Piecing Together Sydney (A Sydney West Novel Book 3) (18 page)

How true those words were. I was never going to let Jason go. No matter what. He was my strength, my courage, and my light in the darkest of times. And now he was going to be my husband.

Everyone kept hugging Jason. His mom broke down in tears and sobbed as if he was a lost little boy who was found after being kidnapped and not a grown man taken for days by a crazed bitch. I knew everyone missed Jason, but I wanted him alone so I could fuck his brains out.

“My baby…” His mom would not let him go.

Jason took my hand and pulled me into the hug. His mom wrapped her left arm around my waist and cried on her son’s shoulder. He gave me an apologetic smile, but his silver eyes were hooded with naughtier thoughts, as if he’d rather be doing something else with me. That boy’s mind was on sex too. I knew my favorite summer boy like I knew myself.

Kylie entered the hug, and then my mom. All the arms twisted around bodies, and it was hard to tell who I was hugging anymore. Hunter joined in as well. Amelia didn’t want to get too involved, probably for the baby’s sake, but she did put an arm around my shoulders, doing an odd side hug during a huge group hug. We were a human ball of emotion in my living room.

After what seemed like fifteen minutes, we broke free. Amelia was able to give me a proper hug. “I knew Sydson would live on,” she said, sniffing. “Now I need to eat a sandwich.” She sighed, rubbing her belly. “You want one?”

I looked over at Jason. He was a few feet away. Ellie fixed his hair like he was a child again. It was cute how she fussed over him. My mom walked by and gave me a bone crushing hug before going over to Ellie and getting her to leave poor Jason alone for a second. My mom was glued to me when I first got back, but thankfully she stopped trying to hug me to death a couple hours ago. Now she hugged me randomly.

Jason was now alone. I had my window to be with him finally.

“No, thanks. You enjoy your sandwich though…”

Amelia looked at me then Jason and laughed. “You’re a hopeless romantic like me now, Syd.”

I was more erotic than romantic, but whatever. I was a lot different than last summer. All I wanted to do was kiss Jason, feel his warmth under my fingertips, taste his skin on my tongue, and mold my body to his.

Jason walked over to me, raking a hand through his short hair to mess up what his mom did. “Hey, Syd.” He kissed me on the lips. I opened my mouth for more. Our tongues danced as I ran my nails down his back.

“Hey, Jason,” I whispered between our lips. His eyes were still red and his face bruised, but inside him, that fire I loved was back; no, it was more like a raging wildfire. That slut couldn’t break Jason and me. She was the ultimate test, and we passed with flying colors.

He pressed his forehead to mine. “I’m glad I’m home with you. Like I said earlier, I never should have stormed out. Lizzie was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. She taped you after having you drugged with E and—”

Anger prickled in my veins remembering what happened that night. “Baby, it’s not your fault. Gaby is immature like I was, and Lizzie is a name I’d like to forget.”

“But Lizzie gave Gaby the E…”

I moved back and knew my face twisted into something horrific, like I’d seen a monster. “What?”

Jason’s thumb touched my bottom lip. His eyes moved slowly as if he was memorizing my face like a painting in a museum. “She bragged about how she convinced Gaby to loosen you up and gave her the pills to put in your drink. Claimed it took a few minutes to talk her into it, and then your friend caved, saying you’d done it before, so what was the harm and—”

I squeezed my eyes shut and inhaled air through my nose and out my mouth to keep from getting pissed. Gaby should’ve looked out for me, yet took pills from a stranger to drug her friend? One day, that girl better grow the hell up and learn partying wasn’t the way to live life.

“Jason, I never wanted to kiss him. That drug put me into overdrive, and I felt so guilty afterwards. Then you were so cold, and I swore my heart was going to fall back into its ice cave and—”

He put his warm hand over my chest where my heart was. “Your heart will never go cold with me around. I swear we’ll talk through everything from now on. No more walking away to think.”

I dug my fingers into his lush hair. “After all, communication is key…or so say my psych classes.”

