They somewhat settled into routine and Jack was enjoying his early taste of adulthood, living by himself and not being held accountable to his parents. He was careful not to use his inheritance telling her that he still felt like it was not earned and he'd rather use only his prize money. Still, he had inquired after what exactly he had inherited. The answer was still to come and in the meantime, he lived in small studio and essentially ate his dinners with them.
He drove her to school and if his car was a magnet for attention, the bike was something else altogether. She thought she'd have to do something drastic about all the girls, and some guys, who drooled over Jack in all his bad boy glory.
They also took advantage of the fact that his room was isolated and they could explore each other at their leisure. Of course, both of them being busy, it gave them few precious hours to do so, but she did not complain.
Zoe was getting impatient, asking to see Jack since he hasn't answered her calls. Kim, feeling like she owed something to this wonderful woman, who stood by her son's choice, talked to Jack and managed to convince him to come to the GreenBean to see his mom. She thought what truly convinced Jack was the palpable somber mood that descended on her and her dad. Soon would be the first anniversary of her mom's death and they planned to go to Tennessee for the wake. Jack was gentle and tried to support her as best as he could. She told him how her mom wouldn't let her sulk for so long reminding her to live, not be stuck in the past.
"You know, after your dad's visit I was feeling so down and your mom was so sweet and even told Mike to make a ginger and honey toddy. We are still not sure what that is, but I was so grateful to her. It was nice to have someone 'mom' me a little... I don't want to pressure you. Take your time if you must. But while I am in Tennessee, would you answer her calls at least?"
He hugged her close and kissed the top of her head. "Of course. Don't worry. I maybe socially awkward, but I miss her too... I wouldn't want her worrying for nothing... Plus, mom gets the points for liking you from the start."
Kim nudged him with her shoulder uncomfortable with how he was putting her importance so far above other matters. "You should do it because it is a right thing to do." Kim sat silent for a little bit, "Zoe tells me that she and your dad are taking more. About things. Important things. She is cautiously optimistic. They are trying to talk it out. And they keep you out if those discussions for now. To see if they are more to each other than just your parents."
She turned in time to see Jack's face, openly vulnerable and wondering. She guessed he wanted his parents together despite all. "She told you all that?" His tone was disbelieving, but his eyes were smiling. "I always thought she wanted a daughter. I guess she is getting her fill of it with you."
He was silent now, looking at her, but not quite seeing. "I suppose a sister or a brother would have been nice. Alex and Carolyn are so close..." His eyes refocused on her, "I am glad you and mom get along. Thank you for everything. It has to be uncomfortable for you to be in the middle of this family drama, but... I'll talk to mom. Does she come your every shift?"
She smiled brightly at him, nodding her head. It would be great if the Brewer family moved passed this stumbling block. It would alleviate some of her guilt. Despite her own words, she felt bad that she became the pretext for this fight.
Her dad planned only to go for the extended weekend and Kim agreed. It would be very hard to be back to the place where she died, surrounded by people and things that would carry the most tangible of memories of her. Kim dreaded that this visit would be a setback for her dad. He was doing better lately. He was eating better and had involved himself more in her life, even if it was to be weary and distrustful of Jack. Her goodbye to Jack both steamy and sad and she left him alone, nearly breaking her own heart imagining how he would deal with seeing his mom and being by himself, without her there.
When they arrived, the Douglas family was there in full force and, observant as they were, there was a church service and a visit to the graveyard. Both were extremely painful, her dad holding up, but not quite hiding the tears. She was no better. Somehow the distance and change of scenery has helped her if not forget, then at least move on a little from the immediate trauma of her own loss. Seeing her mom's family, some of them looking remarkably alike, hearing all the memories of her spoken about, eating her favorite foods, all of it assailed Kim at once and she felt like she could drown in the perfect combination of loss, guilt, and nostalgia.
The only thing that seemed to help her were her daily talks with Jack. It wasn't even what he said, but rather the mere fact that there was someone, who cared about her and her only, helped her to keep it together. She soaked in this support and the knowledge that he cared about her like warmth given by a fire on a cold winter night.
