Chapter 24
Virtues: Because the only thing that makes me feel is you.
Julian~
Isabella’s breakfast was already set at the table when she padded her way from the bedroom into the kitchen. Only I had added a little extra to it this morning.
She didn’t get a choice anymore.
I kept my back to her as I mixed and cooked my omelet. I felt her feminine arms wrap around me from behind and squeeze. “Good morning,” she said into my back.
“Good morning, Dove,” I replied. “Now go eat your breakfast before it gets cold,” I chided, teasingly.
There were a couple of moments of silence as I listened to the pitter patter of her barefooted feet walking around the kitchen towards the table. I heard a gasp, but I ignored it and finished cooking my omelet. The silence was loud, but I wasn’t worried.
It was time.
“Julian…” I turned off the stove and turned to face her. Her eyes were swimming with tears and relief. She held the opened jewelry box in her hand, but she was looking up at me.
“Everything okay?” I asked with a smirk.
She gave me the saddest smile I’d ever seen. “When you got out of bed this morning and you kissed my head, but didn’t ask…” Isabella’s eyes darted away as if reliving the moment, but she quickly refocused her gaze back to mine. “It was the first time you didn’t ask me to marry you,” she shrugged a shoulder. “Well, except for the two days you were at Teresa’s, but…”
Breakfast forgotten, I walked over and sat against the table, pulling Isabella to stand between my legs with my arms wrapped around her. “But what, Dove?”
She shook her head, like she was being foolish. “I laid there wondering if I had read too much into yesterday and worried that you hadn’t believed me when I told you how much I loved you,” she breathed.
I reached up to wipe the tears from her face. “I didn’t ask you, Dove, because asking gives off the impression that there’s another choice besides saying yes. You don’t get a choice in this anymore,” I calmly inform her.
She let out a tearful laugh. “I guess it doesn’t matter since all my choices from here on out are always going to be you.”
I plucked the box out of her hand and pulled the ring out. It was a five carat emerald, cut clear diamond surrounded by yellow diamonds closest to the shade of amber in her eyes that the jeweler could find to match. The band matched in alternating clear and yellow diamonds because she needed both now. I was not waiting to get married like Sav and Avery.
No chance in hell.
I placed both rings on her finger telling her so. “I’ll take back the band on our wedding day for the ceremony, but you’re going to wear both now.” Her hand curled into a fist like she was willing the rings to stay on forever and she lost herself in my arms and started crying.
We stayed like that until she was all cried out. She pulled back, and once again, I was looking for something to clean her face with. I ended up just pulling my shirt off and using it to wipe up her face. She laughed. “Julian, it’s your shirt.”
I smiled at her. “We have a washer and dryer, Dove. It’ll be fine.”
“I’m such a wimp,” she smirked. “I’ve been such an emotional wreck, I think I’ve cried more in these past few days than I have in my entire life.”
I rolled my eyes upwards. “Dare I hope you’re pregnant?”
The sweetest laugh escaped her lips as she slapped my chest. “Let’s hope not. I might not need a traditional wedding, but I’d like to be married before I’m knocked up.”
Suddenly, all I could picture was Isabella walking around our home pregnant with our child. I immediately knew I’d want a little girl who looked just like her, but I didn’t know if God would create that kind of perfection a second time. But if Isabella blessed me with a boy, he’d grow up knowing she would always come first and would be meant to cherish above anyone else. Well, at least, until he found his own sweet Isabella.
Isabella wrapped her arms around my neck and settled herself closer to me. “I don’t want to wait to get married, Julian,” she said. “We can have our bachelor/bachelorette party this Friday and we can all fly to Las Vegas on Saturday, along with Kane and Teresa, to get married.”
Thank fuck!
“Whatever you want, Dove,” I acquiesced.
She eyed me. “You really don’t care if we don’t have fancy wedding or-”
I barked out a laugh. “Hell, no.”
Her eyes widened. “Teresa won’t kill us, will she?”
