Dirt

by Cassia Leo

  DIRT

  EVERGREEN SERIES BOOK ONE

  CASSIA LEO

  GLOSS PUBLISHING LLC

  DIRT

  Evergreen Series Book One

  by Cassia Leo

  cassialeo.com

  Copyright © 2018 by Cassia Leo.

  First Edition. All rights reserved.

  Cover art by Cassia Leo.

  Photography by Andreas Gradin.

  Fonts from myfonts.com.

  Editing by Red Adept Publishing.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without expressed written permission from the author; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

  All characters and events appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  To the one I lost.

  CONTENTS

  Dirt Playlist

  Part 1: Buried Alive

  1. Laurel

  2. Laurel

  3. Jack

  4. Laurel

  5. Jack

  6. Laurel

  7. Jack

  8. Laurel

  9. Jack

  Part 2: Digging Deep

  10. Laurel

  11. Jack

  12. Laurel

  13. Isaac

  14. Jack

  15. Laurel

  16. Isaac

  17. Laurel

  18. Laurel

  Part 3: Getting Dirty

  19. Laurel

  20. Jack

  21. Laurel

  22. Isaac

  23. Laurel

  24. Laurel

  25. Laurel

  26. Jack

  27. Isaac

  28. Laurel

  29. Jack

  Also by Cassia Leo

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Dirt Playlist

  Listen to the playlist on Spotify.

  Chapter 1

  “On the Nature of Daylight”

  Max Richter

  Chapter 2

  “Hurts Like Hell”

  Fleurie

  Chapter 3

  “Silhouette”

  Aquilo

  Chapter 4

  “Dark (Martin Hviid Remix)”

  Siv Jacobsen

  Chapter 5

  “Until We Go Down”

  Ruelle

  Chapter 6

  “I’ll Be Good”

  Jaymes Young

  Chapter 7

  “Deep End”

  Ruelle

  Chapter 8

  “Rescue My Heart”

  Liz Longley

  Chapter 9

  “All We Do”

  Oh Wonder

  Chapter 10

  “Runaway”

  AURORA

  Chapter 11

  “Don’t Forget About Me”

  CLOVES

  Chapter 12

  “The Line That Ties Me”

  Julia Stone

  Chapter 13

  “Soldier”

  Fleurie

  Chapter 14

  “Poison”

  Vaults

  Chapter 15

  “Oceans”

  Seafret

  Chapter 16

  “The Courage or the Fall”

  Civil Twilight

  Chapter 17

  “You There”

  Aquilo

  Chapter 18

  “Black (Unplugged)”

  Pearl Jam

  Chapter 19

  “This Light”

  Rose Cousins

  Chapter 20

  “No One’s Gonna Love You (Live)”

  Band of Horses

  Chapter 21

  “Melatonin (Unplugged)”

  Phoria

  Chapter 22

  “Rooster”

  Alice In Chains

  Chapter 23

  “White Blood”

  Oh Wonder

  Chapter 24

  “Bitter and Sick”

  One Two

  Chapter 25

  “Sirens”

  Fleurie

  Chapter 26

  “Forest Fires”

  Axel Flovent

  Chapter 27

  “Heart-Shaped Box”

  Nirvana

  Chapter 28

  “Draw Your Swords”

  Angus & Julia Stone

  Chapter 29

  “Up In Flames”

  Ruelle

  1

  Laurel

  I hugged Jack Jr. tightly against my breast, and he molded his soft, warm body to mine. His eyes remained closed as his tiny fingers curled around the fabric of my blouse, his rosy lips puckering as he geared up for more food.

  “You sucked me dry, little fella,” I whispered, leaning in to press my nose against the downy-soft, golden hair on the top of his head. I inhaled his scent and my muscles unspooled. “But I’ll be back to feed you soon. I promise.”

  Why do babies smell so damn good?

  Before I got pregnant with Junior, my favorite smell was orange blossoms. As a teenager, I often got scolded by my mom for picking the flowers off the orange tree in our backyard in Portland. I’d rub the creamy petals between my fingers, bruise them with my fingernails, then sniff my hand for hours until the scent wore off.

  When I was pregnant with Junior, my favorite scent became the rich aroma of the forbidden coffee I could no longer drink.

  After Junior was born, and my decaf days came to a glorious end, I realized how wrong I’d been. There was absolutely no scent as sweet and soul-quieting as the smell of the top of a baby’s head. Bonus points if the baby was lying peacefully on your chest sound asleep.

  “Are you ever going to put him down?”

  I flicked my head sideways, startled by Jack’s clear, baritone voice.

  He stood in the doorway of Junior’s nursery, the silhouette of his six-foot-three athletic body framed by the warm light in the hallway. His head was tilted to the side. He’d probably been standing there admiring us for a while. After six years together, I knew Jack’s body language and facial expressions better than I knew my own face.

  I stood from the rocking chair and stole one more sniff of Junior’s head before I placed him gently on his back in the center of the crib. I adjusted the left sleeve of his pajamas, pulling it down to make sure it covered his entire chubby arm. I didn’t want to imagine him waking up cold and alone in here.

