Unexpected Love (Jo's Story)

by Nikki Williams

  “You just bought the duplex,” he looks at me.

  “I know, I have to rent it out. I'm not going to sell it. I like owning it. I thought maybe I could find someone that needed a place of their own to rent it to,” I smile at him.

  “Oh really?” He shakes his head and looks down at Molly. “Sounds like you might be getting the boot,” he laughs.

  “Well, she is going to need a place, and I'm pretty sure you won’t want to live with my brother that much longer. I lived with him for sixteen years and he is a slob,” I laugh.

  “That might be a possibility,” Molly smiles. “I mean I know the landlord so I might have it made getting in,” she looks at me.

  “Nah, I don’t think you would have any problems.”

  “I'm happy for you,” Ryan looks at me. “Plus I really like that place so you know I would take it in a heartbeat.”

  “You can have pretty much all the furniture too since Hailey took everything.”

  “Sweet! I'm telling you right now, you have a deal,” he laughs.

  “Good, now can I steal her to go over our house plans?” Jake laughs.

  “Sure, have fun,” Ryan winks at me.

  I get up and follow Jake into the kitchen and he grabs his laptop off the counter and we go sit at the bar. He opens it and pulls up a layout and explains to me what he has come up with. For the most part it is the same basic layout as this place but he has changed the bedrooms around and made them bigger. He gave both girls their own bathrooms. He has our room at one end of the house then theirs at the other end with the stairs coming down in the middle to separate them. He has two guest rooms downstairs and has gotten rid of the game room and sports room off the main floor and put them in the basement.

  “I like it,” I smile.

  “Good, and when the girls rooms are done they can decorate it however they want to.”

  “Not sure I can afford for them to have it how they want it,” I smile at him, knowing full well he is going to tell me he will pay for it.

  “Well, I don’t think that will be an issue,” he shakes his head. “And I will put you in charge of decorating the house if you want, otherwise I will have Molly do it again.”

  “Am I ever going to the win the fight about money?”

  “No, because I want to spend my money however I want to. You will just have to accept it,” he smiles at me.

  “You’re stubborn.”

  “Yeah, I know,” he leans over and kisses me. A deep passionate kiss. “I cannot wait until December,” he whispers when he backs away. I smile at him and pull him back to kiss me. He runs his hand up my side, and then I hear Ryan clear his throat. Jake backs away and I look at him and smile and shake my head.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he walks to the fridge behind the bar and grabs a beer and a bottle of water.

  “Its fine,” Jake laughs. “So what’s up with Molly?” I knew he was just waiting to ask that question.

  “She got a call from DCPD tonight and that guy got a good lawyer. He is getting fines and that is about it from the sounds of it.” He looks at Jake. “I tried making a call down there but they told me it was his first offence and since his lawyer knows his way around the courts there is nothing I can do.”

  “Did she call Lisa?” I look at him.

  “Yes, she actually met with her today. She says it helped to talk to someone other than me.”

  “Why did she talk to Lisa? I thought she dealt with sexual abuse victims?” Jake looks at me in a panic.

  “She does, but I wanted to give her someone to talk to other than us, and Lisa was the next best thing because I know she can be trusted.”

  “Oh,” I see him relax.

  “It’s never a good idea to try and talk to family or a boyfriend in these types of situations. Things always get left out.”

  “So what’s going to happen to this guy now?” Jake looks back at Ryan.

  “From what they told me, they aren’t doing anything but turning it over to his team and letting them deal with the fining however they do that. He still has to make an appearance in court so he could get like community service or something stupid like that but doesn’t look like jail or probation or anything like that.”

  “He will probably get a fine from the league,” Jake shakes his head. “It’s a shame what these guys get away with because of what they do for a living.”

  “Yeah, isn’t that the truth,” Ryan snorts

  “Is she afraid he is going to come after her?” Jake asks.

  “I don’t think so; I had them start paperwork for a restraining order against him. I figured it would be the best solution. I’m sure he is going to be pissed that he has made a bad name for himself already. Just thought it would be best to protect her.”

  Jake smiles, “maybe I do like the idea of her dating a cop after all.” I shake my head.

  “Sure she can date a cop but you have an issue with dating one?”

  “That’s different, I should be the one protecting you,” he gives me a daring look. I just smile at him.

  “Speaking of protecting,” Ryan looks at me. “Are we putting a vest on Lewis tomorrow?”

  “Absolutely, you know they are going to go crazy when we bust down the doors. He knows what he needs to do though,” I look up and see Jake frowning at me. “Don’t worry, after tomorrow it will be done.”

  “Thank god!”

  “Ok, now that I have made things extra tense between you two, I'm going back to my movie,” Ryan walks past us.

  “One more day Jake,” I grab his hand and pull him close to me. “It will all be over tomorrow night ok? This is the opportunity that we have been waiting for to nail these guys.”

  “I know, tomorrow night cannot come soon enough,” he kisses me. “I want to stay at your house tomorrow night. I want to be there when you get home.”

  “That’s fine; I can give you my spare key. I wish you would stop freaking out though.”

  “Not until I know you are safe and done with this. I should have never let you get involved with this crap in the first place.”

