"Ok. That should be the last of it. Are you sure you're still good with coming back here?"
Jess stood in the middle of her Ingrid room next to Scott, surveying her space and everything back in its place. Part of her really did want to just pack it all up and go back to his place, but she'd stayed with him for almost four weeks. It was time to get back to 'normal' and accept that she'd intruded enough on his life. Besides, they'd have to pack up all the food he'd stubbornly insisted on buying for her fridge and cupboards downstairs too.
"Hey," The gruff word brought her head up and she saw that he was frowning down at her. "You say the word and we'll pack it all back up again right now."
Oh gosh that was tempting. Damn it.
"As much as there is a part of me that would absolutely take you up on that, I think I need to retake my life again. I can't keep hiding, you know? Can't let mom take more from me."
Based off the soft grumble and the way his arms crossed, Jess got the sense he wanted to argue with her but was holding back.
"Alright. Here's the deal." Scott kept his arms folded and fixed her with that serious stare of his that used to scare the crap out of her. "You so much as catch a whiff mom or step dad, you will call the cops and then me. If the boys and I aren't available, you call Naima. Second. I want you to promise me something."
"Promise what?"
"Promise me you'll stop hiding when you're in trouble or hurt or sick and need to go to a hospital . I want you to call me, or one of the boys when you've got stuff going on. I don't care how small it seems to you or how much you think it's not important enough to call us. Reach out. You're not bugging us."
Getting misty eyed all the sudden, Jess nodded. "Ok. I can do that."
Scott snorted and growled, "We'll see."
"Hey!" Jess tried to pretend she was offended. "I can ask for help when I need it!"
Scott gave her an unimpressed look. "You've gotten better over the past few weeks, I'll give you that. But I'm willing to bet you're still not going to ask unless you're desperate. You've got too much else to unlearn still, kid, and you get in your own way."
"Well you don't have to make it a challenge you know." Jess huffed. "Keep calling me out like that and I'll text you for the dumbest shit just to prove a point too!"
The soft chuckle from the big guy next to her was rewarding and he pulled her into a bear hug.
"I mean it, Jess. Don't get in your own way, text or call us when you need us. Don't care how little it is."
He pulled away as the front door downstairs opened and closed loudly, announcing the return of Pauline. The good humor vanished and Scott returned to his stone faced expression of flat intimidation.
"Make sure you talk to your housemates about the security issues too, or I will." Scott warned.
"I will talk to them as soon as I can." Jess promised.
"Good." Scott flicked his half glare back to her and added, "You're not gonna start crying when I leave, are you?"
Eyes getting overly bright with moisture, Jess swore. "How the hell did you know that!? I've been keeping it together so well!"
"Yeah. A little too well."
Jess sighed and shuffled closer sheepishly, arms out slightly with her elbows still clenched to her sides in a wordless ask for a hug. Scott reacted as she figured he would. He stayed expressionless and dragged her into another hug, this time partly crushing her just for fun before loosening to a gentler bear hug.
"Thank you for taking care of me." Jess said, the suspicious wobble in her voice muffled. "And for letting me stay with you."
"Told you before, pipsqueak. We're pretty damn fond of you. It wasn't ever an option to not look after you."
Holding on just a little longer than she ordinarily might have dared to, Jess willed herself to keep it together, otherwise she might beg him to let her come home with him and where would that put her? Not retaking her life, that's for sure, and it never was a long term solution. She belonged here, at Ingrid, not living with him permanently.
Life returned to normal for Jess at Ingrid, bittersweet as it was.
For the most part the girls all got along again during that first week back, as though Jess were a catalyst among them for positive change.
Jess gradually remembered more reasons why she liked living with the girls and in some ways relaxed back into a person that Bravo never saw. She still missed the boys and the sense of safety being around them brought. Sure, she wasn't silly and or as animated as she was with the girls, and she didn't feel as free to be completely and unashamedly herself with them, but over time the boys were drawing that side of her out. Who knows. Another few weeks and she might have let a few aspects of her more 'guarded' self slip.
School moved forward and Jess was done week three before she knew it. The following week she would be starting her placement out at the Swamp and she was a little worried how her truckie would hold up for the drive out there. She kinda had to take the highway.
She didn't want to mention it to Scott. He wouldn't like it, but she didn't really have any other options. Getting to placement was important and she was ridiculously excited about field research rather than lab research.
At least dodging some of his questions was easier over text. She hadn't seen any of them all week, but they each checked in randomly, letting her know they still loved her and that they would kick her ass if she didn't eat right or get enough sleep.
