“Ow.” Brendan flinched.
“You have a big mouth, you know that?”
“When the hell did this happen?” Shep asked.
“When my car didn’t start the other night.”
“I think that Jax finally pulling his head out of his ass is a definite cause for celebration,” Shep said, grinning.
“And let’s just hope he doesn’t have a relapse,” Bennett said.
Yeah, let’s just hope so, Jax thought.
Chapter Nine
Promises, Threats, Secrets, and Lies
Grace slept until nine on Sunday. She vaguely remembered Jax pulling away from her and kissing her temple before he left bed early that morning. He had to work and promised that he’d meet her at her apartment when he got off at seven.
All of the food for Paige’s shower was already at Lula Mae’s. Grace just needed to be there by eleven to help set up and decorate. Brendan had fixed her Bug on Friday and she’d picked it up on Saturday. It was good to have her car back, but she sure did love Jax playing her chauffer.
It didn’t take long for Lula Mae’s house to fill up with people. Paige had made quite a few friends in the almost two years she’d lived in Mirabelle, and they filled the living room and kitchen laughing, eating, and having a good time.
They played many shower games. Guessing what kind of baby food was in diapers, stealing clothespins when the words baby, Trevor, due date, daddy, or mommy were said, guessing how many safety pins were in a mason jar, and they’d finished it all off with baby bingo. They ate an assortment of goodies: bacon and gouda quiches, spinach and artichoke puffs, and pesto chicken sandwiches. For dessert, Grace had made red velvet cupcakes. She’d added her own little twist to them, putting a cheesecake ball in the center.
“Grace, these are heaven,” Paige all but moaned as she took another bite of the cupcake, “You’re a genius, you know that? An absolute genius in the kitchen.”
“Aw, Paige, you say the nicest things to me.”
“Between you and Lula Mae,” Abby said, grabbing a second cupcake, “I’m going to go back to D.C. twenty pounds heavier.”
“Good,” Denise said, giving an approving nod. “You are far too skinny, sweetie. That company is working you to the bone.”
Abby was short, coming in at five-feet-two, and she’d had some decent curves on that frame of hers. But said curves had diminished slightly since the last time Grace had seen her over the Christmas holidays.
“I’m fine,” she said, sweeping back a piece of auburn hair that had fallen from her elegant twist. “Don’t worry about me.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Paige said, shaking her head. “I wish you were closer. This whole being thousands of miles apart thing isn’t working for me.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t see that many PR crises happening here in Mirabelle.”
“With the way this town likes to gossip you never know,” Grace said.
“As long as Bethelda is writing her trash, there will be Public Relation crises,” Mel said.
“Oh, that could be your job,” Harper said. “You just deal with the messes that Bethelda makes. Should keep you plenty busy.”
“Without a doubt,” Tara said, taking a seat next to Grace.
“Horrible, gossiping hag,” Pinky said, leaning forward and tossing her cupcake wrapper onto an empty plate.
“Truer words could not be spoken,” Paige said, rubbing her belly.
“Have any of you been in the limelight lately?” Abby asked.
“A couple of weeks ago she targeted Grace,” Lula Mae answered.
“Not that my name hasn’t been in her blog over the last couple of years,” Grace said.
“She writes about you a lot?”
“Oh, that’s an understatement.”
“Is it just the same stuff over and over again? Wouldn’t that get boring?” Abby asked, looking around at the women.
“You’d like to think so, but her last article had new material in it,” Grace told her.
“And what was that?” Abby asked.
There’d been about thirty women at the shower, but the remaining stragglers circled around the room were all in on the soap opera that was Jax and Grace. Though, they hadn’t been informed of recent developments. Lula Mae knew what was going on, not that Grace had flat out said that she’d slept with Jax, but because Lula Mae had witnessed the two of them together and had seen a good portion of the kissing. Grace had no doubt that Paige knew, too. There was no way Brendan hadn’t told her. Nor had Grace been oblivious to the looks that Harper and Mel kept shooting her. Both of them had gotten back into town late last night, and Grace hadn’t had an opportunity to tell them yet. But Grace was pretty sure they knew something was up.
