He lets out a sigh and looks out the window. I’m about to prompt him to spit it out when he finally does. “I slept with Cami.”
My eyes widen and I nearly swerve right off the road. “What?” I shriek like a gossipy teenage girl.
He continues looking out the window as he presses his lips together and nods his head. “Yep,” he confirms.
“And?” I ask, still in shock. I mean, here I was asking about why he wants to run the new club and he goes and spills an entirely different can of beans. Cami’s been gone for a few weeks now, so I had come to terms with the fact that he was never going to tell me what went down.
“It was everything and more.”
Shit. It suddenly makes a lot of sense as all of my questions about why Cami had left are instantly answered. “You still told her no,” I state.
“Yeah,” he replies. “I hurt her real good this time.”
I nod as I let out a breath. “I bet,” I say not sugar coating it. Jace turning her down after they’d been that intimate would have killed her. No wonder Rylee was so furious, she must have known on some level what had happened. Hell, I can only imagine that when Cami gets back, Rylee will be keeping her far away from Jace.
My eyebrows furrow as I try to work out how the hell this had happened. From my understanding, Cami was trying her hardest to stay away from him. We all knew they were crazy about one another. Whenever they were in a room together, they would gravitate towards the other. They’re like magnets made for one another. If only Jace could see that, they’d be the happiest couple anyone could ever meet.
The first time Jace told her no, she took it as though it was a challenge like maybe he was just being stubborn. The second time, he’d hurt her and she pulled away until he drew her back in. From then, it’s been a cycle, only the hurt gets worse and worse. After he couldn’t physically resist her any longer and kissed her, she swore she was done. I guess she wanted to risk her heart one more time.
“How?” I ask when the wondering becomes too much.
“It was that day you told me about Iraq,” he says, still with his eyes trained heavily out the window. “I just… I couldn’t process it all and I ended up at her place. She gave me a drink and she sat there next to me on the couch all curled up and just listened.”
My back straightens. “Don’t worry,” he says. “I didn’t tell her about Iraq, we were just talking about, I don’t know, life, I guess.”
“Ok,” I say. “So, you had a few drinks, you got a bit drunk, and then what? You sleep together and leave?”
“Nah, man. It’s worse than that,” he says.
“How?”
“Afterward… I stayed. I told her I love her,” he murmurs. “It wasn’t until the next morning that I left.”
“Fuck, Jace,” I cringe “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I’m no good for her,” he says. “She deserves someone who’s going to treat her right, not someone like me. I’m all shades of fucked up. I hurt her over and over again. What kind of man does that to the woman he loves?”
“I don’t get it, Jace,” I tell him. “Why do you do it?”
“I wish I knew,” he says, hanging his head.
I let out a sigh. I simply just don’t know how to help him with this one. If I did, I would have done it when they first met. I just wish he would open up about it, let me in, or hell, let anybody in so we can work out what his issues are and fix them.
“How does this tie in with working at the new club?” I say, asking the question that hasn’t stopped bothering me since he first said it.
“It’s the same as Cami,” he tells me. “She needs space to forget, and so do I.”
“That’s bullshit,” I tell him.
“It’s not,” he argues.
“It is,” I say. “You’re running from it. You want to be somewhere else where everything doesn’t remind you of her. She hurt you when she left without any warning or a form of contact. You don’t want to deal with it, so now you’re running from it.”
He presses his lips into a firm line and shakes his head as he refuses to answer which tells me he’s already perfectly aware and isn’t bothered to continue arguing his case. “It doesn’t matter,” he eventually says. “It is what it is. Cami’s out having the time of her life and I’m happy for her, so until she gets back, I’ll be at the new club.”
“Alright, man,” I say with a shrug. “If that’s what you want and you think it will somehow help, then I’m fine with it.”
“Good,” he grunts before sitting in silence. After a short while, he lets out a breath and fiddles with his phone in his hands. “Every time I talk to her, I end up driving her away.”
“I know, man,” I say. “We’ve all had our girl problems.”
“Yeah,” he grunts. “I bet you never made a woman leave the country and all her friends for six months.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “I can’t say I ever fucked up that bad.”
Finally, a smirk crosses his lips and just like that, his spirits are finally lifted. We drive back to Rebels and get out of my truck. We go on inside to find the afternoon self-defense class showing up for their session, so Jace and I instantly get to work.
We cut it a bit close, but in the eight years that we’ve had this place, we’ve never once left our clients without an instructor.
As usual, during the self-defense class, I can’t help but think of Iraq, especially when we discuss ways of getting yourself out of bad situations. The thought has me wondering how Ben is going and the second the class finishes, I find myself stepping into my office and pulling out my phone.
I scroll through my contact list as I drop into my desk chair and find his name. I hit call and hold the phone up to my ear.
It rings twice before Ben answers. “You’re fucking kidding me?” he laughs. “I thought I was going to have to go into a psychotic breakdown to hear from you again.”
“Shut up,” I grin as the tone of his voice has something within easing my heart. He sounds just like the kid he used to be before we left for Iraq, the kid I got to know over the few months we were there, working together before everything went to shit.