As promised, Jess took the first opportunity to talk to her housemates about the security concerns.
She wisely took a week to get settled and back into rhythm with the girls.
It was so strange going from living with one extremely straightforward and fairly predictable person to three hormonal women again.
Now was the time to talk to them though. They were all settled in the living room with wine and a movie.
"Hey, um, can I just bring something up?" Jess asked before they could get started.
Zoe was cuddled up against her and the dog, Pippin, was curled half in her lap on the other side. Somewhere deep in her gut, Jess felt guilty for thinking that it just wasn't the same as being squashed between Scott and Trent, or Sonny and Brock.
"What's up?" Pauline asked as she poured more wine into her cup and then Stacy's too when she wordlessly held out her glass for more.
"So, it was kinda pointed out to me that we're really bad at-"
"Life?" Stacy interrupted. "Yeah, we know. It's all part of the 'hot mess' vibe we got going on here."
"Um, not that exactly, but also I guess kind of that actually," Jess tilted her head, before plowing on. "Our house security is basically crap and we need to be more serious about locking doors and windows and stuff."
Pauline gave her a startled look. "Um. Ok, I kinda thought we already did that?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with our security?" Zoe chimed in.
"People can break in really easily!" Jess told them, getting a sense of how incredulous her brothers must have been when she reacted the same way as her housemates were right now when they brought it up with her.
"Jess, I think maybe this whole thing with your mom has you a little paranoid." Stacy told her patiently. "We all lock the doors when we leave the house!"
"No, no we really don't."
"Then why is the front door locked right now? It's literally always locked." Pauline asked in a mildly condescending tone that she always used to use when they were kids and she was convinced Jess was being 'illogical'.
"I lock the door every time I walk past it, and honestly guys, Scott told me it would be super easy for people to break in."
"He's just worried about you, that's all and being a big overprotective Navy Bro!" Stacy told her.
"No, he's not." Jess argued.
"I hate to break it to you, Jess, but you are kind of like that whole group's princess. They are totally overprotective of you." Zoe told her gently.
"No, I'm not-"
"Girl, you have no idea how jealous the other girls at the Bulkhead are of you. You don't just have one navy dude hanging around you, some nights you're sitting with seven !"
"And the one kept you at his place for like a month to take care of you after your surgery."
"That's because-"
"They're overprotective." Pauline finished. "And it's really cute and I love it, really! I'm so happy you have people like that watching out for you, but like, at the end of the day they don't live here, so any 'assessment' they might have made one time they were here isn't cause to be like 'we don't know how to stay safe'. I bet no one could even get in without us or Pippin seeing."
"Awww, no one could get past Pippin!" Zoe cooed at the young dog. "But I do keep Pip in my room on the top floor a lot, and I'm not gonna lie, I've come home and the door hasn't been locked a few times too. Maybe we should try a little harder to keep it locked?"
"It's not just the door. It's the windows too." Jess insisted, trying not to let on how frustrated she was right now. The more she thought about how easy someone could get into their house the more she wanted to go back to Scott's.
"Oh my god, Jess. No one is going to climb in our windows! What the hell would they steal anyway"
"They could steal our computers, and they could hurt us!"
"It's fine! You need to stop worrying about it. You'll get an ulcer or something!"
"Pauline, an intruder could get in one of the upstairs windows, for crying out loud."
"Oh my god, no they couldn't. That's ridiculous." Pauline whined.
"I'm willing to bet two months rent for Jess if she can prove that someone can climb in one of the upstairs windows without us seeing them" Stacy announced as she kicked back another large mouthful of wine.
"Oh! I am so in on that bet!" Pauline laughed.
"Be careful what you wish for." Jess muttered darkly, enough under her breath that Pauline and Stacy didn't hear it. Zoe did and she wisely stayed quiet.
Jess let it go after that and tried to enjoy the movie they picked. It wasn't easy and a part of her was angry enough she wanted to cry.
When she went to bed around twelve she paced her room for a few minutes before composing a text message to Bravo.
~ Anyone interested in giving a demonstration as to why Ingrid occupants need to actually take me seriously when I say there are problems with the way we lock/don't lock anything? They don't believe me that anyone could get in at any time and we probably wouldn't even notice. In fact, Pauline and Stacy have said they'll pay my next two months rent if I can prove that someone could climb in one of the upstairs windows without being seen. No rush and no pressure. Just curious.~
Jess hesitated all of three seconds before hitting send for the group text.
Five hours later an alarming flood of replies within the group text blew up her phone, dragging her up from sleep.
