Page 43 of Broken Skulls (Rebel Skull MC #7)

Chapter Forty-Two

Elizabeth

T oday I woke up with an uneasy feeling. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s that I can sense something going on with Jacob.

I’m watering his plants when he comes in.

“Hey, baby,” he whispers in my ear as his arms slide around my waist. “I’ve got to run over to the warehouse.”

My heart drops a little when he doesn’t invite me to go.

“Oh, okay,” I say, keeping my voice steady.

“I’ll pick something up for supper on my way home.” He looks at his watch. “I think Brody will be dropping Lexie off around six, so that should work out real good.”

“That sounds wonderful.” I move away from him and begin to prune a plant.

“I can do this, you know? You don’t have to take care of them for me.”

My hands pause mid-air. “I like taking care of them, Jacob.” I set the clippers down. “But if you don’t want me to …” I turn to walk away.

He grabs me by the elbow. “I didn’t mean it that way. Come here.” He pulls me to stand in front of him, brushing hair out of my eyes. “I just meant if it’s a chore you don’t enjoy, I can do it.”

“Why would you think I don’t enjoy it? I asked for flowers to plant outside, didn’t I?”

His face falls. “Shit, I forgot all about that.”

“It’s fine, Jacob.” I try to pull away from him, but he doesn’t let me.

“I’m sorry I forgot about the flowers. We’ll go get some tomorrow. I promise,” he tells me, then sighs. “I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. I’m truly sorry, baby.”

I know he’s sincere by the tone of his voice. “It’s okay. I know you’ve been busy.”

His finger settles under my chin, and he slowly lifts my face. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

For the rest of the afternoon, melancholy follows me around. I decide to go outside and walk through the yard. The house is clean. The chores are all done. There’s nothing else to do.

I wander around, looking for a place to plant the flowers that Jacob promised we would get tomorrow. What we really need is a greenhouse. My grandma had one, and I loved it. When I stayed with her a few weeks each summer, I would spend all day there. She did, too. She would sit with her plants and read out loud to them. Those were the happiest times of my life.

God, I haven’t read a book in ages. I plop down on the grass in front of the house. Jacob has a whole bookshelf full of books. I wonder how long it’s been since he read one. When I was cleaning, I found them covered in dust.

Maybe Jacob would build me a greenhouse. With a place to sit and read.

It would fit perfect right here beside the house.

Am I dreaming?

I chuckle lightly to myself.

“Even if he builds you one, you still need to plant flowers outside for the bees.”

“That’s true.”

It strikes me how much the conversations I have with myself have changed. I laugh again, falling back onto the grass to stare at the clouds.

I’m feeling a little better. Coming outside was a good idea. I’ve got to get used to Jacob leaving. I mean, he had a life before me. Besides, this is nice. I can find things to do on my own. Everything is okay. I take a deep breath, pushing the uneasy feeling in my gut away.

Something bangs across the junkyard, making me sit up abruptly.

“What was that?” I whisper out loud.

Slowly, I stand as a sudden feeling of being watched creeps up my spine. My gaze moves across the yard. The next crash sends me running to the porch. I pause there, my heart beating out of my chest.

The unease I’ve felt since this morning grows and grows. Slowly, I back into the house, keeping my head on a swivel. Once inside, I lock the door and then rush to each window, locking them. I stare at the little phone on the kitchen counter that Jacob bought me. I could call him. He said he saved everyone’s number in it if I ever wanted to call anyone from the club.

My gaze goes back to the window. Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing. It was probably a raccoon or a stray cat. Jacob is always feeding them.

“You’re just being paranoid.”

“I’m sure you’re right. I mean, yeah, it’s been a crazy last few months. I’m probably suffering from a little PTSD. I’m being ridiculous. It’s daylight. No one is in the junkyard but me.”

I move to the bathroom and lock the door, holding the phone in my hands.

And that’s how I spend my next few hours.

I’m zoned out when I hear a loud knock on the front door.

My heart starts racing, but I manage to unlock the bathroom. I tiptoe down the hall, slowly peeking around the corner. Instantly, relief floods my system. It’s Jacob. He must have forgotten his keys.

I hurry to the kitchen, dropping the phone on the kitchen counter before opening the door. His hands are full of takeout food.

“I hope you like pizza. I forgot to ask what you wanted before I left.”

My gaze roams over the yard before I close the door behind me. “I love pizza.”

He sets the boxes on the table. “Brody just sent me a text. Him and Lexie are on the way.”

“See everything is fine.”

He starts setting the food out on the table.

“That’s a lot of pizza,” I tell him.

“Well, I wasn’t sure if you were a plain cheese, a pepperoni, a pineapple bacon, or an everything-type girl. So, I got a medium of each. Oh, and breadsticks, both cheese and plain.”

It makes me laugh. “We’ll never eat all of this.”

