Beautifully Decadent (Beautifully Damaged Book 3) (39 page)

Suspicion replaced gratefulness because it wasn’t a coincidence, her coming into Clover. Not with her being here now.

“Who are you?”

“Alexandra Titus, but my maiden name is Morton.”

Trace knew what I didn’t when he said, “You’re Rafe’s mom.”

Shock hit first, Rafe’s mom? But looking into her familiar hazel eyes, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it.

“Yes, I’m his mother.”

The fury came then, quick and fierce. Where the hell had she been? Rafe’s father was taken from him at nine, he’d suffered through the foster system and all this time his mother had been close. What kind of woman treated her own flesh and blood that way? Before I could rip her a new one, she beat me to it.

“I know what you’re thinking and you’ve every right to think it. I failed Rafe and his father.”

“Why did you stay away? Rafe was in foster care, alone, young not understanding what was happening. He needed his mother then, why didn’t you go to him, spare him all that unnecessary pain?”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“No, sometimes there isn’t.”

“Then why are you reaching out now?”

Her expression changed, a ruthlessness that was a surprise to see on someone so cultured and refined. “The game is changing.”

I didn’t understand what that meant, but she didn’t let me pry her for information. “I won’t ask you to keep this from Rafe, but please tell him that if I could have been with him, I would have been. And though I tried, I wished I could have done more.”

She turned and walked out. Trace followed her. “I’ve a few questions for her. I’ll be back.” And then he too was gone.

And as much as I would like to be a fly on the wall for that conversation, my thoughts were on Rafe and Liam and how they were going to react when they learned that she had been here. I didn’t have a long wait.

Pushing through the doors of the emergency room, the moment my eyes landed on Avery, the wild thing that had been trying to claw out of my chest calmed. She was sitting with Trace, who looked about ready to break something. The last time he’d been here, it had been when Ember almost died. Her pregnancy had been a high-risk one; she nearly bled out and had landed in a coma for a few days. I understood how this place would not be his favorite and yet he was here, for me.

Avery saw me and immediately jumped up from her spot, walking to me even as I came to her. “He’s okay. Complaining and bitching and flirting with the nurses.”

I smiled, that sounded like Dad.

It wasn’t even a conscious act when I pulled her to me. I needed to feel her, smell her and only then did the wild beast vanish completely.

“I want to see him.” I said this as I stepped back from Avery in time to see worry move over her face. “Avery, what’s wrong?”

“When we got here, the nurses wouldn’t tell us anything because we weren’t family.”

Grinning, I tucked a lock of her hair that had fallen from her knot behind her ear. “Did you bat your lashes at the doctor?”

A sweet smile touched her lips but wasn’t long lived. “No. A woman entered, the same woman who called me to her table at Clover.”

It took me a minute to follow her story since she seemed to be jumping from subject to subject. “Small world, she’s an administrator here?”

“No.”

“I’m not following you, sweetheart.”

Her face softened, for just a moment, and realizing it was my endearment that brought about that contented expression had me making a mental note to use endearments on her at least twenty times a day.

“Her name is Alexandra Morton-Titus.”

And that quickly my mood changed as my body went numb with rage. “My mother was here?”

“Yes, she was the one to get the nurse to share with us what was going on. She told me she stayed away because she didn’t have a choice, but now the game was changing and she wanted you to know that though she tried to be there for you, what little she did wasn’t enough.”

“Be there for me? When the fuck was she ever there for me?”

Trace closed in, knew he had done so because I rarely lost my temper but when I did it wasn’t pretty. Thinking about the kid I had been, my father taken from me, ripped from my home, thrown in a place where life became a game of hiding from the bullies who took delight in rearranging my face on a weekly basis until I was old enough and strong enough to make them stop. My fury hit the danger zone because I had been left to fend for myself, had felt on more than one occasion the staggering sense that I was alone in the world. And she claimed she tried to be there for me? Bullshit.

Trace’s focus had not left me. He placed himself in front of Avery, the idea that he thought he needed to protect her from me, had me seeing red even knowing he was right to do it. He braced, his legs parted, his hands at his sides, knew he was ready to take whatever I threw out. I honestly don’t know what I would have done, but what happened next stopped me in my tracks. Avery moved, slipping between Trace and me even knowing the rage I felt could be seen on my face. There wasn’t fear in her green eyes, only concern and tenderness, and then she touched her small hand to my cheek. It was the lightest of touches and yet in that moment I knew that all I’d been through, every tear, every bruise, and every broken bone had led me to this woman. My anger fled because I’d go through it all again just to see her looking at me as she was right now. The magnitude of that revelation had the words passing my lips without even a thought to hearing them back.

