Chartreuse (23 page)

    
“I’m pretty sure I can,” Kasen joked as Rowan positioned himself between his
legs.  Their gazes connected again as Rowan slowly and very carefully entered
him, causing both men to groan in ecstasy.  Seconds ticked by as Rowan waited
patiently for him to adjust, and their lips met once more in a heated,
passionate kiss.

    
“Pretty sure,  huh?” Rowan asked, tracing his fingertips down Kasen’s jawline.

    
“Mhm,” Kasen smiled, searching Rowan’s eyes as he turned his head to kiss at
his palm.  “I’ll let you keep me, Ro.”

    
“Good,” Rowan replied as he pulled back and then pushed his hips forward, earning
another delicate moan from Kasen’s lips.  “Because I’m in love with you.”

    
Kasen’s heart exploded right then and there as his room faded from existence. 
Everything disappeared except for the man gazing down at him.  He tried to
catch his breath as Rowan sank deeper into him, and he clung to him for dear
life as those words echoed around in his pleasure-laden in mind.

    
“I’m in love with you, too,” Kasen smiled.

Chapter Twenty Four

     The first day of 2014 had finally arrived,
and Rowan discovered that life really was going in the right direction.  The
animal clinic was doing better than he ever imagined, he and Kasen had
successfully given up smoking, and they were in the happiest relationship Rowan
had ever experienced. 

     As he stepped out of the clinic and began
locking up for the day, he couldn’t help but to smile.  Today was going to be a
great day for so many reasons.  Despite how tiny Chartreuse was, they did have
their share of festivities and one of them was the annual new year’s
celebration.  Apparently, they had a parade and
everything
, which was
right up his alley.  He enjoyed the small things in life, and he’d already
planned out a fun-filled day.

     Jessica’s divorce was officially
finalized, too, so that gave them even more reason to celebrate.  She was free
of that lunatic husband of hers, and Rowan was already planning a future trip
out of town so she could mingle with single men.  Funny how that worked out. 
He’d never intended to play matchmaker for anyone, but she really was a sweet
woman and if he could help make her life a little easier, he would.  After all,
she’d been rooming with Kasen for the past month and Rowan was eternally
grateful to her for the security and peace of mind she provided. 

     The phone calls had stopped, thankfully,
and they hadn’t had any more trouble out of the bigots-which was a relief. 
Chartreuse really was learning to accept them; it was more than Rowan could’ve
ever asked for in life.

     Kasen’s mother, on the other hand, was an
entirely different story.  He’d finally had the opportunity to meet the woman
face to face on Christmas morning, and she definitely wasn’t a ray of
sunshine.  From the moment she set foot in Kasen’s apartment, all any of them
heard was her constant complaints about…well, everything.

     Rowan had to bite his tongue more than
once as the woman rambled on about how having dogs in the house was gross and
disturbing.  He tried very hard to keep his temper in check when she scolded
Napoleon for roaming into the kitchen to get a drink of water.  He did fairly
well, for the most part, until she decided to open her big mouth when Kasen
grabbed his hand and pulled him into the hallway to retrieve the Christmas
gifts they’d hidden earlier that morning to keep away from prying eyes, aka,
Jessica and her relentless snooping.

     “Kasen Michael Reed, you better not be
committing sinful acts back there!” His mother screeched as she stomped down
the hallway. 

     “Relax, Mama.  I’m just getting the gifts,
“Kasen replied as he gave Rowan ‘the look’.  The look that said ‘I’m going to
kill her.  I swear it.”  Rowan could hardly blame him for that.  The woman was
insane.

     “Give me those,” His mother huffed as she
snatched a gift out of his hand.  She glared in Rowan’s direction, her nose
sticking straight up in the air in disgust as she frowned.  “Now you have no
excuses to be alone.  Get back in here.”

     “She’s lovely,” Rowan said in a lower
voice as she disappeared down the hallway. 

     “I’m sorry,” Was Kasen’s reply as they
rejoined Mrs. Reed and Jessica in the kitchen.

     Everything had seemingly calmed down until
their early Christmas dinner started.  Mrs. Reed found something wrong with the
silverware, the plates, and the tablecloth, too.  Rowan knew she wasn’t all
there mentally when she started insisting the food wasn’t fully cooked.  He
knew better than that-he cooked it!

     “Ugh, this turkey is so dry,” Mrs. Reed
stated hatefully as she dropped her fork against the plate with a loud
clatter.  “Honestly, Kasen, why didn’t you call me to come help with the
cooking?  This is a disaster!”

