I walked through the front door and leaned against the couch as Tony walked into the living room. The sickening feeling only got worse when I saw the look on his face. Shit.
“What’s going on?”
Instead of answering, he handed me a piece of paper. I was amazed how something that didn’t even weigh an ounce could feel so heavy in my hand. I took a shuddering breath in and looked at the letter, falling heavily onto the couch as I read the words.
It was worse than all the fears I thought up on my way over. Michael Kasey could be getting out of jail.
“No,” I breathed out. I stood up and shook the paper in front of Tony. “We have to do something. How the fuck could they release a rapist? We can fight it, right? It says we can bring Josie in to testify again before they grant it.”
“Look at the date, son.” I didn’t like his tone, and I was even more reluctant to look at the date.
It felt like a punch in the gut when I saw how much time had passed. “July?” I could barely breathe. “Are you fucking kidding me? How did we miss this?”
“Josie’s old landlord called and told me the new tenant was getting mail for Josie for the past few months, and this was in the pile I got when I went to pick it up for her. She never forwarded her mail, and the lawyer didn’t have the new address or her new phone number to contact her in time.”
This was my fault. How could have I been so careless? I didn’t push her to forward her mail, and because I threw her phone in the lake, she was forced to get a new number. I messed with her safety and now she’s in a position I swore she would never have to worry about ever again. “Did the hearing already happen?”
“I called as soon as I read the letter. Ms. Carmichael said the trial happened a couple weeks ago. He’s out, Seth. He’s been out for a little less than a week.”
The paper fell to the floor. Ice poured over me. “Fuck. Fuck! He almost killed her!” I wanted to hit something—someone. A part of me wanted to scream, and the other part wanted to cry. Cry for the girl I was madly in love with who would be devastated and terrified when she heard about her rapist’s newfound freedom.
“How are we going to get through this?” I asked, crestfallen. “Josie’s been doing so well, Tony. I can’t take away the little bit of happiness she’s had. How am I supposed to tell her about this?”
“I don’t have a good enough answer for you, Seth, but she needs to know. She needs to be alert.”
“Do you think he’ll come looking for her?” Waves of terror crashed into me.
Tony’s face remained solemn. “I’ve known guys like him. He’ll want to come after the person who put him in prison for the last seven years.”
“What do I do?” I asked hoarsely.
“Do everything you can to keep her safe. Take her to more self-defense classes. Teach her how to shoot a gun. I don’t care. Keep her safe.
In that moment, I let the anger and fear take root. I made a promise to myself that I would do anything to keep Josie safe.
If that included killing her rapist, then I’d do it.
Because if I failed, I would rather be dead.
Chapter 3
Seth
“Holy shit. She doesn’t know? Are you kidding me?” Brandon exclaims, bringing me back to the present.
“I don’t want her to live in fear that he might come back after her.”
He pauses and runs a hand over his mouth. “Do you really think he’ll come after her?”
“I have no doubt about it,” I answer thickly. This isn’t the type of conversation I want to have with him. Luckily, my phone saves me from telling how badly I want to kill his dad. Josie’s ringtone blares, and immediately, the simmering depression settles.
“Hey, Pussycat.”
“Hey, you. What are you doing?” she asks. I can hear her smile through the phone, as if she’s just as happy to hear my voice as I am hers.
“Heading over to the warehouse to pick up something, then I’m coming home. You having fun with Brooke?”
She hesitates briefly. “Yeah, of course. Alec’s annoying the hell out of her.” She giggles softly and it sounds like she’s shifting positions on the bed. “He keeps getting into the cabinets and pulling out all the pots and pans.”
I hear some yelling in the background and smile. “Get him some wooden spoons. That will really piss her off.” Josie giggles again, and just like every other time she laughs, my heart squeezes.
“Good idea, but I don’t think I can handle that noise right now.”
“Still not feeling well?” I ask, growing more worried about her.
