THIRTY-ONE
Augusta
Dawn light shone through the faded blinds of the motel window, my eyes fluttering open just as Fallon’s heavy palm made contact with the sensitive underside of my knees. He dusted his nose along the edge, grazing my thigh before his teeth nipped at the waistband of my panties and yanked, eliciting a squeal from my lips.
“Mornin’, sunshine. I’m hungry for breakfast, and I want all three courses between your thighs.” He caged me in his arms, the gravelly timbre of his voice sending my stomach spiraling.
This man. His words.
He’d been undoing me from the start with his words.
I arched beneath him, his heavy hands roaming up my torso before one palm cupped at my breast, thumb tracing my nipple as he slipped the other hand down the back of my panties and pushed them down my cheeks.
“Sounds promising.” I moaned, fingernails digging into his biceps as my heart hammered at a fever pitch, the rough sandpaper of his beard causing new and delicious sensations to rocket through my body.
“You don’t even know the half of it.” He locked his hands with mine, his body pushing its way down my torso, grating over every last delicious nerve, his effect on me spinning my head a little more out of control.
Lost in him.
I’d always been so utterly lost in this man.
“Spread those sweet knees, sunshine.”
I did what he ordered, anticipation making me his captive.
With his hands holding mine at my sides, he locked me to his body, mouth spread over the juncture of my legs as he moved his tongue against my skin, eliciting moans and whimpers of pleasure with each stroke.
He pressed the palm of his hand against my hips, holding me to him as his mouth glided around my core, devouring me in deft sweeps and swallowing me whole. Tremors of overwhelming pleasure and pain blasted through my body, shaking me from the inside out, rendering me speechless and stunned.
Before I could even begin to imagine what was on his mind, he was lifting me in his arms, locking my ankles around his waist and sliding inside, filling me with measured strokes and caressing the sensitive hollows of my throat with his lips.
“More, Fallon. Please more.”
He clutched at my back, angling his hips deeper, creating a new rhythm as we connected, rocking together, wrapped around each other limb for limb, life for life.
“You don’t know what it does to me, knowin’ all those desperate little whimpers are mine.” His rough beard skated across my breasts, my nipples tightening as our skin grew damp, the only noise what our bodies were making as we peeled away every layer. “I want more babies with you, Augusta Belle.” He scraped his teeth along the shell of my ear, hard chest rasping against mine before his fingers stole between us, rough pads spreading my damp flesh. “Want all the babies with you, sunshine.”
He pinched my aching flesh, sending a torrent of showers erupting through my body, stars splitting behind my eyelids, before his grip tightened at my waist. He held me close to him, body shaking as his own release pummeled through him.
I felt him flexing deep inside, our bodies softening as he pulled us down into the mountain of cotton that mounded the motel bed.
Violent breaths racked my body as the slow drag of his cock kissed every raw nerve, the sensation so intense soft pulses shuddered their way through my body. My emotions had already been strung tight the last month, the highs so beautiful, but some days it felt like I was waiting for the inevitable crash.
I snuggled against the only man who’d ever made me feel worthy, but the only thing I wanted was the one thing I couldn’t bear to ask because I was too afraid of the answer.
Could we stay?
“The smell of your skin makes my heart happy,” I whispered against the soft flesh of his tattooed bicep.
Fallon turned up his lips in something that was part grin, part frown, before he uncurled himself from my body and pushed out of the bed. “You’re biased. That means I need a shower.” He planted a kiss on the crown of my head.
Sunlight shot through the blinds, highlighting all the finely knit muscles and chiseled contours as he walked away, the padding of his feet on the carpet piercing the silence.
We’d been in Landry for nearly a month, Jack and Calvin welcoming us into their lives without a second’s hesitation.
And while things between Fallon and me had been better than ever—fevered late-night writing sessions and lovemaking, waiting for Jack at the bus stop in the afternoons—life had settled into its own rhythm.
But still, this giant, unspoken elephant seemed to exist between us, growing, pushing out the air.
We might have only been here for a month, but already I was thinking the next ten years in Landry looked pretty good, the idea of leaving Jack like a serrated knife working its way down my heart.
But Fallon, as attentive as he was, still seemed like he was missing something.
I didn’t know what was on his mind, but he constantly looked like he was in a state of flux, warring with sides of himself I wasn’t privy to.
