His and Only His (mature +18)

Ch 3: A Sunny Saturday

Living in Westchester was fine and all, still Jennifer and her friends always enjoyed going to New York. It had a certain feel one just couldn't get anywhere else.

Their senior year had just started so there wasn't much homework. More importantly, it was Saturday – a sunny Saturday at that – what else could they ask for, an invitation?

It had been Heather's idea to go to NYC. Jennifer and Mary had then immediately started making plans for the day, leaving Jeremy and Tyler to take care of the means-of-transport issue. With some pleading, Jeremy's father had not hesitated much before allowing his son to borrow his car for the day.

Wanting to make the most out of it, they had agreed to hit the road at 10 a.m. and ended up going at 11 because Heather and Tyler always found it hard to leave their beds in the morning. The green Jeep may not have been the fanciest car there was, but it sure was fun to have one's hair whipped around by the wind. The drive was short, the ambiance merry, and they were soon entering the city that never sleeps. As per their plans, they first spent about an hour and half at a rather famous and overly crowded mall, took some fun-s***h-crazy group selfies and then headed to the beach.

The traffic was rather dense as they neared Jacob Riis Park – the beach that held the fondest memories for the girls since they actually met there seven years ago, and then found out they all lived in Westchester – but they didn't pay it any mind. They were chatting happily, mimicking teachers one moment, joking and teasing each other the next.

It was spontaneous, natural and it felt liberating to Jennifer to just be herself.

Life was good.

A black Mercedes passed by the Jeep the opposite way and went unnoticed by all of them. Soon enough, it made a rather sharp U-turn, earning a few car honks. The driver looked like he could care less, and just followed the green car from a safe distance.

“Something wrong, sir?” The forty-something, smartly-dressed redhead occupying the passenger seat asked calmly.

“Nothing,” came the darkly hushed reply, “but you're getting off at the next red light, Serena.”

“Please remember, sir, that you have an appointment at 3 with the chef interior designer of the hotel,” she had long since learnt not to ask why her boss decided something, no matter how weird it might seem. He was a little bit of an eccentric, and everyone knew and accepted the fact.

“You took notes yesterday morning, just communicate them to him,” he shrugged nonchalantly as if he wasn't talking about a big multi-million project.

“But sir…” it was a clear command, and yet her no-ifs-no-buts policy faltered.

“I'm sure you'll be fine,” he gave her a quick reassuring glance before shifting his gaze back to the road.

“Any changes you want me to operate on your schedule?” Being his PA paid well, well enough that she didn't mind working overtime or in the weekend if need be, as was the case. Since she was a divorcee with an ever-demanding thirteen-year-old girl, she appreciated the occasional extra money.

“Yeah, cancel my dinner reservation and send some flowers to Alex with an apology card.”

“Alice you mean, sir?”

“Yeah, the blonde architect,” he told her distractedly.

So not only his business meeting was cancelled but his date as well? To say she was curious to know what had troubled her boss into changing his plans would be the understatement of the year, but she valued her job. She knew by hearsay that his last PA had been fired because she had jokingly commented on his playboy ways. Risking the same fate over such a petty thing as curiosity was not worth it.

“Is that all, sir?” She asked, her hand on the handle as the car came to a stop at the red light.

“Yep, you may go,” he turned to her, his gray eyes alight with a mix of joy and excitement he couldn't conceal, and a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

The sight made her breathing quicken ever so slightly, and she wished for umpteenth time that year she had been younger. “Have a nice afternoon, sir.” She, thank god, managed to sound normal.

She didn't think she could live down the shame of him ever finding out how his smirks, smiles and overall open expressions affected her libido. I need to get laid, she mused inwardly, knowing it was unhealthy to lust after her boss when he was almost twenty years her junior.

“You too, Serena.”

                                                         ***********************

Hanging out at the beach had always helped Jennifer get back in the game. The sunrays playing on her skin, the waves hitting the golden sand; it all soothed her. As she sat on a chair by the parasol they had just settled at, she no longer felt ashamed about picturing for a split-second her stepbrother instead of Jeremy that evening. There was therefore more room for her to simply feel happy about becoming his girlfriend and enjoying the day.

“Nice swimsuits,” Tyler teased, wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner while quickly checking out the girls.

“Shouldn't you be more concerned about that guy's six pack?” Heather countered good-humoredly, her blue eyes deceivingly serious.

Tyler did a quick one-eighty and started looking for said imaginary guy. They were all soon laughing as he turned around, lips pursed, and gave her a sullen look, before giving in to the amused smirk that begged to be let out.

“By the way, Jen, isn't Lucas going to create another game soon?” Mary asked after they sobered up, while getting her tanned back covered with protection at the hands of Heather.

“I don't know,” Jen repressed the urge to sigh, and gave a small smile instead as she shrugged.

She was having such a nice moment just then, but she had to be reminded of him sometime, somehow. She couldn't blame Mary for it wasn't her fault that she was so fond of pc games anyways.

“Your stepbrother is into game making?” Jeremy sounded intrigued, and that made both girls give Jennifer pointed “seriously?” looks.

“Among other things,” Jennifer waved in dismissal, wanting him to drop the subject. She didn't talk much about Lucas nowadays; she was, therefore, very little inclined to do so with Jeremy of all people.

“Haven't you heard of Ferreira's Tech?” Mary supplied helpfully, taking notice of Jeremy's forming frown.

“Of course I have.” He rolled his eyes at her, his tone bordering on the offended, making his girlfriend smile fondly at him. “He works there?”

“b***h please, he owns the company,” Heather snickered, not surprising anyone with her colorful language.