  “You would not have been able to stop me,” I run my finger across his cheek. “You would do anything for your family, I'm just helping.”

  “For pretty much my whole family, he is on that line where I'm not sure I would help him.”

  “Well, too late now. He will be free of this tomorrow night, just remember that ok,” I smile.

  “Yeah, and hopefully he will be moving back to Texas where he belongs,” I see anger flash in his eyes.

  “Jake,” he look up at him.

  “Forget about it. Let’s just enjoy the rest of our night ok?”

  “Yeah, great sounds good. So have you heard back from the realtor yet about your offer?” I try to change the subject.

  “Yes, I got it. I wanted you to look over these plans and once I approve them the contractor will be starting there.”

  “That fast?”

  “That fast. I told you I was going to get this done.”

  “So when are you putting your house on the market?”

  “I'm not; I already have a buyer for it.”

  “Who?”

  “One of the guys on the team. He is getting married next spring and wanted a place so he is going to buy it.”

  “Well ok,” I just sit there looking at him. This is moving a lot quicker than I had thought it would.

  “Did you happen to pack your swim suit?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Let’s go swimming. See if Ryan and Molly want to join us. I will go uncover the pool.”

  “Ok,” I walk into the living room and see them all snuggled on the couch and can’t help but smile. I didn’t see Ryan and Hailey together very often but they were never like that. She always seemed distant of him when he brought her around. I remember a couple times he brought her over before Jarrod died and he did not like her at all. He always thought she was using him, he didn’t know what for, but he had
a bad feeling about her. I guess he was right. I smile, man if he could see the both of us now. His wife getting all dressed up and going to fancy restaurants and getting things that are probably worth more than my car. I look down at my bracelet that Jake gave me. Maybe this is what Jarrod had in mind for me. Maybe he is working his magic up there.

  “Hey,” Ryan’s voice interrupts my train of thought. “You seem a million miles away,” he smiles. He and Molly are both looking at me from the couch.

  I smile, “just in thought. Jake wanted me to ask if you guys want to join us in the pool. He apparently feels the urge to go swimming.”

  Molly laughs, “That actually sounds good.”

  “I don’t have any swim trunks,” Ryan looks at her.

  “I bet Jake has something,” I say. “I have to go up and change anyways, want me to take a look?”

  “Sure.”

  I grab my bag that I set by the door way when we came in and go upstairs. As I'm walking into Jake’s room my phone rings. I look and it is my mom. I haven’t talked to her in a while she is probably wondering what happened to me. “Hi mom,” I answer and smile.

  “Well hello stranger,” she laughs. “Been a little busy lately? I haven’t talked to you since last weekend.”

  “I know, I'm sorry. Things at work have been super crazy.”

  “Oh yeah? Something big?”

  “You could say that,” I smile. She is always trying to get information out of me.

  “So how are things with Jake?”

  “Amazing,” I sit down on his bed and take my shoes off.

  “Wow! Now that’s what I like to hear. So tell me.”

  “Well, he is amazing, but you already knew that. I have fallen for him. Hard!”

  “Yeah, like love hard?”

  “Yes,” I smile.

  “I figured. Are you with him now?”

  “I am at his house. We just got back from dinner about half hour ago. Don’t freak out mom, but I will probably be moving in with him in December.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah, he is moving into a house over by my place. About four blocks from me.”

  “So the girls can stay in their school?”

  “Something like that,” I smile.

  “So was this a preplanned move or did he just decide?”

  “Promise you won’t freak out?”

  “About what?”

  “He decided on Tuesday, when I showed him a letter that Jarrod wrote me four years ago.”

  “What? When did you get that?”

  “Bobby brought it to me on Tuesday after I got out of work.”

  “What did it say?”

  “Basically told me that even though he isn’t with me anymore he wants me to be happy. He wrote in about a week before I had Abby. Bobby just found it and brought it to me.”

  “That’s weird. And to think you have been second guessing yourself and your feelings for Jake.”

  “Yeah, but after reading that I just decided that I am going to let happen what is supposed to happen. I think that is some roundabout way this was Jarrod’s way of showing me he is ok with this.”

  “Yeah, I could definitely see that. So why are you waiting to move in with Jake then?”

  “Well a couple reasons, the first one being he is building a house so we have no place to go until that is done. And I want to see what his life is like during the season. I mean he knows what it is like for me to be swamped with work because of the case I am working on right now, but I want to know what it is like when he is super busy. He is gone a lot when he is on the road and I want to make sure it is something the girls and I can handle.”

  “You will do just fine with it. You love him Jo and that can get you through anything. Next thing I see is wedding bells.”

  I laugh, “oh yeah, that reminds me.”

  “He proposed?!” She screeches.

  “God no, mom come on we have been together like two weeks. Bobby and Marie are getting married.”

  “Oh awesome! I always knew that those two would get married. I will have to congratulate them next time I see them. John and I were thinking about going down to Leo’s one of these Sunday’s to see those guys.”

  “Yeah, I was going to as well.”

  “I thought you wouldn’t go back there because of Amber?”

  “Yeah, well I sort of put an end to that when I was there Wednesday night. She tried to start a fight with me”

  “Go figure. She was always jealous of you and Jarrod.”

