Jawbreaker (Four Point Universe Book 14)

by Max Ellendale

  "You're so beautiful," she said, then tucked my hair behind my ears. "Your eyes are firing bits of teal fireworks over the purple."

  "It feels like my insides become fireworks when I look at you…" I turned to kiss her wrist and she nearly melted under me.

  "Mine, too." She rested her palms against my chest, and I noted how fatigue seemed to replace her heavy emotions.

  "Tired?" I ran my knuckles over her cheek, and she nodded. "You know…" I rolled over her to drop down on the bed beside her. "I'm pretty famous for sleeping super late. I could be coaxed into a cozy nap together."

  She giggled and turned on her side, tucking her hands under her cheek. "Me too."

  "Well then, with bellies full of some pretty yummy pancakes, and a successful rescue mission under our belts, how about a snuggle?" I held my arms to her, and she didn't hesitate to scoot closer. I wrapped her up in a hug, and her body seemed to sigh along with her breath.

  "I'm so happy you saved me," she whispered, hugging my arms to her chest.

  "I'll save you every day, Harlow." I brushed my lips over hers. "Every day."

  A smile parted her lips, her eyes half-lidded as she began to tumble into sleep. "Promise?"

  "I promise."

  "I'm still a little mad at you," she said with a snicker.

  "One day you won't be and I'm willing to wait for it."

  "Me too."

  ***

  "Well, look at you floating around the house like a smitten little bee about to pollinate the colony," called Nalea when she found me in the kitchen the next morning. Elara lounged in her bent arm, and I admired Nalea's professional stance. She was mom of the century already just like Audra.

  "Where's your darling wife?" I asked, ditching my cereal bowl to greet the baby. "Gimme. It's been a whole day."

  "Sheesh. Ignore me why don't you." Nalea kissed my cheek before I scooped Elara from her arms. She snuggled into my neck immediately and I smiled. "She loves you."

  "I love her. How'd you all do without me for two nights?"

  "Girl, it was a time. Audra's sleeping. We took shifts. Elara loves to be awake at night, just like her favorite auntie." Nalea yawned then picked up my bowl. She scooped a mouthful then made a face. "Is this oat milk and bran flakes?"

  "Yes." I laughed and watched her spit it out in the sink. "Big baby."

  "Where's the toasty cinnamon flaky crunchy sugary shit that I love?"

  "Pantry." I scowled at her and rocked Elara while kissing her cheek. She grunted and wrapped her fingers around my hair in a tight fist. "Right back where we started, little sweet ball of cuddles."

  "That sweet ball of cuddles pooped five times in twelve hours and is always hungry." Nalea pointed at me with her spoon. "I blame you."

  "You blame me for making your baby poop?"

  "Yup." She poured out her kind of cereal, then added whole milk to the bowl. "All your fault."

  "Well, okay then." I laughed and listened to Elara's belly sounds. "She seems fine to me."

  "She's fine. Apparently, it's normal." Nalea sighed. "I'm not ready to go back to work."

  "I know, but you'll be off again soon to be with her. At least Audra and I are here."

  "Did you move all your classes to online only for the entire semester?"

  I nodded and shifted Elara to cradle her in the crook of my elbow when she fussed, her eyes immediately staring at the beam of sunlight on the wall across from us. I couldn't wipe the smile from my face when I gazed down at her. "Yes."

  "Thought so." Nalea leaned against the counter while crunching on her breakfast. "Did you do it for you or for us?"

  "For both. It's just easier right now." I swayed side to side with the baby while she lingered in contentment for the time. "After everything with Harlow, the Hybridian I stopped then caught, the baby, moving. Going into work every day didn't seem necessary when I can do it all from home."

  "I'm guessing things went well with Harlow then since you were gone for a bit?" she asked, with a tentative gaze on mine.

  I nodded, a smile making it to my lips when I thought of seeing her off to work this morning.

  "Good. She seemed very into you, and you were super sad after things went down," she said in between bites. "The saddest I've ever seen you."

  "I'm very into her and I was. Still am a little."

