Page 9 of No Place Like Home

He didn’t say a word and walked out, showing me where the bathroom was. By the time we got to the kitchen, I wasn’t surprised to see it fully stocked.

“How long have you had this place?” I asked.

“I started building it in college before my father gave me the reins to my trust fund; that’s why it’s small.”

I nodded like this made sense. Then it dawned on me.

“Oh, geez,” I hissed.

He looked alarmed.

“This is the place you would bring your women!”

His non-answer was confirmation enough. I’d heard the stories mostly because Freya had a big mouth, and I knew he hated his ex-wife and only married her because of his father, so he was never faithful.

“Everything better be new,” I pointed a finger at him.

He cocked his head and smirked at me.

“It was time you came home, Jess,” he said as he started to head out the door.

“It’s not like you gave me an option.” I followed him.

He looked at me, then at the house, and smiled sadly at me.

“I was just the excuse you needed.” He kissed the top of my head.

That was the thing about Prescott. He could be an asshole, but he was also one of the best men I had ever met. And that made me feel very guilty because being home, I knew just how upset Jake, Blake, and Clark would be with me. And Mr. Carson too. Shit.

“Don’t forget what we talked about,” he said as he left the house.

I went back to the bed and lay next to Quinn. I watched as her chest rose and fell. I would watch her like that for hours just to make sure that even when she was sleeping, she was alright. My mind went back to what Prescott had said, and he had a point.

I had asked too much of him. To not tell anyone where I was. I’d put him in the middle of my relationship with Juliet. I’d put him in the middle of Quinn and her father. The one who was to blame was me, but he had allowed me room to breathe when I was so close to drowning, and I adored him for that.

And he was right. He was the excuse I needed, and I think he knew that too because he’d threatened me the last time we talked. I had been furious when he’d said he would release who Quinn’s father was to the media, and the reason I ran away was the same reason I came back.

Sleep didn't come. I lay there thinking of how it got to this point.

Now that Prescott had left, I got up and ran to the car really quickly. The black hoodie was in my hands, and I hated myself a little when I put it on.

Everything was so simple in the beginning.

Before Quincy Hardwell looked at me like I was a woman for the first time in his life. Those encounters and that summer had changed everything.

CHAPTERTHREE

Past

24yrs old

Days like today,I hated my job. I, Jess, was a kindergarten teacher, which I usually liked, but when one of my students threw up on another of my students, and then that student threw up – becausehello, gross – and my room became the pukefest of the year…yes, I hated my job.

I ran to open the windows. Spring had arrived early this year, and summer was a few months away, so the weather was perfect for clearing the rotten smell. All the little people in my room were in a state of panic. Chaos had erupted in my class. “Miss Jess, this” and “Miss Jess, that” kept ringing from every direction. I didn’t know where to look first.

My tiny humans were past confusing my name and calling me “Mommy,”but they never called me by my last name. I didn’t use it if I didn’t have to. I was Miss Jess, plain and simple.

“Miss Jess!” Irene called while crying.

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