“Something happened between Jax and me…well, I guess it would be better to say something is happening between Jax and me,” Grace said, unable to hide her smile.
“I knew it!” Mel said, shooting forward in her seat.
“So Jax finally got a clue?” Panky asked.
“About. Damn. Time.” Harper said.
“Wait,” Abby said, and held up her hand. “I’ve kind of picked up on something going on, but I want to hear this from the beginning.”
And with that, all of the women were off telling the story. But Grace just sat back and ate another cupcake, so content with life it was ridiculous.
* * *
Mel and Harper had to run to the Piggly Wiggly to get groceries, and since Grace needed some as well, they all piled into Mel’s car and went together. Mel would just swing by and drop Grace and Harper off at their cars afterward.
“So,” Mel said as soon as she shut her car door, “you better spill.”
“And like now,” Harper added, sticking her head in between the front seats.
“When did it happen?” Mel asked.
“Wednesday night.”
“And you didn’t call us?” Harper asked, feigning outrage.
“I’ve been busy.” Grace smiled.
“I’ll bet you have,” Harper said.
“Get on with the story,” Mel demanded.
“Well, it was pouring down rain and my car wouldn’t start.”
“Thank God for dead batteries,” Harper said.
“Wait, isn’t that the opposite of your motto?” Mel smirked as she glanced over her shoulder.
“Oh, you’re hilarious,” Harper said before she focused on Grace again. “So how was it?”
“Meh,” Grace said, shrugging her shoulders.
“Liar,” Mel said. “You haven’t stopped grinning all day. There is no way he is merely meh in bed.”
“Okay, fine. He’s incredible. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and he knows exactly how long to do it for.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Harper said, hitting her hand on the back of Grace’s seat. “But I want to hear all of it. So start from the beginning, and spare no details.”
Grace went into the story, starting with Jax pulling up in the café parking lot and going all the way to this morning. They’d both been the perfect audience, oohing and awing at all the right parts.
“He seems to like pushing you up against walls,” Mel said.
“Yeah, well, I like it, too.”
“I’m sure you do,” Harper said.
“So, he’s your boyfriend now? Like officially?” Mel asked.
“Yeah,” Grace said, still feeling slightly stunned by her new reality.
“You must be on cloud nine,” Harper said.
“Well, I’m happy for you,” Mel said, reaching across the center console. She grabbed Grace’s hand and squeezed it.
“Me, too,” Harper said, leaning over and smacking a kiss on Grace’s cheek.
Mel pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store a minute later. The three girls made their way into the store, giggling like they were in seventh grade again as they walked down the aisles.
“You should get this,” Harper said, throwing a can of
whipped cream into the cart.
“Really, Harper?” Grace said, shaking her head but laughing while she did it.
“What?” she asked innocently. “It goes really good with your pound cake.”
“You are so much dirtier when you aren’t getting any,” Mel said.
“First of all,” Harper said, holding up a finger, “I am always dirty. Second of all”—she flipped up a second digit—“I’m never getting any.”
Grace laughed as they rounded the aisle and came up short when she saw two men in front of her. Hoyt Reynolds and Judson Coker were on the other side of the aisle putting a case of beer and some ice in their cart. Harper hadn’t been talking that loudly, but judging by the identical smirks on Hoyt’s and Judson’s faces, they’d heard everything.
Grace couldn’t help but cringe. She despised Hoyt and Judson. The two guys might’ve been considered attractive, but only until they opened their mouths.
“We could fix that dry spell for you.” Hoyt smirked at Harper.
“Not only no, but hell no,” Harper said, glaring at the pair.
“Oh, come on,” Judson said. “It’ll be fun. We could show you exactly what you’re missing out on.”
