Unwritten Rules (30 page)

I nodded, though I didn’t ful y agree. Jonah had to do the hard part, I’d just been there to support him along the way. I debated for a moment, wondering if I should ask the question playing on the tip of my tongue. Emily nodded anticipating my curiosity.

“Have you real y forgiven him? There were no

recriminations from me when Jonah first confessed. I saw it for what it was, although it wasn’t my son that he hurt. I’m sorry to be so blunt. I love him. I can’t stop the need to protect him. He’s been raw for so long, Emily. I just want to help.”

Her hand fluttered to her throat, and she began toying with the locket on her necklace. She hadn’t expected me to be so straight forward, but there was no way I was hiding when it came to Jonah. He was my future. I refused to let anything else scar him.

“I’m glad my son has you. You’l take good care of him, I see that.” She took a deep breath, “I did blame him at the start, and so did Tom. We were so consumed with making sure Quinn was okay that we ignored B-Jonah. In some ways, I think that helped Tom and I process the accident, but by the time we could tel him that he was forgiven, he’d run away.” Her voice cracked; guilt swirled low in my stomach.

“I can’t imagine-”

“You’re right, you can’t imagine. After everything settled down, and Quinn was back home, we felt the loss even more. We kept his room exactly the way it was the day he left. In fact, he’s probably looking through everything now. So, to answer your question, yes, we have real y forgiven him. We can see that he isn’t the same impetuous boy he once was. We’ve al moved on, forged a new path. It would be wonderful if that included my son and you, of course.”

“He misses you,” I added. “But it may take some time for him to admit that. I fought for quite a while before he opened up to me.”

“Thank you, again,” she smiled, before standing.

“You should go to him. I think he may need you. There are a lot of memories up in that bedroom.”

I wrapped the blanket tighter around myself and shuffled across the porch. Emily took the mug from my hands and opened the door.

“I can see why my son fel in love with you, El e. You’re just what he needs.” She kissed my cheek, before disappearing inside.

I took a moment, preparing myself for what I might find in Jonah’s bedroom. Once I made it up to there, I got a pleasant surprise. Jonah and Quinn were looking through what appeared to be one of his graphic novels. They were chuckling as Jonah gave him the synopsis of the plot. I didn’t want to intrude so took a step back.

“Hey, don’t go!” Quinn shouted, elbowing his

brother. “Your girlfriend’s gonna bail, J.”

Jonah smiled, the kind that flashed his dimples as he held his hand out to me. The frown lines between his brows had disappeared. He oozed happiness.

“Red,” he breathed, setting my skin alight.

Just one word from his lips had the ability to make me swoon, especial y when it was uttered in
that
tone. I entwined my fingers with his, squealing when he hauled me closer.

“You guys need to get a room,” Quinn grumbled.

“We do,” Jonah snorted. “This
is
my room.”

Jonah hugged me as Quinn grew serious, “Is it? I mean, after you’ve gone wil this room stay empty for another ten years?” He didn’t sound harsh, just protective of his family, of his heart. It reminded me of how Jonah was in the beginning.

Jonah hooked Quinn’s pinkie, and his answer was soothing. “I’m not running away this time, buddy. I’m here. Everything is going to be just fine.”

I snuggled closer to Jonah, humming with

contentment when he kissed my cheek.

He was right, everything was going to okay.

“Was that some kind of rite of passage?” I asked, looking down at Jonah.

The grin I got in response was huge, spreading from ear to ear and lighting up his face. “What passage would that be?”

“Sex with your girlfriend in your childhood bed,” I pointed out.

He lifted his hips, inducing a soft sigh from my lips, as his erection pressed against my sex.

I was straddled across his hips, stil breathless from our love making. We were holding hands, our fingers entwined and our eyes locked. We were in our own little world, and for once, we were both happy.

Though Jonah and his family had much to work

through, the initial meeting had gone better than expected. Tom and Emily’s reassurance that they held no animosity toward him made the situation easier. They’d spent the entire evening questioning him about the last eleven years. Quinn was a different story.

After the initial excitement, he had become

reserved and sometimes snappy with Jonah. Both of them were doing their best to mend the broken bond. It was naïve to think that after so many years, after al the scars, everything would go smoothly. Time and patience would be imperative from this point on.

“Wel , considering I never thought I’d ever come back here, then I would say I’m al owed that passage. Don’t you?” He wiggled his brows and flipped us over so that my back was flat on the mattress. He hovered over me, peppering my face with hot kisses until I squealed.

“Shush,” he whispered. “You’l wake everyone up.”

He rol ed my nipple, and I had to stifle a moan. I batted his hand away, giggling and cal ing him a tease.

“You weren’t exactly quiet earlier when you
arrived
.”

“Arrived? You mean when I came? Cute, Red,

very cute.”

My cheeks began to flame as I flushed with

mortification. “Oh, God, do you think they heard? Damn, that’s real y disrespectful, Jonah.”

I tried to move out from under him. He held me firm, trying to talk me down from my bout of

embarrassment. “We were quiet, not that it matters, because I heard them leave about an hour ago.”

I slapped his chest and rol ed out from under him.

“You’re an evil tease, Jonah Quinn!”

I could hear his chuckle, but my back was turned. I was sat on the edge of the bed, grabbing for my robe on the floor. I felt him approach seconds before he murmured into my ear.

“Happy birthday, baby.”

