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Jackson was very cool to me when I returned to the house, and Elena's eyebrows lifted when she saw he didn't rise to greet me. "What the hell happened?" she demanded. "Jackson's looking very much like a kicked puppy, and he's been all over Saffron and I."
I hesitated. I didn't want to tell her truth, so I settled for a half-truth instead. "We ... had a disagreement," I said. Elena's eyebrows lifted, but she said nothing more, and I settled on the mundane task of demolishing Mother's famous orange and poppyseed muffins. It wasn't a pleasant undertaking; Chaser was sulking in my head, and Jackson practically ignored me as he devoted all his attention to his mate and child, never once looking my way. It hurt even more when I saw the smug look in our parents' eyes, and I frowned. "Elena, did you and Saffron come straight back?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, puzzled. "Saffron was over the moon at the prospect of cartoons, and I knew you and Jackson wanted some time alone so you could hang out without your parents breathing down your necks."
I groaned and covered my face with my hands, and Chaser said something so rude it rattled my skull. Never had I wanted to strangle my parents more than I did at that moment; I'd been had.
The interlude of two years ago came back into my head, and I almost gasped as I came to a realisation; Mother and Father hadn't been able to reach us while we were underwater; it was on the surface where they'd busted us, and I recalled this afternoon's encounter, remembering how we'd been right by the lake. If I'd surrendered to Jackson whilst underwater with him, nothing would have broken the process, and I kicked myself for not taking advantage of the water's natural muffling properties. Despite my hurt, however, I felt some small smugness of my own creep in; Jackson wasn't as closed off to me as I'd been led to believe, and now that my parents had seemingly accomplished their goal, I felt their never-ending hypervigilance fray away, their task completed, at least on the surface. And there lay my one chance to make things right. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79WpWYViL9
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It was late, and though I was confident I wouldn't get busted, I still held my breath as I tiptoed past my parents' room. Nothing came from behind their closed door, however, and I combed through my mind again to make sure nothing remained of the smothering spell they'd used to try and break the fragile lovers' bond between Jackson and I. Nothing came to light, and Chaser silently affirmed my findings. She had sharper instincts than I, and if nothing was visible to her, it meant I was free. I just hoped Jackson had come to the same realisation as I.
Cicadas were singing lustily as I stepped out onto the deck, and I paused, breathing deeply. The air was still warm, and for just a moment, I caught the scent of cinnamon again. It faded, and I felt my heart sink, at least until Jackson's head broke the surface of the pool, and then it came back stronger than ever. The look on his face told me everything I needed to know, and without waiting to take my clothes off, I slipped into the water and swam to him. Words weren't necessary; his arms went around me as naturally and easily as though no rift had opened up between us, and all traces of that rift disappeared as we went underwater.
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We kissed until we ran out of air, only reluctantly coming to the surface for a deep breath before going under again. Another long kiss followed, and when we returned to the surface, we were both relieved to find no vengeful parents or angry mate waiting for us. "Thank heavens," I murmured.128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnzRloPGDiI
Jackson chuckled before kissing me again, his hands freely and shamelessly roaming my body underwater. "Seems about the perfect time to do something about this," he said, making sure I felt all of him as he pressed me against him. "Your bed or mine?"128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQUkzKmbsc
"Mine," I said, and Jackson kissed me once more, letting his lips and hands do the talking. We didn't need to submerge ourselves again, now that our bond had strengthened beyond the reach of anything our parents could do, but somehow, we ended up underwater again anyway, too entwined to care about silly little things like coming up for air once in a while.
