Redemption (Forgiven Series)

by Brooke, Rebecca

  I laughed. “Really? That’s your way of trying to make me feel better?” At least she had me laughing.

  “If she doesn’t hate you,” I repeated, shaking my head. “Actually, that’s the least of my worries. There is no way she is going to hate you. I’m worried that I’m about to give her a heart attack.”

  Lauren’s whole body froze. “Josh, please tell me that you told her I was coming with you today.”

  I hadn’t told her. I’d really wanted to surprise her, but now I was starting to rethink the wisdom of that decision. “Um… actually I didn’t tell her.” I cringed knowing that Lauren was going to freak out.

  “And you thought that was a good idea?” she asked in disbelief.

  “Well, I did at the time.”

  “Seriously, Josh, what were you thinking?” She took a step back, out of my arms. Shit, I’d really messed this up. She took a deep breath. “Look, why don’t you take me home and then go see your mom. We can go together next weekend after you’ve told her about me.”

  “Jersey,” I pleaded. “Please come with me. Everything’s going to be fine.”

  She put her hands up and shook her head. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  I reached out and grabbed one her hands, pulling her back into my arms and, using my finger, I tilted her chin up to face me. I touched my lips to hers, kissing her with all the love I felt for her. “Jersey,” I whispered against her lips. “I love you, please come with me.”

  She sighed. “You sure do know how to convince a girl to do what you want, don’t you?” Her eyes opened to mine. “All right, but if your mom freaks out, you are so taking the blame for not calling her.”

  “Deal,” I smiled. Taking her hand, I moved to the passenger side of the car to open the door before she had the chance to change her mind.

  Once we both buckled in, I leaned over and kissed her again. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said with a smile.

  Starting the car, I pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic, trying to push down my nerves. If I didn’t want Lauren to freak out then I had to at least try and keep my cool.

  Josh was delusional if he thought his fake-calm demeanor was fooling me. He had plenty of tells when it came to being nervous—the most obvious being his inability to stick to one radio station. Every few minutes, he’d change the station, even if the song hadn’t finished.

  I couldn’t believe I’d agreed to this. What had I been thinking? This had bad idea written all over it. When he’d first suggested visiting his mom earlier in the week, I’d assumed that he would at least call and let her know that we would be coming. That would have been the normal thing to do.

  We didn’t talk much on the first half of the ride because I was still trying to calm down. He was so nervous when I’d met him in the lot today but I couldn’t understand why. We’d already had to deal with my asshole father, and I’d thought nothing could be worse than that. But meeting his mom with no warning might rank right up there.

  After a while Josh broke the silence, linking our fingers on the center console. “So, tell me about Kendra.”

  “Kendra?”

  “Yeah,” he shrugged. “You said she’s not normally like that. So what is she like?”

  Looking over, I realized that he was trying to distract us both from our thoughts, so I answered him. “Well. The first time I met her she rambled on and on about my abilities.” I laughed, shaking my head. “She actually knew all of my stats. It was kind of weird at first, but then I spent more time with her and realized that she’s really funny. Plus, she’s let Ryan have it a few times.”

  “Excuse me?” he said with a deathly calm.

  Oh crap! I hadn’t mentioned that Ryan had been showing up to every practice. I think he was hoping that if he stuck around for long enough I’d change my mind. I knew I should probably have said something to Josh, but I didn’t want to create any more drama. Plus, I was more than capable of handling Ryan myself. I could only imagine how much worse it would have been when my father showed up, if Josh had known about Ryan’s visits. My guess was that my father would have found Ryan on the ground with Josh on top, beating the crap out of him.

  “Nothing,” I waved away my slip up and tried to change the subject. “Tell me about your mom.”

  “I don’t think so, Lauren. You’d better tell me what the hell you’re talking about,” he warned.

  Shit, shit, shit. He only called me Lauren when he was pissed. I knew there was no way to get out of this. Taking a deep breath I told him what he wanted to know.

