Chapter 18 Under Your Skin

"I don't know where to start," I finally confessed after a few moments.

"Hmm," Archer hummed, the vibrations strangely comforting. "Okay. Answer one of these; Who? What? When? How? Or why?"

I twisted my lips. That had definitely made it easier. It had also made it harder. Taking a deep breath, I jumped in with both feet despite toe dipping being my usual preference when testing waters.

"Pierce," I murmured.

There was a brief pause before Archer started nodding his head as if he had expected my response.

I waited quietly for the exclamation. I expected a reading of the Pierce Lucciano warning label. I expected the yellow caution flag along with a bunch of spewed foul language that would have made Pierce angry considering his aversion to cussing. But I didn't get any of that.

To my surprise, Archer just kept nodding and said, "I thought it might be because of him."

I glanced up sideways.

"How?"

"You weren't obvious the other day Jackson, but you defended him to us. You were uncomfortable but you risked pissing one of us off and I knew it wasn't all because he had taken care of Cissero."

I nodded. I also remembered the other thing he had said to me as he left that day.

"So, um... I might be gay," I murmured.

Archer shrugged which completely surprised me. I had expected a stronger reaction.

I sat up and turned to look at him to gauge his expression. Archer tended to be a-what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person. I wanted to see.

He wiggled his brows at me and smiled. I cocked my head in question. So far nothing about this conversation was going as I had expected.

"You might be," he acknowledged. "I take it that is you confirming to me that you are physically attracted to Pierce?"

I gave little nods of my head in response and flushed.

Now this part was going a bit more like I had expected.

"I... he..." I hesitated over what to say. I wasn't quite sure how to express the feelings I felt with Pierce.

Archer smiled and pushed me back so that I once again sat back into his body with his arm around me. This time I was able to relax more and I leaned my head onto his shoulder, finding the thickness of muscle and tendon surprisingly comfortable.

"You physically respond to him," Archer stated.

I nodded.

"Since the first night," I admitted quietly. "I get this weird electrical like feeling. It makes me shiver. Sometimes it's a light feeling and sometimes it's stronger. It... he makes," I hesitated before finally whispering, "me tingle."

Archer chuckled but I didn't feel like he was laughing at me. I felt like he was completely understanding me as if he could relate.

"I take it you understand what I'm talking about?" I ask.

Archer chuckled even more. "I haven't stopped feeling tingly since I met Percy. I know exactly what you mean Jackson. Exactly."

I felt him glance down at me before lifting his head to stare off.

"It was scary for me, Jackson. I mean, I had been attracted to other people and even had a few lovers but nothing and no one had ever made me feel like that before. It's a bit overwhelming."

I nodded my head with a bit of vigor, making Archer laugh yet again.

"And you felt like this even that night?"

I sighed.

"Yes," I grudgingly admitted. "But I didn't want anything to do with him then. He scared me to be honest and I didn't like how he was mocking us or what he was insinuating."

"Me neither," Archer replied grimly.

"I know," I responded patting Archer's arm trying to ease the memory. "If it helps, that is why he came here Saturday, he finally told me. He came to apologize."

"Big of him," Archer muttered and I couldn't help it, I giggled.

I expected Archer's reaction. No matter how much he wanted to be supportive, I knew he wouldn't jump on the I-forgive-Pierce bandwagon very quickly. I understood.

I didn't expect though, Archer to whip around and look at me so funny, his finger pointing in my face.

"See? There! You are freaking giggling Jackson, giggling!"

I lay my fingers over my mouth in embarrassment but Archer quickly snatched my hand away.

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant! I love hearing it! It's a wonderful sound. I'm just not used to it! You usually just curve your lips. Your eyes never shine. No real sound escapes. But tonight, your eyes were almost a chestnut brown with golden highlights and the music that is your giggle is a pleasure to listen to. It curls my heart and makes me want to laugh, too. But it's new for you Jackson. Spectacularly wonderfully new!"

Silence reined before Archer suddenly spoke back up in sudden realization.

"And you're telling me I have that asshole to thank for this change in you?" he growled looking a little annoyed.

I smiled. I understood his frustration. Having spent time with Pierce I was no stranger to the feeling. But it didn't change the facts. It was because of Pierce. And if Archer was thankful for the change then it was Pierce he needed to thank.

I nodded.

"Has he touched you?" Archer suddenly asked and I stiffened a bit.

He wrapped his arm a bit snugger around me and I slowly relaxed. The conversation was just a bit awkward. It wasn't like Pierce and I had done anything. Anything at all for that matter but I knew Archer wasn't asking for intimate details. He wanted to know how comfortable around Pierce I really was. The answer to this question would pretty much say everything.

"A few times," I admitted.

I explained about when I fainted and how I woke up in the car in between his legs laying back against him. I told him about how he had shaken my hand but how it had felt, not the hand shake itself. There had also been the time he had held my wrist and I even admitted to the strange lingering time freeze that had taken place between us in my home that Saturday night before Cissero had interrupted us.