I pushed a loose lock of her hair behind her ear. “No, Dove, she won’t kill us,” I assured her. “Besides, she will still have Nick, Chase and Kane to bully into having a big wedding.”
Her expression suddenly went from happy to worrisome. “Shouldn’t I feel horrible or, at least, a little lonely at the fact that I don’t care to have anyone I’m related to there?” she asked me. “I mean, we’re discussing the most important event of my life to date and the only people that came to mind were Quinn, Avery and your family.”
I settled my arms around her waist tighter. “Because they’re not just my family anymore, Isabella. They became your family the second I decided to keep you.”
I watched as her face took on the most heartbreaking expression. “Do you think Nicholas and Chase would even want to come? They hate me, Julian,” she whispered the last part.
If they weren’t two pieces of my soul, I’d find those two assholes and kick their fucking asses for putting that forlorn look on Isabella’s face. “They don’t hate you, baby. They just love me, and in the same way Quinn and Avery would defend you, they were just defending me,” I explained.
Isabella held my gaze when she recounted what happened. “It was a really, really horrible fight, Julian. They felt so betrayed, angry and panicked.”
I let out a deep breath. As tight as Isabella, Quinn and Avery were, their bond still couldn’t compare with the lifetime of survival Nick, Chase, Kane and I bonded over. We didn’t bond over favorite books, or going to the same camp. We bonded over dodging bullets and avoiding drug dealers and gang members.
Isabella had my heart, soul, my present and my future, and while Chase and Sav are a part of my present and future as well, they had my past and that was something Isabella could never have, save for time travel.
I kissed her forehead, trying to bring her some peace about her worries over Chase and Nick. “They told me what happened,” I admitted to her. Her eyes rounded like saucers. “They don’t ha-”
We were suddenly interrupted with the opening of the front door. Isabella twisted in my arms and I stood to peer over her head. In filed Chase, Quinn, Avery and Nick. One unfortunate day, one of us was going to walk in on any one of us couples fucking. It was bound to happen with all the free access we had to each other’s homes.
Nick let out a high whistle. “Go put on a shirt, Julez. I can’t have Avery acting all loopy.”
Chase had headed towards the back of the house, while Nick, Avery and Quinn swooped on into the kitchen. “Oooh…omelets,” Quinn cooed.
Isabella stepped out of my embrace just as Chase re-appeared throwing one of my shirts at my face. And to think, I was just defending these two fools not five minutes ago.
I pulled the shirt over my head and turned to see four pathetic faces peering up at me, all sitting around the kitchen table. I looked down at Isabella standing next to me and she must have felt my stare because she smiled up at me. “What do you say? Want to help me make breakfast, Dove?”
“Sure,” she answered, “but first, there’s something I want to say to Nicholas and Chase.”
Both men jumped up from their seats and rounded the table until I was shoved out of the way and they were both standing in front of Isabella. I graciously let them bully their way to her because they needed to kiss and make up.
“We’re sorry,” they both blurted out, simultaneously.
“I was so hungry, Izzy,” Nick said, confusing Isabella, if I were to g
o by the look on her face.
“And I had just had a meeting with Joseph Grammery,” Chase added, further confusing her.
“Not to mention, it was all really Julian’s fault, anyhow,” Nicholas went on.
Chase’s brows furrowed. “Yeah, he should have turned on his phone as soon as he left Mom’s.”
Isabella’s eyes were darting back and forth between them, no doubt wondering that the hell they were talking about. “Uhm…”
I looked over at Quinn and Avery and they were watching the exchange with dual expressions of wariness on their faces. I knew they were worried that this couldn’t be repaired. Jesus, it must have been one hell of an argument.
I decided to put a stop to their nonsense. “They’re apologizing for fighting with you, Dove,” I clarified for her.
She looked over at me, eyes rounded. “Oh, is that what they’re doing?”
Nick snorted. “Are you saying our apology wasn’t good enough?”
