Page 39 of Forever Mine

My breath hitched. Sure, he didn’t outright say he loved me, but that was the closest Jay had gotten to admitting it. It made me all swoony despite the circumstances.

Jay swayed on his feet, his eyes half closed. “Let’s go shower and get some sleep.” I told him quietly. “It’s been a really long night, and Dec wasn’t kidding that Mom will be showing up in a few hours. We can deal with everything else then.”

Jay sucked in his lip piercing. “Is it wrong to shower together at your brother’s place?”

I shook my head. “I hope not, because I can’t be apart from you right now.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Me either.”

I led him to the spare bedroom with his arms still wrapped around me.

CHAPTER 16

JAY

I wokeup to 70s rock music and the smell of bacon. My eyes fluttered open and I came face to face with Dakota, whose eyes were half open.

He groaned, “My mom is here.” I frowned, not sure how he could tell.

“The music. She always listens to this when she cooks.” His eyes closed again and he nuzzled into my chest.

I held him tighter as all the events from early this morning came rushing back. I was already irritated and exhausted when I left the factory. It had been a crappy shift and all I wanted was my bed and Dakota. Then I noticed a few of my coworkers hovering in the parking lot and taking pictures. When I got closer, I saw it was my truck. My completely destroyed truck.

I squeezed my eyes shut and breathed Dakota in. He didn’t smell quite right, since he’d used his brother’s shampoo, but I didn’t care. It was still Dakota. I couldn’t think about my truck right now. It was destroyed. I couldn’t afford to get it fixed. The first and only thing totally in my name, my lifeline for all those fuckin’ years, was gone. Just like that.

The pain was threatening to suck me under, but I had to push it aside. My truck was just a thing. There was a fuckin’ psychoafter my Dakota. Stalking him and threatening my family. That fucker had no idea what he had just done by threatening what was mine.

The music got louder, and Kota chuckled into my chest. “This was Ma’s MO growing up. If she thought we were sleeping too late the music would just gradually get louder, as would her singing, until we couldn’t ignore it anymore.”

I smiled at Kota’s affectionate tone. “Should we get up then?”

“Eh, soon. Just wanna hold you for a little longer.”

I kissed his head. “Sounds good to me.”

Like Kota said, eventually the music, and Shauna’s singing, got so loud that it was impossible to tune it out.

Groaning, Kota rolled away from me and out of the bed. “We’re coming, Ma! Jesus. Let us brush our teeth at least.”

The music immediately lowered. “Of course, honey. Hygiene is important.” Dakota rolled his eyes, and I snorted as I climbed out of the bed and we shuffled into the bathroom together.

A few minutes later, we walked into Declan’s main living area wearing borrowed clothes. I had gotten gym shorts and a t-shirt while Kota had gray sweats and a t-shirt. I guessed mine were because of my height, so I didn’t feel as ridiculous, which I appreciated. Though it did leave all my tats on display and I had to remind myself that Shauna legitimately didn’t seem to care about that.

Shauna had her back to us, humming in a much quieter tone to the music she had playing from her phone. She was flipping something in a pan. Declan sat at a table with bleary eyes from lack of sleep and the largest mug of coffee I’d ever seen. He up-nodded at us when we walked in.

Shauna turned her head and smiled at us. “Good morning, darlings. I see you’re finally up.”

Dakota grunted. “I wonder why that is,” he grumbled but still went over and kissed his mom on the cheek. “Morning, Ma.”

“Good morning.” She smiled at me, “Good morning Jay, there’s coffee on the counter.”

“Uh, thanks, Mrs. Kelly.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Please, call my Shauna. Or Mom.”

Yeah, I couldn’t do that last one. “Okay, Shauna.” She smiled softly, and I went to the coffee and started to fix up a mug for me and Dakota while he leaned over his mom to steal bacon from the pan.

She flicked the spatula in his direction. “None of that. I didn’t raise you to be a heathen. Go get your coffee and join your brother. We’ll eat and then we can talk. Your dad is on his way too. He just had something to take care of at the shop first.”

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