Unchained Memories

by Dena Blake

  I’m sure you do. Jillian walked Maxine to her car, and then Blake joined her on the porch. She was going to have to be more careful from now on.

  “The house looks great,” Maxine shouted and threw them a wave as she pulled away from the curb.

  “Did she say great?”

  “I think she did.”

  “The woman’s never been that nice before.”

  Jillian widened her eyes. “Maybe she likes you.”

  Blake raised his eyebrows. “That would be surprising. Amelia’s the one she was after.”

  “She dated Amelia?” Did everyone date Amelia?

  “I wouldn’t say they dated. They spent a good amount of time together working on the grant paperwork, and I think Maxine got the wrong idea. Getting money out of her has been an uphill battle ever since.”

  Now things were starting to make sense. Jillian hadn’t realized the situation when she’d let Maxine take over the administration. She was going to make sure the difficulties stopped, one way or another.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Amelia had successfully stayed away from the house this week. She had plenty to do at work. Keeping her mind occupied made it easier to avoid stopping by, but she’d still found herself thinking about JJ more than she should. It was Thursday night, and she craved a home-cooked meal. She hadn’t eaten anything but fast food all week.

  “What are you cooking there, Coop? It smells wonderful,” Amelia said as she came through the back door.

  “Roast chicken.”

  “With mashed potatoes and gravy?” She glanced through the door into the living room, hoping to see the woman she’d been avoiding all week.

  “They come together.” Coop dipped out a spoonful of gravy and stuck it into Amelia’s mouth.

  “Oh, that’s wonderful. Do you mind if I stay?”

  “You’ll have to fight for your share, as always.”

  “She can have mine. I’m going out,” JJ said as she came down the back stairs.

  “Out? With who?” Amelia turned, leaned back against the counter, and swallowed hard as she took in the gorgeous sight in front of her. JJ was dressed in black leggings and a printed T-shirt covered with a faded gray vest. Damn, she looked good.

  “Darcy,” JJ answered.

  “Darcy? Seriously?” Amelia’s voice rose.

  “She asked me if I wanted to have a drink, so I said yes.” JJ tilted her head. “Is there some reason I shouldn’t go?”

  “I just didn’t picture you with someone like her.”

  “Oh?” JJ lifted her eyebrows. “Just who do you picture me with? You?”

  Amelia crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “No. Definitely not me.”

  “Good, because that’s not going to happen.”

  Amelia narrowed her eyes. “Well, now that we’ve got that settled.” She turned around and pulled the plates from the cabinet. “Anyone else hungry?”

  “There’s no school tomorrow, and Abby’s spending the night with a friend tonight, so I might be late,” JJ said as she pushed through the door into the living room.

  With that news, Amelia fumbled with the plates, almost dropping them.

  “What was that?” Blake said, taking the plates.

  Amelia stared at the kitchen door, calming the urge to follow JJ through it. “Nothing. She’s just irritating.”

  Coop let out a chuckle. “You keep telling yourself that, honey.”

  Amelia couldn’t get through dinner fast enough. As soon as she reached her car she called Julie, told her she needed help, and to meet her at her place. She’d gone home and changed into jeans, boots, and her sexiest form-fitting black sweater. Darcy wasn’t going to get her hooks into this one.

  “Hey, I’m here.” Julie had let herself in. “What’s up?” She stopped, scrunching her eyebrows together. “Are you going out?”

  “Yes, and I need you to go with me.”

  “You could’ve given me a heads-up.” She motioned to her jeans and T-shirt.

  “You always look fabulous.”

  “Can I at least borrow a blouse?”

  “Sure.” Amelia opened her closet. “Knock yourself out.”

  Julie chose a form-fitting gray tee and an oversized button-down blue plaid camp shirt that fit more like a tunic than a blouse. She decided to stick with her ballet flats instead of letting her size-eight foot swim in Amelia’s size-ten boots.

  “Who are we going to see?”

  “No one. We just haven’t been out in a while, and I thought it would be nice.”

  “Don’t bullshit me, Amelia. You never want to go out. I always have to drag you.”

