Chapter 55
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Fiona
I woke to the quiet rasp of a zipper somewhere near the foot of the bed.
For a few seconds I stayed exactly where I was, eyes closed beneath the thin gray light pushing around the curtains, trying to decide whether I cared enough to find out what Jasper was doing.
My body felt heavy in that pleasant, unfamiliar way that brought pieces of last night slipping back into my head before I could stop them.
Heat climbed into my face, and I pulled the sheet higher even though Jasper had already seen considerably more of me than a bare shoulder.
Another zipper sounded, followed by the muffled thump of something being set on the floor, and curiosity finally won.
Jasper sat at the foot of the bed in jeans and a black T-shirt, tying one of his boots. Both of our bags were packed beside the bedroom door. He must have felt me staring because his head came up, and the concentration on his face softened into a smile that made something inside me turn over.
“Mornin’, wife,” he said.
Wife.
I had heard the word plenty of times yesterday.
Father Benoit had used it. Jasper’s mother had used it.
C.C. had used it while giving her brother grief.
Somehow it sounded different in the quiet bedroom with Jasper looking at me as though he still couldn’t quite believe he had gotten away with marrying me.
I smiled before remembering the bags. “You’re doing it again.”
Jasper followed my gaze toward the door. “Packin’?”
“Kidnapping me before breakfast.”
His smile widened as he finished with his boot. “Pretty sure you packed your own bag last time, Ma Belle. Then you walked out of Granny’s house and climbed onto my bike on your own.”
“I was emotionally compromised,” I reminded him as I pushed myself higher against the pillows. The movement pulled at muscles that had very definite opinions about what I had done with my wedding night, and I sucked in a small breath before I could hide it.
Jasper noticed immediately. His teasing disappeared as he shifted toward me. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” I moved more carefully, annoyed by the way his eyes followed me as though he expected something to be wrong.
The ache had nothing in common with what I felt after the parking lot.
There was no fear attached to it, no memory I wanted to push away.
If anything, remembering exactly why I was sore made it difficult to keep looking at him without blushing.
When he continued studying me, I narrowed my eyes.
“If you start treating me like I’m made of glass, I’m throwing a pillow at you. ”
The concern in his expression changed into something warmer. “Wasn’t thinkin’ about glass.”
Of course he wasn’t.
My face got hotter, which only pleased him more. “Go away.”
“Can’t.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead, his mouth lingering for a second before he murmured, “Married you.”
I caught his wrist when he started to straighten.
The wedding band on his hand brushed against my fingers, and that distracted me all over again.
I had seen Jasper’s hands plenty of times during the last year, sometimes in pictures, sometimes wrapped around mine, sometimes imagining them doing things I absolutely did not need to think about while trying to have a serious conversation.
I had never seen a ring there. Now the plain band looked as if it belonged on him, and I wondered how long it would be before I stopped noticing it every time he reached for me.
Apparently not this morning.
Jasper looked down at my fingers around his wrist. “Somethin’ you like?”
“Maybe.” I rubbed my thumb over his ring before meeting his eyes. “Why are you already dressed and packed?”
His gaze dropped briefly to my left hand, where Granny’s ring rested on my finger. “Thought we’d spend a few days alone.”
I glanced toward our bags again. “We’re newlyweds. I’m pretty sure people expect us to want to be alone. We shouldn’t have to flee the state.”
“We ain’t fleeing the state.”
“Yet.”
Jasper laughed as he stood. “Have you met our families? If we wait until everybody wakes up, Mama’s gonna have breakfast planned, Granny’s gonna want answers, C.C.
will spend three hours tellin’ me what an asshole I am, and Georgie will probably sit between us to make sure I don’t touch my own wife. ”
That last part was believable enough to make me smile.
Somewhere downstairs slept enough Bourbon Kings and Sons of Hell to make privacy nearly impossible.
Add Granny, Glorianna, Aunt Marabella, our siblings, their spouses, and all the children, and sneaking away before sunrise suddenly sounded less suspicious and more like self-preservation.
Still, Jasper had planned this. I could tell by the way everything was already packed and waiting. He wasn’t a man who accidentally ended up with both bags ready before his wife woke.
“Where are you taking me?”
“The bayou,” he answered as he collected his wallet from the dresser.
“The actual bayou?”
