From Ashes (From Ashes 1)

I cleared my throat and felt guilty for eavesdropping when he spun around quickly. “Everything okay, or do you need to leave?”

He stood and shook his head. “Nah, I’m good. Thanks for giving me that break.”

“Of course . . . Uh, Jesse? Are we going to have to look for someone else to work mornings?” When his expression turned to complete confusion, I continued. “I heard you say you were going to get another job?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that. I just need to get an additional job for a while.” His face was so tortured I had the oddest urge to hug him.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No—” His phone started vibrating again and he dragged his hand roughly over his head before answering it. “Yeah, Ma? . . . No, that’s fine, I’ll pick some up on my way home . . . do you need anything else? . . . Okay, if you do just call and leave a message, I’m about to go back to work . . . Love you too.” Jesse sighed deeply and glanced up at me from under thick lashes as he tapped his phone in his hand a few times. “My mom is dying. She’s got cancer and now it’s just spreading real fast. Dad was always a douche, but as soon as she found out she had cancer over a year ago, he bailed and took all the money. She hadn’t worked a day since they married and couldn’t really start back up then. I’d been in the air force for almost four years when we found out. I kept sending her all my money, but she can’t even take care of herself anymore. So when it came time to reenlist just a month and a half later, I decided not to and moved back. I’ve been going to the police academy at night and have been working a few odds-and-ends jobs, but with her bills my money ran out kinda quick.” He looked around, embarrassed, and took another deep breath in. “So here I am. Really I would have taken any job that paid somewhat decent and had benefits, but it’s not cutting it.” He lifted up the phone as if to say that’s what the call had been about. “I’m about to graduate from the academy, but then I still have to apply to departments and who knows how long it’ll take to get hired on somewhere. So, as you now know, I gotta find something to go with Starbucks for now.”

“Jesse, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

“No, that’s not why I told you. It’s just . . . it’s kind of nice to just tell someone, you know?”

“Yeah. What does she need you to get? I can go pick it up for you so you don’t have to make a stop on the way home.”

“Cassi.” His dark eyes lit up and that crooked grin was back. “You’re a sweetheart, but no.” He glanced at his watch and frowned at me. “Because of me you’ve been here an extra twenty minutes. Go home, I’ll see you next week, right?”

I tried to keep my smile to myself. “Right.” I stood there as he walked past me to go back onto the floor and tried not to flinch when he brushed his hand against my arm. I needed to make it a point to tell him about Gage soon. I sighed and walked over to where we kept the employee files, glanced around to make sure no one had come in there, and hurried to jot down Jesse’s address on a piece of paper. I was sure I could get in trouble for looking it up, but it was for a good reason. I slid the paper into my back pocket and walked out of the back room, my head bent down as I texted Gage to let him know I was about to walk home. For whatever reason it made him feel better knowing when I left and when I got home—something about knowing I was safe. I’d just hit send when I heard a deep gravelly voice.

“Hey, darlin’.”

My heart took off and a huge grin spread across my face as I quickly took the last few steps that separated us. Gage wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me slightly to kiss me good and hard before setting me back down. “Were your classes canceled?”

“Wasn’t feelin’ up to it today.” His green eyes glanced up above my head before focusing back on me. “How was work?”

“It was all right, kinda busy. Want something before we go? I’m exhausted and have a feeling now that you’re skipping your classes I’m not going to get any sleep.”

Gage’s lips curved up in a slow, incredibly sexy smile that had my stomach heating. “And I have a feeling you’re right. Let’s grab some coffee.”

We ordered, and after Jenn, Krista, and Lori—Lori . . . pregnant, married Lori—all drooled over Gage again, we stood off to the side of the bar talking quietly, me in Gage’s big arms.

“You wanna tell me why this guy keeps looking at me like he’s gonna jump over the counter and rip you away from me?”

My brows bunched together and I turned around to see Jesse look back down at the drinks. “Jesse?” I chuckled softly. “I don’t think he knew I had a boyfriend.”

Gage’s eyes narrowed again and he looked up at Jesse. I swear his chest rumbled and something that sounded like a growl left his throat.

“Easy there, tiger,” I whispered, and wrapped a hand around his neck so he’d look at me again. “Trust me when I say there is no reason for you to worry about him. But when we get to your truck, I do want to talk to you about him.”

