JASON and KEANNE Read Online Free

“No.”
      Her moan was full of betrayal, and everything in him wanted to go to her – his little dove, the one thing in his world that was right. He had fucked up so many times with all the people he had loved, but with Keanne he made sure he did everything right – and he would be damned if he would let pity sway him from doing otherwise.
      “Listen to me.” Those were the very first words he had used to command her when he was younger, to train her to be as strong and as ruthless as he was in clawing her way back to the top.
      Her sobs quieted, and his chest constricted at the way Keanne was doing her best to follow him.
      “Later, when you come home, I will be waiting for you, ma petite. In my arms, you can cry – I want you to cry, I want to comfort you. I want to be there for you. With me, you can be weak – but not with anyone else.”
      “Oui,” she whispered, but her voice still shook.
      It made Jason bite out sharply, “No more tears!”
      He heard her swallowing hard, and when she spoke, her voice was still hoarse but firmer. “Yes.”
      Good. She was speaking in English now. Her shield was up, and that was exactly how it should be.
      “Only with me, Keanne. Never forget that. You cannot be weak with anyone else. All these years that I have helped you become strong will be for nothing if you give up now.”
      She did not answer.
      He did not allow it. “Do you understand, Keanne?”
      An eternity passed. “Yes.”
      “Then go. Remember that you are stronger and better than what everyone may say. They do not deserve your tears – do not deserve to see you flinch even the smallest way.”
      This time, her answer was stronger, colder. “Yes.”
      “Make me proud, ma petite. And when you come home, only then can you cry.”
     
      Keanne lifted her head even as she kept her arms around Jason’s neck. His face was drawn with pain, and the sight of it made her want to lash out. “This time,” she told him in a shaky but determined voice, “You can be weak with me .”
      “ Keanne… ” Jason was seldom bereft with words, but now he was, and all he could do was pull her back into his arms. Again, she embraced him, her touch fiercely protective. It moved him, leaving Jason torn between amusement and self-disgust. Keanne was like a tigress defending her cub at this moment, and yet the irony was that her cub was over a foot taller, a lot heavier, and light years older in experience.
      “Talk to me,” she whispered.
      “There is nothing to talk about.”
      “Yes, there is. We both know there is.”
      How could an eighteen year old see through him so easily? Was it really because they were two of a kind, both of them trying to recover from the same kind of evil?
      “She will marry him.” The words, once spoken, could never be taken back and a huge wave of pain struck Jason at the realization that Lilac, dear, sweet, beautiful Lilac would never be his.
      Keanne wanted to weep once more at the flatness of Jason’s tone, as if he was holding himself back ruthlessly because he believed he did not deserve to be hurt for loving someone who had never been his from the start.
      She wanted to say so many things but none of them were right. Jason had taught her to be strong and she could do no less for him, could never let him be weak.
      And so she whispered, “Yes, she will. You have always known she would marry him.” She paused, hating herself for what she was about to do, but again he had taught her this - had shown her time and time again that wallowing in self-pity did no one any favors.
      “You can cry now, the same way I cried on the phone and you listened. But when we leave this room, you can’t let them see you’re hurt. Nick, Lilac, your mother – if you do not want them to be hurt, then you must suffer for them. You must pretend you’re fine even if you’re not. You must pretend that you’re happy for them even if you…”
      She