by Hadley Quinn
And that did it. My chest overflowed with so much love and devotion, the waterworks hit my eyes. I’d been too chicken to confess my feelings to him; I’d been so afraid of rushing him in any way or jinxing what we had. I knew he still wanted me to move in, but in navigating our relationship, I was still working on progressing the right way. I wanted to avoid any mistakes that I’d made before.
“I love you too,” I whispered. “So much.” The magnitude of those words solidified all my innocent fantasies about love and romance. Men like Josh truly did exist, and I was extremely grateful to have him.
I didn’t care how cheesy that sounded.
He leaned back to study me again, running a thumb along my cheekbone. “So…that means you’ll move in with me, right?”
I laughed. Even through my lovey-dovey tears, I laughed. “Yes, it does. Why not, right?” I asked facetiously.
He rolled his eyes. He actually rolled his beautiful chocolate brown eyes. “I deserve that, but how many times are you gonna throw that in my face?”
I shrugged dramatically. “Don’t know. As many times as it’ll fit, I guess. Probably a lot. Because there are a million ‘why not’ moments that are going to pop up, I’m sure of it.”
He smiled but nodded. “Fine. As long as it works in my favor, I ain’t gonna complain.”
I snorted with amusement.
“Okay, go change,” he said, letting me go. But as I walked away, he swatted my ass and added, “And don’t you dare wear a fucking skirt tonight.”
I laughed so loud, the neighbors probably heard.
~35~
“So…”
My father stopped all conversation with just one little word. After initial reintroductions and basic greetings, we’d all sat down at a table in my parents’ favorite Italian restaurant. Drew had immediately brought up baseball with Josh, which my parents tolerated for a few minutes.
I knew my dad wouldn’t let it go on for long because he had other things on his mind.
The waitress brought our drinks, and my mom took her customary sniff-and-taste of wine while my dad studied his glass of draft. I was hoping they’d focus on the newness of my baby brother drinking a beer, but I wasn’t granted that courtesy. My parents had been eye-balling Josh since we first walked into the restaurant.
“Jolie tells us you’re a doctor.”
“Dad, seriously?” I shook my head at his stupid ploy to belittle someone. I had not told him that and specifically talked up my boyfriend in all the other ways he deserved.
“No, sir, I’m not,” Josh replied, amused. I’d already warned him. “You couldn’t pay me enough to be a doctor.”
I almost snorted at that, a very subtle “fuck you.” Although Josh knew my dad was going to judge him no matter what—try to intimidate him, make him feel small, possibly reveal weaknesses or doubt—he also knew my parents didn’t have much of a say in my life at that point.
I’d informed them of Josh the week before, even though my brother had already let it slip before that. I’d been dodging my mom’s calls ever since until I finally felt ready to do the whole “meet the parents” ordeal. If they were distrustful of teenaged boys back in high school, they were even more wary of Josh the second time around.
I understood. I think they were finally realizing what a crap marriage I’d been in, and maybe I wasn’t too upfront about all of it, but I knew my brother had advocated on my behalf whenever he had to hear them question me or my decisions in life. I’d never been close enough to my parents to open up to them, but being with Josh had made me realize that approval came from within myself. I had a choice: I could listen to my parents’ opinions and worry about their words…or I could be happy and just let them talk.
I’d chosen the latter.
“Josh works with Eddie Pruitt,” my brother informed them. “Matt Parks, Kenya Upsahl, Joey Brandon… And his facility is amazing.”
My father barely nodded. “So you’ve said.” And then he mumbled, “Celebrities, hmph,” before taking a sip of beer.
“And that Drew Chambers kid,” Drew added. “Surprise star from Cal Berkeley, heard of him? He’s one talented kid.”
My parents only smiled before the waitress took our food order, and then my father asked Josh about the new facility in Berkeley. Midway through Josh’s invitation to take a tour, a surprise guest graced us with her presence.
“Oh, Autumn, you made it,” my mother gushed, quickly motioning for her to sit in the extra chair that she’d insisted was going to be occupied that night.
You probably forgot I had a sister, right? We hadn’t seen her since Christmas day, but there she was, the pride and joy of the Chambers family—the twenty-six-year-old business phenom for a multi-million-dollar designer shoe company. She barely said hello to any of us and went straight into her traditional “me, myself, and I” routine.
Drew and I just smirked at each other, and Josh—knowing he was off the hook even though he hadn’t been worried about it in the first place—slid his hand over my thigh under the table.
“Very funny,” I muttered under my breath, using my own hand to block his fingers from inching further between my legs.
He leaned over and whispered, “I hope you get enough carbs from dinner tonight because I’m gonna fuck them right out of you when we’re done here.”
I couldn’t quell my reaction well enough because it caught the attention of my sister, and she stopped talking. With a snarky smile, she said, “So Jolie, tell me all about you and your successful career.”
Maybe she thought I’d been mocking whatever she’d been talking about when I’d tried to stifle my laugh, but my sister was just a bitch no matter how you looked at it. Her goals were money and power, two things she loved to brag about and used to measure her worth.