     “The turkey tastes fine,” Kasen argued as
he swallowed the mouthful of food he had, hardening his gaze at his mother. 
“And we didn’t need your help.  Rowan is a great cook.”

     His mother made a sound that was somewhere
between a snort and a horse’s neigh.  It caused all three sets of eyes to stare
at her as she pushed back from the table and stood, “Well, I never,” She
frowned.  “A mother is just as capable of cooking for her son as anyone else. 
Today is Christmas Day, Kasen.  I just wanted to spend some time with you.”

     “And what do you think you’re doing,
Mama?” Kasen asked as his fingers tightened around the napkin he was holding. 
His knuckles turned white as he stared at her, and his gaze was anything but
kind.  “You’re here, I’m here…we’re spending time together.”

     “Oh yes, we’re spending time together,”
She muttered.  She moved into the kitchen to find the chilled bottle of
champagne Kasen had purchased specifically for the occasion.  She opened it
without another word, drinking straight from the bottle while Kasen silently
fumed in his seat.  Rowan reached across the table to take his hand, squeezing
it in a comforting manner.

     Rowan had been preparing himself for this
day for over a week.  He knew it wouldn’t be a picnic when it came to meeting
the short tempered woman, and he really was trying to keep his thoughts to
himself; but it became increasingly more difficult when she slammed the near
empty bottle against the countertop and moved back into the living room.

     “This is a joke, Kasen,” She spat
bitterly.  “I knew we should’ve had the dinner at my house.  Setting up your
table in the living room?  What were you thinking, Boy?  You don’t have Christmas
dinner in a living room!”

     “I mean no disrespect, Mrs. Reed,” Jessica
said softly, “but my family always sets up an extra table in the living room so
we can have more-”

     “Was I talking to you?!” Mrs. Reed turned
her head to stare at Jessica.  “I don’t think I was.”

     “I-I..um..” Jessica’s eyes were wide and
dumbfounded as she gazed at the older female.  Her cheeks reddened in
embarrassment as she sank down in her seat.

     “Don’t talk to my friend like that!” Kasen
shouted, catching everyone off guard.  He stood up then, pulling away from
Rowan’s touch as his gaze connected with his mother’s.  “Jessica is my
roommate, Mama.  You can’t yell at her like you yell at me.  I’m your kid-not
her.”

     Mrs. Reed looked as if she’d been smacked
in the face as her mouth fell open.  Had Kasen ever raised his voice in front
of her before?  Rowan was taking a jab in the dark, but his guess would be no. 
However, it was highly amusing.  She deserved to be stood up to, and there was
no better person to do it than the man who’d suffered her wrath the past twenty
years; well, almost twenty years.

     “How dare you talk to me like that?” Mrs.
Reed whispered, lifting a hand to rest over her chest.  “I am your mother.  You
do not take that tone with me.”

     “I know you’re my mother.  That’s the only
reason I’m not tossing you out on your ass right now,” Kasen’s blue eyes
darkened with anger as he moved to the other side of the table, resting his
hands against the back of her empty seat.  “Now, if you want to enjoy this
dinner with us, you best sit back down, Mama.”

     “Oh, well, I…” Mrs. Reed looked like she
was about to have a stroke as her face turned blood red.  She placed her hands
on her hips, glaring at Kasen with such hate, that Rowan was beginning to
wonder how in the hell this woman ever passed off as the mother of any human
being.  “Kasen, I am so disappointed in your behavior.  I can’t believe you’d
talk to me in such a way.  I bet this is your influence, isn’t it?” She asked,
turning her eyes to Rowan then.  “You….you thing!  You’ve corrupted my boy!”

     Okay.  Enough was enough.  Jessica was on
the verge of tears, the dogs were growling, and Rowan’s fingers were twitching
for something to hit.  He made to push himself up from the table calmly, ready
to give it to her with both barrels.

     “Oh, fuck off, Mama!” Kasen bellowed as he
slammed a palm against the table.  Everything went silent then.  It was so
quiet, in fact, that a pin could’ve been heard hitting the floor from ten miles
down the road.  Jessica gasped.  Rowan’s head turned quickly in the direction
of his boyfriend.  Mrs. Reed’s eyes bulged out of her head as she took a step
away from her son.

