“You will never have to go back to Beth. I promise.”
“My mom dropped us off with Beth the night we left our house. She promised Beth would take us straight to you.” Mia looked hurt. Jake guessed that hadn’t happened and Jake felt a ping of anger at his mother for keeping these three healthy children and dragging them into her warped world instead of delivering them directly to him. He also felt angry and confused to why Adalyn didn't drop them off personally or call him so he could have helped with whatever mess she was in.
“Mom said she was protecting me, Lucy, Benji and Dad.”
“What’s your dad’s name?”
Her mouth tightened then relaxed. “Julian.” Julian, the dad. “I don’t know why she needed to protect us or what she was protecting us from. We were happy until we went to Beth.” Mia made a face. “Beth was taking us to you but then she didn't and she kept calling some guy and having arguments. Every time there would be yelling and she would get mad and leave us for days.”
Damn his mother.
“Do you remember anything about the guy she was talking to? Did it have to do with you three or Adalyn?”
“Both I think. Beth would make us leave the room but we could hear her through the walls. He had a weird name.”
Jake stilled. This was the road he didn't want to go down.
“Can you recall the name at all?”
Mia's little face squished up. “I forget. I heard it once, and it rhymed with snake and every time she was yelling we would say she’s talking to snake again.”
Cold slivers of danger and fear sliced through his preparation for the name. If he was involved nothing was going to turn out good. Was he out of prison? How was he out already?
“But then Beth said it would never come. I think she meant money and she left us with you.”
This doesn't mean Adalyn’s with him. This doesn't mean Adalyn’s in danger. But what else did it mean?
“Anything else?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
“Where did you go to school?”
“We were home schooled.” Home schooled?
“Can you tell me anything about your dad? Do you know where to find him? Does he have family? Where is he from? Anything?”
Mia thought for a moment. “They met through work and he doesn’t have family. Our last name is Kasper if that helps.” She frowned.
“Where does he work?”
“At the office.” She frowned. “I really miss them both, Mom and Dad. I’m not sure what happened. We were happy living in the condo and then Dad got in the accident and was in the hospital. My mom was very upset after that happened and she said we needed to go to you and that Dad was going to be okay once we were all with you. I’m sorry...that’s all I know.”
“That’s alright. You’ve been very helpful.”
That was enough for now. Jake knew who was involved. He would give Robbie until tomorrow for a phone call then he was going to have to phone Jason. There was no way he was walking into that clubhouse again without consulting Jason first. Jason had saved his life and he would forever be grateful to the man. Jake trusted him and he would know what to do.
“Can I ask you one more question Mia?”
She nodded.
“Did Beth or whoever she was with hurt any of you?” He didn't want to ask but he didn't have a choice.
“No.” The answer came quick.
“Ever?”
She shook her head and he believed her. His mom was a lot of things, but violent had never been one of them. “Sometimes she didn’t feed us and we were always in the house and not allowed to go outside, but she never hurt us. She talked about you and my mom sometimes. She would say this was her fault and she didn’t know how to fix it. She would say she...” Mia looked bashful and it was a nice change from the scared anger she usually wore. “...loved you two.”
Jake loved his mother too, no matter what. Beth was his mother.
“One more thing,” he said.
Mia arched her eyebrows.
“Sydney, Haylee and Joan...” Sometimes Joan. “...are my friends and they are very nice women. So, could you maybe give them a chance?”
The “my friends” term next to Sydney’s name stung his chest. My girlfriend, my fiancé, my wife sounded better. That was an impossibility that made his chest tighten, making it hard to think about anything except Sydney.
Mia agreed a little too quickly, so he hoped she would follow through on her promise. She ran away from the table with less worry to play like a young child should play.
He compared the fear, worry, sadness in Mia because of what his family had done and noted that was exactly what he didn’t want to do with Sydney. He never wanted Sydney to experience the worry, fear and everything else negative that came with his past. He was saving her in the end. He was letting her go to find another man who could protect her...the thought pissed him off...to love Sydney...no one would ever love Sydney with the depth he did and to stay by her side.
Anyone who hurt her during her road to happiness Jake would destroy. However, when she got home from work and the sun dipped behind the lake, he was forced, for her own good to hurt her, and because of that he wanted to pound the shit out of himself.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“THESE ARE CALLED spider dogs,” Haylee explained sliding a hotdog onto the end of Mia's campfire stick. She'd already cut each end twice before sliding it on but it didn't look like anything special. Mia gave her an, are you sure look that made Sydney smirk.
“Roast it,” Haylee insisted, then turned to Lucy and started hers. “Here's yours.” She passed Lucy the stick and Jake helped her roast her hotdog.
This was their alternative to the barbeque Jake had planned. He had given a little child-like pout when he couldn’t grill his steak. It made Sydney smile. He was a big child when it came to his barbequing and he liked to show off the talent.
The hour was touching seven and the sun was just beginning to hang low over the lake on its way to sleep for the night.
