Her Marine Next Door

by Burke, Aliyah

  “What did you do last night?” Parker sat on the steps, leaning back against the post as he watched his son.

  Cullen’s face fell. “I tried to be quiet because Mommy was angry.”

  Anger churned. “Then what?”

  “The storm came.”

  Shit. Cullen was terrified of storms.

  “How’d you do with that?”

  His lower lip trembled, but he no longer looked away from him like he had when he first arrived. “Murray was scared. Mommy wouldn’t wake up. She drank too much and did her pills. I broked my promise. I went to see Mama. She would keep me safe, I knew it.”

  And the anger grew wings and soared.

  Parker counted to ten, twice, before he’d reined himself in enough to pose his next question. Cullen beat him to it.

  “Are you mad, Papa?”

  He gave his son a smile. “Not with you. Did Mama take care of you?”

  It should have shocked him how right it felt referring to Skylar as “Mama.” It didn’t. It pleased him.

  “She hugged me and held me until I slept. In the morning she fed us.” His grin said it all.

  Tears, actual motherfucking tears, pricked his eyes as he realized Skylar meant so much to his son.

  Cullen stuck out his lower lip and took a deep breath.

  “What’s up, C-Man?”

  “She cried.”

  And that fact tore his son apart. “Why?”

  “She was sad. She held me all night.” Another ear-to-ear grin. “I love her.”

  Me, too.

  He’d been half in love with her since he’d first laid eyes on her. The time he’d had with her only moved him from Camp Half to Camp Full, let him put down roots here.

  “Supper’s ready.”

  He met Cullen’s gaze and jerked his head to the house. “Come on.”

  “Maybe we can eat with Mama?” Such hope in his tone.

  The meal was full of strained conversation. Not that the food was bad, but there wasn’t the relaxed atmosphere he’d experienced at Skylar’s.

  Parker put his son to bed later and headed to the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Over to thank Skylar for watching Cullen last night while you, again, fell short of being fucking mother of the year, passed out on the couch.” He would deal with her after.

  She flushed and glared. “Is that what your little bitch told you to try to get you back?”

  “She didn’t tell me anything. However, she did leave a note.” With a retaliatory glare of his own, he marched out the door and beelined it for Skylar’s house.

  Aware the front would be locked, he went to the backyard and headed in that way, not willing to give her a chance to refuse to unlock the door. He opened the door and entered, sliding the door shut behind him. He found Alpin lying on his bed, chewing on a turquoise-and-green-striped monkey with ropes for the arms and legs.

  “Hey, boy,” he muttered, crouching to pet him on the head.

  He gave two thumps of his tail, never stopping in his act of chewing.

  “Where’s your Mama?”

  Again, no help from the dog. Music was streaming up the hall, and as he pushed back to his feet, he realized it was Two Steps from Hell and sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy.

  “Wish me luck.” Parker stared down the hall and after a moment’s hesitation, he struck off to confront her.

  “Skylar?”

  He paused in her doorway, searching for her. Things were scattered all over the floor, completely unlike her, and as he stood there, another large pile of clothing sailed out from the closet.

  “Can’t believe I’m fucking hearing his voice in my head now,” she huffed as she continued to toss things out.

  “I’m right here, Skylar.”

  He swore the music paused at that moment as well, for it was as if his voice echoed through the room.

  “Get out.” The statement was low and harsh.

  He crossed his arms and waited for her to come out of the closet and face him.

  Seconds later, she stood there, her natural curls drawn up on her head and held in place by a bright multihued cloth. The curls peeking up from the top instantly drew his focus. He loved playing with her hair.

  “Get. Out.”

  “I came here to talk to you about something.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “So get the fuck out of my house and use the doorbell like any person wanting inside someone’s house.”

  He pulled the note from his pocket. “I’d tried that many times before I went to base and you wouldn’t open the fucking door. What the hell happened last night?”

  “What did she tell you?” Skylar lifted her chin and waited.

  He didn’t miss the slight tremble of her hands as she stood there. Not from fear. Knowing his woman as he did, it was anger.

  “That you were lying. That you’d brought Cullen back over this morning because he sneaked through the fence again.”

  “Right. Because as little as you know me, even though I uprooted everything in my life to pretend to be your fiancée, you take the word of the woman who you probably shared ten words with before you were dick-deep in her. But hey, she gave you a child and as you both so aptly pointed out, I’m not Cullen’s mother.”

  Not going how he wanted. “Look—”

  “No. Fuck you, Parker Jax. Fuck. You.” She dropped the clothes in her hand and took three steps toward him. “I told you at the hospital it was over. Foolish me, I thought you were man enough to accept that. I avoided you best I could, stayed out of your way. Last night, I was here, minding my own business at almost two in the morning when I look up and see your son standing in front of my sliding glass door, soaking wet, and scared out of his mind. Why was he here? Because the woman who knows so much more about mothering than I do, because I don’t have a child”—her voice broke on that—“was passed out on your couch, bottles of beer and liquor nearby. Let’s not forget the pills. I actually had to check for a pulse to make sure she hadn’t overdosed.”