  Amelia chewed on her bottom lip, debating what she should tell Julie. She still straddled a fine line in their friendship when it came to dating other women. “Darcy’s going to be there with someone I know.”

  “Someone you want to go out with.” Julie crossed her arms and cocked her head. “Click-girl?”

  “Possibly.” Amelia steeled herself for a big fat no and started thinking about how she could go to the bar alone without being too obvious.

  “Okay, then. Let’s let Darcy know she’s got competition.”

  “Thanks, Jules. You’re the best.” She gave Julie a quick hug and followed her out the door.

  * * *

  It wasn’t a large house—two, maybe three bedrooms, she guessed, surrounded by a chain-link fence on a corner lot. With standard locks and deadbolts, it wouldn’t be difficult to breach. Getting information was easy. All it took was a friendly disposition, a little twang in her dialect, and the right questions. Within minutes, Kelly knew everything she needed to about Amelia Mathews. She’d sat next door, on Mrs. Jones’s back porch, enjoying a delicious piece of apple pie while the sweet elderly woman spilled information about the entire neighborhood. Fortunately, a house down the street was for sale, and it was easy for Kelly to pretend she was a prospective buyer. No one had answered the first two doors she’d knocked on. Finding Mrs. Jones in her front yard trimming her roses had been just plain dumb luck.

  People in this town knew nothing about privacy, let alone security. The houses sat on good-sized lots, but having neighbors who knew everything about you, plus could look right into your backyard, was much too invasive for Kelly. She’d had a bird’s-eye view into the back of Amelia’s place from Mrs. Jones’s rear porch all afternoon and had been able to get a pretty good idea how the house was laid out and that Amelia still wasn’t home. The blinds in the living room had been left open, so Kelly had slipped into her backyard to take a look. She could never live in a town like this and was surprised no one had been smart enough to figure out Jillian McIntyre was masquerading as a teacher at the high school.

  * * *

  Jojo’s wasn’t the fanciest bar in town, but it was some distance from the university and wasn’t filled with young college students drinking themselves into oblivion. It was Thirsty Thursday, as deemed by the students, and the bars on Campus Corner would be spilling out with stressed undergrads trying to forget about their courses for the night. Jillian followed Darcy past the tall tables to the far end of the bar and grabbed a stool facing the mirrored wall, while Darcy took the one adjacent to her on the corner. Jillian could see that it gave her a good view of the whole place, and Darcy was using it to her advantage, already surveying the crowd. Jillian’s stomach rumbled. When Darcy had suggested dinner and drinks, Jillian had thought dinner would consist of more than a couple of tacos at the place down the street. If she’d known, Jillian would’ve opted to stay for the delicious-smelling roast chicken at home.

  Darcy leaned in close to Jillian and whispered, “This isn’t a gay bar per se, but it gets a pretty mixed crowd.”

  Jillian could see that right away by the number of looks they got as they came in. The cute bartender came over and took their drink order, a Bombay martini for Jillian and an IPA beer for Darcy. She mixed the martini first, slid it in front of Jillian, then popped the top off a bottle for Darcy and offered to pour the gl
ass. Darcy waved her off, opting to drink straight from the bottle.

  “Don’t look now, hazardous hotness alert,” Darcy said before taking a pull on her beer.

  “Where?”

  Darcy dipped her head toward the far end of the bar.

  Jillian leaned forward, looked around the various people enjoying their drinks, and her stomach tightened. There, sitting at the end of the bar, was Amelia with a knockout blonde. Smiling and laughing, she was propped way too closely, touching her face intimately. Jillian downed her drink. She wasn’t supposed to give up so easily. She should still be pining away for her, just as Jillian had for all those years. She must have been an idiot to come back to this town. It wasn’t as if they could pick up where they’d left off. It was stupid to think Amelia didn’t have needs. Jillian had plenty of them. Only one problem—Amelia had never left her thoughts, not for one blasted minute over the past fifteen years. She’d plagued every relationship Jillian had ever had or, to be more accurate, tried to have. How could she expect anyone to live up to the memory of her first love?