They stayed with their aunt and she had cousins there, who were at best curious and at worst nosy, not to mention sometimes judgmental. She avoided mentions of her new boyfriend as much as she could, but there was no hiding daily calls and she was grilled by her cousin Sadie about the mysterious caller. Reluctantly, Kim gave her a reader's digest of the situation - boyfriend, serious, good-looking, does karate - and ended the conversation there. Of course, Sadie was not satisfied and brought it up during dinner, prompting everyone to ask more questions. When Kim, who could be conveniently obtuse and stubbornly quiet, refused to give more information, her family actually turned to dad. He seemed startled by all the questions, lost as he was in his thoughts. However, once he realized what was going on, he surprised Kim by saying that Jack had his approval and was a remarkable young man, of whom her mother would have approved too. That stopped any more inquiries and Kim silently mouthed thank you to her dad. When he smiled back and winked Kim felt like her heart grew three sizes.
Jack was not sure what to expect from seeing his mom. Tears, hugs, some gentle persuasion to get him to come back. He anticipated all of those things, he was not sure how it would go down for him. He was resolved to stay away from his father's house and his influence until they cleared out all the issues between them, but he was also aware that he always had a soft spot for mom...
When they met at the GreenBean, he was surprised to see mom in good spirits. She was predictably tactile and teary, but did not push for him to come back immediately. Instead they talked about his living arrangement and even though she was obviously unhappy with the studio above garage for her child, she let it go. She also asked about his new job, if one were to call it that. Jack felt like part-time business owner and part-time babysitter, because Rudy was somehow unequipped to deal with all the minutia of opening the business. In fact, he probably was not equipped to deal with running the business altogether. While Jack commandeered Rudy's office, he ended up doing a lot of the tasks that Rudy forgot or thought unimportant. He guessed all the time he put in as his father's shadow and PA at least taught him how a business should be run.
But mostly, his mother was eager to tell him that she and his father were doing better. And that his father was thawing out. Father was still very much upset with Jack and his defiance, but he no longer thought himself to be in the right either. He was more inclined to think that the two of them were both too stubborn and perhaps a conversation would have gone better than simply ordering Jack around. He also seemingly regretted his heavy-handed tactics with Kim. Not that he thought her to be worthy of them, but that maybe he should have worked on Jack instead of focusing on her.
Jack scoffed at that. Of course, father was still all righteous about Kim and her conniving ways. He felt both like he had to defend her and ignore this slight against her because defending her assumed that there was something to his father's conjectures. She was innocent and his father had nothing against her, other than his own imagination fostered by personal bad choices.
Still it felt good to talk to mom. She obviously like Kim and it soothed Jack a bit. He missed her terribly and talking to someone about her was helping.
He was waiting near her apartment building, knowing that the Crawfords were nearby. It was a little pathetic, but he was not going to deny that four days without Kim was actually hard. He could tell that she was upset and sad and he wanted to comfort her, like she did him. When he saw their car approach, his heart jumped a little and he swallowed against the anticipation. That suspended moment of waiting was over quickly, because apparently Kim saw him and jumped out of the car the moment it stopped and ran to him for a big hug. He laughed at that, feeling light and happy and just nodding his head in greeting to Mr. Crawford. Kim's father was less enthusiastic, but returned the nod and Jack went to help him with their bags.
They tried to have the normal conversation that would not be too strange in front of her dad and it was awkward and stilted, but it also did not matter, because she was in front of him and they were touching hands occasionally and it was enough. The rest could wait until tomorrow.
He was distracted the next day, calculating how soon he can leave the dojo and pick up Kim. Always so aware of his moods, Kim was letting it go, filling the silences with some easy chatter that did not require much of his conversation. He did catch a part of the conversation between Kim and Grace about shopping and Julie venturing to add a thing of two to that. Grace was making saucy faces, Julie was visibly blushing and Kim - uncomfortable. Like him, other guys at the table were at a loss to explain this and he simply shrugged it off.
