Now
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Jackson
“Are you sure you have everything?” Evie asks, voice uneven from her high emotions.
“Yeah, I’m good, princess.”
“You’ll call me as soon as you land, right?”
“Yes. And during my layover in Washington.”
“Good,” she approves with a nod.
Her eyes are still red from crying in the car on our way here. I hate doing this, leaving her behind like this. But it’s just for a few months—ten, to be precise.
After taking me into his F4 team here in the US, Wesley Pryce is giving me a chance at Formula 3, after all.
I’ve signed a very strict contract, which comes with a lot of obligations regarding training and public appearances.
And they’re taking me in a lot earlier than the usual preseason period, which I take as a good sign.
I’ll get to train for a couple of extra months, and it will give me a greater chance of catching up with the F3 veterans.
Not only am I motivated to succeed so that I can get closer to my dream, but also because it means Evie will get to join me faster.
Racing itself won’t bring much money, not enough to sustain our lives there. But sponsorships will. And to get that, I need to win. The more, the better.
This early schedule means I’ll be missing Christmas, though, which I didn’t expect.
It was hard to digest at first, but we both know it’s for the best. There is a long break in May, and if I’m good enough and can afford the plane tickets, I’ll be allowed to spend three weeks of it wherever I want.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to return and spend it all with my wife.
“I don’t know how pretty Belgian girls are, but you’re not even allowed to look at them,” she says in a very serious manner, jealousy veiling her pretty face.
I chuckle. “Of course I won’t, princess. I only have eyes for you, and nothing will ever change that fact. No matter how far apart we are and for how long.”
She nods, looking down at my jacket’s buttons. “I’m going to miss you so much, Jax.”
“I’ll miss you too. Every minute of every hour. But I’ll call as often as I can, okay?”
“I will whoop your butt if you don’t.”
Her eyes are glistening with tears again, and because it breaks my heart to see her cry, I wrap her in a close embrace. Her arms come around my chest, and she holds me as tightly as she can.
“I love you, Evie. I love you so fucking much.”
“I love you too.”
When I pull away, even I am on the verge of tears. “You’ll have time to focus on your courses now. When I see you again, you’ll have so many credits.”
She winces. “I’ll try. I still have my shifts at the Dairy Mill.”
“I’ll send you as much money as I can. I’ll live like a monk anyway, so it’s not like I’ll need it for myself.”
“A monk sounds right. If I hear that you’ve been with another girl, I’ll—”
I grab her face in my hands, forcing her to look up at me. “How could I ever be into other girls when you are my wife?”
It’s been three months since we tied the knot in that shitty little chapel in Vegas, and I’m still not over how lucky I am to call her that.
My wife. The greatest treasure of my life. Evangeline Reyes …
We move in unison to kiss—a profound, longing exchange that tastes like tears and heartache. When I let her go, my throat is tight, achy. This is what we need. Those few months apart will shape our entire future, and once she joins me in Belgium, we’ll never be apart ever again.
“I need to go,” I whisper.
“I know.” Her arms around me don’t loosen, though.
“Evie, princess … I’ll call you when I’m in Washington.”
She nods, the tip of her nose an adorable shade of pink. I give her one more kiss, an adamant one, and pry myself away from her arms.
I pick up my duffel bag from the floor and, with a heavy heart, walk toward the TSA line. I wait for my turn and arrange my things in the trays. Her eyes are on me the entire time, waiting for mine whenever I turn around.
This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Walk away from her, even though I know it won’t be forever. But we can do this. We’ve come so far together, accomplished so much … I know we can do this.
I look down at the wedding band on my finger, still not used to it even though it clearly belongs there. My fucking wife … How did I ever get lucky enough to marry the love of my life at twenty? Who does this even happen to?
When it’s my turn to pass the metal detector, the awareness that this is it, my last chance to hold her, triggers an unstoppable impulse.
“Excuse me,” I tell the TSA agent on the other side of it.
Without giving it another thought, I turn around and launch myself toward Evie. Her face lights up as I approach, her smile a stark contrast to the tears wetting her cheeks.
Because my shoes are in a tray being X-rayed, I don’t stop as efficiently as I’d planned, my socks sliding on the airport floor. I practically crash into her, squeezing her into my arms on impact.
