Millie
After another quick round of sex, Jesse and I made our way back to the house. We walked back in silence, but it was comfortable. Jesse wasn’t ignoring me because he was regretting what we’d done. At least I didn’t think he was. He’d winked at me as we’d got dressed and then as we sneaked past the bunk house he held my hand, dragging me along. He hadn’t let go straight away, only as we approached the barn near to the house.
“Oh bugger,” I hissed. “I need to get something from my boxes to take in.”
“Ah fuck, I forgot about that.” Jesse looked to the house and then the barn. “Hey, don’t worry about it, they were going up when I left.”
“How long have we been gone?”
He fished his phone out of his pocket and looked at it. “Shit, almost an hour and a half.”
“Oh God, your mum is going to know exactly what we’ve been up to,” I groaned.
I could see from the light of his phone that Jesse was a little perplexed.
“Firstly, she’s sleeping and secondly, why would she even think that something was going on between us?”
“Oh shit,” I muttered, looking down at the ground.
“Millie?” Jesse ducked his head to look up at me.
“She knows about us.” I grimaced and chewed on my bottom lip. “She saw us against the barn that day.”
“You have got to be joking,” he hissed.
I shook my head. “And she knows something happened while they were away. She found the broken dish and bottles in the rubbish.”
“How the fuck does some trash prove that I fucked you?” he asked incredulously.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “She’s a very astute woman, obviously.”
“Did you tell her?” he demanded.
“No! I didn’t tell her, why would I do that?”
There was no way I would have risked my job by telling Bonnie that I’d shagged her son in her kitchen. Thankfully, she’d taken it well, but that was probably because she had no idea about what had gone down on the family breakfast table.
“I don’t know, maybe you thought you’d get her on your side and she’d persuade me that we should be something more than fuck buddies.”
My mouth dropped open as I stared up at him. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me,” he replied, widening his stance and putting fisted hands to his hips.
“I think I heard you say that I told her because I’m desperate to be more than your fuck on the side.”
“Those were not my words, Millie.” Jesse shook his head and sighed.
“They may as well have been, you egotistical prick.”
“Seeing us against the barn, yeah, I can understand that, but how the hell does she know what happened while they were getting Auntie Ruby? Come on Millie, you tell me.”
He inclined his head, putting a cupped hand behind his ear waiting to hear what I had to say.
“I did not tell her, she put two and two together by the words that I used, and she asked if the rubbish had anything to do with it,” I hissed in a controlled tone, despite the fact that I was actually boiling inside.
“So you did tell her. Fucking great.” Jesse waved his arms in the air and made to go to the house.
“I didn’t actually say the words,” I snarled. “I said we’d never done anything when Addy was around. She had already said she’d seen us by the barn, but assumed that you were just kissing me.”
Jesse turned and stalked back to me. “Well to me that’s as good as telling her. Great, Millie, just great. Now I’m going to be getting a damn lecture every day on why I should just move on from my wife and give you and me a chance. Well let me tell you this, sweetheart.” Jesse moved closer and pointed a finger close to my face. “It ain’t happening. You will never take her place, no matter how much you suck up to my Mom or ingratiate yourself with my daughter. You may be a great fuck, Armalita, but that’s it.”
With that, he stormed off and ran up the porch steps, letting himself into the house, with a slam of the door. I stood frozen to the spot, not able to move or process what had just happened. The horrible words that had spewed from his mouth had left me feeling sick to my stomach. The tears fell slowly, and the crushing pain of my heart took my breath away. Standing alone in the silence of the night, I swiped at the wetness on my cheeks and decided that Jesse Connor didn’t deserve to be happy, and I hoped he never found peace.
The next day, I woke up surprisingly refreshed. Despite how upset I’d been, I’d slept really well, better than I had done in days. Evidently, Jesse’s snide comments were no match for his sexual prowess when it came to my sleeping habits.
That being said, I was still in a rage with him and I was thankful he hadn’t shown his face at breakfast. According to Bonnie, he’d gone out early with the boys before coming back to the corral mid-morning. Thankfully, I had no reason to go around there, so steered clear, because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold my temper.
Then, at lunch time, I was given the opportunity to find out. I had just set out Addy’s lunch on the table, when the door burst open and Jesse stomped in.
“Mom!” he shouted, ignoring Auntie Ruby who was dozing in the recliner. “Mom!”
“She’s not here,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
“Hey, Daddy,” Addy said, offering him her lips.
Jesse bent down and kissed her. “Hey, baby. Where’s your granma?”
Addy shrugged. “Don’t know.”
Jesse gave an exasperated sigh and stalked over to the refrigerator and took out a jug of lemonade and filled a glass.
“I know where Bonnie is,” I said.
Jesse continued to look out of the window. “Where?”
I moved up beside him, took the jug of lemonade from where he’d left it and put it back where he’d got it from.
“Well, if you had the manners to look at me, I might tell you,” I replied quietly so that Addy couldn’t hear.
“Just tell me. I’m not in the mood for your games, Millie.”
“Oh go fuck yourself, Jesse,” I hissed. “Hey, Addy sweetie, make sure you eat all your sandwich.”
“Okay, Millie,” Addy sing-songed as she took a huge bite of her sandwich.
I started to run some water into the sink to wash Auntie Ruby’s lunch plate, and some other dishes. Squeezing in some detergent, my back stiffened as Jesse stood behind me.
“I think you’ll find it was you I fucked, Millie.”
He took hold of my elbow and slowly turned me to face him. He then reached around me and turned off the water, allowing his fingers to touch my forearm as he pulled his hand back. My traitorous body let me down as my skin goose bumped and my breathing hitched. Jesse lifted a hand and picked something off my shoulder. I tried to take a step backwards, but my back was already against the sink.
“Okay, Millie,” he said quietly. “Where is my mom?”
My eyes narrowed on him and I really wanted to slap his stupidly handsome face. There was dust on his cheek bones, his hair was mussed up and his shirt sleeves were rolled up to display his tanned forearms. How dare he stand here with his damn arm-porn?
I took a deep breath and pushed my shoulders back. “She’s gone to Knightingale with Garratt. He’s heard that the bank are recruiting for their management program that starts in October.”
Jesse looked at me quizzically. “And Garratt went willingly?”
“It was his idea.” I knew that Garratt only wanted a job to help get the capital for his dating website idea, but I wasn’t sure Jesse did.
“Thought he wanted to start up some damn website?”
There was my answer.
“He does but needs money to do it.”
I moved to turn back to the dishes in the sink, but Jesse put a hand on my shoulder.
“Does Mom know what he’s up to?” he asked.
“Contrary to what you believe, Jesse, I don’t tell your mother everything. Now if you don’t mind, I have things to do.”
He leaned around me and looked in the sink. “Yep, I can see you’ve got important business to attend to.”
I didn’t say anything, but curled my lip and turned away from him, giving a little huff.
“Did you just sigh at me?” he whispered in my ear.
My heart stuttered as I turned my head to look at him.
“Go away,” I whispered. “Your presence offends me.”
Jesse opened his mouth to say something, closed it again, shook his head, and burst out laughing.
“Fuck me,” he muttered and walked away, giving Addy another kiss as he passed her.
Well, at least when I left here at the end of my year I could say I’d actually made Jesse Connor laugh – miracles would never cease.