It shouldn’t have been a surprise that this wasn’t starting out well.
However, I was still surprised, mostly because, considering Belinda’s chaotic and wasteful use of the resources at her disposal, I’d think she’d tap in to all that were available.
“Your mom cut them out?”
“I was really young when we moved down to Texas, I don’t remember a lot of it. But I do remember there was fighting. Drama. Grandma crying. Grandpa shouting. One of my friends’ moms made mention about how they tried to get hold of me through the courts when it became clear Mom wasn’t going to find the right path, but Granddad got in their way.”
I felt my mouth tighten.
Judge didn’t miss it.
“Yeah,” he muttered.
“One of your friends’ moms?”
“I still have friends here, babe. You’ll meet them Wednesday. Granddad isn’t the only one who’s been blowing up my phone. They’ve been calling, I just haven’t been picking up. They’ve also been texting, and that’s easier for me now, so that’s how we’re talking. The word is getting out. But back then, Mrs. Taylor said what she said in passing, and then Mr. Taylor gave her a look and she shut up. They probably thought it’d upset me. By the time I was old enough, free of all that shit and able to contact them and ask, I didn’t care.”
Mm.
“Anyway,” he continued, “between Mom not wanting anyone confronting her with her issues, and through love or any other reason making her face them, and Granddad not wanting anyone in the way of his direct line to me, they disappeared. I suspect from what I heard, and this was from Granddad, so take it with a grain of salt, part of the problem was Grandpa. He was standing staunch on the way he thought Mom should be, that way being clean and sober, and it wasn’t just her cutting them out, they cut her out too. Or he did. And by extension, me.”
I didn’t trust myself to speak.
It would seem, at every turn, that Jamie was in one way very correct.
Judge was caught in the crossfire of a lot of selfishness, self-righteousness and pride.
Regrettably, he wasn’t done with the story.
“Dad has made mention, though, that he reached out to them, undoubtedly to recruit them as allies. That said, he doesn’t badmouth them. Reading between the lines, there has to be some truth to what Granddad said. Because if they were all in to help, he’d have had them here, helping. And it was left unsaid, but it’s clear he did not.”
I remained silent.
Judge carried on.
“Grandpa died of a heart attack when I was seventeen. Mom forbade me to go to his funeral. Grandma came to visit me twice when I was at ASU. She was sweet, but it was awkward because I didn’t know her very well, and I sensed she was feeling frustration at that, and maybe some guilt at all that had gone down. She died about two weeks after I graduated. Mom was an only child, but they left me everything. Probably because they knew how Mom would use all they’d worked for their whole lives and left behind, and they didn’t want that. Also probably because Grandma was the last one standing, and she might not have been able to do it like she’d liked to have done it, but still, I knew she loved me.”
I did not break my silence, but for a different reason this time.
“Dad swooped in and did somewhat what he’s going to do with Mom’s house. To make it so I didn’t have to come back to Texas, he paid someone to go through their stuff and send me what was worth keeping, including pictures and heirlooms. The rest was auctioned and sold. It’s how I bought my house.”
Well, that explained why Judge had such a great home when he hadn’t taken any money from his father.
“You didn’t come to Texas for her funeral?”
“Explicit instructions,” he murmured, his tone odd. “She was cremated. Her ashes sent to me. In her will, it stated plainly that, not only did she not want a service, she didn’t want me in Texas. She asked that I,” he cleared his throat, “keep her if that was my wish, or put her somewhere I liked to be. I put her in the Dells.”
“Oh Judge,” I whispered.
“It’s gorgeous,” he explained, as if I was entitled to some opinion on how he laid his grandmother to rest, or more, that I might make some judgment about the fact he didn’t “keep her.” “It seems the sun shines brighter there for some reason, maybe it’s the red rock. But I think she’d like it there.”
“Anyone would like it there,” I said quietly.
“Mm…” he hummed noncommittally.
“So in the end, she did the only thing she could to protect you.”
“She kept me from Texas,” he finished for me. “So…yeah.”
“Have you been through the pictures and heirlooms?” I asked.
“Yes.”
That was short, and he gave nothing more.
So I gave him a look, and it was up to him if he kept going.
“They were a good-looking family,” he said. “Seemed close. Mom was beautiful, always beautiful. Popular in school. A cheerleader. She and Dad started dating when he was a senior and she was a junior. I have their prom pictures, or at least the ones Grandpa took in what I suspect was their yard by some rose bushes. Dad came back from college to be her date when she was voted homecoming queen. And when she was in the court at prom. She didn’t go to college. She got out of high school, worked her way up to an assistant manager in a clothing store at the mall and bided her time until Dad graduated, something he worked his ass off to do early, probably for the same reason as me. To get as far away from home as possible as soon he could do that.”
Even with the very little time I’d spent in AJ Oakley’s presence, I still could absolutely see that.
“They eloped in Tennessee. Granddad was not invited. Glamma, that’s Dad’s mom, was there. So were Grandma and Grandpa. All of them were happy, fucking beaming. Mom and Dad did this on their way to NYC,” Judge kept sharing.