  He closed his eyes and tried to ground himself.

  “Don’t you shut me out. You don’t fucking get that luxury. Look at me!”

  He listened, the pain in her eyes killing him.

  “This world isn’t just about you and what you want. So, I’m sorry I didn’t make him go back and sit in his bed crying, because his mother is a fucking lush and you’re dumb enough to believe the show she puts on for you and your parents. I took care of him like I did when you were staying here. I love that boy like he’s my own, but I know he’s not.”

  “Skylar—”

  “I’m not finished.” Her words were low and vibrated with anger. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re trying to play, but I will no longer be part of it. The snide remarks from her, the underhanded comments from your mother. You chose. You made your decision, now get out of my house and live with it. Time for you to realize life comes with sacrifices.”

  “I don’t want her in my life.”

  “I don’t care what you want. Our lives no longer have anything to do with each other. I will be polite if we see each other, but lose my number, forget we’re even neighbors. You’re allowing that woman in your life, and I refuse to be a bystander and watch her ruin that sweet boy. From what I saw this morning you’re good with getting pussy wherever it’s offered and I can’t. No, I just can’t.” Her body trembled.

  Fuck, his heart was breaking. “I didn’t sleep with her.”

  “No.” In that moment, her face lost all expression. No anger, no anything. “We have nothing to say to each other. Get out of my house. We’re done.”

  He reached out to her and froze when she flinched as if he’d hit her. He hated that expression on her face.

  Christ, he’d fucked up.

  “Baby, I�
��m not done. I don’t want to lose you. I will be back.”

  “I won’t be here. I mean it, Parker.”

  Thinking she just needed a bit to calm down, he backed out and left her there. He’d be here again in the morning. Right now, he had other issues to address.

  Back at his place, he stewed as he packed a bag for Cullen and put it in the truck, then he put his sleeping boy in the SUV. As he shut the door, he spied Gemma behind him.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Taking him to my parents’ house.” He got in his SUV and drove away.

  Gemma was still there when he returned.

  “We need to talk.” Parker pulled on every fucking ounce of training he’d gotten during his time in the Corps, because if he didn’t stay in control, he’d be up on murder charges.

  When Gemma turned from folding laundry, he caught a glimpse of one of his shirts in the pile. She sidled in his way so he couldn’t see all that was in the basket.

  “Sure thing. Just doing some housework.” She looked by him. “Where’s our son?”

  And that anger pushed up once more.

  “Safe. Which is more than I can say when he’s with you, apparently.”

  She blinked. “What are you talking about? I always put his welfare first. I thought we went over this already. Your little bitch is lying.”

  Seriously? This was why he’d opted to ask Cullen first, because this woman was a practiced liar. The more he looked at her, the more he could see it. He berated himself up one side and down the other; because he’d been so focused on continuing the charade with Skylar, loving the fact that she was in his bed, or he in hers, he’d neglected to protect the ones he should have been keeping safe.

  Gemma was good, he had to give her that, showing everyone what she wanted them to see, but he could see the proof her makeup couldn’t quite conceal. And he didn’t doubt he knew exactly where the needle marks would be on her body.

  “You need to tell me the truth, because if you lie to me yet again, Gemma…” He took another deep breath.

  “Is this something else your ex-pretend fiancée is putting out there to continue to try to come between us?”

  “This is about you going to her place and ruining things of hers, stealing her tools, and sabotaging her work. To think you’d consider doing that is fucking insane. But even that is second to the fact you’re still using, and you fucking left our son to fend for himself as you lay passed out on the couch.”

  Surprise flashed before it was concealed by more of her feigned hurt. Tears welled up in her eyes. He didn’t care.

  “I thought the two of you were no longer together. Don’t you see this is nothing more than a desperate attempt on her part to keep us from each other?”

  “Drugs,” he seethed. “In my house. You fucking passed out while my son was here, because you don’t give a fuck about anything or anyone but yourself and your next score. That’s what this is about.”

  “I did not.” Now came the anger. “I’m a damn good mother. I kept him alive for over three years. If I was such a danger to him, wouldn’t he be dead or pulled from me by the state by now?”

  “Shit parents can keep their kids far too easily, so I’m going to see it that Cullen was lucky. That’s changing now.”

  Her fingers flexed on the plastic of the laundry basket, but she didn’t look away from him.

  “She’s spreading lies about me.” Gemma gulped a few times and put the basket at her feet, then moved toward him. “You have to know I’d never do anything to jeopardize him. It’s all her fault.”

  “No, it’s yours.” He swallowed before admitting, “And mine. Because I was too fucking wrapped up in myself to see what Skylar had seen from the beginning.”

  “Skylar, Skylar, Skylar.” Her high-pitched tone grated on his nerves. “Such an angel. Then why aren’t you with her?”

  “Because I fucked up, but I’m not going to do the same when it comes to Cullen’s safety. You are no longer welcome here. I want you out within the hour. You should have money saved up, because you haven’t had to spend a damn dime on anything. Aside from your habit.”