  Jillian glanced down the bar to get another look at Amelia, but the seats where they’d been sitting were now occupied by two men. She almost jumped out of her seat when she heard the familiar voice behind her.

  “I didn’t think I’d see you here,” Amelia said.

  “Ditto.” Jillian let her eyes sweep Amelia’s body, and her mouth went dry. She was wearing a V-neck sweater that accentuated all the right parts, bootleg jeans, and plain black boots that had made her two inches taller. She was looking way better than any woman had a right to look.

  “You two know each other?” Darcy said, raising her eyebrows.

  “JJ lives at Heartstrings House.” The woman next to Jillian got up, and Amelia slid onto the stool in her place.

  “You live with Blake Mathews?”

  “My niece and I occupy a room in the house, as do a few others.”

  “Oh.” Darcy seemed disappointed that she wasn’t going to have any gossip to spread tomorrow. Well, she did have some, but it wasn’t juicy.

  Jillian motioned to the bartender, who mixed her a martini, grabbed another IPA for Darcy, and scooted them across the bar. Jillian’s throat burned as she downed her drink.

  “What’s that you’re drinking?” Amelia asked.

  “Martini.” Jillian slid the glass back across the bar.

  “I tried to get her to try a Leg Spreader, but she wouldn’t go for it.” Darcy smiled.

  “Smart girl.” Amelia didn’t take her gaze from Jillian.

  “You want something?” Darcy asked Julie.

  “Crown and water.” Julie looked at Amelia, then nudged her on the shoulder when she didn’t look up. “Club soda for you?”

  Amelia nodded, and Darcy waved down the bartender. She ordered their drinks and Jillian pointed to her glass.

  “You sure you need another one of those?” Amelia asked.

  “Aren’t you here with someone else?” Someone other than me?

  Amelia took in a deep breath and nodded. “I am, but she seems pretty tied up right now with the woman you’re here with.” The bartender slid her club soda across the bar, and she raised her glass. “Let’s make the best of it, shall we?”

  Jillian picked up her martini. “Cheers,” she said, tapping it lightly to Amelia’s before downing the drink. The burn wasn’t as intense this time, but she was beginning to feel the effects of the gin. She glanced around the room, her face numb and her view beginning to skew. She probably should’ve nursed that one for a while.

  * * *

  Amelia poured JJ into bed and sat on the edge, making sure she was settled for the night. She couldn’t help but smile about the multiple times she’d told Amelia how beautiful she was, as well as the times she muttered nasty things and pointed at Julie. It was clear the woman was jealous, and Amelia had to admit, the same feeling had hit her hard when she’d spotted JJ with Darcy.

  She hadn’t planned to bring her home with her, but no way in hell was she was going to leave her intoxicated like this in Darcy’s hands. Darcy would definitely take advantage of her condition. It wasn’t that Amelia hadn’t enjoyed drunken sex before, but tonight wasn’t the night it was going to happen. Not with this woman. Thankfully, Julie was a team player. She’d seen JJ’s condition and had offered to keep Darcy busy while Amelia got JJ out of the bar.

  Amelia looked at the woman passed out in her bed and took a deep breath. She was gorgeous and looked kind of sweet in her sleep. It was tempting to crawl in next to her just to hold her through the night. Bad idea, Amelia. She shook the thought from her head and got up. After taking a blanket from the closet, she headed out into the living room and settled in on the couch, thinking about the evening. It had passed quickly and was kind of a blur at this point, except for the parts that included JJ. The bar had been pretty busy when they got there. She hadn’t spotted JJ right away, but Jojo’s was Darcy’s hangout, and they were bound to be there somewhere. She and Julie had snagged a couple of seats at the end of the bar, and that’s when she’d seen Darcy directly opposite her at the other end of it. JJ had to be close by.

  They’d just ordered their drinks when she caught Darcy watching her. She saw her turn to someone adjacent to her, and that’s when JJ’s head popped into view. Amelia had turned quickly to Julie and told her she had something on her face. Julie leaned in right on cue and let Amelia brush her cheek with her fingers. When Amelia looked back down the bar, Darcy was glaring at her and JJ was downing her drink. It couldn’t have played out more perfectly. She just hadn’t expected JJ to drink two more martinis after that.

