Chapter Thirteen
S age carried a large plastic container to Jake, who was loading boxes into the rental van to move the last of Alice’s things out of her home on Ocean View Drive.
He had a serious case of bedhead and looked all sweaty and hot—hot as in all muscly and gorgeous in a gray Linkin Park T-shirt and faded blue jeans—and she was doing her best not to look at him or catch his eye.
Which meant she was looking at a bed of blue hydrangeas bordering Alice’s walkway as she handed him the plastic container.
“This can go in the women’s shelter pile.
It’s filled with Alice’s collection of rubber boots. ”
He was standing right in front of her, she knew he was, but he made absolutely no move to take the container from her.
She sighed and went to walk around him. He stepped in front of her. “Are you kidding me right now? We have an hour before the cleaners get here, Jake.”
It was ridiculous that he’d booked cleaners when they could easily clean the house themselves, but unless she’d agreed to go back to the farm and rest, he wouldn’t give in.
“So stop acting as if what happened last night was a big deal. It wasn’t. We’re consenting—”
A woman walking her dog across the road glanced back at them.
“Seriously? My aunt and uncle live up the street and you’re going to announce to all and sundry that we slept together?” She went up on her toes, shoving the container at him. “I told you it was a bad idea.”
“We didn’t sleep together , sleep together. We fooled around.”
She pushed the container into his rock-hard abs. Of course he didn’t move an inch. All he did was laugh. “It’s not funny!”
“It kind of is. How can you be such a prude? You’re a Rosetti.”
“You did not just say that to me.”
“I’m pretty sure that I did. What’s the big deal? I wasn’t dissing your family. I think it’s great.”
Sage’s mother, her aunt Eva, and her grandmother had been well known for their love of food, wine, and partying.
They hadn’t been looking for a man to complete them or make them happy.
They enjoyed male companionship on their terms and dated extensively but not exclusively.
As fabulous as the three of them were, they’d broken a lot of hearts.
It was why they’d been known as the Heartbreakers of Sunshine Bay.
“Of course you do. You’re a man.” He didn’t have to live down the teasing at school.
As much as she adored her mother, aunt, and grandmother, and as an adult fully supported the choices they made, their bohemian lifestyles had made growing up in Sunshine Bay difficult at times for Sage, Willow, and their cousin.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.
But you don’t have to be embarrassed about what happened.
You were hot. I was hot. And we got rid of some clothes.
” He shrugged. “There was a little too much bare skin, and we got carried away. But look at the bright side—you fell asleep and got four more hours of z’s. ”
“Shut up, Jake,” she said, shoving the box at him, and this time she let it go. She should have known he’d catch it. She stomped back inside the house.
He followed after her.
“I don’t want to talk—” She frowned. “What’s wrong?” He’d lost all the color in his face.
He put down the box and linked his fingers on the top of his head, rubbing his hair.
“Jake, what’s going on? Are you thinking about Alice?” She knew what it was like when the memories came out of the blue.
“I know you’re in there, boy. You can’t hide from me,” a woman called out.
Jake swore, and so did Sage. Then she gave his bicep a comforting squeeze. “I’ve got this. You grab a glass of water in the kitchen, and I’ll take care of your—”
A raspy laugh cut her off, and she and Jake turned to see his mother leaning against the doorframe.
She’d once been a beautiful woman, but booze, drugs, and living rough had taken a toll.
“Well, look at you, son. You’ve moved up in the world.
Got yourself hooked up with a Rosetti, have you?
The smart one too. Heard you were a big-shot lawyer, bringing in the big bucks,” she said to Sage, giving her an up-and-down look.
“So, what’s someone like you doing with my boy? He’s got the looks, I’ll give him—”
“Is there something we can do for you, Ms. Walker? We’re a little busy here, as you can see.”
“Yeah, I can see all right.” Her brows lowered, and her upper lip curled. “I hear that bitch left—”
“Alice Espinoza was one of the most beautiful and loving women I’ve ever known, and she adored your… Jake.” She didn’t deserve to be acknowledged as his mother.
“Oh yeah, I know just how much she adored my boy. Took him from me, and took my husband too. He’s dead gone on two years now.
It’s her fault. He was supposed to get out years ago, but she made sure he didn’t.
Always at his parole hearings.” The eyes she turned on Jake weren’t filled with tears or sorrow; they were filled with bitterness and contempt.
