Redeeming Justice (18 page)

“I want to go back to the house. Now.”

Alex looked at her with dark eyes but didn’t argue or say anything else. He grabbed
the t-shirt she’d ripped off him and pulled it back over his head before turning toward
the rear of the truck where Zeus still lazed. She heard the tailgate slam shut and
a second later the big dog climbed into the cab and hesitated.

In one of those unbelievably surreal moments, the dog moved away from Alex and came
to rest against Meghan’s side, placing a paw upon her thigh and licking her face.
It was sweet and protective and made a statement of female solidarity that had an
in your face
quality directed at the man left gaping at the side of the truck. She loved that
big dumb dog with a vengeance from that second forward.

The long drive back to the Villa happened in complete silence with Meghan huddled
against the side of the truck, as far away from Alex as she could get and Zeus acting
as a buffer. She sensed the dog staring at her master with what she hoped was doggie
disgust. Girl power indeed.

When the truck pulled into the driveway at last, Meghan scrambled hastily from her
seat; vigorously slamming the passenger door after Zeus jumped down at her side. Shooting
Alex a damning look before whirling away, she was so lost in fury she barely registered
the people standing around watching the strange scene unfold.

With Zeus trotting protectively alongside, she stomped furiously past the startled
onlookers and stormed into the house making sure to slam the front door as she did.
The fact that her dress was barely staying up, courtesy of the torn straps, or that
her underwear was God knows where made her angry retreat all the more dramatic.

Back in the driveway, Tori who had been unloading a stack of cowboy hats from the
back of an electric cart for the agency’s visiting clients, watched Meghan stomp away
and saw the defeated expression on Alex’s face.

Well, that hadn’t taken long
, she thought. Judging by the angry hurt emanating off the woman who just ignored
everyone standing around and by the fact that Zeus had clearly defected told her a
hell of a lot.

These Justice boys had an uncanny ability to fuck up the best thing that ever happened
to them. It had only taken forty-eight hours for Alex to put his foot in it. Tori
sighed knowing she and Lacey had their work cut out for them if they were going to
save the situation.

Catching her husband’s gaze as he stood silently slack-jawed watching the scene play
out in front of them, she rolled her eyes and shook her head. When Alex turned away
and stormed off in the direction of the pool, she noted his pained limp and saw how
he clutched his hands into fists at his side.

Carmen, who had been helping her with the dozens of western hats, also watched what
happened; only her face registered pained concern tinged with displeasure at the man
whose back was quickly moving away from them. He hadn’t said a single word to any
of them. In fact, he seemed to barely register that they were even on the same planet
as he.

With raised eyebrows Tori gestured with her head to Draegyn who nodded in silent response
before following after his brother. She knew her boss well enough to know he wasn’t
going to share whatever had gone on between him and the angry redhead but he’d need
the support of her husband.

She hesitated, considering what her best move was, then asked Carmen to finish with
the hats before putting a hand on her bump for support as she scurried after Meghan.
Somehow she knew that letting the situation cool off wasn’t in everyone’s best interest.
Going by the pained fury on Irish’s face, she wouldn’t be all that surprised to find
her throwing shit into a suitcase. She needed to act fast to keep that from happening.

Meghan made for her room in haste with Zeus right by her side. The minute the door
slammed behind her she flung herself on the bed, letting loose the tears she’d been
holding back. She wasn’t normally a crier but the waves of conflicting emotion battering
her erupted in a torrent of hiccupping sobs that seemed to be endless.

Foolish romantic fantasies aside, no woman wanted to hear ugly regret coming out of
the mouth of a man whose body was still deep inside her own. When she told him how
her mother had always said a man would fuck anyone who let him, she hadn’t been kidding.
And that was pretty much how she felt.

He hadn’t tried to take more than she was willing to give. No. That had been her.
She’d practically forced herself upon him. God, what an idiot she’d been. Once he’d
come inside her, he reacted so quickly that she’d been stunned. What had she done?

Zeus hopped up on the bed and curled against her shaking body as she sobbed uncontrollably.
There was something comforting about the dog’s head lying on her back as she shook
and cried her eyes out. At least someone cared.