I spun, jarring my nose against his chin. We both winced, rubbing the sore skin.

“W-what did you...? How did you know?”

He grinned, stil rubbing his chin. It created a rasping sound as his fingers flicked against the coarse stubble. His eyes were glinting playful y, giving him a childlike appearance.

“Your mom. She knew you wouldn’t tel me.”

“You’ve got enough to deal with. I didn’t think it was al that important in the grand scheme of things.”

Jonah moved his hand to my face, his thumb

stroking my jaw. “To me, everything about you is important. Now,” he paused then jumped off the bed and began rummaging through his suitcase. I drank in the sight of his naked ass, fighting the urge to drool. “Do you want your present?”

“Oh, Jonah.”

“Don’t tel me I shouldn’t have, because that’s garbage. I love you and I get to spoil you on your birthday if I want. So stop pouting.” He placed a quick kiss on my lips and pushed something into my palm. “Now, open your gift.”

I opened my hand, taking in the smal , black velvet box that he’d placed there. My heart began to pound fiercely. My blood pressure shot through the roof. This couldn’t be what it looked like; I refused to believe it.

“J-Jonah,” I stuttered.

He said nothing, just continued to look at me, watching my reaction. So with trembling fingers, I pried the box apart, letting out a squeak as I revealed what was inside. It was a ring; simple, yet utterly beautiful ring. A thick, white gold band held one smal diamond placed in the center of the ring.

“It’s not what you think,” he stated, taking it from the box. “Wel , at least not yet it isn’t.”

I frowned at him, confused. It could only be one thing, couldn’t it?

Jonah took hold of my right hand and started to place the white gold band on my ring finger.

“One day, when I’m better, when I don’t need half of the medicine cabinet to get through the day, I’m going to move this ring onto your other hand. I’l do it the right way then, but for now I want you to know how much I love you. I want to show you that sticking with me through al of this is worth it.”

I whimpered.

“Oh, God, I’m messing this up, aren’t I? I shouldn’t have given it to you, not until I meant it. I’m sorry, so sor-”

I pressed my lips to his, kissing him with ferocity. His arms banded around mine, pul ing me as close to his body as he could. We toppled back onto the mattress and communicated every emotion we felt through touches, kisses, and soft sighs. His thumb skimmed the ring on my finger. He lifted it between us, his eyes darting from my hand to my face.

“You didn’t mess it up. I’m stunned.”

“Should I have left it until I meant it, until I could ask you the right way?” Jonah asked worried.

“You did ask in the right way,” I responded,

skimming my hand down his bare back. “It took me by surprise.”

“It was supposed to,” he snorted.

He kissed my shoulder, and then began nibbling on my col arbone. I started squirming. We both froze when we heard laughter shortly before the front door slammed shut.

“We had better get up,” I grumbled, only to have Jonah push lustful y between my legs.

“Getting up sounds like a perfect idea.”

I pushed him off me and tugged on my robe.

“You’re as bad as a pubescent teenager. Come on, let’s go and help your parents get ready for the party.”

Jonah flopped back, his hands behind his head. The evidence of his desire making itself known.

“Sure you don’t want to come back to bed, baby?”

I let out an involuntary moan, but shook my head, promising I’d make him pay for taunting me. As I walked to the shower, I could hear him laughing to himself. I looked down at my right hand as I turned on the hot water and felt panic jolt through my body.

I had the sudden urge to cal my mom but wasn’t sure how I’d explain the situation with the ring to her, so I opted to cal J.J. I sat on the edge of the tub, pouring my heart out to my friend. For once, she wasn’t dismissive. During the phone cal she helped me realize I was most likely overwhelmed by the event s of the past several weeks. That just like Jonah, I need time to process al of the changes.

Jonah startled me with a tap on the door as I dried myself off…only when I opened it, it wasn’t Jonah…It was Quinn.

“Can I talk to you before the party?” He

questioned.

I agreed, but needed to get dressed, so I told him to wait on the porch for me. I knew he wanted to talk about Jonah.

When I walked out onto the porch, Quinn was

waiting in the far corner. He had a dark blue blanket covering his legs along with fingerless gloves on his hands. He clutched a mug of what smel ed like hot chocolate. He had slicked his curls back from his face; his hair now darker and shinier than before. He was also sporting a scowl I hadn’t been privy too before, so I approached with caution.

“Quinn?”

“Hey, could you sit down. I just wanted to talk to you.”

I wrapped my cardigan tighter around myself and moved over to the bench. Quinn didn’t start to speak until I had taken a seat.

“I want to tel you that I’m trying. I’m finding it difficult watching you two, but I
am
working through it.”

“I thought you and Jonah were doing okay?”

He gave a shrug. “We were, are, but seeing the way he is with you makes dealing with this,” he hit the wheel of his chair, “more difficult.”

“I don’t understand.”

He took a sip of the hot chocolate and stared out across the garden. I noticed the skin was darker underneath his eyes, as if he’d had little sleep last night. Jonah being here was already taking its tol on his brother.

“It’s difficult for you to real y grasp it,” he started, breaking into my thoughts. “I’m stil a kid, but there is stuff I think about. Things I can’t help but think about.”

I nodded in understanding but waited to speak, because he wasn’t finished.

“The future scares me, El e.” His voice became low, and he hid his face from me. “No one is going to love me the way you love my brother.”