“Yeah, what kind of insensitive shit is that,” Chase chimed in.
Isabella looked back at them, stunned. “Well, you guys didn’t actually apologize, though. I didn’t catch the word ‘sorry’ in there, at all,” she pointed out.
Nick’s eyes roamed upward like he was trying to recall all that was said, while Chase just flat out lied. “No. I’m pretty sure we said we were sorry,” he proclaimed.
“No, I’m pretty sure I would have heard you, if you had said it,” Isabella insisted.
“But-” Chase tried again before Isabella cut him off.
“I would have known if I had heard it because then I would have told you that you guys have nothing to be sorry about,” she said, shutting them both up. “You guys were right. My attitude and behavior wasn’t worthy of Julian’s love, but it is now and I’m going to make sure it always is.”
I turned towards the girls when I heard a sniffle, and I could see Avery wiping away a tear. I could sympathize. The idea of any of us being at odds was suffocating.
“We still should never have spoken to you like that, Iz,” Chase replied.
“No, you shouldn’t have,” I interject. I walked up behind Isabella and placed my hands on her shoulders. “I know all the whys and I even understand them. I love you guys more than my own life and I can never express to you, both, how you’ve saved my life over the years. How you guys have saved my sanity. But Isabella is untouchable. Always. No matter what.” It was clear in their expressions that they felt every word I was saying. They knew what she was to me. “I don’t care if you walk in here and she has a knife to my throat. You will stand there patiently while she kills me and then ask her if she needs help getting rid of my body. We clear?”
“Crystal,” Nick replied.
“As a bright, sunny day,” Chase confirmed.
Our four heads swiveled towards the kitchen table when Avery breathed out, “Dayyyyumn.”
“Goddamn it, Imp!”
“What?” Avery sheepishly asked Nick.
“Holy shit! Is that a wedding ring set?” Quinn exclaimed. “Did you assholes get married without us?!”
Isabella~
It had been a perfect day.
Well, perfect after Nicholas, Chase and I made up, Ace quit drooling over Julian and I calmed Q down and explained that we hadn’t gotten married without them.
The guys ended up making us breakfast because, and I’m quoting Chase here…“Because we can make breakfast too, goddamn it. Nick and I are not Julian’s fucking backup dancers”…whatever that meant.
We ate and talked and laughed and everything was just so….peacefully perfect. Well, until I announced that I was having a bachelorette party Friday night and we were all flying out to Las Vegas on Saturday so we could get married.
Chase started berated Quinn for being the only couple who were not going to be engaged or married and Nick lost his shit on Avery asking her how was she going to be able to live with herself is she allowed us to get married before they did.
Quinn’s response was to remind Chase that he could always be single if he didn’t like it and Avery’s retort was she wondered what it’d be like to date a man who didn’t want to crush her dreams.
Chase’s comeback was to tell Quinn that she’d be single again over his dead body, right before he hauled her out the front door.
Nick’s reaction to Avery’s words was to yell at the ceiling and warn her that her manipulating tactics were going to end the second she says ‘I do’, right before he dragged her out of the house behind Quinn and Chase.
They had left me and Julian standing in the living room laughing.
Now Julian and I were sitting on the couch together watching Snapped. He was leaning against the crook of the backrest and the armrest and I was nestled in his arms, my back against his chest.
Watching the show got me to thinking. “Even if they walk in and I have a knife to your throat, Julian,” I repeated with a chuckle.
He tightened his hold around me. “Dove, if you’re standing over me, ready to slit my throat and end my life, well, I’m fairly certain I’ll be deserving it,” he replied simply.
“I can’t imagine you doing anything that would make me want to murder you, Julian,” I said, but then thought better of it. “Except cheating on me. I don’t think I’d be able to handle that,” I whispered.
Julian laughed. He actually let a very rare, full blown laugh. My body was being jostled by the laughter that wracked his body.
The jerk.
“Are you finished?” I asked, tartly.
