The Truth About Jake

"I mean, damn," I said coolly. "It doesn't take a rocket a scientist to figure out that women find you attractive." I couldn't tell if that made it better or worse.

"So, you're attracted to me, and that gives you a license to fuck with my love life?"

"I never said I'm attracted to you; I'm just saying you're attractive."

"What the hell's the difference?" he laughed, defiantly crossing his arms.

Goddammit why was he being a douche? I lost my temper. "You know what? Do whatever you want. You probably deserve the little cunt!" Ouch. I bit my lip in self-reprimand. I shouldn't have reacted so harshly, but I was already regretting my self-revealing admission and the frustration just burst out. I turned and opened the door to leave and Jake abruptly put his hand on it, slamming it hard and holding it shut. I stood for a moment with my back to him. He was audibly unsettled and his breathing had gotten heavy.

"Turn around," he said. I refused, my feet firmly planted and my hand on the door knob. He put a hand on my shoulder and turned me around, pressing me back against the door. "Look at me."

I slowly, reluctantly looked up to his eyes. He was rousted by my bluntness. Even in the dimly lit room I could see the fire in his eyes. My shoulders slumped in an effort to satiate him. I was visibly regretting my harsh comment.

"I'm sorry—" I tried to spit out.

"Don't be," he interrupted, almost before I said it.

I felt the tears well up in my eyes. Anger and frustration were combining with guilty love and affection to form a twisted amalgam of emotions that threatened to make me do worse things than just shoot my mouth off. I continued to look into his eyes, which appeared unchanged.

It seemed that the further I pulled him away from Trina, both physically and emotionally, the more attractive he got. I was meddling, manipulating—controlling his will without his knowledge, but I was really putting the power in his hands. And I think he liked the power that had been so meticulously and surreptitiously bestowed upon him.

He put his other hand on the door, trapping me between his arms, and leaned forward, nearly down to my eye level. I could feel my body shaking and hoped he couldn't tell. I was suddenly feeling the same simultaneous arousal and trepidation I had felt in my room earlier. I imagined his hands on my breasts, how he just grabbed me without my consent. I found myself wishing he'd do it again. I felt so dirty trapped against the door, my mind conjuring inappropriate images and thoughts that no girl should have about her brother. I wiped a tear off my cheek and waited for him to dole out his harsh rebuke.

"You're right," he said.

That wasn't what I expected to hear. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"She is a cunt."

"I'm sorry, Jake, I don't mean to disresp—" I was interrupted by his lips pressing against mine. I recoiled with surprise, nearly banging my head on the door. As I pulled back, he advanced, keeping his lips gently on mine. Feeling his sudden intimate presence on my mouth was both shocking and arousing. I just stood there, not doing anything, inhaling his breath.

"How would you treat me?" he whispered against my lips.

Oh god. The very question was enough to start my juices flowing. I took a quivering breath and tried to make sense of what was happening. I couldn't speak. I could barely get air. I wasn't expecting tender warmth to be forced on me; this wasn't the Jake I knew. But I liked the new Jake—a lot.

It wasn't a question of whether I would accept his advances. I truly don't think I had a choice—not that he was going to take me against my will, but rather my will was completely dissolved under his masculine spell. I had brought him up there to talk, but now all I wanted to do was love him, like my prime directive had suddenly shifted to providing Jake what he'd been lacking his whole life—real affection. I was helpless and unwilling to resist, trapped between his arms and the door, the world on the other side of it suddenly irrelevant. I instinctively cupped his face in my hands.

Jake and I, through no deliberate plan or intention of our own, suddenly found ourselves in the throes of a sibling open-mouthed kiss. My little brother, the guy who would tolerate girls ignoring him for weeks at a time just for the privilege of being their second choice, was suddenly declaring himself my alpha male. His confident hands on my shoulders were telling me, not asking me, to kiss him back. I wanted, needed to feel his tongue. I ventured into his mouth and quickly found he was thinking the same thing.

It certainly had never occurred to me before to kiss him like a lover, but now that it was happening, it seemed as natural as any kiss I'd ever given. But I wasn't expecting it to be so powerful. How could Trina have resisted this? How could any girl resist? Was he not the same Jake to them as he was to me right now? I'd kissed lots of guys, but nobody had ever made me unsure if I would be able to remain standing on my own two legs. What the hell was happening?

