by Gemma Weir
Justin places my bags at the side of the bed that he correctly guesses is mine and then moves to look at the pictures. He smiles at photos of the three of us as ruddy-faced toddlers, gawky tweens, and graduating teenagers. Then he turns to me and crooks his finger, calling me to him. I rush to him and he lifts me up, bringing my lips to his.
I sigh against his mouth, his touch soothing me. “Thank you,” I whisper.
Lowering me to the floor, he looks down at me, his brows furrowed. “For what?”
“For coming with me, for literally holding me together. For dealing with my family, for dealing with me. How’s that sound?”
“Unnecessary,” he says, tipping my chin up with his fingers and taking my lips again.
“You’re making me fall for you,” I whisper.
His smile is blinding, bright, happy, and sweet. “Good.”
One Week Later
Tiff gets out of the hospital today and hopefully my nephew Oscar won’t be far behind. We’ve been here for a week and this weekend I should have been leaving Houston and returning to New York; only instead I’m living at my parents’ house while my boyfriend sleeps in my dad’s den.
My parents have the old-fashioned view that if you’re not married, you don’t sleep in the same bed under their roof. On the couple of occasions that I brought my ex home, we stayed at a local hotel because he thought it was ridiculous to abide by my parents’ rules.
Justin has stalwartly slept on the lumpy pullout bed for the last seven nights without a single complaint. He’s visited my sister in the hospital every day with me, played with my niece, charmed my sisters and brothers and I’m pretty sure I’ve fallen head over heels in love with him.
My mom’s reception toward Justin has been frosty at best, hostile at worst, but I don’t understand where her dislike of him has stemmed from. I’d like to believe that she’s not narrow-minded enough to judge him because he’s a member of a biker club and he runs a strip club. But I did that. I assumed he was an asshole because of his appearance and confidence. So maybe being a judgmental harpy runs in the family.
Justin has a job, a life back in Archer’s Creek, but he dropped everything to come here to be with me. He’s selfless and caring and so damn sweet. I can’t believe I ever thought he was anything like my douchebag ex.
Only I know I can’t keep him here forever, and I can’t drag him to New York with me either. He has to go back to Archer’s Creek and I’m starting to think that I want to go with him.
We haven’t spoken about what will happen when he has to go home. We haven’t really spoken about us at all. This past week we have behaved like a couple that have been effortlessly supporting one another for years, not a fresh out the box relationship of less than two weeks.
Justin is out in the yard with my dad. He recruited my boyfriend and brothers into helping him move one of the massive stone boulders that are part of a feature in my mom’s flowerbeds, and right now the four of them are shirtless and covered in dirt from digging out the soil from around the huge rock. I’ll be honest, sweaty and dirty Justin is a sight to behold, and behold it I have from my spot at the patio table near the kitchen window.
When my mom emerges from the kitchen with two cups of coffee, I stiffen. I’m pissed at her for the way she’s behaving toward Justin and she knows it. She’s been trying to talk to me for the last couple of days, but I’ve been avoiding this conversation, knowing that it’s going to end with her telling me how much she dislikes my boyfriend.
I’ve only ever brought one other guy home to meet my family and my mom wasn’t shy in sharing her opinion on him. At the time I was a little saddened by her thoughts, but for some reason I didn’t really let it bother me. Just the idea of her hating Justin sets me on edge because I want her to like him. I need her to like him, because the more time I spend with him, the more important he’s becoming to me.
“I know you’ve been avoiding me, but I’d like to talk to you, Riley,” my mom says, sliding into the chair opposite me, her back to the action happening at the other end of the garden.
Sighing, I turn to look at my mom. “I don’t want to have this conversation, and before you say anything, I need you to know that I really like him. I really like him, Mom, and I won’t sit here and listen to you tell me that you hate him.”
“I don’t hate him,” she says simply, lifting her coffee cup to her lips and sipping at it delicately.
“What?”
“I don’t hate Justin.”
I’m fairly sure that my mouth has fallen open, but my body has gone numb. “You don’t?” I finally manage to squeak out.
“Do you know why I didn’t think Greg was the right boy for you?” She asks.
Looking at her, I wait for her to tell me, knowing that she doesn’t actually need me to ask for her opinion, she’s going to tell me anyway.
“Did you know that whenever you were together, he would move in front of you?”
I shake my head.
“He constantly forced you to be in his shadow, literally and figuratively. He didn’t move ahead of you to shelter you, or protect you; he did it so that people only looked at him. Knowing how important the bond you share with your sisters is, when you came to visit, he refused to stay at the house even knowing that would mean you wouldn’t get as much time with your family. He constantly tried to overshadow you and every other person in the room. If you had good news, he had better. If you achieved something, he would diminish it and talk about his achievements. He made you smaller and less important and I hated seeing you pushed out of the light.”
I gasp at the crack in my mom’s voice and when she reaches for me, her hand is shaking. She clasps her fingers over mine and squeezes.
