After Us (Next Generation #6) - J.M. Walker Page 0,70

Looking back out at the road ahead of us, I wished I could have taken her away. To go back to Paris and start over.

“Why do I feel like it isn’t enough?” she murmured.

My head whipped around. She was staring out the window, her hand tight in mine that was currently gripping her inner thigh.

“It has to be enough,” I finally said.

“What if it isn’t? What if it means that we’re not meant to be together? What if—” Her eyes shone.

I brought her hand up to my mouth because, truth was, I had no idea what to say. She was right. She was always fucking right. What if this wasn’t enough? What if our love couldn’t sustain the shit that life threw at us? What if it only got worse and we couldn’t handle it and it broke us apart?

“Piper.” I gave her hand a tug.

She turned toward me. A shaky sigh left her. She moved closer, leaning her head against my shoulder.

“I’m not going anywhere, baby.”

“Neither am I, Jaron.” Piper sighed. “Neither am I.”

Piper

Jaron had been on edge the whole time after we picked up Brynlee. He hardly said anything, even when we went to my parents’ place. I wondered if they noticed he had been acting differently. I wasn’t sure what all was said between him and Ashton or even Vince. I tried asking but he just brushed it off and that familiar tick in his jaw became more pronounced. The tiny hairs on my body tingled under his intense scrutiny. It only seemed to get worse as the minutes trickled by.

When we got home, he muttered something about putting Brynlee to bed. I gave her a kiss on the head and watched as he walked away with her in his arms.

There was a war going on inside of him. Although he felt like he had to deal with it on his own, he didn’t. I would help him battle whatever demons he was trying to fight. We hadn’t talked about what happened to him in jail. I wanted to ask but at the same time, I didn’t want to fight with him anymore. But I wanted to help him. God, did I ever want to help him.

Jaron was a private man. Especially when it came to the things going on inside his head.

I wished I could get him to open up about everything. Maybe in time. But for now, all I could do was give him whatever it was that he needed.

While Jaron was putting Brynn to bed, I decided to get ready for bed myself. When I was pulling on my tank top, I felt warm arms wrap around me, followed by a kiss to the neck.

I sighed, dropping the hem of the shirt and leaning back against Jaron.

He held me against him, hugging me from behind. “I’m sorry. For everything. I’m sorry for not being able to talk. I’m just…”

I turned around and snaked my arms around his shoulders. “Enough is enough. We have time and I’m here for the long haul. Whenever you are ready, I’m here but for now we can just be us and that is enough.”

“What do you want to do instead?” he asked, his voice low.

I placed my hand over his heart. “I want you to make love—”

Before I could get the rest of the sentence out, Jaron crushed his mouth to mine. He lifted me in his arms, carrying me over to the bed and dropping me gently on top of it.

Breaking the kiss, he ripped his shirt up and over his head.

I swallowed hard, staring up at him.

“I’m not going to make love to you, Piper.” He crawled onto the bed, kneeling between my spread legs. Towering over me, he placed a soft peck on my forehead. “Ask me what I’m going to do.”

“W-What are you going to do?” I asked, my heart hammering behind the walls of my rib cage.

“I’m going to fucking own you.” Jaron flipped me onto my stomach and ripped my shorts off of my lower body, before sinking his teeth into the cheek of my ass.

I yelped, fisting the blankets beneath me.

“Are you ready for me, baby?”

I looked at him over my shoulder. “I want you. All of you.”

“Good.” He cracked a hand against my ass, and I knew, God, I knew, there was no way in hell that I would come out of this without some marks on my damn soul.

***

(Jaron)

I was brought back to that night in Paris. The night that