The Weakness in Me (12 page)

“It’s this new salve treatment Sven gave me f
or my femur issues,” Jamie said, as if it was important to him to know this information. “And it’s garlic and patchouli, Jason, no need to be rude,” she tsked.

“OH! Did
Sven
say why the last one didn’t work?” Jason raised an eyebrow.

“
You know that I found him not long after you
‘reconnected’
with your ex-hussy,” she started, putting reconnected in finger quotes. “He says her lotion is throwing me out of whack. You
always
smell like her now, since you are
constantly
with her,” she rolled her eyes. “Sven says that’s why your spleen is so out of balance now,” Jamie folded her arms on her chest leaning against his closet door, shooting him a smug look.

“I see,” Jason bit the inside of his
cheek to keep from laughing at the notion that the Swedish Rastafarian healer his mother found on Craigslist had any idea what he was talking about and
wasn’t
trying to scam her. “So
Sven
says I smell like Sammy’s vanilla
shampoo
? And
I
have an unbalanced
spleen
?” Turning away, he tried to get his burst of laughter under control again, his shoulders shaking from restraint.

“Stop that!
” she screeched, pushing him in the back. “I’m serious!” she growled. “He said to put some persimmon fibers in your shoes and it will help. They are only eighty for a pack of seven, or one hundred for an eight pack. I’m happy to get them from him for you,” she sighed. “Of course, you could just stop spending time with her and her bratty little clone,” his mom offered.

“
That’s not possible! Besides, Corigan looks more like Caleb than Sammy,” Jason protested, knowing after last night, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“If you ask me,
” his mom started again, even though he
hadn’t
asked her. “I think she caused that whole thing so you’d
have
to come back to her. She’s always been trying to take you away from me,” she huffed. “Ever since she was five, you’ve always wanted to spend more time with her than your own mother,” Jamie shot him her ridiculous ‘woe-is-me’ look. The appearance of this look signified her desire to play the victim in all of this and it broke the last of his resolve to get along with her until she decided to leave for the day.

“That is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said, mother,” Jason
seethed with anger at his mother’s words and stormed out of his bedroom toward the front door, yelling over his shoulder. Forcing himself to unclench his fists and jaw before he continued was not a simple task. He paced his living room, trying to calm down. Yet, finally, the words he was fighting to suppress spilled out of his mouth, “Sammy planned for a drunk driver to kill her
husband
and seriously injure
her
on a day I
happened
to be working?! Did you really
just
say that?” Jason spoke clearly through his anger before turning to see that his mother had followed him to his door. “Do you
really
think that little of her? Do you
really
think that’s something
anyone
is capable of orchestrating? Save the fact that she didn’t even know I was a paramedic, mother!”

“Of course she did!
Everyone did! I know she kept tabs on you. I don’t think she’s ever moved on,” Jamie sulked, following him through his condo.

“Right, so getting married, starting her own business, having a child with her husband and moving out of Covington were all ways of keeping tabs on me?
” he asked, throwing his hand in the air in exasperation.

“That’s what she wanted you to think, Jason.
Don’t be so naïve!” she wagged a finger at him.

“I’m going to say this once
, mother, so you need to listen,” he paused to collect his thoughts before continuing. “Sammy moved on from me, big time. She wasn’t waiting around to forgive me for what she thinks happened. Hell, she kicked me out of her hospital room the second she saw me,” he said, stopping to take a deep breath and looking his mother square in the eye for the next part of his speech, “
I’m the one that hasn’t moved on.
I’ve had to claw my way back to friendship with her and now that I’m there, I’m not leaving her. If you can’t understand that or support me, you can leave.” Jason finished and illustrated his point by opening the front door for her.

“Fine!” she screeched, starting to walk through
the door and headed for the stairs when Jason called her back. “What?” her eyes looked at him, obviously hopeful he was about to change his mind.

“The key to my house please?” he said, holding his hand palm
out towards his mother. She just growled as she ripped the key from the ring and slapped it into his hand, turning so swiftly her blonde ponytail slapped her across the face. Her only reaction was a slight pause to collect herself before continuing her march away from him.

“Don’t cry to me when she shows what a worthless
bitch she is, Jason! I tried to warn you!” her mother called from the stairwell as she walked toward her car.

Rubbing the back of his head out of frustration, he walked back into his condo and threw himself on the couch.
He didn’t know what to make of his mother’s reaction and what might come of it. The only thing he knew for sure is that he probably needed to keep one eye on her from now on, but he didn’t know where he’d find the time. As if on cue, he heard his phone start to ring from the kitchen.

“Hello?” he answered without looking at the caller ID.

“Hey,” a still hung over voice came from the phone. “I just wanted to say thanks for your help last night, seriously.”

“You’ve told me, Sammy, like six times already?” he laughed, not being able to stop the grin now on his face, the ugliness he’d experienced with his mom already a distant memory.

“I know, but I also needed to ask you a favor,” her voice slightly softer now.

“Is that so?” he prodded, still amused.

“So, I just got a call that a ceiling fan I’ve had on back order since we moved in is finally being shipped,” she said, uncertain. “I was hoping you could help me install it in the downstairs guest room when it gets here in ten to fourteen business days?”

“Did you really even need to ask?
Of course, Sammy,” he agreed, rolling his eyes.

“Well, I did want to
thank you again, too,” she said, something indecipherable in her voice. “I mean, you being there last night, it meant more than you know.”

