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  LIGHTER

  Mila Cole

  Table of Contents

  Note from the Author

  Prologue

  1. Slick

  2. Lighter

  3. Slick

  4. Lighter

  5. Slick

  6. Lighter

  7. Slick

  8. Lighter

  9. Slick

  10. Lighter

  11. Slick

  12. Lighter

  13. Slick

  14. Lighter

  15. Slick

  16. Lighter

  17. Slick

  18. Lighter

  19. Slick

  20. Lighter

  21. Slick

  22. Lighter

  23. Slick

  24. Lighter

  25. Slick

  26. Lighter

  27. Slick

  28. Lighter

  29. Slick

  30. Lighter

  31. Slick

  Epilogue

  CARD GAME RULES

  Coming Soon

  Acknowledgments

  Lighter

  Copyright © 2018 Mila Cole

  All rights reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a work of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity between actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any uses of locales, or events are used fictitiously.

  Editor: One Love Editing

  Cover Design: Emily Wittig Designs & Photography

  Cover Photography: Lindee Robinson Photography

  Cover Models: Logan Barnhart & Jordan Dimatteo

  This book is intended for mature audiences.

  Created with Vellum

  Note from the Author

  Dear Readers:

  Thank you so much for purchasing your copy of LIGHTER. This story is a work of fiction. The characters, situations, names, and places that are written in this story are not based on actual truth but are made up from my imagination. I wanted to let you know that this story is considered an age-gap romance, and there is a significant difference in the age of my two main characters. This story would not be considered taboo since the female lead is at the age of consent. Please be advised that there are hot and steamy sexual encounters and situations, as well as strong subject matter and language. There is a lot of angsty buildup that may make you want to toss your book into a fire or break your Kindle over your knee, but I promise it will be worth it in the end.

  If sex, bad language, and using the Lord’s name in vain are a turnoff for you, please sit the book down and walk away now. Otherwise, keep turning those pages and enjoy.

  I hope you love LIGHTER as much as me. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

  XOXO-Mila

  Prologue

  Jensen “Slick” Stevenson

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” He nodded. “It’s all here in the paperwork.” He slid the papers across the shiny black desk so that I could read them for myself.

  And right there, in bold black letters, was my fate.

  III. GUARDIANSHIP - In the event I shall die as the sole parent of a minor child, then I appoint Jensen Micah Stevenson as sole guardian of said minor child.

  What had my sister done?

  “Sir, there must be some kind of mistake or maybe another damn will lying around somewhere,” I said in a panic. “Surely, my mother would be a better fit. I mean, I know she lives in Canada, but I’m sure that she would want her granddaughter. I don’t know the first thing about raising a kid, man. Let alone a girl.” I raked my hands through my hair and cursed. This couldn’t be happening.

  “You can contest the will, but we don’t recommend it when children are involved. It involves a lengthy court process and a back-and-forth move for the child.”

  “Her name is, Chloe, dammit! Quit calling her ‘the child,’” I snapped. My head wasn’t screwed on straight. My sister had just passed away, and now this mess.

  The older man behind the desk cleared his throat. “I apologize. I want you to understand that relinquishing your rights as guardian will be much harder on Chloe than you realize. Here.” He handed me an envelope. “That’s a letter to you from your sister with her final wishes. She asks that you read it first before making any kind of decisions. I assume she knew how you’d take the news.”

  “I need some air. I’m going to step outside a minute,” I told him as I stood up from the chair. The white envelope felt heavy in my hands.

  “Take your time.”

  Outside, I walked far away from the building and found a quiet spot. My fingers were shaking as I fumbled to open the letter. It could’ve been nerves or the alcohol making its way out of my system. Shit, it was probably a mixture of both.

  Taking a deep breath, I read it to myself.

  Dear J.M.

  I know what you’re thinking, and I’m sorry that this is being sprung on you.

  My cancer is worse now, and the doctors say there isn’t much more they can do for me. I’m not taking the news so well, but of course you know that since you’ve been with me nearly every day. I want to tell you in person about leaving Chloe in your care, but I know you’ll try to talk me out of my decision. I don’t have the strength for any more fights with you, so I’m doing things my way.

  I can’t think of any other person that should have her, but you.

  Not Mom…

  You…

  Mom is getting older, and in a few years she won’t have the strength or patience to deal with raising a toddler. Not to mention, she’s barely been in Chloe’s life. She’d be much like a stranger to her.

  The reason I am choosing you is because I know in my heart that she would choose you if she could. You have been the best uncle to Chloe. She loves you so much, more than you even realize. You’ve been the only man in her life since she was born. I know you’ve got struggles of your own, and the responsibility of raising a child seems impossible, but I believe in you. I believe you can do this. I wouldn’t leave her in your loving care if I didn’t truly think you could handle it.