~ Well that sounds fun.~ Sonny
~Free rent is always good.~ Clay
~Upstairs window would be a piece of cake.~ Brock
~ Do we get free rein on how exactly we accomplish this demonstration?~ Jason
~Please say you don't care how we do this!~ Trent
~I am a little terrified to say yes, but, yes. You have free rein as long as no one gets arrested, no one calls 911 and you don't actually scare my housemates too too badly. Although I mean, they're being little shits about this whole thing and not taking me seriously though so like…you do you. They are kinda asking for it.~ Jess
~ You're sure you know what you're invoking here, right?~ Ray
~Nope, and I don't care. I don't wanna wake up one morning to some rando in my house or to find my friggin mom in my room.~ Jess
~Done.~ Scott
And that was the last she heard from them about it for about five days. She didn't want to bug them and even though Pauline and Stacy still weren't taking her seriously, Jess wasn't about to harass Bravo when she knew they had serious, real life stuff to take care of.
Wednesday night Bravo finally decided to demonstrate how easy it was to break in.
All four housemates were home and Bravo got an interesting snapshot into the world of Jess that she'd never shown them before. It made them love her all the more and worry about her twice as much.
It happened as follows.
"Jess!" Zoe yelled from the kitchen.
"What?!"
"Are you trying to use the smoke alarm as a timer again!?"
"Damn it!" Jess flew down the stairs and skidded into the kitchen. "Sorry!"
She threw open the oven and only just remembered to grab an oven mitt before pulling the burnt sweet potato fries. They were smoking. "Fuuuuuuck. Hey, can you get the back door for me?"
"You should not be allowed to cook. Ever!" Zoe was upside down on the little 'kitchen couch' in the corner under the window and watching with mild interest as she texted.
"Oh, shut up and get the back door please?"
Laughing, Zoe rolled off the couch and opened the door to the back mudroom/storage, then the back door on the landing.
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know?! Toss em?" Jess marched out into the dark, glaring at the broken motion sensor light.
"What if they catch fire?"
"Then they aren't on fire in the house!" Jess told her, popping the lid to the garbage can and dumping the burnt fries in.
They stuck to the tray, so naturally Jess tried to use her bare fingers to pull them off.
"Ow. Ow. Ow…"
"Hot things are hot." Zoe told her helpfully.
"I know! Ow!"
"Damn, it's kinda cold out tonight!"
"It is not cold." Jess tossed the tray in the garbage and started looking for a stick.
"Oh my gosh, Jess. Are you seriously just throwing the whole thing out?!"
"NO!" Jess exclaimed, squinting at the ground in the dark and then finding a suitable stick at the edge of the house. "I'm looking for a friggin stick to scrape it off!"
Zoe started killing herself laughing. "I totally thought you were just throwing it out!"
"Well, I mean…" Laughing too now, Jess walked back to the tray and picked up the still warm tray with the oven mit again. "If I can't actually get this scraped off, I might just throw it out"
"No! Don't do that! Pauline already did that with a pot last year and that's like our only tray right now."
"What pot?"
"That one with the blue lid?"
"Hey! That was my favorite pot to make KD in!" Jess broke the stick and swore. "You know what? This can just live out here now. I'll deal with it tomorrow. Maybe an animal will clean it off for me."
"I don't think even a racoon would eat those fries. I hope you marry someone who can cook…either that or a fireman."
Choking on another laugh, Jess closed the lid of the garbage, tossed the tray on top and said, "You know what!? Shut up. You're just as bad!"
"I am not!"
"You literally set your pasta on fire two months ago. PASTA!"
"It was one time! You do this every other week!"
"I do not!"
She headed back in behind Zoe, locking the door behind her, never once noticing that there had been four silent figures just around the corner of the house, a fifth half scaling the side of the house above her or that she'd come ridiculously close to them when she was looking for her stick.
Back inside and blissfully oblivious to the 'op' going on, Jess tried to decide what to eat now that her snack/dinner wasn't an option anymore.
"Pauline?" Jess paused and yelled a little louder, "Paulie!?"
"WHAT!"
"Can I have some of your Nutella? I need to be able to say I ate something other than chips for dinner if I get asked."
"Who's asking?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Do your Navy bro's still harass you about your bad eating?"
"Yes."
Pauline appeared around the corner. "And telling them you ate Nutella along with chips for dinner is so much better than just chips?!"
"No." Jess gestured to the Nutella, the chip bag and then the apple in her hand. "I'll tell them truthfully that I had a protein, a veggie and a fruit."
"Ok, I get the fruit part of this plan and the veggie part I can kinda get on board with, but where does the protein come in?"
