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2:32 am. No new notifications.
Avery flopped back onto the pillow. It was 2am. Her thoughts had plagued her since she’d gone to bed three hours ago, and had no intention of stopping.
Hawthorne House was eerily quiet that day, and Avery was usually asleep or distracted at this time, but tonight she was neither, and she was completely lost on what to do.
She considered leaving her room for Libby’s, but decided otherwise. She still had no idea where Nash slept. God forbid she interrupt romance. Libby's not-a-relationship was progressing quickly enough.
Jameson had been out for the last month, looking at potential colleges in other parts of the US and Europe. He'd told Avery he was planning to take a gap year, but he'd wanted to see what the world had to offer.
They'd video called every day in the dead of the night.
Jameson had returned to Hawthorne House earlier that day, but at the time, Avery was at a lunch with potential investors, and hadn't been able to see him come home. When she came back two hours later, Xander told her that Jameson fell asleep as soon as he'd gotten back.
Avery didn't think he'd wake up for a while; jet lag hit hard, especially when you haven't consistently been in one time zone for three days, which was why she made the decision to go to the roof.
She'd spent a few days in the last month quietly staring at the sky on the roof, and found that she quite liked it.
With Jameson back, it was almost guaranteed she wouldn't have the roof to herself. It was where she'd met him, and it was the place she was most likely to find him. It had been his daily haunt first.
If he'd stayed asleep, she would get the night sky and fresh air to herself. If he'd woken up and gone upstairs, Avery would see him.
Definitely a win-win situation.
Which was how Avery found her half-asleep self climbing up multiple staircases and going through passages to stare at a very tall ladder, leading to a hatch in the ceiling. Avery tucked her blanket over her shoulders and climbed the distance. She pushed on the hatch, and reached out to touch the roof, tossing the blanket a few feet away. She pulled herself up, arms straining slightly with the effort, and -
“Steady, Heiress.” A hand reached out, and Avery gratefully accepted it. Jameson helped her out and kicked the door closed.
The first thing Avery noticed was that Jameson was very shirtless, and had very toned abs. Europe had definitely treated him well; he was perfectly tanned and had gained a bit more muscle.
The second thing she noticed was how cold it was, and she turned to find Jameson picking up the blanket she’d brought.
“Thanks for blanket delivery.” he said, running a hand across the soft fabric. “I like this one.”
Avery rolled her eyes, but there was only amusement behind it. “In your dreams, Hawthorne.”
She made to take the blanket from him, but he raised it up above her reach. “Oh no, this is mine now.”
His eyes glinted with mischief, challenging her to try again, and she grinned back in kind.
Rather than making another grab at the blanket, Avery hooked her arms around his neck. His eyes widened, just a little, but enough for Avery to take advantage of.
“You asked for it.” she said, before meeting his lips with hers.
The month apart had sent Avery back to square one. Everything Jameson did with his hands, lips, body felt new. One hand made its way into her hair, gently pulling her head backwards. The other held onto her hip, as she arched her back.
They broke apart, panting, and he rested his forehead against hers. “Hey.”
Avery slowly blinked. “Hi.”
“Long time no see.”
“One could say that.” Avery reached down, and picked up the discarded blanket. “I’ll be taking that back.”
Jameson gave her a trademark Hawthorne smirk, and she felt a tingle go down her spine. “Whatever you say, Heiress.” He sat down on the roof, legs dangling off the edge, and patted on the area next to him, prompting her to sit with him.
Avery sat to his right. She gave him one half of the blanket, and he pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. As she nestled into his side, Avery wondered why she brought a blanket in the first place. Jameson had always run warm, and summer nights in Texas had never exactly been cold.
“Not that I’m not glad to see you, but you’re not exactly a regular visitor here, Heiress.” he said.
“It’s peaceful here,” she said. “Or it was-in the last month.”
He winked. “Never a dull moment with a Hawthorne around.”
Avery had to agree. She’d experienced some of the best moments of her life, she realized.
But also some of the worst.
Jameson caught her mood change. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“And you’re up so late because …?”
“You’re up late.”
“I was in Europe, and I got my eight hours of sleep today. You didn’t do either.”
She shrugged, looking down at the gardens of Hawthorne House. “Couldn’t sleep.” She could feel his eyes trained on her, but she stubbornly kept her head down.
“Nightmares?” He asked.
Avery shook her head. “Thoughts.”
Jameson didn’t respond, but his presence said what his words did, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Toby Hawthorne had a daughter.” she blurted out.
She felt Jameson’s body stiffen. “The DNA test-“
“It was right. It’s not me. Her name is Evelyn, but she goes by Eve.”
Jameson gave a small laugh. “It’s a palindrome.”
“She picked it for herself.”
He hummed in response, then took a look down at Avery. “There’s more.”
She swallowed. “There is.”