“As a parent, I want you to be with someone who builds you up, not squashes you down, and Greg, he stamped on you. He squashed you until you started to stoop under his constant binding of you as a person.”
Shaking my head, I try to deny what she’s saying, but I can’t. The words laid out like she just did sting because of how true they are and I hang my head, ashamed that I allowed myself to be so influenced by someone else. I was raised by a strong woman to be a strong woman and I failed her.
She squeezes my hand again and I look up, tears filling my eyes.
“When I first met Justin, I’ll admit I assumed he was just like Greg. But I was wrong.”
Emotion fills my chest and I feel the first tear escape my eye and roll down my cheek.
“That boy has done nothing but tirelessly support you. He held Anna at the hospital, he encouraged you to be with your sisters, your family. He’s put up with my appalling behavior without saying a single word to defend himself, and he’s done all of this for you. I don’t know him well, but if what I’ve seen of him so far is a real reflection of who he is, then I’m over the moon that you’ve found someone so perfect for you.”
A sob bursts from my lips, and I lift my hand and cover my mouth. Until this moment, I had no idea how important my mom’s opinion was to me. For her to like him, to think he’s perfect for me, it settles something in my chest and cements the decision I’d already made.
“I think I’m going to move to Texas,” I say, my voice shaking from the tears and emotion.
My mom laughs so hard her entire body vibrates. “I guessed as much and I’m happy for you, baby girl. I know I don’t say it enough, but I’m so incredibly proud of the woman you’ve become. I’m privileged to be your mom, Riley.”
Launching myself at her, she opens her arms and encapsulates me in a tight hug just like she did when I was a little kid. “I love you, Mom,” I say into her shoulder.
“I love you too.”
I’ve got to go home. I’ve been in Ann Arbor for over a week and as much as I don’t want to leave Riley, I need to get back to work.
Whilst I’ve been gone, Puck figured out who was stealing from the club. Turns out that Shannon, the stripper I fucked once and who refused to accept it was never going to h
appen again, has a sister that works at the bank and between the two of them they’ve been skimming money from more than ten local businesses. Beavers was just the only one who noticed the money going missing.
I’m disappointed that I wasn’t there to see Shannon being hauled away by the cops. Witnessing that viper get caught would have been a pleasure to watch, but there was no way I could have left Riley.
Tiffany came out of the hospital a couple of days ago and although she lives down the street with her husband and daughter, she’s been here with her sisters all day while she recuperates. Either Anna or Riley have been to the hospital every day to see baby Oscar with Tiffany and her husband Chad and the doctors are so pleased with his progress, there’s been mention of him going home in the next couple of weeks.
Seeing the sisters together is a little freaky; they’re so alike but so different. Tiffany is sweet and caring, even recovering from surgery she still tried to fuss over her family. Anna is super intelligent and a little intimidating, but there’s an insecurity just below the surface that softens her hard edges. Then there’s my girl. Around her sisters and family she glows, and I feel lucky just to bask in her fucking presence.
Apart from some stolen kisses, we’ve barely touched since we got here and my body is on fire for her constantly. This week has given me the worst case of blue balls in the history of mankind, but fucking in her parents’ house, while her sister and nephew are in the hospital just isn’t an option.
Her mom pulled me aside yesterday and apologized for being a bitch. She told me that she was worried I’d hurt Riley. Then she told me that she’s fairly sure I’m in love with her daughter and so she’s not so worried anymore. When I’d just stared at her with my jaw hanging open, she’d laughed, tapped me on the cheek and welcomed me to the family.
My flight’s booked for this afternoon and I don’t want to go, but I have no choice. I wish I could beg her to come home with me, but I can’t; she needs to be here with her family. But leaving here, not knowing when I’m going to see her next is fucking killing me.
I returned my rental a few days after we arrived, so Riley is driving her dad’s BMW. When she slows to a stop in the drop-off line we both climb out, and she stands awkwardly at the side of the car while I grab my bag.
I’m not sure which one of us moves first, but she’s in my arms and I’m kissing her like I’ll never get the chance again. When someone hits their horn, we’re forced to pull apart. “I’ll see you soon, baby,” I say, brushing her hair away from her face.
She nods and I lower her to the ground, stepping back and grabbing my bag from where it fell to the floor. Cupping her cheek with one hand, I lean down and press a soft kiss to her lips, then turn and head for the airport door.
“Hey, Smoke,” she calls.
Slowly, I turn around, a smile forming on my lips at her use of my nickname. “Yeah, baby?” I drawl.
She looks at me, her lips parted, her eyes sparkling with want. “You are so much more.”
Oscar came home exactly three weeks after his dramatic entrance into the world. He’s the most beautiful bouncing baby boy and the perfect addition to my sister’s perfect family.
Exactly a week after he came home, I kissed my family goodbye and headed to New York where I packed up all of my belongings and loaded them into a moving truck destined for Archer’s Creek.
Moving to the small town that’s filled with friends and Justin was an easy decision, and I have a realtor in place and a cute navy-blue house to view in only a few short hours.
