Chapter 31 Nice? Warm? Pleasant?

"Enough!" Percy suddenly exclaimed, standing to his feet and looking around the living room at all of us with that look we all knew not to mess with.

Percy was a tall, muscle thick, intimidating man. At least he was until he smiled. When he smiled his eyes sparkled with good humor and a zest for life that had sucked Archer in from the first moment they had met. Percy wasn't smiling now.

"You!" he said pointing at Archer then turning and pointing at Noah. "You!" Then he turned again to the other two. "And you and you! Just enough already. I swear to the heavens you four kill me. You know how to behave properly and you know this isn't it but for some reason when it comes to Jackson you four simply lose all sanity!"

No one said anything for a second. I watched as four grown men hung their heads in shame as Percy chastised them with nothing but the truth. My friends were wonderful. The best. But they took overprotectiveness to new heights. Today was no exception.

I felt Pierce stir beside me and turned to look up at him as he started to speak but suddenly Percy whipped his attention towards Pierce and he shut his mouth with a snap.

I didn't blame him.

"And you!" Percy scolded, now pointing that scary finger at Pierce. "You brought it on yourself! Never in my life!" Percy started fanning himself in agitation as he searched for what to say with regards to Pierce and his actions that night.

"Words simply fail me for your behavior. Yes," he said gesturing towards the guys who now sat quite docilely on the couch, enjoying Pierce being the center of Percy's ire instead of them. "They're insane, but at least they have a good reason. Jackson. But I can't for the life of me think of one good reason for your behavior!"

I barley moved, only enough to glance up at Pierce from the corner of my eyes. His expression was blank. I couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling. I could relate a little. I felt a little numb inside myself.

Pierce finally broke the silence.

"Even if I thought I had a good enough reason before, I know now I was wrong. There isn't a reason good enough that I can give to you that would justify my upsetting Jackson to the extent I did. If I could take it back I would but I can't. I can only apologize to him and to all of you."

Percy stood watching him as he talked and nodding his head in agreement with every word. He stared hard at Pierce, looking past the words to the sincerity behind them and I could tell after a few moments he was satisfied with what he saw.

Clapping his hands together to bring everyone's attention back to him Percy started talking again and I had to suppress a giggle as he started.

"Okay. To summarize. Pierce acted like a dick. He admitted that he acted like a dick and he apologized for acting like a dick. Correct?" he asked, glancing to each man sitting still quietly on the couches.

With sullen looks on three of the faces they reluctantly nodded. Archer was odd man out. He now seemed satisfied and was simply enjoying the show Percy was putting on.

"Okay good and Pierce," he continued, turning back to the man who stood stiffly beside me. "You're not going to act like a dick again, right?"

Pierce let a pause of silence pass by that had frowns returning back to the faces of my friends. I frowned slightly, too and looked up at him. He winked down at me and gave me that mischievous grin that did not bode well and I squeezed his hand in silent warning. He ignored me and looked back at Percy.

"I can assure you I won't be a dick again," he said with a long pause and then tipped his head towards me, "to Jackson."

The emphasis on my name and my name alone didn't go unnoticed. I should have known not to expect him to take things too passively. He just wasn't the type. I rolled my eyes at him and tried to regain ownership of my hand but Pierce wasn't having it, keeping hold of it tightly within his own.

I glanced hurriedly at my friends and saw what I expected. Noah, Mick, and Branson looked ticked but to my surprise, Archer and Percy were smiling satisfied smiles.

"That's all that's important," Archer said, speaking for the first time since Pierce and I entered the room.

The other three grumbled something but I couldn't make out what. At least they weren't being as confrontational as before so I would take it as a win. Percy had once again managed to handle these guys with an aplomb I found jaw dropping. He was the only person that I had ever met that could. Archer wasn't the only lucky guy in the room for having had Percy come into his life.

"Thank you," I mouthed to Percy now and he winked and gave me one of his sassy grins back in response. I could literally hear him in my mind saying, 'No problem, big boy.' But he, like me, stayed silent so as not to disturb the tenuous peace that had been established.

"With that I will take my leave," Pierce announced to the room at large, drawing all eyes in his direction, mine especially. "You guys obviously had this planned out and I don't want to interrupt."

"Maybe you should call first next time instead of just showing up unannounced," Branson drawled out sarcastically.

I saw Pierce's jaw tick once but his expression remained pleasant. "Good point," he acknowledged before adding with the subtlest of his own sarcasm. "My main thought was to get Jackson his wallet back to him as soon as I could, though as I didn't want him driving without his license."

I knew five sets of eyes landed on me like a bomb but I refused to look at any of them and instead kept my eyes glued to Pierce. If I had any doubt about what we would be talking about after Pierce left, I no longer needed to worry. They were going to want to know about that damn wallet and why Pierce could even be in the position to have it.

