me and it took every ounce of self-control I had to take a step back from Ally … and her roaming hand.
“Come on, Ally,” I protested.
“What?” she said, giving me a clueless look, which we both knew was fake.
I hated when she acted like she didn’t know what I was talking about.
“You know what … don’t do that. Look, if you don’t want to go with me, just say so, but I’d really like it if you did. We don’t have to stay long,” I said, hoping the compromise would get her to say yes. “Then we can go to my place afterwards and finish what we started.”
Ally gave me the little pout she put on when she wanted to get her way and asked, “Promise?”
There’d been subtle changes in her since my mom woke up. Expressions and reactions to things that made her seem more like the girls in school I’d always avoided, than the Ally I’d grown to love.
But since I knew I’d been distracted a lot lately and she wasn’t getting my undivided attention like usual, I decided to ignore it for the most part.
“Yeah,” I assured her, grabbing her hand in mine. “What do you say?”
“Okay, but I fully expect you to go down on me later as payback.”
I grinned and my dick became so hard it was almost painful.
“It’ll be my pleasure,” I said, because it totally fucking would. “Let’s go.”
We walked around and I opened the door before helping her up into the Jeep.
“Thanks for doing this, baby, you’re the best,” I said as we pulled out of the parking lot.
Once we got to the hospital and were riding the elevator up to my mom’s floor, I took her hand in mine once again and grinned at her.
The look on Ally’s face was strange, but I simply chalked it up to nerves over meeting my mom for the first time.
She’d met my dad and I’d met her parents, but this felt different.
When we walked in, my mom was standing by the window looking outside. Rather than using her walker, she was leaning against the sill and I wondered if she’d walked over from the bed, and if that meant her legs were getting stronger.
Maybe she’d get to come home soon.
I cleared my throat to let her know she wasn’t alone without startling her, and when she turned, the look on my mom’s face was so sorrowful it hurt to see.
“Mom, are you okay?” I asked, leaving Ally in the doorway so I could move to her.
She blinked and tried to pull off a cheerful expression, but it fell flat.
“Jake, hi, it’s so good to see you,” my mom said, just like she had the last time I was here.
I guess she was trying to make up for the first time.
I took her arm and helped her back to the bed. She leaned on me pretty hard and when I got a closer look I could see her cheeks were tear-stained.
That’s when it hit me … Dad told her.
Fuck.
When she was settled on her bed, I looked up to see Ally glaring at me and thought, shit, before hurrying to take her hand and bring her closer to my mom.
“Mom, this is my girlfriend, Alison. She goes by Ally. And, Ally, this is my mom,” I said, smiling proudly.
“Hello, Ally, it’s so lovely to meet you,” my mom said graciously.
“You too, Mrs. Talbot. I’m glad you’re feeling better,” she said, although neither her expression nor tone suggested she was glad about anything at all. In fact, she looked like she’d eaten something sour.
What the fuck?
Mom looked up at me and I could tell she was surprised by Ally’s rudeness.
That makes two of us.
There was an awkward silence before my mom asked, “How do you like school, Ally?”
Alison shrugged and said, “It’s okay.”
“Do you play any sports or are you involved in any other after school activities?” she asked.
“No,” Ally replied.
That was it … just no.
My mom shot me a helpless look and, feeling uncomfortable and unsure of what to do, I said, “You know what, Mom? I’m sorry, but we’ve got to go. We only had time to pop in so you could meet Ally. I … ah … have homework to do, but I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
I felt bad for lying, but this wasn’t fun for any of us and the need to get out of there was so strong I was seconds away from running out of there with