Page 64 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘I’d like to know what your plan will be to get him to work less,’ he laughed. I nodded at his comment; even I couldn't plan that.

As I walked into the house, I noticed the small changes that were made. Taking my time, going through room by room. Drew brought my carry-on bag in, then left me alone to walk through the house, which I appreciated. How many times I wished I could have just come home, but knowing what Breton and I were doing mattered kept me grounded.

‘I’m going to shower,’ I announced when I walked back into the kitchen to collect my bags.

‘Oh,’ he said surprised, taking a dish out of the microwave.

‘But I can eat first,’ I smiled and walked towards the island in the middle of the kitchen, taking a seat.

‘I think your housekeeper made it earlier, it’s what I took to the hospital for your mom, this is just leftovers.’

I looked at it, vegetables with pasta. It looked healthy and smelled good. I was so thankful for real food that I didn't really care how it tasted. ‘Thanks, looks great.’

I ran myself a bath, turning on my iPad to listen to music as I soaked. The intensity of the past three days finally caught up with me. My body ached from holding in stress, being anxious and sitting in a hospital chair for two days, including overnight. I let the Epsom salt pull away the toxins from my muscles while the warm jets massaged my body. I soaked there for a while, listening to one of Miley’s playlists in the background.

There was a knock on the door. ‘You ok in there?’ Drew asked.

I smiled, half expecting him to come in, surprised when he didn’t. ‘Yeah, almost a raisin,’ I said looking to my fingers.

I could hear him chuckle from the other side of the door. ‘Ok, just making sure you didn’t fall asleep.’

‘Thanks, nearly, but no. Water’s getting cool, going to get out soon,’ I announced and rinsed the conditioner out of my hair.

‘Ok, see you downstairs then. Want some tea?’

‘Please,’ I answered him, standing up to turn on the shower, rinsing off.

I changed into some clothing I found in my drawers, happy to see that my parents still hadn’t gotten rid of it. I slipped on a nightdress that was now very large on me.

After hooking my phone up to charge, I started to brush my hair out, dreading having to dry it, but knowing it would look a mess in the morning if I didn't. I was so tired, lying on my back, trying to muster some energy. I just needed a few minutes to catch my second wind.

CHAPTER 20

DREW

I woke up in Breton’s bed in the Cahills’ Boston townhouse, fully dressed in the clothes from yesterday. I was covered and my phone was on the coffee table next to me. I had been so tired that I hardly remembered even getting into bed last night.

When Jessa didn’t come downstairs last night, I checked on her a second time. I walked in to find her sound asleep on her bed; holding her hairbrush, her feet on the floor, her body lying across her bed wearing an oversized Mickey Mouse nightdress. I moved her up to her pillows and covered her with her blanket, without so much as waking her. I fought everything in me to not crawl into bed next to her, even if it was to just hold her in my arms as we slept.

She had been through so much over the past few days with her father being in the hospital, being reunited with her family, dealing with being back in Boston, being so close to her friends but not being able to seek them out. I knew from our conversations over the past few months that she was missing Zoe, Amber, and Abby terribly.

There was also the fact that I knew she was exhausted; she didn’t even wake when I picked her up to move her on the bed. Added to that, I knew her parents’ stance on co-ed sleepovers. I didn’t want to be disrespectful to them at a time like this, we’d have our time later. It didn’t escape my memory that the first time I slept with her in my arms was in this bed, shortly before she went away. I wondered if she and Breton had her disappearance planned at the time.

She wasn’t the only one who was burnt out. I’d had very little sleep over the past few days. I rolled over, looking at my phone to see that it was nearly nine in the morning, which for me, was sleeping in. I got up, used the bathroom and washed up.I walked across the hall to Jessa’s room, to find her bed was empty and her carry-on suitcase open on her bed. When I reached the bottom of the stairs I heard Jessa and her mother speaking in the kitchen.

Colleen was sitting at the island, while Jessa was preparing eggs at the stove. ‘Good morning,’ I announced, walking in to take a seat next to Colleen.

Jessa looked over her shoulder. Her hair was up in a messy bun, wearing an oversized Harvard t-shirt, that may have been hers before she left, and a pair of her yoga pants that I loved so much as they showed her ass perfectly. Unfortunately for me, this morning her mother was here and her shirt was covering that ass, which, even after losing all her weight, still remained sexy as hell. ‘Hey, sorry, I kind of fell asleep,’ she smiled at me.

‘No worries, I was only a few minutes behind you I think.’ Seeing as Colleen was here, I was thankful that I forced myself to sleep in Breton’s old room last night.

‘You were both asleep when I came home around midnight,’ Colleen told me. ‘Deb is planning on leaving to go home today and wanted me to have a good sleep.’

I smirked and looked up to Jessa, wondering if she came home to try and ‘catch’ us.

‘Do you want eggs?’ Jessa asked me.

‘If you cover them in cheese,’ I replied.

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