     Kasen shook his head slowly, tracing his
tongue over his lower lip before turning to face his mother.  His fingers were
flexing, curling against his palms as he approached her.  With each step he
took, she took another two backwards just to keep the distance between them. 
Rowan was pretty confident that she was aware she’d crossed a line. 

     “You think he’s corrupted me?” Kasen
wondered aloud as he crossed his arms over his chest.  “You think he’s capable
of doing anything worse than what you’ve done to me in the past?” He threw his
head back, releasing a shaky laugh full of contempt.  “That’s gotta be the best
line you’ve come up with in a while, Mama.  Honestly,” He jabbed a finger in
her direction.  “The only thing Rowan has ever done is made my life worth
living….made me feel worth something, which is more than I can say for you.  You’ve
done nothing but make my life hell for as long as I can remember.  No matter
what I do, it ain’t good enough for you!”

     Kasen’s southern drawl was thick and was
only growing more prominent with each word he spoke as he finally backed his
mother into a corner.  Mrs. Reed was stammering and sputtering, as if she were
trying to find the words she needed to say before her son got the best of her.

     “Kasen, I-”

     “No, Mama!” He snapped, his teeth chomping
together as every muscle in his body tensed up.  “You don’t get to do the
talking right now-I do.  I am so sick of this.  Do you have any idea what I’ve
been dealing with for the past month? Huh?”

     She slowly shook her head.

     “Of course you don’t.  It’s always gotta
be about YOU.  It’s always YOUR problems that I have to hear about.  You never
ask how I’m doing, did you know that?  You never want to know how I am.  You
just wanna talk about you, and I’m sick of it!”  Kasen turned away from her
briefly, avoiding eye contact with Rowan and Jessica as he moved towards the
kitchen to retrieve the bottle of champagne.  He lifted it to his lips and took
a few sips before slamming it against the countertop.

     “Somebody threatened to kill me a few
weeks ago.  They broke into my home; they let my dog out. Now, Mama, I could’ve
called and cried to you about everything going wrong in my life…but I didn’t. 
Do you know why?”

     Mrs. Reed slowly shook her head in
response, staring at him like a deer caught in headlights.  She didn’t dare
move from her spot against the wall.

     “Because you wouldn’t have cared,” Kasen
smiled, and it was one of those smiles that a person often donned when they
weren’t sure how to handle their emotions.  Rowan wanted nothing more than to
wrap him up in his arms, but he knew that he couldn’t intervene.  This had been
a long time in the making and Mrs. Reed deserved to hear whatever her son had
to say.

     “I know you resent me, Mama.  I know I’ve
been a burden for you since the day I was born, and that’s okay.  I’m a grown
man now, and you’d do well to recognize that,” Kasen was suddenly standing
beside Rowan, and Mrs. Reed attempted to mask her disapproval with fresh
tears.  Her lower lip quivered as she watched Kasen rest a hand against Rowan’s
shoulder.  “This thing that you speak of?  He’s my boyfriend, and you better
get used to that, too.”

     Rowan wasn’t really surprised when he felt
Kasen’s warm, trembling lips pressing against his own.  In fact, he returned
the kiss with equal fervor just to give the old woman a show.  His fingers sank
into the other male’s soft hair as he opened his mouth to him, nearly
forgetting that this was only to prove a point.

     “Oh, I…Oh!” Mrs. Reed wailed.  The sound
of the door slamming didn’t seem to faze Kasen as his mouth dominated Rowan’s,
and who was Rowan to complain?  He felt the gentle nip against his lower lip,
and as Kasen pulled away to gaze down at him, they heard Jessica’s excited
squeal.

     “That. Was. Awesome!”

     And that’s exactly how they celebrated
their first Christmas together.  Kasen gained the backbone he’d needed all
along, and Mrs. Reed had finally been put in her place.  All in all, it was a
good holiday.  However, today was going to be better.

     “Hey, Ro!” Jessica chimed cheerfully as
she embraced him tightly.  “Glad you could make it!  Where’s Kase?”

     Rowan hugged her back, a huge grin on his
face as he glanced around the small street known as ‘Main Street’.  Honestly,
he could throw a rock from one end of the street to the other; that’s how short
the distance was.  He took in the sights and sounds of laughter and music
before eyeing her, shrugging his shoulders, “He should be getting here
anytime.  He said something about getting a haircut.”

     “A haircut? For what?  It’s just the New
Year celebration,” She scoffed, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets. 
“I’m hungry.  Do you want to grab a burger with me while we wait for him?”