Page 94 of Asking for Trouble

Aaron started speaking before I could.

“I knew you always wondered what happened to your mum when she left Rooster. Well, after some serious searchin’ between the three’a us, Lion, Curtains, and I tracked her down. She actually moved to Vancouver, entered a rehab program, and eventually met a man named Sandy. She died five years ago’a heart complications, probably related to her drug problem. But when I got in touch with Sandy, he mentioned she’d set aside shit for you in her will. That she tried to keep tabs on you even though she knew she’d never be able to get you back from Rooster. He’d loved to meet you some day if you’re up to it, to talk about your ma.”

The pressure of tears in my chest was too much to bear. As if sensing how overwhelmed I was, Aaron stepped closer, taking my left hand, long since healed from Hazard’s abuse.

“She loved you to the end,” he told me seriously, the lines fanning out beside his eyes pale from being so often crinkled in a grin under the sun. “No one with a heart could know you and remain unmoved by the beauty’a ya.”

He pulled something out of his pocket, a little black pouch and set it in my hand. “She left you the only thing’a value sheever had. Sandy said he wasn’t even mad when he read the will, only sad he couldn’t find you after you ran from Rooster.”

My fingers shook as I opened the tiny pouch and upturned its contents into my hand.

Sapphires.

Six stones of various sizes, all glittering in the late-summer sun.

“Apparently, she came from some old mining family out east, and she hid these from Rooster for a rainy day. I guess she sold some over the years to fund her escape, but she kept these for you.”

My vision blurred as I stared down at the jewels, feeling the ache of a mystery never answered sew itself shut inside my chest.

“Thank you,” I mouthed to my man, my voice lost to the tide of emotion dragging me under.

“Thank you,” he told me, cupping my face in both hands, his rings cool against my skin. “For trusting me when you were terrified to take a chance on anyone. For staying by me these past few months even when shit got so bad we thought it wouldn’t end. Thank you for bringing the colour blue into my life.”

I reared up, jewels clenched in my fist, to throw my arms around his neck and reel him in for a kiss. He tasted like sunshine and his favourite sugary breakfast cereal. The feel of him, the scent of him, the texture of his love like sunlight against my skin was all so familiar to me now I’d know him even in the dark.

“Best birthday present ever,” I said into his mouth.

He chuckled, palming my ass. “It’s not over yet. C’mon, baby Blue, I got more to give you.”

Our next stopwas Hephaestus Auto, which wasn’t really surprising because I loved spending time at the garage with Aaron while he worked. There was nothing like the sight of my man streaked in grease bent over an engine. It had ignited kink I’d never even known I had.

But it was a Sunday, and the shop was empty as he led me through the bays to the fourth one at the end.

“Close your eyes.”

I obeyed, already smiling, wondering what could be waiting for me.

“Open,” he said a moment later after tugging me through the sliding metal door.

At first, I didn’t even recognize it.

But it was still my old beaten-up Mazda, just sparkling with a new paint job.

Cobalt blue, the same colour as my eyes and hair.

“What the hell?” I asked.

Aaron threw back his head and laughed, wiping his eyes when he finally looked back at me. “It was a piece’a shit, and I’m a mechanic. Can’t have my Old Lady representin’ like that.”

“It’s beautiful,” I crowed, kissing his jaw before moving to the car and checking the pain job in greater detail.

The inside had been reupholstered in baby blue leather and something hung from the rearview mirror.

I opened the door and got into the driver's seat to inspect it closer.

It was a note in Aaron’s cramped handwriting.

Look up.