A Wild Ride (Jessica Brodie Diaries #3) (13 page)

“My vulnerable look has worn off?”

Scotty smiled slightly, pity in his eyes. “The strength is showing now, yes. Actually, I want Fred to be the star of the show. If this becomes a high-profile case, then we’ll introduce you to the cameras when you are all done-up. Right now, though, let Fred take the spotlight. Let’s keep him the hero.”

“Not enough room for two. That might be better.” I let him close the door and we drove away from the lights and the chaos. The only things I wanted was my bed and William. I wouldn’t get either.

”I think it’s time,” William said as we sat at his dining room table around a glass of tea.

He had come in that morning, early, and rescued me from his parent’s house. When I woke up next to him a few hours later I had no idea how I’d gotten there. That was thanks to the drugged up OJ Denise had given me the night before. She wanted to make sure I slept. And for once, being drugged without my consent was not a bad thing.

William spent the morning clutching me like a poor man clutching his life savings. To say he was upset was to say the Titanic got a small scrape from an iceberg. The man was slightly unhinged. But so was I. He was not ashamed to cry over this, and obviously, I wasn’t either. We spent most of the day huddling in each other’s arms, saying little.

It was the evening now. It was time to come out of our shell and rejoin the world. William had one more day with me, then he had to return to work. Me likewise. It was an insanely anti-climactic end to one of the three scariest moments in my life.

“I am not saying that I think moving in is a bad idea, I’m not," I said in a patient voice, "but I do want you to realize that houses get robbed all the time. Just because I’m in your house doesn’t mean that suddenly my bad luck will end.”

“I think it’s time we got married.”

“Wait,
what?
That doesn’t even make sense.”

“If you were a Davies, you would have our lawyers, our reputation, our connections... You would be more protected.”

“I am not going to marry you for witness protection. And if I’d gotten a crowbar to the head, Davies or no Davies, I would be just as dead.”

Shouldn’t have said that.

William looked sick, jumped out of his chair and smashed me into his chest. I loved his muscles, but they weren’t as soft as a teddy bear.

“I just think it’s time.” I heard the words rumble out of his chest, which my ear was uncomfortably pressed against.

“Not yet.”

“
When
Jessica? You said eventually. Eventually is nondescript. Marry me.”

“I hate to be the obvious one all the time, but this isn’t exactly the most
romantic
proposal in the world. I will move in with you. I am agreeing to that. But I will not be forced into marrying you because I keep ending up in bad situations that mess with everyone’s life.”

I heard William sigh. “Look, I’ll fly you out to Paris and propose if you want. I’ll give you a huge wedding in Rome. Whatever you want. Just marry me.”

I tried to disengage myself from William’s stone chest and arms. It didn’t work. I pinched his nipple instead.

That worked like a charm.

“
Ow!
” he said as he let me go and rubbed his offended nipple.

“Not yet, William. Okay? You can push most people around, but you can’t push me. Not yet. I am not ready. Closer, but not yet. I’ll just have to take my chances for a little while longer.”

“You are no spring chicken anymore, Jess. You are nearly thirty years old. You are plenty old to get married.”

“This conversation just ended.”

“It’s true, though. If you want children—“

I started walking to the door. He caught up with me and hugged me again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m just—“

“
Stop
!” I yelled. Tensions were still way out of control from last night. William and I barely had a handle on ourselves; we weren’t doing well with each other. “I will not stand here while you tell me my eggs are old and I better get married soon or else it’ll be too late.
I
will decide when I marry. I will not be pushed into it by you, or anyone else. Is that clear?”

“Jess—“

“Is it? If you want to keep on with this, I will walk out of this house, into the world, and ignore you for tomorrow and the entire week you are gone. Is that what you want? I am not kidding about this. What you are saying is insulting and degrading.”

William sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Please just… think about it?”

“Look, I’ll move in first, then, if that works, we’ll figure it out, okay?”

He nodded and herded me toward the bed. Back to more cuddling and sleep. We both needed it.