“Work for me is fantastic.” I beamed, not even caring if she thought I was still a waitress or knew I’d been fired. “Life is amazing and full of fun surprises. I couldn’t be happier, thanks for asking.”
Autumn slightly narrowed her eyes, glancing between Josh and me. Josh didn’t give a single fuck about my sister’s arrogance as she began questioning him about what he did for a living. He didn’t have to brag because Drew and I did that for him, but having his doctorate degree knocked Autumn down a peg.
As far as I knew, she didn’t even have a degree.
“School can be a waste of money,” she waved it off. “When you have natural talent and can land a job with only that, now that’s true success.”
Or spreading your legs for the execs, I wanted to shoot back. But I tuned her out. While she was still talking herself up, I leaned over to Josh and whispered, “I so can’t wait to get you in bed.”
He slid his arm around my seat and whispered, “Carbs, Jo. You better load up on carbs.”
“Can we just go screw in your truck?”
He suppressed a laugh, but there we were, having our own little conversation at a family dinner. I didn’t care if we were getting looks from my family and silent comments between them. My brother was the only one who looked truly amused and understood how annoying Autumn was.
One thing counseling had helped me with during my divorce was realizing my sister tended to suffer from middle child syndrome. I was the oldest and Drew was the youngest, each of us drawing focus from our parents in standard ways. Autumn had always felt slighted, like she had way more to make up for than she needed to or be beyond spectacular to be noticed. I still didn’t understand how she couldn’t see our parents completely adored her, but I knew I wasn’t able to change someone else’s perspective unless they allowed it to change.
“So how do you like living in San Diego?” I asked her, just to keep the focus where she wanted it to be.
On herself.
“Oh, it’s amazing,” she shared excitedly. “I love the sun, especially in my BMW with the roof open. I love living by the ocean and…”
We listened to her prattle on, enjoyed a delicious meal when it arrived, and al
l I really cared about was that everyone was healthy and seemed content in life. My happiness was my relationship with Josh and my brother—two people I would always need in my life. I could take my parents and sister in small doses and always would, but I no longer felt selfish for wanting what was best for myself. There were necessities in life—responsibilities, really—that would always be there to deal with, but I knew it was a blessing to have such balance.
I abundantly appreciated the good things because of it.
When we parted from my family that night, I no longer felt constrained by expectations. I had my future with Josh to look forward to; it made the weight of any other burdens seem light.
Balance. It was necessary.
Josh and I pulled over on our way home. A poorly lit park in a questionable part of town. But I swear, neither of us cared. All he’d said to me was that he couldn’t wait to get me naked, and next thing I knew, I’d scooted next to him and unbuttoned his jeans, kissing on his neck.
He stopped the truck the first chance he could get.
“Damn you for making me wear pants,” I huffed, trying to get them off while kissing him at the same time. I removed one pant leg and considered it good enough, straddling him while he moved my panties to the side and released his erection.
Josh reclined the seat just a bit as I lowered myself onto him, his hand sliding up my shirt, pulling my bra down to release a nipple. His lips and tongue nipped and sucked while he freed my other breast to do the same, making me sink deeper into him with every touch and sound.
My lips found his again until I rode the wave of gratification. I didn’t even care how loud we were or how much the truck was moving. All I was focused on was how amazing it felt to be young and uninhibited with the person I loved.
We even sat in the parking lot for almost an hour when we were done, talking about everything from the dinner with my family to the fact that I was fiercely craving something carbonated. We stopped at a minute mart on our way to my apartment and picked up some candy and drinks.
“Thank you for tonight,” I said, kissing Josh after he held open the truck door at my apartment.
“Thank you for what?” he asked in a teasing tone. “The reckless sex in my truck or the junk food?”
Laughing, I answered, “All of it. And dinner with my family. I know they’re not as easy to handle as yours is.”
“Ah, your parents like me. At least…I’m pretty sure they will. Next step, invite them over to Luke and Claudia’s for a barbecue. My dad will work ‘em over.”
I liked that idea. Along with Luke’s little tribe, we’d met up with Josh’s dad a couple of times in the past few weeks. I had no doubt Dale could give my parents a bit of perspective when it came to family.
On the way up to my apartment, I could hear male voices on the second floor. I recognized Harlan’s right away; the second voice made me stop at the bottom step.
“Hey, mate, I don’t give a flying fuck who my neighbors are. I’m telling you, I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“Right,” Chris retorted. “You look like the type to make it his business who his female neighbors are.”
I could feel the anger brew, even though Harlan laughed and said something about not bothering with women who were practically married—referring to me, I think. Josh realized why I was gripping his arm so tightly, and since he could hear everything I could, put two-and-two together.
He placed his keys in my hand. “Go sit in the truck,” he said in a low voice.
I refused. There was no way I was going to leave him in my apartment complex to do God-knows-what on the second floor. And Chris had put Harlan in the middle of the shit mess, so that made me even more furious.
“All you have to do is confirm that she lives in that apartment,” Chris said, just as Josh growled and took the steps three at a time.
I thought he’d say something the second Chris faced him, but when I caught up to them, I was surprised to see somewhat of a strange scene before me.