The shower water halted then, and the near-silent sound of his footsteps was the only sign that he was back in the room with me.
I tucked the sheet around my bare body, sliding up to my knees as he neared the bed, white towel secured loosely at his waist, dark licks of ink slashing across the deeply etched muscles of his torso.
I loved him so much, but maybe he was a rolling stone through and through. Maybe he’d always need the road and the crowds to feed a part of himself that I, and Jack, couldn’t give.
I swallowed the slow ache that’d lodged in my throat as his hands pushed into the sides of my wild waves before placing quiet kisses on my forehead.
He didn’t say anything.
Neither did I.
I didn’t know what I could say.
Please don’t leave us.
Because, despite everything new we’d found, suddenly my priorities had shifted, Jack was now part of my us.
The ringing of my phone chose that moment to pierce the haunted silence, and Fallon’s hands dropped to his sides before he pulled a clean pair of worn-out jeans from a stack. The phone shook again, and this time, I stretched across the bed, holding it to my ear as I said a quick hello.
I listened silently, sounds of sheer fear lacing the voice on the other line. “Have you seen Jack?”
I swallowed, shaking my head as my heart fell on the floor. “No.”
“He left school at lunch and hasn’t been back. He’s never done this before. The school asked all his friends—” Calvin sounded bad. Scary bad.
My eyes shot across the room to Fallon’s, worry transcending the space. “We’ll do whatever we can. We can canvass all the neighborhoods from here to the school. Whatever you need from us. We’ll find him, Calvin, I promise.”
Fallon was pushing his boots onto his feet before I’d hung up the phone.
My stomach turned, the greatest fear I’d ever known materializing in a matter of an instant.
Fallon’s eyes searched my face, a frown twisting his features before he crossed the room, wrapping me in his arms and letting me unravel, piece by terrified piece.
“I’ll find him, Augusta Belle. Swear on my life, I won’t sleep till I find him.”
Adrenaline flooded my veins as fat tears streamed down my cheeks. Fallon’s thumbs attempted to push the salty tracks aside before I launched off the bed and across the room, throwing on the first pair of jeans I found, wiggling into a bra and then a tank top.
“Maybe you should stay here in case he shows up,” Fallon suggested.
I shook my head, rational decision-making no longer a part of my skill set, the holy terror of losing my son, not for the first time, settling into my bones. “I can’t just stand by while this…”
I pushed away more tears as I tried to tie my shoelaces.
“Augusta,” Fallon murmured, steady palms holding my shaking shoulders. “Take some deep breaths and lift your head up high. We’re gonna find him. Post yourself outside, keep your phone turned up, and I’m just gonna do a quick search around the school zone, okay? I’ll be back in thirty minutes to check on you, but you’ve got be ready to take my call, okay? Or if he comes here, just be ready. He needs you, sunshine.” Fallon nestled me into his neck. “We all do.”
I nodded, summoning my strength as we pushed through the door of the motel room, Fallon giving me one last kiss before he climbed into his truck and backed away.
I swallowed down my tears, grazing my teeth on my bottom lip, and looking down at my phone in my hand.
Without knowing what else to do, I pulled up my contacts, pressing Jack’s, the picture of all three of us smiling at the swimming hole a few weeks ago his contact photo.
I cried more happy-sad tears, pressing the speakerphone as the call began to ring. I waited, birds singing sweet songs in the Spanish moss-covered oaks around me, wind carryin’ all my hopes away with each passing second.
“‘Ello?”
“Jack?” I nearly shrieked, catching the phone in both hands at my face.
“Yeah?” His sweet little twang was like an angel singin’ in my heart.
“Where are you!”
He let out a little huff on the line. “Shoulda known Dad would call you.”
A hooded figure came around the corner, spiky blond hair and dark brown eyes sending tears of relief down my cheeks. “What, are you crazy?”
I pulled him into a hug, holding him so tightly I thought I might crush my own chest cavity. I didn’t care. I needed to feel him here, safe.
“You scared us.”
He nodded, pushing the hood off his head and dropping his backpack on the sidewalk before he plopped onto the nearest picnic table. “I just needed a break.”
“A break?” I sat down beside him. “I get that, buddy, but you’ve just got to tell people first.”
He swallowed, his eyes avoiding mine as he twisted his hands together.
“‘What’s on your mind? Did something happen today?”
