Twisted Reality (Blind Reality #2)

by Heidi McLaughlin

  My cheeks flush red as Rob waggles his eyebrows at us.

  “Something like that,” Josh replies. I want to hit him but realize this is guy talk. They’re best friends, not just roommates so they probably talk about crap like this. Girls do, too, believe me. If I still had my best friend I’d be gushing like a crazy fool about Josh.

  Dread washes over me instantly when I think about her. Once she finds out we’re in town, she’ll be at my house wanting a piece of my happiness because taking Tony from me wasn’t enough. My extreme upgrade in the man department will have her claws out, I’m sure.

  I’ve never been one to be spontaneous, but listening to Joey tell me about how she feels being in my room sparked something deep within me. I know shit is about to get crazy with Jules and right now I want the solitude of family around me before my life becomes a media storm.

  I missed the opportunity to meet her parents after the show’s finale and owe it her and them to make this happen. I didn’t even give Joey a chance to freshen up or decide what she wanted to take—I called for a car, picked up our already packed suitcase, and said farewell to Rob.

  It’s only after I bought our tickets and we’re through security that Joey tells me there isn’t a super easy way to get to her house. I mean, why would there be? Nothing since the show has been easy for us.

  “Did you call and let your mother know?” I ask, as I’m loading the rental car with our luggage. This feels like déjà vu, except I’m not working and we’re not hiding from anyone. I’m going to kick back and enjoy a beer or two with my father-in-law before life rears its ugly head at me.

  “No, I thought we’d surprise them.”

  “What if they’re busy?”

  Joey furrows her brow, wrinkling her forehead. “Gross.”

  “Joey.” My voice has a warning tone. “Have I not been keeping you well sated?”

  “What?” She looks around to make sure no one is listening.

  I go to her and wrap my arms around her shoulder, keeping her locked in my arms. “You’re a dirty girl.”

  “You said it, not me!”

  “Tsk, tsk. I was merely mentioning we should give them a heads up that we’re coming. It would be the right thing to do.”

  She narrows her eyes at me, trying to figure out if I’m full of shit or not. After kissing her nose, I release her with a swat on her ass.

  “Let’s go, babe. Someone forgot to tell me that they live in the middle of nowhere and I’m ready to get sneaky with my wife in her childhood bedroom.”

  “Oh my God, Josh. Just drive!”

  Unlike when we drove in Alabama, we don’t stop in each little town that we came to. Joey suggested that we leave her parents early before going back to Los Angeles and maybe spend the night at the motels we came across and pretend like we’re college kids on a budget. I laughed at the budget part because she still hasn’t grasped the fact that I can afford nicer hotels. However, I agreed and told her that I’d thought it’d be romantic, which in turn she unknowingly batted her eyelashes at me.

  It’s the small things in life that I’m starting to hold onto longer, like when she’s almost asleep and I tell her that I love her. Her reply is always the same, met with a sigh.

  Between loud music, sign-offs, and all the munchies we could possibly eat we finally arrive at her parents. A long driveway that I never thought would end, opened up to this vast property with an amazing two story home complete with a wraparound porch. When I was little I’d see houses like this and wonder about the families who lived inside. And now I know.

  Off to the left, in the distance, there’s a pond with a dock. I don’t remember Joey telling me anything about a swimming hole at her house, but then again I spent a lot of time trying not to get to know her. The yard is expansive and where the woods are close to the house, I see a trail starting. Hiking with Joey will be an experience I can’t wait to embark on.

  “You’re the Waltons.” I’m a little awestruck by their house. Someone is … well, was sitting on the swing, swaying back and forth until we pulled in and now they’re walking down the steps toward us, one of whom happens to look like an older version of Joey. The screen door opens and I swear I can hear the faint squeak that I would expect the door to make as her father walks out.

