Harper's Rules 1 & 2

Chapter 60: Jake

After Ellie's tirade on emotional shit, I sought out the one source of reasonable relationship among the twelve of us who lived in the house.

"I need help." I cornered Zach in the kitchen, where he stood and leaned against the counters next to Griff.

At eight pm, both held half-eaten bowls of cereal in their hands and wore the same post-workout T-shirts and sweats I did. Ordinarily I would've laughed at how Griff's bowl was three times larger or given them both shit for the sugary crap they slurped up. But today, I needed advice from the house's stable-relationship guy.

More like completely pussy-whipped but I'm desperate at this point.

"Tie her down," Griff answered with a smirk that suggested he knew more than I'd kept to myself.

The fact I'd been in that exact position two weekends ago surprisingly pulled a smile on my lips. Normally I blew off Griff's useless comments but indulged him, "Why?"

"So she'll stay." He shrugged. "Tie her down to a sofa for movie night."

The idea that I curled up on a sofa with Harper, my arm around her for a house movie night, paused my real question. Just as quickly, I shook that crazy idea out of my head.

"Fuck, even I know that's a bad idea." Jackson's head popped up from the fridge, where he took out a carton of eggs, a large block of cheese, and a container of yogurt. "Nevaeh would scream bloody murder if I tied her ass down."

"When doesn't she," Griff grumbled to himself, which earned him a chuckle from me and quiet snort from Zach.

"She sure does." Jackson ignored Griff's comment, flashed me a full mouth of white teeth, then turned his attention to the stove. "But I love that screamer."

"So..." Zach put his empty bowl in the sink and redirected his eyes to me. "Girl problems, Jake?"

"Is it that obvious?" I lifted my eyebrows at him but all three heads turned in my direction. Even Griff stopped eating, with his giant spoon hovered halfway up to his mouth.

Guess it is.

"Bro," Griff deadpanned and stuffed in his spoon. In between bites, he stated the obvious, "She arrived and left in pajamas."

"Do we not have any privacy?" I grumbled more to myself because the reason I needed Zach's help was how public his and Sophia's arguments were.

Unlike Jax and Nevaeh's scream fests that turned into broken furniture sex, Zach and Sophia's 'heated discussions' weren't as loud but they were the house's golden couple. With one tight swallow, I choked down my dignity and looked at Zach.

The second time's admission stung deeper, "Like I said, I need help."

"As someone who's also in a relationship..." Jackson turned away from the eggs he cracked into a fry pan on the stove and palmed his free hand onto his chest. "I'm offended you're not asking me."

Jackson and Nevaeh had been together the longest, since their freshman year. While they had more makeup sex than anyone I personally knew, I also hadn't ever seen Jackson actually apologize before.

Griff, Zach, and I exchanged a silent, 'Who's going to tell him?' look. When Griff and Zach's eyes both looked at me, one of my hands rubbed over the back of my neck. "Jax... Seriously? I need apology advice."

"Oh," his face returned to neutral. "Yeah, better ask Zach.."

At least he owns up to it.

Fortunately, Zach understood enough that he stacked his hands close together, then pulled them apart as he spoke. "Physical restraint aside, from a scale of 'just in case she might be pissed' to 'fucked beyond repair,' what are we dealing with here?"