His smile was running a marathon across this face. “I stopped by your wine bar and asked the, uh, sommelier person where I might find some hard-to-obtain wines. I went where she said and described you and asked the guy which might be good.”
“Described me?”
“Yeah, you know, prickly but sweet, hard-ass but likes the finer things in life. My rose.”
“Don’t do that touching thing. It’s irritating.”
Josh smiled brighter.
Jenna examined the bottle. It was exactly what she liked in a good wine—complex and deep, aged properly, with a nose of spice. She breathed it in and let it linger in her mouth, awakening her taste buds before sliding down her throat.
“I love this wine,” she said in a rush, mostly to herself, as the last swallow pleasantly slipped past her taste buds. “I need to get this in the bar.”
“It’s nice to know.”
Josh was looking at her with longing, his eyes reaching down into her so deep she wondered if he was trying to body-snatch her.
“What’s nice to know?”
“What that look means. Love. I see it in your eyes often.” He was completely serious, and scarier than he’d ever been.
They arrived at the bar at around the same time as Erika and Jax. That was largely because Erika and Jenna had been constantly texting each step of the way. They hated showing up without the other because it meant they might get stuck with someone irritating, and there would be no one to swoop in with an exit plan.
Erika must have done more shopping for Jax, because he was wearing a crisp white shirt Jenna hadn’t bought, and some jeans that worked wonders on his butt. Erika caught her looking.
“My man. You have your own.” Erika put her hands in front of Jax’s butt while Jax took in the club like a hippie looking at a pot plant. He was as bad as a tourist. It was embarrassing.
“I was just admiring your shopping prowess. He looks half decent.” Jenna laughed and put her hands up in surrender.
“That’s okay. I checked out Josh’s pecs when I climbed out of the cab. Only he could get away with that shirt.”
“Looks like a girl.” Jax smirked as he watched a transvestite walk by. By the look of it, Jax knew something was amiss, but couldn’t figure out what. It didn’t stop him from staring.
“Stop it,” Jenna said, elbowing him. “That’s rude.”
“If I look like a girl, then all the ladies must be lesbians,” Josh replied with a grin.
Jenna and Erika both turned to glare. Josh lost his smile immediately.
They entered the bar and found their party at the back. The friends they were here to meet were people they only saw out on the town, and only then once in a while. They were chatty, but talked nonsense, animated but unforgivably boring.
Still, being with them was better than sitting at home, and more entertaining than just the two of them, so Erika and Jenna—always as a duo—arranged to meet up the odd night when they needed an excuse to stay out late and come home…not sober. And sometimes, when they were single, not alone.
Two things Jenna noticed right away, and each had a name. Chet was one, and he saw Jenna as she walked in, then kept seeing her as long as he could peer around the bar patrons. The second was Phil, and Erika had the same problem.
Erika crashed into her and grabbed her wrist. “Jenna, bar, now.”
Jenna flashed Josh an apologetic smile as she was dragged away.
“Did you see him?” Erika asked as they waited at the crowded bar for service.
“Phil?”
“Of course Phil! I haven’t seen him yet. I mean, since I got back. Well, I mean, out—not at work. Oh God, what do I do?”
“Do you still have feelings for him?” Jenna asked in a neutral tone.
“God no. No way,” Erika said as though Jenna were mad in the head. “How could he compare to Jax? No. But what do I do? Do I just—”
Erika cut off and looked as if a spider had just crawled down her shirt. Then her face cleared into an uneven smile as she looked over Jenna’s shoulder.
“Hi, Phil,” Jenna said pleasantly as she turned.
“Hi, Jenna. Hi, Erika.” Phil was doing the love-laser-beam-out-of-the-eyes thing at Erika. And in reality, Erika was looking pretty damned hot. She had a dress that showed off her hourglass figure and big, bouncing boobs. Her hair was styled in a playful, messy ponytail, and her big eyes were outlined in a smoky gray.
“Hi, Phil. How are you?” Erika said, clearly trying to hide how uncomfortable she was, and doing a terrible job.
