When Lyla arrives at her new school, Crestwood High, her hopes of a new beginning are quickly challenged by the schools walking one-night stand. Lean, killer jawline, captain of the ice hockey team, and rude as all hell, Jack Hughes is everything Ly...
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"Jack Hughes, you better have a pretty damn good reason to be coming home at this hour on a school night," Ellen snapped, her arms crossed over her chest as I helped Jack through the door. Her face softened at the sight of me entering the house first, followed by a bruised and limping Jack. She gasped at the sight of her son. "What happened?"
Jack laughed, coughing mid way through. "You should see the other guys," he joked, shrugging Ellen off as she tried to inspect his injuries. "Mom, I'm fine."
"Other guys?" Ellen gawked, turning to me in hope of some real answers. "What happened?"
"They were waiting for us at Jack's car, we didn't know," I whispered, ashamed that I'd let this happen.
"Who were they?" Ellen pressed, squinting between the two of us in shock.
I bowed my head in shame. "Reid," I mumbled. "My ex boyfriend and his friends. It's my fault, they—"
"They were going to hurt Lyla," Jack cut me off, frowning deeply as a headache started to kick in, and his anger came back tenfold. "I tried to stop them."
Ellen looked conflicted and I knew it was because it had been my fault that her son was caught in the crossfire of my relationship. I signed, chewing on my bottom lip. "I'm sorry, Mrs Hughes."
"Why on earth are you sorry?" She argued, eyes wide. "I'm just glad you're safe. Jack, come on honey, let's clean you up."
"Mom," he whined, clearly not wanting his mothers help. Ellen glared at her son, tired of his shit, clearly. Jack gave her the exact same look back in return. They looked identical in this moment. "It's fine, Mom, I can do it myself."
"Jack," I spoke gently, resting my hand on his bicep. He looked down at me quizzically. "You're Mom is right, we should clean you up."
He sighed in defeat, allowing me to drag him to the bathroom down the hall by the stairs. Ellen smirked at her son allowed a girl to boss him around, but not his own mother. Clearly, he had it bad for the girl, and just hadn't quite admitted it yet.
I instructed Jack to sit on the edge of the bath, telling him to stay put while I went to get a first aid kit and cloth from his Mom.
When I returned, Jack was checking out his injuries in the mirror, fully assessing his face up close. I smiled, knowing that even though he got the crap beat out of him, he was proud for standing up to them for me. It was stupid, but he was proud, and that made me happy. He caught sight of me in the mirror, sending me a lopsided grin before turning to face me, leaning against the vanity.
"Where do you want me, Doc?" He winked, then hissed at the pain of winking.
I shook my head in mock disappointment. "On the edge of the bath, where I left you."
He saluted before taking his seat, his legs bent at the knees and spread for me to stand between and his chin tilted up towards me. I took a step closer, placing myself between his legs and placing a hand on his shoulder. He automatically brought one hand up to rest on my lip, like it was second nature.
