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“Drive us to pick up Brynlee and then take us all home.”
I nodded, giving her fingers one last kiss before I pulled away.
“Ashton’s a dick,” Piper said softly, breaking the silence between us. She gripped my hand that was resting on her inner thigh. “I don’t know what his issue is.”
She had been friends with Ashton and Aiden since we were kids, and I could never control that part of her life or whether she was still friends with them. In bed, she was completely submissive but outside of that, she was the strongest woman I knew.
“I think Aiden’s drinking is messing Ashton up and he’s taking it out on everyone else. I’ve seen Ashton yell at his dad for no reason, but his brother is worse.” Piper sighed. “I’m sorry for how Ashton was.”
“I’d probably be the same way.” I had to admit it. Ashton liked her and I could only assume that Aiden still did as well.
“They slept with other women while sleeping with me. So them being jealous doesn’t make sense. We were never exclusive.” Her thumb brushed over the back of my hand. “I’ve only ever been exclusive with you, Jaron. I just wish that we would have started this thing a long time ago.”
“You mean before I got you pregnant,” I corrected her.
Piper turned her body toward me, her eyes burning a hole through the side of my head. “I don’t give a shit that you got me pregnant. What I do give a shit about is you constantly blaming yourself. For you shutting me out. I know we’ve come a long way since you’ve been home and…I love you.”
“I love you too.” Looking back out at the road ahead of us, I wished I could have taken her away. To go back to Paris and start over.
“Why do I feel like it isn’t enough?” she murmured.
My head whipped around. She was staring out the window, her hand tight in mine that was currently gripping her inner thigh.
“It has to be enough,” I finally said.
“What if it isn’t? What if it means that we’re not meant to be together? What if—” Her eyes shone.
I brought her hand up to my mouth because, truth was, I had no idea what to say. She was right. She was always fucking right. What if this wasn’t enough? What if our love couldn’t sustain the shit that life threw at us? What if it only got worse and we couldn’t handle it and it broke us apart?
“Piper.” I gave her hand a tug.
She turned toward me. A shaky sigh left her. She moved closer, leaning her head against my shoulder.
“I’m not going anywhere, baby.”
“Neither am I, Jaron.” Piper sighed. “Neither am I.”
Piper
Jaron had been onedge the whole time after we picked up Brynlee. He hardly said anything, even when we went to my parents’ place. I wondered if they noticed he had been acting differently. I wasn’t sure what all was said between him and Ashton or even Vince. I tried asking but he just brushed it off and that familiar tick in his jaw became more pronounced. The tiny hairs on my body tingled under his intense scrutiny. It only seemed to get worse as the minutes trickled by.
When we got home, he muttered something about putting Brynlee to bed. I gave her a kiss on the head and watched as he walked away with her in his arms.
There was a war going on inside of him. Although he felt like he had to deal with it on his own, he didn’t. I would help him battle whatever demons he was trying to fight. We hadn’t talked about what happened to him in jail. I wanted to ask but at the same time, I didn’t want to fight with him anymore. But I wanted to help him. God, did I ever want to help him.
Jaron was a private man. Especially when it came to the things going on inside his head.
I wished I could get him to open up about everything. Maybe in time. But for now, all I could do was give him whatever it was that he needed.
While Jaron was putting Brynn to bed, I decided to get ready for bed myself. When I was pulling on my tank top, I felt warm arms wrap around me, followed by a kiss to the neck.
I sighed, dropping the hem of the shirt and leaning back against Jaron.
He held me against him, hugging me from behind. “I’m sorry. For everything. I’m sorry for not being able to talk. I’m just…”
I turned around and snaked my arms around his shoulders. “Enough is enough. We have time and I’m here for the long haul. Whenever you are ready, I’m here but for now we can just be us and thatisenough.”
“What do you want to do instead?” he asked, his voice low.
