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Micah
“So,are you gonna tell me what your mom wanted?” I ask Lex as she cuddles into my side.
The shirts I bought us were discarded somewhere in the hall as we made our way to my room a few hours ago, too impatient to wait another second.
At first, Lex tried to fight staying with me since her first class starts early tomorrow morning and she wanted to be there for Piper. By the time we made it back to town, I had her worked into such a frenzy, there was no way we weren’t staying in the same bed tonight.
Thankfully, Declan went home with Kendall tonight. That meant we had the apartment to ourselves.
Then Piper told her she wanted some time alone.
That’s what really sealed the deal.
“She wanted to apologize,” she finally says, letting out a long sigh. She’s facing away from me so it’s hard to tell if she’s happy about her mother’s revelation or sad.
“And she couldn’t do that over the phone?” Giving her a supportive squeeze, I wait patiently for her reply.
The silence stretches on, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to rise. My heart picks up its pace, my breathing turning shallow, as I imagine every possible reason why her mother apologizes. All of them bad. Each worse than the last. Because there has to be more to the story than she’s sharing with me. More she doesn’t want to talk about.
It’s not until she turns in my arms that my breathing regulates, and my heart slows down to a steady gallop.
“John was arrested.”
About fucking time!
“The woman he was seeing, living with, has a fourteen-year-old daughter. He tried to assault her. And unlike my mother, the woman believed her daughter. She called the cops. She pressed charges.” Lex closes her eyes, sucks in a deep breath, and lets it out slowly. When she reopens them and her eyes find mine, I can see the relief in them. “John called my stepdad to bail him out. My mother took the call. Refused to bail him out until he told her why he was in jail to begin with. And when he did, she connected the dots. Told him to rot in jail.”
Leaning in, I want to press my lips to her, but I can tell she’s not done, so instead, I lean my forehead against hers. Right now, she needs my strength as much as I need hers.
“My stepdad was furious when he found out. Drove up and bailed him out. Brought him back to the house without telling my mom. She came home that night, and he was sitting on the couch, drinking a beer. My mom tried to reason with my stepdad, told him she didn’t want him there, but he refused to kick him out. Said blood was thicker than water.”
“Bullshit.”
“I know. Which is why my mom left him. She took my brothers, too. It’s been a few weeks, and they’re struggling, but I think my mom finally sees how awful things were now. In hindsight, it took me leaving to really see how awful living in that house was. My stepdad was controlling. He was always yelling. Never trusted my mom to go anywhere alone. She didn’t see it then, but she does now.”
“And your brothers?”
“I don’t know yet. They’re both so much like my stepdad and John. They share DNA. But I’m hoping as they grow up, they realize what a real man is and how to act like one.”
Pulling her close, I brush my lips against hers before moving them to her jaw, and finally her neck, kissing the spot that I know drives her wild.
“Maybe having a role model like you around will help,” she purrs, slipping her leg between mine.
It takes a second, my growing need clouding the meaning behind her words, before I realize what she’s saying.
“Me?” I finally ask, leaning away so I can look in her eyes.
“Yes, you. My mom and I talked for a long time. I told her all about you, and she wants to meet you. I may have promised her we’d come visit as soon as we had a chance.”
“You want me to meet your mom?” You can hear the shock in my voice.
I’ve never met a girl’s parents before. Never stayed with a girl long enough to get to that stage in our relationship.
I’d also never introduced a girl to my parents before. Today was a first for that. Another first for us.
It just goes to prove how much we’ve both changed.
“When you’re ready.”
