Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own Big Time Rush or anything recognizable in this. I'm just here for the fun of it.

btrlover: Thank you so much! I actually haven't given up on them. It's more like they're on hiatus for the time being. That being said, neither story was planned out very well, and I think I posted them much too soon. I like to have a good bit of the story typed before I post it (something I've had to learn over the past couple of years) to ensure that it's going somewhere. I jumped the gun with both "Haunted Revenge" and "Pull The Trigger". But they may get updated at some point, you never know :) Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read and review!

Guest#1: I'm glad you're enjoying the story :) There'll be a little bit of Jatie fluff in here ;) Thank you for reading and reviewing! I appreciate it!

Guest#2: Aww don't cry! You'll get some more Jatie moments in this chapter :) Thank you for taking the time to review!

Guest #3: Well, you're about to find out ;) Thank you for reading and reviewing! It's much appreciated :)

Thank you for reading, for the reviews, and for the alerts! You guys rock! :)

A/N: Hey, check it out! Second story update today! I'm super proud of myself right now haha. Anyway, this chapter picks up pretty much exactly from where the last chapter left off. Not much to say, so I'll let you guys go ahead and read it :)

Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve – The Deal

Katie's POV

I hated Mondays. I really, really did. I couldn't think of one good thing about Mondays. Of course, it didn't help that I was sitting in English class, trying to come up with all the reasons I hated Mondays and ignoring the fact that James was sitting across the room from me, sneaking peeks at me. He was doodling in his notebook, and every now and then I'd shift my eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever it was he was drawing.

I still couldn't believe I had made out with him. That I had actually initiated the make out session this time. It wasn't like I could act like I didn't want him, not after that. I had no idea what I was thinking.

Well, actually, that was a lie. I did know what I was thinking. I was thinking about the incident that morning, in my parents' bathroom. I was thinking about Saturday night. I was thinking about how much I wanted to go back to Saturday night and make out with him again. And I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, I needed to stop hiding my attraction to him, because it wasn't doing either of us any favors.

I could tell James was thinking about that morning as well – the part where we'd made out in an empty classroom, I mean. He didn't usually glance at me so much, and he wasn't trying to get the most answers correct, either. Instead he was keeping both his hand and head down, except to look over at me.

I crossed and uncrossed my legs. James wasn't the only one who was staring at me. Josh, who sat a few seats behind me, was also keeping an eye on me. And on James. Clearly he had heard that something had happened between us Saturday night. And Josh was the absolute last person I wanted to find out about James and me. I wasn't sure how, but he would figure out a way to manipulate James' and my hookup to benefit him. Everything about Josh screamed, "Warning! I'm a selfish bastard!" to me, and I planned to follow my instincts.

The rest of the day dragged by slowly, with James and me staring at each other in hockey training and at lunch, but never saying anything. Biology was quiet for once, as it was all reading and a worksheet.

Hockey practice was changed up a little, however. Instead of just going through our usual drills, we girls sat in a circle in the locker room with Coach Carter. Camille balanced a notebook in her lap, a ballpoint pen pressed to the paper. We were in the midst of compiling a list of everything that we knew about the boys' team, so that we could see on paper what we were up against.

It wasn't long before we had an entire page, front and back, filled up with information about their team. And it wasn't until we had another half page covered in Camille's neat handwriting that we finally disbanded to the ice to try out a few new tactics that Coach Carter had suggested in order to combat the boys' strategies.

Practice went longer than usual, and it was stiffly that we all ducked under the showers in the girls' locker room, before somehow managing to stagger out to our cars. I drove home and promptly collapsed on my bed, crashing for the next couple of hours.

The next day followed in that vein. Hockey practice was utterly brutal. The only time James and I talked was on Tuesday afternoon right before hockey practice, when he caught up with me as I was heading towards the girls' locker room.

"What's up?" I asked him, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

"We've decided on what we want you girls to sing for the talent show."