  When they’d talked, the observations JJ had made about Julie were spot-on to a certain degree, until the jealousy factor kicked in. The night had grown pretty amusing after that. JJ’s thoughts seemed to be scattered at times. She’d said some things that made good sense and then some that didn’t make sense at all. She had Amelia confused about what was happening between the two of them. When JJ had pushed Amelia against the car, hooked her hand behind Amelia’s neck, and kissed her, JJ’s intent was crystal clear, and Amelia gave in to it.

  JJ had immediately changed the radio station from NPR news to a mixed music station when she got in the car, and the bass blaring through the speakers vibrated the windows. Other than that, the drive home had been uneventful until Amelia looked over and caught JJ gazing at her. When JJ reached out and took the clip from Amelia’s hair, she couldn’t mistake the thrill that shot through her. Amelia had thought she was going to have to pull the car over right then and there. They had shared plenty of wet, hot, arousal-piquing kisses on the way into the house, but the puking after that had been a reality check. Amelia was absolutely not going to sleep with JJ when she was drunk.

  * * *

  Jillian opened her eyes and gazed around the room. Where the hell am I? She heard the water running in the shower. Darcy. Shit. I must be at her place. The room was decorated nicely, but subdued with muted greens and dark furniture. She glanced around and took in the rest of the room. Funny. She never would’ve pictured Darcy’s bedroom like this. She’d expected it to be more bright and vibrant.

  “Hey, you’re awake,” Amelia said as she came out of the bathroom dressed in a terry robe, rubbing her long, dark hair with a towel.

  Jillian couldn’t help but pause a minute to take in the picture of deliciousness. Holy hotness. Am I dreaming? A flash from the night before shot through her mind. She’d kissed someone at the car, the front door…lots of kissing. “Did we?” She lifted the sheet, looked at her clothes or, more accurately, lack thereof. No leggings and someone else’s T-shirt. She widened her eyes and bolted up. “Oh, my God, we did.” She sank back into the pillow and let out a slow breath. How could I not remember?

  Amelia let out an unrestrained laugh, and Jillian let the amazing sound wash over her. The incredible rush made her tingle all over. “No, we did not. You were a little drunk. I thought it best not to take you back to the house.
” She touched Jillian’s chin with her finger. “Believe me, if we had, you’d remember it.”

  Jillian pulled the sheet up and tucked it under her arms. “I don’t hold my liquor very well.”

  “Apparently, but not many women do after three martinis.” Amelia raised an eyebrow and pulled her lip up to one side into an irresistible smile. “Just be thankful I didn’t let Darcy take you home. You’d be waking up in a whole different situation.”

  “Yeah. Thanks for that.” She glanced over at the clock, nine thirty. “Damn!” Jillian jumped up quickly, taking the sheet with her as she grabbed her clothes and ran into the bathroom.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I’m supposed to pick Abby up at ten.”

  She came out of the bathroom searching for her shoes as she pulled on her vest. “Where’s my car?” she said, looking out the window.

  “Still at the bar. I can only drive one car at a time.”

  “Shit.” She sank down onto the bed. “I hate to ask, but could you take me to get it?”

  “How about you call her and let her know you’re running late? Then you can shower, and I’ll take you over to pick her up. After that, we can get a bite to eat.” Amelia sat next to her. “We’ll get your car later.”

  “You don’t have to do that. You can just take me to my car.”

  “I want to.” Amelia patted her thigh. “Now, go shower and I’ll get you some clean clothes.”

  * * *

  “How about some fresh air?” Amelia pushed the button and the top retracted, then stowed itself away in the back of the Camaro. “It’s a beautiful day.” She looked over at JJ and could see how bloodshot her eyes still were. “For most of us. Want me to put the top back up?”

  “No. I’ll be fine once I get a little air movement.” Amelia watched as JJ leaned back and let the sun hit her face. Amazing. Beautiful even after a night of serious puking. Where did this woman come from? More importantly, how did she end up in the middle of my life?