His eyebrows lifted. “Louisiana hidin’ another one?”
“I mean how far into it? Is there a hotel?”
“No.”
“A restaurant?”
“No.”
“Indoor plumbing?”
He paused for half a second.
I stared at him. “Jasper.”
“There’s plumbin’,” he assured me, laughing as he shoved his wallet into his pocket. “Jesus, Ma Belle, I’m takin’ you away for a few days, not droppin’ you into a swamp with a tent and wishin’ you luck.”
“That pause was disturbing.”
“You’ll survive.”
I watched him move around the room, gathering the last few things.
Nothing about him looked tense. He was the same Jasper who had teased me awake and called me wife as if he planned to do it every chance he got.
Yet I had spent nearly a year learning how much that easy humor could conceal.
He didn’t lie. That was one of the things I trusted most about him.
He could dodge a question until I wanted to scream and somehow answer without actually giving me what I asked for, but I had never caught him telling me something untrue.
If Jasper said he wanted a few days alone with me, I believed him.
I just wasn’t sure that was the only reason he had packed our bags before dawn.
By the time we slipped downstairs, I had dressed and convinced my body that walking normally was possible.
The Bourbon Bar looked as if the wedding had finally exhausted it.
Empty glasses and abandoned plates covered several tables, flowers leaned crookedly out of arrangements that had looked perfect hours earlier, and a tiny child’s shoe sat near the edge of the dance floor with no sign of its owner.
One of the Bourbon Kings slept beneath a blanket on the couch, his boots still on and one arm hanging toward the floor.
Jasper stepped around him without slowing. I followed with my shoes in one hand and whispered, “You’re suspiciously good at this.”
He looked back at me. “Walkin’?”
“Sneaking out before witnesses wake up.”
The grin he gave me suggested there were stories attached to that skill I might not need to hear. “I’ve lived a full life.”
“That wasn’t reassuring.”
“Wasn’t supposed to be.”
He reached the back door just as it opened from the other side.
Gator stood there holding two travel mugs, already dressed despite the hour, and behind him a dark SUV idled near the building.
Its back hatch was open, revealing a cooler, several grocery bags, bottled water, blankets, and enough supplies that my eyebrow rose before I could stop it.
I looked at Jasper, then at his cousin. “What did you two do?”
Gator pressed a hand dramatically against his chest. “Why does everybody always assume I did somethin’?”
“Experience,” Jasper said as he accepted one of the coffees.
“Fuck you, cousin.”
“Love you too.”
I folded my arms while the two men looked entirely too pleased with themselves. “Would either of you like to explain why Wade is waiting outside with a getaway car before the sun is up?”
Instead of explaining anything, Gator handed me the other cup. “Coffee.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Good coffee.”
I took a sip and discovered he was right. Apparently, he had either remembered how I took it, or Devlyn had told him. That should have made me appreciate the gesture. Instead, I narrowed my eyes at him because bribery was still bribery even when it contained caffeine.
Jasper moved to the SUV while Gator closed the hatch behind our bags. I was still examining the amount of food they had packed when Gator reached into his pocket and handed Jasper a cheap black phone. That caught my attention more than the cooler had.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
Jasper turned the phone over once before putting it in his pocket. “Makin’ it harder for everybody downstairs to ruin our peace and quiet.”
I thought about the phones we had left behind on Granny’s table when we escaped Rosewood. “We tried that already.”
“And somehow they still showed up at our weddin’.”
“They showed up because you tried to marry me without them.”
“Exactly. I learned from my mistake.”
Gator snorted. “No, you didn’t.”
Jasper gave him a look before turning back to me. “I want a few days where nobody knows exactly where we are every second, Ma Belle. That’s all.”
The answer made sense. After the last two days, the thought of waking up somewhere without anyone demanding explanations sounded almost perfect.
I still noticed the way Gator’s expression changed when he looked at Jasper, something quieter passing between the cousins before Gator told him the place was stocked and the boat was ready.
“You need anythin’, call me,” Gator added.
Jasper nodded. “I will.”
Gator looked toward the door behind us and grimaced. “And when Moman discovers I helped you disappear again, I’m tellin’ her Devlyn planned the whole thing.”
“Coward,” Jasper told him.
“Livin’ coward.”
I laughed despite myself and let Jasper guide me toward the SUV.