His sweet breath, his sensual touch, the way he caressed my tongue just the right way, the way he had me trapped against the door, all conveyed to me clearly and concisely that he owned me. Never mind how much bigger he was, or stronger. And his possession of me was more than just physical. I wondered if he even knew what he was capable of.

As if to ward off my imminent collapse, he pressed his body into mine, pinning me against the door while he kissed me, helping my weakened knees to support my weight. His right hand found the lock button on the door knob and pressed it, sealing us inside. The click of that button may as well have been the switch to my libido. My hazy mind suddenly became very clear. Jake wanted something from me and he was about to take it, and oh my god was I ready to give it! I felt as though I didn't even have a say in the matter.

"I would treat you better," I hoarsely whispered. At that moment I wanted to treat him better than any girl ever had. I kissed down to his chin, and then to his neck, simply wanting to touch my mouth to every part of his body, tasting him as a delicacy, finer than burgundy wine. He pressed into me harder, spurred on by the warm wetness of my mouth on his tender skin.

I felt his erection press against me, applying pressure to my swollen, wet valley. I tried to spread my legs as my hips involuntarily bucked against him. In our standing position I found myself literally climbing onto him to give him access to me. I felt my feet leave the floor as he picked up my small frame by my legs and wedged himself between them, grinding against me, rubbing his hard cock against my pussy, pinning my back ever more firmly against the door, kissing me, controlling me, loving me.

I hugged him to me, putting some weight on his shoulders with my elbows. He rhythmically thrust his hips, stroking his bound up shaft along my valley, blessedly stimulating my clit on each upstroke. I know my breathing was getting very heavy at the sudden sexual stimulation. He stopped kissing me for a brief moment and looked me squarely in the eyes. I had a feeling he was surprised I was enjoying it.

But his expression wasn't surprise. The look in his eyes was what can only be described as adoration. In that fleeting moment under his gaze I felt more beautiful than I ever had in my life. My eyes felt pretty. My nose was cute. My hair felt suddenly and magically restyled. This was the Jake that Trina so casually disregarded. As if I wasn't already willing to give myself to him, he was still convincing me with his eyes.

In that moment it became suddenly and assuredly clear that my brother was an amazing lover. He wasn't the weenie boy that couldn't last a minute inside a loose slut at a party; he wasn't the servile toadie that Trina or any other girl thought they were using. They didn't know him. Only I knew him.

I glanced at the bed. I didn't even know to whom it belonged. I didn't care. He saw my eyes looking behind him and knew what I was thinking. We both paused for a second, each assessing the weight of this moment. My pussy was a sopping mess inside my panties and there stood an empty bed inside this locked room. I looked back at him. I watched him swallow nervously.

The deadened clink of the locked door knob being tried on the other side, and then a furious pounding brought us both back to reality with obnoxious clarity.

"Who's in my room?" came a familiar Aussie accent.

We continued to look at each other for an eternal few seconds. The magic was gone. Jake let me slide down until my feet touched the floor. I grabbed the knob and opened it.

"Sorry for locking you out," my brother said confidently. "We were just needing a quiet place to talk."

"Oh! Right, no problem," said Glenn, almost apologetically. Katy shuffled behind him, fidgeting with her fingertips. She gave a sheepish grin to each of us. I smiled back, hoping the guilt pulsing in my head was not being expressed on my face.

"She left," Katy whispered to me.

I nodded and glanced at Jake. We both gave awkward smiles to them as we left. Neither of us felt a need to stay at the party any longer.

"The band was pretty good," Jake observed as his car wound its way through the one-way streets back toward the highway. We didn't speak a word of what had just transpired between us; we were a normal brother and sister.

"What do you know about eighties alternative bands?" I scoffed.

"I like the hair," he stated simply.

"That was a good party," I said nonchalantly.

"Yeah." We drove in silence for several minutes.

"Katy's kind of slutty," he finally said.

I laughed to myself. He had a good read on her, even though he didn't really know her. "What did she say to you?" I asked.

"She said too bad I had a girlfriend because we could have a lot more fun at that party."

"Oh my god, that slut!" I blurted out.

