Page 51 of Surrender

“I don’t want to lie to you and say I’ll think about it because I probably won’t. My mind is made up. I’m staying in Fairview Valley.”

“Devon would be so disappointed in your decision.”

Well, he made decisions that disappointed me too. I swallow down the harsh retort and settle on another simple sorry. Sensing the conversation is going nowhere, she turns her attention to asking about the kids, and we hang up a few minutes later.

A tumultuous storm of emotions roars inside me. I busy myself with tidying up, checking the fridge for dinner options, and making a list of groceries to replace before we leave for our own place, hopefully soon. Then I set about tackling my mental to-do list, starting with Lucy’s pediatrician.

Followed immediately by the rental on Third Avenue.

14

Jack

I thought about calling Whitney when the Kramers checked out on Friday morning, but I slammed the phone down before I typed in the third digit of her phone number I stole from her reservation.

Hunter looked at me from the corner of his eye, probably adding the incident to the long list of my strange behavior, which started with me telling him I’d be covering the overnights for the foreseeable future.

On Saturday, I spent the majority of the day fixing a drainage issue in one of the rooms needed for the snowmobile racers coming tomorrow. After the shortage of guests during the blizzard, I couldn’t afford to send someone to another motel. Lee and I were able to solve the problem with no small amount of f-bombs and other colorful words, and it kept my mind occupied for most of the day.

But my grouchy mood is far from escaping the notice of my keen family. Bunch of fucking gossips that they are.

Mom said I knocked on her door too roughly when I arrived an hour ago for our Sunday family dinner. Jude called me out for showing up late in the first place, and just a few minutes ago, Aiden teased me about sulking in a chair.

I tilt back the cold beer in my hand, avoiding eye contact, and let them pick on me without my participation.

“What the fuck happened during that blizzard?” Aiden questions in a loud whisper to Lee.

“Language!” Mom snaps and shakes a potholder in his direction. If she’d thrown it, I might have been able to crack a smile.

“Will you shut up? I just haven’t been sleeping well.”

Jude’s eyes meet mine, an understanding sweeping between us. The assumption in his eyes isn’t fully wrong. My dreams have been a mix of childhood memories and new ones. Of darkness and belts and firelight and twisted sheets.

But deep down, the honest truth is I haven’t been this turned on in my life. Even now, just the thought of Whitney sends blood rushing south. A perpetual half-chub lying against my thigh. I feel like I’m fifteen again and just discovered the pleasures of jerking off.

Except it’s not my hand and a dark room that I want.

It’s golden hair and honey eyes. And a long list of things I can’t have. I’m not looking for picket fences. Just a couple of dozen orgasms with her beneath me would do.

I groan and rub my temple as my cock twitches. Bad timing, my dude.

“What’s wrong?” Cortney asks, flicking her sheet of dark hair over hershoulderwhere she sits on Sebastian’s lap. The polo-wearing prick brushes herhairfrom his shoulder like it personally offended him. I send him a glare.

“Headache.”

“I have the perfect cure.” Bree wanders into the room from the hallway where she was feeding Charlotte. “Can you hold her, Uncle Jack?”

I flick my gazeoverthe tiny sleeping bundle swaddled in her arms. “Since when am I the guy who holds the babies?” But despite myprotest, my arms reach for her and tuck her tight against my chest.

She’s lighter than Bennett.

Why in the fuck am I comparing the two?

“You’re so good with her.” Bree brushes her fingers against Charlotte’s fine baby hairs.

“You keep handing her to me, so I’m the only one who gets any practice.” I send a glare to Lee, Jude, and Aiden.

“Do you want me to take her?” Lee offers, a smirk tilting his lips. The bastard knows my answer.

---