“Yeah, but just the two of you,” Hoyt said, pointing to Mel and Harper. “We don’t mess with dirty bastards.” He indicated Grace with his chin.
Yeah, the sting of that slap wasn’t made any less severe by the fact that she’d been called that name more times than she could count. But she absolutely refused to show weakness.
“That must make using your right hand pretty difficult then,” Grace said.
“Oh, aren’t you clever.” Hoyt sneered.
“She likes to think so,” someone said as he wrapped an arm around her waist. She was pulled back into a large, hard body. Grace’s skin immediately started to crawl. She knew exactly who had his arms around her.
Chad Sharp.
Chad, Judson, and Hoyt had all been on the varsity football team their junior and senior years. They were popular and attractive, so it wasn’t all that shocking that they dated their way through a good number of the girls at the school. What had been shocking was when Chad had started talking to Grace.
Grace had mixed emotions about Chad because of all the rumors she’d heard, but he was nice to her. Hoyt and Judson had always made fun of Grace, but when Chad came along he put a stop to it. He defended her, stood up for her, and won her over in the end with all his charm. They’d been dating for a couple of weeks before every single ounce of that charm disappeared. She still cringed when she thought about that last night with him. It could’ve ended way worse than it had.
After that, the shit had hit the fan, and the two ringleaders behind it all had been Hoyt and Judson. They told everyone that Grace was just as much of a whore as her mother, and that if she kept up at the pace she was going, she’d be popping out a bastard of her own one day. Grace was beyond grateful that Brendan had graduated from school, because by some miracle he’d never found out about it.
“Let go of me,” Grace said, pulling at Chad’s arms, but his embrace only tightened and he put his mouth to her ear.
“I hear you’re screwing the deputy these days,” he whispered, his hot breath in her ear making her want to gag.
“Get off her,” Harper said.
“I bet your new fuck buddy doesn’t know how to make you scream when you come. I can show you exactly what you’re missing out on,” Chad said, still talking low enough for only Grace to hear. “He’s going to get tired of you, Grace. He’s going to get tired of you and move on.”
Grace jabbed her elbow back hard, but somehow Chad dodged it, laughing as his arms loosened and he let her go.
“I’ll see you around, Grace.” He smiled, looking her up and down with a lascivious gleam in his eyes. “Have a good evening, ladies,” he said to Mel and Harper before he turned around and walked away, Judson and Hoyt following behind him with the cart.
“I hate those assholes,” Harper said, glaring at their retreating backs. “There isn’t anything even remotely redeeming about any of them.”
“Grace?” Mel said softly. “Are you okay?”
Was she okay? She was millions of miles away from okay. If okay was the sun, Grace was somewhere around Jupiter. She could still feel Chad’s hot breath on her ear, could smell his nauseating cologne on her clothes. She wanted to go home and shower. She wanted to find Jax and wrap herself in his arms.
“Not exactly,” she said, shaking her head. “But I’ll be fine. I just need to get out of here.” She grabbed the cart and headed in the opposite direction from where the assholes had disappeared.
“Grace, what did he say to you?” Harper asked.
“Disgusting perverted Chad-like things. It’s fine. I’ll be fine,” Grace repeated.
Maybe if she said it enough times it would be true. She was going to get over this, just like she’d gotten over everything before.
* * *
Jax was at Grace’s apartment a little after seven on Sunday night. She made the most mouth-watering stuffed tilapia he’d ever eaten. She was quieter than usual, though. When he asked her about it, she said she was tired. It wasn’t all that surprising, as he’d kept her pretty busy, but he just couldn’t get enough of her.
After dinner, they sat down on the couch together. Jax had spent many a night watching something or other with Grace, but he’d never spent it with her curled up into his side, her head resting on his chest and her hand on his knee. He tried to be good. Tried to keep himself from laying her out on the couch and covering her body with his. So she had only herself to blame when halfway through the movie her hand slid up the inside of his thigh.