  I know it probably feels like you got a shitty deal here, but I know the kind of love that my little girl can give. It’s the kind of love that will never fade or falter, and you need that in your life. You need her as much as she needs you. Sure, times will likely be hard and sometimes make you feel like you’re not cut out for the job, but they will be few and far between. Because she is the brightest little star in the sky, and she will love you endlessly no matter how bad you screw up.

  It breaks my heart to have to say goodbye to her, my baby girl, and goodbye to you, my baby brother. But now you’ll have each other. Please don’t send her away to Mom. It’s not what I want for her. I want her to be with someone she loves and who loves her back.

  It might not make much sense to you now, but it will, someday.

  If times get too hard, remember these things:

  Always be patient with her.

  Always let her lead with her heart.

  Always comfort her when she’s sad.

  Always be firm but loving.

  Always tell her about me, and tell her how much I love her.

  Always trust your heart.

  But most of all… always love her.

  You can do this, J.M.

  Do it for me.

  I love you Bubba.

  Love, C.C.

  Jesus!

  How could I say no to that? I wanted to. Hell, I probably needed to, but in my heart, I knew I couldn’t.

  My life was tailor-made for a bachelor. I lived in a studio apartment, I drank until two or three o’clock in the morning, and most nights I didn’t come home alone. My life was exciting, and exciting was what I liked. It’s what I
lived for.

  How was I supposed to do that with a four-year-old little girl in the house?

  Four-year-old girl…

  I looked up at the sky. “What the hell were you thinking?” I asked the clouds, wishing for one small answer. Anything.

  But I got nothing.

  One

  Slick

  3 years later

  There was a gentle knock on the door, so light I barely heard it. “Uncle J.”

  “Fuck. Don’t say a word,” I urged the girl lying under me, before wiping a bead of sweat from my forehead. It was after midnight, and Chloe should’ve been asleep. I had put her to bed hours ago.

  “Yeah,” I called out to her as I rose up on my knees and pulled my dick out of the redhead underneath me.

  Chloe sniffled from behind my bedroom door, and I jumped out of the bed as fast as I could and grabbed my shorts. Opening my bedroom door, I saw her standing there wrapped up in her favorite pink blanket, the one with the gray elephants all over it. Tears were streaming down her little face.

  I bent down, resting my knees against the carpeted floor. “What’s wrong, Little Bear?”

  “I had a nightmare,” she said as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “I’m scared.” The sobs continued, causing her tiny head to shake against my shoulder.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. Shh. It’s okay.”

  “Will you lay with me?” she asked me in a trembled voice.

  Without hesitation, I replied. “You bet I will. Run back into your room, and I’ll be right there.” She was my baby girl. I’d do anything she ever needed.

  Back inside my bedroom, the redhead was eyeballing me from the bed. She was half sitting up with her weight on her elbows and her tits pointing directly at me. Well, mostly at me. Her nipples were pointed slightly south since her jugs were big enough to float.

  “You gotta go. Now,” I told her sternly.

  “What?”

  Rolling my eyes, I tossed her clothes at her. “I didn’t stutter. You gotta go. Get dressed and let yourself out. Lock the door behind you.”

  “I can’t believe this. You’re being an asshole.”

  Like I hadn’t heard that one before. “Get the fuck out,” I said with a smile.

  She groaned but started to get dressed. I wasn’t sure why she was so pissed. I’d had my buddy send her my way. Hell, I didn’t even know her name. She was just supposed to be a quick lay, no strings attached, a one-night stand. After hearing her whine, I was glad to see her go. I’d rather rub one off in the shower later anyway than have to listen to that bullshit.

  I shut the door to the bedroom behind us as we walked out. I didn’t say goodbye or see you later. Instead, I followed the hallway to Chloe’s room.

  Maybe it was a dick move to use that girl, but it wasn’t like I’d led her on. She’d come to me willingly. With Chloe in my life, I didn’t have time for anything complicated. Honestly, it wasn’t even about time as much as it was about having some random girl around Chloe. I didn’t bring any of my conquests around her because that part of my life belonged behind closed doors.

  “Hey there, Little Bear. You okay?” I climbed up on the bed next to her. She had her brown stuffed dog tucked under her chin, her long eyelashes still wet from the tears.

  She gave me a pouty nod. “Better now, but will you stay with me until I fall back asleep?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She cuddled up next to my side, and I wrapped my large, tatted arm around her, propping the back of my head up on the railing of her tiny daybed. It squeaked in pain from the weight of me. If we ever moved out of our shoebox-sized apartment, we were definitely going to upgrade her to a larger bed. On nights like these, we needed one. I was the size of two grown men and could barely fit an ass cheek on the mattress next to her.

  When C.C. had passed away, Chloe and I struggled to get the hang of things. I’m talking serious struggles. I hadn’t shared a home with another person since I’d moved out from my mother’s house when I was eighteen. It took us a long time to get the hang of things, and an even longer time for me to understand just how different girls were compared to boys. It wasn’t just anatomy. The female brain, even as a toddler, was complicated. So much so that I swore off women in general for the entire first year she lived with me. Trying to figure out one girl was hard enough.

