Naughty & Nice

by J. S. Scott

  “Stop yelling,” she ordered.

  “What in the fuck, Grace? What are you--?” He broke off, his gaze shifting over her shoulder, and by the look in Isaac’s dark eyes, she knew Josh had come out. “Marx, what in the fuck are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in Philadelphia.”

  Grace stepped up to Isaac and pushed him backward. “Let’s talk about this outside,” she ordered. “Now.”

  “You lied to me, you fucker.” Isaac stabbed a menacing finger toward Josh. “You told me she wasn’t stripping.”

  “I’m not stripping, Isaac.”

  “Then why are you dressed like a hooker?”

  Grace’s thorns came out. “Do you hear those sirens, Isaac? Those are coming for you. And I sure as hell won’t be bailing you out. Now take this outside, or I’ll let them take you to jail.”

  Isaac spun on his heel and stalked through the door, shoving Theo aside.

  Grace squeezed Theo’s forearm and murmured. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I’ll be right here in case you need me.”

  * * * * *

  Josh pointed at Theo. “You’re going up front to steer the cops clear. If you don’t, things will get extremely ugly. I’ve got this handled.”

  Theo’s worried gaze darted through the open door.

  “Now, dude,” Josh demanded. “Go.”

  When Theo turned and hustled toward the front of the club, Josh slipped off his watch and handed it to Jasmine. “In three minutes – three,” he tapped the watch face, “you create some kind of emergency to get Grace inside.”

  Jasmine nodded. “Got it.”

  Josh stepped outside, where Beck and Grace stood four feet apart, arguing. Dressed in jeans and a T shirt, Beck looked almost the same as he had the last time Josh had seen him, tall, chiseled, dark, and sporting a few scrapes and bruises on his face and forearms.

  Beck swept a hand up and down, gesturing to Grace’s body. “What is this? Who are you? What happened?”

  “The same thing that always happens when you’re gone, Isaac. Life happens. I grow and change and you come home the same judgmental asshole.”

  “Maybe because those changes aren’t for the better.”

  “Says you. But the funny thing is, it’s my life. Not yours, not ours, mine. Good or bad, they’re my changes to make.”

  “I care about you,” Isaac implored in a way Josh knew was true. Beck wasn’t a bad guy, he was just dense and self absorbed. “I want the best for you.”

  “Then leave me to live my life. You coming here creating drama is not best for me.”

  Beck rubbed his face with both hands and his gaze landed on Josh. “I trusted you, you fucker.”

  “I did exactly what you asked. And Grace is perfectly fine. I didn’t lie to you.”

  “Don’t fuckin’ split hairs with me, asshole. And what the fuck are you still doing here?” He gestured to the tool belt around Josh’s waist. “What’s that about?”

  Josh opened his mouth to answer, but Grace spoke first. “He’s helping me build a studio, Isaac. I told you, I’m teaching, not stripping. Josh believes in my abilities, he doesn’t try to stuff me into the box of a twenty-two year old and keep me there.”

  Oh...shit...

  Just as Josh had expected, Beck read between the lines. His body stilled. His gaze darted between Grace and Josh, disbelief and anger mounting in his expression. “Wait... Are you two...?” Reality hit. His expression turned murderous and he straightened, hands balled into fists at his side. “Are you fucking my wife, asshole?”

  Jasmine stepped outside. “Grace, we need you in here. Colleen fell. I think her ankle might be busted.”

  A sound of shocked agony popped from Grace. Josh kicked his head toward the door. “Go. Beck and I have to work this out.”

  Grace stiffened and pointed a stern finger at both of them. “I swear to God, if you two start brawling out here, I’m going to make sure you both end up in jail. In the same cell.”

  After Grace disappeared inside, Jasmine closed the door. The snick of a deadbolt gave Josh one tiny sliver of relief – Grace was safe. He, on the other hand was in a world of trouble.

  As expected, Beck came at Josh full speed, and rammed his shoulder into Josh’s chest, rocketing him back against the building. Before Josh had time to suck air, Beck flattened his hand against Josh’s chest and raised his fist.