By the time he was at the dojo, he was able to refocus and spent the day locking down the inspection time for the nearby store as a possible expansion space. Feeling accomplished, Jack went to pick Kim up and this time he was acutely aware that she did not have to go home just yet and he had a place for himself. The entire ride home was just a long torture as aware as he was of her and soft body perched behind him. She must have been as turned on as he was, because once they got in they simply turned to each other and then Kim threw herself at him, hugging him tightly, "I missed you so much." He was greedily pulling her to him and kissed her waiting mouth for a while, relearning all its secrets and enjoying her reactions. She was standing on her toes and he lifted her up and carried her to the mattress that served as his bed for now. He simply dropped her on it and she bounced, laughing and flailing. He dropped next to her and their next kiss was softer, longer, deeper.
He pulled back, "I missed you too." He whispered against her neck, dropping small kisses all along and discovering a love bite that he left there before, cleverly hidden by a scarf. "I missed you skin, so soft and warm..." he was murmuring into the clavicle, dragging his tongue over the small bone and ending at that spot at the juncture of the neck and shoulder, biting a little to refresh the fading mark. She sighed her head falling to the side and the movement released the lavender scent that he'd come to associate with her.
"I missed how you smell... Lavender, for sure, and something crisp, lemons, no?" He inhaled deeply burying his nose in her hair and slowly dragging his hands along her sides, bunching the sweater she wore up and up. She lifted her hands and he brought the sweater up and when it was around her raised arms he left it there, distracted by the cleavage presented to him now and dropping his hands on her breasts and squeezing them. She was breathing heavier now, causing her chest to rise and fall and he pulled the cups down to stare at the small and rosy nipples that hardened right before his eyes.
"I missed them too. They are so sensitive and pretty..." He gave small quick, sucking kisses to both and then blown on them, making them tighten into hard little buds. She moaned at the sensation and he clamped his mouth over her one nipple, sucking, chewing, moaning himself, because it was good and he was getting harder, as he felt her start moving her hips a little and throwing her head from side to side. He alternated her breasts, spending amble time on each, slowly grinding himself into her.
Surprisingly she kept her trapped hands above her head as if waiting for him to release her, but he enjoyed that she was like that right now, splayed before him and not distracting him with her hands.
"I missed seeing you like this... All this gorgeous skin, mine to touch." He dragged his lips down her torso, enjoying the trembling that his actions caused. When he got to her jeans, he slowed down and looked at her, all flushed and trembling in anticipation. "I missed this look on your face that only I can bring, when I do this..." he dragged the zipper down and kissed her pussy over her panties and she half-breathed, half-sobbed Jaaack.
When her jeans and panties were gone, he was not surprised to find her wet. He drilled his finger inside her, he found her soggy and scorching.
"You are so wet already."
Kim's eyes flew open at this and she looked at him with nearly black eyes, "You make me this way..."
Jack peppered a trail from her breasts to her groin and smiled finding her soft, warm, pink flesh. He spread her folds apart and inhaled, feeling strangely poetic in this moment with her. "You scent here is different. Not lavender, no... I don't think I could describe it, but so delicious, so compelling."
She whimpered and he could feel her squeeze her inner muscles, clenching, but she could not move away, trapped as she was by his weight. She was wide open to his mouth, waiting and ready.
He feathered his fingers against her seam. "I missed your pussy. It is so silky soft and beautiful. Pink and sweet."
He could hear her sucking in a breath. He had not talked to her (or any other girls he's been with) like this before, but he felt bold and her reactions drove him on.
Blowing softly, his warm breath soft in her intimate flesh, he moaned dropping his mouth to the inside of thighs, kissing, sucking, chewing, traveling a path to her center, knowing it was teasing her not to be touched there yet. She bucked under him and he whispered patience into her. But he himself was impatient and soon he put his mouth to her slit. There he licked with the flat middle of his tongue up and down and she whimpered and trembled, her knees falling apart.