  Even before I see the inside, I know this is a home. This is where people are loved and they love the people who come to visit. I’m already imagining pictures of Joey all over the walls, and maybe even our wedding picture. It wasn’t great, but it’s still ours until we get a new one. It’s been years since I’ve been in a home where two people love each other and I have a feeling I’m not going to want to leave.

  “No, not the Waltons, only the Mitchells and now the Wilsons,” she says. Joey gets out of the car before I can come up with a snappy retort. I watch as she runs to her parents who pick up their pace once they see it’s her. This was a great idea … no, not great, freaking amazing.

  My eyes are completely focused on what’s happening in front of me. The love these two have for her, even though her mother signed her up for the show, is indescribable. It’s only when her father starts walking toward the car do I get.

  The man who is my father-in-law doesn’t offer to shake my hand. Instead, he pulls me into his arms and pats my back in a hug. And when he tries to let go I hang on a bit longer because it feels like I’m accepted. Hell, I can’t remember the last time my dad hugged me.

  “Nolan Mitchell,” he says, extending his hand. “Our meeting is long overdue.”

  “Yes, sir, it is. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to bring her home, Mr. Mitchell.”

  He pats me on the shoulder and shakes his head. “Nolan. None of that Mr. Mitchell shit.” Nolan chuckles and offers to help with our luggage.

  I feel bad because we brought everything, which adds up to four suitcases and two carry-ons. We probably don’t need this much, but I was in a hurry to get the hell out of there and spend some family time with my wife.

  “Hey, babe.” Joey steps to me when I reach her and her mother. Her hand rests gently on my stomach and she beams up at me. She’s happy. I did this. I made her smile like this. “This is my mother, Ava. Mom, this is Josh.” The way Joey says my name sends a jolt right to my groin. I bite the inside of my cheek, praying that the pain will counteract the stiffy that’s forming. The last thing I want is for my mother-in-law to see my damn boner.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you …”

  “Ava. My son-in-law will call me Ava.” She gives me a hug, but it’s quick and when she’s stepping away, I swear I catch her wiping a tear. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

  Joey picks up one of the bags that I dropped and takes my hand with her free one. Side by side we walk up the steps and into her family home. The inside is decorated like one of those magazines you find at the doctor’s office and I get the feeling that I’m not supposed to touch anything.

  We follow her father down the hall and up a flight of stairs, down another hall and into her room. I know it’s her room because it screams Joey. The walls are a light shade of pink, with posters of various celebrities, with me being one of them, hanging from them. Pictures of her friends, class ribbons, and other memorabilia adorn every space available.

  “Make yourself at home. Beer’s in the fridge when you’re ready.”

  “Thanks, Daddy.” Joey kisses him on the cheek and to my surprise he closes the door.

  Setting the bags down near her closet, I look over everything while she sits on her bed. She doesn’t tell me not to touch anything or come take things out of my hand.

  “Who’s this?” I ask as I pick up a framed photo and her face falls.

  “Unfortunately, that’s my two exes—best friend and fiancé—but in the middle is her brother. He died in a car accident and that’s the only picture I have of him from when we were older.”

  If I were a lesser of a man I’d be pissed that she has a photo of her ex, but I’m not. I’m Joshua Wilson and this dumba
ss fucked up big time when he cheated on Joey. His loss is so my gain.

  “Your room is cute.”

  “It’s childish,” she retorts.

  I stalk toward her and push myself between her knees, falling into her until she’s lying down. “It’s you and I love it. I wish I could show you mine, but it doesn’t exist.”

  Her fingers trace along my cheeks and jaw before moving into my hair. “We can make our own memories.”

  “I plan to, Joey. I want to make so many with you it’s like my mind is a spinning Rolodex and stopping on what we’re doing next.”

  “I’m so happy we decided to come here. I feel free. I can’t explain it.”

  I crawl over her, pinning her with my legs. I don’t think I’m going to be able to go a day without being with her and know we’re going to have to get creative. I can’t imagine she’ll want to have sex with her parents here. Hell, she probably didn’t want to have sex with Rob there, although I wouldn’t have cared. It’s definitely a guy thing.