"Oh." Somehow in the wake of the insane hockey practices, James practically living at my house, and us making out twice in the space of just a few days, I had completely blanked that the girls' hockey team had agreed to perform a song at the talent show. But James had good timing – the talent show was a week from this upcoming Friday, and we had to submit our act by this Friday. "What is it?"

He grinned a little. "You remember Willa Ford?"

"Kind of in the same vein as old school Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera?"

"Kind of, yeah. Maybe more pop R&B. Anyway, you girls are going to be performing her song 'I Wanna Be Bad'."

I gave him the double thumbs up. "Good to know."

"Personally, I like the song."

"Glad to hear it."

"I'm looking forward to you singing it."

"Assuming I don't completely fuck up the high notes, assuming that there are high notes."

He laughed. "You'll be fine."

"Okay, stop being all nice. It's freaking me out. Why can't you just tell me that I'll suck?"

"Uh, because you won't? We took choir together from third through seventh grade," he reminded me. "I know you can sing."

I sighed, looking up at him. It was times like these when I was forcefully reminded that we had once been best friends. That was, until that damn kiss at Stephanie's end-of-school party. That damn kiss had fucked everything up. And it shouldn't have. It never should have ended up like this.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said after a moment. "I'll see you at home."

He gave me a small smile. "Can we talk about what happened in the classroom yesterday morning?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

James quirked an eyebrow. "You don't think it's a little odd that we've made out twice in the last week?"

"I didn't say I didn't think it's a little odd. I just said that there's nothing to say about it."

"So, you're not dying to do it again?"

My gaze flickered up to his mouth, giving me away. "N-no."

"Liar." He sounded amused, and that was just so fucking James. Even when we were talking about something serious like us making out twice in the past week, he'd still find something to make fun of me about. I couldn't figure out why I was even into him in any way, shape, or form. Must have been a fatal attraction. Had to be.

"We can't talk about this right now. We both have to get to hockey practice."

"Fine. I'll see you later."

"See you later." I pushed into the girls' locker room.

Kristen raised an eyebrow at me. "You're almost late."

"Yeah, I got cornered by James. He told me which song the guys have decided they want us to sing."

"What is it?" Alexis wanted to know.

"'I Wanna Be Bad' by Willa Ford. Any of you know it?"

"I do," Camille nodded. "I bet James chose it just for you."

"Shut up." I began changing into my hockey gear. "I guess I'll have to listen to it when I get home."

"Or I could just pull it up on my phone." She dug her phone out of her locker and looked up the song. A moment later, it blasted out.

"I am not singing that," Alexis said stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We have to," I reminded her.

"All thanks to you."

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for making such a stupid bet with James! Trust me, I've learned my lesson. It's not going to happen again."

"Which reminds me," Jo grinned at me, "we have to come up with what the winner's going to get with this next game."

"Why are you grinning?"

"Because while James was delivering his message to you, Kristen and I were doing some scouting work. Turns out Shawn's been having some trouble with his left leg. As in, it drags sometimes. And Josh is a big believer in not being a team player. He won't pass to anyone if he can help it. Logan overanalyzes everything – he has trouble making a decision in the spur of the moment."

"How the hell did you guys find that out?" I demanded.

She smirked. "We maybe bribed the team's manager to spill."

"You bribed Carson Andrews?"

"Yep. Turns out he has a thing for blondes. So we're treating him to lunch tomorrow."

I grinned. "You two are geniuses."

Both Jo and Kristen tossed their blonde hair over their shoulders. "We know."

"Add this info to the list. We can totally use that to our advantage."

"We're so kicking ass this time!" Mandy hooted.

"I say we make the boys buy us a nice steak dinner at Rosalie's," Natalie added, naming the fanciest restaurant in Bear Lake.

I grinned. "Genius. If there's a possibility that prime rib's in my future, then how can we not win?"

"Exactly!"

We high-fived and marched out onto the ice, shoulders back and heads held high.

However, by the end of practice, we were all exhausted, hungry, and grungy. It was a relief to get in my car to go home.