  “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t fuckin’ beat the shit out of you right now.”

  Josh looked Beck directly in the eye. “I’ll give you two—one, Grace divorced you three goddamned years ago. She’s not your wife, she’s your ex-wife, and she has the right to see anyone she pleases, the way you’ve seen a dozen different women since then. And two, think about what happened the last time you tried to beat the shit out of me.”

  Beck’s lips thinned. The memory of ending up stuck in the infirmary side by side for three days after they’d gotten in a stupid-ass brawl over an op gone bad, flashed in Beck’s eyes. He growled and shoved Josh against the building again, but then backed off, pacing in the night.

  Josh took a breath, then let all his anger toward the man pour out. “If you cared about Grace the way you just claimed to care, you wouldn’t have married her in the first place.” He pushed off the wall. “You wouldn’t have volunteered for all those extra assignments that kept you overseas.” He started a slow progression toward Beck as he spoke. “You would have come home when you could have and given Grace the family she’s always wanted. You would have fucking helped her with the expenses of keeping her mother in an Alzheimer’s facility when she told you her mother was sick.”

  Beck stopped pacing, turned on Josh and yelled, “She didn’t want help. I did offer. She kept turning me down.”

  “That’s a fucking copout. That’s like saying Osama wouldn’t come out of hiding so we just stop trying to find him. Grace was your wife. You know she’s stubborn and independent. They’re two of the things you loved most about her. And they’re the very reason you two stayed married as long as you did. A weaker woman would have bailed on your ass the first time you extended your tour instead of coming home—and she’d have been justified. If you really cared about Grace, you would have pushed through her resistance. You would have found a way to help.

  “Because the truth is, she’s working at this strip club because you didn’t step up, shit head. She’s doing what she needs to do to pay the crazy bills because this is her mother we’re talking about. A mother who has always treated you like her own son. A mother who’s treated you better than your own fucking mother—“

  “Okay,” he yelled, throwing his arms out and pacing again. “Jesus, dude, the horse is fucking dead already.”

  Josh shut up. Watching Beck pace as he absorbed everything he’d denied until now, but had to accept. And in the silence, Josh had to find his own resolution to the realization that Grace had been right all along—love alone wasn’t enough. They also needed trust. And not only hadn’t she trusted Josh’s commitment to her, but she’d tried to keep Beck’s visit a secret.

  Now, Josh had to accept the fact that Grace may not be 150 percent committed to their relationship. And without that, Josh couldn’t envision how they could make things work between them.

  “Do you love her?” Beck’s question yanked Josh back from the painful realization. “I mean really love her, not just getting your rocks off.”

  Josh huffed a laugh. That was an ironic question coming from the self-centered Beck. Then Grace’s words came back to her. “In his own way, he did his best.” And despite the discrepancies between Grace’s and Beck’s reality, Josh believed that, in his own way, Beck had truly loved Grace.

  “Yes,” he said for the second time in two days. “I really love her. But even if things don’t work out with us, you have to let go, dude. Let her find someone who can really give her what she wants and needs.”

  All the confrontation drained from Beck’s muscles. With his gaze locked on the asphalt, he nodded. “
Yeah...” he said, his voice dripping with resignation. “Man...this fuckin’ blows.”

  That was a mild way to put it, but Josh was suddenly experiencing the same sense of loss.

  “All right.” Beck straightened and pulled himself together the way Josh had seen him do hundreds of times in the field. “There’s only one thing left to do, I guess.”

  Josh wish he’d knew what to do at this point. He was fucking lost, and felt like he was bleeding out.

  “Incoming.”

  Beck’s strange warning drew Josh’s gaze from the ground a split second before Beck’s fist slammed into Josh’s face. His head jerked to the side, the pain following as he stumbled and hit a nearby Dumpster. Pain blasted through his head, burning across his skin and cutting into his eye. Josh braced himself for a second attack.

  “You motherfucker,” he said, squinting toward Beck. When he found his former teammate doing nothing more than standing there, shaking out his hand, Josh relaxed. “That was a cheap shot, you fuckin’ ass wipe.”