“I’m really good, Erika.” He looked at Jenna like he expected her to walk away. When she didn’t, he spoke as if she wasn’t standing right there. “I’ve really missed you. I was worried about you. I heard about the shooting. Are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m okay. It was scary, but I pulled through…”
“Yeah, real tough. I wanted to be there to comfort you…” He glanced at Jenna again, obviously wanting her to give them some privacy. Erika glanced at her, too, obviously wanting her to do no such thing. It was extremely awkward.
The only thing that could make it more awkward was Jax walking up behind Erika and putting a protective arm around her. Which he did. As he stared at Phil.
“Oh, uh, Phil, this is Jax. Sorry, Jack. Jack is a police sergeant with a town outside Denver. Um, Jack, this is Phil. Phil works at our company as a guard. But, uh, he used to work for the NYPD. He really helped me out through the, uh, picketers.”
Correction, things could get more awkward. Erika had just seen to that.
“Jack,” Phil said as he shook hands with his mortal enemy.
“How’s it going, Phil?” Jax smiled. He looked back to Erika. “Babe, we’re just over at the table in the corner.”
“Oh, great.” Erika nodded as she followed his point.
“Well, Erika, maybe I’ll talk to you later?” Phil said in a downtrodden voice.
“Okay, Phil, it was good seeing you.” Erika smile-grimaced. She had the worst poker face.
Phil smiled weakly, looked at Jax one more time, and skulked away.
“Huh,” was all Jax said. He kissed Erika, winked at Jenna, and headed back to the table with everything right in the world, now that there was no threat to his woman from other menfolk.
“Well. That happened.” Erika slumped against the bar.
Chapter Twelve
They ordered drinks and found Josh and Jax. Jenna slid into the booth next to Josh. He shifted his body so he could put his arm on the back of the booth around her. She didn’t know if he was staking his claim or just getting closer. Or both. He had no qualms about public displays of affection.
They were in the middle of a conversation about some prank Jax once pulled on Josh when Chet came over. Jenna’s stomach twisted in a knot as Chet sat right next to her. He was too close for someone who understood she was with someone else, and too stupid to know that Josh was not a man to be trifled with.
“Hey, Jenna. Haven’t seen you in a while,” Chet said with an immaculate smile.
“Yeah, I’ve been working,” Jenna answered with just enough annoyance in her voice to send a message.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here now.” He looked around the table and smiled at Erika. “Hi, Cheetah. Haven’t seen you in a while, either. Longer, though. Where have you been hiding?”
Cheetah? Oh God, she’d totally slept with him. Why did she never tell me? Jenna thought.
“Uh, working,” Erika replied, her face turning bright red.
“I’m Josh.” Josh leaned over Jenna to shake.
“Hey, Josh.” Chet looked at Josh more closely. Instead of showing fear or worry, he smiled brightly. “Hey, another fellow in the modeling industry, huh?” Chet settled in a little. “Where have you worked?”
Josh answered with his stone mask, voice deadpan—possibly mocking but hard to say, because his eyes had a killer’s sparkle. “All over the world.”
“Oh? Wow, great. Yeah, I’ve done some work in
Europe, but mostly I work all over America. Cool.” He bobbed his head and looked at everyone else. He eyed Jax for a second, but must have thought he wasn’t up to photo op standards, because he looked back to Josh. “I’m thinking of getting into acting now. Getting older, you know? Not in as high demand for the camera. Not as bad for men as it is for women, though.” Chet looked at Jenna with pity. “But you got out anyway, huh?”
Jenna nodded.
Chet turned back to his new favorite buddy. “Acting is tough going.”
“Yeah,” Josh said in straight-faced commiseration. “You need to talk in acting. Harder.”
Jax was leaning over and hiding his smile in Erika’s hair. Erika was barely keeping a straight face herself.
“I know. Much harder. I mean, don’t get me wrong, modeling is tough. Right, Jenna, we’ve talked about that before? But acting, yeah, much harder, I think.”
“Hmmm.” Josh stared at Chet as if a horn had just sprouted out of his head.