“I love you so much, princess,” I let out, holding her as tightly as I can without hurting her. I pull away as quickly as I arrived and cover her face in hurried kisses.
I force myself away and say, “I’ll see you in May, okay? I’ll give everything I have to make that happen.”
Her grin as she nods is full of hope.
This is what we need. As painful as this turning point is, it’ll redefine the rest of our lives for the best. This is short-term pain for long-term happiness. In ten years, we’ll look back, remembering how silly we were for being so brokenhearted over a few months apart.
When I’m a successful Formula One driver, waking up by her side in the most luxurious hotels all around the world, we’ll know we did the right thing today.
Evie’s breathless moans and cries are fucking music to my ears. They spur me on, driving my hips harder, faster into hers.
After a very creative, naked, and sweaty reunion yesterday, I ended up attending the sponsors’ dinner last night. Skipping media day was bad enough. I had to at least make an appearance. Plus, Evie practically begged me to go, so she could get a break.
Coming back from it, though, and finding her in my bed, sleeping in one of my team’s T-shirts, unleashed all sorts of emotions and needs in me. This is what I’ve been missing. Not just her, but someone there for me. Someone to come home to, even away from home.
Waking up with her in my arms this morning strengthened that hidden longing in me.
I want every fucking day to start like this.
And I want it for the rest of my life, even long after my career is over.
I want the privilege of sharing a bed with her, day after day.
The honor of coaxing her into a morning quickie with my fingers and tongue.
And the pleasure of having my hips snapping into her ass as she moans my name on her knees, her hand pushing against the headboard as the other one fists the sheets.
Still driving into her at a steady pace, I bend over to wrap an arm around her heaving chest and pull her upright. With her back to my front, she lets her head roll onto my shoulder, her ecstatic moans lost to the ceiling rather than muffled by the pillow.
“Are you going to come again for me, princess?” I grunt in her ear.
The only response I get is a strangled cry and an involuntary contraction around my cock, still pumping in and out of her at a fast pace.
“Do you want me to help you come?”
She nods, cheeks pink with heat and wet with tears of pleasure.
As much as I’d want to make this last the entire morning, today happens to be the busiest day of the weekend, and I have obligations I can’t get out of this time.
So, one of my hands travels down her stomach, all the way to the triangle of curls and the wetness I’m planted into.
Her clit is hard and swollen, easily found and rolled under my fingertips.
“Aah, Jax!” she cries out, jolting with pleasure.
“I’m almost there, too, princess. So close to pumping you full of cum again.”
My free hand goes up and wraps itself around her neck. My thrusts pause, and she whimpers with frustration. “Do you remember our safe word, Evie?” I ask.
“Milkshake.”
“And if you can’t talk?”
She snaps her fingers twice.
“Good. Very good. Do you want this?”
“Please,” she begs, fresh tears rolling down her face.
Slowly, I tighten my hold on her neck, pressing at the arteries on its side while my hips resume the fucking.
Once we were mature enough to try such things, we explored our boundaries. And while we never got very far, we did find out a few things we each liked. Hers is this. She loves the dizziness that comes with well-timed breath play.
As I fuck into her, my fingers play with her clit, edging her closer and closer to the finish line. Her face reddens from my hold on her neck, and I’m so focused on her, on monitoring her reactions to make sure I don’t go too far, that my own pleasure takes the backseat.
I control her body like a master of my craft, as deftly as I do my car on the tracks.
And, sure enough, she soon tilts into a body-shaking orgasm.
I release her neck at the first spasm around my cock, allowing her to breathe again and get those heady sensations while her whole frame shakes with pleasure.
She lets herself fall forward again, grabbing onto the sheets as if she’d fly up to the heavens otherwise.
Her pussy around me feels like a vise, clamping at a hectic rhythm, and her moans and cries sound like a fucking symphony.
It all gets the best of me, and my own climax strikes me like lightning. A first surge of cum erupts into her, but I quickly pull out and fist myself to come on her ass instead. She writhes with prolonged pleasure before me as I cover the smooth, creamy mounds with white strands of my seed.
The moment stretches, shivers coursing through us both, until everything becomes quiet again. From my vantage point, I admire her with pride, the narrow width of her waist, the mess of her hair, the pinkness of her damp skin, the roundness of her ass, the way I marked it …