Pieces of You

by Haven Rose

  “How deep is she?”

  “Deeper than a pig in shit,” Shane replies, a twang noticeable for the first time since meeting him. He looks at me and correctly interprets my expression because he asks, “My southern is showing, huh?” When I nod, unable to do anything else, he laughs and confesses, “I left Tennessee a long time ago, but there are times it pops out, and I don’t catch it before it does.”

  “Why would you need to?” I want to know.

  He shrugs, then tells me, “The only good thing about my childhood was my Maw Maw, and when she passed, it hurt to recall things she would say, and in order to avoid the pain…”

  “You forced it into hiding?” I guess and he nods. I see Shane in a whole new light now. Not because him being from the South changes my opinion of him, but the fact there was more to him than I knew. And for a second, I feel like I’ve turned into my mother, not paying attention to those around her or people she feels are beneath her. Did I overlook Shane as a person and view him only as someone who could do something for me?

  “Stop it right there,” he demands. “You are nothing like that bitch. You didn’t know that part of me because I didn’t want you to, and I’ve had years of practice keeping my past exactly where it belongs and not a factor in my present. Okay?”

  I nod, relieved I didn’t unknowingly become one of the two people I’ve spent my whole life trying to be the opposite of. Needing to break the now uncomfortable silence, and erase the sadness from my new friend’s face that remembering and talking about this must have caused, I ask, “Maw Maw?”

  “Asshole,” he retorts with a laugh. After a moment, he asks, “Do you want me to put it in motion with law enforcement?” I appreciate what he’s offering and honestly, I might take him up on it. My mother needs to answer for what she’s done, I just don’t know if I have the stomach to be the one who initiates it. And then, with my mother’s next sentence, all doubts fade and I realize I have no problem being the one who does it, and will revel in the fact that I did.

  “I hope nothing happens to your son or daughter, Rooney. I mean, as a mother myself, I can’t even imagine how devastating that would be. The grief alone would probably tear you and Thomas apart, not to mention living with the guilt. I’d think that would be almost impossible and you’d only want the torment to end, even going to extremes to make it stop.

  “Did she just…?”

  “She did,” Shane answers, sympathy and rage warring in his eyes and voice.

  “Listen here you, little twat,” Rooney says calmly and quietly, which is even scarier than if she’d yelled it, “I’ve been civil and made concessions for you because you’re Caden’s mother, and I use that term loosely, but I’m done. You crossed the line threatening my child, and don’t act as if you didn’t. I may not be polished nor have the correct lineage in your eyes, but I am not nor have I ever been stupid. What I am is a woman who is loved fiercely by her husband, adored by my parents, and yes, I have two mothers and am not ashamed of that, and will give every child I have, biological or otherwise, more than you have ever given yours.”

  “And what’s that? What could you possibly afford that I can’t?” My mother scoffs.

  “A heart, my children will have all of mine, as does Caden.”

  “I’m a Howell, I can afford just about anything,” she smugly replies.

  “Kind of hard when you’ve never had one to give, dumbass. I’m surprised medical science hasn’t asked to study you to see how you’re still alive. Come near my family again, and I will shove my foot so far up your ass you’ll be able to taste my toenail polish.” And then I hear my wife’s chair scrape against the floor as she pushes back from the table, and watch from my spot across the street as she walks out, head held high, confidence in every step. If I were an artist, I’d paint her just as she is in this moment, like a Valkyrie that just decided to let someone weaker than her, my mother, live, knowing she deserves to suffer the consequences of her actions.

  As she makes her way toward us, Shane hands me his phone, pointing out the name of who I’ll be speaking to, and I hit the button to connect us.

  “Moriarty,” the person on the other end answers on the second ring.

  “Detective, my name is Caden Howell. A mutual friend, Shane Thompson, is with me and gave me your number.”

  “Yes, I know Shane well. How can I help you?”

  “I have information you might be interested in,” I tell him, fully aware there’s no going back.

  Chapter Twenty

  Caden

  August 8th…

  I’m exhausted. We met with Detective Moriarty, or Riley as he said to call him, this morning and gave him everything we had. We’ve been home thirty minutes, and in that time, Rooney has sent numerous concerned glances my way.

  “Rainbow, I’m okay.”

  “Are you sure? We just spent two hours with a man that has the power to send your mother to jail if he can make a strong enough case…which we all know he can. That’s a lot to bear.”

  “Riley could send some woman to jail, that person is not my mother.”

  “But…”

  Turning to look at her, needing her to see and hear the truth in my words, I tell her what I’ve finally come to terms with. “Once my brain kicked in, bypassing the emotional connection I’m supposed to have for her, I realized she was like a plague infecting my life that no one had found the cure for yet. And that stopped yesterday.”

  “How?”

  “The second she threatened our child she ceased to exist as anything other than an evil that needs to be dealt with. Her thinly veiled threats aimed at an innocent baby, one she’s related to no less, severed any remaining ties I felt for her, if they were ever there to begin with.” With anyone else, I wouldn’t be able to admit there’s a high probability I’ve never actually loved the woman that brought me into this world, but Rooney will understand.