  Jack appeared at my side as I switched on the video baby monitor. “He’s going to be fine,” he murmured, reaching down to stroke the soft patch of hair on Junior’s head. “In fact, he’ll probably enjoy some time alone. After all, he is just like his daddy; sometimes, we need a break from the constant attention from the ladies.”

  I rolled my eyes and headed for the door. “Making jokes only makes leaving him slightly less scary, you know,” I said as we stepped into the hallway of our five-bedroom dream home in Hood River, Oregon. I couldn’t wait to fill up every one of these bedrooms with brothers and sisters for Jack Jr.

  Jack chuckled as he followed closely behind me. “Less scary is an improvement,” he replied, grabbing my hand to stop me in the middle of the corridor. “You promised Junior you’d be back soon. Can you also make me a promise?”

  The hallway lights made his dark hair look glaringly shiny, but I couldn’t help but notice how weary his blue eyes looked tonight. Since Junior arrived three months ago, I’d been so focused on my baby boy’s vulnerability, his scent, his beauty, I hadn’t slowed down enough to appreciate how those were the same qualities that made me fall in love with Jack.

  Suddenly, my worries about leaving Junior with my mother for the evening evaporated. All I wanted to do was kiss Jack, grab hold of that dark hair and
make love to him for hours. I wanted to replace the weariness in his eyes with dark hunger, or maybe a glint of mischief.

  I squeezed his hand and smiled at the thought of possibly having sex with him in public tonight. We hadn’t done that in a while.

  “What kind of promise?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Nope, you’re not allowed to ask. Just promise me you’ll say yes.”

  My stomach vaulted at the sound of those words. They were the same words Jack spoke when he asked me to marry him. I wondered what he would ask this time.

  The phrase “just promise me you’ll say yes” had become like an inside joke, our own private, unspoken promise to each other that we would always do whatever it took to stay together. The last time he had uttered this phrase, he asked me to stop taking my birth control pills. With Junior here, it was easy to trust that whatever Jack asked me for this time would turn out to be exactly what I needed.

  I tilted my head back so I could look up and into his crystal-blue eyes. “Yes, I can make you a promise.”

  His expression became sober. “Promise me you’ll be present tonight.” He fixed me with a piercing gaze as his large hand cupped my face. “It’s just you and me for the next three hours. Promise me.”

  I smiled. “I promise. Just you and me. And I’ll even put my cell phone on vibrate.” As I said the words, a sharp finger of fear prodded my subconscious, telling me it was a bad idea to risk missing a phone call tonight.

  The exhaustion in Jack’s eyes melted away as he smiled. “I can deal with that, but you have to promise me one more thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  His smile turned almost menacing as he looped his arm around my waist and drew me close. “Promise me you’ll lemme smash that blonde bombshell booty,” he said, landing a light swat on my ass.

  I shook my head as I recalled how we often had sex in public during our first year together, in our senior year at Oregon State University, Cascades. For some reason, once we graduated and moved in together, having sex in public seemed like something we couldn’t get away with so easily. We decided public sex-hibitions — or throw downs, as we more commonly referred to them — would be reserved for special occasions like anniversaries or vacations.

  Truthfully, Jack and I kicked off our relationship by having sex on the first date. He was always a very difficult man to resist. When he showed up at my apartment to pick me up that night, I couldn’t resist his suggestion that we should stay in and make paper masks of ourselves, then put them on and ask each other first date questions as if we were the other person. I had never laughed so much on any date. Ever. But when he asked — while pretending to be me — if I’d ever had sex with someone on the first date, I couldn’t help but respond with, “I’m Jack-fucking-Stratton. I’ve fucked a lot of girls on the first date. But none as gorgeous as you.”

  Jack always knew how to keep things fresh and alarmingly sexy. Six years in and my body still craved him almost every second of every day.

  Today was our three-year wedding anniversary. We’d only had sex twice since I gave birth to Junior three months ago, and both of those times were truly awkward.

  The first time was painful. My C-section incision hadn’t fully healed yet, and even trying to have sex with him behind me was uncomfortable. The second time we tried, Jack was so afraid of hurting me, he stopped midway through. There’d been a lot of oral sex happening in this house since then.

  Luckily, a few weeks had passed since our last attempt, and I had repeatedly assured him I was fully healed up now. I was certain that even if the sex did hurt a little, it would still be worth it. I couldn’t understand couples that didn’t consider sex an important part of a relationship. I never felt more complete, more present, more alive than when my body and mind were entwined with Jack’s.

  I smiled as I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I think I know just the place for a proper throw down.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “Ooh. Tell me more.”

  As he leaned in to kiss me, my mother’s voice interrupted us.

  “Are you two making out again?” she said, standing at the top of the stairs with her hands on her hips as she gawped at us. “Well, don’t let me stop you.”

  Jack laughed and I shook my head as we moved toward her.

  “We’re just trying to keep you entertained while you’re on vacation, Beth,” Jack said.

  My mother cocked an eyebrow. “If I wanted to watch porn, I’d open up your laptop and have a look at your internet history.”