"Because this had nuts and milk products! Protein!"
Shrugging Pauline said with complete seriousness, "Yeah, ok, I'll buy that. Seems like a well rounded and decent dinner to me!"
Hanging her head a little as she dug into the Nutella with a knife, Jess sighed, "Yeah, but they won't see it that way…except maybe Sonny, but he doesn't bug me as much as Trent and Scott do about what I have or haven't eaten."
"Isn't the point of having people to hold you accountable to actually tell the truth when they ask you so they can hold you accountable?"
"Damn it! Why did you have to word it like that? Now I feel guilty!" Jess shivered when a sudden draft chilled her bare feet and she rubbed her toes against the back of her leg.
"Hey, you do you. I don't really care and I can't say much because I basically ate oatmeal for every meal last week because I didn't want to go to the store."
Jess opened the fridge again and said grumpily, "I'll make an egg. Eggs for dinner is totally a thing."
"You ate your last egg this morning." Zoe reminded her as she started mixing yogurt and french onion soup mix together.
"Ughhhh!" Jess closed the fridge dramatically. "It's fine. I'll just eat this, and I'll do better tomorrow."
"Guys," Stacy came into the kitchen, bringing the house together with an attitude in the air that was lighthearted and fun. "Am I being slutty if-"
"Yes." Pauline didn't even look up from her phone.
"Shut up, bitch." Stacy laughed. "No, I'm asking a serious question! Am I being slutty if I got to the club and-"
"Yes." Jess said, giggling when Stacy gave her the middle finger.
"Oh, don't even get me started on you, you virgin," Stacy warned. "Maybe I'll make you come!"
"No thanks, and I'm very happy with my virginity in tack, thank you very much!"
The house creaked randomly above their heads and Jess thought she heard something in the storage room, but dismissed it almost instantly. The house always creaked randomly in the wind and it was supposed to rain later tonight. None of the other girls seemed to notice anyway and they would just call her paranoid if she said something.
"Ugh." Stacy rolled her eyes at her without malice. "You are no fun. You could literally have any guy you wanted!"
Jess made a face as she smothered her apple pieces with Nutella. "Yeah, right. I don't actually believe that. I'm really not that pretty…but you know what? Maybe someday I'll meet one and they'll be the kind of person I can trust enough to consider all that, but I really have no interest in doin the nasty with someone for the sake of doing it."
"Don't knock it till you try it." Pauline told her, a little loftily. "Oh, yeah, are you planning on moving your laundry along this week? Or is it just going to mold in the machine again."
Mouth half full, Jess rolled her eyes and said, "What is it, pick on Jess night?! I only just put that load in this morning!"
"I just need to put my laundry in so I can leave it down there for a few days too! That's all." Pauline laughed.
"Oh, I should probably do my laundry too." Zoe commented.
"Fine, I'll go do it now so I don't forget." Jess headed for the tiny basement door in the kitchen, flicked on the light and trotted down the rickety old stairs to the cold, cellar-like basement. It had a few rooms and a second set of stairs that met up with the back door. Jess purposely tried not to think about that or the fact the light she turned on didn't also turn lights in the other rooms.
She hated basements, especially ones like Ingrid's. They were creepy and she always felt like something was watching her.
To make herself feel better, she started to sing.
Got my ticket for the long way round, two bottle whiskey for the way …
Above her head in the kitchen Zoe started to sing along with her with her sweet, pure voice. Jess grinned at the ceiling as she tossed her clothes in the dryer and kept singing.
And I sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow, what do you say…
"Awww! I miss hearing you guys sing!" Stacy said with a genuine tone to her typically hard and brash demeanor. "We should go out to a karaoke bar! You and Jess would crush it!"
"I don't sing in front of people!" Jess yelled up the stairs.
"Well you should!" Pauline yelled back. "And You used to!"
"I puked the last time I did!"
"So did I!" Stacy called back as Jess slammed the door of the dryer and set the timer. "But I was really really drunk."
Zoe was still singing so Jess joined back in, heading back up the stairs part way before remembering the lint trap and skipping back down again.
There was a soft rustle in the room just under the stairs and Jess froze mid phrase for a second before changing the words of the song and singing,
It's probably just a rat or something.
Don't start thinkin about it.
You are fine, everything is fine, this isn't creepy at all
And I'm leaving tomorrow what do you-
"Ok! Who did laundry last?!" Jess yelled, staring at the ridiculously full lint trap.
"Me." Stacy poked her head round the door at the top of the stairs. "Why?"
"Lint trap?" Jess held it up.
"Oh. Opps." Stacy didn't seem too worried and she disappeared again.