  “Ryan’s been coming to practice, trying to convince me that you’re cheating on me and that I should get back together with him,” I said in a small voice, knowing he was about to freak out.

  “Motherfucker!” he yelled, slamming his hand onto the steering wheel. His other hand gripped the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were white. “And when were you gonna tell me?” he seethed.

  Leaning my head against the seat I closed my eyes, trying to think of a way to make this right. I didn’t want to fight the rest of the way to his mom’s house. “I didn’t want you to freak out,” I argued.

  “Freak out?” he yelled. “Right now I want to turn this car around, drive back to campus and beat his ass.”

  Instead of saying anything else—that would just piss him off more—I sat back and gave him the time he needed to cool down. Josh had every right to be pissed, but it wasn’t my fault. Okay, maybe I should have told him earlier, then again I’d known exactly where this would lead. I looked over to see that his jaw was clenched tight, the rage written in every taut fiber of his body. Calming Josh down was going to take time, but at this point I didn’t think there was anything I could say to make him feel better.

  We spent the rest of the drive in silence. Every moment that passed brought me closer to tears. I knew I’d been wrong not to tell him about what Ryan was doing, but the longer he was quiet, the more I just wanted him to talk to me.

  Thankfully, a little while later Josh made a right on to a residential street and pulled into the driveway of small, white rancher. By the time he’d put the car in park my nerves were completely shattered. Josh turned off the car and sighed, turning to face me. Afraid to see the look in his eyes, I kept my head facing forward. He reached over and touched the side of my face, guiding it towards him. I kept my eyes down.

  “Jersey, look at me,” he said softly.

  Slowly I raised my eyes to his. “I’m so sorry I freaked out. I just want that son of a bitch to stay away from you.”

  “No, it’s my fault,” I admitted. “I should have told you what he’s been doing. I didn’t want you to get mad, and it wasn’t like I believed what he was saying anyway,” I said, getting upset again that I had caused this fight.

  “No,” he said emphatically. “This is Ryan’s fault. He needs to leave you alone, but I’ll deal with that later. Right now, I want you to promise me that next time he bothers you, you’ll tell me.”

  “I will,” I promised without hesitation. I sat there for a moment and finally voiced what was running through my head. “Why have we fought so much lately?” I asked sadly.

  “I don’t know,” he sighed, running his hand over his face and back through his hair. “Between the shit your dad pulled the other day and Ryan’s never-ending bullshit, I think we’ve just had a rough couple of days.”

  “Please, let’s not fight over him anymore. It really sucks,” I begged.

  “Sounds good to me,” he said, lowering his lips to mine for the briefest of kisses. He pulled back, his voice taking on a more serious tone. “We just have to stop letting other people interfere in our lives. We need to believe in each other and screw what anyone else says to us.”

  “I think I can do that. The only thing that matters is us,” I said leaning up to lightly press my lips to his.

  When he pulled away, my eyes glanced in the direction of the house. Now that we’d made up, I was sta
rting to completely freak out about meeting Josh’s mom. My leg was bouncing up and down and Josh slid his hand over my knee to hold it down. “Everything’s going to be fine,” he said.

  “Oh, this coming from the guy who was nervous as hell when we left,” I muttered, unconvinced.

  “Hey, I’ve thought about it most of the ride up here. My mom’s going to love you so much that she’s not going to care that I decided to surprise her,” he smiled and stepped out of the car.

  Still frozen in my seat, Josh came around the front of the car to open my door and held out his hand to help me out. Placing my hand in his, I felt comforted when his warm hand wrapped around mine and didn’t let go. He led me to the front door—all the while I was mentally freaking out. Hopefully his mom will like me.

  Josh opened the front door and walked into a cute little foyer. The inside of the house looked so much larger than it did from the outside. To the left there was the living room, which connected directly to the dining room behind it. Straight ahead, I could see the kitchen. Josh’s mom wasn’t in any of these rooms. Still holding my hand he took a few steps forward and yelled down the hall to the right, where I assumed the bedrooms were.

