Page 32 of Stranded
She ran over to me, arms outstretched, and pulled me into a tight embrace. “Oh my god, baby. I’m so glad you’re okay. I was worried sick about you and your stepdad.”
I should have felt a smidge of guilt over what we’d been doing while she was “worried sick,” but my eyes landed over her shoulder on the lipstick smeared near the corner of Jackson’s mouth, and jealousy clawed viciously through my chest instead.
Mine.
She had no business kissing him.
“I’m fine, Mom.”
“I guess you are. I knew,despite how much you hate each other, Jackson would take good care of you.”
Yes, Mom. He took such good care of me, I still have residue of his cum inside me.
Mom finally pulled away from me, only to turn right back toward Jackson. Her hands fluttered over his chest, his arms, his face—the good side, of course— checking him over like she couldn’t reassure herself enough that he was alive. Jackson caught her wrists gently, murmuring something soft I couldn’t properly hear over the roaring in my ears.
And I hated it.
Hated the way he looked down at her with patience.
Hated the gentleness in his voice.
Hated that she could touch him openly while I had to stand there pretending my body still didn’t ache from him fucking me into the mattress less than twenty minutes ago.
“Jackson, sweetheart, you look exhausted.” Mom fussed, brushing her fingers through Jackson’s hair now. “What exactly happened?”
Sweetheart.
I folded my arms across my chest and glared at the back of her head. Since when did she start calling himthatagain, and why was she acting like a loving wife?
Jackson glanced toward me briefly, then back to her. “We managed all right.”
“Managed?” Mom sounded horrified. “You were stranded for days! When they told me that they found the RV destroyed, I was devastated. How in the world did that happen?”
I swallowed, my stomach flipping. Did I wait for Jackson to pin the blame on me or should I just take the hit without putting him in that awkward position?
“It was?—”
“It doesn’t matter, Melodie,” Jackson said loudly, talking over me. “Accidents happen. The good thing is, we survived the experience and it’s made us closer. I mean, we didn’t kill each other.”
Mom laughed, rubbing Jackson’s arm. “That’s true. At least something good came out of the experience. Are you ready to go? This place smells horrible. I’m so sorry I couldn’t pick you up yesterday, and you had to spend the night.”
The second we arrived at the car, the insecurities hit hard. Jackson sat up front next to Mom because where else would he sit? I crawled into the backseat, my mood blackening with every second that passed. With no phone to pass the time, I picked up on all that happened in the car from Mom’s constant chatter to the way she placed her hand on Jackson’s thigh when she wanted to ensure she had his attention.
The motel disappeared behind us as we pulled onto the road, the silence inside the car thick except for Mom’s voice.
It took everything inside me not to yell at her to stop touching my man. My heart and body might have spoken for Jackson but the law was on her side. I had absolutely no right to tell a married woman to stop touching her own husband.
I looked away toward the window before either of them could notice the murderous expression on my face.
Because why the hell was I contemplating murder? Was the sex that good?
Ah, fuck. It really is.
14
JACKSON
Something was going on with my wife, but I couldn’t pinpoint what exactly. Since Aiden and I returned home, Melodie was more present in both our lives than she’d ever been before. Even before the breakdown of our marriage, we’d always given each other space to explore our hobbies outside of each other, but lately, she seemed to want to always be together so I had little time to engage with Aiden, and that was frustrating.
