Page 68 of Everlasting Love

“Shit,” Vi whispers.

“Yeah. And this afternoon, at the end of the game, he pushed a kid over for no good reason.”

“What do you think is going on with him?”

I shake my head and roll my head toward her. “Apart from hormones, I think he’s missing me. Hope asked me to give them some space but Evan seems to think I don’t care about them anymore. Which couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Her hand covers mine and my usual need to pull away from anyone’s touch isn’t there. I flip my hand over and link my fingers through hers. “It’s not my business, but where’s his dad?” My muscles tighten, and she has to feel the tension radiating from me. “Sorry. It’s not my business. Forget I asked,” she says quickly.

I rub my thumb over her knuckles. “It’s a fair question.” Am I ready to share? Vi’s always shared everything with me. She’s so fucking brave to be vulnerable and raw. Can I do the same? She squeezes my hand in quiet support. “His dad died in Syria.”

Her expression softens. “Oh, Shane. I’m so sorry.”

I take a moment to absorb her sympathy, something I don’t normally accept. “He was my best friend over there, and I promised him that if anything ever happened to him, I would take care of his wife and son. It’s what I’ve always tried to dosince returning home but Hope asked me to step back because she felt she was relying on me too much. She wants to stand on her own feet. Which is fine, but I made a promise.” I release Vi’s hand and scrub my hand through my hair, gripping the short strands in frustration.

“I can’t imagine how you feel about stepping back. You’re a fixer.” I scoff. “Youare,” she insists.

“Yeah, well, some things can’t ever be fixed.”

“I know,” she whispers as she rests her head on my shoulder. I wrap my arm around her, holding her close, and we sit in silence—our breathing barely audible over the soft music playing.

Something presseson my balls and my eyes snap open. I look up at the ceiling and then scan the surrounding area. It takes a moment to realize I’m still on the couch, and if the faint rays of sunlight streaming through the gaps around the curtains are anything to go by, it’s morning.

Huh, how about that.

A warm body presses at my side while a smaller one wriggles on my chest, and I look down. My lips stretch of their own accord at the sight. Vi is curled into my side, her face resting on top of her hand on my shoulder and her leg is thrown over both of mine. But she’s not the only one using my body as her personal pillow. Jasmine is curled up in a ball on my chest wrapped in her blanket.

I desperately need to take a leak but I don’t want to disturb the girls from their slumber and more importantly, I don’t want to break this moment—it feels too significant. I soak it all in. Their trust in me, the feeling of being surrounded by two peoplewho suddenly feel more important to me than anything else, and the sensation of hope blossoming in my chest that maybe I could have this on a permanent basis.

Stretching out my free arm, I check the time. Shit! It’s seven. I’m pretty sure they need to get up. Yesterday, they were already up and getting ready for work and school by this time. I shift my arm beneath Vi and skate my fingers along her hairline, gently pushing her hair away from her face. She’s so damn beautiful. Her eyelids flutter open slowly revealing sleepy oceanic irises. Her lips tip up slightly and she presses deeper into me like she isn’t quite aware of what she’s doing.

“Morning, Blue,” I murmur. “We fell asleep.”

She chuckles lightly, then her eyes drop from mine and land on her daughter. She instantly reaches for her little girl and strokes her back gently. “She must have come looking for me during the night. Sometimes she still crawls into bed with me.”

Vi shuffles her leg higher, collecting my morning wood. “Hmpf.” My body locks tight. It’s not like I can control it but I don’t want Jas to feel what’s going on.

“Sorry,” she apologizes and slides her leg off of me. “What time is it?”

“Just after seven.”

Her eyes widen and her body tenses against mine. “Shit! We need to get up.”

With her trapped between my body and the back of the couch, I need to get up first. I wrap my arms around Jas and use my core muscles to get into a sitting position, then climb to my feet. She stirs against my chest, her tangled hair hiding her face, so I brush it away. Her eyes flutter open, much the way her mother’s did, revealing her pretty blue eyes.

These girls are doing a number on me. I’ve been here less than three days and already we’re having sleepovers and wakingup together. I have no hope of staying here for one month and not coming out of this situation unscathed.

Jas snuggles into me so I tighten my hold on her as Vi climbs to her feet and stretches her arms up to reveal a smooth swathe of toned skin. And in that moment, I know down to my soul that I don’t want to come out of this unscathed.

“I’m just gonna run upstairs and have a quick shower.”

I nod and follow her upstairs to get Jasmine dressed for school. By the time my foot touches the top step, Jasmine’s fully awake and is smiling up at me. She wraps her little arms around my neck and lays a kiss on my bristly cheek. “You were sleeping on the couch with Mommy.”

“Yeah, we fell asleep.” We enter Jas’s bedroom, and I place her on her feet.

“Why?”

I grab her brush and start to carefully brush the tangles from her hair thinking about everything we talked about last night. Vi gave me the space to share some happy memories about Wyatt; something I haven’t done before. “We were talking and I guess we got tired.”

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