  “Mom, where are you?” Josh yelled down the hall.

  “Josh, is that you?” a voice called from the end of the hallway.

  “No, it’s some stranger pretending to be your son,” he said sarcastically.

  “Knock that crap off,” the voice said as it came closer to where we were standing. “You know what—” she began as she rounded the corner, but she stopped when her eyes landed on me. “Umm… hello?” she said, unsure of what to say.

  Josh pulled me closer to him. “Mom, this is my girlfriend Lauren,” he introduced me, at the same time lifting our joined hands to place a kiss on the back of mine. “Lauren, this is my mom Anna,” he said, gesturing in his mother’s direction. “I thought Lauren could join us for lunch today.”

  I held my hand out towards her. “Hello, Ms. Walker, it’s nice to meet you.”

  She took my hand hesitantly while looking back and forth between Josh and myself. Her eyes stopped on Josh. “You’re serious, right? You’re not just messing with me?” she asked.

  Okay, now I was really confused. Why would she think he was joking?

  “Yes, Mom,” he rolled his eyes. “I’m serious.”

  Her gaze moved to me. “You really are his girlfriend?”

  “Umm,” my eyes traveled between Josh and his mom. “Yeah, I am.”

  Josh must have noticed my confusion and took pity on me. “Sorry, Jersey, Mom knows I love to play jokes on her. But,” he assured me and turned his attention back to her, “this is not one of them. Lauren and I started dating over a month ago.”

  “Really?” Her voice an octave higher with excitement.

  “Really,” we both said at the same time.

  “Finally!” she screamed, pulling me into a hug.

  Finally? So far this was the most bizarre situation of my life. After a few moments, Ms. Walker pulled back to look at me. “I’m so sorry, Lauren. Josh has a habit of playing some kind of prank on me every time he visits. I figured he’d decided to take things to the next level this time.”

  “It’s okay, Ms. Walker, I can see that,” I laughed, shooting Josh a look.

  “Um hmm. Please call me Anna.”

  “Okay, Anna,” I agreed.

  “Well, I was just about to make some chicken salad sandwiches, I hope that’s okay?” she asked with a smile.

  I nodded. Finally, I had my bearings. I should have figured it out, knowing what I know about Josh, that this wouldn’t be like anything else.

  We followed her into the kitchen. “Well, Josh, my dear, I have to say, it’s about time.”

  “Mom, come on give me a break,” Josh begged.

  Pausing, she looked up at him. “And why should I?” Her one eyebrow lifted like she was waiting for him to answer. I looked over at Josh to see him squirming in his seat. Wow, maybe I should get a few lessons from his mom on how to torture him just for fun. She pointed her spoon in his direction. “You have a girlfriend you don’t tell me about, and you bring her home with no warning. You’ve never brought a girl home, so she must be special. Just let me bask in the glory,” she smiled.

  Then her attention turned to me. “So, Lauren, tell me about yourself. How did you and Josh meet?”

  Instantly, I felt the blood rush to my face. Thankfully, Josh saved me from having to answer. “Actually, Mom, we met at Angie’s birthday party,” he told her shooting me a wink.

  That gave me enough time to take a deep breath and get my thoughts together. All I needed was for Josh’s mom to know that it was originally a one-night stand or that her son used to be the biggest manwhore on campus. Yeah, that would be great. Not.

  “Oh, that’s wonderful. Have they decided when they’re getting married?” she asked in a complete change of topic.

  “Yeah, they’re planning for sometime next summer, after we graduate,” Josh answered.

  She started to bring the plates to the table when Josh jumped up to take them from her. “Mom, you sit and talk to Jersey. I’ll get everything else out.”

  “I like that idea,” she said, flashing a smirk identical to her son’s.

  Anna came over and sat down next to me and Josh collected the lunch and drinks and brought them to the table. “Are you a junior too, Lauren?”

