Empty Bargains ~Jason McCann~

~10.17~

    Xander and Blondie managed to get Carter to his room, where I heard the shower turn on a few minutes later.  I could hear enraged, sad sobs from the kitchen, where Jason and I still stood.  Leo had disappeared into his room, and the other two boys sat talking quietly in the living room.

    Jason was mumbling angrily to himself, his back tense as he gripped the edge of the island with both hands.  He was facing away from me, but I could picture the crease in his forehead from agitation.  I’d seen it enough times.  I crept up and rested my fingers just above the elbow of his right arm, hoping to break through his brooding.  I was distraught and angry at Grant too, but Carter and Jason had taken care of it.  Granted, Jason’s pride was probably hurt from being lied to for that long, but I didn’t want him to dwell on it too much.  Grant was out of their lives now — Jason had made that perfectly clear.

    “Jason,” I said quietly, moving closer when he didn’t object to my touch.  “Let’s go upstairs.”

    I didn’t want to talk to him in the discomfort of the kitchen, where everything had just happened.  When he didn’t answer, I moved around him and cleaned up a majority of the glass dishes that’d broken with Carter’s fury.  After dumping the shards into the trash, I straightened the chairs and approached Jason again.  He didn’t say anything to me, but complied when I took his hand into my own.  Our fingers seemed to fit perfectly as I squeezed his hand lightly, and I tugged him through the living room — ignoring the glances of Xander and Blondie — and up the staircase.

    I did my best to tune out Carter as we entered Jason’s room, and I closed the door behind us.  Jason automatically shucked his shirt off, tossing it across the room and striding into the bathroom.  The door closed with a deafening sound and I stood for a long second before hearing his shower turn on.  I bit my lip and walked over to the bed, grabbing sweatpants and a t-shirt from my duffel beside it.  After changing, I tossed my clothes into the laundry bag Jason had given me and nestled into the sheets, waiting for him.

    It was ten minutes before I heard the water shut off, and five more before the door opened and Jason and a cloud of steam rolled out.  Only a towel was slung around his hips and I blushed as I admired the curves of his muscles.  He didn’t seem to notice my blatant staring as he strolled into his closet, silent as he shrugged on clothing.  Jason reappeared a few seconds later with black sweatpants and a fitted white tee, drying his hair with the towel he’d been wearing.

    I watched as he dropped the towel into a laundry basket of his own and shuffled to his bed, sliding in next to me.  My arm wrapped around his middle and I hooked my leg in his as I rested my head on his shoulder.  His hand found my hair and he played with the ends, something he’d started doing about a week ago.  I loved the feel of slight tugging on my hair; most nights it put me to sleep.

    “Is there anything you can do?” I said quietly, my eyes trained on the curtained window.

    “About what?” he asked.  His tone had calmed down, and would almost pass for normal if I could have ignored the slightly vacant hint to it.

    “About Tally,” I replied.  “I think that’s her name…  She didn’t know what she signed up for.”

    There was a long pause, the silence only filled by the sound of our breathing.  I noticed Carter’s noises of pain had died off, leaving the rest of the house in a sort of eerie quiet, considering the weight of what’d just happened.  I wondered if everyone beside Jason had known Grant had continued his sex trafficking, even after Jason had told him to get out of it.  If that were the case, there were bound to be consequences for all of them.