“You got money now, and you’ll be paying for what you and that bitch cost me. ”
“Alice would roll over in her grave if Jake gave you one red cent, and I, for one, will make sure that he doesn’t. So I suggest you get out of this house before I have you charged with trespassing and harassment,” Sage said.
“You don’t scare me, bitch. I—”
Jake stepped between Sage and his mother. “Leave. Now.”
His mother’s bravado faded in the face of her son’s anger.
He’d never stood up to her, never said a single word while she’d hurled abuse at him in the first few months after he’d moved out of their double-wide trailer.
Alice had told Sage it had broken her heart to see him shrinking in on himself with every verbal blow his mother landed, as if he deserved each and every one.
His mother ignored her, taking a step closer to her son, her face softening, her eyes pleading. “You got everything. I got nothing. Can’t you spare a little something for me? I’m not asking for much. Please, Jakie.”
Sage glanced at Jake and wanted to shake him. His mother was getting to him, and that made her livid. “Why? What did you ever do for him?”
“He’s my boy,” she snarled. “He left me high and dry.”
“Don’t blame the choices you made on him. You’re just angry that he’s made a life for himself. You didn’t deserve him then, and you don’t deserve him now.”
“Sage, don’t.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “It doesn’t matter.”
But it did. His mother hadn’t just verbally abused him; she’d also stood by while his father beat him, and she’d stood by when his father had him steal for their addictions.
She’d made him feel worthless, and that was her biggest sin.
“Alice deserved him. She loved him like a son. She knew he was good, and loyal, loving, caring, and smart.”
His mother rolled her eyes, and Sage growled, stepping around Jake to get in his mother’s face.
Jake put a hand on her arm. “Sage—”
She shook him off, her entire focus on the woman before her, hoping to land a few verbal blows of her own.
If Jake wouldn’t stand up for himself, she’d stand up for him and, in doing so, prove to him that he’d deserved Alice’s love and everything she’d given to him.
“He’s a lawyer now. Did you know that? He’s got a law practice, a farm, money in the bank, and people who love him. What do you have?”
A mean right hook.
Sage wrapped some ice in a kitchen towel and handed it to Jake. “You didn’t have to jump in front of me. I was putting up my arm to block her punch.”
“Right, because that worked out so well with Winthrop.” He gently pressed the ice-filled towel to her eye. “You need it more than I do.”
“It’s been two days. My eye’s hardly swollen, just a lovely shade of purple.” She pushed on Jake’s arm, trying to guide the ice-filled towel to his eye.
“I’m fine, okay? She barely clipped me.” He tossed the towel and ice into the kitchen sink.
“Are you fine, though? That was a lot, Jake. I know she’s your mother, but you should have called the police. You still could?” she said, framing it as a question so he’d hopefully reconsider pressing charges.
“It was a lot.” His lips twitched. “But I had you to protect—”
“Are you making fun of me?”
“No.” He took her hand and drew her close, putting his arms around her. “I appreciated you standing up for me even if I didn’t need or want you to.”
“But you weren’t doing anything. You weren’t standing up for yourself, and I hated it. I hated seeing you standing there taking everything she said as if you believed—”
“Hey, look at me.” He framed her face with his hands. “Just because I didn’t want or need you to stand up for me doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate it. I did. I do. It meant a lot, you defending me.”
“Why didn’t you stand up to her? Let her know what a shitty mother she was and—”
“Because it wouldn’t matter what I said. She had an agenda, and until she got to say what she said, she wasn’t going anywhere. It ends faster if I just stay quiet.”
“You can’t tell me you weren’t upset, Jake. I saw your face when you walked in here.”
“You’re right, I was.” He lifted his hand, tracing the faded outline of the bruise around her eye with the tip of his finger, then tucking her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t want you to be reminded of the kid I used to be or where I came from.”
“Jake, it didn’t matter to me who your parents were or where you lived or even that you were on the fast road to a life of crime.”
He tapped her nose lightly with his finger. “Liar. You had a list of statistics on the likelihood I’d end up in jail that you quoted every time you got ticked at me, and you got ticked at me a lot.”
She groaned, bringing her forehead to his chest. “Don’t remind me.”
He laughed. “Don’t feel too guilty. I gave as good as I got.”
“Yeah, you did.” She looked around the kitchen, the memories flooding in. “I don’t know how Alice put up with us. You were always teasing her.”