A/N: I make no promises that I'm back. I just had the notion to work on this part of the story for a moment. Things are still going okay here. Just working on several dozen projects at once.
OOOOOOOOOO
Jessi smiled lazily at her brother when she made it out of her bedroom hours later. He rolled his eyes and went back to making food on the stove – from the smell of it, it was flapjacks and bacon. Jessi walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his thin waist.
"It feels good to have a home," she whispered against his back. "Away from those fuckers."
"Yeah, and you just had to sleep with someone to get it," Jack commented, flipping the bacon. "Not that Paul doesn't seem like a good guy, but you know what he is, sis."
Jessi pulled away from him and hopped onto the counter nearby. "You're going to tell me that I can't see him anymore, right? Because he's a vampire. Because they're all vampires, his family."
"I didn't say that."
"But you're not happy?"
Jack cast her a sidelong glance. "You know a big brother is never happy to find out his little sister is banging some dude. It's an unwritten rule or something."
Jessi let out a little laugh. "Right. And what's the rule about little sisters finding their brothers banging too?"
Jack smirked. "That would be 'don't ask, don't tell'. Right under 'mind your own business', Jess."
Jessi laughed and hopped off the counter. "I'll keep that in mind, Jack. Now, c'mon. What do you say about a fresh cup of coffee?"
"Two sugars, one splash of creamer."
"Coming right up!"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Toni glanced up as the bell above the door dinged and he broke out in a big smile. "Hey, Paul!"
"Toni!" Paul said with a matching smile. His eyes roamed the store. "Where's my favorite girl?"
"She should be coming out of the back with some stock." Toni looked proud. "She's been working all day and seems to be in a good mood." He folded his arms over his chest. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that, would you, Paul?"
Paul winked and leaned against the counter. "I may have."
"Keep treating her well, Paul, or else," Toni warned, placing the bat that Jessi favored on the counter between them.
"That's Jessi's bat."
"Who do you think taught her how to use it?"
Paul bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "Jack."
Toni rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah. But I helped too." Toni rolled his shoulders. "I used to knock mean fast balls out of the park when I was in high school."
Paul laughed and turned his gaze towards the stockroom door as it opened and Jessi came out, carrying a box of records. Her blue eyes met his and her full lips twitched in the corner.
"Hey, Beautiful," Paul crooned, moving closer to her.
Jessi handed him the box. "Make yourself useful. Help me carry this and I'll unload it as we go." She moved out onto the salesfloor. "And keep up. If you want to hang out with me, this is the last box that needs to be unloaded before I can leave the shop."
Paul cast a glance over at Toni at her words. "You for real?"
"Hey, I can't keep paying her to skip out of the store. We need to get things done when she's here or how will I run my business?"
Paul sighed dramatically and followed after Jessi. "Toni, you're killing me!"
Jessi didn't even look in the box as she pulled out records, knowing what needed to go where. Paul leaned over and pressed a kiss to her neck and he felt her heart flutter under her skin.
"I missed you," Paul commented in a low voice.
"You were only gone for half a day," Jessi pointed out.
"Yeah, but I wanted to be with you. The entire time that I was sleeping, I wanted to be with you." He laughed. "The Boys say that I gave them weird ass dreams because I was so busy thinking of you the entire time. Poor Dwayne had to excuse himself for the night to be with Iona…"
"Oh boohoo. Your big brother got a boner. I'm sure he knows what to do with it."
Paul pressed closer to her. "What about mine?"
Jessi's blue eyes met his again and he saw the mischief dancing in them. "You're going to have to be a good boy, aren't you?"
Paul gave her his best puppy dog eyes. "Beautiful…"
Jessi danced away from him, a sway in her hips. "You're not going to get very far with those eyes tonight, Paul."
Paul wanted to play with her right then and there. Make her pay for her mischief and her flirting. She was walking a dangerous line and he was never afraid of exhibitionism.
"Jessi…" Paul warned with a slight growl.
The blonde laughed and circled back around, grabbing the now empty box out of his hands. "You're just so moody when you're horny." She danced around him and headed over to the counter. "Toni, I've finished with the stocking. I'm out for the night, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, good job." Toni said, waving her off. "See ya tomorrow when the big truck gets in."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Jessi laughed as she walked out of the store with Paul on her heels. His hands found her hips when they were several feet away from the store and he spun her around, so that he could look her in the eye. Jessi couldn't help but smile at him and his lips crashed into hers in a kiss that left her head spinning.
"You…are going to need to learn to behave," Jessi whispered as his lips travelled down her neck. "Because if you remember, this is a family inspired boardwalk."
Paul groaned softly. "Why do I have to behave when I have such a pretty little thing that drives me crazy?"
Jessi laughed and smoothed her hands over his chest. "Because you've got a girl that is driven
crazy by such a good looking thing." She grabbed onto his jacket and pulled him closer. "Everything is fair in love and war, sweetheart."
Paul looked down at her with a small smile. "You want to grab a bite to eat?"
Jessi nodded. "I think that I could go for some food right about now."
Paul's eyes were now full of mischief as he took her by the hand and led her through the crowd. Jessi wondered what she got herself into.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Paul led Jessi down the steps of the hotel-cave that he and his family called home and squeezed her hand gently when she hesitated at the foot of it. Her eyes were wide as she looked around them, taking in everything.
"This is my home," Paul said, a smile on his face. "It's a bit draftier than yours, huh?"
Jessi glanced down to see what he meant and she slapped him on the arm. Paul laughed and danced farther into the hotel-cave, slapping his hand against Marko's.
"You lot will never stop being assholes, will you?" Jessi asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Nope!" Marko laughed, downing a can of cheap beer.
Faith looked at her sympathetically from the arm of David's chair. "It's the problem with Boys who never grew up. They act like children for the rest of time."
David slid his arm around the redhead's waist. "Does that apply to me?"
"You're a special case," Faith told him.
"Yeah, a special case of asshole," Jessi muttered, taking a seat next to Laddie on a broken couch. "What crawled up your ass and died so long ago, David?"
The leader of the Lost Boys looked at her as Laddie handed her a take out box of noodles. "What would you know about the fact that there's a war brewing…and you're probably one of the catalysts?"
Jessi's heart nearly stopped...
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A/N: Thanks for reading. Thank you for being patient. And thank you for always being you. -Scarlet