“I love you, Avery.”

Her eyes widened, brightened before the first tear slipped down her cheek. Happiness shone on her face but so did relief. A hesitant, almost timid smile touched her lips as she unconsciously leaned into me. Her lips parted and in the softest voice she said, “It took you long enough.”

For a moment there was dead silence as her words penetrated and then I laughed, the kind of laugh that breaks things loose inside, things you’ve held on to for far longer than you should have. And with that laugh the burden of my youth, that I hadn’t even known I carried, slipped from my shoulders.

"Lexie was here?” And yet Dad didn’t sound as surprised by that as I would have expected. He hadn’t seen the woman in almost forty years and she shows up out of the blue. Had it been me, I’d be halfway down the hall on the prowl, looking for her. “Is she still here?”

“No, she left.” Trace said before he added, “I had a word with her. She said it was a risk that she was even here at all, but she needed to know that you were okay.”

Dad’s face turned thunderous. “A risk? From whom, her fucking father?”

“She didn’t go into detail.”

“How did she even know Liam had been injured?” Avery asked, but it was Dad’s expression that earned my full attention because he was looking anywhere, but at Avery. He knew something.

I wanted to press him for information, but I didn’t want to put him on the spot. He wasn’t volunteering the information, there was clearly a reason for that, so instead I answered Avery’s question. “It would seem that she’s been keeping tabs on him.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that or taking that to the next logical place, her keeping tabs on me and yet still staying in the background. Was the cause of her distance the same reason it was a risk for her to come today?

Moving past that, I studied Dad’s wrapped arm. “What happened?”

“I wasn’t paying attention. It’s not a big deal.” And yet I had a feeling it was more of a big deal than he was letting on. A hunch confirmed when his gaze hit mine. He didn’t want to discuss it now.

I acquiesced, but we’d be discussing this later. He understood when he exhaled before looking over at Avery. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“I was, but the hospital couldn’t get in touch with Rafe so they called me since my number is in your phone.”

“Jesus. I’m sorry, Avery.”

“Stop it. You were injured. This is where I’m supposed to be.”

A grin pulled at Dad’s lips. “Now I’m starting to see some of that notorious red-headed temperament.”

Avery’s hands settled on her hips. “I’m as sweet as pie.”

“I’m heading back. I’ll arrange to have Avery’s car returned to your house.” Trace started from the room.

“Thanks, Trace.”

He turned, his gaze moving from me to Avery, before his lips tipped up slightly. Dad asked as soon as Trace left, “What am I missing?”

Avery moved up next to me, pressing right up to my side. “Your son told me he loved me.”

Dad’s head jerked to me, his expression blank for a minute before he said, “It took you long enough.”

She was sweet, Jesus her taste was like crack. Pushing my tongue into her mouth, I lifted her hips and moved deeper. Her arms held me close, her hips moved, the sounds coming from the back of her throat had me moving harder, my control slipping. Her mouth ripped from mine, her back arched as the orgasm moved through her, her body squeezing me bringing on my own release. And even just having her, it wasn’t enough. I needed more, needed to possess her, wanted to claim her and when we’d burned ourselves out, I’d still want more. There was this warmth in my chest and I understood now that warmth was love. An emotion I never fully comprehended and never would have had had it not been for Avery. I never knew I’d been living only half a life because the best part of me was missing. And just when I thought I couldn’t feel more for this woman.

“I love you, Rafe.”

Pressing my mouth to hers, I ran my tongue along her lips, before pushing into her mouth. Threading my fingers into her hair, I held her steady as my mouth explored, tasted and devoured. Her hands on my chest lit a fire under my skin, the burn following her touch.

I tasted her tears and lifted my head; her eyes were overflowing. “What’s this?”

Her cheeks flushed and her eyes lowered. “It’s nothing.”

Touching her chin, I forced her gaze back on me. “Avery?”

“I just never thought I’d be here. I never thought I’d find you, someone who knows all of my quirks and loves me because of them and not despite them.”

And I did, I loved everything about her. I didn’t need to tell her, she already knew, so instead I teased her. “I do, I love your ass.”

“Now who’s the goof?” Her smile faded a bit. “You seem to be handling the news about your mom in stride.”