  “What are you doing?” she asks as I thrust my hips toward her.

  “Your dad closed your door, that’s like bro code.”

  “Bro code for what?” she asks, giggling.

  “For having sex, Joey. Your dad gets it.”

  “Oh my God, Joshua.” Her hands cover her face and I roll to my side, pulling her with me. “We can’t have sex.”

  “Ever?”

  When she doesn’t answer I prod her some more. “Think about it, Joey. You’re going to be sleeping next to me every night.” My hand moves up and down her side. “You already know that I have the biggest hard-on in the morning. I mean, you’ve been taking care of it for me since I asked you to marry me again.” I cup her breast, pulling at her nipple. “And I know how horny you get when you look at me, especially when you find me in bed ready.”

  Closing her eyes, she tries to ward off the ache she’s feeling between her legs.

  “My parents will hear us.”

  “Babe, we’ll get creative and you’ll have to be quiet, but I’m telling you right now, Joey Wilson, we’ll be having sex.”

  When she slaps me on my chest, I use that to get her on top of me. Her eyes close again when she feels how hard I am. That’s all it takes, me thinking about it and reminding her, to make me hard.

  “Joey,” her mom yells up the stairs, cock blocking me.

  “Coming.”

  “No you’re not, I didn’t even get started yet!”

  She covers her mouth and slaps me with her free hand. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

  I sit us up and wrap her legs around my waist. Taking her face in my hands, I gaze into her eyes. “You own me heart and soul, Joey.” I kiss her tenderly, letting my tongue trace the outside of her lip before seeking out the warm taste of her. She moves closer, adding friction to my erection and wrapping her arms around my neck to hold me in place.

  “Joey!” her mom yells again, breaking us apart.

  “Coming, Mom.”

  “Again with the lies,” I mutter, shaking my head. I let her disengage from me and start picturing the grossest things I can, willing my hard-on to go away. The last thing I want is to go face her father like this.

  “Are you ready?” she asks with her hand on the doorknob.

  Nodding, I prepare to face my in-laws. I’m not stupid enough to know they won’t ask questions, especially about Jules. Joey’s already spoken to her mom about the situation, but I’m sure her father will have some sage advice. Hell, maybe he can tell me how to make Joey happy all while trying to raise another woman’s child. I’m not sure the two go hand in hand considering Jules is on the warpath.

  I already know Joey won’t leave me because of the baby, she promised, but Jules and her antics are a different story. If Joey leaves me because of Jules, I’ll never let Jules live it down.

  My mom is running around, frantically making sure everything is perfect. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell her things are fine, she’s constantly trying to make them better in her eyes.

  Josh and I have been at my parents’ house now for a few days, and this by far has been the less stressful of our adventures. Even though the people in town know he’s here, the sheriff has made it very clear that the media is not welcome. For Josh that’s a relief. The last thing he wants to do is upset my parents, although when I saw my dad polishing his gun I don’t think he would’ve been too upset.

  Today is an impromptu wedding reception. I begged my mother not to throw a party, but Josh encouraged her and even sent out video invites of himself to all my family, which is the reason my mother is in such a panic.

  Josh and my father are outside supervising the massive tent construction that will have a dance floor, white twinkling lights, and a DJ. I told Josh if we were doing all of this now, we wouldn’t need to do it later.

  “It’s about the vows and declaring our love in front of our family,” he said with a kiss on my nose. Since arriving here, he and my father have been as thick as thieves, staying up late tinkering in the garage, fishing in the early hours of the morning and napping in the recliners.

  My parents are pulling out all the stops for this, and even though Josh offered to pay, they said they wanted to do this for us. Caterers have arrived and are setting up tables with an assortment of foods, veggies, and most importantly cake.

  “I see you licking your lips,” Josh whispers in my ear, pressing his chest to my back. I sag against him without taking my focus off the two-tier cake that sits not more than a few feet from me.