When I pulled into the garage, the first thing I noticed was that neither Kendall's or our dad's car was there, even though it was almost 5:30 in the evening. Frowning, I headed into the house, only to find James sitting at the island counter, a textbook splayed open in front of him, a notebook right next to it. He was making notes in the notebook, brow furrowed, a look of concentration on his face. His tongue poked out slightly as he considered something.

"Hey," I said by way of announcing my presence. "Where is everyone?"

He looked up at me. "Your mom said that she and your dad are going bathroom rug shopping at the mall, and then they're going to grab dinner and catch a movie. And Kendall's hanging out with Jo."

"Probably getting that milkshake," I smirked, pulling my hair out of its ponytail and letting my hair cascade down around my face and down my back. "So, it's just you and me tonight?"

"Yeah. Which reminds me, you eat clam chowder, right?"

I gave him a weird look. "Yeah, why?"

"Because I'm making dinner and I found some clam chowder cans in the pantry. I was just waiting for you to get home so that I could start it."

I blinked. "You're making me dinner?"

"Correction – I'm making dinner for both of us."

"That's…really nice of you. But you don't have to do that," I insisted.

He waved my protests aside as he closed his textbook and notebook, and slid off the stool. "Please, I want to."

"Does this have anything to do with us making out?" I asked him, narrowing my eyes. "Is that why you've been so nice to me? Because we've made out a couple of times?"

"I just want you to talk to me about it." He dug out the cans of clam chowder and pulled out a pot. He opened the cans and dumped the contents into the pot, before turning the stove on. "I mean, you say you don't want a boyfriend and you don't want sex and you don't want me, yet you're the one who dragged me into the classroom yesterday. Want to explain that?"

I sighed, rubbing my temples. This was not what I wanted to have to deal with after a long ass day at school and hockey practice. "I just – I seem to react around you. I don't think, I just react. And I really hate that."

"Well, I know the feeling." He pressed his lips together in a humorless smile, stirring the chowder. "That's what happens when I'm around you. I just react. I say whatever the hell I can think of in order to get you to pay attention to me. Otherwise I feel like I'm going to go crazy."

I stared at him in surprise. "Really?"

He nodded. "And you have to admit, we have serious chemistry. We're drawn to each other, no matter how much we drive each other nuts."

"I have a theory," I said slowly, probably following my hormones, rather than chasing after my escaped brain. "Everyone seems to think that we have insane sexual tension – "

"What do you mean they think? We do!"

" – And maybe we'll be able to deal with each other more easily if we…give in to our attraction."

There was a long pause as he studiously stirred the soup, before asking, "Just what are you suggesting?"

"I'm willing to make out with you in order to keep the peace. I mean, every time we fight, shit seems to go down. So if making out with you helps us get along, then maybe it'd be worth it. I mean, it'd just be until you go back home. I can probably deal with making out with you for a few days."

"Poor baby. You're so selfless, being willing to kiss me in order to keep everyone from hating us."

I nodded. "Right? It's a total hassle."

He pointed the wooden spoon he was using at me. "If kissing me was such a hassle, then we wouldn't have been doing that yesterday."

I shrugged. "Hurry up with the clam chowder. We only have the house to ourselves for so long."

It wasn't long before the clam chowder was done. James and I made sandwiches to go with it, and we dug in. We got through the clam chowder and we cleaned the kitchen up together. As I put the last spoon away, I felt his hand on my shoulder. "So, how do you want to do this?"

Fuck. How was I supposed to think when he was touching me?

And how was it possible that I wanted to jump him just from his hand resting on my shoulder? That couldn't be healthy.

"Um…let's go up to my room," I suggested. "We're less likely to get caught. And if anyone catches us, you're out of here and I'll be forced to wear a chastity belt for the rest of my life. Believe it or not, I would like to have sex at some point."

"We can take care of that tonight."

"Thanks, but let's not. I'd like my virginity to remain intact for a little while longer."

"Whatever you want." He picked me up, just as he had done the day before in the classroom, and my arms encircled his neck as my legs wrapped around his waist. He carried me up to my bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him.