He sank further to spiral his tongue around her entrance. Feeling her clamp, he dipped in his tongue inside, flicking it in and out, tasting her there. "Mmm" he muttered, tongue-fucking her vigorously.
Still devouring her, he raised his hand and took her nipple, twisting it a little. She cried out from being startled and again when his tongue and fingers began working in concert.
Jack replaced his finger where his tongue penetrated her and licked a short, but thorough trail up to her clit. He parted her folds as wide as he could and used the tip of his tongue to flick her clit. Her clit swelled. It throbbed so enthusiastically that it was visible to sight. Inserting a second finger, fucking her harder, he used the thick middle of his tongue to stroke her clit with long, slow, hard licks.
Within seconds, she cried out, clenching her muscles, nearly dislodging him, but he held on, gentling his touch a little, but did not stop.
She was still breathing hard, as he changed from powerful licks to leeching his mouth over her clit and sucking, working his jaw muscles, tip-tonguing her clit's center at the same time.
Kim thrashed her head from side to side, whimpering, her muscles clenching. Arching, grinding with her hips, she climaxed breathlessly for the second time in a short succession.
He was only gently touching her now, aware that he may have worn her out a little with his own need to see her undone. He looked up to see her already looking at him with a little smile. "I never knew you were one for dirty talk..."
"I didn't know either. Until you..." He would have blushed, but she just had two orgasms from all that dirty talk and he himself was very hard now.
He climbed up to free her hands and remover the rest of the clothes. She was still looking a little tired, so he simply hugged her to himself as he laid down. She peppered little kisses on his chest, where she could reach him, her hand travelling down to the waistband of his pants. He only was too eager to feel her on him, so he helped her to take off his clothes and his cock, when it was free, was hard and leaking pre-cum.
"You did miss me," she wrapped her small had around him and he almost jumped at the feeling.
"You have no idea. Your hand feels so much better than mine..." He was rewarded for his words, by a small smile and two hands on his cock now, touching him like he liked.
Finally, she lowered her head to take him in and he simply sighed. He run his fingers through her blonde hair, his own breathing heaving and hot, grunting and moaning softly as Kim now was kneeling between his legs. She was running her tongue from the base to the tip, teasing the slit and then taking him half way down, and his cock twitched at the sweet torture. She was still new to this and never could take him deeper, but he didn't mind. This was good. She lifted again, the teeth light grazing the shaft, making him groan again. She brought her mouth back to the head, the blonde crown bobbing, and pulled it in again, this time taking more of Jack's length inside, and his breathing hitched as the tip presses against the back of Kim's throat.
He could feel Kim adjust the angle, relaxing, and pushing forwards, trying to take him all in. Her hair was brushing against his thighs and he could see that she trembled with effort. He was about to say something, when she swallowed around him and the sensation made him moan unable to hold back his pleasure. She pulled back to take a breath and then dove back in running her tongue along him and brought one hand up to massage his balls. The other hand run along the rest of him that didn't fit. He was sliding closer to the edge with every move up and down and when she swallowed again, he felt himself twitch. As if noticing this, Kim repeated the motion and moaned around him and the hot coil that was at the base of his spine sprung outwards and he came squeezing his eyes to blink away spots.
They lay quiet for a while, enjoying the moment. He was thinking that he really would love to move to the next level with Kim and dreaded it at the same time. He did not want to push her to do anything she wasn't comfortable with... He thought that maybe Valentines day would be a good opportunity, but she was away in Tennessee and with the sad reason for being there, he could not possible broach this subject...
"So," he was startled when she spoke. "My dad will be away on a business trip next week. He refused to take them, worried about me, but I convinced him I would be fine for three days by myself... In the apartment... Alone... At night..." she trailed off and he could feel her blushing where her cheek was pressed to his chest.
Oh... oh... oh...
Next week... He could wait till that...