I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I was to stay with Adam until William got back. I refused.

I was commanded. That worked about as well as when I was told.

Then he asked nicely. Nope. The burglars aren’t going to track me down, so there was absolutely no point in staying with Adam. I would stay at William’s, or in the Big House with Gladis.

Finally he gave me one hell of a guilt trip. He couldn’t be the man he wanted to be with all his obligations; it was why he didn’t want to get involved with someone in the beginning. He didn’t feel like a man at all, lately, because I said no at every turn, I made him beg for the simplest of things, and now, when it mattered so greatly to him, I wouldn’t even bend a fraction in compromise. That wasn’t how relationships worked! On and on until finally I gave in.

Oh, and I was given another Doberman, named Ginger, while Fred was staying in the swankiest animal hospital in the state.

Poor Fred—they told me later that he almost died. He was kicked and punched and bit by those trying to get a big dog off them. He was bruised and battered from weapons. And stabbed. Twice. Once by the first guy in, which was nothing more than a gash. The second time when it saved my life. Pictures of him bleeding, red blood on a brilliant white table, flooded the stories. My picture showed up as well; of the girl he saved.

It could have gone the other way. There were some that thought he was a danger to society. A dog that could rip someone’s throat out should be terminated. That’s what they said: terminated. Thankfully, Dr. Phil Blankley was the best vet in the area, some said the state. He also loved attention. He ensured that Fred stayed a hero, and was absolutely no threat to anyone besides evil-doers. He literally used the term
evil-doers
. If I wasn’t so thankful he saved Fred’s life, I would’ve rolled my eyes.

And here I was, walking out of Adam’s guest shower in my robe, trying not to be late to meet Lump in half an hour. She hadn’t stayed over last night—Adam felt weird about it. He had his buddy’s girlfriend staying in his house, who was friends with his girlfriend, but he felt weird about having said girlfriend sleep over.

I was so, so thankful Lump trusted Adam.

Speak of the devil, I ran smack into him, shirtless. The guy liked to air dry, apparently, so I saw him in boxers and nothing else quite often. Since I no longer had any sexual hang-ups, it wasn’t a big deal, except for the fact that if he fell out of his boxers it would really gross me out.

Then there were the constant smells. He didn’t always smell bad, but I was used to William, who grew up with Denise. Not only did William very rarely
ever
smell bad, even his feet, but he went out of his way to smell good. Mouthwateringly good. It was just one of the ways that I was spoiled.

“Did you remember deodorant?” I asked as he sidestepped me.

“Yes.” He answered as though I was a nagging wife.

“I am only trying to help you.”

“Uh huh.”

“Oh, by the way, I invited Lump over tonight. If you won’t have sex with her, I will.”

Adam popped his head out of his bedroom, which was the last one down the hall on the right. “Jess, I can’t keep my wits on you if I am distracted by her. You’re a dad-gum full-time job.”

“Then what will you ever do when you have kids?”

“What?”

“Well, you’ll have kids someday. And a wife, probably, unless you want a baby-mamma. So how will you protect your kids with a wife lying next to you?”

Adam blinked at me a few times, then scowled and went back in his room. I totally won that one! It was too easy. He never put up much in the way of an opposition, which reaffirmed what I'd realized shortly after I'd met him. If I was with him, I'd walk all over the guy, then feel badly. This way, I got to pick on him, then test my strength of will against William, who won half the time and kept me on my toes. Victories were always sweeter when you earned them.

I met Lump in a coffee shop around the corner. I was ten minutes late, which she reminded me by saying, “You’re late.”

“Yes, thank you for spotting the obvious. Your stupid boyfriend wanted to follow me here before he went out to the ranch.”

“He takes forever to get going.”

“I
know!”

“He loves you, you know.”

I choked on my hot coffee, which was really painful. When I stopped sputtering I met Lump’s eyes, ready for an unpleasant conversation. She had a habit of springing these things on me.

“No, Lump, he loves
you.
Really strongly. He says it often. Thanks me for bringing you here. For getting you to stay. Loves you fervently.”

