“They made a real dick move,” I said.
“Jett…,” Ryker said.
I turned and stepped up to Ryker and looked down at him. “You think I’m going to take heat from Pop for you two? Own your shit, Ryker. Go face the music. And make sure you tell Pop you need to use the garage to clean the purple cock you painted on Henders’s car.”
“You two get over here right now,” Pop bellowed.
There were different levels of Pop’s voice.
Normal, which was pissed.
Pissed, which was livid.
And if you got to livid… it was like devil himself spitting fire.
I almost felt bad for Walker and Ryker.
Almost.
* * *
House is kind of quiet without you here, sweetheart.
Texting.
Standing next to the pool that Julia secretly loved more than me.
And I was sending her texts.
Like we were stupid teenagers, waiting for the other person to reply.
Are you saying I’m loud?
I half grinned.
Only in my bed.
Julia sent me an eye rolling emoji.
Then another text came through.
I’m kind of just staying home. Sorry. I got changed and had a drink.
That was weird to me.
Everything okay? Still worried about Whitney burning the cookies?
I turned and walked back into the house.
My eyes were already locked to the front door, knowing there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to see Julia tonight.
Even if it was just for one quick kiss goodnight.
At the same time, I wasn’t exactly a fan of us having our own places. Having the chance to spend time apart. I understood it. But I hated it.
Julia replied as I stepped outside through the front door.
Jett - I burned those cookies. I never do that.
I sighed.
So that’s what it was.
She was pissed at herself.
You burn everything though, sweetheart. No big deal.
That text got a middle finger emoji as a reply.
I got back into my truck and was driving yet again.
At least this time it was to somewhere I wanted to be.
I parked next to Julia’s car and as I approached the front door I smelled cigarette smoke.
It made me smile and I walked around the side of the house to find her on her deck.
“You know…”
Julia let out a yell and looked at me. “What is wrong with you?”
“What?”
“Jett…”
I walked up the steps. “You know… I can’t let you slip away without a goodnight kiss, sweetheart.”
She looked flustered and tired.
“What are you doing here?”
“Exactly what I just said,” I said.
I closed right in on her and kissed her.
Just the slightest taste of her mouth against mine and anything bad for the day was washed away.
“You sure you’re good?” I whispered.
“Yeah,” she said. “Just one of those days…”
“Me too. You know, the best part of those days is what happens at the end of them.”
Julia looked up at me and slowly smile. “Oh?”
“I’m kind of sick of my place right now,” I said.
“So you want to stay here,” Julia said.
“I’ll sleep on the couch.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I remember how that turned out last time.”
“That was your fault. I listened. You were bad.”
“Jett…”
I stepped back. “I’m messing with you, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” she said. “You drove all the way over here just to kiss me?”
“That’s right,” I said.
“Fuck…”
“And for the record, I don’t like the having two places thing.”
“Well, I’m never going to live in a mansion,” she said. “No way I’m going to turn into that cliché.”
“I’ll put my house up for sale tonight then,” I said.
“Don’t say that.”
“Consider it done.”
“Jett…”
I stepped down the steps backwards. “I’ll live in a tent on the beach with you, Julia. Remember that. And if you change your mind about tonight, I’ll be right back over.”
I didn’t make it to the front of the house before my phone buzzed with a text.
Don’t leave
I shook my head and walked back to the deck.
“You miss-”
I froze.
Julia stared down at me from the top step.
I knew the look on her face.
Something was wrong.
And it was the kind of wrong she would refuse to talk about.
Chapter 7
NOW
Julia
I smoked my morning cigarette while standing on the deck listening to the ocean.
It was early.
Really early.
The kind of early where Aunt Bea would wake me up and make me go to the bakery as part of my punishment for sneaking around with Jett.
That at least made me laugh.
I guess I was punishing myself.
Jett asked me half a dozen times if I was okay. What was going on. I let him believe I was just annoyed at myself over the stupid cookies burning. Which I kind of was. But everything I felt led back to one place.
What had happened at the bakery.
Kinney wasn’t the type to just pass through.
And Jett wasn’t the type to just calmly handle situations.
Meaning I could call this thing easily.
Kinney would keep showing up to piss off Jett. Jett would lose his mind and go after Kinney. And since we were no longer young and dumb teenagers, the implications were so much more.
Not to mention the fact that even if I took Jett out of the equation, it was… my ex-husband. A couple years of my life being married to him. Tied to a piece of fate that I never wanted yet I was the one who made the knot around it.
And when it all fell apart…
I shut my eyes and sighed.
We never talked. We never went through what happened. We were just married. And then we weren’t. He ran to his family. I was desperate to get the bakery back open to hide myself. And prove that I was okay. And that nothing bad had happened then. Or ever.