  I think that the hardest part, though, was learning how to take care of someone other than myself. She became my ultimate responsibility, and I couldn’t afford to screw it up. Man, that was hard.

  For the first year, I pretty much sucked at it. Lucky for me, she was only four at the time. She had no clue how bad our situation was and that we were barely getting by. As long as she had her toys, she was good. She cried for C.C. a lot in the beginning, and there were so many nights I wanted to run as far away as I could from it all. Just say to hell with it and take her to my mother.

  But… by some freaking miracle, I managed to keep it together, sort of.

  Chloe was alive, well-fed, and had a roof over her head. I must’ve done something right.

  In the middle of everything, through all the chaos and the ups and downs, I managed to give my heart to that little girl. She gave me a purpose, she made me a stronger man, and I loved her more than anything in the world. Nothing or no one would ever change that, especially not some easy redhead. Chloe was my daughter—maybe not rightfully so by birth, but in every other sense of the word she was.

  As she drifted off to sleep, I continued to watch her. It was truly amazing how much she’d grown over the past three years. She was looking more and more like her mother every day. She had these outrageously long eyelashes and cute little freckles. Unfortunately not the most stylish hair, but I tried.

  Time just flew by. We’d one day have to talk about all the hard things that life was going to throw her way, but I wasn’t ready just yet. She was still so little, so fragile. I just wanted to keep her locked up in my strong arms forever and give her the best life I could.

  That was my plan with the new job. No more scraping to get by. I had big plans for us. We could move to a nicer place, maybe something with a yard or a park nearby for her to play at, and we could actually get groceries on a regular basis instead of stretching out our food so that it would last through the month. I didn’t want to have to fight underground anymore for the extra cash. We were barely surviving, and I was getting too old for the underground scene. I only wanted stability, even if it was just for her, and dammit, that wasn’t too much to ask for.

  So when this job opportunity was mentioned to me, I snatched it up. There were no more excuses left for me to throw out there. I had to do the right thing and make our life better.

  *

  “Under no circumstances do you take no for an answer. You understand?”

  “Yes, sir.” My eyes raked over the paperwork in front of me, scrutinizing each page and locking it firmly into my memory. This job was important to me since it meant triple the income. I couldn’t afford to screw it up. For years I’d been trying to find something steady and secure, anything to keep Chloe and me above water. We’d lived paycheck to paycheck for too long, not that she knew any different, but man did I hate it.

  “Good. I’ll introduce you to rest of the crew tomorrow, and you can meet Lighter in person.” Mr. Derosa stood up from behind his large mahogany desk and reached out his hand to me. I shook it firmly. He was a round man with ashy brown hair and more than one chin. His demeanor was sharp, and I had a feeling the rumors were true. Despite the fact that he was six inches shorter than me and had a good twenty years of age on me, I knew he was a man that people feared. Well, most people. Maybe he didn’t do the dirty work himself, but he knew how to dispose of me, and he wouldn’t bat an eye doing it. He was the top litigator in the state, his wife was a movie star, and his daughter was a spoiled socialite. At least, that’s what I was told. I didn’t watch much TV or give a damn about social media. He wasn’t feared because of his job or his money.
He was feared because of the operations he ran behind closed doors, the ones I was supposed to be clueless about.

  I wasn’t scared. Maybe I should’ve been, but I wasn’t. My best friend, Tony, or Trim in this business, got me the job, and he filled me in on the need to know. I figured out quickly that I didn’t really need to know.

  Scared or not, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

  I was hired to be head of security over his daughter, Lighter Derosa. She was eighteen and a recent high school graduate about to head off to college, according to the three-inch folder in my hand. Who kept a three-inch binder on their daughter? It was fucking weird if you asked me.

  Nodding, I replied, “Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He dismissed me from his office without another word.

  When the large wooden door of his office closed behind me, I took notice of the two large men standing in the distance. I hadn’t seen them when I arrived. Both of them stood tall, wearing pressed pants and oxford button-downs. Clearly they were security. You could always tell security, specifically by the way they stood stoic with their arms crossed over their chests. I scoffed when one of them stepped forward, making sure I noticed him. Go ahead, big fella. If we were comparing brute, it would take both of them to get me down.

  I continued past him as if he weren’t standing there. He’d know who I was soon enough considering he’d be working for me.

  Taking the elevator down to the front lobby, I made my way outside. The Derosa & Lincoln sky-rise building was in Center City, Philadelphia, on one of the busiest damn streets in town. Everything was there: the best restaurants, the finest shops, and the richest damn people you’d ever meet. I didn’t fit in. I was a street rat from Camden, born and raised. It was nearly an hour subway ride back home, which was going to make this job a long commute, not to mention how far I’d be away from Chloe. I didn’t like it, not at all. I found the idea of being far away from her unsettling because I worried about her so much.