Jake gave an evil laugh. "You told her to say that, didn't you?"

"Hell no! I told her to flirt with you, not hit on you!"

"Whatever. Girls don't talk that way to me. Just sayin'"

"I swear I just told her to flirt with you." It was a sign. He had already begun to shed his backward persona. He doubled his sexual vibe in a nanosecond. Katy's reaction to him was evidence enough. I felt like touching his leg right there in the car, but of course, I kept my hands to myself.

For the next few weeks Jake and I avoided any mention of what had happened that day. I worked long hours at the restaurant and only saw him a little in the mornings before school and sometimes late at night. The meddling part of me desperately wanted to get my paws on his phone again to see what was happening with Trina, but that would be impossible now. He wouldn't make the mistake of leaving his phone around for me to peruse again. It was too bad I had betrayed his trust, but at least something good came out of it.

Or so I thought. It was prom weekend—that simultaneously elegant and awkward formal rite of passage where the beautiful and desired are sharply contrasted with the supposed unpolished and dateless. Jake had put all his eggs in one basket and had tolerated the wait for Trina's decision like a college football coach waits to see if he gets his star freshman quarterback. She finally agreed to go to prom with him when Scott, the guy she wanted to go with, backslid to his girlfriend the week before.

Lacking the wisdom or self-respect to be angry about being second fiddle, Jake happily took Trina to prom, complete with a box of chocolates and a rented convertible 5.0 liter Mustang—nothing but the best for his dear Trina!

I must say they looked stunning together, color coordinated at Jake's insistence, the two of them with dark hair and beautiful tanned skin. Even his green eyes complimented her dress. I stood watching the photos being taken with a fake smile and a queasy stomach.

There was a marked change in my brother's personality lately. Perhaps it wasn't noticeable by many; I doubt even Mom detected it. But to me he was clearly a changed man. There was a swagger to his walk that never existed before. I could hear it in his voice when he said "Hey" to me in the mornings. It wasn't that he treated me any differently; it was simply an overall change in his tone.

In my efforts to boost his confidence and make him more appealing, I had inadvertently created a slight problem for Trina. She could no longer ignore him for days at a time. Girls were talking to him. A couple of them were texting him on his phone every day. He was no longer the toy she could keep in her trunk, only getting him out to play when she was bored. He was now needing the attention that a real girlfriend provides, else he would possibly stray.

I should have been pleased with the product of my efforts. He was happy and confident. He was oh so attractive these days. I had taken to kissing him on the cheek in the mornings before school, not only to show him love; I just liked touching him and smelling him, if only for a brief moment. I was smitten and I had to admit it. But now he was infatuated with Trina worse than ever. I had created a monster.

Mom and I both sighed as we watched the green Mustang pull out with the beautiful couple, driving off into the sunset to the prom, commiserating our dismay at Jake's obsession with Trina, even if for different reasons.

"Too bad she couldn't hook up with Scott," my mom said, her arms still crossed in the driveway.

"How did you know about that?" I asked. I was genuinely impressed with her sentience of current relationships.

"I check his phone," she mumbled quietly.

I slapped her across the shoulder, my mouth hanging open in feigned judgment. Well, at least I wasn't the only one that was invading his privacy for his own good.

"Say goodbye to Walsh," she lamented, turning to head for the house. God, I hadn't even thought about that lately. It was yet another twist of the Trina knife in both our sides.

Later that night I retreated to my room to do some reading and think about anything other than Trina and her trophy date at prom. Jake was actually better looking than Scott, so she should have been pleased how things turned out for her. But of course she had no appreciation for Jake's sexy sweetness, only his convenience.


I would like to say that I trudged on in my attempt to lure my brother away from Trina—that I doubled my efforts in improving his confidence and making him aware of his total hotness. I'd like to say that I triumphed in pulling him out of Trina's tractor beam, setting him free from her indifferent mastery over him, clearing his mind to make rational decisions, like going to the college our mom so desperately wanted him to attend. I'd like to say 'Mission accomplished, LeAnn.'

