by J. M. Walker
I looked up at her. “Did you have nightmares?”
“Yeah, sweetheart. I did.” Brogan sat beside me and cupped my hand that was resting on my lap. “I’m here, Zach. For however long you need, I’m always here. Both of us are.”
Ever since then, I had looked forward to the hot chocolate. It had been a special bonding time for Mom and me. A part of me wondered if Dad knew that, so he would let her take care of me before asking me about the nightmares later on.
“Was it the same nightmare as last time?” Mom asked, sitting across the table from me with her own mug. Even though she was now older, the only wrinkles that sat on her face, were at the corners of her eyes. She always said they were her love lines because the love she had for my father and me, made her smile.
“Kind of. It’s been awhile but this one was intense.” I stared down at the marshmallows in the hot chocolate. “I almost forgot what they could be like.”
“Your father goes through the same thing.” Her gaze hardened. “If I could murder the woman who destroyed you, I would.” She shrugged. “But I have to behave. I am a mother now after all.” It had been something she said often. She wasn’t lying when she said she would kill her. Mom was part of a female motorcycle club that could give most men a run for their money. She had a past. A history. They never talked about the woman who hurt my dad, but everything told me that she was no longer breathing.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, her cheeks reddening.
“Just thinking how amazing you are.”
She laughed. “You are so much like your father, it’s unreal.”
I smiled, taking a sip of the hot chocolate. Even though we weren’t blood related, I had taken on a lot of my adoptive father’s traits. He protected my mother. His wife. His best friend. And I only hoped I could be half the man he was.
“Have you considered seeing Dr. Santos like we talked about?” Mom asked, pulling the elastic free from her dark curly hair and putting it back into a messy bun on top of her head.
“No.” I hated talking. It opened up too many old wounds that I just didn’t want to think about.
“I know it’s hard, but you really should.” She raised her hand. “Before you argue with me, just give it some thought. Please.”
“So this is what you do when I don’t find you in bed beside me.”
Both of us laughed as my dad joined us at the table.
“You good, Son?” he asked me, cupping my shoulder.
“Nightmare,” was all I said.
He grunted, kissed Mom on the temple, and sat down beside her. “Sucks. Doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.” But at least he had someone who could take care of him after. Mom helped me through it as well, but it wasn’t the same. I needed someone I could spend the rest of the night holding, talking to, just being beside. It didn’t have to end in sex. I just needed something other than hot chocolate.
While they talked quietly amongst themselves, I continued drinking from my mug, distracting myself.
Once I finished the hot chocolate, I brought the mug to the kitchen. When I returned to the dining room, I wrapped my arms around my mother’s shoulders. “Thank you for the hot chocolate, Mama.” I kissed her cheek.
She patted my hand. “Anything for you, sweet boy. Try and get some sleep.”
“You heading to the city today?” Dad asked me, rising to his feet.
“I am.” My dad owned half the high-rises and hotels in the city that was a couple of hours away, thanks to my grandfather before him. Since retiring officially from the navy a few years ago, this business was all Dad had. And it left a cozy cushion for his family which was why I followed in his footsteps.
“You are allowed a day off,” Dad chided. “You’ve been going strong for the past few months. People are going to begin to think your boss is running you ragged.”
I chuckled, clapping him on the shoulder. “The business is all I have right now. Until I get a family of my own, I need this.” I was working toward taking over the business so he could retire officially and spend time with his wife. But it was taking a little longer seeing as Dad didn’t want to retire just yet. Instead, I was learning as much as I could from him.
“I understand.” He looked down at his wife. “It was all I had before you.” He cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb over her mouth.
She smiled up at him.
Looking away, I cleared my throat and excused myself.
I loved them. They took me from hell and brought me into their home. I hadn’t always been easy to get along with. I knew that. But sometimes their love was overwhelming. Was I jealous? Maybe. I didn’t know anymore. I dated a few times, but it never resulted in anything more than that. No pussy was going to tame this beast inside of me. Or that was the rumor that went around anyway. Truth was, I hadn’t had sex in over a year. The rumors still went around that told a different story, but I never corrected them. What was the point? I was wild in my high school days and people assumed it followed me into my twenties. It didn’t. Sex was an out for some but for me, it wasn’t enough. This need for more was only getting worse and I knew I needed to do something about it before it consumed me completely.
Available now:
https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/control-us
J.M. Walker is an Amazon bestselling author who also hit USA Today with Wanted: An Outlaw Anthology. She loves all things books, pigs and lip gloss. She is happily married to the man who inspires all of her Heroes and continues to make her weak in the knees every single day.
“Above all, be the HEROINE of your own life...” ~ Nora Ephron
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Excerpt From Control Us (Next Generation, #1)
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