"That's a lot for only a week," Archer pointed out.

I nodded and was surprised to realize it had only been a week. It felt like a lot longer.

"You never stiffen around him?" Archer queried somewhat in disbelief.

I rolled my eyes even though he could not see me.

"I stiffen all the time!" I groaned. "I stiffen and stutter, and get tongue tied. I blush and flush and practically vibrate sometimes," I confessed in a rush. "I also get so aggravated I cuss or I snap and even then, I stutter when I talk most times. He... he..."

"Gets under your skin?" Archer finished for me.

I thought about how my body reacted and the tingles I couldn't often suppress. Every time Pierce was in the vicinity of me my nerves stood at attention.

"Yeah. You could definitely say that," I admitted on a sigh.

"Have you gone out with him? I know you guys had a meeting this week. How did that go?"

I thought about how to answer and decided to answer the questions out of order. I told him about the meeting and then how Pierce had asked me to have lunch with him. I explained that I had agreed under the condition Pierce answer my two questions. That had pleased Archer completely and the next three minutes were spent with him hugging me in excitement for taking care of myself.

I grinned.

Once Archer had calmed down, I went back to my story. I told him Pierce's two answers to my questions and though Archer was happy with the first answer he looked skeptical about the second half-answer. But he didn't say anything and let me continue talking. I did hear him mumble something about tarring and Pierce, but I didn't ask him to repeat himself. I figured I got the gist.

I told him about before lunch going downstairs and getting overwhelmed with the bodyguards and having the realization that Pierce was who he was. He had looked pleased when I told him how Pierce had responded to my flare of anxiety.

Lunch I explained, had been easier than I anticipated. That I had laughed and even teased Pierce. I confided what Pierce had said about me being 'far from average' and how I had suddenly realized that Pierce was attracted to me and how that made me feel.

"Wow, Jackson," Archer exclaimed in awe before he frowned.

"But damnit, all that happened to you this week and I'm just learning about it. We've been friends for all these years and nothing. You wait until the busiest week of my life to go through the most momentous of yours. You have terrible timing!" he pouted.

I chuckled again and only half froze as Archer hugged me in return.

"I'm still not used to that sound. You're probably going to have to get used to me hugging you for a while cause that is all I want to do when I hear it!" he confessed with a smile in his voice.

After a few more moments of comfortable silence Archer asked another question but this one made me frown as it made me recall Pierce's phone call. I still had not figured that one out.

"When are you seeing him again?"

I sat up and turned to face Archer. I told him about the phone call and his asking me out. I also hung my head and told him how he had reacted and when I had had to tell him no both times.

Archer gave it some thought before responding.

"First, I'm going to have to say he needs to work on his manners. And he definitely has to stop making assumptions."

I nodded in response, my head still hung, my eyes on my hands clasped in my lap.

"Second, and I might be going out on a limb, but I think he's jealous."

I snapped my head up at that. I couldn't imagine Pierce being jealous of anyone and definitely not over me.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

Archer pursed his lips and wrinkled his nose a he gave an exaggerated shrug of his shoulders.

"It's the only thing that makes sense to explain his anger."

"I don't know. He seems kind of like that a lot," I muttered thinking back to all the times he had been snappy with me, starting from the first night.

Archer smiled but didn't comment.

"How about you don't worry about it. Just see where things lead. If they lead... though I have a feeling they will."

I looked at him.

"You do?"

"Yeah, Jackson. I do. I think because of him and I know because of you. You're curious. Something new is happening to you. You owe it to yourself to find out what it is."

I bit my bottom lip as I pondered his words. He was saying in essence how I felt. I was surprised too. I had expected Archer to be completely closed off since it was Pierce. I said as much.

Archer laughed. It was a loud laugh that held humor and a warning. It didn't bode well for Pierce if he failed to be anything less than a gentleman with me. Archer's words confirmed my suspicions.

"I'm open minded for you. You're not an idiot and you're not a child despite how we might treat you sometimes. You've never been interested in any kind of relationship before so Pierce's approach to you last Friday night wasn't okay with us. It wouldn't have been okay even if it had been Noah or Mick or Branson. But it was you so that made it doubly worse," he explained.

"But now you are interested. And as much as I am skeptical of him, I have every faith in you. So..." he added with a harsh gleam in his eyes as he looked down at me. "He's on probation as far as I am concerned. He needs to tread lightly and treat you well or he'll be meeting all of us and bodyguards or no bodyguards he'll being needing first aid when we're done with him."

I knew Archer was only articulating the threat to show the degree of his support for me. It warmed me just as the talk had.

Sharing hadn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. Discussing Pierce with Archer had even been helpful in a way. Archer had validated my feelings, offered advice, shared his own similar life situations, and literally offered his shoulder in support.

Despite some of the awkwardness I felt while sharing, it had also felt kind of good. Though it was a struggle, there now lay before me a possibility, I hadn't considered, one that I had always shunned. It kind of felt like something I could get used to.