  "Maybe diving back into our crime-fighting ways soon might help. Can we talk about the house for a minute?" She set her half-empty bowl down then leaned on the counter. I met her gaze and nodded. "I know we visited it while you were in a rough place, but I wanted to know what you thought."

  "I don't know…" I looked down at Elara while she chewed her fist and stared out the window.

  "Talk to me about it." She slid onto the stool at the island counter.

  "What about just a bigger house? I don't know if I want to live in my own space like that. A whole separate house with a kitchen and everything. We've never had that. Are we going to buy groceries twice or something? I don't know. It doesn't feel right to me."

  Nalea held her hand to me, and I took it. "I want you to imagine something with me for a minute, okay?"

  I nodded, dropping my gaze to watch the way she squeezed my hand.

  "Right now, it wouldn't matter if we had a bigger house together. Everything would be just the same. But in five years, when Elara is five and maybe she'll have a three-year-old sibling or something, and you have a girl over, what will that be like? Take Harlow. Say she comes over for a visit and the two of you are in your room doing your thing, and Elara comes banging on your door at three in the morning because she can't sleep. Or Harlow has a rough day at work and comes home to a house full of fussy babies."

  "So? It's our life…"

  "I know." She tugged me closer to stand between her knees. "But one day, you might not want that life, Veyda. One day you might want alone time with someone you love. Or kids of your own. We will always be one big family, but one day I think you'll want some privacy, too."

  I thought about what she said, and it sat heavily in my stomach.

  "What was it like at Harlow's place? Just the two of you."

  "Um…" I smiled while the memories of our time together flooded me. "Really good."

  "Now, imagine that same time together with Elara crying and fussing all night with a cranky belly. How would it have been different?"

  My brow furrowed while I gazed down at the quiet baby in my arms. "I would've tried to help her settle down…or helped you and Audra when you got too tired."

  "How would have that impacted Harlow? Was there any conversation or situation that you experienced while there that would've been different?"

  That did it, and I met her gaze finally. I nodded immediately. "A few…"

  "Right." She hugged my hand to her chest. "What I'm saying is with a duplex, we all have our own place to live, our own privacy, and nothing more than a door separates us when we want it to. Even if you never use your kitchen. Even if every meal is on our side of the house and you sleep on the sofa every night, or in Elara's room until she's in it. I don't care, but I want you to have an option for when you need it, because one day you will. I love you and you're my family, and I want you to have the option to grow."

  "We could switch for babysitting nights…" I smirked when I said it. "You and Audra can go hide in my place while I watch the kids."

  "Yes." She grinned and stood up to hug me, cautious of the baby between us. "Now you're getting it."

  "You promise things won't change?" I returned her hug, allowing myself to lean into her affection without the side effects today.

  "I promise. The only thing that changes is our options. All the grandparents will be around more, too. Imagine trying to make out with your new girl while Mom, Kai, and Gretta bustle around between everything else."

  I scrunched my nose at the thought. "It was slightly challenging the day Harlow came for dinner…"

  "Yes." She chuckled and squeezed my shoulder.

  "We
really should tell Audra's parents that I'm Hybridian. Kai and Gretta would understand… They've known me long enough."

  "We will now that they're back living close by."

  I nodded and leaned down to kiss Elara on the forehead while the considerations continued to tumble around in my thoughts. I did see both sides of having my own living space, but the thought of walking away alone every night still lingered.

  "Tell me more about Harlow. Specifics."

  "You want to know if I slept with her." I narrowed my eyes at her, and she laughed.

  "Yes. Yes, I do." She swatted my rear before hopping up. "Want coffee?"

  "Yes, please." I watched her fuss with the coffee brewer. "We didn't have sex…"

  "But?" She glanced over her shoulder at me. "That sounded like a but was to follow."

  "Something weird happens when we kiss…" I scrunched my nose. "I feel like I need to cover Elara's ears while talking about this."

  Nalea laughed. "Tug her hat over her ears if you must."

  I adjusted her little beanie and snickered. "Kinda better."

  "What's the weird thing?"