"Geez. How have we not burnt this place to the ground yet!?" Jess muttered as she tossed the lint in the overflowing garbage by the dryer and headed back up the stairs. She made it to the top before she remembered she still needed to turn the machine on.
Growling, Jess went back down again and smacked the button with a little more force than necessary. Gosh she really felt that whole creepy vibe way worse tonight and she brave a glance around toward the dark cellar rooms behind her. The hair on her neck crawled with the feeling of not being alone down here.
Her side ached deep inside from all the stairs and she took a second to breath before moving to climb them a third time.
The light at the top of the stair flicked off for a second and Jess muted a shriek. She took a deep breath and called with marginal calm.
"Pauline, fuck off!"
"What did I do?" Pauline asked innocently, flicking the light back on with a snicker.
"It's not funny!"
"It's a little funny." Pauline told her as her footsteps carried through the floor above Jess's head on her way to the stairs.
"Be careful what you start!" Jess yelled after her and then clenched her fingers together, breathing to calm herself and whispering, "Shit. I can do this. This is fine."
She had to force herself not to run up the stairs. After having the lights go out, her heart was in her throat and she was positive something was going to chase her up the stairs.
The girls had dissipated from the kitchen by now and Jess could hear Zoe still singing as she went to the third floor attic room so she kept singing too for a bit. The song had switched to Ingrid Michalson's song, Be Ok.
Stacy and Pauline were debating something about where Stacy had put her phone last and why Pauline couldn't remember putting her laptop on her shelf instead of her desk.
The door to the back storage room was open a bit. Someone must have used the back bathroom and not closed it.
Frowning, Jess went and closed it, muttering, "Oh yes, Jess. We close all the doors, Jess, all the time!"
Looking at the table for her 'dinner' and taking in the comforting noise of the kettle heating up on the counter, the frow between Jess's brows increased and she narrowed her eyes at the plate.
Someone had rearranged her apple slices into a smiley face and there was cucumber from the fridge sitting next to it and her last yogurt.
"You're so funny, Paulie." Jess growled as she grabbed her plate, oblivious to the fact Pauline had not rearranged anything or added items and none of her housemates put the kettle on.
She went two steps before sighing and going back for the yogurt and cucumber too. Then she circled through the darkened living room to grab her phone from the table near the tea shelf. Getting distracted by the phone, she put her food down on the table and watched a reel from Stacy, snickering and then typing a reply to it.
Unlike in the basement, Jess was too distracted by looking at her phone to get any feelings of being watched or like she wasn't alone and she had no idea she'd been close enough to one of the 'intruders' that he could have pulled her ponytail as she walked past on her way to the second archway into the front hallway to climb up the stairs.
Her 'dinner' remained forgotten on the table and there was an inaudible sigh from one of the 'intruders'.
"No! I remember I left it on my desk!" Pauline was saying as Jess reached the first landing across from her room.
"What's wrong?" Jess asked.
"Someone moved my computer!"
"Are you sure? You randomly leave things weird places when you're not thinking about it."
"I can't find my phone." Stacy added. "I literally just had it!"
"Again, you lose that thing a lot." Jess shrugged and headed down the hall to her own room. "Maybe there really is a ghost or it got taken to the Upside Down!"
"Don't say things like that!" Stacy hissed. "I just watched Stranger Things!"
Going serious, Jess shivered. "Me too. I didn't realize it was a thriller/horror type story and then when I figured it out I was invested and couldn't stop watching it until the end. Totally gave me nightmares though! Remind me not to watch something like that again!"
"I loved it!" Stacy told her as she went into her room and rummaged around her desk again. "Hey! How did class go on Thursday? Isn't that the one you told me the prof was a little weird?"
"Oh, he's kind of an odd duck, but I think he's fine." Jess offered.
"Any cute guys in your class?"
"No and even if there were I won't tell you." Jess laughed.
"Oh, come onnnnn Jess…you're sweet, you're single…you need someone!"
"I think I have enough going on in my life right now." Jess told her seriously, leaning on the door and watching as her friend tore her room apart looking for her phone.
"Psshhhh…what's one little date? You know, I have this one guy I know-"
"No."
"I also know this one girl-"
"Stacy, I have the utmost respect for lesbians, and some days I wish I was one, but no. I'm not into girls. Stop trying to set me up!"
"Just one date?"
"NO!"
"Fine." Stacy stood in the middle of her room and huffed, glaring around the room. "I swore I left it up here!"
"How did your date go?" Jess asked, knowing she probably didn't want to know.
"It was great! I mean like…really great! I might even see him again!"