When she didn’t respond, he shook his head and sighed. Jameson removed the blanket and tucked it around her. The sudden loss of heat made her burrow further into the blanket. He moved his body to face her, straddling the ledge of the roof. Avery crossed her legs beneath her and turned, staring at her hands on her lap.
“Don’t keep secrets from me, Heiress.”
“Like you don’t, all the time?” She glared. “I can’t be vulnerable to a bank vault.”
He was quiet for some time, and Avery wondered if he’d finally given up. Just as she was about to get up, he responded, almost too quietly for her to hear. “Then we do it together.”
What? She looked up in surprise.
Jameson’s poker face was intact as ever, but she could sense a hint of excitement through his eyes and voice. “The thing about bank vaults is that they can be broken into, multiple times. At that point, it’s probably not worth using anymore, but the vulnerability is reinforced and tested again.” His fingers drummed a complicated beat on the stone. “I’ve been broken before. We can help each other.”
This definitely wasn’t the same person Avery had met that fateful day on this very rooftop. But it was at the same time. He was still effortlessly charming, a flirt, a brilliant mind- but he was more thoughtful, more caring, and definitely much more careful. She didn’t know if the change had been made conciously, and she wondered if it had hurt something inside of him to be a different person.
Avery looked back down at her lap. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to; he understood she needed time to phrase it, and he simply waited, his presence giving her warmth and comfort.
“She looks exactly like Emily Laughlin.” Jameson froze. “Right down to the hair.”
“Gray’s gonna have the time of his life when he figures that out.” Jameson muttered.
Avery knew he wasn’t going to tell Grayson unless she permitted it, but her concern was fixated otherwise. “And you?”
Jameson’s fingers returned to the steady drumbeat. There was silence, and then-
“I dont know.” He fell quiet and continued. “Maybe I should feel something, but Emily left. I made some kind of fucked up peace with it, and … I don’t know. I have you; I don’t want to feel anything, but … I just don’t know.”
Raw emotion echoed throughout his eyes, and Avery didn’t know how to respond. Jameson had never told her anything like this before - the last time he’d been somewhat vulnerable was when she woke up from the coma, and Avery hadn’t known what to do then either.
She settled for placing a hand on his knee. “We all move at different speeds.” Jameson nodded, eyes closed.
The silence settled comfortably around them, until he peeked one eye open. “Tell me everything means tell me everything. You’re hiding something.” It wasn’t a question and she knew it.
Avery had wanted to tell someone this for a long time. Toby, Sheffield Grayson (before his death), Eve’s siblings had both known every detail Avery had just told Jameson. She’d kept to herself her true thoughts on the topic, and it had been the reason she hadn’t slept for nearly a week. As she gathered her thoughts, she felt tears prick her eyes.
“Eve- she’s actually a Hawthorne. She’s the one who should’ve inherited all of this money. She’s the one your grandfather should’ve picked.” Avery finally looked at him. She blinked, and felt tears trail down her cheek. Jameson’s brow was furrowed, but she couldn’t tell if it was out of pity or concern.
Probably both. Only one person in the world is complaining about their billion dollar handout and it’s me.
“I’m not cut out for any of this. I’m not pretty, I don’t know the first thing about running a multi-billion dollar company. I can’t do PR. I don’t even know the first thing about stocks!” She buried her face in her hands.
“Heiress.” Jameson tried. “Avery.” She didn’t respond. “The old man had a reason for everything. He didn’t want Eve. Only one of you knew my uncle, and only one of you was trusted to inherit his entire damn fortune.”
“Toby didn’t know that Eve existed. What are the chances your grandfather didn’t either?“ The sound was muffled, but he understood every word.
Jameson’s eyebrows flew into his hair. “The old man knew what he was doing. He tracked every single part of Toby’s life that he did and didn’t cover up. That includes one night stands, drunk or otherwise.” He paused, looking out into the garden. “He knew more about a person than the person knew about themselves. He wanted you, Avery. Because he knew you were what was going to heal this family.”
“But-“
“But what? Our blood doesn’t make us who we are. Look at Gray. He’s the only son of Sheffield Grayson and my mother, but he’s a better man than either would have ever been. You may not share our blood, or the name, but you have the mind of a Hawthorne. In this family, we value this,” -He tapped her head- “more than we value looks.”
Jameson gently moved her hands away from her face and lifted her chin, forcing him to look at her. He used his other hand to wipe away the tear tracks on her cheek. “You’re a Hawthorne through and through, Avery. Any Hawthorne worth their salt would be an idiot to not call you family.” He placed a kiss on her forehead, then manuevered himself to be able to wrap her in a hug.
Avery processed his words, frozen in place, before relaxing in his arms. “Thank you.” she mumbled.
“Don’t thank me.” he said. “I was just showing you the truth.”