  “It has buttery frosting.”

  “Hmm, maybe we should save an outside piece for later,” he whispers into my ear. “I know a few places where I could lick some frosting off of you.”

  I squeeze his arms, hoping to convey that I’m game if he is. The last few days have been challenging. My bed is old and rickety, and even rolling over sounds like you’re about to put dents into the wall, so sex on there has been out of the question. My parents never leave, therefore there is zero privacy in the house. The garage and the backseat of the car have been our preferred locations. We tried the woods, but I was afraid I’d get a critter in my cooter so I vetoed that idea.

  “I almost wish we stayed in a hotel.”

  “Are you that horny, Joey?”

  I nod, letting my head fall back into his shoulder.

  “We just have to be more creative. I mean, we had sex in a house full of cameras. How hard could it be to hide from your parents?”

  Turning in his arms, I raise an eyebrow at the smirk he’s giving me. He thinks he’s so damn smooth when in actuality he’s not. Josh tells me all the time that I’m the one who has to be quiet, when in fact this man has the sexiest moans I have ever heard.

  “You and my dad seem to be best friends, can’t you convince him to take my mother out on a date?” I give Josh my best puppy dogs eyes while leaning into him. I even jut out my bottom lip for full effect. He tugs it with his teeth, making the growing ache inside of me stronger.

  “All in due time, my sweet wife. Believe me, watching you strut around in your bikini has been no picnic for me either. The quickies aren’t cutting it. My balls are turning as blue as that first condom we used.”

  I try to play it off, but I think he sees right through me. His eyes go wide while I look anywhere but at him.

  “You,” he says, almost seething yet he’s still playful. “You lied to me.”

  “Not really.”

  Josh pulls me away from the hubbub that is surrounding us and into the woods, far from prying eyes and open ears.

  “Admit it.”

  “Admit what?” I play stupid. I know full well what he’s talking about.

  “Tell me that we had sex.”

  “Duh.” I can’t contain my laughter. Josh closes his eyes as if he’s trying to keep his temper in check.

  “In the house, we were drinking and the next morning I woke up with a blue condom stuck to my leg. You and I had sex that night,
didn’t we? I’ve asked you this before, but you haven’t come out and confirmed it. Why not?”

  This time I look away. I remember the night clearly. Tequila did him in and he got frisky. I didn’t stop him because I wanted it, wanted him. It was selfish of me, and when he didn’t remember in the morning I thought it was easier to play it off than confirm we had sex. I didn’t want to hear him say it was a mistake or that it should’ve never happened.

  His fingers gently tug my chin, lifting it toward him. The sincerity in his eyes makes my heart swim.

  “Yes.” The word is muttered and barely audible above the sounds of nature that surround us.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I didn’t want to see the regret in your eyes, or hear that being with me was as mistake.”

  “I wouldn’t—”

  “You would’ve. You reminded me daily that we weren’t going to consummate our marriage … that after the ninety days was up, we were going our separate ways. I took advantage of you and didn’t want to suffer the consequences. I figured if you knew, you’d hate me.”

  “I hated that I didn’t remember, Joey.” He cups my face with his hand, his fingers pushing into my hair to hold me. “I was only fooling myself when I told you we couldn’t be together and hated that you listened to me. You kept your distance when I pulled you to me. Each time you backed away, I had to move next to you. Until I met you I didn’t believe in soul mates or love, but you walked into my life and shocked the shit out of me. Now I can’t picture my crazy, dysfunctional life without you.”

  “I could never picture my life with you. I felt cheated that we were matched on the show because look at me—”

  “Babe, I look at you all damn day long and believe me, I’m not the only one. You’re so fucking sexy, gorgeous, and smart and mine. All fucking mine.”

  He doesn’t wait for a response, pulling me forward until our lips are crashing together. Our tongues touch, sending the most wonderful feeling through my body. I never want this feeling to go away. I crave it. I crave him.