“But, you know, I’ve gotten a few—” Like a bird dog hearing a whistle, Chet stopped abruptly and looked fixedly to his left with his head cocked.
The table confusedly followed his line of sight into the crowd. Jax stopped smiling, his brow furrowed, as he looked back and forth between Chet and God-knew-what.
Chet turned back to Josh and started laughing. “Anyway. That is nuts.”
Jax bent over into the aisle, shaking with suppressed laughter. Josh’s smile completely covered his face now, stone mask replaced by bewilderment.
“I think—” Chet started, looking around hurriedly, then back to that spot. “Yeah, I gotta—” He slid out of the booth and hurried into the crowd.
“Dude, what the hell was he looking at?” Jax asked as he collapsed on the table. “There was nothing there.”
“He’s harmless,” Erika muttered in Chet’s defense. Or perhaps her own for sleeping with him.
“He’s a clown,” Josh stated as he leaned closer to Jenna.
“I want to see more of this city, but I’ll be happy to get home,” Jax said with tears in his eyes, laughter still bubbling up like popcorn.
“I might like to get outta here, too.” Erika sighed. “I’m getting too old for the rat race.”
“Too old? Oh, shut up.” Jenna scowled at her friend.
Jax looked seriously at Erika. “I need to get that house in order before you come. I can’t have you staying in it like it is.”
“I have to hit the loo.” Jenna got confused looks from the boys, as if they didn’t announce it when they had to go.
“Want me to come with you?” Erika asked.
“Do you have to go?”
“No.”
“Well, then…”
“Do you have any gossip you want to tell me?”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “I knew what you were asking, you nitwit. No.”
“Well, you’re slow. Sometimes I have to spell things out.”
Jenna found her way through the crowded bar and did her thing. The line wasn’t particularly long, but she still had herself a good wait. On her way out she ran into Chet.
“Jenna.” Chet stopped in front of her, which meant that they were immediately jostled because they were in a hallway. Jenna pulled him to the side to let people pass.
“Hi, Chet. I gotta get back.”
“Well, hey, I was thinking we could pick up where we left off.”
“No, Chet, I’m here with someone.”
“Ah, that shouldn’t stop you.” Chet leaned in close.
“Get away!” she said as she pushed at him.
“You know I’m the better man here.” Chet tried to climb over her arms.
Before she could slap him, which she was sure he was expecting, he was ripped away and slammed into the opposite wall.
Everyone in the hallway either found somewhere else to be, or stopped to watch the scene play out.
Chet whimpered as Josh stood over him with his body tense, and his hand on Chet’s neck, forcing his face down and into the wall. In a low voice that made everyone lean in, he said, “When a woman says no, that means fuck off. When this woman says no, that means her boyfriend is going to break you in half and stuff you in the trash can outside. Do you understand?”
Chet whimpered again and nodded. Josh leaned into him for another moment, making sure his point was clear, before straightening up and letting go.
Chet didn’t move, remaining huddled against the wall where Josh left him. Josh stepped back to Jenna and put his arm around her, directing her out of the hallway.
“Subtle,” Jenna said as she looked back, noticing Chet poke his head up like a turtle and peek around to see if the danger was gone. “Happy with yourself? Picking on an innocent dummy?”
“I’ve wanted to do that since he kissed you.”
Cold water washed through Jenna’s nerves. She pushed away from Josh. “What do you mean since he kissed me?” Understanding dawned. “You were there that first night, weren’t you? Spying on me. I thought I sensed danger—it was you!”
“I thought I’d been made a couple of times. You kept looking around. But I knew you mustn’t have when you didn’t break off the kiss right away.” Josh’s smile slipped, his voice taking on an accusatory edge. “If you had gone home with him, I would have given up on you, gone home, and regretted it for the rest of my life if something happened to you.”
Josh put his hands on her arms as the realization sank in. Without meaning to, she’d almost spat in his eye. She would never have acted on the impulse to try and screw him away, but he couldn’t have known that.
Everything he’d done for her, all the love and support he’d given her, all the things they’d shared, and she would have tarnished it. Tarnished the late nights, made a mockery of all the tears. Without meaning to, she would have made him feel like less of a man.
