Page 156 of A Dirty Business
I needed to touch her.
My hand grazed her face, and she sucked in her breath, but she didn’t push me away. She stepped toward me, opening those eyes, and I saw the pain. I saw the plea, too, and that was all I needed.
I moved in as she was reaching for me.
I needed her, but she needed me just as much.
We were both addicted.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
JESS
Six in the morning and I couldn’t sleep.
The sun was peeking through the curtain in my bedroom. My old bedroom. I had softball trophies on a shelf. A few basketball ones. Volleyball. You name it, I played it. And my sports teams’ photos. They’d been framed and hung on the wall, along with some pictures of my friends and me.
Trace rolled over in bed, his arm coming down to rest on my waist, and he moved in, kissing my shoulder. “You okay?”
No. Yes.
I put my hand on his and entwined our fingers. “I have no idea.”
He tensed, raising his head. Studying me.
“Hey.” He lifted himself so he was resting on his side, looking down on me, and I rolled my head on my pillow, taking him in. His hand, still with mine, flattened on my stomach. I shifted my hand so his palm was on my tummy while my fingers were still locked with his.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
I reached over, grabbed my phone, and showed him the text. “I got this an hour ago.”
Bear:Your mom is coming home today. She’d like to see you. Maybe come around the house tonight?
“He doesn’t know you’re already here?”
I shrugged, lifting my shoulder up on the bed. “I’m guessing not. Not surprised. This place wasn’t being taken care of by anyone.”
He gave me the phone back, his palm beginning to rub over my stomach. “She’s your mother. She went through months of treatment. For someone to stay that long, that means she chose to stay. I think it’ll be fine.”
He didn’t know my mother. “She hates me, and I don’t know why. Unless she really is mad that I went into law enforcement and Isaac is in prison, if she blames me for that.”
“It’ll be fine.”
“How do you know? I mean, really. How do you know that? You don’t. You have no idea if it’ll be okay or not.” I needed to move. “I’m sorry. I’m just on edge.”
I needed to be busy. Do something. I couldn’t sit here and dwell.
I couldn’t sit here andfeel.
I pushed up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.
Trace sat up with me. “What are you doing?”
I shook my head, standing. I grabbed for a sweater and pulled it on. “I have no idea. Shower? Then coffee? Then I’m going to clean every damn room in this house until they show up, I guess.”
I padded barefoot to the bathroom, pulling the curtain back and starting the water.
I couldn’t wait for it to get warm.
