Chapter Twenty-Five
Ariella
Every inch of the house smelled of Jaxson, musky and intense. It tickled my nose. The giant glass windows overlooked the forest, and as night fell there wasn’t much to see. Could anyone that traveled up the mountain see us? Jaxson hadn’t warned me to close the curtains or shut off the lights. He’d set the alarm for the house. We would be safe. I had to believe that, or I would never be able to settle down.
“Come on,” Skylar said, stomping up the stairs.
“Daddy?” Izzie came around the corner. Her eyes lit up when they landed on me. She squealed and jumped, her eyes wide and cheeks rosy. Throwing her arms in the air to hold her, I bent down, hugging her to my chest.
“Your Daddy will be home soon,” I said. She squeezed me tight, my body melting under her innocence. Her world was protected because of Jaxson. She had no idea the dangers of evil and what horrors men were capable of.
“Play with me?” Her hand latched tight onto mine, dragging me toward her room. I needed to shower, get dressed, and clean up, but I couldn’t say no to her.
Skylar stepped between us, breaking Izzie’s hold on my hand. “Isabella, I’m sure Ariel has better things to do with her time.”
“Are you the Little Mermaid?” Izzie began jumping up and down, clapping her hands together. “Can you sing? Do you have a tail?”
Great. Now I had to disappoint a toddler. My singing voice was atrocious, and I definitely did not have a mermaid’s tail or any tail for that matter. “I don’t sing as beautiful as Ariel,” I said. I turned to Skylar. “My name is Ariella.”
“Sure, whatever.” She shrugged and shot me a look. “That’s what I said.”
“It’s not.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, too exhausted to argue. Dropping my hand, I folded my arms across my chest. What was her problem? The glint in Izzie’s eyes was enough to settle my nerves and soothe my boiling blood. I bent down to Isabella’s level, making eye contact with her. “I would love to see your room.”
Izzie snatched my hand and dragged me down the hall. She rushed inside her bedroom and stood waiting for me to join her. I flipped on the light and was met with an abundance of mermaids all over her bedroom. I covered my mouth with my hand to keep the giddy grin from my lips and tried not to burst out laughing. The girl was obsessed with mermaids.
The walls were painted cerulean with white and pink foam bubbles. Near the window, a mermaid’s tail sparkled and shined, with glittery hues of teal and a thin silver outline. “Did your dad paint your bedroom?” Impressive would have been an understatement. Someone with a lot of artistic talent made her bedroom come to life.
“Look up!” Izzie pointed at the stars, and she smacked off the lights, revealing they glowed in the dark along with the outline of the mermaid’s tail.
“Wow.”
Skylar hit the light switch and stood in the doorway. “It is something else,” she said. “A bit too girly for my taste.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing it isn’t your bedroom.” I probably should have held my tongue, but I was not too fond of the way Skylar spoke about Izzie, let alone behaved as if she couldn’t understand. Isabella may have been three, but kids were smart. They picked up on everything.
“You ready for the tour?” Skylar picked at her nails, staring down at her hands.
“I’ll be back,” I said to Izzie and followed Skylar down the hall for the briefest tour possible. She opened Jaxson’s door to his bedroom. “Dresser is in the corner. The bathroom door is next to it. I’ll grab you a towel.”
“Thank you.”
She brushed past me and knocked into my shoulder. I bit back a yelp of pain. The woman didn’t know what I’d been through, and I wasn’t about to confide in her. She hated me. I wasn’t sure why. Was it because I slept with Jaxson? Did she know? Why did she care?
The bedroom dark. I flipped on the light, and a warm ambient glow cast from the ceiling fan and light overhead.
His king-sized mattress was pressed against the wall near the window, the bed made, the comforter perfectly centered with the pillows fluffed. I wanted to lie down, curl up under the sheets, but I couldn’t invite myself into his bed. He’d offered for me to stay at his house, not in his bedroom.
My teeth tugged on my bottom lip. Why had Jaxson run off without so much as a goodbye last night? No note. No phone call or text. I couldn’t think about that right now. My eyelids drooped, exhausted from the day’s events.
I tugged on the dresser's handle, the oak, heavy, robust. The rails glided open, and the top drawer revealed to me his boxers and socks.
This felt far too intimate after one night together that hadn’t resulted in even waking up alongside one another. I slammed the drawer and tried the second one down, grabbing a dark red university t-shirt with the wordsMontana Grizzlies. With my fist tight on the shirt, I brought it to my face. The soft material caressed my cheek as I drank inhisscent. Although his room smelled uniquely of him, the t-shirt was muskier, stronger, and I clung to it.
Skylar strolled down the hall, and with the sound of her footsteps approaching, I lowered the soft tee. She threw a fluffy mint bath towel at me.
“Thanks.” I seized the linen, surprised she didn’t bring me a hand towel or washcloth instead and tell me that’s all there was clean.
With the softness of the towel in my palm, my grip tight on his tee, the dam nearly broke. No one would see my downfall, certainly not a girl I hadn’t spent over five minutes with who wanted nothing to do with me. I yanked open a second drawer with two pairs of sweatpants and grabbed the ones on top before fleeing to the master bathroom. I flipped the light and slammed the door shut behind me.