How could he think she could be that cruel? Or that shallow?
She pushed him away as guilt turned to anger. “No. That’s not fair. You can’t judge me for that. You had no claim on me! I was never going to see you again, for God’s sake. I left you, Josh. It was over! Is over. I didn’t go home alone because of you.”
“But you did go home alone,” Josh said quietly, trying to pull her close. “I saw you flirting with him. I saw you thinking about it. I wondered if I was just a plaything in Colorado. That you got back to New York and needed a new plaything. I wondered if that’s why you didn’t want me to come back with you. When you let the kiss linger…”
Guilt slashed at her heart. “That’s not fair.” Tears started in her eyes. The fight had gone out of her. Despite how it had looked, she hadn’t meant that. She wouldn’t have acted on it. Didn’t act on it. “I was never going to see you again. I wanted to know if the hurt would go away. It was real with you. I was real with you. But it ended, damn you! You can’t make me feel like a tramp because you followed me against my wishes and expected me to be faithful without my agreeing to it. You have no claim on me.”
She’d just admitted how much he meant to her. She felt unspeakable guilt for even allowing Chet to kiss her, but at the same time, she was livid that Josh would expect her to stay true when they were never supposed to see each other again.
She didn’t know what to do, and ignoring him wouldn’t work, so she settled for slapping him and stalking outside. When in doubt, walk away.
Jax was on her heels a moment later, following her around the corner of the club and into the semidarkness and almost quiet. Quiet for Manhattan, anyway.
“This is getting to be a bad joke,” Jenna said as Jax came to stand next to her, leaning against the wall and looking at the people passing. The people of New York entertained him no end, it seemed.
“What’s that? You and my boy fighting for no reason?”
“No, smart guy. Me fighting for a definite reason. Then you running after me while he sulks.”
“You are sulking, not him.”
“Shut up.”
Jax shrugge
d with a smirk. “What if Josh hooked up with a chick the night you left? You’d probably burn his house down. And hers. And the mayor’s because the filth happened in his city.”
Jenna sighed. He had a point. A good one. If Josh had done that, no matter what he’d said, she wouldn’t have understood. It made her feel even more like trash.
“Now you good?” Jax asked as he watched the progress of a homeless man walking up the sidewalk. “I mean, I have never in my life seen Josh smile as much as he does with you. That man is a hard nut. I know him about as well as anyone, and lately he is just cracking open and enjoying life. He’s a good man, and that man loves you something fierce. The guy finally stood up to his dad because of you. That is some serious shit. You bring out the best in him, even though you’re still as mean as ever…”
“Shut up.” Jenna crossed her arms with a grudging smile.
“Now you’re really sulking. What’s this feller up to, I wonder?” Jax straightened up and focused more intently on the homeless man.
The filthy man ambled along the street, scratching and twitching. He had scraggily gray hair and no teeth, and muttered constantly, often gesturing at the empty space next to him. His must’ve noticed Jenna and Jax, because suddenly he lurched at them, his hands out.
Jax moved to intercept, but Jenna saw it coming. She grabbed Jax’s hair and yanked backward. “Let him be!”
Jax fell back with an “ahh!”
They bumped back against the wall before struggling upright. Jax held Jenna back with his rock-solid arm, aimed low so as not to touch her breast. “What the hell is going on?” he asked while rubbing his head.
The homeless man, having stopped to watch the melee, restarted his zombie-like lurch up the street. Jenna watched him go for a minute to make sure he was out of earshot, and then said, “He was homeless, harmless, and dirty. You don’t touch people like that, Jax. Get a grip.”
“Why are we whispering if he’s harmless?”
“One, because how would you like it if people talked that way about you—”
“You girls do it all the time!”
“—and two, he is probably harmless, but if all of a sudden he is under the impression people are talking about him, the creatures in his head might become active. No telling what he’d do. You don’t mess with crazy. I don’t care who you are.”
Unexpected Guardian (Skyline Trilogy Book 3) Page 9