When I walk into the arrivals lounge, it only takes me a second to spot him. Justin is far too large to ever be able to hide, even in a busy airport, and I take off at a run leaping into his waiting arms.
“Fuck, baby, I missed you,” he growls into my ear.
“I missed you too,” I whisper back, right before I kiss the ever-loving shit out of him, right here in the airport.
Justin thinks I’m here for the weekend, he has no idea that I’m not leaving on Sunday, or that my entire worldly possessions are currently partaking in a twenty-four-hour drive from New York City to the tiny town I plan to call home.
We only make it twenty miles from the airport, before he pulls over on a deserted road and fucks me in the truck, just like we had the first time we ever had sex. By the time we make it back to his apartment we’re both about ready to rip each other’s clothes off and the moment the door shuts behind us we do.
He takes me from behind bent over the back of his sofa, in his bed, the shower, then slow and sexy on the floor in the living room. When Saturday morning rolls around I’m exhausted and completely infatuated with the man asleep next to me in the bed.
“Come on,” I cajole, literally shoving him through his front door and toward the elevator.
“Why are we wasting time with other people? I don’t get you for that long. I don’t want to share. If they want to see you, they need to schedule in a time, say next fall or something,” he whines.
“Stop being a baby, you can have me all to yourself again in a couple of hours, I promise.”
He grumbles, but doesn’t argue again, not even when I suggest we walk the few blocks to the blue house. I haven’t told him that we’re coming to view a house I’m thinking about buying, just that we have to go out for a little while. He assumes we’re meeting people and I’m choosing not to correct him.
“We’re here,” I say, when we reach the house that is much bigger in real life than in the realtor’s picture.
“Here where?” he asks, searching the street for one of our friends.
“Here,” I say, pointing to the house. “Did I forget to mention that I’m moving to Archer’s Creek?”
“What?”
“I’m moving to Archer’s Creek. I saw this house and thought I might like to buy it, so today a realtor is going to show us around.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Justin shouts, his face all scrunched up.
“Nope,” I say with a smirk.
“You’re moving to Archer’s Creek?”
“Yep.”
“Like now?”
“Yep, everything I own is on its way here in a truck; should be here tomorrow.”
Before I can say another word, he lifts me into his arms and kisses me.
“You are a fucking pain in the ass,” he says against my lips.
“You wanted more, and this is more,” I say softly.
“So much fucking more,” he whispers just before he claims my lips.
Riley ended up buying the blue house, and she moved in a little over a month ago. Technically, I still live at my place, but since she officially moved here, we haven’t spent a night apart.
My girl is bitchy and mean and she drives me crazy, but she’s also everything I never realized I wanted. From the moment we met, she has been more than I ever expected and I haven’t looked away just in case I miss something.
I haven’t told her I love her yet, but I do, and I know she feels the same way about me.
Meeting her changed my life. Only a few short months ago, I thought I knew women. I thought I had it all figured out, until I met her and she was nothing like she was supposed to be.
I don’t understand her; I doubt I ever will but that’s half the fun.
Riley isn’t easy, she isn’t predictable.
She’s more than I ever expected, she’s mine, and I’ll fight for the rest of my life to keep her.
The day I met Justin I assumed he was an asshole because he had a pretty face and a cocky attitude.
I never considered that he could be more than he first appeared and I was more wrong than I’ve ever been.
I love him, though I haven’t told him yet.
Justin is so much more than I expected, so much more than I deserve, but sometimes what you shouldn’t want is exactly what you need.
We laugh and shout and fight, and it’s perfect because I’m his and he’s my more.
The End
Holy cra
p, this is book six!!
This has been the book that didn’t want to be written, the only time so far that I have had no idea who my characters were and what was going to happen with them. I almost gave up on this book on several occasions, but I’m so glad I persevered, because I kind of love Riley and Justin.
After reading this book, I’m sure some of you will hate Riley. She’s a bit of a Marmite character, but I feel like I maybe need to stand up for her bitchy ways a little bit. I feel like at one point or another we’ve all been Riley. We’ve all been angry and pissed off and so we take it out on someone for no reason other than we can.
I promise in my head, Riley is lovely, and I really hope that some of that came through in these words and if they didn’t, then let me assure you that in the future as yet unknown for Justin and Riley, they live happily ever after, fighting and fucking and generally loving the crap out of each other.
Poor Sarah, who I think has gotten a mention in every book so far, has painstakingly listened to me talk plot, characters, and why this story has been harder than the others for months, and although I’m sure she’s pretty pissed off with me right now, I hope she knows how much I love her for her unending support.
To my awesome readers group The Archer Creek Groupies, thank you so much for listening to me chat shit, indulging my random posts, and generally being a part of this crazy journey I’m on. I appreciate each and every one of you, thank you xx
As always Andie, I apologise for the commas. Please don’t leave me. I wouldn’t survive without you.
Last but not least, Martin. I wrote another book, and you got a Porsche. Happy midlife crisis babe xo (six months too early).