But I can't. The story of my efforts to help him ends here. It was a lost cause. What else could I do? I had overstepped my bounds by snooping on his phone and sending fake messages, I'd tried putting him in situations that would allow him to walk away from her, I had succeeded in making him irresistibly attractive. Hell, we almost had sex as a result of this little escapade! I had pushed it to the limits. And yet he continued, and would always continue, to slither back to her. I could recognize futility when it was staring me in the face.

So I began to drift off to sleep in my bed, book on my chest, a lump in my throat. Jake was out with the girl he loved on a very special night and I was foolish for feeling bitter. Tomorrow would be the day I began worrying about something other than my brother's love life. I had my own life to live and I was done with this pathetic rescue attempt. And that's exactly how this story would end except for the life-changing text message from Katy that aroused me from my slumber.

"I'm picking you up in five."

"Why?" I replied.

"Just be ready. Wear a bikini."

What the fuck? She was a little crazy. The last time I let Katy take me out without an explanation I woke up with a scorpion tattoo on my left thigh. Fortunately, it was a henna tattoo so I only had to live with it for a few weeks, but it was definitely a warning sign about putting too much trust in Katy.

"Ok," I replied, against my better judgment. I sighed and looked at the ceiling for a moment. Katy could be a lot of fun, but damn, she was unpredictable.

I threw on some short shorts and a spaghetti strap top over my pink bikini and pulled back my hair. She didn't tell me where we were going, so I figured I didn't need to prepare for a dinner date.

"This better be good," I warned as I fell into the passenger seat of her car. "Where are we going?"

"Trina's," she said matter-of-factly.

"What? Why?"

"You remember Dalton?"

"Yeah, of course. He's friends with Jake." Dalton was a total hottie. It started to become clear what Katy was up to.

"He's been texting me from prom all night," she said. "He and his buddy Brent went without dates."

"Lemme guess," I began with a fake condescending tone. "Dalton's gonna get himself a hot college girl tonight and his buddy needs a date too."

"They're both hot!" she sang melodically.

"Don't you think they're gay?"

"Not after what Dalton's been saying to me tonight."

"I don't chase high school boys," I declared.

"Don't be such a bump on a log," she chastised.

This wouldn't be the first time I played wingman for Katy. I didn't mind it so much, but I wish it wasn't going to be where I'd see Jake and Trina. I'd prefer not to have to watch them together. But her house was the ideal place for after prom, complete with heated pool and a huge pool house.

Cars lined the street outside Trina's house. Katy found a place to park two blocks away and we flip-flopped down the sidewalk toward the party on a warm late spring evening. As we approached the house, a girl came out, half running, tears streaming down her face. She barely acknowledged our presence as she pushed past us.

"Looks like a fun party," I observed, being a smartass.

"That was Scott's girlfriend," Katy said.

"Oh," I said, suddenly interested. "I guess the backslide didn't take. She was the reason Scott didn't take Trina to prom."

"Is that going to mean trouble for Jake?" Katy asked, concerned.

"Well, I guess we'll find out just how much of a shallow cunt Trina is."

"Easy, babe! Tell me how you really feel about her!"

Ooh, that was a little sharp. I didn't realize I'd said it out loud. "Sorry," I said. "I just don't want to see Jake's heart get broken."

"Pfft," she scolded. "Jake could have any girl in there!"

"Yeah, but he doesn't know that."

"God, maybe I should let him know," she said dreamily. "There's something about your brother lately, Lee."

"What about Dalton?"

"Oh, right," she said, shaking off a no-doubt naughty thought of my brother. "After you, Miss."

Katy held the gate for me and we walked around back toward the pool and the noise.

I immediately spotted Jake and Trina talking in a group of friends. Katy made a beeline for Dalton, and I followed her. I felt like a predator, cruising high school boys at an after prom, even if they were only a year or two younger than me. Brent was there and smiled when he saw me.

We engaged in some light chit chat while the boys filled us in on how lame prom had been. They were all standing around in their swim trunks and wet hair, looking extremely hot and most likely horny.

At one point I caught Jake's eye while he stood in his circle of friends. He gave me a puzzled look and shrugged his shoulders at me, as if to say, "What the hell are you doing here?"

I shrugged back, pointing to Katy. He had to know this wasn't my doing. He smiled and shook his head before rejoining the conversation. He had his street clothes on and I could tell he hadn't been in the pool.