Done (Harmony Haven #1)

Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

JESSE

It’d been another long week of finding balance between Max, work, and Easton. I still wasn’t ready to admit that Easton and I were dating, or in a relationship, but we sure the hell acted like it.

Every morning I had to remind myself how much I didn’t need to get any closer to him, but by noon, I’d be swooning over something he’d do, or say. We’d steal kisses throughout the day, he’d rub my feet while I worked on my laptop, and then make me lunch.

Most of the time, we were at my house with Max. They had started reading 96 Facts about Taylor Swift, and although Max had no idea who that was, he’d ooh and aah as Easton read with enthusiasm. “She had to pick the mantis pods off the trees before they were sold to customers.”

“Ohhhh,” Max would respond, then tell me to look.

By midweek, when Max was at school, Easton sent me an address and told me there was a hidden key under the mat. He also told me not to wear panties. I told myself I should have said no. That we had spent too much time being delusional.

But then I took my panties off and jumped into my car, following my GPS to his house and letting myself in. I found him in his bed, completely naked with his arms open for me to join him.

I ran across the wooden floor as I threw my clothes around the room, jumping into his arms and letting him cover me with his body. If he’d had suggested as much, I’d have stayed in his bed all day. Instead, he talked me into going outside.

Easton’s house was a lot like mine in terms of old and charming. But unlike mine, he didn’t have neighbors. It was completely silent and serene, not to mention private. So we made use of the fact that we could have sex outside and no one would even know.

It was lewd and dirty, but it made me feel young again. I had never been so impassioned with someone, that we couldn’t even manage to get inside before making love against the tree in his front yard. It showed me how much sexual passion I still possessed even though I considered myself nothing more than “just a mom.”

By Friday, we laid entwined in my bed, Easton’s hand running up and down my spine. Goosebumps continuously formed on my skin and I had a stupid smile on my face. No matter how many times I told myself to stop, I’d give myself one more day in his arms.

Easton was like a slot machine. The more I played, the more enticing he was. Just one more quarter, just one more time. There were even moments I was convinced I had a gambling addiction because of the risk, yet, I kept throwing quarters in and pulling the lever.

“Tell me more about your parents.” He kissed the top of my head and spoke softly. It was another moment I should have stopped, drawn a line, and suggested we not cross it. But the way he held me and kissed me made me want to tell him every detail of my entire life.

“Dad worked at one of those fancy buildings in Atlanta. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what he did, but it involved lots of numbers and angry phone calls.”

“Reminds me of my brother,” Easton snorted. “He makes a lot of money doing whatever it is he does, but it doesn’t interest me enough to pay attention when he talks.”

I laughed, suppressing the noise into his chest. “Exactly. I had no idea what he did, but he provided us with a good life.”

“What happened to him?”

“He had a heart attack, not long after my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Everyone said he died of a broken heart, but mom was still alive and fighting. I think the stress was just too much and his body succumbed. But that left me to take care of my mom alone.”

“That’s hard. Especially as an only child.”

“Yeah I mean, I was an adult, but no siblings, and neither of my parents had siblings. That left me with no aunts or uncles, no cousins. My grandparents passed away a long time ago so they weren’t around.”

“Were you and your mom close?”

“Oh yeah,” I sighed with a smile. “She was my best friend. Losing her nearly killed me, and if it hadn’t been for Max, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

Without him asking, I knew he wanted to know more, so I started tracing circles on his chest while I got the courage to tell him the whole story.

“Max’s dad, Clay, and I were dating for a while. We never lived together, he had wanted to. I ended up moving in with my mom after dad died, which pissed him off, but I had to take care of her. Still, we made it work between us. The same day I found out I was pregnant was the same day my mom fell from weakness and had to be admitted into the hospital. I truly needed Clay that night. I needed to tell him about my mom, about my pregnancy, and I needed a shoulder to cry on. But when I got to his apartment, he told me he didn’t want any of it. The drama, the baby, the responsibility.”

“What the fuck?” Easton tensed up beneath me, clearly considering getting in his truck to find Clay, but I patted his chest and he calmed down.

“I don’t need a hero,” I reminded him. “I thanked him for showing me who he really was, and I went back to my mom’s hospital room. She got better and we started making candles as a form of therapy. Which, as you know, I was able to turn into a pretty good business. About a year after Max was born, she succumbed to the disease and passed away.”

