Page 77 of Love Finds Home

“If that’s what you need to tell yourself to get through the day, but you can tell Mom as far as I’m concerned, she died the same day I almost did.”

Ranger grabs my hand and pulls me away from the front door to Jeremy’s protests. He doesn’t stop until we’re up the back stairs and inside the studio. He turns around and pulls me into his arms and holds me tightly. He finally takes a deep breath when he’s wrapped around me. Like he needs me to breathe. To survive. To exist.

“Did that really just happen?” he whispers in my ear.

“Yeah, it did,” I whisper back, kissing his chest over his heart.

“I’m nothing more than a paycheck to them and I think that’s all I’ve ever been.”

I reach up and cup his face, pulling him down to look at me. “You are so much more than a paycheck. And if it makes you feel any better, I’ll never ask you for money, I swear on my bank account.”

He laughs humorlessly. “I hope I did the right thing.” The despair in his voice hurts my soul.

“What do you want to do, Jonathan?”

“I want to forget he ever walked through that door.”

“Then that’s what we do. But if you decide you do want to see your mom, I’ll be right there next to you, holding you up like you’ve been holding me.”

“Thank you.” He brushes a kiss on my cheek.

“I just don’t want you to wake up in fifteen years full of regret because you didn’t go. Regardless of how she treated you, she’s your mom. And that really sucks.”

He hugs me tighter, kissing the top of my head. “Does it make me a bad person if I say I don’t want to see her? Vanessa broke my body, Tink, but my mom? She broke my heart.”

I can’t help the tears that fall, and he’s quick to wipe them away with his thumb.

“Don’t cry for me, Elle.”

“I’m sorry. I know I was lucky. I had the best parents and family. It’s hard to imagine the pain they’ve caused you.”

“I came out alright. I made my own family, brothers who are closer than blood ever could be. And one of those brought you to me.”

“Jonathan,” I breathe out as he captures my lips with his.

I don’t know how long we stand there, holding each other. Long enough for Barbie to come up and let us know Ranger’s brother has left the town limits. Long enough for her to order a pizza and get it delivered. Long enough that she’s prying us apart so Ranger can eat before his afternoon client.

She informs us that she cancelled Joker coming in, and that he will catch up with us later. And she moms the fuck out of him, until the pain has receded from his eyes and a smile graces his face again. We eat pizza and joke until it’s time to get back to work.

But now I’ve got a new worry. How the fuck did his mom and brother know we were together? And who I am? This adds another layer to the worry cake I’m already dealing with. Does this become the icing or the cherry on top?

Fuck me.

Chapter 28

Ranger

Joker: Your mom isn’t sick.

Barbie must have filledJoker in on everything when she called to tell him what happened with Jeremy. While I figured he was full of shit, I never thought he’d outright lie. Waking up in Elle’s bed to Joker’s text has taken me back to all the memories of my childhood that I’ve tried so hard to forget. How could I expect my brother to behave any other way when he had our parents to raise him?

“What’s going through that sexy head of yours this morning?” Elle asks, rolling over and hiking her leg up over mine, covering me with her arm and her warmth. Her knee is getting awfully, wonderfully close to my dick, but I’m not sure if I’m in the mood right now to deal with morning wood. I’d love nothing more than to roll over and bury myself in her this morning, but the reality is, thoughts of my family are a complete turnoff.

“Nothing good. Bad memories,” I tell her, holding her to my side.

“Tell me. Get it out and cleanse yourself.”

“Does that really work?”

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