I finished my cigarette and snuck back into my own house to get my keys.
There was a naked man in my bed.
Jett was in my bed.
Wrapped up in my sheets, his right arm probably still reaching out to my side of the bed. I had the chance to go right back to bed. Even though I had already snuck out of bed, grabbed some clothes, and quickly got dressed in the bathroom. Clothes were as easy to take off, right? I mean, with Jett… hell yes they were.
I could snuggle right up against him.
Kiss his chest.
Put my mouth to his ear.
And whisper anything to wake him up and let him know what I needed.
Instead, I had my keys in my hand and was hurrying toward my car to get to the bakery.
I paid Whitney to do that though.
It was her job to get there early and get things moving.
My job was to actually step back from the business and enjoy life for a minute. Or… as Whitney had mildly suggested more than once, maybe look into expanding the business. Open a second location. Or look into buying a truck and having little pop up events. Or grow the menu. Or…
Everything Whitney said was right.
Everything she said annoyed me just a little because it was like she was stepping on my toes.
I had built the business into what it was.
I had the damn business shut down.
And then I rebuilt it once again.
My mouth stayed shut though because I wa
s definitely becoming more and more like Aunt Bea.
That really didn’t bother me.
What did?
I always knew in my heart if she were alive and met Kinney, she would have fallen for his charm… and remind me how much better he was for me than Jett.
* * *
It’s the third time.
I don’t know why that matters, but three is a big number. Well, not big in the sense of the number itself, but three in itself. The meaning. So much that happens around the number three. It’s a great number. It might be my favorite number ever.
But tonight is the third time I get to see Jett.
I didn’t even have to make it happen.
It was just implied that I was going to the fights.
Well, the only reason is because Kinney’s douchebag baseball friends decided to bring a date each.
And if he doesn’t think I overhead the conversation…
The star pitcher is Timothy. They call him Wiz. Ready for this? Wiz is short for Wizard. And Wizard is from calling him Tinman. And that’s short for Tin. Which is a mess up from Tim. And Tim short for Timothy.
This is how these guys nickname each other.
I hate it.
I hate them all.
Kinney and his special, private school with the baseball team.
It’s so fucking annoying.
But I play along. For now.
I have to see Jett one more time.
Because… look at it this way. This is totally logical, okay?
The first night was a shock to my system.
I mean, a guy like Jett talking to me?
It’s not possible.
But it happened.
The second time I had so much built up in my head.
I was looking for him. Right? I was kind of aggressive about it.
Of course I wanted to see him and of course I wanted something to happen.
See, the point is this… trouble is only fun for a little while.
Like if there is a wall with fifty windows. You break a few with rocks and it feels good. But you’re not going to break all fifty.
So… I’m the window. Jett’s the rock.
Or maybe the other way around.
Whatever.
Tonight is the third time I’m going to see him.
It’s the time when everything changes.
Oh, and to go back to Kinney’s conversation with the douchebag baseball players…
They wanted him to find someone else to take.
Someone hotter. Tubby (yes, that’s a nickname for one of the players) told Kinney that he needed to find someone with decent tits. Last time I looked down in the shower, I had… whatever.
And here’s the kicker.
Kinney didn’t really fight back on it.
Then they started naming names.
They had a list.
A list of girls that were ‘cock worthy’ as they put it.
So basically, I’m a problem.
I’m in the way of Kinney.
It should hurt.
But it doesn’t.
I’m worse than Kinney because I’m looking for my way out.
I don’t care what anyone thinks about that (including you).
Especially because I have to sit in the back of an SUV with Kinney’s hands all over me, trying to match the moves Wiz is making on some girl who looks like she needs some clothes and a cheeseburger.
When we get to the fight, the guys all take off.
There’s no way in fucking hell I’m going to stand with these moronic girls and make small talk. I’m nervous if I ask their names, they’ll need to read what’s written on the palms of their hands.
I walk away and go into the woods.
I wait.
Jett never shows.
My heart won’t stop racing.
I smoke two cigarettes.
When I hear the sound of people ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ I leave the woods.
I look to my right and see Kinney standing with one of the girls.
The one that Jeff had with him.
Jeff was the new-new guy. He wasn’t worthy of a nickname.
Kinney grabs the girl’s hand and puts it to his chest.
She grabs his hand and makes the motion for him to her.
Kinney laughs and nods to where the cars are parked.
They hold hands and hurry away.
I’m not sure I even care.
I push through the crowd of people and gasp when I see Jett in the middle of a fight.
The guy he’s fighting is gigantic.
Jett is big but this guy…
He swings and hits Jett square in the jaw.
