Chapter 14
Pity – an emotion Aurora wants nothing to do with
Jett
“W hat’s going on? Why are you here?”
My fingers itch to touch Aurora. To pull her into my arms. To feel her curves. To smell her flowery scent. I glance at her belly. At the reminder of the last time I gave into the temptation to touch Aurora, I fist my hands.
She flaps her arms. “I don’t know.”
I narrow my eyes on her. “You don’t know?”
“I arrived back at the Inn and my girls were packing up my stuff and somehow I ended up here.”
“You can’t stay here.” I won’t be able to resist her if she lives in the same house. I’ll give into temptation and no good can come from me giving into temptation.
She rolls her eyes. “Obviously.”
“Good.” I nod. “We agree.”
“I’ll figure out a plan tomorrow.” She yawns. “I need some sleep. Between Mr. Farter and Mr. Manspread, I didn’t get any sleep on the plane.”
I hate seeing how tired she is. Is she getting enough rest? Shouldn’t a pregnant woman rest more?
“Why didn’t you travel in the jet with us?”
She chuckles. “Maybe because Mike the asshole would lose his ever-loving mind if I did.”
My brow wrinkles. “Mike doesn’t let you travel with us?”
“The ‘management’ and the ‘talent’ should never intermingle.”
“But Mike travels on the jet with us all the time.”
“Mike does whatever the hell Mike wants including billing the band for massages.” Her eyes widen. “Crap. Don’t tell anyone about the massages. No one else knows. If it leaks, he’ll blame me and fire my ass.” Her shoulders slump as she rubs her belly. “Although, he’s probably going to fire me anyway.”
“I won’t let Mike fire you.” I realize what I said and backpedal. “I mean the band won’t.”
She grins. “Thank you but you know sooner or later Mike’s going to find an excuse to fire me and there’s nothing the band can do about it.”
“We’ll fire him.” I’m not letting our manager fire Aurora when she’s pregnant with my baby.
My baby? I can’t have a child. I can’t be a parent. I don’t know how to be one. I force those thoughts away. I’ve got other issues to deal with at the moment.
“Where will you go? Will you return to San Diego?”
She rubs her forehead. “So much for figuring this out tomorrow,” she mutters before raising her voice. “I can’t return to San Diego. I sub-let my apartment.”
“You sub-let your apartment?”
“I thought I’d be in Winter Falls for a few months. I can barely afford my rent as it is. I wasn’t about to pay rent for a place I wasn’t living in.”
“What about your parents? Can you live with them?”
Grief flashes in her eyes before she blinks and all emotion is wiped away. I scowl. I don’t want her green eyes empty. I want them twinkling with humor or burning with passion. Passion as I spear her hair with my hands and devour her mouth.
My cock wakes up from its deep slumber. I clear my throat and force thoughts of Aurora naked in my bed tangled up in my sheets out of my mind.
“No, I cannot.”
She whirls around and marches toward the stairs. I stop her with a hand on her wrist.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
She growls at me. “What aren’t I telling you? Am I somehow obligated to reveal all my secrets to you? I’ll be out of your hair in the morning.”
Panic hits me. I can’t let her go. I can’t have her, but I can’t let her go.
“I’m sorry I pushed you. I shouldn’t have asked about your parents. I fucking hate it when people ask about mine.”
She sighs. “It’s not a secret what happened to my family.”
The implication is clear. It is a secret what happened to mine. Mike has worked hard to keep my past out of the headlines. I figured as one of his assistants, Aurora knew about my past but maybe she doesn’t.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“You should probably know since you’re the only family Little Bean will have besides me.”
I swallow. “The only family?”
“My parents died in a motorcycle crash when I was fifteen.”
Tears well in her eyes. She sniffs to stop them but one escapes. I use my thumb to wipe it away.
“I’m sorry, feisty girl.”
“It was a long time ago.”
I cradle her face with my hands. “Time doesn’t matter.”
“I miss them. I miss them every day. But I especially miss my mom now. I have so many questions and she’s not here to answer them.”
The tears she was holding back begin to fall down her face and I haul her into my arms. I rub my hands up and down her back as she sobs.
She’s breaking my heart but there’s nothing I can do. I have no pretty words for her. I have nothing to offer her but my body.
She melts into my arms, and I lift her and carry her to the sofa. I arrange her in my lap as she continues to sob.
“I’m sorry,” she says into my shoulder.
I brush her hair away from her forehead so I can see her face. “For what?”
“For crying all over you. It’s the hormones, I swear. I’m not usually a crier.”
“There’s nothing wrong with crying.”
She snorts. “Except it’s weak.”
I squeeze her neck. “There isn’t a weak bone in your body.”
“I don’t usually talk about my parents.”
“I get it.” And I do. I never talk about my past to anyone. My bandmates know but we never discuss it.
She studies my face for a few moments. “You do, don’t you?”
“Yep.” I tweak her nose.
“Anyway, now you know why my little bean won’t have any family.”
“Any family? What about the rest of your family?”
She shrugs. “Don’t have any.”
“But what happened to you when your parents died? You were fifteen. You weren’t old enough to be living on your own.”
“I went into a group home where I pretty much took care of myself.”
I wince. I know how it feels to be ignored in a group home.
“How long were you there?”
“Two years until I got early admission into college.”
Two years isn’t too long but it probably felt like forever to a girl who came from a loving home and just lost her parents.
“I’m sorry,” I say since I have no idea what else to say.
“Sorry I got early admission into college?” she teases.
My shoulders sag as the tension leaves me. My feisty girl is back. Nothing can put her down for long.
“You can stay here.” The words escape my mouth before I realize what I was going to say. But the words feel right.
Maybe I can’t have Aurora. Maybe I can’t be the partner she needs. Maybe I can’t be the dad her child needs. But I can provide her with shelter.
Her eyes widen. “You’re sure? This isn’t you feeling sorry for me?”
“I know better than to feel sorry for you. If I showed you any pity, you’d skin me alive before parading my skinless body around the town.”
Her nose wrinkles. “Sounds bloody. I’d prefer to sell your organs to the highest bidder. Baby needs a college fund.”
As if I’m going to let anyone else pay for the kid’s college except for me.
I set her on her feet. “I assume the girls put you in Gibson’s old room.”
She nods.
“Good. He has his own bathroom.”
She kicks out her hip and plants a hand on it. “Are you afraid to share a bathroom with me?”
“Well, yeah. You need at least an hour to dry your hair in the morning.”
“Whatever,” she mutters before flouncing away. She stops at the top of the stairwell. “Jett?”
I glance up at her. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for letting me stay.” She pauses. “But if you tell anyone I had a crying jag in your arms I’m going to find out how black market organ sales work.”
I salute her. “Gotcha.”
I wait until she disappears before collapsing on the sofa. My dick is excited the object of his desire will be living across the hallway from us. I frown down at it.
No leading me into temptation. Did you forget what happened the last time?
My dick doesn’t care how Aurora’s pregnant. It wants what it wants. Join the line.