He shook his head, troubled eyes conveying more than he was willing to say out loud.
“I’m gonna send your dad and Fallon a quick message, and then I want to know exactly what’s going on in that head of yours.”
“What if you’re mad?”
“I won’t be mad, Jack. Not ever. I might be worried, but I promise you that anger isn’t something you’ll get as long as you tell me the truth.”
He nodded again, breathing a reluctant sigh when I hit send on the two messages confirming Jack’s whereabouts.
“I’m just worried that I’m gonna get home from school someday and you won’t be here.”
His words hollowed out my soul, the sheer worry in his innocent little eyes leveling me. “That won’t happen, Jack.”
My voice was barely above a whisper, my promise to him as much as myself.
“But Fallon’s got his music. I know he doesn’t want a kid—”
“You don’t know what Fallon wants at all, Jack. And the best part, you don’t even have to worry about it. Fallon and I will work out all those adult things.”
The man of the hour pulled in then, bright white truck parking alongside us.
Fallon Gentry unfolded his big body from behind the wheel of his truck, a look of relief dominating every feature of his face.
He smiled, taking long strides to Jack and then placing a kiss on his head before wrapping me in a quick hug. “Scared the hell outta us for a minute, kid.”
Jack smiled weakly when Fallon plopped down beside him, crossing one ankle over a knee and cocking his arms back on the bench.
The way he filled up a space did things, swallowed up the energy around him. Drew people into his bubble like moths to a flame. It was exactly the thing the crowd witnessed all those nights he sat onstage, exactly why he’d made it so far in Nashville, and why he would have made it much further if he’d chosen that life.
But the longer he seemed to stew on what he wanted to do next, the more he seemed to be unhappy about it.
“I know someday you’re going to go back on the road,” Jack’s meek little voice finally admitted.
Fallon rubbed a hand through his beard, body still easy, casual. “Ever heard that sayin’ ’bout assumin’ things?”
Jack tilted his head, shaking it finally in confusion.
Fallon nodded. “Well, when you go assumin’ things, Jack—”
“I think he’s a little on the young side for this particular lesson,” I interjected, hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“What’s assumin’?” Jack scrunched up his cute little button nose, and I couldn’t help laughing.
“It means you’re wrong if you think I’m leavin’ anytime soon.” Fallon wrapped an arm around him. “Couldn’t get rid of me if you wanted to.”
Jack’s grin split his face, Fallon’s hand in his hair, messing up the cute little style he’d been rocking.
“But how’re you gonna make music?” Concern etched Jack’s small features, showing he’d put a lot of time into thinking about just this.
“It’s a new world, little man. Gotta lotta different options, and all of ’em involve me ’n’ Augusta livin’ right here next to you.”
Jack’s grin grew even wider, and he jumped up on the picnic table, cheering before Fallon stood and gave him double high fives.
“But you can’t go pullin’ stuff like this again. Scared your dad and us real bad, Jack.”
Jack leaped from the table, still smiling. “Promise I won’t.”
“Good.” Fallon slid an arm over his shoulders and pulled him in close for a hug. “Your dad asked me to bring you back to school. That sound okay, or is there anythin’ else that needs addressin’?”
Jack shook his head, beaming smile still etching his lips before he spun, running across the sidewalk to launch himself into my arms. I held him close, breathing in the fresh sunshine and sweet, sweet honey scent of his hair, more grateful for both the men in my life than I’d ever been.
Fallon’s warm embrace encompassed both of us, his lips brushing against my forehead. “Been thinkin’ maybe it’s time we settled down and bought a house. Thought in the morning maybe we could visit a few Realtors?”
I shot my eyes to his, speechless, and nodding. “Yes!”
He laughed, looping me in for a hug. “Well, at least I got one enthusiastic yes out of you.”
“Are you sure you’re ready? Weren’t you just sayin’ you weren’t the settlin’ type?”
He shrugged, pushing one hand into his beard as he thought. “That was then. Game’s changed now.”
“So it has,” I mused, sitting up a little straighter.
I had hope.
I had my boys.
There would be no taking either one of them away from me again.
If it meant becomin’ a permanent resident of Landry, then roll out the welcome wagon. I’d be a proud, flag-totin’ citizen of the great state of Mississippi. As long as I had these boys, my life would be complete.
My future, since the very first time I’d had Fallon, felt so bright.