Page 56 of Fierce Betrayal (L.A. Ruthless 3)

“No guest of mine washes up after their supper,” she says as she slaps my hand away. “Well, at least not on their first night here.” She winks at me and I laugh.

“Come on. I’ll give you the tour,” Jax says before he finishes off the last of his beer.

I place my bottle on the counter and follow him outside. We walk through the huge yard at the front toward the stables.

“So you grew up here?” I ask.

“Yup. Until I was thirteen.”

“Why did you leave?”

He frowns and sucks on his lip.

“I’m sorry. If you’d rather I didn’t know, that’s fine.”

“It’s not that.” He shakes his head and sits down on a wooden bench.

I sit beside him. “What then?”

“I just don’t talk about it much. It hurts, you know?”

“Yep,” I agree.

“Of course you know,” he says with a soft sigh. “Being a kid sucks, right?”

“Depends,” I say. “I hope Matthias never thinks so.”

“He won’t. Because you’re an amazing mom.”

“Thank you,” I lean back on the bench and watch the sun setting over the fields. “It’s beautiful here.”

“It sure is,” he agrees. “You see that huge oak?”

“Yeah?”

He laughs. “I had my first kiss under that tree.”

“You did? With Shannon by any chance?”

“No, with Amy-Lou Wainwright.”

“Amy-Lou?” I arch an eyebrow at him.

“She had long auburn pigtails.” He shakes his head. “And the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

“Where is she now?”

“I have no idea. Probably married with a dozen kids.”

“Was she just your first kiss?” I bump my shoulder against his.

“Jesus, yes! I just told you I left when I was thirteen.”

“Okay. Some people have sex that early.”

He frowns at me. “Did you?”

A memory of my thirteenth birthday almost steals the breath from my lungs. I jump up from seat. “When you said you were showing me around, I thought you meant the horses and such. Not where you and Amy-Lou got your freak on.”

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