Jason took my hand, and we went upstairs to talk, away from the crowd of happy chatter.

“Syd…” He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked down at his hands in his lap.

“What, baby?” I closed the door and knew we weren’t going to give into temptation. We
were
going to talk…privately.

“If you need to talk about anything that happened, I’m here. I know the cops cleared you for any wrong doing in shooting and killing Lizzie, after all, it was in self-defense, but it’s not healthy to keep things bottled up. I don’t…” He trailed off, glancing over to my side of the bed where Scooby-Doo sat on my pillow. Seeing that stuffed dog brought a smile to his handsome face. “I never want to lose you. We’re meant to be together forever, like that carving on the tree in—”

“Hey…” I walked over to him. His legs parted so I could stand before him and cup his face in my hands. “Don’t you worry about me, okay? The bitch deserved that bullet. I don’t feel guilty about pulling the trigger. You can talk to me too. I don’t know what happened during those three days and—”

He placed a finger to my lips. “Right now, let’s enjoy being together. Later down the road, we’ll deal with all the traumatic shit that happened to us.”

I nodded. “Deal.”

He laid his cheek against my left hand. I traced his jawline with my right pointer finger. As I bent down to kiss one of the cuts by his mouth, there was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” I barked, unhappy someone wanted to interfere on our reunion.

Kylie opened the door and came in. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I…” She looked over at the window and then down at the cell phone in her hand.

I turned my body around to study her profile. She seemed nervous, not wanting to look at us and pulling on the hem of her shirt with her free hand like she didn’t want to be in the same room with us.

Jason drew me toward him and rested his chin on my left hip so he could see his sister. “What’s wrong, K? You can tell me.”

She licked her lips and rubbed the phone’s screen on her breast like it was important it was clean that second. “Well…I know you’re still pissed at dad, but he’d like to talk to you. He was worried too and…” Kylie looked down at the phone again, as if making sure she got all the smudges off.

He froze behind me. The hand that was playfully going up and down my leg ceased. I wanted to twist around and take his pain away. He didn’t need to think of his lowlife father on top of all this.

“Kylie, maybe Jason needs more—”

“It’s okay, Syd.” Jason nudged me to the side so he could stand up. “Kylie, you can call Daniel. I’ll let him know I’m fine.”

She bristled at their dad’s name, but nodded. “He’ll be happy to hear your voice.” She hit the call button and handed over her phone.

Jason put it to his ear. I leaned back on the dresser, being careful where I placed my hands so I didn’t knock any of my perfume bottles off.

He looked over at me and pain flashed through his eyes. “Syd, could you go with K, please?”

It felt like he threw cold water on me.
Go outside? Why couldn’t I hear the conversation with his estranged father?

Perhaps he doesn’t want you to witness him break down, or maybe he’ll snap at the man again. Either way, he deserves time alone.

I agreed with my inner voice and went out into the hall with Kylie. She gave my arm a squeeze and moved to go back down the stairway.

“Wait…” I glanced at the closed bedroom door and moved closer to Kylie so I could talk softly. “How was your dad when…you know…”

She hugged herself and kicked the carpet, as if wondering if she should let me into their family drama. “I visited him on the first day Jason was gone, and he was a wreck. He wanted to drive down all the streets and go to the media. That was also when I got to meet…Jared for the first time.” A pout came to her scarlet lips, and her shoulders dropped. The poor girl didn’t seem to take having another brother well, either.

I wanted to hug her, but didn’t know if she’d let me. “I’m sorry you had to meet him like that. How—”

She whipped her hair back and blinked a few times, trying to fight back the tears in her watering eyes. “At first, I was pissed. He was my daddy first, you know?” She lifted her left shoulder and wiped away a tear that escaped her hold. “He left us and started a new family. Never called, no birthday cards, nothing. I was his princess, and he was my role model for how to find out how a man should treat a woman. He was supposed to play ball with…” She flicked her eyes at the bedroom door. “Instead, he was the soccer coach for Jared. He went to all his games and will see him graduate high school.” A sinister tone took over her voice, as if she wanted to curse her father. “You know, one of the reasons I never thought of marriage was because I knew my dad couldn’t be there for me, and to think he was off—” Her voice cracked. The girl who played the part of big sister and dad defender had snapped. She slid down the wall, sobbing.

