Page 169 of Under the Waves
Every thought passed through my head at the speed of light.
“You’ll change the ending of your story, Lils,” Jakson whispered.
Little blue eyes peaked up from beneath the book, wide and afraid.
Jakson continued, eyes locked onto hers. “You hear me, Davis?”
“I hear you, Calloway.” Lia saluted, a small smile forming onher lips.
With a wide as fuck grin, Jakson pounced on her like a puppy. “I love it when you call me that.”
Lia lifted her blanket without looking up from her book. He snuggled into her side, head resting against her neck, and she lent on him, head resting against his. Jakson’s fingers toyed with the necklace around her neck as she read, and every few minutes, her eyes would slide from her book over to his, and she’d have about ten seconds before he’d catch her. And he’d smile, because he knew their hearts were one.
“Hey!” I grumbled. “I call you that all the time and you never react like that when I do it.”
Jakson didn’t even look at me as he said, “you’re not her, Cap.”
And didn’t I know it.
There was too much adrenaline pumping through my body to even put together a response.
I was missing something.
Something important.
Come on Jasper, think!
“You sure you’re okay, Jasper?” Lia asked, a hint of worry clouding her soft features as she peaked up from the couch, barely able to see over the top of it.
She was tucked into Jakson’s side, as always. He was huge compared to her, practically engulfing her petite frame. Every time she spoke, even if it wasn’t to him, he still looked at her, marveled ather. He was completely and utterly besotted with her like a lost puppy.
At this point, I didn’t have any energy left to ask why Lia was over here again. If she was here, it meant she wasn’t inside that house, and that was enough of a reason for me. I knew Jakson wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. It was the one thing he was incapable of doing.
“I—I don’t know,” I breathed, exhaling what felt like a ton of bricks. “I just—I just have this feeling that something iswrong. I can’t place it but it’s there like it’s pounding inside of me, demanding to be heard. I can’t ignore it…it feels tooreal.”
Lia and Jakson shared a look between each other and my heart sank. I was disrupting their night with my panicking thoughts—my stupid, panicking thoughts and my stupid, fuckedup head.
The thing was, I knew, not a lot, but Iknewwhat had happened to them both before they had each other. I knew them as separate halves before they became whole. How lost and how alone they were before they found each other. So how could I blame them? I didn’t even know if they realized how many of their scars I carried on my own back. How many nights I woke in cold sweats, panicking like an absolute madman to see if they were okay.
They had each other now, and I just had to accept that.
They didn’t need me anymore.
They didn’t needmeanymore.
“I’m probably just sleep deprived,” I told them both, burying down the pain deep inside of me.
Something was wrong.
“I’m just going to sleep it off.”
Something was wrong.
“Yeah, okay,” Lia nodded shyly, thin lips pulled upwards into a small, delicate smile, and to her right, like always, was the big, blond buffoon who looked at her like she was his moon in a sky of darkness. “Sleep well, Jas.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I swallowed down the last few words in a huge fucking gulp that almost ripped my throat open. I tipped my head in a nod to them both as I walked out of the room, taking the stairs two-by-two in an impatient manner until I reached my room.
Something was wrong.