Last month she had to go to the doctor because she was sick with the flu. We thought it went away after she finished her antibiotics, but this last week she started feeling crappy again.
“Yeah, but I’m still feeling up to going out tonight. Then we have your whole birthday in bed tomorrow.” Her voice turns low and seductive, and I can’t even pretend I’m not affected by it as I squirm a little in my seat.
“You have no idea how good that sounds. This is going to be the best birthday I’ve ever had.” I turn my signal on to pass the idiot in front of me.
“Better than the time I caught that skunk for you when you turned nine?”
I laugh as I remember that awful birthday present she trapped in the woods on my parents’ land. “Yep. Better than that and better than my fourteenth birthday when we accidentally walked into the adult bookstore.”
“Hey. I genuinely thought it was a bookstore. I was trying to find a present for you.”
“I found an awesome present, all right,” I tease. She huffs through the phone. “Don’t worry, pretty girl. You were the one I jacked off to at night.”
She laughs. “Lovely,” she says sarcastically.
“Sitting right next to you, man,” Brandon grumbles loudly. I slide a smirk his way before looking back at the road.
“Well, let’s hope I’m not puking my guts out tomorrow,” Josie says.
“Mmm … you’re killing me. Stop talking dirty to me or I’ll get into an accident.”
“Seth. Oh, god, you did not seriously just say that in front of Brandon!”
“I did, and he’s pissed because Brooke never lets him get it in anymore.”
“I am so beyond done with this conversation. Get home safe.”
“Always do, Pussycat. I love you.”
“Love you, too, Sethy Poo.”
“Just you wait, dude,” Brandon says once I hang up, crossing his arms. “When you and Josie have a kid, you’ll see.”
“I don’t think Jos wants kids yet, but even then, I don’t think that would stop us.”
Brandon raises a disbelieving brow and shakes his curly hair out of his face.
My thoughts linger on the idea of having kids with Josie. It’s taken so long for her to work through the guilt and depression over the abortion she had a couple years ago, bringing up the possibility of kids hasn’t been top priority. But kids with Josie? Hell yeah I want that.
After I pick up what I need at the warehouse, I head toward Tony’s house to drop off my gun. He’s the only one besides Brandon who knows what I’ve been doing behind Josie’s back, and even though we both know Josie has a strong dislike for gun use, we each have permits to carry a gun. Until I feel more comfortable telling her the truth about Michael and my gun, I’m keeping it here in Tony’s safe.
On the ride back to my house, Brandon tries for the hundredth time to convince me to go to Vegas for a bachelor party before the wedding next month.
“We could bring the girls with us, too.”
“Dude, if you really think I can go to Vegas and not marry her in some little white chapel with someone dressed in a ridiculous costume officiating, then you are seriously underestimating how much I want to marry her.” I take my eyes off the road for a second to watch him throw up his arms in frustration. “And before you say who cares, you haven’t seen how hard she’s been working on the wedding plans. She would literally kill me if I co
nvinced her to elope.”
“You suck.” Brandon grumbles, changing the radio station. “You want to play football next weekend?”
“Sure. Who’s all coming?” I pull up into the driveway and turn off the truck.
“Brody’s coming back so we can work out some more details about the expansion, and I think Robbie and Dom will be there.”
My brows slant down, and I pause before opening the front door. “Have you talked to Brooke yet?”
“No way. It’s going to kill her.”
I understand that all too well, so I let it go. For now.
I walk into the house and find a mess, which is unusual for our house since Josie is so annoyingly picky about things being clean. She especially hates when I leave my shoes in the hallway.
Brooke is lying on the couch watching Alec crawl around the room, his blond hair finally growing and curling on the ends, wearing a Panthers onesie over his diaper, and squealing. Josie comes crawling out of the kitchen roaring and chases after him. Her dark-brown hair, highlighted slightly from the sunny days over the summer is pulled into a messy bun on her head, and she’s wearing Nike shorts with her Harry Potter t-shirt. She looks sexy as fuck.