Retreat seemed the best play for me at the moment.

"I'll walk you out," I muttered and pulled Pierce along behind me only giving him time to say a cursory farewell.

Pierce walked quietly behind me back to my front door, I knew we were watched every step of the way which is why I remained silent until we had some much-needed privacy.

I felt entirely mixed up. I was a little peeved at Pierce but not angry. I was embarrassed and aggravated by my friends but I also felt protected and loved by every last one of them. I felt anxious about Pierce's reaction to the entire fiasco but so proud that he had owned up so completely to his mistakes. I felt confused and happy and apprehensive. The emotions, so many of them new, were making me feel dizzy.

Unable to voice the chaotic mess of my thoughts I just looked up at Pierce and waited for him to speak.

The sharp angular jaw was slightly softened by the look in his eyes and the slight tilt of his lips. A tenderness I didn't think him capable of was looking down at me, comforting and warm.

Gosh... I could look at him all day.

Brought up short by my last thought I strove to find my voice or else doing something that would later have me cringing.

"Thanks for apologizing to them despite them not making it easy on you."

"I didn't deserve easy. When I think back on how I acted then and knowing you now, I realize I deserved things a lot harder than they were," he murmured with a look of regret on his face that he had never shown me before.

I knew he had felt bad about how he acted and I knew he said there was a reason for it and that he would one day tell me that reason, but I hadn't seen then how truly sorry he felt. Letting the guys hammer at him like he had, someone as proud and dominant like him, it couldn't have been easy. That he had done so, for me no less, felt remarkable.

On impulse I stretched up and kissed his left jaw before pulling back to look at him. He had gone completely still, his eyes curious and searching. Emboldened I stretched back up and lay my lips along his right jawline and pulled back only this time I didn't look at him, instead I kissed his chin before stretching up just a little farther and lightly placed a kiss on his soft lips.

They were already slightly parted when they had opened in what I guess was surprise by my unprecedented action and with a boldness I knew would shock me latter I took advantage and lightly parted my own and kissed him a second time. A deeper kiss that could never be described as a peck.

My second kiss seemed to wake Pierce from his frozen state and galvanized him into full action. I felt Pierce bend down slightly so that he could wrap his powerful arms around my low back and waist and he pulled me up towards him as his mouth made even deeper contact with mine.

Kissing had never been something I ever gave much thought to until last night. It had been eye-opening and nice. It had felt warm and pleasant and had made me curious for the first time in my life. It had made me anticipate our next kiss.

Nothing I had imagined though could compare to what I was experiencing right now.

Nice?

Warm?

Pleasant?

I wanted to laugh and would have if I wasn't being literally sucked into a whole new world of sensation. My body must have been lying dormant all these years waiting for this man. I had had no idea such feelings or emotions existed.

Yes, I knew love and loyalty and friendship. I experienced all of these with my family and friends and had no idea anything was missing. Hadn't cared.

Now in this moment though I wondered how I had lived all these years without understanding. Even watching Percy and Archer, the depth of their feelings had eluded me. I'd seen but could not connect with their reality and figured it was just hormones that I blessedly had not been cursed with.

What a complete self-righteous moron I had been.

They had been the blessed ones.

Pierce's lips continued to move firmly on my own and I followed and mimicked and responded back with a growing confidence that made everything even more explosive. His tongue flicked out and touched my own and it felt oddly strange but in a good way that no words could really describe. I mimicked his gesture though following him blindly into this ever-growing paradise that had awakened in me.

My hands that had been splayed across his chest swept up and locked behind his neck so that he could pull me in even deeper and our mouths ground into each other with a fervor that was as much anticipated as it was unstoppable. He angled his head differently and I followed suit giving him better access.

I groaned in my throat and was shocked by the sound. My groan made him growl and the kiss became even more fervent if that were possible. For long moments we stood locked together in each other's arms sharing a kiss that was shaking the very foundations of the world I had existed in all these years.

Breathing heavily, Pierce slowly pulled back, ending the kiss but not the embrace. Pulling me in tightly so that my face was buried into the crook of his warm neck he held onto me strongly his breathing even more erratic than my own, and that was saying something.

His body along mine was tight with passion and I could feel his hard erection pulsing against my body. Only then did I realize that I was as hard as he was and I stiffened without thought, automatically shifting with hopes of hiding the tell-tale physical reaction.

Pierce unlocked his hands so that one hand could fall lower down on my back and hold me firmly in place, pushing my body into closer contact with his despite my embarrassment. I knew my discomfiture was stupid all things considered, but this was all so new to me.

Not knowing what else to do I just closed my eyes and held onto his neck tightly, gradually allowing myself to enjoy the passion by giving myself up to the moment and what that meant in its entirety.