Jaxon

The next morning the sunlight filtering into Jaxon’s room seemed strangely bright. He opened his eyes and grinned like a kid on Christmas morning at his view. Lucy—sleeping soundly, her wild auburn hair spread out around her like a crown of burnished fire.

The early morning light was streaming in through Jaxon’s window that was missing a shade thanks to his rampage the night before. He looked around his room surveying the damage. The place was a mess, but the only thing his eyes kept coming back to was the tiny body lying next to him on his mattress that was still settled on the floor in the center of his room where he’d flung it.

Jaxon was positive he could’ve stared at Lucy lying there forever. His fingers itched to trace patterns on her flawless golden skin and he longed to run his hands through the copper waves of her glossy hair. But he didn’t want to wake her. He didn’t want this perfect moment to end.

As if on cue, the dogs began to bark downstairs. Jaxon looked at the clock and swore grumpily under his breath. Those damn dogs must have internal alarm clocks built in. Ever since they were puppies they’d been getting up at exactly six in the morning, demanding breakfast. And unfortunately, today was Jaxon’s day to take care of them. He loved his dogs, really he did. But he’d rather face a zombie apocalypse than be dragged away from the goddess sleeping next to him at the moment.

Yawning, Jaxon slipped out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweats before hurrying downstairs to take care of the dogs before they woke the whole house up.

Lucy

Lucy woke with a start. She was in a strange bed, wearing next to nothing and there was an angry man shouting at her. She scrambled for the covers, pulling them around her as she tried to discern what the hell was going on, but the man wouldn’t stop shouting.

“Where is she? Tell me, right now. What did you do to my Alison?”

“Who?” Lucy asked trying to scramble away from the man’s accusing glare.

As the shroud of sleep lifted, Lucy realized she was in Jaxon’s bedroom. But she still couldn’t place the intruder. What the hell was wrong with this guy? Did he just wander in off the street? And where the hell was Jaxon?

The guy continued his charade. “Ali? Alison? Where are you, honey?”

“Dad!”

Lucy turned at the sound of Jaxon’s voice. He’d suddenly burst into the room with two gigantic yellow labs at his heels.

“Dad, come with me.”

Dad? Lucy’s heart fell to her feet. This was Jaxon’s father?

Jaxon reached for the man, but he shirked him off. “No. She’s hiding her. I know it,” Jaxon’s father bellowed, pointing a finger at Lucy. “Where’s my Alison?”

“Alison is dead, Dad.”

The man’s dark eyes swiveled to Jaxon and understanding flashed there, instantly replaced with despair. Then he crumbled into Jaxon’s chest and began to sob, murmuring incoherently, while Jaxon comforted him.

“I know, Dad,” Jaxon said quietly. “I miss her, too. Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”

Lucy watched in horror as Jaxon assumed the role that should be his father’s. When they’d left the room she pulled her knees to her chest, wanting to cry. Jaxon had mentioned that his father hadn’t dealt with the accident very well, but she’d never imagined anything like this.

She felt completely horrible. How did Jaxon manage all of this? All this time he had been worrying about her, helping with her recovery and taking care of his father. But who was taking care of Jaxon? A sick feeling settled in her stomach. Lucy had no idea what to do for Jaxon, but she knew there was no way in hell she was going to let him continue dealing with this on his own.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Jaxon said, finally returning to his bedroom. “I thought Conner was home. It’s his day. We have a strict schedule about who takes care of my father. That doesn’t normally happen,” he said, rubbing that back of his neck sheepishly.

Was Jaxon seriously apologizing? He had nothing to be sorry for. This wasn’t his fault and he shouldn’t have to take care of his father at all. It was supposed to be the other way around—parents were supposed to take care of their children.

Emotions swept through Lucy like a tidal wave. Was this why she felt such an indescribable connection to Jaxon? They’d both been let down by the people who were supposed to always be there to take care of them.

“Jaxon,” Lucy started, her voice tight with sympathy. “Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad?”

He shrugged off his sweatshirt and climbed back into bed, waving away her concern. “It’s not. He just gets confused sometimes.” He pushed an unruly wave of hair out of her face and kissed her lightly, already moving on like this wasn’t a big deal.

“Jaxon.” Lucy made herself pull away from his kiss even though she didn’t want to. She knew he was trying to distract her.

“Hmm?” he asked stroking her cheek tenderly.

“It’s not right.”

He grinned. “This feels pretty right,” he said, pulling her closer.

“No, not us. Your father. You can’t take care of everyone in your life. That’s not your job.”

Jaxon

Jaxon sighed, pulling away to scrub his hand over his face. It figured his father would choose today to pull a stunt like this. He was normally comatosed after having spent his day chasing whatever he thought lay at the bottom of a bottle. But still, Jaxon wasn’t one to gamble. He purposely hadn’t ever invited Lucy over to his place to avoid this very situation. He didn’t need his messed up family scaring her away.