He sounds happy again and the thought warms me. He’s come so far over the past few months and I have to admit that hearing him being a little shit over the phone has me the happiest mother fucker around. “What’s up, kid?” I say. “How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m feeling good.”
“I’m glad,” I smile. “What’s going on?”
And just like that, I spend the next hour on the phone with Ben discussing every tiny detail of his life. He tells me how he’s applied for courses and how he’s wanting to study mental health so he can help other people struggling with the silent killer that’s their own mind.
I feel like a proud father listening to him tell me about his new life. He sounds excited and positive about his new future and I find myself ecstatic for him.
He’s come so far since the shell of a man I saw only a few short months ago and I’m happy I was able to give him a piece of himself back. Hell, I’m happy I was able to get his ass out of that country and bring him home to his mother alive.
The world would have been a sad place without Ben. When you’re a soldier, you see things and you lose people way too soon, it’s unfortunate, but it’s a reality. To still have both myself and Ben here is a miracle and I’m proud that Ben can finally see it.
He’s finally moved on from the horrors of Iraq and now we can finally close the book on that chapter.
I hang up the call with a promise that we’ll get together with all the boys from our squad as soon as we can to celebrate him. He laughs and tells me I’m overreacting and being a princess before rushing in and disconnecting the call first.
With a grin, I grab my wallet and keys out of the top drawer of my desk and get my ass home. After all, there’s a spitfire living next door who I’ve been craving to touch all day long.
Chapter 24
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Lexi
“Come on,” Lex begs with big pleading eyes. “Please.”
I let out a huff. “Why?” I argue. “Can’t I just close my eyes and you lead me outside? I swear, I won’t peek.”
“No,” she demands. “It’s not the same. I need to blindfold you so you get the full effect.”
“Babe,” I say softly as to not hurt her feelings. “I see your yard every single time I walk out of the house. I already have the full effect.”
“I know,” she says, “But you haven’t seen it with the lawn or the water feature that went in today. I promise it’s like a whole new yard than the one you saw yesterday.”
She pouts her bottom lip out and I swear, those beautiful eyes of hers seem to get even bigger. “Please?”
I look at her for a moment, waiting for her to give in, but the longer I look, the bigger her pout becomes. “Oh, fine,” I groan. “But only this once.”
Her whole face completely lights up and she whips one of those pink girly sleep masks out of her back pocket. “Oh, my god,” she squeals as she rushes towards me and reaches up to slide the stupid thing over my eyes.
I help her out as she’s just that bit short and the second she has the blindfold right where she wants it, she takes my hand. “You look absolutely stunning,” she tells me.
“Keep it up and I’m going to have to spank you,” I warn her.
“Ooh,” she moans. “Do you promise?”
I let out a huff and roll my eyes, not that she can see it, but I bet she knows I’m doing it. Her fingers lace through mine as she leads me to the door and I listen as she unlocks it. Her excitement is infectious and I find myself wanting to please her.
She leads me across my drive and over the pebbled garden between our houses. This is where I assume she will stop, but she doesn’t, she leads me right up her new drive and out into the middle of the road so that when I take off this blindfold, I see the whole damn thing at once. “I better not get run over,” I warn her.
“You’re alright,” she tells me. “I’ll jump in front of the cars if I have to.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” I tell her.
I feel her take my shoulders in both hands and soon enough, she’s right there pressing a kiss to my lips. I bend down so she can kiss me more easily and wrap my hand around her waist. “Just try and stop me,” she warns. “Are you ready?”
“Born ready, babe,” I murmur against her lips. “We better make this quick, I can only imagine what Mrs. Johnson down the road is thinking.”
“She’ll probably spread the word that her favorite little guy is about to have his virtue stolen by the devil living next door.”
“I bet she’s jealous,” I grin.
“Eww, Luke,” she scolds me. “Mrs. Johnson is like one hundred years old.”
“Hey, just because she’s old doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want a piece of this cherry pie. I bet she’s still got it in her.”
“Yuck,” she chuckles. “Now, shut up and pay attention.”
“Fine,” I groan.
“Will you be on your best behavior?”
“And if I’m not?”
“Then I’ll be the one doing the spanking.”
Fuck me. I love this woman. “Nobody does any spanking around here except for me,” I tell her, “Now hurry up and take this pansy-ass girly shit off my face so I can see what you’ve done.”
“Alright, alright,” she laughs. “There’s no need to get your knickers in a twist.”
I roll my eyes again as she reaches up and slips her fingers under the silky fabric before lifting it off my face, and I got to say, she was damn right. Standing out here with a ridiculous blindfold so I got the full effect was the best thing she ever made me do.
This place looks incredible. She’s put her heart and soul into it and everywhere I look, there’s the proof right before me. “Holy shit,” I tell her. “This looks almost better than you.”
Her eyes brighten as she looks up at me with hope. “You think?”
I put my arms over her shoulder and together we stand and admire the house she has built. “Yeah, babe,” I say. “It’s fucking incredible.”
She wraps her arms around me. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” I tell her. “Thank yourself. You did all the work and made this place what it is.”
