Confessions Of A Chatterbox (Confessions Series Book 2)
Page 19
I gripped her hand and shook my head. “Never. That’ll never change.”
“Good, because I was—” Her words were cut off as Chad pushed through the kitchen door, a frown on his face, but it was the person following him that had me leaping up from my seat.
“JJ?” I gasped, rushing over to him.
“Ella.” My stomach dipped, tingles spreading all over my body at the vibration of his voice. His gaze batted over everyone sitting at the table but stopped on Chad who was standing a couple of feet away, scrutinizing us.
What the hell was he doing here? How did he get here?
“Baby?” I had a lump in my throat the size of a basketball. “What are you doing here? How did you—”
He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face in my neck. He held me like I was the only thing keeping him planted to the floor, and when I glanced over at the table, Axel and Marcus were now standing too. “I need you to come home,” he whispered and pulled away. His hands lifted and framed my face, his fingertips digging into the soft skin of my cheeks as he repeated, “I need you to come home.”
His green eyes were swirling with so many emotions that I couldn’t pinpoint just one.
“What—”
He cut me off with his lips, hard and fast, no letting up. He poured everything into it, and I could feel the shaking in his hands as he held me. I wanted to pull away and ask him why he’d come to New York when he should be in LA, but I was too consumed by him. He overtook everything on the inside and out.
A throat cleared, and he jerked back. “I need you to come home,” he repeated again.
“JJ.” I lifted my arm and soothed him with the palm of my hand over the scruff on his cheeks. “I’m flying back tonight. You didn’t need to come all this way.”
“You didn’t call me.” His gaze flicked over the room, not able to settle on one thing, so I lifted up onto my tiptoes to capture his attention. “You said you were calling and you didn’t. Is it because I punched that guy for touching you?”
I bit my bottom lip to try and contain my smile. “No.” I shook my head. “Something happened when I got here and…well, I messaged you yesterday, but you didn’t answer.”
He gulped. “I left my cell at home. I thought you were hurt, so I came here. Dad is waiting outside.”
I smiled small and placed my lips against his, needing the connection as much as he obviously did right now. “I’m fine. I promise. How did you…” I frowned. “How did you know where to find me?”
“That’d be me,” Vi spoke up.
I turned to face her, and her huge smile took over her entire face as she stood next to Axel, his arm around her, probably cocooning her from any danger she could cause if she moved.
Shaking my head, I turned back to face JJ. His green eyes connected with mine, staring so hard I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, and then he blurted out, “I love you.”
My heart beat in my chest so loud, crashing like a bull’s hooves hitting a ring as he ran at a red flag. My feelings for JJ were never a concern for me. I knew how I felt about him, but I never expected him to be the one who said it first.
“I love you, too,” I whispered, a traitorous tear rolling down my cheek.
“I want you to marry me.”
I chuckled under my breath, feeling all kinds of awkward at being watched and not able to have this conversation in private.
“We don’t need to get married because we love each other,” I told him.
“But I want you to come home and stay home. If we get married, you’ll stay with me.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “I don’t like New York, Ella. LA is my home. I want you to live in LA.”
I turned to the faces around the table, each of them watching us. Vi had her hand over her chest, Axel’s head was tilted to the side with a small smile on his face, and Miriam was crying what I hoped was happy tears as she clung onto Marcus' hand. But Chad was stone-faced, not a single emotion clear.
“I’m coming back to LA tonight, okay?”
“And you’re going to stay?” JJ asked.
I hadn’t told anyone about the permanent job offer I’d had because I was still thinking about it, but in the back of my mind, I knew what the answer would be. “I’m staying,” I confirmed, smiling. “I’m not going anywhere now that I’ve found you.”
JJ nodded and stepped back, holding something up to me, and when I looked down, I saw a Lego figure dressed in a wedding dress. Was he really proposing to me with a Lego figure?
“And you’ll marry me?”
I chuckled. “I don’t need to marry you to stay, baby.”
“No.” He shook his head and kneeled in front of me, holding the figure up like a trophy. “Marry me because I love you and you love me.”
I stared down at him, my stomach swirling with nerves. Was I really entertaining this? Was I seriously thinking about saying yes to someone I’d known for a few months? I couldn’t deny how I felt about him. He consumed me in every possible way, and not only that, but he’d come all this way to tell me he loved me and ask me to marry him.
To anyone else, it wouldn’t have been a huge deal, but I knew for JJ to even get on a plane was massive, and to veer off his normal routine was even bigger. But he was doing all of this for me.
It was all so simple in his mind. We loved each other, and he wanted me to stay so we should get married. But maybe that was the problem with us “normal” people. We overthought things and didn’t listen to our gut and let the simple things show us what we should do. I wanted to listen to that voice in my head that was simplifying everything for me, but was it the right thing to do?
I glanced over one last time at Chad, and when his misty, blue eyes met mine, he inclined his head in a small nod, a grin overtaking his face. “Do it, baby girl. Do what your heart is telling you to do.”
My shaking fingers reached out, slipping around the Lego figure as I kneeled in front of JJ and pressed my forehead against his. “Yes.” JJ’s arms circled my waist as he pulled me closer. “I’ll marry you, JJ. But not because you think it will make me stay.” I lifted my hand to cup his cheek. “I’ll marry you because I love you more than anything else in this world.”
I stared into his green eyes, knowing that this was just the start of our new adventure, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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About the Author
Abigail Davies grew up with a passion for words, storytelling, maths, and anything pink. Dreaming up characters—quite literally—and talking to them out loud is a daily occurrence for her. She finds it fascinating how a whole world can be built with words alone, and how everyone reads and interprets a story differently. Now following her dreams of writing, Abigail has found the passion that she always knew was there. When she’s not writing: she’s a mother to two daughters who she encourages to use their imagination as she believes that it’s a magical thing, or getting lost in a good book. If she’s doing neither of those things, you can be sure she’s surfing the web buying new makeup, clothes, or binge watching another show as she becomes one with her sofa.
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Also by Abigail Davies
MAC Security Series
Fractured Lies—Book 1
Exposed —Book 2
The Distance Between Us—Book 3
ReBoot—Book 4
Catching Teardrops—Book 5
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bsp; Flying Free (Standalone MAC Security Spin-off)
Confessions Series
Confessions Of A Klutz—Book 1
Confessions Of A Chatterbox—Book 2
Confessions Of A Fratgirl—Book 3—Coming February 2019
Broken Tracks Series,
co-authored with Danielle Dickson
Etching Our Way—Book 1
Fighting Our Way—Book 2
Destroyed Series,
co-authored with L. Grubb
Destroying the Game
Destroying the Soul