I hear Jett groan as he turns and falls to one knee.
I cover my mouth.
‘Come on, man!’ someone yells. ‘I’ve got money on you. Fucking pussy!’
‘Please stop this,’ I whisper.
‘Hey, don’t worry about it,’ someone says next to me.
I look at the guy. ‘What?’
‘Jett doesn’t lose,’ he says. ‘And whoever just yelled that out? I’m going to go knock them on their ass. Okay?’
‘Okay…’
He sticks his hand out. ‘I’m Scotty.’
‘I’m Julia.’
He smiles big. ‘You’re Julia… like ‘the Julia’…’
‘What?’
Scotty laughs. ‘Just watch.’
The really big guy goes after Jett again.
He grabs Jett by the shoulders and Jett throws an elbow. That elbow is matched with two punches that send the big guy back.
‘You got him, brother!’ Scotty yells.
He whistles.
He looks at me and winks.
Jett hits the big guy two more times.
The big guy takes a swing but misses.
Jett is fierce.
He’s going to win this fight now.
‘Hey, Scotty,’ I say. ‘Did Jett tell you about me?’
Jett hits the big guy one more time and takes him down.
Everyone cheers.
Scotty looks down at me. ‘I’ve never heard him talk about a girl before. Not the way he talks about you. He keeps taking fights just hoping to see you.’
‘How many fights?’
‘Gotta go, Julia,’ Scotty says.
He hurries down the crowd and finds the person who called Jett a pussy.
And he hits the guy in the face.
When I looked back to the normal fight, Jett is walking away.
I bite my lip and get out of the crowd.
In the distance I can see Kinney with that girl.
I know the grin on his face. I know what just happened to him.
I hurry back into the woods.
Part of me wants to cry. Part of me doesn’t care.
All of me is confused.
So fucking con…
‘That was a tough one, sweetheart.’
I gasp and turn.
Jett’s standing there, wiping his face with a shirt.
It’s his own shirt.
Meaning he’s now shirtless.
Inches from me.
My chin quivers. ‘Do you like me, Jett?’
He laughs. ‘Why?’
I blink fast. I lick my lips. I can’t wait to kiss him again.
I can’t wait for more than just a kiss.
‘What’s wrong, Julia?’ he asks.
I swallow hard and find the words. ‘I’m ready to ruin the rest of my life for you, Jett.’
He throws the shirt to the ground and comes toward me.
His hands slide along my cheeks.
Those violent hands are soothing to me.
My heart is jumping from my belly to my throat.
‘I’ll never ruin your life, sweetheart. You kiss me one more time and my entire life becomes yours.’
I don’t have to think about it for a second.
I kiss him.
* * *
“Who do you think is going
to show up?” Whitney asked me as she stepped into my view.
“No one,” I said.
I bent my knees and dropped down to look at what was left in the glass case.
Whitney dropped down too, her figured distorted from the front of the glass case.
She stuck out her tongue at me.
I stood up.
She stood up.
I walked to the back of the bakery and knew she was following me.
When I got into the office, I hurried to open the orders folder and spread the pages out.
“So is this a thing you do?” Whitney asked.
“What?” I asked.
“Deflecting? Ignoring?”
“You work for me,” I said. “So go work.”
Whitney folded her arms. “Really?”
“What?”
“The entire bakery is running on an actual inventory system. And I still kept your beat up notebooks. Orders are organized. Vendors are paid. I’m taking advantage of discounts when you pay early.”
I put my hands to the desk. “You’re the best, Whitney.”
“I know that already,” she said.
I looked at her and smiled. “Coffee?”
“Do I have to pay for it?”
“You’re one cocky bitch sometimes.”
“That’s from hanging around here so much,” Whitney said.
“Are you calling me a bitch?”
“Sort of,” she said. “But mostly the girls that come through here. It’s drama central.”
“Tell me about it,” I said.
“I hear some of these stories and it’s… whoa.”
I fixed the order folder and shut it.
We walked to the front and I handed Whitney a coffee cup.
“Medium?” she asked. “Can’t even say good job and give me a large?”
I laughed. “You are a cold bitch.”
“Which is why I need an extra-large hot coffee,” she said.
“Well played,” I said.
I kept the medium cup for myself and gave Whitney an extra-large.
We got coffee and sat down, which felt damn good.
The silence was loud.
And Whitney was the one making it loud with the look on her face.
“So that’s cool,” she said.
“Excuse me?”
“That you’re going to sit there and not talk to me. Sure, it’s cool that your freaking ex-husband just shows up. And now you’re…”
“I’m what?” I asked.
“Dazed.”
“You have no idea.”
HIDDEN CREEK NOW: a hidden creek high novel Page 5