"Awesome! Don't need any more details!"
"You're too funny." Stacy laughed, flicking her red hair over her shoulder. "Damn! I must have taken it downstairs!"
"Hey!" Pauline appeared out of her room with a basket of laundry. "Jess, did I tell you about the new horse at the barn?"
"No!"
"He's really green, but he looks just like Baloo did!"
Jess gasped, "With the little white socks and-"
"Like, just like him. Acts like a really young version him too! It's like he could be reincarnated"
"Ooooo, I wanna come see him!"
"You can help me work with him! Donny said he's good with you coming whenever and helping me ride."
"When!?"
"This weekend?"
Jess danced on the spot. "Yes!"
"Wait, aren't you supposed to be taking it easy still with that scar?" Stacy asked.
"I feel great! Besides, five weeks will be up this weekend and that's almost six anyway!" Jess insisted. "It's not like I'll be doing anything crazy!"
"The last time you said that you nearly dislocated your shoulder and ended up with a huge bruise on your face." Stacy reminded her as she started following Pauline downstairs.
"Oh, she'll be fine." Pauline brushed it aside. "That was with a horse way more crazy than this little guy. She'll just be sitting on him while I lead him around! That's all!"
"Horse girls are nuts. Just saying." Said Stacy.
"I'm so excited!" Jess sang as she went back into her room and flicked on the light as she kicked the door shut with her heel. Humming and looking down at her phone with a smile while she watched a funny reel that Zoe sent her, Jess almost didn't notice she wasn't alone.
The second the room was illuminated she spotted a large person sitting in her desk chair, waiting for her and she went straight up in the air.
Before she had a chance to shriek, even as she realized she knew and trusted the person smirking smugly at her, a hand clamped over her mouth from behind. An arm came around in front of her, stopping the phone from flying from her hands and her body from smashing into the corner of the dresser as she jumped.
With the combination of surprise at being snatched up and the knowledge that she wasn't in any danger from whoever had her, Jess went still after the initial primal scramble of her limbs when her feet left the ground and she couldn't make noise.
Silently laughing at her, Clay got up from the chair and motioned for her to stay quiet as she was set gently back on the floor and the hand over her mouth and nose was removed.
Jess looked over her shoulder and saw Trent.
' Oh my gosh!' Jess mouthed. ' You scared the shit out of me!'
Trent just shrugged and grinned, whispering into her ear, "You said you didn't care what you invoked when you gave us free rein."
In the attic room above their heads, Zoe's room, there was a surprised and frightened little yelp and then quiet.
"Shit! I should have told you guys that Zoe wasn't the worst of them and to be nice to her!" Jess whispered back, hardly making a sound as she looked at the ceiling. "What the hell did you just do to her?!"
Clay shook his head, speaking just as quietly, "Don't worry. Brock will have been really nice to her."
"How long have you been up here!?"
"Oh, we've been in the house for almost twenty minutes now."
"T-twenty minutes?!"
"You walked right past Sonny and Metal in the basement when you went to move your laundry along. Sonny's really disappointed they didn't get to scare you, but it wasn't time yet."
"I what now?!" Jess hissed. "A lot has happened in the last twenty minutes…like…several conversations and-"
"Yup. And we all heard it. This house does not have thick walls."
"Oh, shit."
Trent crossed his arms and gave her his 'oh yes, you are so screwed' look. "We're going to have another talk about what is and isn't an acceptable dinner…and really? Horseback riding this weekend?"
Remembering about her food, Jess looked at her hands as if her plate would magically be there and tried to think of where she'd left it.
"It's an off night! I swear I've been doing better…wait…did you guys climb in my window?! I locked it!"
"It's a really bad lock, Jess." Clay told her gently. "We're going to have to fix that if your landlord won't."
A shriek sounded downstairs and Jess jumped again.
"HOLY SHIT! W-what the HELL!? HOW DID YOU GUYS GET IN HERE!?" Stacy's howl echoed through the house from downstairs.
"Son of a BITCH!" Pauline's voice quickly joined in, resonating through the grates of the ancient air exchange system all the way from the depths of the basement. "JESS! YOU ASSHOLE!"
Above their heads Zoe started to laugh and her bubbly, personable voice said, "Ok, point taken! You could have been a lot meaner! Thank you for that!"
Delighted by the commotion and also feeling a little guilty about it, Jess looked at her brothers. They were laughing and indicated for her to head out the door.
"JESS!" Stacy yelled. "GET DOWN HERE!"