The moment the door was closed, my lips were on his and he was kissing me back feverishly. We were down on my bed in seconds with James on top of me.

I was trying to restrain myself this time – as in, I was trying not to rip his t-shirt off. Even though it was begging to be ripped off. It wanted to be thrown on my floor. I would be doing it a favor.

My reasoning sucked. Either that, or else I wasn't thinking straight at all. Probably both. But it was extremely hard to reason with myself and think straight when James' lips were on my neck, kissing and biting his way down my collarbone. It wasn't my fault –

"Oooooh…" I grabbed his hair by the handful, tugging on it as I tilted my head to the side, granting him more room to maneuver. "Yeah, right there…oooooh…" Yeah, I could get used to this. I could really get used to this.

James scraped his teeth over my skin, earning another moan from me. It wasn't fair that he was so fucking good at this. My body felt like a live wire, electricity pulsing through it, heat shooting up my spine. He knew exactly what he was doing. And I couldn't decide if I loved that or hated it. Maybe a little bit of both. All I knew was that I wanted him to keep doing exactly what he was doing. Him stopping would be a very bad thing. The world might end. He needed to keep doing this and –

He dragged my t-shirt down enough so that he could go after my cleavage before pressing his lips to mine again. His hand slid under my shirt, his fingers hot against my bare stomach. His hand slowly drifted up, until I finally got tired of the bullshit and games, and instead grabbed his hand, placing it on my chest. We'd already gotten to second base once. I wasn't in the mood to dance around it like it had never happened. Because right now, my chest wanted some attention and he was damn well going to give it.

And then the front door opened and closed. James froze against me, but I pushed him off. "It's probably Kendall."

"Probably."

"Come on. We don't need him getting suspicious." I stretched out and got to my feet, tugging my clothes straight. We slipped out of my bedroom and down the hall to the stairs. I peered over the stair banister, down into the living room. Kendall and Jo were settling down on the couch to watch a movie.

"What're you guys doing?" I called to them.

"He's making me watch Napolean Dynamite with him," Jo responded.

"You're kidding me." I rolled my eyes. I hated that movie, but my dear brother thought it was a cinematic masterpiece.

"What're you and James up to?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Making fun of you and Kendall," James called down to her with a grin.

"Oh, shut up. "

"We were actually just talking," he added.

"Well, go back to that and leave Jo and me alone," Kendall told us as he started the movie.

"But what if we don't want to leave you and Jo alone?" I retorted.

"James, keep Katie busy. If she's around, she'll make snarky comments and ruin the whole movie for Jo."

"No problem. Come on, let's go back to talking." He scooped me up bodily, threw me over his shoulder – with me screaming cuss words at him, even though I kinda-maybe-sorta liked it – and carried me back to my room. My door was shut, my favorite snow boots were placed in front of it to use as door stoppers, and we were back on my bed within moments. This time his t-shirt really did come off. My shirt followed. I was so lost in his lips against mine, his fingers everywhere on my body, that I almost fell off the bed when there was a loud pounding on my door.

"We're back from shopping," Mom called.

I froze, still straddling James. "Okay," I called back, fighting to keep my voice neutral. "You find anything?"

"Yep. You and James doing homework?"

"Uh huh…"

"I'll let you get back to that. I'm so happy you two are getting along again!"

As her footsteps padded down the hall, fading with each heartbeat, James raised an eyebrow at me. "Did she really buy that we're doing homework?"

"With my mom, who the hell knows?"

He reached up, tracing one of the fading bruises on my ribcage, his touch feather light. I shuddered slightly, shifting against him.

"You're covered in them," he commented. "In bruises. These ones are fresh." He brought his hand to ones that spanned my right shoulder. "What the hell have you been doing?"

"Playing hockey."

"Without protective gear?"

"You know that protective gear isn't always super effective. Besides, my team has some pent up frustration towards me. They've decided it's my fault we're in this battle of the sexes competition."

