“We moved in last July, and the first week of November I brought Kinsey home, so not quite four months.” She pursed her lips. “I should have clued in during that time.”
“Clued into what?”
“We never had sex here. If he wasn’t getting it with me…”
“He was getting it somewhere.” A fucking cheater. “Wait, so this place isn’t christened?”
Her hand flew back into my stomach. “Four times in less than twenty-four hours and eight orgasms—you have to give me a small break. I’m not used to it.”
All of her weight had been in my arms, but I managed to squeeze two more out of her in the shower, topping the promised seven.
I slipped my fingers between hers and loved the sigh she let out as she leaned to rest her head against my arm.
“All the time you need.” I turned and pressed my lips to the top of her head. “I like your mom.”
“You definitely impressed her.”
“Good.”
“Can I ask you something about your mom?”
I stiffened but was determined not to close that part of my life off to her. It was a step in gaining her trust and if I wanted to be with her, she would know one day.
I nodded and swallowed hard. “Okay.”
“When you were upset that day with the coffee because your mom called, what happened?”
I squeezed her hand and lifted my leg onto the chaise, getting full contact with hers. The comfort was a must with the subject, and a momentary distraction when I noticed how much further my leg went past the end of her toes.
“That was my birth mom. She’s contacted me half a dozen times over the years.”
“Birth mom?”
I’d told Roe I was once in a situation like Kinsey, but she didn’t know the details of how or why. “My father had full custody since I was little.”
“How long had it been since you’d heard from her?”
“Eleven years this time.”
She ran her hand up and down my arm. “No wonder you were upset. That’s a long time.”
“She never told me why, but I also didn’t really give her the chance before I hung up.”
“When did she leave?”
“When I was five. Dad kicked her out after…” I closed my eyes to push back the image that was trying to surface.
Roe ran her fingers through my hair, and a groan left me as I leaned into her touch.
“After what?” she asked.
“She started out with opioids after a car accident on her way home from work when I was two. It quickly progressed, and she was always running after that high. I don’t have many memories of her, but the few I do have aren’t good. My dad has filled me in a lot.”
“What made him kick her out?”
I blew out a breath. The subject was difficult. I was so young, but that day scared me in ways I couldn’t voice.
“Do you remember after the elevator and how I said I don’t do well in ones that aren’t moving, just like you?” I asked.
She nodded. “You said it was horror, but not a movie.”
I adjusted my position and took hold of her other hand so I was holding both. “She chased that high all the way to a broken-down high-rise in a shady part of town. After she got what she needed, we got back into the elevator. It had barely moved when she was shooting up. Then the elevator violently rocked and came to an abrupt stop.”
I could still feel the shake, being thrown against the wall of the cab. The emptiness and the fear were overpowering.
“The light flickered and I was so scared, trapped in that small space. I was just a little boy needing his mother, and no matter how much I screamed and cried, it couldn’t pull the needle from her vein or the glassy look out of her eyes. Eventually my cries alerted someone, and the police were called.”
Roe lunged at me, swinging her leg across mine and straddling my hips. Her arms wrapped tightly around me, holding me close.
“Thane. Oh, my God, Thane.”
I held her with all my strength, using her to ground me, to remind me that while there were people like my mother in the world, there were also angels like Roe.
And that was what I saw when I looked at her. What would have happened to Kinsey if Roe hadn’t been so selfless and hadn’t taken her in? What would have happened if Kinsey’s mom ever had custody of her? Would she end up in situations like the ones that haunted my dreams, or something worse?
I lost track of time, but eventually the emotions subsided and I pulled back.
“Enough on me. Tell me more about Ryn.”
She ground her teeth together. “I feel for your dad. To love someone and watch them totally change, completely succumb to the high, hurting friends and family for their next fix. Trying to help them, spending so much time and energy only to have them leave rehab within days and sending your money down the drain. Waiting for that call from the police, whether it be jail or the morgue.”
The heaviness in her voice must have been made of stones that had piled high over years. I ran my hand up and down her back, soothing her as she did for me.
“Ryn got with the wrong crowd in high school. But her issues started before that. We knew a lot of kids who lost parents, but with Ryn, it was like she thought she was the only one. That only her father died that day. She barely remembered him, but still, she used him dying as an excuse for everything, and people let her get away with it.”
“You don’t like manipulators,” I said, remembering what she’d once told me.
She shook her head. “Ryn was a master manipulator even as a child. But like with your dad, a child was in danger and I had to cut her off. She’s only seen Kinsey a few times, and once she didn’t even notice she was in front of her. For Kinsey’s well-being, I can’t even with Ryn anymore.”
I nodded. We hadn’t talked much about that night, but despite her anger, I could tell Roe still cared about her sister. “It’s completely understandable. And I don’t want her anywhere near you. What she did was unforgivable.”
Roe nodded against my neck. “I just hope wherever she is, she’s okay and that she stays there.”
The air was heavy and thick, but also filled with comfort and peace. Neither of us moved. We simply held each other. After a while, a sigh left her.
She pulled back, and our eyes met. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”
It was the middle of the afternoon, but I knew my answer. “I’d stay forever if you’d let me.”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I’ve officially been your girlfriend for eight hours.”
“Has it been long enough to move on to the next step?”
“Unless that step is a blow job, the answer is no.”
“Well, in that case…” I grinned at her, then leaned forward to capture her lips with mine. “I’ll wait until I’ve proven my boyfriend status, but that doesn’t mean later I’m not going to try and get between these thighs.”
“Technically, you are between them.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why not?”
I bit down on her bottom lip and pulled. “Because I have no problem ripping them open and sinking you down on my dick.”
She popped up from my lap and was across the room, leaving me with my arms out reaching for her.