  Desperation leached into her gaze. “You don’t mean this, Parker. We make an incredible team. Your mom loves both of us. She thinks we should be together.”

  “We will never be a couple, and your clock is ticking. Get the fuck out of my house.”

  He put his back to her and stormed away. Instincts that had saved him many times over flared and he dodged her attack, shaking his head.

  “I don’t hit women, Gemma, and for that you should be thanking your fucking stars. Come at me again and I’ll have you arrested.”

  She howled like a wild animal and rushed at him again, eyes crazed as she cursed Skylar and everything about her. “I should have slashed her fucking tires and burned down her house!”

  More anger grew, and he knew he was losing control.

  On and on her tirade went as she continued to come at him, swinging, nails like claws. Sidestepping again, he pulled out his phone and dialed. An hour later, thankful Cullen wasn’t there, he shut the door behind the cops as they drove away with her and her items he’d put in her suitcase.

  Fuck. He needed a beer.

  “One down and one to go.”

  After Gemma had been taken away, he got to changing the locks, and when he heard a rumble next door, he stepped out to see a large truck back up to her garage door. Possessiveness washed over him, but he kept himself there. As volatile a mood he was in right now, he wasn’t going to behave well if he found strange men in her place, since he still had a chance to come back from his fuckup between them. If he ruined work for her like Gemma had, there wouldn’t be anything he could do to repair the damage.

  He clenched his fist as he again thought about her warnings about Gemma’s vandalism. Fuck. Skylar should have come to him right away instead of hiding it for so long.

  And he should have been much better about his reaction.

  The truck wasn’t there long, and the entire time he hadn’t seen or heard Skylar. Throughout the day, he kept an eye on the backyard, looking for Alpin. No sign of him, either. She hadn’t taken a single one of his calls. Again.

  While he was out running errands, his cell rang, and he answered it without looking at the screen. It wasn’t Skylar’s personal ringtone. Dammit. He wasn’t about to let her go without a fight.

  “Jax.”

  “We have training in six hours. I expect you there.”

  His commanding officer.

  “Sir? I haven’t been cleared for duty.”

  “What the fuck do you think I’m doing? Calling because I care?” The creak of springs hit him.

  “Never that, sir. So I’ve been cleared?”

  “Just got the report from your physical therapist. Have to say, thought this was going to be sooner. Thought you’d do some well-known Parker Jax wooing-the-women bit and have her signing off more quickly. Regardless, six hours. Oh, and pack a bag.”

  Joy filled him. Recon wasn’t lost to him.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And Jax?”

  “Sir?”

  “Welcome back.” The man hung up.

  Parker opened up his contacts and pulled up Skylar’s picture and hesitated right before he touched his thumb to the call button.

  She was the first person he wanted to tell but he couldn’t, because he’d fucked this up.

  After calling his parents to let them know what was up, with them agreeing to take Cullen for the time being, he called Ioan to let the man know he’d be there. Although grateful to hear his friend’s voice, it wasn’t even close to the person he wanted to tell. Skylar. Always Skylar.

  As he loaded his bag in his vehicle, Mrs. O’Neary came to stand before him. Fifteen minutes later when she walked away, his head spun, and he couldn’t quite
comprehend what she’d told him about Skylar.

  …

  The sun had dropped low in the sky, and he leaned against the porch post on the building he and his men were crashing in. The view he had was one of the most majestic he’d ever seen, and yet all he wanted to do was share it with Skylar. He missed her like hell, how she made him feel, and not just the physical. How she would look at him and give him her complete focus, as if he were the only thing that mattered. Her playfulness. Hell, he even missed watching her work on her damn crossword puzzles.

  She had this way about her of making him feel special. How she could coax a laugh from him, how she slept, curved into him like she couldn’t get close enough to him. No one else was perfect for him as she was.

  All this time, he’d been foolish to think being out here with his men was the most important thing to him in the world. That he couldn’t imagine his life without it, or them.

  He’d been wrong.

  Skylar was his world. She was his lodestar. And he couldn’t keep going without her.

  Mrs. O’Neary’s conversation at him—it wasn’t one she had with him; she talked, he listened—made everything about Skylar all that much clearer. Parker wasn’t angry with her—hurt she hadn’t told him about her past, yes, but no longer angry.

  There were things to be addressed and fixed when he got back home. His woman put everyone else before her, no matter the cost, and he loved her all the more for her selflessness. It was time for him to take care of her, show her that he could be the man she deserved to have at her side. That he would do right by her. Treat her as she should be.

  Right now, though, he needed some shut-eye and went inside to crawl in his bed. While he fell asleep easily enough, he didn’t stay that way, waking alone in the dark with all-too-clear visions of Skylar.

  Fuck he wanted her.

  Pushing the waistband down past his hips, he gripped his shaft and stroked along its length. He conjured up a mental image of Skylar in the shower with him.

  The way the water beaded and rolled over her figure. From the droplets on her insanely long natural lashes, to how they followed the curves on her body. He pinched the head of his cock and clenched his jaw to keep the moan contained.