Love Ignited

by Jacie Lennon

  “Nothing, Nickoli.” She reaches and grabs his hand, pasting a smile on her face as a nurse comes in to ready her for discharge.

  10

  Jules

  “Hey, Jules. Um, it’s me, Kyle.”

  There’s a long pause in which my heart might very well leap out of my throat.

  “I probably shouldn’t be calling you.”

  No shit.

  I set the phone down, so I can wipe my palms on my pants.

  “I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. Um, so give me a call back if you want. Okay, bye.”

  What. The. Fuck?

  The line goes dead, and I sit in the silence, just staring at the black screen. I ball my hand into a fist and strike the plush comforter one, two, three times with a silent shriek in my head.

  What gives Kyle the right to completely shatter me and then try to waltz back into my life without a care in the world?

  I jump when the phone starts ringing underneath my leg where it shifted as I was striking the bed. Pulling it out, I stare again. Kyle. My thumb hovers over the screen as I debate on whether to answer and yell at him or never speak to him again. The call goes to voice mail during my internal argument, and the phone vibrates in my shaking hand, alerting me that he left another voice mail.

  I should change my number.

  The masochist part of me pushes my thumb down, playing the voice mail.

  “Hey. Um, me again. Look, we need to talk. I should have said that before. Cora and I aren’t together anymore …” He trails off.

  I suck in a sharp breath.

  What does that have to do with me?

  “She, um, found someone else. I’m sorry for what I did to you. Please call me back, so we can talk.” His voice sounds desperate.

  No. No way in hell.

  This guy has the same thing done to him that he did to me, and suddenly, he wants to come running back, tail between his legs? I don’t think so, fuckface.

  I throw my phone down on my open suitcase and stomp from the room.

  “You’ll never guess what the asshole wanted,” I start to yell down the hallway toward where Hanna was sitting in the living room before remembering that Luke is asleep. I see her head pop up and whip toward me from where she was lying on the couch. I plop myself down next to her and let out a long groan before talking quieter, “Cora cheated on him, and now, he wants to come running back to me.”

  I give a pause to let Hanna draw her conclusions.

  “What?” she says with a sharp intake of breath, just like I did.

  “Yes, he claims he’s sorry and wants to talk.”

  At that, Hanna bursts out laughing. “Looks like the tables have turned on you, Kyle,” she says while cackling.

  I feel the mirth well up inside me, fighting with the anger I felt after listening to both voice mails.

  “Right. So, of course, now, he wants to talk about it.” I flex my fingers, which are tense from being curled into a fist.

  “Of course he does. He wants to come crawling back because you are champagne, and he was with beer. He’s realized his mistake, but you know what? Too bad, bucko,” Hanna says, pausing to look at me. “Right? You aren’t considering talking to him, are you?”

  “Not at all. It just makes me furious that he thinks I’m lying around in a puddle of tears, waiting for him to come back to me. I have more self-worth than that.”

  “Good. For a moment, I was afraid you were thinking about it,” Hanna says with a sigh of relief.

  “You should know me better than that.” I give her a pointed look, and she sheepishly smiles at me.

  “I know, but breakups are a bitch, even when you are the one doing the breaking up, and I think it’s easy to feel confused.”

  I lean in and wrap my arms around her. “I’m so glad you are my friend, Han-Han,” I mumble into her hair. Our hug is broken up by the sound of Luke crying on the monitor. “I guess that’s my cue. Time to get some shut-eye.” I stand with Hanna, both of us walking down the hallway and splitting at our rooms.

  I grab my phone from where it was thrown atop my suitcase and settle down on the bed, pulling up Facebook. One new friend request. Clicking on the lit-up icon, I’m not surprised to see it’s Kyle, requesting to be friends again. I swiftly decline and turn my phone off, heading into the bathroom to wash my face and get ready for bed.

  I had just gotten to a good place. My heart didn’t ache as much when I thought about my single status. But after listening to those voice mails and hearing the voice that simultaneously makes me want to cry and pisses me off, the ache is back. I place my hand over my heart, pressing down as I stare at my eyes filling with tears in the mirror.