  I shook my head. “No, this is my sophomore year.”

  Once Josh had everything on the table, he sat down and joined us. “Mom, this looks great.”

  “Please, ever since you were thirteen and you started eating me out of house and home everything has looked great,” she laughed.

  I couldn’t help but laugh too. “What?” Josh shrugged his shoulders. “I’m a growing boy.”

  That didn’t help to stop the laughter. Josh had definitely grown all right. All six foot two of him, with his wide muscular shoulders.

  Feeling a tingle run through my body, I had to catch myself. Get it together. It was wrong to sit and have fantasies about my boyfriend while having lunch with his mom. I needed a distraction, something else to talk about.

  “It really does look good, Anna,” I said changing the subject.

  Josh smirked. “See, Jersey agrees, it’s not just me.”

  “Okay, I have to ask, where did the nickname come from?” she questioned.

  I thought back to the other night when Josh explained why he called me Jersey. I doubted he would tell his mother that, but I was interested to hear what he did say.

  “Well, it started out because Lauren is from New Jersey. She also happens to be an amazing softball player,” Josh answered.

  Anna turned to me. “Softball, huh? What position do you play?” she asked, genuinely interested.

  “I’m a pitcher.”

  “Oh no,” Josh spoke up. “She’s not just any pitcher, Mom. You should see her, she’s phenomenal. She got invited to try out for the Olympic team last year,” Josh countered.

  I looked down at my plate, embarrassed by the praise. It had always been weird to have people so focused on how well I played the game I love.

  “Wow,” Anna said, impressed. “You must practice a ton to be that good.”

  I shrugged. “It gave me something to do when my dad was too busy to pick me up from my mom. It kept me from sitting home and wondering why he didn’t want to spend time with me. Which meant I spent a lot of time playing, because my father always missed our time together.”

  Anna reached out and covered my hand with hers. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. Trust me when I say, we know all about absent fathers in this house,” she offered, giving Josh a look of sadness.

  “You don’t have to be sorry. My mom was amazing, and I learned pretty young not to worry about what my dad was doing,” I said with as much of a smile as I could manage. “Nowadays I play because I love it.”

  She squeezed my hand. “Wel
l, that makes me very happy to hear.”

  The rest of lunch went pretty quickly. We talked some more about school and our sports and I told them both more about growing up in New Jersey. Anna told me all kinds of stories about Josh growing up that I was sure he would have rather she hadn’t—especially since he sat there making faces every time she told a new story.

  Before I knew it, Anna was walking us to the front door and we were getting in the car to head back to campus. The minute he put the car in drive and backed out of the space, he weaved his fingers through mine and brought my hand up to his lips to kiss them.

  “See, I told you everything would be fine,” he smiled.

  “You were right,” I admitted. “I think I need to spend more time with your mom though. She’s got some great stories.”

  “Ha, ha, very funny,” he grumbled. “Not without me being there. Anyway, how about we worry about getting you back to my apartment for a nap before Nick’s party?”

  “I like the sound of that,” I agreed. “But do we have to nap right away,” I said with a wink. My thoughts from earlier had completely crowded my brain from the minute he mentioned his apartment.

  “I like the way you think,” he breathed, pushing his foot down on the gas.

  “Wake up, sleepy head,” a voice whispered near my ear.

  I slowly opened my eyes to see Josh looking down at me, freshly showered and dressed to go out for the night.

  “Hey,” I mumbled through a yawn. “How long have I been asleep?”

  By the time we’d gotten back from his mom’s house the sexual tension in the car had grown tenfold. Josh practically carried me back to his room, making sure we made up from our fight properly. He always knew exactly where to touch me to set my body on fire. We were both so exhausted that we fell asleep almost immediately afterward.

  “About an hour, but I figured you’d want to get up, this way you’d have time to get ready,” he replied, sitting down on the bed, his hip touching mine. “Especially, if you want to get in the shower before Angie.”