Jack

Ten days. In some cultures and religions, the number ten was the mark or something special, or heroic, even. In the Bible, there were ten commandments spoken by God Himself and delivered by Moses to the world He had created.

For me, ten days wasn't anything. It was special neither heroic, and I hadn't been spoken to by God. It had simply been ten days since I had found the note. It had taken ten seconds for me to read it, and an extra ten to process. Ten minutes later I had gotten over my initial shock, and a mere ten hours later a soothing Josh had appeared on my doorstep, whispering lullabies of calming effects and strings of words designed to ease my strung out nerves.

I had felt disgusted by myself for even letting the handsome British man through my door; but I needed comfort, and these ten days had been a long time. It had been quite easy for my unsure heart to let go of Alex - his flightiness, I had decided, wasn't really to my taste. The two years' of our friendship, and romance had gone down the drain with his final departure from Essex.

I was in the bedroom, Alex's 'old' one. I couldn't bear to sleep in Alex and I's bed with Josh - regardless of if I had before. It felt as if it would be a disservice to our memories. Josh had spent the last almost fortnight nurturing my emotional wounds, mending what was broken. I had been wrong about him, the night both he and Dan were here. He really did mean well. Any other man would have tossed me into their subconscious. But not him. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't just looking for a rebound, that it wasn't my hormones acting up, that I did need him. He wasn't going to be a want, because I wasn't one to him. At the moment, he was sitting in the - still poorly furnished - living room. He hadn't the faintest clue of my intentions, which was why I was sitting in the bedroom alone, calling up my innermost thoughts.

"Josh," I said quietly, the syllable catching my throat. Clearing it, I repeated his name, slightly louder this time. His footsteps slowly padded down the hall, and he came into the room, drinking orange juice, his eyebrows raised.

"What's up, Jacky?" He asked, moving slowly closer and sitting next to me on the foot of the bed. "You feeling okay?" His eyes looked intently into mine, and I saw the pureness of them - he wasn't out to get me. That night with Dan - it had been a mistake. I looked away from him briefly, looking towards the open door to mine and Alex's room.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, nodding my head a bit and looking back towards Josh. He smiled at me, clasping my hand and squeezing lightly. I smiled back, and inched closer, a single question running through my mind. Are you sure you want to do this? I got my answer back, and it resounded through my head, Yes.

While I was making up my mind, Josh had turned and put his now empty of orange juice glass on the carpeted floor. I inched even closer, so that our knees were touching, and held Josh's hand a little tighter, reaching up and turning his face towards mine. I leaned in, my eyes flicking from his dark orbs to his pale pink lips. I could feel his light breath on my skin, and his lips brush mine as he asked, "Are you sure?" He looked down at me. I could taste his yearning as I sealed the gap, kissing him slowly, making sure that it felt absolutely right.

I rubbed my thumb under his cheekbone, and he stayed still, letting me decide how far it would go. Breaking off the kiss, I stared into his eyes. I didn't love him, but I sure as hell needed him. I let go of his hand and leaned back in, rubbing his leg and moving my hand from his face to his neck. Josh leaned in eagerly, pushing back against my own lips with force and moving his own hand to my leg. I pulled away, and Josh immediately blurted, "sorry!" his eyes going wide.

"It's fine - just let me do everything, okay?" My eyes twinkled with mischeif. Josh hated this, I knew. He simply nodded, and closed his eyes, puckering his lips. I looked at him doubtfully, and he slowly opened one eye.

"Well? I'm waiting." He said, shutting it again.

"Idiot," I murmured, reattaching our lips. Several minutes later, Josh was whinng, wanting to take it up a step. I had taken both our shirts off and was playing with his belt, slowly unbuckling it. "Shh," I murmured against his lips, slipping his belt off and pulling his pants down as I did so. Josh kissed me harder, getting to work on my own clothes. My phone rang as he did so, and I made a move to answer it. Josh groaned and tossed himself back on the bed. I admired his lower half and checked the caller ID.

"Hey, I need to get this, I'll be right back."

"If you don't return quickly you don't get any of this." He said, rotating his hips. I rolled my eyes, walking into the lounge room and answering,

"What the fuck do you want?" My voice was low as I didn't want Josh to hear me, and I went into the laundry just so that I could raise my voice a bit more.

"Lovely way to greet your sister, Jacky." May said, her voice light. "I should be asking you the same question."

"Why?"

"I saw a certain someone in town today -"

"And he can go get fucked." I snarled, not impressed with Alex's antics.

"Really? You're going to judge him that badly already? I haven't even told you the half of it."

"Well, yeah May, I will judge him that quickly if I want to. He went off and left me a goddamn note the morning after I found out he had assisted in a suicide, and now he's galavanting around America -"

"Wait, back up the bus. Assisted suicide?" I stopped short, and paused for a moment, cursing myself for letting that slip.

"Long story," I muttered, "and I have company so no time to tell it."

"You better fill me in."

"Not right now, May! What was Alex doing in town?"

"Fine." I heard the defeat in her voice, and knew that I could let my slip of Alex's darkest secret be put on the back burner for a while. I had to tell her though, and soon. "I saw Alex in town, playing the guitar. It was like things hadn't changed - except he was standing with a man, around your height, dark hair -"

"That could be anybody." I interjected, becoming bored of her drabble. So Alex had picked up another guy? So had I.

