel anything anymore. Can we please get drunk? Everything hurts,” Joe looks at me with sadness and hurt in his eyes.

“Say no more,” I got up and went to the bar. “What’s your poison?” I asked him with raised eyebrows.

“Whatever it takes to forget,” was his response.

I nodded and grabbed the tequila, limes, and salt, along with two shot glasses. “Tequila it is,” I said as I poured the shot glasses.

“I thought we weren’t drinking?” Joe raised an eyebrow.

“The first time you asked it was eleven o’clock,” I laughed and looked at my watch. “Now it’s twelve, so it’s considered day drinking.”

Joe laughed and grabbed the salt. He hesitated and turned to me. “You know I’ve never done a body shot before,” he kind of mumbled as he bit his lip shyly.

I sucked in a breath and had to keep from grinning from ear to ear. “Well we have to fix that now, don’t we Mr. Popstar?”

Joe laughed, “Give me a couple shots and then I’ll be down.” He gave me a joking wink, and I just about died.

“Bottoms up then,” I grinned at him as we clinked glasses.

I woke up the next morning at 6 with a massive headache, curled up on the couch in Joe’s arms under a blanket. It took me a moment to realize that he was wearing just his compression shorts and I was in his shirt with my bikini bottoms. Oh dear lord… what did we do last night? I closed my eyes to try to remember the events from the day before. Shit. Please tell me Joe and I did not have sex last night. Slowly the memories started coming back to me, and I let out a breath of relief. We made out but that was it.

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Joe and I were five shots in and were feeling good. We were laughing at a story about him when he was a kid. I poured us another shot, and paused. “You ready to try that body shot, Mr. Jonas?” I asked him.

“Bring it on Ms. Johnson,” he smirked. “I can handle anything you throw at me.” I just laughed in response. I haven’t met a guy that could keep up with me yet.

“Ok then,” I smirked. “You know the order already. Salt, tequila, lime. Now for a body shot, you have to lick my neck first so that the salt will stick.”

“Easy enough. Get over here beautiful,” He responded as he patted the bar.

I inhaled quickly as that slipped out, but otherwise ignored it and went to lay down on the bar. Joe was surprisingly smooth when he wanted to be.

“It’s easiest if you kind of straddle me,” I shrugged a little awkwardly. Joe climbed up on the bar and put both of his finely toned legs on either side of my body. He gently pushed my hair to the side so that it wasn’t in the way, and leaned down and licked my neck. I closed my eyes and inhaled as he gently sucked and then nibbled on my neck.

“Ok now put the salt on it,” I had to interrupt the moment or I was going to end up fucking him on the bar. Joe just laughed quietly and followed my directions. Then he poured himself a shot and grabbed one of the sliced limes. “The shot goes on my stomach.”

“Where does the lime go?” He asked, slightly confused. I leaned over and took the lime from his hand using only my mouth and raised a suggestive eyebrow at him as I held it between my teeth. “Oh,” he mumbled with a slight flush in his cheeks. “Well here goes nothing.”

Joe straddled me again and leaned over to lick the salt from neck. It was so hard to not squirm, but I held still so the shot wouldn’t spill. Then he moved down to my stomach and took the shot glass into his mouth while maintaining eye contact. Holy shit this was hot. He finished the shot and took the lime from my mouth, keeping the eye contact. I could feel my breathing change as our lips just barely brushed, unfortunately not enough for it to actually count as a kiss. How does this boy still have some sort of crazy effect on me?

We sat and up and got up from the bar, both of us clearly still stuck in that moment. “Want to play Never Have I Ever?” Joe broke the tension.

“Hellllllll no,” I laughed.

“Why not?” He responded indignantly.

“Because the game always ends really quickly for me,” I pouted. Hopefully if I give a cute enough puppy dog face Joe won’t make me play.

“So? Come on it will be fun!” He grabbed the bottle of tequila that was almost done and brought it over. I sat on the bar and he stood in front of me so that we were about the same height. “For every finger one of us puts down, you have to take a half shot. Deal?”

“No, Joe I can’t drink anymore. And you shouldn’t either. We are in a good place and I don’t want either of us puking tonight,” I responded with my drunken slur. My brain was fuzzy, but I still knew my limits.

“Fine, then for every finger we put down, an article of clothing has to be removed,” he retaliated.

“Mr. Pure Popstar wants to play a strip game?” I joked.

“Never have I ever played a strip game,” Joe stuck his tongue out at me. I bit my lip, wondering if I should really follow through with this. What the hell. Why not. I realized I wasn’t wearing any shoes, so the easy option was out. I sighed and took off my shirt. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen me in my bikini earlier, so no harm done.

“Never have I ever had a record deal,” I grinned impishly.

“That’s not even fair. You can’t use the fame card,” He frowned jokingly at me as he took off his shirt. I could definitely get on board with this game.

“Hey, it’s all I have,” I laughed. “There’s not many things that I haven’t done,” I bit my lip.

“Fine,” Joe sighed dramatically. He was such a drama queen, but it made me smile. “Then I get to use it to get to know you better.”

I bit my lip and thought about the offer. I only had my shorts and bikini to go, so there’s not too much he could learn…. “Deal.”

“Never have I ever,” Joe paused for a moment to think in his inebriated state, “done drugs.” I pursed my lips and took off my shorts. “Really? What kind?” He asked shocked.

“That’s not relevant to this game,” I said quietly. Joe knew by my tone that he wouldn’t get any more information on the subject and sighed frustratedly. “My turn. Never have I ever kissed someone famous.”

“Yes you have. You just kissed me during that body shot,” Joe responded indignantly.

I laughed, “Joe that wasn’t a kiss.”

“Yes, it was.”

“No.”

“Fine,” Joe said sassily. “Well lucky for me that’s easy enough to fix.” I frowned in confusion. Then Joe stepped in between my legs that were dangling off the bar, and grabbed my face with both hands. I suddenly realized what he meant and held my breath to see if he would actually kiss me. I watched his face get closer and closed my eyes. I felt the slight pressure of his lips on mine. It was a gentle kiss, hesitant, as if asking for my permission. I felt red hot warmth shoot through my body, putting it on instant alert. My legs instinctively wrapped around his body, pulling him closer to me. Taking that as permission, Joe removed his hands from face, placing one on the back of my neck and the other on my lower back, pulling me right up against him. His kiss gained confidence and he gently bit my lip. I gasped slightly and he slipped his tongue into my mouth. The kiss began to get more heated and more needy. I felt his hard on pressed up against me, and I knew both of us were horny as hell.

Joe grabbed my ass with both hands, picked me up, and walked over to the couch. He lay me down and got on top. He grabbed my hands that were exploring his body and pinned them above my head. Our bodies were moving together, thrusting, sensing the need in each other. Joe let my hands go, and explored my body with his. His hands ran down my sides and then back up, massaging my boobs. My back arched into his hands, and he took the opportunity to reach behind my back and swiftly undo my bikini strings. He tossed my bikini top to the side and his hands went back to exploring my body. The heat between my legs had increased tenfold as he kept pressing up against me.

I reached my hands down to undo the strings on his swim suit and he slid them off. Once they were gone, he pressed completely up against me so I could feel the full weight of his body on mine. God I needed this. My body was so in tune with his and I’m not sure that I’ve ever wanted him more. Joe began kissing down my neck when suddenly my phone rang. Joe looked at me with hungry eyes begging me to not answer.

I groaned and reached over to check who was calling me. I became completely immobile as I instantly recognized the number. My heart stopped. I never thought I would get another phone call from this number again.