  "Um…" I pushed myself up to sit on the stool she abandoned when she set a steaming mug in front of me. "Thanks." I busied myself with a sip before continuing. "Kissing makes her…"

  "Makes her?" Nalea's brow furrowed while she blew on the cup held between her palms.

  "You know… She said it happens every time. And then it happened to me, too."

  "Wait…she gets off while kissing?"

  I nodded and felt my face flush immediately. "Not just…small ones. Like for real. As if we're actually having sex."

  She lowered her coffee and stared at me. "Is it some kind of alien magic you've got going on or something? Because if the answer is yes, you need to teach either me or Audra how to do it."

  I laughed at her and shook my head. "No. I've been with other people. It's never happened before. Only with Harlow… She said even the first time, when she kissed me in the parking lot that it happened."

  "Okay, so let me catch up… She's officially forgiven you, you spent two nights at her place, and only kissed because it was as good as sex? Does that sum it up?"

  "Partly… We also talked a lot. She knows more about the people of Andromeda than I do…"

  "You've always avoided knowing more…"

  "She thinks my mom was from a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy called Praxar. A Praxi man wrote some book that she read and she thinks I fit the description, partially. My mom does." I nuzzled Elara when she cooed. "Baby Boo is content today."

  "She's well fed with empty bowels. She better be." Nalea smiled though her thoughtful expression remained. "Praxar, huh…"

  "Yeah. Maybe I should learn more."

  "My mom knows a lot… Luceas taught her so much. He kept journals, too, she said. He knew where his ancestors were from. Maybe there's some overlap."

  "Maybe."

  "Invite Harlow to dinner tomorrow night. Just the four of us. Audra's been craving spaghetti and meatballs to a near point of bullying. Since I'm still off, I thought I would cook, but need to hit the store today."

  "Okay…" I drew in a slow breath. "I will."

  "You really like her, don't you?"

  I nodded, meeting her gaze then. "I feel like I've known her for so long. It hasn't been long at all. And not an old-school lesbian U-Haul trope. It's like I've truly known her before."

  "You don't need to convince me. Audra moved in with us after we were dating three months or something, right?" She chuckled and motioned toward the bedroom door. "Look where we're at now."

  "Did she feel that way to you?"

  "Like I knew her? Not in that way, but she felt completely comfortable to me. Like I could be myself with her always. Like I was with you and you with me, except I wanted to hump her leg every day." She grinned and I laughed at her.

  "Gross. Glad you don't want to hump my leg."

  "You would've punched me in the throat." She snickered then sipped her coffee. "I'm really glad she accepted you as you are, Veyda."

  "It wasn't easy for her. She's still a little upset. Not about me being Hybridian. More that I kept a secret from her and lied about things. I'm not going to do either of those things again. Trust is fragile to her. Her family mistreated her, and her father was a felon."

  "I know. He died in prison out in Chicago—"

  "How do you know that?" I narrowed my eyes at her and frowned.

  "Easy, killer. I searched the timeless internet. Her father was a politician and implicated in serious federal crimes. She stops appearing in news articles around the time she turned eighteen then effectively vanished at that point after his death."

  "She told me that last night… I didn't think to look it up."

  "I know. I'm the detective. You're the bad guy catcher."

  "So…you're saying I do half your job? When do I get half your salary?"

  She flipped me off and laughed. "When you buy a house with me."

  "Hmm." I stuck my tongue out at her. "Fine. When's the closing?"

  "Next week. Really?" Her eyes brightened with my agreement.

  I nodded. "What's life without a little risk?"

  "Not very fun, I imagine." She swung around the counter again to hug me gently. "Thank you."

  "Love you," I said, returning her embrace with one arm. "Elara seems happy about it. She tooted in my hand."

  "Don't trust that toot." Nalea laughed hard. "You're on diaper duty, Auntie."

  I snickered and kissed the end of Elara's tiny nose. "I'm on it."

  Chapter Ten

  "You look so cute," Audra announced when I emerged from my bedroom. "I love that shirt on you."