"Except this 'anybody' had a British accent. I heard him talking to Alex while he was playing." May paused, "Alex also had a scarf on. He brushed it, and... he had bruises, Jacky. Not just lovebites, but finger marks, printed into the side of his neck."

"So Alex has a kink. Everyone does."

"Oh yeah?" May's patience was running thin. "He turned around and mouthed the words "help me" as they walked off. Why'd you have to let him go, huh? He's too good for you, Jack! And you damn well know it! At least help him. Fly out and help him. That's all I'm asking. That's all he's asking. Not for an apology."

"Wait, what nationailty did you say this guy was?"

"British I assume, from his accent." May said, her temper back under control.

"Hold on for a second, I'll be back." I put her on hold, and went back to the bedroom. Josh was lying there, palming himself through his boxers and moaning. I was a little bit turned on by the sight, but I couldn't care less as I walked into the room and hovered over him, taking over from his hand and connecting our lips.

"So," I murmured between dotted kisses, "how's - your - friend - Dan - going? - He - up - for - a - threesome - sometime?" We kissed for a little while and Josh answered with,

"Can't - he's - in - the - U - S - A." He caught himself, and stared up at me, not noticing the hand flying towards his cheek until it was too late.

"You -" I spluttered. The note, the ten days, the heartbreak went away, replaced by joy that my love, my sweet Alex, was still out there. I didn't need Josh, I had wanted him as a rebound. I didn't need his company, I wanted the distraction he caused.

"Hush now, Jack. Don't you like it better with me?" He bucked his hips, unfazed by the surely stinging red mark, and I crawled off him.

"I'd rather die." I hissed, hauling him off the bed and dragging him down the hall.

"Really? That seems a steep price to pay for Alex's safety." I paused, and Josh took that as his chance to push me up against the wall, twisting an arm behind my back. "I'll say this once, and once only. Alex has been having a hard time over in sweet old Baltimore. All because you didn't buck up and fuck. So here's how it's going to work out. Let Alex live his life in Baltimore away from you, and you stay here in Essex, fucking me. Otherwise things are going to get a lot worse for Alex. I know all of Dan's kinks - and asphyxiation isn't even the worst one." Josh grinned, "I overheard your phone call with May. Nice to see you were trying to defend me though."

I struggled against the wall, wanting to get out of here and on a plane to Baltimore - but with Josh's threat of worse things than asphyxiation hanging over Alex's head, I couldn't quite help but feel that maybe returning to my homeland wasn't the best option. Dan would know I had gone in less than an hour. "Let me go!"

"I will, just fix this problem for me. I'm going to be quite lenient with you, until you prove that I can't trust you. Hopefully that doesn't happen." Josh snarled, pushing me harder against the wall, and I choked out an, "I understand." Josh kissed below my ear and led me back to the bedroom. At our climaxes, I heard the orange juice glass shatter over my screams, and I could only imagine how much worse Alex had it, if this was Josh's 'leniency', and Josh was the softer of the two.

- - -

I woke the next morning, my body aching all over. Groaning, I heard Josh in the room over, speaking to someone on the phone.

"Yeah, he caved. He's mine now. What about Alex?... No need to do anything worse if you don't want to, though be careful about Jack's sister; she called him yesterday... I'm not sure of everything she told him, but he got very angry," Josh stopped talking to let out a light laugh, "but the sex was excellent... Don't boast, Dan... Talk to you soon, I think Jack's woken up." I closed my eyes, playing possum, as I heard Dan walk back in to the room. I gave an involuntary shudder as he ran the tips of his fingers over the back of my leg, poking out from underneath the sheets.

"Good morning Jacky," he greeted me, his voice coated sugary sweet, "how was your sleep?"

"Fine." I said bluntly, not in the mood to talk to him.

"Jack," Dan said, dropping the lovey-dovey façade and his voice taking on a darker colouring, "play along - I know that you heard me on the phone to Dan. I can just as easily call him back." My eyes widened, and I plastered a fake grin on my face.

"Absolutely splendid, darling." I managed, wanting to take back the pet name as soon as it had left my lips.

"Wonderful. So did I. Morning sex?" It was Dan's turn to be blunt, and my battered body had to take another merciless beating - or else Jack's health and safety was on the line.

- - -

Dan had left for work with a promise to see me in a few hours. He had locked the door behind him. I rolled my eyes at this gesture; the side door was still available for me to walk out of. I did just that after I gathered up a wallet with a few coins in it. I jumped the fence after checking the street to see that Josh had gone, and set off towards the town center.

Josh had confiscated my mobile, and as I walked towards the library, I tried to keep my beating heart in check. What was going to happen next relied heavily on chance and time zones, and very very precise timing.

Paying the slight internet fee, I opened up a time difference calculator, plugging in Essex and Maryland as the destinations. Smiling, I then opened up a flight planner, booking a trip for two days' time, for around ten in the morning. I was required at the airport an hour earlier, so I was able to leave just after Josh had for work. Hopefully, if I had worked out the time difference properly and timed my arrival, Jack would be in my arms in just under seventy two hours.

Leaving the library, I thanked the older woman at the desk, sliding over a few pence. I left her with a smile on her face, and I simply bummed around for the rest of the day, counting the cracks in the off white ceiling.

Notes

c0l0urfultears

I ship Baracheschi. That is final. Damn. Yup. More than Jalex, definitely.

Title credit: Here We Go - Sleeping With Sirens