“I thought you said you were tired?” he asked, looking down at her.
“I think I’ve rested long enough.”
And that was all the invitation he needed to pull her off the couch and to the bedroom, where he kept her thoroughly occupied.
On Monday morning Jax woke up before the alarm, and he had absolutely no complaints about it. Grace was pressing open mouth kisses down his abdomen. It was the best damn wakeup call he’d ever gotten.
They spent a good half hour rolling around in bed before they were ready to face the day. Jax had brought his uniform over so that he could get ready at her place and go directly to work from there. They took separate showers, which was a necessity; otherwise they would’ve been late. Jax tended to get distracted when Grace was naked, wet, and soapy. Really he just got distracted when she was around him, period, but the naked part was his real weakness, the wet and soapy just added fuel to the inferno.
“I’m going to be late tonight,” Grace said as they sipped coffee in the kitchen. “I have a bunch of orders that I have to fill for tomorrow.”
“All right, I was actually thinking we could go over to my place tonight.”
“Yeah?” she asked, raising her eyebrows as she lowered her cup.
“Yeah,” he said. “And I’ll take care of dinner. Give you a night off.”
“Hmm,” she hummed, running her hand up the front of his forest-green shirt. “Just a night off in the kitchen, right?”
“Only in the kitchen,” he agreed.
They were heading out the door ten minutes to seven and Grace locked up before they went downstairs. Jax was paying attention to the way that Grace’s shorts molded to her butt that he loved oh-so-very much, so when she stopped suddenly he almost ran into her.
“What the hell,” she whispered.
Jax looked up and over her shoulder in the direction she was looking. Her little yellow Bug was covered in red flyers. Every single inch of it.
Jax stepped around Grace and went to the car. He pulled off one of the flyers and read.
THE GRIM TRUTH
SOILED DOVE DIRTIES OTHERS
Little CoQuette hasn’t had the best examples in life. Her parents seriously lacked on the role model front. Before her tragic demise, CoQuette’s mother Jeze Belle was known to get aro
und town. Like her mother, CoQuette is spreading much more than her dirty wings. And now she’s corrupting a man of the law with her scandalous tricks.
For the past few nights, Deputy Ginger’s pickup truck has been parked outside of CoQuette’s apartment. When it comes to sex men are weak by nature. They can’t really help it as they’re controlled by the head between their legs and not by the one on top of their shoulders. But Deputy Ginger has always seemed to be so levelheaded and mild mannered. I suspect this will not be the case for much longer as he’s been lured into the bed of one of our town’s most promiscuous residents.
Deputy Ginger was “raised” by a drunken father who spent more time behind bars than at the dinner table. His mother is a piece of work too, still living in the same bottle as her husband and thriving on being his punching bag. Deputy Ginger has worked so hard to change the circumstances that he was born into. He’s an inspiration really, and it’s a shame that CoQuette has contaminated such an upstanding man. Not that illegitimacy is contagious and there is a vaccine for it, but CoQuette very well could bastardize Deputy Ginger, bringing him down lower than he ever was before.
Jax couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe that not only would someone write this crap but would cover Grace’s car with this shit. He looked over at Grace who was standing right next to him. She reached forward and started ripping off the flyers, filling her arms with the red pieces of paper. Jax started to grab pieces of paper, too. They’d been taped on with masking tape and made a very audible ripping noise as they were being removed.
Grace gasped and Jax looked over. Bastard was written in big black letters across the front windshield. The papers dropped from her hands.
“Shit,” Jax said as the papers were picked up with the breeze and scattered out across the parking lot. “Go get something to clean the glass. I’ll take care of this.”
She just stood there and stared at that word.
“Grace,” Jax said softly.
But she didn’t move. Jax walked over to the Dumpster and emptied his arms of the fliers before he walked back to her.
Undeniable (A Country Roads Novel) Page 13