His body tensed. “Did he try something with you?”

“No, Gage, seriously, it’s nothing like that. You need to calm down. I’m telling you, you don’t have to worry about that, it’s about his mom. We’ll talk on the way home, all right?”

“Drinks are done, Cassi,” Jesse said gruffly from behind the bar.

I grabbed Gage’s hand and walked to the counter. “Thanks, Jess. Jesse, this is my boyfriend, Gage. Gage, this is Jesse.”

Jesse nodded his head to himself as he cleaned off the bar. “Boyfriend.” He muttered something that sounded dangerously close to “Figures.” “Great girl you got there, Gage.”

“Isn’t she?” Gage said, challenging him with a smirk, and unlinked our hands to wrap his arm around my shoulders as he turned us to leave the café.

“Well, you didn’t have to be rude,” I said when we got into the truck. “Look, after the way you just reacted to him, this might be a bad idea, but I want to cook a few dinners for his mom.”

Gage’s head whipped to the side to look at me like I was insane, his hand halted in the air on the way to turn on the car.

“Let me explain first.” I told him what Jesse had told me before I left and watched as Gage’s frustrated glare turned to guilt. “So, I was thinking I could cook a few meals that they could eat now, and some they could put in the freezer for later. I don’t even care if Jesse knows it’s from us—actually I’d prefer he didn’t—but I want to help out somehow. And this is the only way I know how.”

“God, I feel like an ass now.”

“As you should,” I teased, and slid over the seat to lean my head on his shoulder. “We don’t have to, it was just an idea.”

“No, it’s a good idea, we’ll do it today. Well, you’ll do it today; I’ll just watch you and help you take it over there.” He pressed me closer and kissed the top of my head. “God, you’re sweet.”

I just shook my head and smiled softly. “Thanks for agreeing to help, Gage.”

WE STOPPED BY the store on the way back home to get enough food to make meals to last them at least a week and started preparing dishes right away. It didn’t last long though; not even twenty minutes in, Gage and I ended up on the kitchen floor making love to each other. After another round in the bedroom, we made our way back out to the food and spent the next few hours making things that could last for a few days and preparing foods that could sit in the freezer until they popped it into the oven.

Gage was bringing the last load of food up to Jesse’s porch when the front door suddenly opened and Jesse stood there staring at us with wide eyes. He’d changed into a fitted gray shirt and low-slung jeans since getting off work, and after a quick assessment, I confirmed that while he was attractive, he had nothing on Gage.

“Cassi, what are you doing here?” He looked down at the piles of boxes, Tupperware, and casserole dishes in between us. “What is this?”

“Please don’t be mad!” I said, and took a step out of a few boxes I’d surrounded myself with. “We just wanted to help in some way, and I love to cook. I just, I just . . .” I trailed off as I saw his dark eyes glisten as he continued to stare at everything on the porch.

What felt like an eternity passed before anyone spoke.

“You really do have a great girl, you know that, right?” He blinked back his tears when he looked up at Gage.

Gage’s voice was soft and low. “I know I do.”

A weak foreign voice came from somewhere inside the doorway and Jesse tilted his head into the house as he answered back in what had to be Italian. “Ma wants to meet y’all. C’mon in.” When Gage and I bent down to pick up some of the piles, Jesse shook his head and began helping us. “I can’t believe y’all did this. Thank you so much.”

“It was all Cass, trust me. If I would’ve helped, it wouldn’t have turned out edible.”

Jesse laughed and led us into the kitchen. When everything was put away, he took us back into the living room to where his mom was sitting on the couch. She murmured something in Italian and smiled brightly; even ill, there was no doubt she was beautiful. “Ma, she heard me on the phone with you earlier, she knows you speak English.” He rolled his eyes when he turned back to us but the love for his mom was obvious. “She said it’s refreshing to see true love in a couple.”

“It isn’t something you see often.” Her voice was still weak, and her English was perfect but held a hint of her accent. “Especially in young couples such as yourselves. I pray I get to see it for my son before I go.”

“Ma,” Jesse said softly, and went to stand next to her. “Cassi and Gage, this is my mother, Isabella; Ma, this is Cassi and her boyfriend, Gage.”