"What did I do?" Jess called back innocently as she descended the stairs. Clay and Trent were right behind her and she could hear Zoe chattering to Brock as they came down the narrow, steep attic stairs. Of all the girls Zoe seemed to be the least upset by all this. Jess wondered if she'd been expecting it.
"Did you know they were here?!" Stacy asked, pointing at the two Seals sitting comfortably on the couch, each with a cup of tea and two innocent items that had absolutely been in Jess and Pauline's rooms twenty minutes ago. A hair brush, and Jess's wireless headphones. How they got them out of their rooms and down here, Jess couldn't say.
Jason and Ray waved and smiled at her when she came in, and in the basement she could hear Sonny cackling. That was a little frightening. Pauline was still swearing loudly as she climbed the stairs.
"They were just…just waiting there !" Stacy wasn't happy but she also knew she had to eat crow about it actually being easy to break into their home. "Like, sitting on the couch with a fucking cup of tea ! How in the hell did you get a cup of tea! "
Well that explains the kettle being on when she came up from the basement.
"Nevermind that!" Jess laughed. "All that shit we've been losing for the last twenty minutes? Yeah. Who do you think was moving it?"
"Oh my god." Stacy breathed, hand over her face. "I knew I couldn't be going crazy!"
Pauline came stomping into the living room, glaring over her shoulder at the chuckling Sonny and the silently smirking Scott behind him.
"I am so mad, Jess!" Pauline turned her glare on her. "What the hell!?"
"I told you our house was too easy to get into!" Jess defended.
"I was in the basement! " Pauline grit out. "You know how we all feel about the basement!"
"Hey! I was just as in the dark about them being here as you guys were!" Jess told them.
"It's true." Jason chimed in, blowing on his tea and sipping it. He grimaced after, clearly not a tea fan. "And don't worry, we scared the shit out of her too."
"So…" Jess turned smugly to Stacy and Pauline, who were slowly getting their breathing back under control. "That'll be two months worth of rent, please, cause not only did they get in, they were here for a ridiculous amount of time before we knew about it, they moved our shit around and they got in a second floor window."
"Second and Third floor." Jason corrected. "Brock got in through the third floor and past Pippin."
"Ok, but this doesn't count!" Stacy insisted, flailing her hands around at the seven men in their living room. "They're fucking Seals! "
Ray laughed and said, "I hate to break it to you, Stacy, but my nine year old could break in here without any trouble at all and the reason we snuck around as long as we did was because it was too easy getting in and we wanted a challenge."
"I can't believe you did this, Jess." Stacy moaned. "That was so mean!"
"Oh, she was not mean." Jason told them and the voices of the other six rose in agreement. "She made sure that we didn't scare you too bad."
"If it had been up to us, this would have gone a lot differently." Scott promised darkly, leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed and making Stacy and Pauline's eyes go a little bigger.
Jess glanced at him and his steely gaze flicked over to her for a second, softening just a fraction before going cold again as it surveyed the rest of her housemates.
A shiver went up her spine and she wasn't sure if she wanted to go closer to him right now or not. It was the first time since he dropped her off at Ingrid that she was seeing him in person and for a moment it felt like all the progress she'd made was gone.
Zoe was standing next to Brock and Pippin was trotting happily around the room, greeting them all as if she knew them already. Jess had the sudden thought that what if she did, because it would totally be something they would do. Break in all week and let Pippin get to know them so she didn't freak out when Brock came through the window? She didn't even know if she wanted to ask.
"I don't know what you guys are upset about," Zoe said pleasantly. "I thought it was funny."
Pauline glared at her. "Two goliath dudes came out of fucking no where , in the basement! "
"Yup." Scott still didn't look sorry. "Be glad we didn't turn the lights out."
Sonny was still smiling. "And it would have been really easy to take you out the back door too."
All uncertainty of where she stood with her favored 'brother' slipped away with that one comment and it clicked in Jess's brain that he'd been there, in the basement when she was scared in the dark. He would have kept her safe if she needed it and he wasn't happy about that prank Pauline pulled on her, no matter how harmless it was.
Jess circled round slowly until she was standing closer, just to his left, and leaned against the wall. The air around him had been cold and calculated, but the longer she stood there, it warmed.
The blonde girl opened and closed her mouth a few times, eyes darting between Sonny and Scott, before turning to Jess and saying, "Fine. You get your two months of rent, but I don't know what you want us to do about the house. We already lock doors and shit."
Jason laughed humorlessly and motioned. "Oh, you girls have lots you can do. Come on. Let's start with the back."
The girls dutifully followed, Jess taking up the rear. Just before she did, Scott stopped her.