  You will not cry over him again, I tell myself, blinking rapidly.

  I need a distraction, something to take my mind off this recent turn of events. I need a no-strings-attached kind of relationship. Maybe with someone I’m not going to be seeing much of and who doesn’t expect anything from me in return, except a night of fun. I bring my hand down to grip the counter, a slow grin sneaking across my face as I look at myself in the mirror.

  “Jules, you are going to get yourself laid,” I tell the face looking back at me.

  And I know just the person to ask.

  After a night of the best sleep I’ve had since the breakup, I waltz into the kitchen to fix a cup of coffee, a smile on my face and a vindictive song in my heart. What better way to get back at my cheating asshole bastard of an ex-fiancé than to find someone better, someone to replace him? But only in the physical department. It’s not like he was spectacular in bed when we were together anyway. That should’ve been my first sign. My body wants what it wants, but my heart is locked up tighter than Fort Knox, and it is going to stay that way.

  “Morning, Glory,” Hanna says from the doorway of the kitchen, her blonde hair askew on her head. She doesn’t look like she got much sleep if the bags under her eyes are any indication.

  “Good morning. Do you want some coffee?” I stick my hand out with my cup of coffee, offering it to her.

  “God, yes. Thanks,” she says as she grabs it, taking a gulp and then hissing as the hot liquid touches her tongue. “I was up all night with Luke. I think he’s teething,” she explains.

  We both turn as the door opens, and Ezra comes in, holding a bag of food.

  “Breakfast, ladies,” he says as he plants a kiss on Hanna’s lips.

  I stare at them, tilting my head to the side. With my new plan, watching their affection doesn’t send a stab of jealousy through my heart as it did before. I look away before either of them notices my weird fixation on them, and I busy myself with making a second cup of coffee.

  “I’m heading into the station to pick up some paperwork. Do y’all need anything before we leave for the party tonight?”

  “I can’t think of anything,” Hanna says, looking over at me, raising her eyebrows.

  I shake my head.

  “We’ve got wine to sip on. Your mom is coming around five, so we can get ready,” she says to Ezra.

  He nods while unwrapping a breakfast sandwich from the bag. “Can I talk to you a moment?” he says to Hanna around a mouthful of bread before walking to their bedroom.

  I stop and watch them walk to the back before resuming what I was doing. That was weird.

  What does he need to talk to her about that can’t be said in front of me? Oh God. He doesn’t want me to go to the party tonight and doesn’t know how to uninvite me. How embarrassing. My body starts to feel warm, and a flush creeps over my skin. I’ve overstayed my welcome. I’m now one of those people. The one you want to go but don’t want to offend by asking them to leave. I’m only supposed to be here for two more days.

  I’ll ask Hanna if I need to leave tomorrow. I make my mind up while chewing on a piece of a sausage biscuit.

  As soon as Ezra and Hanna come back, he leaves for work, and she sits down to open a sandwich.

  “We need to take Livie shopping today. Sh
e’s growing like a weed, and she can’t fit in most of her winter clothes anymore. Now that it’s finally getting cold here, she’s going to need them.”

  I nod before taking a sip of my coffee.

  Hanna glances up at me and narrows her eyes. “Everything okay?”

  “Yep,” I say, maybe too curtly.

  “Spit it out.” Hanna sighs, leaning forward.

  “Have I worn out my welcome?” I carefully watch her face for signs that I have, but I only see her mouth drop open in shock.

  “Of course not. Why would you think that?” Hanna sets her sandwich down.

  “Just thought that might be why Ezra wanted to talk to you,” I say with a shrug. I feel like I’ve made things awkward with my question.

  “Oh, no. He was asking … well, a business question. Of sorts.”

  “A business question?” My interest is piqued, especially since Hanna is acting shady now.

  “Yep, it was a business question for a friend.” She gives me a little smile before biting into her biscuit again.

  I drop it, letting her think she is sneaky, but I can tell something is going on, and I’m going to find out what it is.