  “And you feel guilty for that?”

  “Not a damn bit,” I confess, “just that it took me so long to accept her for who and what she is.”

  “The fact you gave her so many chances is a reflection of your pure heart and says everything about who you are. And I love that man with my whole heart and soul.”

  Needing to feel her, I pull her onto my lap and seal my mouth to hers, as if I’m trying to absorb her declaration, to fill the hollow spots left behind from what happened today. Yes, I know I did what I had to in order to protect my family, but there are still parts of that little boy, though they’re fragmented, inside me that yearn for the bond he should have had with his parents.

  “You and our children will never doubt that you are my everything. I will always put you first,” I tell her, devouring any response she might make as I thrust my tongue in.

  When we pull apart, both breathing heavily as we try to suck oxygen into our systems, I lean my forehead on hers and say with the utmost sincerity, “You taste like forever. You have since that first night.” And when she sighs, her breath coasting over my lips, I quickly stand, groaning when her legs instinctively tighten around my waist and I swear I can feel the heat of her on my stomach through the thin shirt I’m wearing in deference to the temperature outside.

  “Does my wife need fucked?” I ask as the world around us fades, reality taking a backseat to the fire that always ignites between us. Rooney has the ability to mute the bad in my life and replace it with all that is good.

  “I ache for you,” she tells me as she licks the side of my neck as if preparing it for her…

  “Holy shit,” I swear as her teeth sink into my skin and I force myself to strengthen the muscles in my legs before I run down the hall and into our room where I throw her on the bed. I take a moment to appreciate her breasts as they bounce then shake myself out of the stupor watching them caused. “Get naked,” I demand as I reach behind my head and pull my shirt off, enjoying her reaction to my bare chest.

  Neither of us waste time, ripping clothes off and throwing them around the r
oom, eager for the frantic coupling we know is about to happen. This is not the time for going slow, to savor and tease with the barest of touches. No, this will be hard and fast.

  Grabbing her feet, I yank her to the end of the bed, then flip her, silently offering up a prayer of thanks as she immediately rises to her knees and sticks her ass out. My palm tingles with the need to smack it, so I do, the sound echoing around us followed by her moan of pleasure.

  “Take me, Caden. Show me who I belong to,” she urges as she spreads her legs, her hand now visible between them as she begins stroking her clit.

  “Fuck me,” I moan.

  “Gladly,” she responds with a smirk over her shoulder at me.

  “You ready for me, baby? Is that tight pussy dripping for me?” Her nod of agreement is so vigorous her body shakes with it. I grip her thighs, one hand circling each as I urge them just a little further apart, knowing she can take it, then slam inside without any warning. “I’ll never get enough of you.”

  “Good,” she states, loving that I’m insatiable for her. My fingers flex on her skin in reaction and I can’t help the primal hope that surges through me that I’m marking her. Visualizing it awakens something in me and I start pounding harder, the force lifting her for a second before she falls back down, her walls clenching me when she lands. No one will ever take my family from me. I will fight to death for this, for her, for them. Life doesn’t matter without them anyway.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Caden. I belong to you,” she tells me, her voice strong until the end when it cracks with emotion. My woman knows me so well, and she won’t see it as a weakness that I would do anything for her, won’t use it to prey upon me or get me to do what she wants like my mother would. She’ll know my love for her is my greatest strength and will treasure it.

  “Damn right,” I add, pulling so her shoulders are the only thing touching the mattress, leaving her at my mercy. “And I’m yours.” With punishing force, I take us up and over the edge, voices growing hoarse from shouting one another’s names between various curses.

  We collapse to the bed, skin slick with sweat, bodies still connected, falling so our heads are side by side. Rooney brushes a featherlight kiss on my lips, the softness making the emotions behind it all the more poignant.

  My breathing evens out, these stolen moments with her being what I needed to re-center myself, and I feel my eyes close. I’m at peace because I know I did the right thing and can face the consequences of it as long as I have Rooney by my side.

  **Rooney**

  I left Caden in our bed sleeping, something he hasn’t gotten much of lately as we discover more about his mother. I believe him when he says he’s okay, but I also think his heart is taking a little longer to come to terms with what he was forced to do.

  His sister is coming over soon. She knows everything, but not that he’d decided to go to the police because he didn’t want to tell her that over the phone. In all honesty, I’m sure some of what his mother did was illegal, so he really had no choice. Add in the fact she was obviously a threat to our child and she sealed her own fate.

  I don’t regret what needed to be done, only how it will impact my husband and sister-in-law. And, as sad as it is to think it, the fact Kimberly had little interaction with Reese is actually a blessing because it means he really won’t feel her absence; that’s my hope at least. Otherwise, how do you explain to a little boy that his grandmother isn’t a nice person? Then again, kids are very intuitive, so he may have already picked up on it.

  Boomer is currently settled by my side, his head in my lap, staring at me with his big, brown eyes and Gypsy is stretched on the back of the couch beside my neck, her paw gently swiping at my ponytail. Landry estimates her age at a year and a half and she’s taken to being a part of the family like she’s known us since she was a kitten. I’ve always believed animals can sense feelings and I know they’re each comforting me in their own way.