Jess knew before he even spoke that he was about to scold her a little.
"Just in case you didn't know already, Nutella does not count as a protein."
Going red, Jess ducked her head, "I tried making fries, but they burnt."
Scott snorted softly. "Trying to pick them off the tray with your bare fingers wasn't your smartest move either."
Head snapping up, Jess asked slowly, "Um…you heard that too?"
Shaking his head, Scott corrected her. "Saw it. We were literally standing right there against the side of the house four feet from you. You didn't even notice. Brock was halfway up the side of the house too, just above your head."
Nodding and feeling color drain from her face, Jess breathed, "Ok. Properly freaked out now cause that's like..what…twice I was in the same vicinity as you guys and didn't notice?"
"Three times. You went past Jason and Ray in here on your way upstairs."
"Wow. I may never sleep again."
Giving her a look, Scott sighed and reached out an arm, hooking it around her shoulders and bringing her along for Jason's 'evaluation' of the house. "You're fine. Don't forget you were up against us and not many people have our skills."
"This is true," Jess smiled up at him and added, "I did get two free months of rent out of it! And it was funny! How high did Pauline jump?"
A slow smile lifted the frown lines around his mouth and Scott murmured, "Right to the ceiling."
After about forty minutes of showing the girls various areas of concern and some simple ways to fix some of them, the boys left with the promise that if they had to come back they wouldn't be as nice.
"Fifty bucks says Jess is back living with Metal in less than three months." Sonny murmured as the last of them carefully descended the rickety stairs of the porch.
Trent shook his head. "Nah man, fifty says it's less than two months before he drags her back to live with him or she asks."
Brock smiled. "I'll take that bet and raise you another fifty that if that doesn't happen, Jason's gonna drag her ass out of that hell hole personally and there won't be any debate about it."
Looking over his shoulder at the worn out old house, Clay added, "Let's be honest here, I'm pretty sure all of us are itching to go back in there and tell her she's not living there anymore. I've seen student living, but that was…that was rough."
Nodding grimly, Trent had to agree, "Yeah, but she's happy with her friends and it's good to see her independent like that. Until it shows signs of that not being the case anymore, we leave her to reclaim control of her life."
"Metal ain't happy about it." Sonny murmured, watching as the other three members of Bravo walked ahead of them. "He's been cranky ever since she went back."
"He would never admit to missing her." Trent whispered.
"I wish he would." Clay said quietly. "He's getting a little rough during sparring sessions."
"Don't think he's alone in worrying about her." Brock added.
"Yeah, are we going to talk about the fact that our Jess is still a virgin?" Sonny asked suddenly.
"What about it? I thought it was pretty obvious." Trent said.
"Yeah, I've kinda suspected that since I met her." Brock commented mildly.
"No! I mean, I always figured she wasn't the sort to the whole casually go out there and- that's not the point!" Sonny ran a hand through his hair. "You know this means we gotta take this whole 'vetting the potential boyfriends' a little more seriously now, right?! We gotta keep her away from people like me and-"
"Awww, Sonny, it's so sweet when you get worried." Clay cooed.
"I am worried!" Sonny exclaimed seriously. "That sweet girl needs to be taken care of and there's no way I'm letting just any little punk near her and heaven help anyone who-"
"Sonny! Buddy, you aren't alone there, ok?" Trent clapped him on the shoulder. "Relax. Hellfire on anyone who makes her cry or doesn't treat her right. We know. We're right there with you."
"Anyone else know she could sing like that?" Clay asked. "I could hear her all the way upstairs."
"Hell, never mind the singing, I just about lost it when she said she ain't pretty!" Sonny raged. "How can a girl like her not know she's pretty!?"
"Lots of girls like her think they aren't, Sonny."
"Well, it's criminal."
"What was all that about turning off the basement lights?" Brock asked suddenly, "Sounded like Metal was threatening Pauline or something?"
"Oh! Pauline turned out the lights on Jess when she was down in the basement and Metal didn't like it cause Jess was already jumpy and nervous down there and he's pretty sure she sensed someone was there. Big guy would have run with it if it were anyone else, but he nearly gave us away just cause it was Jess. He might be good at staying focused and stone faced on the outside, but he sure hates seeing her scared, let me tell you!"
"You didn't have that problem, did you, Sonny." Trent laughed.
"Me? No. I was ready to send her through the roof. That whole thing was hilarious!"
"Jason isn't happy." Trent mentioned, watching Ray and Metal walk on either side of him back to their vehicles.
The three looked like they were arguing.
"Neither is Metal." Sonny sighed. "Remind me not to spar with him for a few days."