“And Clay never became a dad to Max?”

“I held onto hope that he’d come around and be a man in Max’s life. Now I’m glad he’s not. But not having him around has shown me how strong I can be. It’s what has built this wall I keep securely around my heart.”

“That thing is damn near impenetrable,” Easton huffed. “If I ever see him, I’m gonna kick his ass just for making it so hard for you to see that I’m not like him.”

“Oh Easton,” I sat up, looking down into his bright blue eyes. “You’re nothing like him and I know that. But that doesn’t change how much I feel the need to protect myself and my son.”

“I know,” he pushed my hair behind my ears, holding my cheeks gently. “But I’m gonna keep trying.”

“What about you?” I challenged him, while also trying to cool the fire his words had created inside of me. “Gonna tell me more about your parents?”

“Well,” he nodded, letting me rest back on his chest to listen to his story. “As you know, they died when I was much younger, and at the same time.”

My heart squeezed in pain, thinking of losing both parents at once was hard to comprehend. Especially for someone so young.

“Mom left a candle lit in the living room and went to bed. It would have been fine and burned out, but our cat was a night owl and got into shit all the time. That night, I heard something fall from upstairs in my bedroom, but I wasn’t sure what it was and I was too young and scared to go look. I just hoped no one was breaking into the house. Turns out, the cat had knocked the candle over and it fell to the carpet, lighting the fibers. I smelled the smoke, I heard my parents screaming, so I woke Miles up and told him we had to go. Damn kid was a heavy sleeper and barely moved.”

“Oh my God,” I breathed, realizing how his story was going to end.

“I could hear the sirens in the distance and I picked Miles up, opening the door right as my dad made it to us. He took Miles from my arms and told me to run outside, that he was right behind me. But I could hear my mom in the distance looking for West.” He paused for a moment and I heard him take a deep breath. “West was a couple years older and had his own room, so I figured mom was getting him while dad got Miles and me.”

“But she wasn’t?”

“No,” he swallowed. “West wasn’t home. He had snuck out to hang out with a girl, but mom and dad didn’t know that so they were searching the house for him. Eventually I ran outside just as the fire department was pulling in and dad set Miles next to me. Then he ran back in yelling that he had to get my mom out, and that he had to find West. Miles and I hadn’t known West wasn’t home or we’d have said so. I thought West was in the house, too. So I picked Miles back up and took him to the first officer on the scene. He was an old friend, Officer Ellison…”

He gave me a second to let the name sink in and then I gasped, sitting up and letting the sheet fall from my chest. “Mr. Ellison? Ms. Ellison’s husband?”

“The one and the same.” His hand moved up, his fingers gently skimming the skin on my side, getting lost in the effects he had on my body while I was too stunned to speak. “He passed years later, but he was the reason Miles became a police officer.”

“And you became a firefighter?”

“We both wanted to serve in the community that saved us and helped raise us after mom and dad were gone.”

“So they never made it from the fire?” My voice was soft, so scared of his answer even though I already knew what he was going to say.

“They just kept looking for West. Firefighters weren’t able to pull them away from trying to find their son and eventually, the smoke was too much and the structure collapsed.”

My breathing was erratic, still sitting and looking down into his lost eyes as he re-lived that moment. It was a peek into what made him tick and why he and his younger brother chose the paths they had.

“Grams and Gramps are my dad’s parents. They lived near us and immediately took us in, raised us along with everyone else in town. We were three wild boys that got into trouble and caused a ruckus wherever we went. But we never lacked for love and compassion. We were disciplined by whoever caught us fucking up, and Gramps made sure we always learned a lesson in everything.”

“What about West? How did he—” I cut my question off, realizing that it may have been too personal. It wasn’t lost on me that had he been home, had he not snuck out, the outcome would have been different for their family. I wondered how much of their story defined who he was now.

“I don’t really know. West is strong, quiet, and looks out for us. But he’s never talked to me about how he survived. In my eyes, he just kept moving forward.”

As I silently processed the story, Easton’s hands roamed over my body, pressing harder and dipping lower. It was clear that we were done talking. Now that our pasts had been shared and re-lived, it was time to fix each other. It was time to get lost, back in the space we had somehow carved into our lives for each other.