  With the full extent of Kimberly’s misdeeds out in the opinion, we’ve been assured nothing was ever officially documented against me or the sanctuary, which is a relief. Caden has spoken to his father once since the trap was sprung, so to speak, and while it was stilted, he was also optimistic about the future of the relationship. Something tells me the state of it was more due to Kimberly than Thomas, though he’s just as at fault for not stopping it or trying to repair it.

  Gypsy is now purring in my ear, which is why I don’t realize Caden is awake and in the room with me until he speaks. I jump a little, startling Boomer, who opens an eye and looks at Caden almost in disapproval before closing it once more.

  “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

  “Because you needed the rest.”

  “Are you handling me?” He asks, raising a brow. Showoff. I hate that I can’t do that too.

  “Yes,” I admit since we both know I was. “And if the situation was reversed, you’d do the same. So, get over it.”

  Caden laughs, as intended, but he also knows I’m right and drops it, plopping beside me, gently though so as not to gain Boomer’s ire again. He leans over to kiss my cheek, but right before he makes contact, Gypsy ruins the moment by sticking her paw between us.

  “Kiss-blocked by my own cat? What’s gonna happen when our little Skittle is born?” He must see my confusion and explains, “You’re my rainbow, so our son or daughter is my Skittle.”

  His reasoning cracks me up for some reason and I start giggling, and he must need the release too because his deep chuckle soon joins in. And that’s how Peyton finds us when she walks in key in hand, concern crossing her face.

  “You jerks. I’m out there, worried something is wrong when you don’t answer my knock, which I’ve been doing for three whole minutes, and you’re in here laughing.” Ahh, that explains why she used the key we gave her for emergencies.

  “Sorry,” we mumble, then look at each other and start all over again.

  “Children,” she mutters. “I’m surrounded by them. Reese is more mature than the two of you right now. Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten a babysitter for this. He could’ve helped me chaperone you so-called adults.” Yeah, yeah, she talks a big game, but her shoulders are shaking as she works hard to restrain her amusement.

  As siblings do, Caden points out that she doesn’t even know why we’re laughing. Peyton, however, has an immediate and valid point. “It doesn’t matter. I just have a feeling I need to do it now while I can before you tell me whatever it is that will change everything.” And that sobers us up and the laughter fades, the mood turning tense as reality hits.

  Delaying the inevitable, Caden and Peyton make small talk as I grab drinks for all of us, though theirs include something to help them through what’s to come.

  Caden opens his mouth to start, but Peyton holds up a hand to stop him. She stares him straight in the eye and guesses, “You decided to turn our mother in.” She doesn’t even phrase it as a question, but as a statement as if she knew it would need to be done. Caden nods, to which Peyton simply says, “Good,” then begins asking about the baby. I glance at Caden over Peyton’s head and he shrugs, but I can see the relief on his face that she saved him from having to tell her.

  Peyton stays for a few hours, none of us touching on the subject of their parents again until just before she walks out the door. I give them a little privacy, but stay close just in case Caden needs me. I watch as they hug and Peyton whispers something to which he squeezes her a little tighter, then, with a wave to me, she leaves.

  “That couldn’t have gone better, I don’t think,” he says once we’re alone.

  “Aside from your mother not being in jail which would’ve negated the need to tell Peyton anything, nope,” I tell him with a smile.

  “Sarcasm is sexy on you.” I wink, making sure to swivel my hips a bit more as I head to our bedroom. “I’m gonna let Boomer out. You have until then to be naked and spread out on our bed. I find myself suddenly craving some cream.” I turn just in time to see him licking
his lips as he glances at my shorts covered pussy and I can feel my walls growing slicker as my body answers the demand in his voice and the promise in his eyes.

  For the rest of the night, he does things I didn’t think possible…and I eagerly return the favor.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Caden

  September 27th…

  With my mother’s case being heard and her sentencing delivered, things have finally started to settle down. While her crimes, blackmailing and bribery, weren’t severe, when it came to light who some of her victims were, the FBI got involved and worked with Riley to officially gather the evidence and make their case to take before the judge.

  Anyone else would find the whole experience humbling, something to be ashamed of. Not my mother. She seemed proud, claiming she’d done what she had to in order to get ahead or to ensure those beneath her – and she stared directly at my wife before continuing – knew their rightful place. I stood, held my hand out for Rooney, and once she’d taken it, escorted her out of the courthouse without once looking back. I haven’t seen my mother since and have ignored her repeated attempts at contacting me.

  If I’d thought for one second she wanted to sincerely apologize or was in any way contrite, I wouldn’t have hesitated to see or talk to her, but she’d shown me who she truly was. When you’re that rotten down to your core, change is impossible.

  Well, now she has a couple years to live with her decisions and the consequences of them. And she’ll be doing it all without myself, my sister, or my father. When the truth about her was revealed, her own confession of the men she’d “serviced,” whether personally or by hiring someone to do so, he was appalled, and the final straw was her outright glee, and the first real smile I’d ever seen grace her face, when she admitted she’d purposely gotten pregnant with me to trap him.