Joan opened the screen door and stepped onto the deck wearing a lovely, freshly-pressed peach pant and blazer outfit over a black silk blouse. Her hair was fluffed at the top with a claw clip twisted around the back. She looked beautiful and her face had some color of happiness that Sydney hadn’t seen for a long while.
“I'm going out for supper,” Joan called from the back deck. Supper? This was the first Sydney had heard of her having plans, but then again she’d been distracted with all of Jake and his plans lately.
“Oh Grandma you look gorgeous!” Haylee called, but her attention turned back to the girls as the eight legs she'd cut into the hotdogs began to curl forming the spider she promised.
“With who?” Sydney called.
“A friend.” Joan did not get all fancied up for a friend.
“What friend?”
Joan wiped the front of her outfit off as though it had gotten wrinkled from her walk down the stairs. Her eyes darted at Jake who was lost with the girls. “His name is Chester.”
His? His! Oh she was going on a date.
“Chester?” Sydney ran the name through her mind, contemplated the familiarity and then the night of the March crash came back to mind, She remembered Joan had gone to the hospital that night to visit a friend that had been committed after having a stroke. And the name was Chester! Oh, this was Chester.
Normally Sydney would have pried more conversation about the only man that Joan had talked of since Jake’s dad, but when Jake’s head jerked up, Sydney was sure what was behind his eyes. Was he angry? What right did he have to be angry? The woman had waited fourteen years since her husband passed to even talk about a man, let alone go on a date. Joan deserved to go out on dates, meet a man that would make her happy and that she could grow old with. Sydney wanted that life for Joan.
Sydney abandoned the wooden lawn chair to meet Joan eye to eye on the back deck where it was more private.
“Is it a date?�
�
“Chester and I have been friends for quite some time now, so we thought we would have a more formal dinner.”
“Like a date...”
She shooed her away, irritated by her persistence. “Why do you have to label it?” Because it was absolutely wonderful.
Joan’s face was getting flustered and she even looked like she was about to forget her untitled date altogether.
Sydney touched her arms gently. “Have a good time,” she said, before kissing her cheek and sending her on her way.
Sydney was going to have to meet this Chester, depending on how serious they were about each other. Joan was spending the night again, so maybe Sydney could get a glance of this Chester when they got back home.
Sydney caught Jake watching and smiled at him, trying to ease whatever bad thoughts he was thinking. Once these kids were in bed she was going to take advantage of their alone time and she would ease him entirely, all night long.
***
JAKE CARRIED A sleeping Benji up Sydney’s stairs to the small guest bedroom with a sleepy Mia and Lucy in tow already dressed in their pajamas, as promised which permitted more time around the campfire so they could see Haylee stir in three packets of Rainbow Fire, coloring the flames beautiful blues, greens and white. They all sat tranquilized by the amazing colors and quiet singing of crickets in the distance until finally, Jake called it−bedtime.
Now, they climbed into the bed, overly exhausted, in a zombie-like state.
Mia and Lucy climbed on each side and Jake laid Benji in the middle. As he was about to pull the covers over, them Lucy stood up on her knees and reached around him for a hug. “I love you Uncle Jake,” she whispered drowsily then curled up beside Benji.
Jake was frozen for a second, taking in the affection and remembered the story Mia had told the two younger ones about how he would rescue them. He felt guilty for staying here with them all day instead of searching out Adalyn but he hadn't had much of a choice.
He caught Mia watching him through skeptical eyes. Unfortunately, it was going to be quite some time before this young girl truly trusted again.
Jake tucked them in and slid a wayward hair away from Lucy’s already closed eyes.
“Goodnight,” he said, then looked up at Mia again. “I love you three too.”
A smiled tugged at her lips but she didn't give it any more distance. Her eyes drifted shut, content.
Sydney stretched out under the star-filled night by the fire pit. The fire flickered across her beautiful body, face and he felt himself wanting to stretch out beside her on the lounger and simply hold her. His body urged him to let the last few day’s events slip away with the feel of her beside him. But that would be selfish and in the end when he said what needed to be said, it would hurt her even more.
Her sandals sat on the ground at her feet and her toes wiggled when she saw him.
“Did they go to sleep alright?”
He nodded. Tell her now, this is the perfect opportunity. There would never be a perfect opportunity to hurt her...to take back everything he had promised her.
He sat beside her tiny feet at the edge of the lounger, prepared to tell her.
“You definitely broke through to them today,” she said. “It was nice to see them behave as children instead of terrified little adults.”
It was nice to see them smile laugh and not fear their surroundings.
“What did you say to Mia to break that shell?”
Jake sighed. He supposed her curiosity had been itching to ask all night, with not opportunity to do so. And it was the reason he still hadn’t told her his decision. So he could answer what she wanted to know before starting the conversation that would define their relationship permanently.
“Exactly what you suggested: the truth.”
Sydney sat straighter and her hand touched his sending both comfort and desire through him. How had he lived this many years and ignored these feelings that were escalating now beyond his control.
“It was just as hard for her to hear it as it was for you to say it. Both of you needed to get it out because you four need to unite.”
