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“Fuck yeah, come for me one more time, Beautiful,” he commanded.
Reese cried out his name over and over, like a prayer and damnation, as the walls of her core constricted around his cock.
Watching her come as she cried out his name was too hot for Cash to hold out. Thrusting again, he emptied himself inside the nirvana he knew his body would crave until the day he died. Still grappling for breath, Cash rolled off Reese, pulling her to his side. A satisfied grinning lit his face when she curled into him, placing a shaky hand on his chest.
“Gotta get a towel to clean you,” he dropped a kiss on Reese’s head a few minutes later.
Reese could hear the water running. Scrubbing her hands over her face, she knew this was going to be more complicated than she thought it would be. The urge to confide her problems was getting more difficult to tamp down. There was only one way out of this, she reminded herself. She had to run and hide Mav until he was old enough that his father and grandfather couldn’t take him. Three years on the run. Well, two years and a few weeks, not that it made much difference.
“You okay?” Cash asked, standing beside the bed holding a towel.
“Yeah,” Reese was grateful for the distraction.
Cash pressed the warm towel between her legs, cleaning away the evidence of their time together. Carelessly tossing it onto the bathroom floor, he climbed back into bed beside her. “Come here,” he beckoned. “I want to sleep with you beside me.”
Curling into his side, Reese rested her head on his shoulder and her hand over his heart. Cash sank his hand into her hair, and the other went behind his head. Reese laid as still as she could until his hand quit flexing in her hair and his breathing evened out. Time slipped by as she watched him sleep. The moon was up as far as it was getting in the sky when Reese untangled his hand.
Slipping from his bed, she looked one more time at the man sleeping blissfully unaware of what was happening. The urge to wake him up and tell him everything struck her hard. It wasn’t Cash’s responsibility to keep Mav safe. It was hers. She was his mother. There was no need to drag him into this when the only thing he did was move in across the street from her. Cash didn’t need to deal with her mess or help her clean it up. Reese had a plan, and now it was time to put that plan into action.
After a quick search for her bra, she decided to leave it behind. Silently, Reese slipped down the stairs to gather her clothes out of the living room. When she was dressed, she opened the front door, locking it as she closed it behind her. Something about the final click of the lock had tears running down her face before she could check them.
Hurrying across the street, Reese let herself in the front door. Moving through her house quietly was a piece of cake. She knew her home inside and out. After a shower and dressing in comfortable traveling clothes, she grabbed a notepad from her desk. She still had to write Pappy a note. Jotting down a few words, she crumpled it up and started again.
“Pappy, the house is yours as long as you need it. I will take care of the mortgage and send money when I can. Please don’t look for me. Sorry, I can’t explain, love your favorite granddaughter,” Reese read back. “That will have to do.”
Taking the note and their bags, Reese headed down the stairs again. Carefully letting herself out the kitchen door, she deposited the bag she packed for Mav and herself in the trunk of the car. Looking over at Cash’s house caused more heartache than she thought it would. “I have to go,” she reminded herself out loud. “It isn’t his problem. He can move on and someone wonderful.”
Returning to the house, she placed the note on the kitchen table and put her purse on the counter. Reese looked around her spotless kitchen. The sleepless nights worrying about how the bills would get paid, the extra shifts she picked up to get Mav new shoes again, and the little everyday things that wove through her mind had her heart cracking. Reese would cherish the memories of their time here, but her time had slipped away without her knowing. if-only she had the money to stay and fight.
Sneaking back up the stairs, she managed to rouse Mav enough to get him out of the room before Pappy woke up.
“Come on, Mav,” she whispered in his ear. “I have a surprise for you. I need you to get in the car.”
Mav nodded in sleepy agreement. Even half-asleep, his feet sounded like thunder on the stairs. Reese held her breath, listening to see if her son woke up Pappy. When no noise came from the bedroom, Reese followed him down the stairs for the last time.
She found Mav slumped against the counter, almost asleep again. Tucking her purse under her arm and keys in her hand, she guided Mav out the door and into the passenger seat. He was snoring before she got in the driver’s side.
Starting her car, she backed out the drive, letting the tears flow unchecked as she took a moment to look back at the house she worked so hard to buy. The day was caught between night and dawn as she put the car in gear, watching in the rear-view mirror until she couldn’t see her house anymore. Sobs silently wracked her body as she headed for the interstate.
Chapter 12
“Mom, where are we going?” Mav asked for the millionth time.
“We are going on an adventure,” Reese answered.
“Why?”
“Because we need some time together.”
“Did you get in a fight with Cash?”
“No.”
“Did you get in a fight with Pappy?”
“No, Mav. I am not fighting with anyone.”
Reese wondered if it would be too much to ask if he could just go back to sleep. She hadn’t even made it to the next town before he started peppering her with questions. She hit the pothole everyone tried to avoid on the way out of Nelsonville. Mav’s eyes popped open, and it had been downhill after that.