  “Believe me, you’ll appreciate it,” he said. “Grace freaks over every little scrape. You’ll get more attention than you know what to do with.”

  He pulled his hand away and found it covered in blood. “You are such a prick.” Josh turned toward the building and knocked on the door. “Jasmine, it’s Josh.”

  “God. Out of commission for a year and you’re a grade A pussy,” Beck muttered.

  “I’ve been out of commission for a year and my priorities are 180 degrees different. Grace has had enough drama for a lifetime.” Josh said as Jasmine opened the door. “I’ll be right back. Stay out here so you don’t freak the entire club.”

  “Are you okay?” Jasmine asked, her eyes pulling down at the corners with her frown. “Do you want me to have Cam drive you to the ER?”

  “No, no,” he said turning toward the studio and the bathroom alongside. “I’ll be right out. He’s calmed down. Everything’s going to be fine.”

  But when Josh braced his hands on the counter, watching blood drip, drip, drip into the white sink, he was having serious doubts about Grace’s true feelings toward him, and whether or not they could really make this work.

  Chapter Ten

  Grace secured the ice pack on Colleen’s ankle with an ace bandage. “That should keep it from swelling.” She glanced up at the young woman who seemed suspiciously nonchalant over an injury that could potentially cripple her dancing career. But she couldn’t worry about that now, she had to get outside before two SEALs tried to kill each other. She had to get outside and explain her royal fuck up to Josh and hope, pray he would forgive her, then beg if necessary. “Are you okay?”

  “Oh, sure, yeah,” she said absently, glancing up from filling her nails. “Much better. Thanks Nikki.”

  She pushed to her feet and turned to find Jasmine. Grace gave her a suspicious, narrow-eyed gaze. “If this supposed busted ankle ended up getting Josh hurt...I’m coming back for you.”

  Starting past, Jasmine cried, “But he’s the one who told me to do it.”

  Grace didn’t even glance back over her shoulder, just hurried to the back door and stepped out. She was breathing hard when she found Isaac standing twenty feet away, arms crossed, gaze staring off into the distance.

  She wandered closer, her gaze scanning the back lot, searching for Josh. But Isaac was alone. A burst of hysteria shattered in her chest. “Where is he?” she demanded, drawing Isaac’s gaze, and approaching him so fast, he didn’t have time to answer. She slammed her hands against his chest. “Where’s Josh? Did you hurt him? Did you chase him off, you son of a bitch?”

  Isaac grabbed her wrists. “Hey, hold on—“

  She jerked away and fisted her hands at her sides. “All I ever wanted was to be happy, Isaac. I tried so hard to be what you wanted, but I was never enough. I finally find a man who loves me for me, and you can’t even let me have that three years later.”

  She turned her back on him, frantic and lost. Josh’s absence left a black hole inside her.

  “Take it easy, Grace—“

  She swiveled back toward Isaac, Josh’s loss stabbing her heart like a knife. “No. I won’t take it easy. I love Josh. I’ve loved him for years, but you’ve always come between us. He’s given you five hundred times the loyalty you deserve, and what have you given him? Heartache. Loneliness. You’re as lousy a friend as you were a husband.”

  “Whoa,” he grimaced, taking her hysteria in stride, as if this wasn’t life-altering. “That’s a little over the top, honey, but I can understand—“

  “Goddamnit,” she screamed, stomping her foot like a two year old out of sheer frustration. “I’m not letting you ruin this, and I’m not letting him run again. Where did he go? Tell me right fucking now, Isaac, I won’t lose him again.”

  “I’m right here.”

  Grace gasped at the sound of Josh’s calm voice and spun, nearly toppling in her stupid heels. The sight of him, his left eye raw, a cut oozing blood just above his eyebrow turned her anger into concern. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding.” She walked toward him while yelling at Isaac. “I told you not to hurt each other.”

  When she got close, she raised her hand to his head, as if the touch would cure him, but he intercepted. Grace’s gaze snapped from the injury to Josh’s face as a whole, and her heart dropped to her feet. His eyes were dark, his expression serious.

