I do as he asks, rolling to my back; my hand rests on his thigh when he settles in beside me. The warmth of the washcloth meets my center, and as he holds it there, my eyes move from his action to his face. Color rises on his cheekbones, subtle yet unmistakable. His throat works as he swallows a low groan. Whether it’s from me touching him or the nearness, it’s clearly leaving a mark on him. Every emotion he has is written all over him—desire, gratitude, and devotion. Locke is completely unguarded, and he only reveals himself like this when we’re alone.
It’s a gift among the best of gifts.
“Come on, Jade. Time to rise and shine. I’ve got work, as do you, and somewhere in between, I’m hitting the grocery store.” He looks to the ground, where our food from last night is still scattered in the boxes and on the floor. It’s been a marathon of sex, food, sleep, and more sex.
“I’ll clean this up. I don’t have to be at the bar till this afternoon, and you know as well as I do that your phone is about to light up with morning traffic picking up.” How Locke & Key survives with him being the only tow truck driver, and the occasional repossession moment when a friend of his is in a bind, I have no idea. I do know his mom and dad manage the day-to-day operations, answering calls, dispatching him where he’s needed, and dealing with the bookkeeping part of owning a business. Other than that, there’s nobody else. I asked if he ever thought about bringing in another driver to help him out. Heshrugged his shoulders, said he liked keeping it small, taxes are a bitch enough, then you gotta deal with an employee who will need time off, a pension plan, health insurance for not only the driver but also their family. He apparently weighed the pros and cons a while ago. Not only is he a hands-on kind of guy, but he’s also book smart.
“Thanks, sugar. I won’t be in the shower long.” He drops a kiss to the crown of my head, then he’s heading back to the bathroom. I snag a discarded shirt from the floor, slip it over my head, and add putting the clothes in separate piles to my list to at least start a load before I need to hit the road.
I make quick work of disposing the leftover salad, garlic knots, and pizza. We probably could have taken a break to put everything away instead of allowing all of this leftover food to go to waste. At the very least, he could have had leftovers for dinner instead of having to figure that out.
By the time I’m done, the trash is full, a load of darks is started in the washer and a light load is ready to be taken care of next. Then I tackle the dishes in the sink. Luckily, he has a dishwasher, unlike me, so it doesn’t take me much time. All that’s left is to wipe down the counters and straighten up the living area and foyer.
Locke’s home has a lived-in feel while still being comfy and cozy. The walls are painted in a deep cream color throughout, he has a cognac-colored leather couch, two oversized chairs that face a massive television, and rustic coffee and end tables complete the area. A rug of some sort would really pull it all together, along with some throw pillows. As it is, there’s a blanket strewn across, a couple of magazines open on the table, and a couple of cups that definitely need to be scrubbed.
“Sugar, get in the shower. I’ll finish this up.” Locke wraps his arms around me when I’m bent over to pick up a pair of rogue socks.
“That was fast.” I drop the items, spin on my heels, and face him.
“Not much to do when you’re not in there with me,” he says with a grunt. I loop my arms around his neck, liking his answer a whole heck of a lot.
“I’m not looking forward to work tonight,” I groan once Locke is cupping my cheeks, head slowly dipping.
“Gonna suck not having you in my bed. Good thing I’ll have you tomorrow night.”
“Yeah,” is the only response I can come up with before his mouth is on mine, and he’s planting a scorching-hot kiss on my lips, leaving me breathless yet again.
8
Jade
“Hey, Mom,” I greet, opening the door to my house. I didn’t bother checking the peep hole. There are only three people who show up to my place without notice: Locke, who’s currently at work saving a stranded customer on the side of the highway, Jace, who’s on a stint at work, where he has to oversee the steel mill plant from sun up to sundown—it’s more likely he’ll stay at his job, sleep in a room off the office in case an alarm goes off, notifying him of an equipment failure—and then there’s my mom, who’s currently standing in front of me.
“Hey, Jade, mind if I come inside?” My stomach sinks to my feet.
“Is something wrong?” I open the door wider and take a step back. While this place is small, I do have a small seating area, with two chairs and a table set up on the opposite side of my queen-size bed.
“No secrets. Remember, that’s our family deal. Now, I’m going to have to keep this a secret, too.” Those are the words she says the instant our asses touch the seats. The little girl inside of me wants to drop her gaze from her mirror image. But I don’t. She’s not admonishing me; she’s not even judging me, and maybe that makes it worse.
“How did you know?”
“Honey, you’re in his truck, you haven’t been at your house in days, and I know because I drove by. First, because I was getting coffee in town and thought I’d see if you wanted to join me. I found a new antique store.” Mom fiddles with the rings on her fingers. I know she misses the man she fell in love with, but he took a turn, went down the wrong path, and never looked back. His new family became the center of his attention, and we were discarded like yesterday’s trash. I also know she’s been on a few dates; but the moment a guy will start talking about a future, Mom backs off. I’ve yet to bring it to her attention and probably never will, even though I want nothing more than to see her happy.
“The second time I did it on purpose because my messages went unanswered, and while it’s not unusual for Jace to go silent, it is for you.” At that, my eyes divert. That would be because I put my phone on silent, left it in my purse, and didn’t dig it out all weekend. “Anyway, two plus two equals four. Please, tell your brother before he finds out from someone else.” She gets up, goes to my even smaller kitchen, digs around in the freezer, comes back with ice cubes, and trifles with the drawers until she says, “Aha, you need this. For your neck.” She hands me the wrapped ice cubes.
“Thanks. And we’re planning on talking to Jace. You know how that’s going to go. He’s going to say something to piss me off, then he’ll probably decide to beat Locke’s ass, which good luck with that. They’re an even match. I’m going to have to wade in, and my brother, whom I love dearly, is going to make me choose. It’ll be a choice he won’t like, and I hate it. God, Mom, do I hate it, but a life without Locke in it, I don’t want any part of it.” I swallow back the lump forming in my throat at the thought of how everything will undoubtedly go down. The visual alone causes a shiver to slide down my spine.
“You never know.” Mom sits down and wraps her fingers around mine, holding them tightly.
“Mom, you heard about the reason we’re currently at a stalemate. He still won’t apologize.”
“And you still won’t answer his calls and have only responded in texts. My god, I have two bull-headed children. I have no idea where they even came from.” She raises her face to the ceiling looking for guidance.
“Ah, Mom. Have you met yourself?” Even if Jace or I got an ounce of something from our dad, we never acknowledge it. Is it healthy? No. Does it help us feel better about the situation? Yes.
“I know, I know. Still, it doesn’t make me happy that my two children are at odds.” I’d reply with a snarky comment about him being a crazy overprotective older brother, except she’d get upset over the fact that in a sense, she asked Jace to always keep his eye on me. He did it without holding a grudge against watching his younger kid sister.
“I’ll talk to him, promise. It’ll be through a text because he’s working, and I need to before he talks to Colt.” I take a deep breath, still unsettled about the whole situation.
