I Don't Need No Money

Reese glanced down with a shy smile, her hands slipping into his and pulling him close. “Actually – I do want to be with you. Maybe.” She met his gaze again, a bit of worry in her eyes. “We don’t know what we’re like as an actual couple, Ethan. That was something we never explored, and the truth is that I have a lot of skeletons in my closet that could make or break what we could have. But I want to try, not for Artemis, but for us.” Reese was pleading with him, her big brown eyes begging him to understand and agree. 

“And, no, he doesn’t know that you’re his father– I’m sorry. We’re actually about to go get some dinner, but you could come with us. I got a loft in SoHo and I was gonna surprise him with something – you’ll see what it is – and I’d love it if you came over.” Reese tugged on his hands and led him towards the door, knowing that Artemis was probably peeking out of the window and wondering what was going on. “We can make a dinner as a family, have some fun, watch some movies, and tell him who you are… If you want.” Such a domestic thing with Ethan and their child… It was something she thought would only ever be a dream.

Feeling her hand in his again brought a small smile to Ethan’s lips. God, he’d missed her so much and he knew that he was willing to do whatever it took to make this work with her. “I haven’t been in a relationship in a really long time,” he admitted softly as he reached up to cup her cheek, unable to move his gaze from her face. “So I apologize if I’m a bit rusty with everything, but there’s nothing you could have done in the past that could make me not want to be with you. I promise you that.” He had skeletons of his own and he wasn’t sure how she would react to them, but she was the best thing that had ever happened to him and he knew that he could handle anything she threw his way.

In retrospect, Cecilia probably should have put his things together in a box. If she had, she could have just left it on the porch and wouldn’t have had to deal with him at all. But it was certainly too late to change her mind now and she wasn’t about to admit that he was right, so instead she rolled her eyes and leaned against a nearby wall as she watched him, not bothering to help at all. He was the one who’d left his shit anyway, why should she help him pick everything up? “I could have, but I ain’t touchin’ your shit,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulder. For a brief moment she was distracted by the sound of thunder outside but she quickly dismissed it. She knew there was a huge storm coming and now she was really regretting not having his things packed and ready to go already. “Hurry the fuck up, will ya? I’m not waitin’ around all day for you.” She reached for a pack of cigarettes on the table and lit one, quickly taking a drag. Having him in her place again was starting to get on her nerves and her hands were already shaking. Fuck, why the hell did he make her so goddamn nervous? She puffed on her cigarette again as her eyes drifted to the window, knowing that the sooner he finished, the sooner he’d be out of her life.

“Damn right,” he muttered, holding her close to his body, as if he feared that figures would slink from the shadows to take her away. He couldn’t promise her that he’d never let harm come to her again, because that wasn’t something he could control, but he would make sure that whoever dared to hurt her would pay with their lives. Alice was everything to him, as was evident in the way he carried her, blue eyes darting around in search of enemies they couldn’t see. 

Not wanting to see what was around them, Alice buried her head in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes, allowing his scent to overwhelm her. She never felt safer anywhere else than wrapped up in his arms and she knew that no harm could come to her when he was near. A soft sigh passed her lips as she tried to forget about the events of the past couple of hours, though she had a feeling it would take much more than that to forget. She just prayed she wouldn’t have nightmares because of it and she gently shook her head at the thought. No, she didn’t want to think about it anymore.