Page 47 of Right Place, Right Time (Second Chances)
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kate
An hour later we’re lying on our sides in Jay’s bed again, my back to his front and his arms holding me tight. It feels so different from the last time we were in this position, less than 24 hours ago, yet I feel so safe and adored. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to fall asleep a different way.
“Tell me more about your family,” I ask, wanting to think about anything but Casey, and I feel his body stiffen in response.
Most of our conversations, verbal and written, have revolved around me and what’s going on in my life. My friends, my family, my problems. Very little has been about Jay. I know he has a brother, Mac, and I know both he and his brother don’t have contact with their parents, but I don’t know why. Judging by his silence, the lack of information he’s shared about his family has been intentional.
“You sure you want to talk about me? You went through a lot today. Don’t you want to talk about what happened?”
That’s the last thing I want to do. I’m aware bottling up my emotions isn’t healthy, but I’m not sure I’m ready to relive today’s events. From finding Casey to saying goodbye. I just can’t do it. Not tonight.
“No, I want to know more about you.”
“What do you want to know?” he asks after an awkward silence, the tension clear in his voice.
I’m about to tell him to tell me whatever he wants to, but then he wouldn’t tell me anything, and I feel like Ineedto know something. “Do you know where your parents are?”
He lets out a breath against my neck. “Last Mac heard they were living somewhere in West Columbia.”
“They’re still together?”
I feel rather than see him shrug his shoulders. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask, he didn’t tell.”
“When’s the last time you spoke to them?”
“When I was sixteen.”
“That’s when you went to live with Mac?”
“Yeah. They were both big into drugs then. The last night I saw them they were having a party in the trailer we rented. Someone called the cops. They got busted for drugs. Mac was getting ready to graduate from the police academy and had an apartment. I guess I got lucky that he wanted me so I didn’t end up in foster care.”
Granted, my parents were not going to win any parenting awards in their lifetimes, but I still couldn’t imagine not speaking to them for years. They’re my parents, and I love them, and I think, in their own way, they love me, too. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Jay, and even Mac, having parents who couldn’t have cared less about them. Parents who would put their kids’ lives in danger like that.
“Why wouldn’t he have wanted you?” I ask.
“He was twenty-two years old, what twenty-two year old guy wants to take in his worthless, little brother?”
“Mac,” I answer matter-of-factly. “And don’t call yourself worthless. You’re not worthless.”
“I grew up being told I was worthless every damn day. It’s kind of hard to not believe it.”
“Well, your parents are fools for thinking that. You’re worth something Jason Spencer. You’re worth a lot.”
He gets quiet, and I don’t think he’s going to say anything further on the subject, but then he surprises me by speaking again. “I never thanked him, you know? I was an ungrateful little shit most of the time, rebelling against every authority figure I could…maybe because I couldn’t take out my frustrations on my own parents. He put up with it and set me straight though.”
“And you turned into a pretty awesome guy despite it all.”
He lets out a mocking laugh. “Right.”
I roll over so I’m facing him, looking into his gray eyes. “You are an awesome guy, Jay. You’re decent and hardworking. You’re caring and smart and funny and sweet and sexy.”
The side of his mouth quirks up. “You think I’m sexy?”
I laugh, of course, that’s what he got from all that. “The sexiest.”
I lean in to give him a chaste kiss on the lips, but he doesn’t want any of that. He presses his lips against mine with such fervor that I can’t help but moan at the contact. He can’t hide his need for me…his want…he rolls us over so I’m on my back, and he’s on top of me, still kissing me deeply.
Kissing Jay is something else…like a magic that sends sparks flying throughout every part of my body. It’s the best therapy for the emotional and stressful day I’ve had.
We roll around his bed, making out like a couple teenagers for what seems like hours before finally falling into an exhausted and restful sleep.
Yep…not sure I’ll ever be able to fall asleep without this particular nightly ritual again.