“You told me,” he said, not wanting to give away how she begged him not to leave her last night.
If she didn’t remember, that was better for her, but it didn’t mean that he’d ever forget.

“So I’ll see you bright and early on Tuesday?” she confirmed.

“Absolutely,” his voice came out more breathless than he’d intended. “And Sammy?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re more than welcome. I’ll always be there for you.”

“I know,” she answered, simply, before the call was disconnected.
Two simple words, but confidence in her inflection had him wanting to dance in victory that she’d really let him back into her life.

“God, I want you,” Samantha told him, stalking into the room like a jungle cat. She’d watched from the doorway as he worked on hooking up the ceiling fan. “I never knew just how much your body had changed since we were last together until that day you changed my tire,” she groaned at the memory. “You don’t have the body of a boy anymore, do you, Jason?” she let her eyes look her fill of his taut stomach and pecs, down to where the V of his abdominals disappeared below a pair of green cargo pants.

“No, I guess I don’t,” he responded, watching her devour him with her eyes
as he took in the short black lace teddy she’d put on before starting her journey through the house to seduce him. “Your body’s changed, too,” he approached her, cautiously, his eyes dark with need. “Your breasts and hips—they’re,” he cleared his throat. “They’re incredible.”

“Having a baby will do that to you,” she whispered
, not wanting to admit that she was self conscious of the way her body was different from the last time they’d been together. Slowly, they made their way into each other’s personal space, as if being pulled by some unseen force. His hand, instinctively, rose to run through her hair and came to rest on the nape of her neck.

“I want to see if you taste different, too,” his voice rasping through his shallow breath
, not breaking eye contact.

“I want to run my tongue over your abs and feel them ripple under my touch,” she told him, inching her face closer to his.
Her words sent him over the edge as he yanked her to close the distance between them. Their lips collided, roughly, mashing together with a desperation she’d never experienced before. His scent overwhelmed her and as she felt her knees buckle, suddenly, he was carrying her up the stairs to her bedroom, as if she were floating there on her own. Throughout the trip, he never halted their frantic kisses.

As she felt the softness of her bed, suddenly, their clothes started to disappear, and her hands were exploring the new muscles and ridges of his chest and back as his mouth moved down her neck to her breasts.
He flicked his tongue over one as his hand massaged the other. A guttural groan tore through her body at the contact of his skin on hers. She felt his hand slide lower between them and glide between her already slippery folds. Almost instantly, she felt the spasms of orgasm galloping through her body.

“JASON!” she screamed as she shot forward in her bed, her lower body still convulsing in the aftershocks of an orgasm.
As her eyes adjusted, she found she was alone in her bedroom. She, immediately, felt both bereft and relieved to find it was only a dream. It was unbelievably vivid, though, and the star of this particular dream rocked her to her very core. Since the morning after her wedding anniversary, Jason had invaded her dreams. This was the first time they’d crossed the line from innocent to something else, something much more dangerous and seductive.

Samantha frowned to herself
. As thoughts of the dream took over, she flooded into complete consciousness of the effects it had on her body. Without warning, the door to her bedroom flung open as the star of her wet dream ran into the room, his eyes frantic.

“Are you okay?” he asked, coming to her side.

“Yeah, um, sorry,” she said, not able to look him in the eye.

“Did you have another nightmare?
Another flashback?” his words coming out stilted now that he was trying to catch his breath.

“Yeah,” she lied, and she let him pull her into his arms and massage her for a second before
realizing that his actions were causing those familiar feelings from the dream to pool in her belly. As she registered the desire and surrender she was feeling at his touch, she jumped up, separating herself from him again. “It’s okay, I overreacted,” she shrugged, throwing her legs off the bed and heading toward her master bathroom.

“Okay,” he answered, confused, but still out of breath.

“You should use your inhaler before you pass out,” she told him. “I mean, you still use it, right?”

“Yeah,” he admitted, pulling it from his pocket.

“You didn’t have to come rushing like that. I’d hate for you to hurt yourself on my account,” she finished, before disappearing behind the bathroom door. Unfortunately, because his scent had permeated the air, leaving Jason’s arms did nothing to calm her arousal. Leaning her head against the door, she attempted to catch her own stilted breath.
‘It’s normal to have sexual desires,’
she told herself.
‘The dream was only because Jason is always around,’
she tried to rationalize with herself. After nodding at thoughts in the mirror, she turned on the shower to finish getting ready for the day.

**

“What the fuck was that about?” Jason wondered aloud as he watched Sammy slip into her bathroom. Now that he’d assessed that she was okay, he started to think about the way she’d screamed his name.

Hearing the shower come to life in her bathroom, he couldn’t help but think about how she was undressing behind that door right now, and how much he wanted to slip into the shower behind her and pull her into his arms.
He tried not to let himself delve into the fantasy of running his hands all over her naked skin under the warm, pulsating water. Thinking about watching her head lull back against the gray tile wall as he caressed her hair, her breasts, her thighs, he felt his pants tighten. 

Shaking his head at the direction of his thoughts, he chalked the extreme fantasy up to a severe lack of sleep.
Having forgotten what it was like to wake up beside her in the morning, he’d barely slept a wink since her wedding anniversary. He’d thought of almost nothing but being with her for the last two weeks. Well, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t thinking about it prior to that, but her drunken confessions had made his desire for her much more prevalent.