Page 8 of Hades

Psycho chuckled and hugged me.

“You’re a saint, Jenny.”

“Damn straight,” I replied.

Simon’s gaze dragged over me slowly with the same look that he’d given me before my date with Greyson.

The tortured longing of a man who knew he had lost something precious to him, and he could never get it back.

Chapter three

Hades

By the time we left the hospital and returned to my apartment, it was getting late. The kids were exhausted. I carried Casey inside, passed out from the pain meds, with his head lolling against my shoulder. His bandaged wrist was tucked against his chest in a sling. Tarzan, Psycho, and Bruiser had scrawled their names in thick black marker across the white gauze.

Casey was now hellbent on gathering the signatures of everyone in my club.

“Keys?” Jenny asked when we reached my door.

“Left cut pocket,” I replied, turning to grant her access.

As she slipped her hand into my pocket, she stroked Casey’s curls and kissed his cheek.

“My poor babies,” she murmured. “You’ve both had such a long day.”

I caught a wispy scent of her perfume, faint but still heady. Just enough to tease. Just enough to make me wish I could bury my face in her neck and breathe deep.

Then Jenny pulled away, sorting through my keyring until she found the right one and unlocked my door. We paraded inside, with Mia practically falling asleep on her feet while Jenny held her upright.

The spare bedroom in my apartment was reserved for the kids when they visited me—divided down the middle by a curtain, with a twin mattress on either side, and decorated to suit their tastes. Mia’s half of the room was pink and purple, with fairies, dolls, and princesses. Casey’s half of the room was red and blue, with cars, dinosaurs, and motorcycles. When they got older, they would need their own separate spaces, but it worked for now.

I watched with a pang in my chest as Jenny tucked the kids into their beds, whispering soothingly to them. Our family was supposed to be together like this. Not splintering apart. It was only a matter of time before Jenny and the kids left me behind to build a new home, a new family, a new life.

At last, Jenny tiptoed out of the room, easing the door shut before she faced me. With her back against the door, there wasn’t much space between us. Only a few inches at the most. She gazed up at me through her lashes with a sigh.

“I want to be mad at you, Simon.”

“Well, that’s nothing new,” I replied. “Look, I warned Casey three times to stop—”

She shook her head and put a hand on my chest. My words died on my lips at her touch. I glanced down to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. But her palm was resting there against my heart, with coral pink fingernails, and the empty space where her wedding and engagement rings used to be.

A heartbeat of silence settled between us. Jenny didn’t pull away. I covered her hand with my own, holding her in place. I took every chance I could get to touch her these days—a rare privilege that would eventually be entirely forbidden in the future.

“It was an accident,” Jenny said. “I don’t blame you.”

I didn’t realize how much tension I’d been carrying in my shoulders until it finally eased. The lump of guilt in my gut remained though. I couldn’t stop replaying the whole thing in my mind, wondering what I could have done differently to keep Casey safe and prevent the accident from happening in the first place.

“I want to be mad at you for interrupting my date,” Jenny added. But there was no heat to her voice. No animosity or resentment. Only fatigue and the strain of worry.

“You would have skinned me alive if I didn’t tell you about Casey,” I countered.

She breathed a tired laugh and nodded.

“That’s true. You know me too well.”

I brushed my thumb over her knuckles. For a split second, I considered stepping back. Putting distance between us. That’s what I should be doing—separation. Untangling my life from Jenny so she had the freedom to find the love she desired.

Instead, I shifted forward by a few inches. Daring to get closer. Crowding Jenny against the door.