  "What? Why?" I looked down at myself. "I always wear this."

  "But the blue slacks and yellow button-up are great colors with your hair down like that." She wiggled her fingers at me. "Maybe it's just your eager face that makes it cuter than usual. All you need is some yellow polka dots on that blue bowtie."

  "Hmph." I narrowed my eyes at her. "Bowties are cool."

  She laughed and shook her head at me. "I'll remember that, Doctor Eleven."

  "You better. I'm starving. Everything smells good." I glanced to Nalea in the kitchen who stirred the pasta while Elara slept in the baby sling around her. "Harlow should be here in five minutes."

  "Did she text you?" asked Audra.

  "No. I can hear her car."

  My comment brought pause to both Nalea and Audra, their gazes falling on me.

  "What?" I glanced between them.

  "You can hear her car five minutes away?" asked Nalea.

  "Yeah…I mean." I slipped my hands in my pockets. "Yeah."

  "Do you hear my car five minutes away?" Nalea cocked a brow at me.

  "No…but maybe I never tried listening." I shrugged, but the two of them shared a glance. "I have to pee."

  "Again? Are you having a nervous bladder?" teased Audra.

  "Yes." I huffed and jogged off to take care of what I needed to.

  I returned when I heard Harlow's car door close, and the click of her heels on the pavement of the parking lot. I stood by the front door, honing in on the sound of her thumping heart. It fluttered nervous rhythms, and it brought a flip-flop sensation to my stomach. Her magnolias preceded her, and I smiled when I drew in a slow breath. The elevator door dinged its arrival, and I stepped into the hallway to meet her, tugging the apartment door closed behind me.

  She didn't see me at first as she held her purse in a death grip. Her eyes squeezed shut as she inhaled deeply. I approached her slowly, caressing the curve of her elbow. She didn't startle when she opened her eyes, but a nervous smile curved her lips.

  "Hi," she said, her voice soft.

  "Hi." I chuckled and rubbed her arms when I came to stand in front of her. "Are you nervous to see me?"

  She nodded, and her eyes misted over briefly despite her smile. "So many mixed feelings."

  "Want to tell me before we
go inside?" I asked, though noted that she finally lowered her hands to grip my arms.

  "No." She shook her head then let out a slow breath. "I like your outfit," she said, then bumped my forehead with hers.

  "Thanks. Yours is way sexier though." I chuckled while admiring her black silky collared blouse that she wore with a slender fit pair of jeans. Her heels gave her an inch of height on me for the time being.

  "Just my regular clothes…" she said, her voice soft while she brushed her thumbs over my arms.

  "What can I do to help you feel more relaxed before we go inside?"

  "Um…" She swallowed hard, closing her eyes again. "Just this is good."

  "Okay." I smiled and brushed her hair from her shoulders to adjust the collar of her shirt.

  Her smile lingered until she finally urged me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around her middle, caressing her back after a firm squeeze. She pressed her lips to my cheek, and I returned the gesture before we leaned back.

  "I'm afraid to kiss you here." She chuckled and finally met my gaze.

  "I was thinking the same thing." I stroked my thumb over her chin. "We'll have to explore that more later."

  She nodded, raking her teeth over her bottom lip. "I feel better now."

  "Good." I held my hand to her. "Ready?"

  Her fingers wrapped around my palm, offering me a gentle squeeze when she nodded. "Yes."

  "We're very lowkey. Nothing fancy. No surprises, okay?"

  She nodded as I pushed open the front door.

  Audra greeted Harlow first, a refreshed smile parting her lips as she stood to usher her in. "Good to see you again."

  "You, too. How are you feeling?" Harlow's smile brightened when she saw Elara swaying in her swing beside the sofa, in full view of the kitchen. "She got so big already."

  "I'm doing really good. Yes, she did. A few weeks changed a lot." Audra grinned and her hand fell to Harlow's shoulder. "Come in and get comfy."

  "There's the girl we haven't stopped hearing about all day," announced Nalea when she spun away from the stove to grin at Harlow. "Welcome back to our humble abode."