Page 25 of Won't Let Go
“Yes.”
“And for how long?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. That was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, and I’m here talkin’ to ya, aren’t I? So, it wasn’t forever, was it? I’m allowed to be pissed at you. What you did could have taken her from me. If she died, I would have hated you, but that’s not what happened.”Thanks to me, but I don’t say that aloud. It’s not constructive.
She sniffles like a broken little kid. “I’m sorry.”
“I know you are. But she’s mine, Mom. Not yours. She might be your best friend, but you know the deal,” I remind her, in case she forgot.
Mom huffs a watery laugh and wipes her eyes. Streaks of black mascara run and stain her cheeks. “I’ll never forget the day you told me. You were sixteen, standing in our living room.” She reaches out and pats my knee.
“And what did I say?”
“That she’s the only woman you’ll ever love.”
Exactly.
“And even if she’ll never want me, I’m okay with that. I’m here for her and Hunter. That’s it. I can love her for the rest of my life, and as long as she’s okay, that’s all that matters.”
“But what about you?” she asks.
I shrug. “What about me?” Nothing has ever been about me. Why should it start now?
“What if she doesn’t come around?” she whispers as if she doesn’t dare say it out loud.
“Mom, I’m not waiting for her to ‘come around,’” I air quote and scowl at her for even thinking I’d be waiting around forsomething like that in the first place. “I love her. Love is a choice. It’s a selfless act. If I end up with someone, or she does, that’s life. But that’s not gonna change my feelings, and I’m not gonna be any less happy for her. As long as it ain’t one of the brothers, then I’m good. ‘Cause I’ll slice a brother’s throat before he takes her for his old lady.”
From his bike, Blimp snorts.
I flip him off, and he grins.
“You’re pussy whipped,” he teases, blowing a cloud of smoke in the air.
“Says the man who rode his woman over in the middle of the night to talk to me,” I quip.
“Never said I wasn’t.”
Touché. “Good. ‘Cause Mom owns your balls.”
Blimp grips his cock and winks. “She owns everything, brother. She owns everything.”
Gross.
I pull a face to lighten the mood, and we share a collective laugh. I understand why my mom is worried. I’ve been in love with Jade since the first time I saw her in a tankini, swimming in her pool, wet, dark hair down her back, covered in tattoos, curvy in all the right places, and thick in all the others. Any red-blooded man with functioning eyes should want her. They’d be fools not to. But my attraction to her takes a backseat to everything else. My wants, my needs, none of that influences how I take care of her. Well, alright, maybe it does a little, subconsciously. But I’m not sittin’ here cooking, cleaning, dropping her off, and picking her up from work to get something out of it. That’s not the point. There is no endgame.
Mom and Blimp stay a bit longer, and we shoot the shit about easy stuff like me punching Viper out. The conversation doesn’t return to Jade, and for that I’m grateful. It’s almost two by the time they ride off down the street, and I return inside to hearJade screaming again. Only this time, things are different—my name is on her lips.
In a dead sprint, I race into Jade’s bedroom to find her thrashing again. Her lights are on, and she’s drenched in sweat. Her clothes are also off. I don’t know how, but she’s naked, on top of the covers. I don’t bother to wake her when I run to the living room and grab a throw blanket to cover her with, before I hop into the bed beside her. This time, I’m not quiet when she screams, spine arching off the bed, thrusting her chest into the air and out from under the blanket.
Her nipples are rosy. So pretty and damn…
I get hard.
I shouldn’t, but it’s Jade, and her tits are magnificent.
Ignoring my body's reaction, I peel the sticky mess of dark hair off her forehead as her face scrunches in pain.
