Page 93 of The Rest is History
“I’m yours. Yours and Asher’s. Don’t worry.” He smiles, and happiness looks good on him, I decide.
When I pull up to the front yard, Pippin is outside, taking some clothes off the wash line. Among the clothes is a pair of worn men’s jeans.
I shoot Asher a text: I’m going to kill Pippin.
He texts back immediately: Just got done. I’m going up there right now.
“Ezra sleeping?” I ask Pippin, shielding my eyes from the evening sun.
“Yeah. I just put him down.” She comes over to me and hugs me tight with one hand and does the same with Reece. “Nice to see you again, Reece. You want to see Ezra?”
I look over at my lover’s face and my heart squeezes. His bottom lip is caught between his teeth and he's nodding and shaking his head at the same time. “I don’t want to disturb him.”
She laughs. “He loves to be cuddled. Go and lie next to him. He’ll sleep longer that way, anyway.”
“You sure?” Reece says, but he’s already walking toward the front door.
Once he’s disappeared inside, I point to the pair of jeans slung over her arm. “Asher’s on his way. You’ll have some explaining to do.”
“I told him he couldn’t come around here anymore. He said okay. I think it’s over between us. He just wanted me to wash a few of his clothes. He didn’t even sleep over. He’ll come fetch his clothes in a few days. I promise, Sawyer.”
I give her a curt nod and take the washing from her. She follows me inside.
I set the clothes on the couch in the living room and flick the light switch up. The power is on. Thank God.
Pippin moves to the kitchen, putting the kettle to boil and I take a seat at the table when she puts a cup of coffee in my hand. It's just the way she used to make it when she was fifteen. The best coffee I ever tasted.
She sits across from me, playing with the threads of the dish towel. “Have you changed your mind about taking Ezra with us to see Faye?” she asks hopefully.
I sigh. “Yeah. We’ll take him.”
She jumps up from her seat and throws her arms around me, kissing me all over my face. “Thank you, Sawyer.”
“Yeah, well, you complained to Ash about it, and he told me to take him.”
She laughs. “Ash is the best.”
The crunch of gravel outside indicates Asher’s arrival. The laughter dies on Pippin’s lips, and she starts chewing on them instead.
“Yeah? Well, go and tell him what Carlson’s clothes are doing in your laundry.”
If Pippin thought having me for a big brother was hard, it’s much harder with Ash. He doesn’t let her off the hook easily when it comes to Carlson.
Still, she rushes out of the kitchen to the front door. I follow with my coffee.
Ash catches her as she launches herself off the last step. Wrapping his arms around her, he holds her tight. “Hey baby,” he calls out to me.
I lift my cup in greeting. “How was your day?” I ask.
He gives me the thumbs up, then picks Pippin up until her feet are dangling off the ground and he walks with her like that up the stairs. She won’t let him go now, even when he’s scolding her.
Which is the very first thing he does once we’re all inside. She lets him go to make him a cup of coffee while he lets her have it.
“What did I say, Pip?”
“Don’t let him back in here,” she mumbles.
“Why don’t you listen? How many times do Sawyer and I have to beat the piece of shit up before you’ll realize what trash he is?”
