Page 50 of Stay with Me

“Don’t start,” he’d replied, opening his book. He was done with me.

I’d gone to bed not too long after that, resting my head on the pillow, my eyes trained to the bedroom door. I’d fallen asleep quickly and in the morning, Jax hadn’t made breakfast and had left pretty early on.

Being off Sunday, I got to chat with Teresa and that felt great. I missed her and Jase, and the way they were with each other. They were days away from leaving for the beach, and I knew Teresa was as excited as she was nervous. It was their first trip together as a couple. I’d never experienced that, but I could get why that would be nerve-racking.

“So, you’re really staying up there all summer?” Teresa asked, surprise causing her voice to pitch.

I nodded, like an idiot, since she couldn’t see me. “Yeah.”

“You’ve never talked about your family ...” Teresa’s voice trailed off, but what was left unsaid was obvious.

I’d never talked about my family for lots of reasons, so she had to be confused by my sudden willingness to spend time with said family, which in reality was nonexistent. “Thought I’d do something different this summer.”

“But you normally take classes,” she remarked, and I heard a door shut on her end, followed by a deep, male voice. Jase. Hottie-mc-hottie-Jase.

“Yeah, I know, but I’ve been bartending and making money—”

“Bartending? I didn’t know you knew how to bartend.”

I winced. “Well ...”

There was a scuffling over the phone and then “Hold on, Jase. Goodness, my lips will still be here in five seconds, as will the rest of my body.”

Oh dear. “Uh, I can let you go.”

“No.” Her response was immediate. “Jase can wait.” There was a husky chuckle, and my lips turned up at the corners. Then Teresa said, “I feel like my entire life has been a lie.”

“What?” I blinked as I’d peeked out the front window.

“You. Us. Our life together. There’s so much I don’t know about you.”

I laughed. “There’s not a lot to know.”

“You’re a bartender. I didn’t know that.” There was a pause. “When Jase and I get back from the beach, maybe we can come up and visit.”

My eyes widened. That hadn’t been a question, more like a statement, and I was sure that would be a bad idea, but it wasn’t like I could say no. That would’ve been rude, so I mumbled an okay and then we got off the phone since Jase apparently needed access to her mouth or other parts of her body.

I want to fuck you.

Oh man, I really needed to stop thinking about that.

I had five minutes to panic over the maybe visit from my friends at an undecided time in the future, before Uncle Clyde showed up randomly. I met him at the door.

“What’s on the list today, baby girl?” he asked, ambling into the house, wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jersey that even on his big frame seemed two sizes too big.

“Um ...” I’d looked around. Hadn’t known there was a list.

Clyde gave me a toothy grin. “First things first, baby girl. We got to check this house out, top to bottom, and make sure there ain’t any more junk in here.”

Oh.

That was an incredibly good idea. Clyde and I moseyed around the house most of Sunday. Moseying as in searching for more cubbyholes filled with drugs. It was a weird thing to do, but I loved having Clyde around and it was kind of a bonding moment. Like we were repeating history, in this together when it came to dealing with Mom. And Clyde and I had been the ones to deal with her most of my life. It was kind of sad, but it wasfamiliar,and right now,familiarfelt good.

We hadn’t found any more drugs, thank the Good Lord for that, and he’d ended up running to the store before it got dark and coming back with the goods to make tacos.

Tacos.

As Clyde had put the hamburger meat on the counter and found a frying pan in the cabinets, I stared at him from the doorway to the kitchen, my lips trembling and my hands pressed together against my chest.

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