For all that Kim thought that her letter to the founder led to nothing, she did notice an increased number of conversations with the headquarters of the Fund. It was hard to judge, seeing as she only went there once a week, but she thought she saw people talking more while closing doors and she got constant requests to print out this or that information from the main database. She was hopeful it meant that her information was taken seriously and someone is doing an audit of the local chapter. Steve asked her once to explain how she found the original double entry and when she explained that she found it after updating the format of the flat file on applications, she swore she saw his eye twitch. He left her alone after that, but Kim was a little more paranoid after that. Was Steve involved? Or was he more concerned that she, the volunteer, created the update that caught the problem in the first place? She wished she knew what was actually going on.
Aside from the goings on at the Fund, the rest of the issues that had her concerned seemed to settle. Her dad was doing better, as if slowly waking up form the long slumber and taking more interest in life around him. Because of the work at the dojo, she now could save a little more than before and Jack giving her rides was a life-saver. Even Lindsay and Donna's dislike of her seemed to diminish. Now that she kept her things in Jack's locker, she did not have to worry so much about the quiet sabotage. In fact, there was nothing to indicate that the two girls even cared about Kim anymore. She was glad. Perhaps, they finally moved on...
Besides, she had other things to worry about. Now that she basically put a date on when Jack and her would have their first time together, she was a nervous wreck. She did not tell him, but the shopping that she and girls discussed was for the sexy things that she might need for such an occasion. Not that she told them they would be doing it. Just that she would be alone and Jack might come. Grace was all for sexy underwear and high heels, while Julie thought that setting the mood was more important. For her part, Kim was fretting how she can accomplish the romantic and steamy setting in her tiny bedroom and the negligee was something she was afraid would cost too much. Therefore, girls decided to help with shopping.
The classes were over and she was meeting girls by the lockers. Excitedly, she went to open Jack's locker, grateful that he simply gave her the code. She was talking to Grace and Jerry about the test that was coming up when the quiet buzzing noise distracted her, she turned just in time to see a bee, not several bees, flying out of the locker and go straight for her. Frantically, she waived her hands, getting attention of her friends. Soon, they all were waiving hands and she tried to move, but she was blocked by flailing Jerry and soon she felt the sting.
Oh, no. She tried to move the backpack from the shoulder, but she felt it already, just seconds later, that breathing became harder.
Not good, that was the thought that crossed her mind.
Why were there bees in school in winter? And now she had an allergic reaction. A severe allergic reaction. Kim felt like a fish that was stranded on a beach – no matter how much she gasped for air, she got less and less oxygen in her lungs, blood and by that in her brain. Hastily, she dropped the bag to her feet, one hand steadying herself on the locker door, the other on his throat. Milton chose that exact moment to join the group.
"Jerry, what is going on here?" he asked.
Jerry was answering him, but Milton seemed to become aware of the situation in front of him. Jerry and Grace flailing, a buzzing noise, a bee, and Kim's harsh breathing as she tried to lower herself to the bag.
"Never seen an anaphylactic shock? Shoo! Get the nurse now!" Milton yelled more or less at his friends, who suddenly seemed to wake up from their state of shock and darted away. Milton let go of his backpack and grabbed Kim's hand, essentially pulling her up as she was already slumping to the ground.
"Kim, where is the EpiPen?"
Kim could not drag any air anymore. Everything felt swollen and heavy, like an elephant was sitting on her chest and her throat was itchy. She tried to collect her thoughts as good as possible and then panted between two desperate gasps for air, "My bag… bottom."
Her brain was registering things from a distance now, lack of oxygen making everything hazy. She could hear doctor's lecture on this reaction. She had maybe one minute left until her airways closed completely, maybe thirty seconds until she lost consciousness – the dropping of the blood pressure obvious to her as her hands felt cold and clammy. She fell backwards, her vision swimming and noises dropping to a gently murmur. A nurse would be good now.
She heard a particular loud bellow of Kim and her eyes moved towards it. She saw a hazy outline of the tall figure pushing Milton out of the way and it was Jack, talking, but she did not hear him anymore. With last wheeze she managed to say his name and then everything went black.