“I invited Brody to stay for supper when he drops off Lex. You don’t mind do you?”

I sit down at the table. “Of course I don’t mind who you invite to your house.”

“Our house,” he corrects, crouching down in front of me. He balances himself with his hands on my knees.

“Well, even with Brody, there is no way we’ll eat all that.”

He laughs. “You’ve never seen him eat.”

Jacob seems happy. God, I feel like such a fool. The man needs time to himself, and obviously I need to learn how to be by myself. I feel like such an idiot for locking myself in the bathroom for half the day.

“What did you do today?” he asks.

My eyebrows rise in surprise. I didn’t know there was going to be a test. “Oh, oh I didn’t do much. I did a little cleaning.”

He groans out loud. “Elizabeth, you don’t have to clean. Why didn’t you just enjoy your day?”

I feel his disappointment. “I did enjoy my day. I don’t mind cleaning, Jacob. In fact, I like it.” My head falls, because I’m confused. He calls this our home, yet he seems unhappy when I try to take care of it.

“Fuck,” he whispers, taking his hand from my knee to run through his messy hair. “I’m sorry.”

“I know you want me to find what I love to do. Why can’t I love taking care of you and our home?”

His brows pull together as he thinks about what I’ve said. His knees drop to the floor, and he lays his head in my lap, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“My mom lived to serve my dad. I guess it makes me a little uncomfortable when I see you doing the same,” he admits quietly.

He doesn’t have to tell me the pain this causes him.

I run my fingers through his hair, gently massaging his scalp with my nails. “There is a difference. I want to do these things. Your mother felt obligated to do them.”

“I hated it. She tried so hard to please him, and it never mattered. He always found something wrong. Day in and day out, she was never good enough for him. No matter how much she cleaned or cooked.” He pauses, his voice cracking.

“Was it the same for you?”

He laughs half-heartedly. “Yeah.”

I continue to let him rest on my lap. It feels so good to comfort him.

“Everything had to be fucking perfect with him, even though he was a complete shit show. When we left him, my mom threw the notion of a perfect house out the door.” He chuckles lightly. “Nothing matched in our new house.”

My gaze goes to the cupboard full of mismatched dishes.

“She started to spend her days how she wanted. I mean, our house was clean, but she no longer worried about it. Some nights we’d leave the dishes until the next day. She said they’d still be there in the morning, and you know what? They were.”

When he gets quiet, I decide it’s my turn to talk. “I’m sorry your dad treated you both that way.”

He closes his eyes.

“Jacob, you have been nothing but kind to me. I don’t feel pressured to perform a certain way for you. You aren’t your father. I clean because it makes me feel good. I cook because I love to try the new recipes Jesse gives me, and it’s a bonus to witness your appreciation when you take that first bite.”

This makes him chuckle.

“I promise you’ve never once made me feel like I wasn’t enough for you,” I whisper, tears pooling in my eyes for him and his mother.

His head lifts from my lap. “I’m …”

I press my finger over his mouth. “Don’t. You don’t have to apologize, Jacob. We’re both going to have reactions from our past. We will stand by each other when it happens.” I hold my pinky finger up to him. “Pinky swear.”

He drops his head in embarrassment. “Don’t ever tell the guys I did this.”

When our pinkies wrap around each other, he looks up at me and grins. My heart mends a little more.

“Never. I will guard your secrets with my life,” I promise.

We stare at each other as a quiet feeling of safety blankets us both.

Someone knocks on the door interrupting the moment. The little growl he releases as he reluctantly gets up from the floor makes my stomach take a little dip.

“I’ll make this little intrusion up to you tonight,” he says, giving me a quick peck on the cheek before he goes to open the door.

“You don’t need to make up for anything, but I’m not going to pass up whatever you have planned.”

This makes him laugh loudly as he opens the door.

“Damn, dude. Why you so happy to see me?” Brody teases. He gives Jacob a big, exaggerated hug.

Jacob pushes him away. “Get the fuck off me.”

Brody steps around him, coming to wrap me up in his big arms. “Elizabeth,” he says, picking me off my feet.

Lexie follows him in, awkwardly standing by the door as Jacob shuts it.

“Do you like pizza?” he asks her.

She nods shyly.

He places his hand at her back and gently pushes her toward the table. “Go on. Help yourselves. We don’t worry about manners around here.”

Brody drops me for the food. “Shit yeah!” He rubs his hands together.

After we gorge ourselves on pizza, Jacob and I pick up the dishes. Lexie and Brody argue over the movie we’re going to watch in the living room.

“I think we should leave these until tomorrow,” I tell him as I set the plates in the sink.

He rests his hands on each side of my head and pulls me toward him. “I fucking love you,” he whispers over my face before kissing me.

His tongue is slow and sure, and makes me wish we didn’t have guests.