“Yeah, but without you, it probably would have taken me a lot longer.”
“Huh?” I grunt as I look down at her. “I hardly did a thing.”
“You kept me motivated when I wanted to give up. This place was by far the biggest renovation I’ve ever done and when I first got here, I was in over my head, but then I wanted to prove myself to my jackass neighbor.”
I can’t help but laugh. “You know, if it wasn’t for that stupid speaker of yours, I probably wouldn’t have been such a jackass.”
“I know,” she grins. “Now, go cook me dinner, wench.”
“You better watch that smart mouth of yours,” I tell her as she giggles and pulls me back to my place behind her. “Besides, no cooking will be getting done here tonight.”
“Eh?” she grunts as she stops in the middle of the road and looks back at me.
I walk into her and pull her to my side before continuing back to my place. “We’re going to Cole and Rylee’s place. Apparently, Rylee needs a little cheering up. She misses Cami too much, so, we’re partying with everyone.”
“Oh,” Lex says with her heart on her sleeve. “I was hoping she’d be feeling better by now. It’s been weeks.”
“I know,” I tell her, “But those two haven’t been apart in years. They’ve been best friends forever.”
“I know,” she sighs.
I push our way back in through the door while Lex goes to the kitchen and pours herself a drink. I walk into the living room and get Gerald out of his enclosure. I hook his long body over my neck and get myself comfortable on the couch.
As I wait for Lex to return, I can’t help but think about Cami being so far away and the thought kills me. I mean, what if that was me and Lex. I couldn’t stand it if she moved away to get space from me. I can’t even think about what Jace must be feeling right now.
I look down at Gerald and run my fingers over his head and down his long body. “What do you say, Gerald? Should she move in with us?”
I sit and wait for him to reply as though we were having a proper conversation. “I promise,” I tell him. “I’ll make her feed you sometimes, but you got to understand, she’s shit scared of you.”
I wait again. “I agree, man. We’ll make her bath you too.”
With that, we sit back and relax. We don’t need to leave for Cole’s place for another hour so we have plenty of time to chill.
Lex comes waltzing in with two drinks in her hands and her head down. She looks up as she gets closer. “Whoa, fuck,” she grunts as she comes to a startling standstill and spills half the drink on the floor. “What’s he doing out of his box?”
“He’s chilling with us,” I tell her.
“Can’t he chill, like…. over there?” she questions as she points to the furthest corner in the room.
“He could, but you know he likes to be close. If I put him over there, he’s just going to slither right on over.”
She cringes and accepts what it is before taking a seat on the couch beside me, though, it doesn’t go unnoticed how she sits as far as the couch will allow, just out of reach of Gerald. “It’s ok, babe,” I tell her. “He’s not going to hurt you.”
“Bullshit,” she grunts under her breath.
I ignore her comments and do my best to cover Gerald’s non-existent ears. “Don’t you listen to her,” I tell him before looking up at the goddess beside me. “You know, you’ll have to get used to him sooner or later if you’re moving in here.”
Her eyebrows furrow as she looks at me in confusion. “I’m sorry… what?”
“I said, you’ll have to get used to Gerald if-”
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��Quit bullshiting,” she cuts me off. “I heard what you said. What are you talking about? Cause I don’t remember discussing moving in here.”
“Oh yeah, Gerald and I just decided. We want you here.”
“First of all,” she says as her stubbornness makes it fourth reappearance for the day. “Gerald is not capable of making those decision, and secondly, it would have been nice to be apart of the decision-making process.”
I reach out and grab her foot before sliding her along to couch to me. “No, no, no, no, no,” she squeals in her desperation to get away from the snake.
“Calm down,” I tell her. “He will sense your fear and be on edge. You need to relax around him.”
Her face scrunches up, but she does as I say and allows me to pull her up on my lap, though I sit her facing Gerald so she can keep her eyes on him. “There’s no decision to make,” I tell her. “I want you here and I know you want to be here too, so stop being a stubborn ass and accept the way it is. This is where you belong and you know it.”
Her eyes leave Gerald and she finally looks at me. “You want me here all the time?” she questions. “You know I can be annoying, right? And you don’t like my music.”
“I fucking love your music because it’s a part of who you are, and as for being annoying, I worked that shit out a long time ago.”
She rolls her eyes. “Are you really sure?”
“Yeah, babe,” I tell her. “And besides, it’s not like it’s a big deal. You have like one bag of belongings in that house.”
“Shut up,” she laughs. “But for the question you didn’t actually ask, yes, I’d love to move in with you.”
“Good,” I grin, pushing her up to her feet and slapping that delectable ass of hers, “Now go and get your shit. You need to start getting ready.”
She rolls her eyes, leans down while bravely getting close to Gerald, and presses her lips to mine. “I love you too,” she tells me before smirking and skipping out the door.
Two hours later, we walk straight through the door of Cole’s place without bothering to knock and from the looks of all the trucks parked out the front, I’d say just about everyone is here, so it should be a good night.
Luke: Rebels Advocate (Book 3) Page 17