"Yeah, my team's blaming me for it, too. But they're not trying to kill me. Yet."

"Of course not. You guys won. What are you – "

He flipped us over so he was on top and I was on my back. The next thing I knew, he was studiously mapping each bruise with his mouth, from my shoulder to my ribs to my stomach. My jeans slipped down, revealing yet another mark on my left hip. The next thing I knew, James was deftly undoing my jeans and pushing them down enough to get to that bruise as well. I wasn't sure how I felt about him knowing his way around unfastening girls' jeans. It wasn't like I was jealous or anything. But how many girls' hips had he been getting to know? I mean, did I have something to worry about? Had he done this with Devon? Did it even matter? And why the hell was I thinking about this while James was focused on me?

He pushed on my hip, letting out a grunt. "Roll over."

"Bossy, bossy." I flipped over on my stomach and squealed as I felt him smack my ass. "Hey!"

He snickered and ran his hand up and down my spine. The next moment, I could feel his lips on my back, following the trail he had just drawn. I arched into him, muffling my moans in my pillow. He gripped my hips, flipping me back over. I met his lips eagerly, kissing him back. I draped one leg around his waist, winding my arms around his neck –

Only to be interrupted by a persistent pounding on my door. "When you're both in one of the bedrooms, keep the door open at all times!" Dad hollered.

James and I broke apart, exchanging desperate, startled looks. Nothing killed the mood quite like a dad proclaiming that he knew you and the guy in question were doing something he wouldn't approve of.

Our clothes were thrown on in a record amount of time and my boots were kicked aside. I threw the door open, smiling at Dad innocently as James arranged books and notebooks around on my bed to make it look like we had nothing but school on the brain.

"But we're studying," I protested to Dad, giving him my most winning smile. "And Kendall had the movie up really loud. We were just trying to concentrate."

He grunted. "What're you two even working on?"

"English," James said from where he was sprawled out on his stomach on my bed. "We're comparing Frankenstein to Prometheus." He held up a sheet of notebook paper with two lists scrawled down each side of a line drawn in the middle. I had a feeling that that was what he had been working on when I had gotten home.

Dad blinked. "I – what?"

"Well, you know how Frankenstein is considered the modern Prometheus?" I said to Dad. "Our teacher thought it would be a cool idea to have us write a comparison between the two."

"Wait, what the hell is Prometheus, anyway?"

"You know, the Greek myth? The fire guy?"

Dad blinked at me completely lost. "Right…I'm heading to bed. Night."

"Night. Love you!"

"Love you, too," he grumbled as he walked out, leaving James and me alone in my room.

I looked at James, who shrugged. "The whole homework alibi thing has its perks."

"You're such an English nerd," I replied, shutting my door.

He sat up. "Your dad said to leave the door open."

"My dad's going to bed," I purred, stalking back towards him. I pushed him on his back and crawled on top, my hips against his. "And he thinks we're studying."

"Shouldn't you be worried that I just lied to your dad?"

"Technically you didn't lie. When you told him we were studying, that was what we were doing – or getting ready to do, if you will."

"I'm a little worried about your morals."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. But then again, if you want to keep on making out, I don't really have a problem with it."

I laughed and kissed him again.

It wasn't long before Kendall was calling to us that he was going to bed, and that Jo had gone home. That left James and me the only ones awake in the house. And that signaled that it was time for fun time to end. James put the clothes I had ripped off (again) back on, kissed me once more, and slipped out of my room, heading down the hall to the spare bedroom he was sleeping in.

I changed into my pajamas and got ready for bed, collapsing against the pillows. My head was spinning like a top. And I didn't want to admit it, but I had enjoyed the last few hours way too much. James brought out a side of me I had never really seen before. And I wasn't sure if I liked it, loved it, or hated it.

So, there ya guys go :) More Jatie moments, more making out, and more confusing feelings. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you for taking the time to read! If you have the chance, please let me know if you liked it! I love hearing from you guys and seriously, it's good for my writer's ego ;P