His laughter started subsiding, but I could still hear the smile on his face. “Jesus, Dove, what do you expect when you say crazy shit like that?” he countered.
My indignation had me straightening my back and whirling around on him. “Me asking you not to cheat on me is crazy talk?” I screeched.
He was still smiling and his dimples were distracting me from my mission of giving him my best Quinn-Stink-Eye. He shook his head at me. “Yes, as a matter of fact, it is.” Julian reached out and pushed a lock of my hair behind my ear. “Isabella, I’m incapable of cheating on you,” he stated so lovingly, I felt the weight of his words in my heart.
“Really?” I asked stupidly.
This time his smile was tender and full of the utmost sincerity. “Isabella, I feel you with me all the time. No matter what is occupying my mind, I’m still always feeling you,” he explained. “I know we always tease about if I love you and I tell you no, but it’s the truth. I wish with all my soul that you could feel what’s inside my heart. I wish the things I said to you weren’t just words.”
My heart felt like it was going to burst. “Julian…”
He grabbed me by my hips and settled us until he was sitting upright and I was straddling his lap. He took my face in his hands and stroked my jaw with his thumbs. “Dove, I am incapable of cheating on you because the only other people who exist on this planet to me are Teresa, Chase, Nick, Kane, Avery and Quinn. Everyone else is just white noise in the background. But what you still don’t understand is that when you’re near me,” his eyes locked onto mine, imploring me to absorb and understand his next words, “Chase, Nick, Teresa, Avery, Quinn and Kane all become white noise too. It’s you. When I say you’re my everything, I mean you’re my only thing.”
I was stunned immobile by his expression of his love for me.
Julian was a gift.
All his emotions were intense and severe. So, if he could become angry enough to kill, it made sense that he could love beyond reason as well.
Julian was going to love me and only me forever.
“I promise your love will be safe with me, Julian,” I vowed.
He studied my face and I prayed he saw the truth in my eyes. “I know it’ll be,” he whispered back.
“We’re going to live happily ever after, right?” I asked desperately.
“Yes, we are,” he promised.
I leaned down and kissed him with every emotion that promise brought forth in m
e. I kissed him for all his love that I felt and all the forgiveness he’s offered me. Words weren’t good enough. I had to show Julian every day how he made me feel. I had to demonstrate what his love did to me.
“Dove…” he uttered against my lips.
I could feel that familiar bulge line up against my center through his jeans and my yoga pants. I knew sex wasn’t the answer to everything, but being with Julian was like every romance book ever written. We were really connected in every single way when he was inside me.
“Julian, I need you…” I barely finished my sentence when my shirt was already over my head.
Julian’s big, rough hands skimmed over my breasts and then came around me to unhook my bra. “I always need you, Isabella.”
Before I could say anything more, I was on my back across the couch and Julian was pulling my yoga pants and panties down past my bare feet. I was laying completely naked and already wet in anticipation of what he was going to do to my body.
I watched as he reached back and grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it over his head. He stood up and smirked at my unabashed ogling. He stood up and started undressing from the waist down. His eyes danced over my body as he instructed, “Spread your legs for me, baby.” I let my knees drop as far out as they could go, but it wasn’t good enough. “Nu uh, Dove. I want your right leg over the back of the couch and your left leg off the couch. I want to see your sweet, wet pussy,” he growled.
Shivers ran up and down my body as I complied. I’ve always known I wasn’t the skinniest girl in the room, and my softness and excess padding had always held me back. But the look in Julian’s eyes had a way of making me feel like I was the most desirable woman on the planet. It made me brave and I was no longer afraid a man would judge me for my sexual tastes.
Julian’s voice had a jagged edge to it when he said, “I’ll never get tired of looking at you, baby. I fucking love your body. It’s so soft and feminine everywhere it’s supposed to be.”
“And I’ll never get tired of looking at you, either,” I tell him honestly. “You are seriously the most beautiful of all God’s creations, Julian.”
Claiming Isabella Page 29