Harlan stepped past the two and motioned for me to follow him. I almost refused again, but he got me past Chris—who eyed me the entire way to my apartment door. But his true focus seemed to be on Josh, and that made me wary.
“This has nothing to do with you,” Chris said to him. “Leave me the fuck alone.”
“Leave you alone?” Josh scoffed. “Are you fucking serious? I warned you, man, and you chose not to listen.”
“What is this, some kind of duel for her?” my ex replied sarcastically. “You gonna fight me now?”
“Fight you? Nah, that’s not even a possibility. I’d smash your fucking face in, and then you’d just leave. That’ll be the extent of our ‘fight.’”
Chris laughed but turned to face me. “Really, Jo? This is what you trade me for?” He also pointed to Harlan standing next to me. “You banging him, too? You got yourself a nice little setup here. I’m actually surprised you have it in you—”
Josh’s fist connected with his face, and Chris stumbled back. Before he had a chance to retaliate or even speak, Josh grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against the wall.
~36~
Blood was pouring out of Chris’s nose, but Josh ignored it. “You still think I’m joking, motherfucker? I was serious when I said I’d break your face if you bothered her again.”
Chris didn’t reply except to struggle against the wall, trying to breathe through a broken, bleeding nose.
My stomach felt queasy from the sight of it.
Josh had a good grip on him but chose to let him go. “You can leave now,” he said, stepping aside so Chris could pass. “The next step will involve legal measures, so I suggest you listen this time.”
“Fuck you,” Chris sneered as he headed for the stairs. “And I hope you’re miserable, Jo,” he added. “You made your bed.”
I would have been fine never seeing him again, but before he descended the steps, he paused as two uniformed police officers emerged from the stairwell.
“We got a call from a neighbor about a domestic dispute,” one told us. They both gauged the scene, first noticing Chris’s bloody face, and then asking who was responsible for it.
Chris pointed to Josh, informing them he was assaulted for no reason. I could see the fucking coward smiling under the blood now running over his mouth.
The officers told Josh to turn around and put his hands against the wall. I objected, Harlan objected, and we both told them what really happened. They didn’t seem to like the whole “ex-husband/current boyfriend scenario” and told Josh that since he was the first to start a physical altercation, they had no choice but to arrest him at Chris’s request.
I didn’t know what to do except argue, which fell upon deaf ears as they cuffed Josh and turned to walk away with him.
A door across the hall flew open, and an older woman stepped out. “Now just a minute, here!” She banged her cane on the floor and her eyes flared, raking over the whole of us. She stopped on the officers. “You’re making a big mistake,” she told them.
“Ma’am?” the taller one questioned.
She pointed to Chris. “I called because of that little prick who’s been sniffing around here, not leaving that young lady alone. It’s him you should be hauling away. Stalking and harassment is a crime!”
Unnerved, I stared at Chris. He didn’t deny it. And it made sense to me. Why would I ever think seeing him at Timeout would have been the end of it?
I guess I underestimated his amount of butt hurt.
“Ma’am?” the same officer asked again. “This guy’s been harassing her?” He turned to me and asked, “Is that true?”
I briefly informed them that Chris had shown up at my job twice, called there several times, and I’d lost my job because of it. If I was a damn tattletale, then so be it, but I was sick of him and the trouble he’d caused, and I wanted it to stop.
Unfortunately, they still felt obligated to arrest Josh because of Chris’s face and insistence. We�
�d have to “work it out” down at the station if I wanted to file a harassment complaint.
“Is this really the route you want to go?” I asked Chris with clenched teeth. “With everyone at work as witnesses, my job being taken away because of you, Harlan attesting that you’ve been looking for me, and now this sweet lady’s testimony that you’ve been here before?” I motioned to the elderly woman, who still looked angry and ready to fight.
Chris didn’t answer, but I could tell he was debating a retort—something that would make his case look stronger than mine.
“Then so be it,” I added with a resentful wave of my hand. “So be it, Chris. Please, let me annihilate you with the legal system. It would give me great pleasure.”
He scoffed. “You used to be so easy to talk to, Jo. Reasonable.”
“No, I was compliant,” I growled back. “But not anymore. You can leave me alone now. We’re divorced and nothing is going to change that. Nothing.”
After the officers mediated once again, Chris ungraciously relented and told them to forget it. He was done with me. I wasn’t worth his time. He’d be moving to Vegas in a week and only wanted to mend things first, but obviously, I wasn’t worth the courtesy.
I didn’t care if any of that was true or not, but just seeing how shitty he’d been because he hadn’t gotten his way was a significant moment for me. Maybe I’d needed more closure than I thought I did, because when Chris left that night and the officers took the cuffs off Josh, I felt like I could close that chapter of my life.
Finally.
Harlan said parting words to us and then smirked at the older lady before turning into his apartment. “Once again, Mrs. Henry, thank you for sticking your nose in everyone’s business.”
She smiled proudly and replied, “Anytime, you stuck up Brit.” She turned to me with a hmph. “And you. Never a dull moment, huh?”
Taken aback, I didn’t know how to respond. But when Harlan chuckled and shut the door to his apartment, Mrs. Henry did the same.
