so damn much. I don’t want anything else to come between us.”
“I missed you too.” My stomach flipped at his confession.
He lifted his head, giving me a small smile. “I know.”
“Thank you.” I cupped his face. “Thank you for saving me.” My mind went back to that night. It felt like just yesterday that I was attacked by someone who was supposed to be a friend. Jaron walked in and stopped it from going further than what it did. But it still fucked both of us up.
“No.” Jaron kissed the tips of my fingers. “That was nothing. I would do that over and over again, go back to jail, stay there for the rest of my life, if it meant keeping you safe.”
“God, Jaron. I can’t…you’ve only been back not even a day yet and I feel…” My eyes welled. Damn him for making me cry. Again.
“Hey.” He pulled me off the bed and onto his lap, wrapping his arms around me. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere and I’m sorry for not letting you come visit me in jail.”
“It hurt too much.” I sighed, my chin quivering. “I get it. But I needed you. I had everyone here, but I still felt so alone.” I picked at a fuzz on his hoodie.
Jaron leaned his forehead against mine. “I know that feeling. I have to say that this is unnerving. It’s so damn quiet. I’m not used to this.”
I leaned back, searching his face. I never once thought how he would feel since getting released. I just assumed that he would be fine and could go on with his day-to-day life. “I had no idea.”
He shrugged. “I had no idea either. No one tells you how it’s going to be once you’re out. It’s why a lot of people who have been in jail for years, end up committing suicide. The world has changed for them. Technology is more advanced. The world is faster. Their loved ones are no longer there for them. It’s hard.”
“That’s sad.”
“It is.” He ran his hands up and down my arms. “I met a guy who was getting released a month after I had been there. He was in jail for over thirty years and didn’t want to be released, so he ended up killing a guard to get more time put on his sentence.”
“Wow. I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”
Jaron looked me square in the eye. “I would have done the same thing. If I knew that you weren’t going to wait for me, there would have been no point in getting released.”
I shook my head. “Never. I’m here. I’ve always been here.”
He kissed my nose. “I know.”
“Who is she?” I heard myself ask.
He stiffened. “No one important.”
“Jaron.” I latched on to him when he went to pull out from beneath me. “Listen, I’m not going to freak out. I just want to know who she is.”
Jaron met my gaze. “An ex.”
My heart dropped to the floor beneath me. “Oh…was she before…”
“She was long before Paris if that’s what you’re asking me.” Jaron wrapped his arms around me and stood, keeping me in his embrace. “She works at Rouge.”
My eyes widened. “The club Gigi teaches at?”
Jaron nodded. “Candace is the owner, along with her husband.”
Gigi talked about the club often, but I never heard her mention Candace’s name. But I also hadn’t been around much since she started teaching there. Our friend was a dance instructor after blowing her knee out several years ago. Clearly, I needed to get out more.
“We would stop by there whenever we were in her part of the city. Before you, I was bored. I had an itch that needed scratching and I used her.” Jaron wrapped his arms tighter around me.
“Did she scratch the itch?”
He grunted, carrying me out to the living room. “Not even close, baby.” He sat us on the couch, keeping me in his arms.
I pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around us. “Did you love her?”
“No. She was convenient. She was also married. Still is. Her and her husband have a fucked up relationship. He found out about me and didn’t do anything.”
“Really?” How could her husband be fine with that? “I know that if it were you, you definitely wouldn’t be fine if I…”
“If you what?” Jaron asked, his body stiffening.
“Fucked someone else.”
“Get that thought out of your head, Piper, because you are mine. And mine only. Understand me?”
I shivered at the deep vibrato