If he’d been thinking, he wouldn’t have let her stay last night. He would’ve insisted they go to her place. But Jaxon was beyond thinking last night. Lucy had chosen him, and for a few blissful moments everything else faded away.

He looked at her sitting in his bed. She was still topless, his gray sheets tucked under her crossed arms, her pink lips pressed together in a firm line. Goddamn she was sexy when she was being stubborn. “Lucy, we don’t need to get into this right now.”

“Jaxon, yes we do. You can’t avoid problems or they just get worse, trust me.”

He knew she was referring to Alex. And he knew she was right. Plus, it didn’t seem like she was going to drop the issue so he finally gave in, flopping back against the mattress. “Come here,” he murmured tugging her closer. If he was going to get into this then he wanted Lucy by his side. Everything just felt better with her next to him.

She settled against his side, looping her good leg over his and slipping her slender arm across his bare chest. His arms encircled her and Jaxon closed his eyes reveling in the feeling of warmth and calm that settled over him when he held her like this. She was only wearing a pair of lace panties beneath the blankets and he was having a hard time focusing on what he needed to say. He took a deep breath. “What do you want to know?” he asked.

Lucy kept her head pressed against his hammering heart. “Everything,” she whispered. When Jaxon didn’t say anything, she looked up at him, her eyes full of compassion. “There’s nothing you can tell me that will change the way I feel about you.” Her voice was soft and steady. “I promise,” she said holding up her pinky finger to him.

Jaxon huffed a laugh, his lips quirking into a grin. Shit! Why was everything she did so damn adorable? He linked his pinky with hers and kissed her. And then he let it all out—as much as he could get through, anyway.

Talking about his parents was never easy, but with Lucy, it wasn’t as bad as he feared. She listened without interrupting as he told her about all the drama that transpired before the accident and the fall out that continued after.

His parents weren’t perfect. They were human, and people made mistakes. His father just happened to make more than most. He’d always had a drinking problem and it put a strain on his marriage. Jaxon’s mother was constantly after him to get it under control, threatening to leave if he didn’t shape up.

Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it seemed like his father actually made an effort to quit. But a few months before the accident his father was working a rough case—a double homicide. His drinking always got worse when things at work were stressful. When the drinking escalated, so did the fighting in Jaxon’s home, and this time his mother wasn’t bluffing. She packed up her things, went to stay with some friends and asked for a divorce.

Jaxon didn’t blame her. He knew that she tried to shelter him from a lot of their fighting. She must’ve felt so much unhappiness being married to his father while he chose alcohol over their family time and time again. But it never stopped her from being a good mother. She put up with a lot to take care of Jaxon and Conner when they were young. Jaxon loved her for that, but he also felt guilty. Like maybe she would have left their father earlier if she didn’t feel she needed to stick it out for her children.

“I guess twenty years or so putting up with my father’s addiction was all she could take.”

“So they got divorced?” Lucy asked.

“They never got a chance. My father was determined to win her back. He really seemed to be getting his shit together, too. He quit drinking, took on less cases at work, saying he wanted to prove he was committed to his family. Then the accident happened.”

Lucy stilled in Jaxon’s arms, waiting for him to continue. He wanted to go on. But every time he tried to get the words out it felt like an icy hand had reached into his chest and wrapped around his heart. Sensing his struggle, Lucy stroked her hand soothingly down his chest, helping ease some of his tension. Reliving the accident was still torturous, but Lucy being so close made it easier.

“We were broadsided on the way home from one of my basketball games. My father drove separate and by the time he got to the scene, my mother was already gone. I think . . . I think not being able to make things right with her . . . it broke him. He just stopped caring. He didn’t go to work, he didn’t pay the bills. All he did was drink and that’s how we ended up here. Conner called Uncle Steven and we moved here to try to pick up the pieces.

“Dad still has bad days, but they’re less now. Uncle Steven got him to see a doctor. He’s taking something for the depression. We’ve got a good routine going. One of us is always around to check on him. He still hasn’t kicked the drinking, but Steven says he’s gotta want to do that one on his own.” Jaxon shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe he’ll hit rock bottom one of these days and finally see he’s wasting his life. It just sucks, ya know?”

Lucy nodded.

“That accident changed my life. I wish everyday that it didn’t take my mother from me, but I can’t change that. All I can do is learn from it. Which is that life is short and we have to go after what we want and not take anything for granted.”

Lucy reached up and stroked Jaxon’s cheek. Her own were tearstained. “I love you,” she whispered.

He pulled her close. “I love you, too. So much.”