Upon hearing what he called his paternal grandmother, I made the instant decision to be called that by my grandchildren.
“Do you have their wedding photos?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Dad does. He told me a long time ago if I wanted to see them, he’d pull out the album. But it wasn’t a big thing, seeing as they eloped. I’ve just seen snapshots that Grandpa took or had someone wherever they were take of all four of them. And before you ask, she seemed happy, but looking back now, I think she also seemed a little freaked. Like she didn’t know what life meant after becoming homecoming queen. She’d landed the big man on campus, achieved her loftiest goals, her life was complete, and she was only nineteen.”
Good God.
“I don’t know what to say about that,” I noted gently.
“You wouldn’t, because you aren’t like that.”
Now I didn’t know what to say about that or the way he said it, the words having a sharp edge that skimmed the line of acidic.
“Let’s talk about how awesome your family is,” he suggested.
I got quiet.
“You and they cannot know how big that was,” he continued. “What it meant to me. But also Dad, knowing I have that. And Dru too.”
“I know how big it was,” I said softly.
“Oh yeah, forgot, you started bawling,” he teased.
I scrunched my nose.
He kissed it.
Then he kissed my mouth.
After that, he whispered, “Just you and me now, Coco. Okay? I get you want to know, you need to know, and you’re concerned for me. But I just want it to be us for a while. I want to be all about you and not about any of that. Until we have to face it again tomorrow. Can you give me that?”
He knew the answer, but I verbalized it anyway.
“Of course, honey.”
That was when he kissed me.
Our first time together sexually, or at least the making love part of it, had not been repeated since. Both of our tastes were of a different bent.
On my part, there was the thrill that Judge in eve
ryday life was sweet and laidback, thoughtful and affectionate, and in bed he was assertive, aggressive, powerful and domineering.
There was also the fact that in everyday life, I felt most everything—including the happiness and well-being of everyone I loved—was my responsibility, and that meant I could be hyper-sensitive and controlling. So it was not only a turn-on, but a relief to give over to Judge when we were having sex.
But that night, I knew from the beginning it was going to be different just with the way he kissed me.
He moved on to touch me the same way: reverent, lingering, lazy.
I reciprocated.
I knew what this was about.
It was about the feelings we had for each other.
It was about the time we had before us that stretched long with possibility and promise.
It was about touch and sound and staring into each other’s eyes and sharing without speaking.
It ended with us wound together on our sides, my leg over Judge’s hip, our arms around each other, his cock stroking inside me as we kissed softly, spoke no words, and held gazes.
So it came as a surprise when my orgasm built and exploded without any warning.
And it felt beautiful as Judge took my mouth as I was gasping through it and absorbed my climax.
Then he rolled me to my back, and I held him with everything I had as he rode me to his.
We were in love, I knew this. The words hadn’t been spoken because they didn’t need to be.
It was not just me, or more him.
We loved each other.
I knew that the night he carried me to my bathroom.
And what we just shared was delayed, but it was about that.
It was about looking after each other now.
And looking forward to doing it forever.
Judge carried me to the bathroom again that night. We took care of each other there. But the difference was, I didn’t dress myself. When he carried me back to set me on my feet at the side of the bed, he slipped my nightie over my head and knelt before me so I could step into my panties.
I did that, studying his broad shoulders, the muscles across his lats, the depth of the indent of his spine, and I was not a crier, I detested doing it, it was only that recent circumstances had warranted my emotional displays.
But the tears again welled in me.
I held them back as he looked up at me and then righted his head, kissed my belly and rose, reaching for his pajama pants.
All right, so…
Maybe it was more me in the love department.
“Good?” he asked when I didn’t move after he’d pulled on his pajamas.
“Good, honey,” I answered.
A soft smile from my Judge.
A soft kiss.
Then we slid into bed together, wound ourselves around each other, and we put another day behind us, knowing we would face what was ahead of us the same way.
That way was our way, and always would be.
Together.
Chapter 28
The Magic and The Miracle
Chloe
The next afternoon…
Before everyone moved off the evening before, we’d made our plans as a family for the next day.
It was Mom and Dad who did it, with Bowie encouraging it, Jamie leaning into it, and the rest championing it.
And the plan was genius.
We’d breakfast together in Judge, Rix and my room, however and whenever people drifted in, no pressure for a time for all to meet (Jamie had called one of his assistants to contact the hotel to set up a buffet in the bar area).
One of Jamie’s assistants had also secured two tennis courts at a local club.
Therefore, mid-morning, Dad, Bowie, Matt, Judge, Jamie, Gage and Sully were going to go play tennis (Rix had opted out, he was going to work out instead, however, he ended up in someone else’s room last night for a pre-workout workout and texted Judge that he’d meet up with the rest of us as agreed, later in the afternoon).
In the meantime, Dru had gotten on the phone and arranged spa appointments for her, Mom, Sasha and me. Facials. Body wraps. Massages. Several hours of bliss and pampering.