“When you told me your stepbrother was a little bit of an IT geek, I just thought he was a regular computer engineer or something.” Having never had the chance to meet the guy, Jeremy couldn't possibly have known who he was without anyone telling him.

“He's more of a regular tabloid figure,” Tyler chuckled, unknowingly bruising Jeremy's ego a little bit since he knew more than him. The guy had explained before he had only become a good friend to the girls a few months prior to Jeremy's arrival from England. It had all started when he had witnessed Mary being bullied in the absence of her two friends by a dumb jock – whose brain wasn't working properly thanks to some daytime alcohol consumption – and he had jumped in to stop the nonsense.

“I had no idea,” Jeremy muttered, his hand absently rearranging some of his locks.

Seeing his shadowed expression, Jennifer felt the need to clear the air. “There's not much to say. Lucas is an asshole, an arrogant asshole.”

Tyler's brown eyes bulging comically should have been warning enough, but it wasn't.

“What did I ever do to you, sweets?”

When she heard the oh-so-familiar deep voice to her right, she startled, knocking Heather – who had been busy giving her the same treatment she gave Mary – in the process. Her heart started pumping blood more rapidly in her veins and thumping loudly in her ears, while her breathing became ragged. To her shame, her body was conditioned to him, and had a special command within that said: throb on sight.

She drank him in, taking in every little precious detail as if her eyes couldn't get enough of him, her moving-on be damned, before regaining her senses a few seconds later.

“The hell!” Her voice was a bit higher-pitched than normal, and that made her blush to her utter and complete annoyance. “Why would you creep on me like that? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” His chuckle only made her face burn hotter. “Never mind that, just what are you doing here?” She eyed his black suit, silently telling him he was overdressed.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he retorted calmly, “does mom know you're here?” he carried on before greeting her friends with a hello and a smile, earning three amused “hey’” and an intrigued “hi” from the guy he didn't know.

“Of course she does,” she rolled her eyes at him, and was reminded of a time where he was the one to know every little thing she did and planned.

“Why didn't you tell me you were coming?” His smile although full-teethed didn't have much warmth to it. If there was something Lucas didn't like, it was not knowing.

“I came to have fun at the beach, not to see you,” she rolled her eyes at him, again, as she willed her nerves to stop buzzing in shameful awareness, and earned a rather strong poke in the side from Mary.

Mary, always the sensible one, didn't like her newly-found attitude towards Lucas. She felt like he didn't deserve it. Admittedly, Jennifer knew her friend was right, but it was much easier to pretend she didn't enjoy being with him than having to endure everything being the same between them when she wanted more – much more than he was willing to give.

Since the rejection, she had made it her goal to have as little contact with him as possible. In her early teens, she had craved his attention, and would have never hung out with her friends on the weekends because that was when he came home, making those two free days of hers solely his. Nowadays, she made sure to only see him at dinner when he did come – for there were some weekends when didn't, saying he was being held up by work.

“Your tongue is as lovely as ever, I see,” he chuckled, gray eyes soft as they bore into her annoyed light brown ones.

“I thought you had work to do today,” despite her efforts, her tone was clipped and slightly accusing. It wasn't like she had wanted to see him. She saw him enough as it was – had even recently spent two weeks of her summer vacations with him and her stepmom in Spain – but the idea of him lying to his family – to her – hurt.

“I let my PA take care of my 3 p.m. meeting,” he shrugged before slipping one of his arms out of the suit jacket, “I figured I could use a breather.”

“Well, don't let us hold you back from your breather,” she bit out sarcastically, “whoever that might be.”

Damn her irrational jealousy! Even now, almost three years after her rejection, she still had feelings for the man.

“I just suddenly wanted to chill at the beach,” he waved his right hand in dismissal, before deftly folding his jacket inside out and dropping it on a nearby chair.

“Looking like this?” She c****d a disbelieving eyebrow at him, one hand on her hip.

He brought forward a small bag from which he retrieved some swim shorts. “I'll go put them on.”

“Just don't forget the tag,” her tone couldn't be more resigned if she tried.

Despite being caught, he only smirked at her before making a beeline to a store nearby. Nothing apologetic about his expression, that was for sure. He had followed them – her – to the beach for he just was that kind of overbearingly protective guy. He had been the definition of the caring brother when she had broken her leg two years ago on a trip and had not allowed her and his mother to travel alone again since. He would always take two weeks off and take them somewhere. He simply didn't understand why the dynamics of their relationship should change just because she confessed to him. He didn't understand she needed space if she wanted to move on.

“He doesn't look that arrogant to me,” Jeremy was the first to break the silence the group had fallen into since the impromptu arrival.

“He's not,” Tyler and Mary both defended immediately, smiling at one another a second later as they had spoken simultaneously.

“Jennifer is just angry at him because he doesn't let her drive her car, among other things,” Heather supplied jokingly, whispering the last three words so no one but her friend would hear.

“Well, you're a horrible driver, Jen.” Jeremy chuckled, all annoyance over not being told much about Lucas gone, “I'm glad I'll get to know him a little.”

He was genuinely happy to make his acquaintance, it seemed. Jennifer couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt at not having introduced him to him sooner, and only smiled in response.

“Race you to the water,” Heather exclaimed, hitting Tyler's arm before breaking into a run.

“Hey, not fair,” the tall dark-haired teenager run after her, a smile splitting his face.

“Let's go,” Jeremy held out a hand towards Jennifer which she happily took.

“I'll just sunbath for now,” Mary settled on a chaise-longue, feeling like Lucas needed to find someone at the parasol.

As the couple run on the sand, Jennifer couldn't help but feel she could, if she tried hard enough, bury her feelings for her stepbrother. Nobody said it was going to be a walk in the park, with him always hovering around and all, but there was nothing for her to do but put her mind to it.