Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card (Jessie and Luke)

MADE IT LUKE

Darkness pressed against my eyes, heavy and endless, until the weight began to lift, and something soft surrounded me

instead. Pillows.

I was face down in them, my cheek crushed into their warmth, the familiar scent of clean sheets and faint coffee wrapping around me.

I blinked, my vision blurry and sluggish, as I tried to lift my head. But my body felt like lead, and my arms refused to cooperate. I let out a groan and sank back into the pillows.

Then I felt it. Gentle fingers threading through my hair, soothing and rhythmic, grounding me.

"Jess?" I murmured, my voice muffled against the fabric.

She was there, half-

sitting beside me with a mug of coffee cradled in one hand. Her other hand moved through my hair, brushing back the damp strands that clung to my forehead. She didn't say anything, just kept looking at me with those. impossibly bright eyes, a soft smile playing on her lips I blinked again, trying to shake the fog in my head, but it didn't help. "I think I fell off the boat," I muttered into the pillow.

Jess nodded, her smile widening just a little. "You did, babe."

Her voice was calm, warm-so damn Jess. It sent a pang 0.00%

III

MADE IT

1298 Vouchers

through my chest, so sharp it stole my breath.

I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat growing. "Fuck." My voice cracked, and I closed my eyes, trying to stop myself from becoming one big fucking blubbering mess. "I wanted to get off that island so bad. I wasn't thinking. I was making stupid decisions, and I didn't fucking think it through."

Her fingers never faltered, never stopped moving through my hair.

"And now..." My voice broke completely as I buried my face deeper into the pillow. "Now, I probably won't get to see you ever again. I'm so sorry, babe. I'm so sorry."

The tears came before I could stop them, hot and choking ast they soaked into the pillow beneath me. My chest heaved with the force of my sobs, but Jess didn't speak, didn't pull away. She just kept stroking her fingers through my hair, gentle and steady, like it was the on Eventually, I forced myself to look up, my vision swimming. "Jess?"

Her face was still there, still soft and smiling, but it was different now. Fading, like smoke caught in a breeze.

"Jess!" Panic surged through me, and I tried to sit up to reach for her, but it was like something was holding me down. My arms wouldn't move, and the harder I fought, the heavier my body became.

I tried harder to fight against it, but the more I moved, the harder I was being forced down.

MADE IT

She shook her head, still smiling, and her lips moved, forming words I couldn't understand. The sound of her voice was unfamiliar now. It wasn't Jess.

"Jess, please!" My voice was desperate, raw, as I strained against whatever was holding me. "Say something-anything. Please tell me you're okay."

Her smile softened, her eyes shimmering with something I couldn't name. Then, as her voice whispered through the air again, I caught one word, clear and distinct amidst the blur of everything else: "It's okay."

The words wrapped around me like a lifeline, pulling me back even as her face faded completely into the void. What was okay... was it okay to let go? Was I dying at the bottom of the fucking ocean? And then, like a sharp blade slicing through the dream, there was pain.

My chest burned, my throat screamed, and the next breath I took tasted like salt and fire. My eyes flew open, the dream. shattering as I was ripped back into reality.

Harsh fluorescent lights glared down at me, and voices swirled around in a cacophony of sound couldn't make sense of. My body was cold and wet, trembling violently beneath a scratchy blanket. Someone leaned over me, their face swimming into focus-a woman, dark-haired and wearing scrubs. Her voice was urgent, and I struggled to understand her words. 60.51%

MADE I

1280

"You are in the hospital," she said, her accent thick but her tone firm, like she needed me to grasp this. "In Indonesia. You are safe now." Indonesia.

Her words settled in my chest, heavy and unreal. I blinked slowly, the memory of Jess still vivid in my mind, her touch still ghosting through my hair. Safe.

But Jess wasn't here.

She wasn't real.