Chapter Twenty-Four
Jase
Toweling my hair, I shut my eyes against the headache pounding between my temples. Still, gratitude warmed my chest, pushing out some of the icy fear as I tugged on a pair of sweats. I had Tyler, and she loved me. Now all I had to do was put one foot in front of the other and walk through this.
My phone buzzed from where I’d tossed it on the bed. Pulling my t-shirt over my head, I picked up the device and groaned.
My boss.
Damn it all.
I pressed the phone to my forehead and blew out a breath before swiping to answer.
“Bubba. Hey.”
“Boy, you all right?” Concern rang in his deep rumble. “You never logged back in after lunch.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” I squeezed my eyes shut, throat tight. Bubba was good people, good to his employees, but this would be a taste of how shit would go. “I had to meet with my lawyer.”
“Right.” I’d told him about the paternity test, that I might run over my lunch break. Hardly expected to turn it into all day. Hardly expected any of this mess.
“Then I ended up having to talk to the police.” I cleared my throat, Bubba’s attention vibrating through the phone. I gritted my teeth. My cheeks and neck burned hot. “Elizabeth made a sexual video of me I didn’t know about. Posted it to the Internet.”
Silence burned at my ear, along with my nerves.
“Oh, shit.” Bubba paused. “Oh, shit. Your mama.”
“Yeah.” I scuffed a hand over my nape. “And Grandma. And my wife. One of Tate's guys saw it and told him. No telling who in town has or will see it. Cops said I can request it to be taken down, and Scott’s on it.”
“Barlow?”
“Yeah.”
“Heard he’s real good.”
“Yeah, seems to be. But I don’t know how long that takes. I should’ve called you, but my mind wasn’t on work.”
“Yeah, I bet.” He harrumphed. “So you coming back in tomorrow?”
I blinked. Hadn’t expected that. “You want me to?”
“Well, John Yager’s got a tractor down again, and it ain’t gonna fix itself.”
Relief weakening my knees, I closed my eyes. “I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about this.”
“Boy, you can’t help what someone else does. And I don’t see how you being exes with someone without character affects your ability to fix equipment.”
The oxygen whooshed out of my lungs. Dizzy, I bent forward, a hand braced on my knee. “Thank you, Bubba.”
“Don’t you worry about it. Just come on to work, and if you end up needing to take some time for court or whatever, you let me know.”
“Yes, sir.”
The call dropped, and I did too, sitting heavily on the side of the bed.
I scrubbed a hand down my face. Okay, so I’d crossed one hurdle – talking to my boss.
That left a few hundred more interactions, people I ran across in my daily life who might end up hearing of – or actually seeing – me jerking off in the shower.
After a few moments of just breathing in and letting each exhale go, I pushed to my feet. Leaving my phone on the bed – I had no desire to be connected right now – I walked through to the kitchen.
Tyler poured a colander of drained pasta into a skillet of her quick tomato sauce. She’d toss langostino tails in, and I dragged up a smile. The dish had become one of my favorites since we got together.
She looked around, with the soft smile that belonged only to me. Her gentle gaze lingered on me, all the edge she normally put between herself and the world gone. “I know you don’t want to, but you should probably try to eat something.”
“Yeah.” She already had tea glasses waiting at the table. “Thank you.”
With a slight shake of her head, she stepped closer, touching my wrist. “I love you.”
I reached for her, pulling her close, holding her so I didn’t have to worry she’d go. “Love you, too.”
“Tonight we take care of you,” she whispered, then lifted her head to meet my gaze. “Then tomorrow we start making sure both of your babies are taken care of.”
“Both.” I let the word out carefully, not sure I’d heard right. Because she couldn’t really mean what I thought she did.
“Both.”
My eyes burned, and I bit down inside my bottom lip. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Oh, you totally do.” She brushed easy fingers over my jaw, a slight smile curving her lips, her gaze serious. “Maybe we deserve each other. And if that baby is yours, we’re going to make sure they get what they deserve – a calm life. A stable life.”
A rough sound, almost a sob, tore free from my throat. “Wish I could make it an easy one.”
Her arms about my waist, she pressed closer. “I’m discovering there is no such thing. Just people who love steadily and make it seem easy.”
“Like us.” I trailed a reverent finger along her spine.
I felt her mouth move in a smile against my throat. “Exactly like us.”