"Don't you have any pictures?"
"The club burned the house after they killed everyone. Tad told me years ago that they looked for anyone in my family before legally adopting me. The courts made sure no one blood related wanted me. They couldn't find anyone. My mom and grandma were here illegally from Mexico and their IDs were fake. My dad was a criminal, so he was using a fake ID too. No one knows who they were before moving to the new town to hide from the club. No one back in the town the club ran knew anything either. Or they wouldn't admit to knowing. The whole thing is a dead end."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too. I wish I knew what my little brother's name was. I can't remember that for some reason. He was really young, like maybe a few weeks old. All my memories of him are people saying "the baby" or "your brother." Feels stupid that I can't remember his name."
I study his face, knowing he's pushed himself too hard for one day. Jace wants to hide from the world. He wants to hide from me too, but I won't let him.
"Do you want to hear something else I know about you?" I ask, caressing his nipple.
Smiling now, Jace nods. "Sure."
"Apple cinnamon air freshener makes you horny."
"What?" he laughs.
"You never noticed that?"
"No. Sounds like bullshit."
I sit up in front of him and cross my legs. His gaze focuses on the spot between my legs.
"Up here, buddy," I say. "So I figured out you were turned on by that smell when I noticed you'd be super horny after we visited Farah and Cooper's house. I thought at first you were hot for Farah, but you never got turned on when you saw her at the bowling alley or anywhere else. It was always after going to their house."
Jace studies me, still thinking I'm full of shit.
"I couldn't figure it out, so I stayed at her house one afternoon and searched for what might be triggering your horniness. I realized she's obsessed with the apple cinnamon scent. It comes out of the damn vents. So I bought one of those air fresheners and sprayed it in the garage apartment before you came over. Normally, you'd make small talk or want to eat before going to the bedroom. That day, we never reached the bed. You were all over me immediately. So, yeah, you are most definitely turned on by that scent."
"Well, I'll be damned if that isn't the weirdest shit."
Smiling, I take his hand and set it on my knee. "Anytime I was in the mood, I'd get out the spray. It was like a starting pistol."
Jace's dark eyes take in the sight of my tits and the pussy fucked not so long ago. When he focuses on my face, his smile grows.
"Baby, those tricks weren't necessary. All you had to do was ask."
Laughing, I wiggle away from his curious fingers. "I'll keep that in mind." I crawl to the other end of the bed and stare at him for a minute. "I want a baby."
"You're in college."
"I know. I'm usually with myself when I do stuff."
"Funny, but you always wanted to wait until after college."
"I want one now. A boy I'll name Kirk. I know it's stupid and a bad reason for a baby, but I do what I want."
Jace studies me. "If it's meant to happen, it'll happen."
"Does that mean you're okay with me getting pregnant, even though we officially got back together an hour ago?"
"We were always together."
"Okay, so you cheated on me, huh?"
"Good point. We just got back together an hour ago," he says as I crawl back to his side of the bed.
"I don't want to suffocate you, but I want a baby."
"Since when?"
"Since Scarlet was born."
Jace rolls his eyes. "What's meant to happen will happen. We'll leave it to God, okay?"
"You say that because you don't think it'll happen, but I come from a long line of fertile turtles. I'm surprised your spunk didn't impregnate me while I was on birth control, and we were using a condom."
"Ah, the condom incident. I still don't know where that thing went?"
Laughing, I pat his face. "Oh, I found the poor broken thing an hour after you left the apartment. I just didn't tell you because..." I laugh harder at his expression. "I liked you worrying about it going missing inside me. It's sexy when you get protective."
"That bugged me for years, Sawyer," he grumbles.
"For years!" I cry, falling backwards on the bed. "Like it wouldn't have fallen out of me by now."
"How would I know? I couldn't figure out where the hell it went," he says, resting on his side next to me while I laugh. "It was our first time. I'm lucky I didn't break my damn dick."
Rolling around laughing, I remember how clumsy he was the first few times. I wasn't much better in my lame attempts to be sexy.
"Remember how I pushed my boobs out to make them seem bigger?"
Jace laughs. "You looked like a contortionist."
I roll on my side to face him. "You worried for years," I whisper, still laughing. "You're an idiot."
"And the guy you want a kid with."
"Are you scared?"