  “Okay, well, I figure I’ll leave in a few days then,” I tell her, thankful that they haven’t grown tired of me as a houseguest.

  “No, don’t leave me.” Hanna sticks her bottom lip out in a pout. “Actually … I have something I want to run by you—” She’s cut off by Livie walking in, holding a stuffed animal.

  “Mama, I’m hungry,” she says as she climbs up beside us, throwing her stuffed turtle on the table, narrowly missing my coffee mug.

  I reach out to pet Turtle on the head and ask Livie how he slept.

  “Good,” she says with a giggle, wrapping a hand around Turtle’s leg.

  I unwrap a breakfast sandwich for her, getting up to grab her a glass of orange juice from the fridge.

  “You ready to go shopping?”

  “No,” Livie says with a pout.

  “Why not?”

  “I have clothes.”

  “Yes, but your clothes are getting small, sweetie,” Hanna says.

  “I know, but I don’t care. I’m not going to grow anymore.”

  “You aren’t?”

  “Nope. I don’t want to get big.”

  “Getting big isn’t so bad,” I tell her, leaning in.

  “Getting big means I’ll cry a lot.” Livie points at me. “Like Aunt Jules.”

  I look at Hanna, who stares back at me with wide eyes.

  “Sometimes, I hear you crying in your room, Aunt Jules.” Livie is so matter-of-fact.

  I scrunch my face up and try to remember when she would have heard me crying. I guess that would be every night that I’ve been here but the night we went out and last night.

  “Oh, honey, you don’t need to worry about that. Aunt Jules is okay, and she doesn’t want you to worry,” Hanna says, reaching over to lay her hand on Livie’s arm.

  “Aunt Jules, what’s wrong?” Livie looks at me, her small little face worried.

  I take a bite of my sausage biscuit to buy some time while I think. When I look back, Livie’s piercing blue eyes are still on me. I’m not getting out of this. Sometimes, children are the most perceptive.

  “I’m okay, Liv. When you are my age, relationships can be a little tricky. But you shouldn’t worry about me. I’m getting through it. You are helping me.” I smoosh her nose with my finger when I say the last part, and she rewards me with a big grin.

  “There’s a boy in my class at kindergarten who pulls my hair sometimes. Did that happen to you?” She wrinkles up her nose.

  Hanna starts laughing at the table before suddenly cutting herself off when Livie and I turn to stare at her.

  “Sorry, I was just thinking about Ezra’s face when he finds out his baby girl already has attention from boys.”

  Livie’s eyebrows turn down in a scowl as she looks at Hanna. “Mom, this is serious,” she says, prompting Hanna to giggle again.

  Then, Hanna gets up to take care of Luke when he starts crying from down the hall.

  “Livie, I don’t want you to worry about me. I won’t lie to you; it’s not easy being an adult. But it’s not something you can get out of. You are only six years old. You’ve got plenty of time before you have to worry about the things I worry about, so don’t be afraid to grow up.”

  I smile at her, and she hops down from her chair and walks over to me to crawl up in my lap. My heart nearly bursts when she wraps her little arms around me in a sweet hug.

  “I love you, Aunt Jules.” She pulls back to look me in the eyes.

  Wrapping my arms around her again, I tell her, “I love you too, Livie Lou.”

  After breakfast, we load up in the car to take Livie shopping. As we are singing along to the newest song that Livie is obsessed with, a large pop and jerk of the car alert us that something is wrong. Hanna flicks on her hazards and pulls to the side of the road, coming to a stop as the car gives one more shudder. Thankfully, we haven’t left the residential area yet, so there’s not a lot of traffic. She gets out of the car, and I don’t hear anything for a moment, so I get out to investigate. I find her standing at the back of the car.

  “Well, fudge.” Hanna kicks the tire, glancing around to find what could’ve popped it.

  A large nail sticking out proves to be the offender, and Hanna pulls out her phone to call Ezra.

  “Hey, babe. What are you doing?” She pauses. “We got a flat tire about five minutes from the station.” Another pause. “Okay, well, what should I do?”