  “I know. I even gave her a couple free shots at me and she was so drunk she couldn’t even stand up,” I laugh then look at the door and see Jake standing there with the look of shock on his face.

  “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. I have talked to her mom and she said that her drinking is out of control.”

  “I believe it,” I watch Jake as he walks toward me. “Listen mom I'm going to go, I'm going to go get in the pool and relax for a while.”

  “Alright sweetie, I will talk to you later. Tell that boyfriend of yours I say hi. And I love you.”

  “I love you too mom,” I hang up and watch Jake as he gets two pairs of swimming trunks out of his drawer.

  “Forget what you came up here for?” He walks back to the door and I see Ryan standing there waiting.

  “No, my mom called and I haven’t talked to her since last Saturday so I took a few minutes to catch her up on all of the events of the week.”

  “Oh I see. So when were you going to catch me up on the fact that you got into a bar fight?”

  “I didn’t get into a bar fight,” I laugh.

  “That’s what it sounded like.”

  “No, some drunken bitch tried starting shit with me. I had it under control. Bobby was there and so was Ryan. She wasn’t going to touch me if I couldn’t have defended myself.”

  “Someone you know?”

  I look at him, I haven’t told him about Amber yet. Not sure now is a good time. “Someone that used to be sort of friends with Jarrod and me.”

  “Sounds complicated,” he sits on the bed next to me.

  “Not really, she is someone that overstepped her boundaries a few too many times. She tried to tear Jarrod and me apart many times because she wanted him for herself. She has resented me for ten years because he chose me over her.”

  “And you thought it would be a good idea to let her have some free swings at you?”

  “She couldn’t have hit the broad side of a barn in the condition she was in,” I laugh. “Trust me, after the shit she pulled a week after Jarrod’s funeral she is lucky I didn’t beat the hell out of her.”

  “That might not look good, a cop beating up some drunken lady.”

  “No, but I did get to throw her up against the bar. I enjoyed that,” I laugh at the thought.

  He shakes his head, “remind me to never piss you off.” He leans over and kisses me. He doesn’t pull away and his kiss gets deeper more needy. He lays me back onto the bed and runs his hand up my side to my shoulder and pulls my strap down. He runs his fingers from my shoulder to my neck behind my ear. It sends chills down my entire body. At that moment I know that I have lost all thought and control.

  ~~~~~

  “We thought you two got lost,” Molly smiles at us from the pool as we walk down the steps.

  “No, we were just talking about her fighting habits,” Jake looks at me and laughs.

  “Oh she told you huh?” Ryan laughs.

  “No, he overheard me telling my mom.”

  “Wait, what fighting habits?” Molly looks at Ryan.

  “She almost got into a bar fight on Wednesday.” Ryan tells her.

  “No I did not. I let some drunken chick have a couple swings at me and told her that next time I wouldn’t be so nice. That is all I did.”

  “What person would take a swing at a cop?” Molly looks shocked.

  “One that has a lot of built up anger toward me,” I sit on the edge of the pool and put my feet in. “Hey,
are we going to have a pool and deck like this at the new house?”

  “Of course, it is actually bigger,” Jake laughs. “Plus I have a swing set on order for the girls already.” He answers and sits next to me.

  Molly laughs and shakes her head. “Big brother you are amazing you know that?”

  “What?” He looks at her.

  “When you first came back from Texas for training you thought you were going to be alone forever because no girl wants to deal with the screwed up schedule of a star quarterback. Now look at you, building a house and taking care of those three girls.”

  He glances at me and smiles, “can’t help it she wants me.” My mouth drops open.

  “Boy you are full of yourself aren’t you,” I splash at him. He laughs and pushes me into the pool. I come up spitting water. “You better be careful you are going to hurt your arm again,” I scold him.

  “Wrong arm,” he points to the one he hurt with a smirk on his face. This time I get a good splash at him and soak him. He shakes his head at me and then jumps into the pool after me. It is fun to see him like this. He has been so worried about me lately with this case that he seems so tense. He is nice and relaxed having fun with us and talking about the house. He is telling Ryan about the house and how he is now considering adding a third guest room.

  “I'm glad he found you,” Molly whispers. I look at her and smile. “He is so different the last two weeks.”

  “He’s amazing Molly. I never ever expected this. I thought I would go on a date with him and be done because I pictured him as some arrogant jackass football star.”

  “Yeah, he has never really fit that description. I will admit he went through a time when I thought he was going to be that “player” that most rich guys are, but it never really suited him. This is him. This is the guy I always knew was in there. I love watching you two together. One day I will call you my sister-in-law,” she smiles at me and gives me a hug. “And thanks for helping out with this William thing the last couple days. Did Ryan tell you I talked to Lisa today?”

  “Yes, was she helpful?”

  “Very much. I know I can talk to you, but I just felt better talking to her being that she deals with that kind of stuff.”

  “Good, I'm glad. I know it is hard to deal with something like that. I see it a lot more than I wish to at work. That is why I knew what you needed to do it. Ryan did to, he just cares about you a lot and wants to make sure you are safe and taken care of.”