Page 40 of Beneath the Midnight Sky
I decided all of these thoughts were better left for a time when my brain and body were better connected, and I wasn’t so tired. I turned, extending my legs out and leaning my back against Rowan’s chest. I felt him relax behind me as he grabbed some sort of fancy-smelling body wash and washed me from head to toe. I may have even fallen a bit in love as he gently washed my hair and then conditioned it for me.
When we were both cleaned from top to bottom. He got out first, putting on a pair of grey sweatpants that made me contemplate just how sore I was. When he came back, he helped me out and into a fluffy midnight blue towel.
“Go sit on the bed, angel,” he told me. I nodded and walked back out into the bedroom, which now had clean sheets on it. I sat down on the edge and watched as he came out, a brush and a smaller towel in hand. He sat behind me and slowly brushed out the knots in my hair, but before I could say anything else, dried it gently with the small towel and then was pulling and tugging it from behind me.
“What are you doing?” I asked hesitantly.
“Braiding,” he replied.
I was silent for a moment as I realized that’s exactly what he was doing. “What…how do you know how to do that?” I asked.
He let out a breathy laugh. “Not how you think, I’m sure, so get your mind out of that path line, little angel. When I was young and my dad passed away, Payton was only eight years old. Some days it was hard on Mom, losing the love of her life so suddenly. So, Oliver, Wyatt, and I did what we could to help her out. Somehow, we found out I was the most capable of a decent braid on the mornings when Mom needed help getting Payton ready for school and such. Especially the couple of years she danced.”
“What about Theo?” I asked, realizing he didn’t say anything about his youngest brother.
“Theo was his own handful, and sometimes it took all of Mom’s energy to get him together. He was ten when we lost Dad, so old enough to truly notice that life was different immediately, but still not fully old enough to grasp that he truly wasn’t coming back,” Rowan said, the pain clear in his voice.
“I’m sorry. I know losing a parent isn’t easy, no matter how old you are.”
I felt him tie off my braid in a small black hairband, and then he kissed my cheek. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Not much to talk about, honestly. I mean, you know already. I lost my dad at eighteen, but honestly, we weren’tever close. He was always closer to the bottle than me, so when he finally left, bottle still in hand, it was painful of course. But I think it was more painful being stuck with the ‘what-ifs’ of it all. What would life have been like if he hadn’t passed? Would he have gotten better? Would we have been close at all? Repaired our relationship? Instead, he was just…gone and all of those possibilities left with him in his casket.”
Rowan moved over beside me and took my hand in his. “What about your mom? Did you ever try to find her? Even after your dad passed?”
I shook my head. “She left, so what was the point? I’m sure she’s off somewhere living her life. I don’t want to interrupt whatever that may look like for her. I was in the same town on the same two-block radius for twenty-three years, and she never came back. Why go where I’m not wanted?”
He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed gently. “You’re wanted here, little angel. I know it isn’t the same and it doesn’t fill the hurt in your heart, but you’re wanted here.”
We cuddled up in Rowan's bed and talked for a while longer until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I fell asleep with his arms around me, and for the first time in what felt like forever, nightmares didn’t plague me.
19
THIS DOESN’T BODE WELL
Rowan
I’d droppedAspen off at her apartment twenty minutes ago and chuckled to myself as she tried to play it cool, as if I didn’t know what she had planned. This woman had no intention of coming back to my house to stay with me, and that was fine. I was easily adaptable. I already had a backup plan.
So, I’d dropped her off and headed to The Raven to see Damien.
Pulling up, I threw my truck into park and walked into the bar. It was midday on a Friday, so the place wasn’t busy. A couple of people were milling about, playing pool or having lunch. I pulled out a stool and sat down, tipping my chin when he saw me.
“Hey bro, what’s going on?” Damien asked.
“Two things. One, I need a beer, please. Two, I need a huge favor,” I told him.
He nodded, turning away to grab my beer first. When he came back and set it on the bar top in front of me, he smirked. “Put an order for a burger in for you too.”
“Appreciate it, but don’t spit in my burger when I ask for this favor,” I muttered and took a sip of my beer.
“Great. What unhinged shit am I about to get involved with for the new girl?” He groaned. I stared at him, brows raised, trying to swallow down the sudden surge of anger I felt toward a man who was like a brother to me. “Don’t look at me like that, bro. Oliver told me how bent out of shape you’ve been over this chick, so you can’t blame my mind for immediately going there. Now what’s up?” he asked.
I groaned and took another drink of my beer. “Well, I’m apparently bent out of shape, and I need a favor. A big one, as I’ve mentioned.” I cleared my throat. “I need you to kick Aspen out of her apartment. Doesn’t have to be permanent or anything. Just a couple of weeks. You can tell her there’s been a mouse infestation, and the exterminator said it’ll be about three weeks before it’s all cleared up.” I shrugged.
Damien stared at me from across the bar. “Rowan…have you lost your damn mind?”
I laughed—full-belly and chest-deep. “Dude, you have no fucking idea. Have you ever wanted someone so much that it literally brings you to your knees? You’d burn the whole goddamn world down if need be, just to have them?”