  I walk over and crouch down to look at the tire again as Hanna talks to Ezra. I hear her groan, and I turn to see her pull the phone from her ear.

  “He’s sending someone.”

  11

  Mason

  “Hey,” I say, picking up my ringing phone as I park in the lot at the station. I’m stopping by on my way to the bistro to drop some clothes off for my shift later.

  “Hey, could you do me a favor?” Ezra sounds a little hesitant, sending me into suspicious mode.

  “Depends. What is the favor? Aren’t you here somewhere?” I ask while heading into the station, forgetting the clothes in my front seat entirely. I stop by the kitchen and root around in the fridge before finding a fruit tray and sticking a strawberry in my mouth.

  “I had to run an errand, and Hanna is out with the kids and popped a tire. Do you think you could help her change it?”

  “Is it just Hanna and the kids?” I ask, and he pauses a moment.

  “No. Jules is still here,” Ezra says.

  I mull it over in my mind before deciding that I can’t pass up the opportunity to see the girl who simultaneously drives me up the wall and gets my dick hard. Could the two different feelings work together?

  “All right, I’ll do it.”

  Like I wouldn’t go help his wife and kids.

  “Thanks, man. There’s a jack in the back of her car. I owe you.”

  “A beer will be fine,” I say with a shrug.

  He gives me the directions, and I grab a water bottle from the fridge before jumping in my truck. Driving the short five minutes to the car, I pull up, seeing Hanna sitting in the front seat with Luke, giving him a bottle, while Jules is bent over, fishing something out of her purse. I take a minute to ogle her fine ass, the jeans she is wearing cupping it perfectly. I reach down to adjust myself before climbing out of the truck.

  “You ladies need some help?” I say, walking toward them.

  Jules quickly whirls around, catching her elbow on the side of the car door.

  “Son of a bitch,” she hisses, holding her elbow with her hand and stomping a foot. Glaring at me, she bends down to pick up the tube of lip stuff she dropped on the ground.

  Down, boy, I tell myself, trying not to look down her shirt as she’s bent over.

  I walk around to Hanna’s side, leaning in as she rolls the window down.

  “Give me a second, and I can hel
p you,” she says, sitting Luke up to burp him. His chubby cheeks smoosh against her shoulder as he turns his head, staring at me before opening his mouth in a toothless grin.

  “Hey, little guy.” I reach in to jiggle his cheek, a grin taking over my face.

  “Careful, Mason. Someone might think you are getting soft,” Hanna jokes before wrinkling her nose. “I think he pooped. Do you mind if Jules helps you for a moment?”

  “Not at all,” I say with a wink across the car to where Jules is glaring at us. “But she might.” I catch the eye roll she shoots my way before walking toward the back of the vehicle.

  My heart races the way it does whenever I see those long brown locks. I round the back of the SUV to where Jules already has the hatch open, attempting to pull the floor up to access the tire. I watch her struggle for a moment before she turns with a huff, planting her hands on her hips and eyeing me. I can’t help but be turned on by the scowl on her face, making her brown eyes glitter and her plump lips purse.

  “Would you like to help?” she says, a bite to her tone.

  “I would love to help you, with you being so kind and everything,” I say, walking into her space and causing her to back up a little bit.

  I like that I can get under her skin. It means she might like me more than she lets on. I busy myself, pulling the tire from under the floor and retrieving the jack that Ezra said was in the back. Setting it under the car, I begin pumping it up. Glancing over to where Jules is holding the tire against her leg, I catch her averting her eyes from where she was watching me intently. A slow blush creeps over her face when she brings her eyes back before they harden again, looking at me. I give her a taunting grin, letting her know I caught the look she was giving me, before finishing up with the tire.

  My grams’s words come back to me. “It’s only hard if you make it hard.”

  There’s truth in that. I do cause most of the dirty looks Jules throws my way, but damn if it isn’t fun. Foreplay of sorts.

  Cleaning up the tools, I put the popped tire in the back and let Jules know that they are good to go. She looks semi-relieved when I let her know I’m done, but I catch when she glances back to find me sitting in my truck, staring at her.