  “I’m fine.”

  No, he was not fine. He was distant. Closed off.

  “And if I want to stay fine,” Isaac said, “I think this would be a good time to hit the road.” He walked over and pulled Grace into his arms. “I’m sorry, honey. I won’t bother you anymore. I really do want you to be happy. I know he’ll take care of you.”

  He released her and held out a fist to Josh. “Call me, dude.” Josh met the bump with a tired smile. “Might want to get some ice on that eye.”

  Then he rounded the corner of the building and was gone. Grace found herself shaking—with adrenalin, anger, confusion... “What...just happened?”

  Josh exhaled, hooked his thumbs in his front pocket and took a few steps toward her. “He gets it. He just needed to hear it from a different perspective.”

  She exhaled, working up the nerve to look at him, and when she did, when she realized how badly she’d screwed up, her heart broke. “I just...I didn’t want to lose you again. I didn’t want you to have to choose again.”

  He shrugged and took another couple steps closer. “You had good reason to doubt me, but its different now, Grace. We’re different. If this is going to work, you have to trust me.”

  If this is going to work...

  Hope burned through her heart and tears stung her eyes. Her throat closed around a ball of emotion. Unable to speak, she nodded emphatically.

  Josh slipped his arms around her waist, kissed her forehead and murmured, “Because I’ll always, always choose you.”

  A pent up sob of relief and joy escaped, and she pressed her face to his shoulder. Josh stroked her hair, kissed her temple.

  Grace lifted her head, caught another look at his swelling eye and winced.

  “From that look, I’m assuming I need ice.”

  She cupped his cheek. “I have something better.”

  Pushing up on her tiptoes, she pressed a gentle kiss to the bruise forming around his eye, then tipped her head and kissed his lips. He opened, pulled her closed and kissed her back.

  When she pulled away, she stroked his cheek. “Does this mean we’re still on for cookies with mom tomorrow?”

  A smile lifted his mouth. “Only if the icing rule still applies.”

  “Actually...” she took his hand and slowly started toward the back door. “I happen to have all the baking supplies in my car. If you’d like, I could give you a little Christmas eve icing demo when we both get done here.”

  “Mmm,” his hum was laced with interest.

  Before they entered the club, Josh stopped, turned to her and cupped her face in his ha
nds. “I love you Gracie Nicole. And as long as you want me, I’ll be here.”

  The joy was so complete, it was painful. She leaned in kissed him then whispered, “I love you more.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “I heard a new rumor...” Carolyn sang as she rolled out sugar cookie dough on a floured board atop the kitchen counter.

  Grace turned the dough, and her mother rolled again. “You always get the best gossip.”

  “Remember the rule,” Tammy said from the table where she decorated finished cookies with Harriet. “No rumors today, Carolyn.”

  A ping sounded through the house, signaling the front door had opened.

  “Just me,” Josh called from the foyer.

  The simple sound of his voice flooded Grace with love and gratitude. She still didn’t know how they were going to make a relationship work with the two-hour drive between LA and San Diego, but she’d promised Josh to let go of the worry today.

  Josh came around the corner into the kitchen, came up behind Grace and set the premixed icing on the counter. “I got two.” He pressed his body into Grace’s from behind, kissed her neck and whispered, “Just in case.”

  “Josh,” Carolyn said. “I heard a new rumor...”

  “Carolyn,” Tammy scolded.

  Grace turned her head and kissed Josh. “Good thinking.” They’d obliterated an entire can the night before in wickedly decadent ways that made her sex tingle with the thought. “Is that what took you so long? Deciding on one can or two?”

  “No.” He slipped one arm around her waist and set a small box on the counter with his other hand. “This is what took me so long.”

  “Oooo,” Carolyn said. “That’s my rumor. Josh is bringing Grace a special present.”

  Grace shoulders went soft and she smiled at him. “We agreed no presents.”

  He lifted one shoulder. “I had two of the three before we made that deal.”

  “Carolyn,” Tammy said, standing from the table and taking Grace’s mother’s arm. “Let’s go into the living room and open one of your own.”