After the tennis tournament was over, we’d reconnect for a late light lunch and then we had time to visit and get ready because, even later, we had a private room in a fancy restaurant Jamie favored for dinner.
The plan offered opportunities to do what we enjoyed, with plenty of together time before what was to happen tomorrow.
See?
Genius.
It was also private.
Various patrons couldn’t miss Mom, Bowie, Dad or Jamie walking through the lobby or halls. But we weren’t out there and visible.
Mom had taken me aside the night before and shared what I hadn’t thought to investigate.
Belinda’s death had been picked up by the media.
“It isn’t a big story,” she said. “But it’s a story.”
Her point was made.
The candle was burning, and as ever, we needed to do what we could not to throw gasoline on that flame.
As I checked my phone between my massage and body wrap, I realized the Family Plan was even more perfect than I expected.
Judge followed sports, though he wasn’t that huge of a fan, except of tennis. So his texts reporting the goings-on at the club shared that, even if the match he’d played with Dad in their tourney was a match he’d also lost to Dad, he’d loved playing him.
And I loved that.
As well as the fact that Gage had started a full-family text string, with Dru, Jamie and Rix included. This was where he shared pictures and short video clips of Dad and Judge’s match, hilariously declaring it the “Rematch of the Century.”
My baby brother was amusing in the way I almost hoped he wouldn’t finish growing up.
Though I knew, when he did, he’d just be even more fantastic.
But mostly, when the boys’ short, forty-five-minute-or-to-ten-points matches brought the final two competitors together, and it was Dad and Matt, it had, according to Judge been So cool, you wouldn’t believe it. They’re both so good, everyone stopped to watch. It was fucking amazing.
The “everyone stopped to watch” thing concerned me.
But Matt and Dad battling it out on a court concerned me more.
Fortunately, the very next text shared I think they got something out, baby. At first, it was weird. Not ugly, just weird. Then they started messing around and joking and you could tell it was their gig. Duncan was hyped up but he started to relax and Tom and Matt hugged when it was over. By the way, your dad won. He’s still totally got it.
I could feel his happiness through the text. Maybe it was for Dad and Matt, but also it was for me, because that was the best family news I’d had in a very long time, and Judge knew it would be.
Even though that was big (huge), what was bigger was that Judge sounded excited and happy. He’d enjoyed his day (as he would, not everyone got to play against Tom Pierce, and Judge had in his life now twice, and so far, they’d both taken a match).
And I was beside myself and would be forever grateful to Mom that, after all that had happened in the last few days, she had arranged things so Judge had some relief from it.
At the spa, I had opted out of a facial, because I didn’t like to wear makeup after I had one delivered by a professional, and instead had a blowout and a cosmetics application after my services.
I was in the middle of the last when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dru hurrying to me.
She’d had a facial, her skin was dewy and gorgeous, and her look was something that never needed makeup, no matter how fancy our dinner was going to be tonight.
Yes, she was that striking.
“Excuse me,” she said to the lady swiping mascara at the base as a final touch to my fake eyelashes. Then to me, she got close and whispered urgently, “We have to go.”
“We do?”
“Yes. The press knows your
mom and dad are here, and Duncan, and my dad, and Judge and what happened to his mom. They’re swarming the front of the hotel. I guess it’s so bad, the police had to come and put up barriers.”
I nodded to my stylist, she backed away, and I got out of the chair, murmuring my apologies to her, my thanks, and then moving with Dru toward the dressing rooms.
“I suppose we should have known we couldn’t escape this,” I noted irritably as we pushed through the doors to the dressing room.
“I don’t know,” Dru replied.
I stopped and looked down at her. “Why don’t you know?”
“They’re all back from the club. Dad and the guys. They had to run the gamut out there to get into the hotel. And, Chloe…” She got closer to me. “The reporters were shouting questions so Dad knows that Granddad pulled his usual antics.”
I stood completely still as I whispered, “His usual antics?”
“Well, I mean, you know, sorry…but everyone knows about Genny and Duncan and your dad. They didn’t care about that. Sully told me they were shouting at my dad. And Judge.”
My blood ran cold.
“What were they shouting at Judge?” I asked through stiff lips.
“Stuff about how he turned his back on his mom and—”
She didn’t finish.
I was a flurry of motion, pulling off my robe and getting dressed.
Then she and I dashed out of the dressing rooms to the checkout desk.
“I’m sorry, can I possibly deal with gratuities and—?” I began.
“Ms. Swan has explained things, Ms. Pierce, and taken care of everything,” the lady behind the desk said. “She asked me to ask you when you were done to go directly to your suite, if you would. Thank you for being our guest. We hope to see you again.”
I nodded, relief flowing through me, and more gratitude for Mom, and Dru and I rushed out.
I wanted to kick the elevator, it took so long to get to our floor.
And then we both ran down the hall to my room.
It was fair to say we burst in, but I couldn’t help it.
Chasing Serenity Page 40