And I don’t mean just because of her clothes and hot body, I mean because she’s fucking adorable playing with her godson. She reaches him and pretends to gobble him up while tickling his sides. He lets out the cutest giggle ever, and Josie eats it up with a big smile.
“You can’t hide from me, mister,” she coos and starts kissing his belly.
Something about this—something about watching her—makes my heart skip. I see her play with Alec all the time, and every single time I swear it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. It’s taken a year to get her to this point, but I’d do it all over again just to keep seeing her this happy.
“Twenty bucks says he screams for the rest of the night, huh, babe?” Brooke looks at Brandon and grins. He walks over to her and kisses her fully on the mouth.
“No way,” Josie says, picking Alec up and turning around to face us. She gives me the most gorgeous smile and then looks down at Alec. “He’s an angel.”
Alec smiles up at her, showing off his two bottom teeth, then starts fidgeting until she sets him back down on the floor. She skips up to me and puts her arms around my neck, standing on her tip toes to kiss me as if she’s been missing me for months rather than a few hours.
This is the happiness people go their whole lives searching for.
“You’re so gorgeous,” I say softly and run my thumb over her cheek. She smiles brighter, the dimple on her right cheek and laugh lines around her eyes making her look even sexier.
“You’re looking pretty good yourself, handsome.” She kisses me again, and I forget all about the problems of the real world. I forget that her rapist is lose again. I forget that I’m re-educating myself on how to shoot a gun so I can murder him if he comes after her again. I forget about everything except the way her tongue feels against mine.
Her body molds against me, and I wrap my arms around her waist to get her closer. She lets out a tiny, sexy-ass moan when my hand slips under her shirt and plays with the band of her shorts. Her hands tug at my hair and she kisses me harder. I’m seconds away from picking her up and taking her to our room.
I love it when she gets lost in these moments with me. I never take a single kiss from her for granted; I treat every touch as if it might be the last time I ever get to hold her.
Her hands move to the bottom of my shirt and she presses her small fingers against my abdomen, setting my skin and blood on fire with lust. Her soft touch affects me in a way I never felt with anyone else. No matter how gentle she is, every stroke of her fingers on me is a massive assault of sensation.
I pull away from the kiss and lean my forehead against hers. I need to calm the fuck down. A nine-month old is in the room, for fuck’s sake.
“I have a surprise for you tonight,” she whispers, her voice thick with desire.
“I sure as hell hope it involves you naked and using that sexy-ass tongue,” I say hoarsely.
Something claws at my leg and I pull away reluctantly to find my godson trying to pull himself up and slobbering all over me. I grin and lean down to pick him up.
“Yeah, she makes me drool, too, buddy.” I wink at Josie and she grins back.
“They never stop, do they?” Brandon says from across the room, sitting on the couch with Brooke, rubbing her feet. I give him the middle finger behind Alec’s back and Brooke starts cracking up.
“Yeah, not for much longer,” she says in a fit of laughter. She must be drunk already.
“Brooke,” Josie says, voice hard. I gaze at her and watch her shake her head at Brooke, a myriad of emotions flashing in her beautiful dark-blue eyes. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Brooke rolls her eyes, but gets up to follow Josie to the back porch. I look back at Alec who’s playing with my hair, and shrug.
“Girls are crazy, little man. And really, really moody. Stay away as long as you can.” He starts chatting back some nonsense, and I shake my head at him. “No, I’m serious, kid. They’re nothing but trouble.” He starts talking again, and I throw my head back and let out a loud sigh. “You’re not listening, man. It doesn’t matter how big their asses or tits are, just stay away.”
“Give me my kid before his first word is tits or ass,” Brandon says, grabbing Alec from me.
Chuckling, I walk to the fridge to get a beer. I lean against the counter and take a big draw of the free beer Brandon brings over every week. It’s beneficial having a friend who is part owner of a brewery.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Brandon lifts Alec up and sniffs his diaper, gagging when he gets a whiff of whatever is in it.