He wanted to turn his hand over and let her fingers lace through his but he didn't dare.
“When Adalyn left six months ago she took them to Beth and Beth promised to bring them to me.” He didn't tell her about Drake because the name wouldn't register to her.
“For the past few months, Mia told Lucy and Benji that I would rescue them. That I was their hero.”
Sydney smiled softly at him. “You are their hero. They are the luckiest three kids to have your eagle eyes protecting them. Now and always.”
He hated that she saw him as a hero when he was about to divide them.
“I want to go look for their dad. The manager at the apartment might call with a follow up address and if not Mia gave me his name so I was going to make a call and see if I can locate him.” He wanted her to watch the kids. He could take them but he didn't even know this guy.
A car door slamming caught Sydney’s attention, dragging it from him. “Joan's back.” She scrambled to the edge of the chair, pressing the sides of their bodies together. She stopped. “Oh yeah. I wanted to talk to you about her friend Chester.” She sent him an arched eyebrow. “Quit making angry looks when she talks about him. What did you expect−for her to stay single forever?”
He hadn't expected her to go find some guy named Chester. What kind of name was Chester? Who was this man? And was he after the money his dad left her? These were important questions not to be taken lightly.
“Is that what you think I should do after Kyle? Never date again?”
Well of course not. He didn’t have to say the words and she smiled at him, victoriously making her point. “Exactly.”
Sydney abandoned him and her shoes to sneak around the side of the house. He followed her bouncy shadow creep up the side and peek around the front porch towards the driveway. By the time he caught up to her, she was squatting beside a bush and peering around like a nosy child.
This was ridiculous.
He walked over and her hand pulled him to his knees.
“Shhh,” she said, pressing her hands against his lips. His lips! Not over her own where he wouldn't have the desire to kiss every inch of her warm knuckles.
She snuck around the bush on her hands and knees, which was completely unnecessary, trying to sneak a peek at the couple. They were hidden in darkness but Jake could see Joan being escorted to the deck by a well-dressed, handsome older man. Jake thought dating at his age was hard, he couldn't even imagine how people in their sixties did it.
They were exchanging quips about having a good night, but Jake’s eyes drifted to the hike in Sydney’s dress that showed her long slim legs all the way up to the back of her thighs.
“They're so cute.”
His head snapped up and she looked at him, smiling. “Really?” she asked catching him staring. Her tone was shocked but her expression was amused. This was not a good way to end their relationship.
Ticked off at himself, he wasn't sure what to say. Even in the dark, he could see Sydney's smile turn seductive. She slowly rose to her knees and moved against his body. That's when he should have spoken up. But her hands grabbed his and then her fingertips trailed up his arms to the collar of his shirt. She was unbuttoning his shirt.
“Joan's right there,” he whispered, a good argument but not the one he should be using.
Her lips kissed his ear and she whispered. “I will be super quiet.” Then she bit his earlobe and pulled away before a giggle escaped.
How the hell was he supposed to stop that? Not only was he crazy about this woman but he'd never seen this spontaneously...naughty side of her. Damn, it was hot.
Her mouth pressed against the side of his throat, hot and wet. She designed patterns along his throat with her tongue. The outline of her hand pressed against the back of his neck, forcefully keeping him in place, while her other hand massaged his exposed chest.
>
In the distance...a very far distance with the envelope of desire clouding his ears, he heard the front door shut and the cheater’s vehicle drive away.
Sydney had taken complete control over his body as her mouth moved down his chest with slow, seductive kissing, nibbling and licking.
Then he felt her hand caress where his jeans had tightened and his mind snapped back. He couldn't do this. Not to her.
His hand caught her wrist. “Syd, wait.” Barely a whisper, but filled with pleading.
He heard her giggle and her hands moved up his body and snaked around his neck. She kissed his lips. “Take me to my room then.”
Yes. No.
He didn't move. His body stiffened and she must have sensed it because she pulled her head away to look at him, keeping her silky dress pressed against his bare skin and her body heating every place she touched.
“That was an invitation,” she clarified.
He took a deep breath.
“Jake, what's wrong?” Her worry masked her lust.
“We can't do this.”
A smile crossed her lips. “That's why I said take me to my room. Seriously, I would have pegged you more adventurous, but if you’re not comfortable...”
He wanted to. Oh, his whole damn body wanted to. But she deserved better than a life of ups and downs.
He raked his hand across his face, purposely not touching her with his hands. “I'm not taking you to your room.” He didn't mean for it to come out so rough.
His word brewed hurt and confusion across her face. “What?”
“You and me Sydney, it isn't going to work.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Us. In a relationship...a couple. It’s not going to work.”
“O-kay.” Her eyes were searching him for a sign but he was working his hardest to hide everything from her. “Why not?”
Because you deserve better. “Because I said so that's why.” Why did it have to come out sounding so horrible. Probably because he felt horrible.
She was shaking her head. “I don't understand. What happened?”
“Nothing happened.” His entire horrid past happened.
Lakeshore Love: The McAdams Sisters (By The Lake Book 3) Page 19