Don actually gets in the pool and swims closer. I squeeze my arms tighter around Lexi not wanting him to see her in her bathing suit.
"Wow, Jack! Insecure much? If you hold her any tighter she's not going to be able to breathe." He sucks swimming. I can tell by how he treads water that this isn't his natural environment. Don's not Special Forces, he's just ARMY. "Of course if I were you I would worry about another one slipping away from me too. Good thing I'm not you."
I re-adjust Lexi so I have a better grip on her. I could drown Don and still hold on to Lexi with one arm. She brushes up against me and I see her eyes grow round. She whispers right next to my ear. "Did you bring a gun in the pool?"
Well, shit! "No."
We both stare at one another for a few seconds before she's widening her eyes even more.
"Oh my God! Oh my God! Is that...your...?
"Hard? Yes, I'm hard." Not really how I wanted her to find out about what was going on with me but it can't be helped.
She tries to pull away from me but I hold her tightly to me. Now that she knows there's no use going back to hiding it.
"Stop, he'll think you're trying to get away from me."
She stops but her reply comes back hissed, "I am."
"It's biological. It doesn't mean anything." Fuck, she's acting like she caught me in bed with another woman or something. Most women would be flattered that a man is hard over them.
"There is nothing biological about getting hard just looking at her." Who the hell is she talking about? Is she really referring to herself in the third person? "That's something else, Jack."
"What? Who are you even talking about?" If she wants to use third person to distance what is happening between us then fine but she's going to have to tell me that is what she is doing.
She looks at me like I lost my fucking mind. "Bambi." What the fuck? "Seeing her and getting hard means more than just biology, Jack. It means you really, really like her, maybe even love her."
Her words make me loosen my grip on her. She could have kicked me in the body part causing all of this trouble and I wouldn't have been more confused and stricken. On the one hand, she thinks I'm getting hard for someone like Bambi and on the other, she might have hit too close to home talking about it being more than just biology. I've always been able to control my own body and its responses - until Lexi.
"We should talk to Jim about this so you can be free to peruse her."
I'm about to tell her how wrong she is, maybe even take her behind the little waterfall feature and show her when someone pulls her out of my arms. I tense up ready to fight but realize it's Evie who is pulling her away. She pulls her over to where she and Ana are splashing around in front of Ace. I look over at the door and spot Steve looking there too. She's the safest she is going to be and Don must come to that conclusion too because he's gone.
I swim back to the side of the pool to pull myself out and hide in my apartment until something makes sense again.
8
____________
Lexi
I can't help but look back as Jack swims over to Bambi and the two of them talk before both of them leave. I know this thing between us is fake but I can't help but feel sick to my stomach at the thought of coming between two people who love one another. It doesn't matter if I like Bambi or I don't, I don't want to be the other woman for any man.
I just keep feeling worse and worse until I find myself in Evie's room telling her how bad I feel. She listens but after I'm done she just tells me I'm wrong.
"In no universe is Jack in love with Bambi. I'm just not buying it and you shouldn't either."
Of course, I left the part out where he got hard just looking at her. Men get hard a lot and over stupid shit but it just felt like more when Jack was doing it. I don't think Jack is the type of man to let his body control him so the fact that he did tells me he loves her. The thought makes me sad and sick. I can only think that Jim didn't know. Maybe he didn't realize Bambi would be here when he told Jack to watch out for me. Or maybe Jack and Bambi have to keep it secret for some reason. Either way, thinking about it makes me want to throw up and I toss and turn all night not wanting to be in this situation.
First thing in the morning I hunt Jim down. I find him in front of the television and sit in a chair beside him. He appears to be watching a show documenting the history of tanks in warfare. I watch with him for a little while before I say anything.
"You didn't come down here to watch the Military History Channel with me, Lex. What's on your mind?"
"I think...I think we should maybe have someone else to be my babysitter. Jack hates this," I don't want to tell him that Jack is with someone if Jack is trying to keep it a secret, "and I don't to be the dead weight pulling someone down. Isn't there another way? Another person?"
Jim stays quiet for a long time. So long I start to wonder if he's going to talk to me about this. "I'm going to propose to your sister on the fourth of July, Lexi, and I want you to be there. She thinks that's the day we're going to tell everyone about the baby so she doesn't know, but if she did she would want the most important person to her to be there for her."
Wow, I feel so much. Happy for Libby and Jim, excited to have a brother-in-law, and really shitty that I brought up leaving when all of this first started. I give Jim a smile before getting up and hugging him hard, all thoughts of trying to get out of this thing with Jack long gone.