“I gave up trying to figuring them out a long time ago.”
Chapter 4
Josie
“I don’t want him to know, yet, Brooke,” I say when I pull her outside.
“Relax. I didn’t say anything.”
I fall into the rocking chair and put my head in my hands, my stomach rolling as nausea creeps back in. “I don’t know if he even wants kids with me. What if he’s not ready for a baby?”
“I swear, for someone so smart, you sure as hell are dumb,” Brooke says, leaning against the railing of my back porch.
The mid-September day is still warm, but a nice breeze blows so it’s not overwhelmingly hot. This is our favorite spot in the whole house. On nice days, I sit in the rocking chair and Seth brings his camera out to take pictures. The guy must have a thousand pictures of me by now.
I raise a questioning brow at Brooke. “That boy wants a baby, bad,” she explains.
“How can you be sure?” I ask. Sure, Seth’s joked about practicing the baby making process, but we never actually talked about the real possibility of being parents.
“Do you not watch him with Alec?”
“Uh, yeah. He’s incredible with him.” I look up at Brooke and smile wistfully. “It’s kinda sexy.”
“Yuck. You’re talking about Seth with my son, Jos,” Brooke grumbles.
A small laugh bubbles up, but I cut it off as soon as another bought of nausea takes its place. I groan and rest my head back into my hands. “But anyway, that doesn’t mean he’s ready to bring a baby into the world with me.”
That’s the truth. He can love me, and I can love him, but that doesn’t mean that either of us are ready to embark on the journey of parenthood. Seriously, it’s only been six months since we’ve gotten engaged. Only one year since I decided to stop being a selfish emotional wreck enough to give him a chance. That does not make us parent-worthy.
“Of course he does. He’s told Brandon a million fucking times that he wants to have kids with you.”
I gape at her, trying to process this new information. “Why wouldn’t he tell me that?”
“He probably doesn’t want to freak you out in case you’re not ready. He loves you like that, you
know,” Brooke says, maybe a tad bit annoyed.
Well, fuck. If I wasn’t already a puddle just thinking about my blond, tatted hunk of a man holding Alec, then I sure as hell am now. Damn him for making me a mushy mess.
Seth is my forever, constant, and perfection in a world that has brought me an immense amount of heartache, and I would never be able to recover if I lost him.
The fact that he’s told Brandon that he wants kids with me makes me fall even harder. He saw all the pain and the aftereffects from having an abortion, so it makes sense that he would be cautious about talking to me about it. I can imagine it wouldn’t be easy to mention that he wanted kids with someone who he watched break down for months at the mere mention of babies.
My breathing comes out fast and heavy. Okay, maybe I’m still freaking out about having a baby. I gave up the chance at a baby before, who says I deserve this now? “Should I wait?” I ask, looking up at Brooke. “Like, until after the wedding?
She laughs and shakes her head. “Why? So you have him trapped in a marriage in case he magically changes his mind about kids?”
I shoot her an unimpressed look. She sighs and taps her fingernails against the rail. “No, Josie. Don’t wait until the wedding. That’s a month away, and you’re going to need him a lot sooner than that.”
Damn. The wedding is a month away!
I should have agreed to elope with Seth when he suggested it after he proposed. At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about getting too fat for my wedding dress. Alas, I decided to cater to the small girly part of me that wanted my family and friends there and a party. Now I get to marry my best friend while wanting to barf at the same time.
“I can’t believe we’re going to have a baby.” I allow myself to smile for the first time since reading that positive on the pregnancy test. A little mini Seth with his blond hair and blue eyes … I look at Brooke and bite my lip.
“I hope he looks like Seth.”
“I hope it’s a girl so Alec can have a little girlfriend,” Brooke says with a wink.
I shake my head and laugh under my breath, finally feeling excited about having a baby. “You’re sure he wants this, Brooke?”
That's a Relief (Promises, Promises Book 3) Page 2