Lump smiled—thank God—her eyes going soft. “Nice reaction. At first I thought you might run. But yeah, I wasn’t kidding, he loves you. Deeply. Like he loves Willie. Like he loves his family. You are that important to him.”

“Oh. Uh. Thanks? I’m sorry? Not sure how to take that.”

Lump laughed again. “I trust him. Implicitly. He won’t cheat on me, and if he did, which he won’t, he will never,
ever,
leave me for you.
Ever.
”

“Wow…asshole?”

Lump bent over laughing, which made Ginger look up at her. Oh yeah, I took Ginger everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Dr. George hooked her up with a tag that people with mental issues got. She was a canine companion. I doubted many people got attack dogs for mental help, but I was special. Helmet wearing special, yes, but still.

“He says he loves you to pieces, but he can’t rest around you," Lump went on. "Either you are getting into trouble, getting him into trouble, or bossing him around. I am pretty sure he secretly thinks you smoke crack.”

“Not a secret. He asked me yesterday after I cooked him dinner, made him clean up after, then yelled at him for not throwing salt over his left shoulder.”

“He spilled it?”

“Yeah. Bad luck!”

Lump laughed. “It was the timing. You can’t spring things on the guy. You have to explain that he is cleaning because you cooked—only fair. Then you would’ve had to explain that throwing salt was because of luck, not because you wanted him to dirty what he’d just cleaned.”

“Too much work.”

“Yeah, you are too wound up. Plus, he finds it strange that you follow him around with deodorant.”

“And cologne. Both spray on. I just give him a little fixer-up squirt. He barely has to move and
voila
, he’s smelling like a million bucks. Man, I do sound crazy, don’t I? But you know I have a sensitive nose!”

Lump laughed and finished her coffee. “Yes, you do. I don’t, thank God. I think Willie likes the constant entertainment. Adam finds it exhausting.”

“Good thing I’m not with Adam, then. Speaking of, I told him you were coming over tonight.”

“Jess, don’t get involved.”

“I’m not involved. I just told him you were coming over. No biggie. If everyone thinks I’ll sit still while everyone plans out my life for me, then I’ll just start meddling.”

“I’m not pushing you around.”

“Yes you are. You’re just more subtle about it. Self-defense classes weren’t
my
idea…”

Lump shrugged. “We going out tonight?”

“Adam won’t let me. He says I’ll probably start a bar fight. I think he is counting down the days until William gets back.”

“Yeah, he’s given up the idea that he can keep you safe. I knew about his rage. You were there; I was confronted with it. But I never knew how deeply his soft spot went; his vulnerability. I think he keeps that bottled down even deeper than the rage. I see it with you, though. I see it come out. I know it now because of the other night. I don’t touch that place in him.”

“He probably likes you better for it.”

“He does, yes. But it is a small point of jealousy that I want to bring up.”

“Oh. Well, let yourself nearly get raped twice, then get shot at, cry a few dozen times and you’re there. Nothing to it.”

“Yeah. I’m not that girl.”

“I know. I wish I wasn’t.”

“I know. I’m sorry for showing up late to the party the other night. Adam isn’t the only person that you harass with your getting into trouble trendsetting.”

“Was that code for, ‘Jessica, I deeply regard you as my friend, love you as such, and you complete me, but God damn it, stay out of danger because you are poking me in my excuse for a heart with a stick and I can’t take it no more?’”

“No. What I meant was, stop getting in trouble or I’ll kill you myself.”

“Yeah, same thing.”

Lump covered the touchy bits with humor, just as I did. Just as William and Adam didn’t. It’s why she was awesome, and they were just boys.

God I missed William.

Chapter Seven

Moving day.

I sighed, sitting cross-legged on the grass in front of the cottage, looking across the large expanse of yard. If I had lived here longer, I would’ve definitely put in a volleyball court. This place would rock with one! Otherwise, a lot of carnage had happened here, recently, but before that a lot of great memories. I did love this place. I hated to leave it.