I sat next to her and coaxed her into my lap so I could run my hand through her hair and calm her like Amelia and my mom did for me when I was falling apart. “Shh, Kylie. You’re not alone. I think I was the same way. My father disappeared into himself. The drugs ate him. After what I saw with my parents, I told myself love was fake, a big lie people passed down to their kids. But your brother is wonderful and showed me love
is
real. He’s sweet and caring, and he got it from your mom. You’re like her too: strong, independent, and beautiful.”

She forced herself up and leaned her head back on the wall. “Why are dads so shitty to their kids? Why did they have to fuck us up?”

I bumped my shoulder with hers. “I wish I knew, but we’re better people despite what they did. They have to deal with losing us. My father died never knowing me. We’ll never have the chance to get to know each other. He’s not going to walk me down the aisle to Jason next week. But—” My voice betrayed me and dropped off. I choked on a sob, but had to keep going. “You can maybe have that second chance though, you and Jason. I’d like a do-over too, so I hope this opportunity isn’t wasted. I pray your dad sees what an asshole he was by leaving behind two wonderful kids because he couldn’t handle a divorce.”

Kylie snaked her arms around me, and we cried together on the floor. We were both broken hearted girls. Our fathers were the first to crack our faith in men.

Jason came out of the bedroom and found us on the ground in a mess of tears and snot. His eyebrows met in confusion. “What did I miss?”

“This is the broken-kids-thanks-to-our-shitty-dads club,” I said, holding my hand out to him. “Join us.”

He scratched his head and moved to sit next to me. His long, protective arms wrapped around Kylie and me. He didn’t sob like we did, but a few tears did fall down his cheeks.

“Kylie? Sweetie? Can you help me with dinner?” Ellie called out from downstairs.

“Coming!” she shouted back. Kylie wiped her tears away with the back of her hands and forced herself to her feet. “Thanks, Syd. I’m glad you’re going to be my sis soon.” She lightly kicked Jason’s leg. “I love you, little bro. You’re my favorite.” She gave him a sad smile.

He gave her one in return. “Thanks K. I love you too.”

She straightened her shirt and checked her appearance in the hall’s mirror before going down the stairs.

I leaned against Jason, looking up at the shell picture across from us. “So…what happened on the phone?”

He placed said phone in front of us. “Daniel only wanted to say he was glad I was safe, that we were both safe and that he loved me…blah, blah, blah.” He paused, putting an arm around my waist. “This whole ordeal got me thinking that it’s asinine to stay mad at him. It’s his fault for leaving, and I shouldn’t let the anger eat at me. Like you said, it’s not good to live with. So…” He rested his chin on the crown of my head. “I invited him to our wedding.”

I felt like a livewire bit me. “You did?” I couldn’t keep the shock out of my voice.

It took a life or death event, another one, for him to forgive his father? At least he knows it would help heal his wounds.

“Yeah, him and his wife and…Jared, if he wanted to bring them along. You okay with a few extra guests?”

The high road. Jason is forgiving his father, and we are getting married. Damn, we sure hit adulting fast this year.

“Of course I’m okay with it. I’m proud of you, baby.”

He held me so tightly it felt like he was trying to absorb me so we could truly be one. “I’m proud of you too, Syd. We’ve come far this past year, you and me. Just think of what we can do with the years to come.”

I felt warm and gooey inside. We could do anything together, and forever laid ahead of us like the open road.

“I can’t wait—”

“Dinner!” Amelia shouted from downstairs.

I kissed Jason on the lips and got up. “Come on, baby. We’ll eat, mingle some, and then everyone will go home. Well, Amelia and Hunter will be here. But fuck them. They’re going to have to deal with…us…” I helped him to his feet and playfully grabbed his cock. “This is mine,” I whispered as he took a sharp breath.