  “Mom, don’t be gross,” I protested, trying not to laugh.

  Jack smiled as he held out his elbow for my mom to grab hold as they descended the stairs in front of me. “I made a special collection of links for you. They’re in a folder labeled Tantric Geriatric. You’ll love it.”

  I rolled my eyes. Jack and my mother exchanged jabs like this all day.

  My mother was staying with us for a few days, so Jack and I could have some time to ourselves and get some much-needed uninterrupted sleep. She was leaving tomorrow to go back to the house where I grew up in Portland. Though she pretended as if she was desperate to get home to her Craftsman cottage in the city, and I even teased her about how she was dying to get back so she could see the handsome new neighbor she’d been going on about, I knew she was going to miss Jack’s pretend insults as much as she would miss Junior and me.

  My mother practically shoved me toward the front door. “I order you to go have fun,” she said, smiling as Jack opened the door and stepped outside. “And don’t come home until you’re too drunk to walk.”

  I shook my head. “Thanks, Mom. Please call if you need anything. And don’t answer the door for anyone. There’s a house that got broken into a few streets away.”

  She waved off my paranoia. “Stop worrying so much. We’ll be fine. See you later, babe.”

  I blew her a kiss, then I closed the door behind me.

  * * *

  “I have to admit, having sex on the waterfront was one of my favorite public throw downs ever,” Jack said, pulling his Tesla into the long driveway of our four-acre estate. “But do we really have to wait until our fourth anniversary to do it again?”

  I tugged the silky fabric of my skirt straight as I pressed my thighs together. Though my body was still raw with the evidence of the dirty deed we’d just committed, I couldn’t wait to get Jack inside and pounce on him again. I hadn’t realized how much I missed the sensation of him moving inside me, and how good he was at making me feel beautiful.

  “We can do that anytime we can snag a babysitter,” I replied as he turned the car off.

  He made no move to exit the Tesla. “Well, babycakes, you’d better get ready to interview a fuck-ton of babysitters.”

  I laughed. “Babycakes? That’s a new one.”

  Jack rarely used the same term of endearment twice in a row. He liked to keep me guessing.

  He scrunched up his nose. “Yeah, that one was kind of creepy. Now that I’ve tried it out, I think I can bury that one in the nickname graveyard.”

  “Try the incinerator,” I said, reaching for the door handle.

  “Duly noted,” he replied, exiting the vehicle.

  Jack and I glided unhurriedly along the flagstone walkway, which was lined with sparkling pathway lights. As we made our way toward the steps leading up to the covered porch, I stopped in the middle of the path and closed my eyes as I inhaled the sweet scent of the lavender and honeysuckle I’d planted with my mom’s help.

  That was when I made a wish, a corny wish, but I didn’t care.

  I wished that every person could find someone they loved as much as I loved Jack. I wished every child could feel as loved as Junior was. And I wished every anniversary could be as perfect as this one.

  “No… No, no, no!” Jack’s voice grew louder with each no.

  They say mother’s intuition is scientifically proven to exist. I knew by the tone of Jack’s voice, without even opening my eyes, that m
y world would never be the same. I knew in that instant, I would regret leaving Jack Jr. tonight for the rest of my life.

  Though I knew something was wrong, I wasn’t prepared for what we found.

  At some point, while we were lost in our blissful celebration, the front door of our home had been forced open. This discovery was what had made Jack cry out in disbelief. Father’s intuition must also be a thing, because he told me later that, even though the door was still closed, the moment he saw the gouges in the wood near the handle, he had felt that same sense of dread. That feeling that the universe had suddenly tilted on its side, discarding us into black nothingness.

  The house was ransacked.

  Furniture upended, paintings and flatscreen televisions torn off the walls, shards of shattered vases littered the floors. Complete and utter chaos.

  The master bathroom doorknob looked as if it had been shot off. We found my mother’s lifeless form huddled against the bathtub, my baby boy’s dead body clutched tightly in her arms.

  2

  Laurel

  Two years later

  Dear Jack,

  I hate that our eight-year relationship has been reduced to a fucking goodbye letter. But I highly doubt that anything I’ve written here will come as a surprise to you.

  I can’t fucking do it anymore.

  I can’t look at the ever-growing galleries of Junior’s pictures you display on the walls, the walls of the house where I wander around aimlessly, like some kind of fucking mental patient, from the moment I wake until the time I go to sleep — in the bedroom you’ve abandoned in favor of the couch in your office.

  I can’t spend another fucking night alone in our bed. I can’t keep wishing you would just hold me and tell me everything is going to be okay, while you sit in your office, glued to your laptop, searching for clues, obsessing over every possible lead in a search that will never end. While I lie in bed crying like a fucking bitch, you spend your time looking for the person who did this to us. You have to see the irony in this, if not the tragedy.

  I can’t deal with this constant cycle of fight ➞ cool off ➞ make up ➞ fuck. Fight ➞ cool off ➞ make up ➞ fuck. I’m numb to it now. Sometimes, I wonder if every marriage is like this, then I remember that not everyone has gone through what we’ve gone through.