A quiet knock sounded at her door that she chose to ignore, fearing it was Alex come
to make nice. She was so devastated that
nice
was permanently off the agenda.

After a minute, the knock came again only this time she heard Tori’s voice. “Sweetie,
can I come in?”

She nodded but no sound came from her mouth. Meghan felt empty and scared. Feeling
as though she’d behaved like a right royal slut was messing with her mind. Thankfully,
Tori didn’t wait to be let in and slowly opened the door to peek inside. Finding Meghan
sprawled on the bed was enough to get her moving quickly to her side, concern etched
on her face.

“Oh, dammit Irish. Are you okay? Why the tears sweetie?”

Meghan sat up and furiously wiped the tears away. “I made such an unbelievable fool
of myself Tori,” she wailed.

Shooing the dog from the bed, Tori climbed onto the mattress and handed her a box
of tissues from the nightstand.

“I highly doubt that, Meghan” she murmured, a thoughtful look shining from her eyes.
Reaching out, she pulled on one of the torn straps that were supposed to be holding
up her bodice and smirked.

Meghan blew her nose with a stuffy sounding honk and tried to get it together. “I
need a shower,” she eventually moaned, aware that she looked like hell and still wore
the evidence of their sweaty sexually charged encounter on her skin.

Tori snorted out a half laugh and said, “That bad is it?”

“Well, my dress is torn, and I’m sitting here without any underwear so you do the
math.”

The last thing Meghan expected was the grin that broke out across the other woman’s
face.

“Two questions Irish and then you can run to the shower.”

Meghan sniffed and shrugged her shoulders. “Why not? Everyone might as well know what
a slut I am.”

Tori smiled and patted her shoulder reassuringly. “Believe me when I tell you that
nobody is going to think that. Not anyone who knows Alex anyway. That distinction
is his if I’m correct.”

She nodded and looked away, wishing a sinkhole would open up and swallow her whole.

“Okay. First. Was there a condom anywhere in this situation?”

Meghan gaped at her with wide, horrified eyes at how irresponsible she’d been but
managed to croak out, “It’s okay. I’m on the pill.”

Tori visibly loosened up. “Second. Does Alex know this?”

The horror only deepened as she offered a negative nod. “Uh, it didn’t exactly come
up in conversation.”

“
Sooooo
what… he had his head up his ass? That’s not like him at all.”

“Oh my fucking God Tori!” she wailed as a new wave off misery washed over her and
the tears started up again. “It was all me. I started it and believe me – even if
I wasn’t on the pill, it would have happened anyway. What’s wrong with me?”

Tori rubbed her back as she cried it out, then pulled a couple of tissues from the
box and handed them to her.

“I can tell you what’s wrong, Irish. You fell hard and incredibly fast for a Justice
Brother. Welcome to the club sweetie.”

“It was my fault,” she whispered. “He’s made it abundantly clear that he didn’t really
want me. In fact he’s been trying awfully hard to make me back off.”

The other woman snorted in amusement again. “Let me guess – he tried to make you back
off in a push me pull me sort of way, right?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

She smiled and stuck out her hand as if they were meeting for the first time. “Hi.
I’m Victoria St. John.
That’s
how I know. Do you think it was any different for me? Or Lacey? You will never meet
three more extraordinary men than Draegyn, Cameron, and Alex but oh my lord are they
one fucked up unit. But you need to talk to him about this. If I know my boss, he’s
probably wallowing in remorse and wondering how the hell to bring it up.”

“This is unfamiliar territory for me. I don’t have any experience in these matters.
Plus, I’m embarrassed by how out of control I got.”

“Well, I’m kinda glad to hear that. The experience thing, I mean. Look,” Tori said,
“my husband told me a little bit about how you came to know our fearless Big Daddy.
I’m really sorry Irish. Losing someone that way must have been terrible. The Justice
Brothers are unusual men. Alex is like the conscience of the group while Draegyn is
the intellect and Cameron the soulful brooding heart. Ever see the Wizard of Oz?”

Meghan nodded and tried to wrap her mind around the unusual reference.

“My hunky husband is the Scarecrow with the brain. Cam is the Tin Man searching for
his heart and Alex, well Alex is the Lion. His challenge is finding the courage to
overcome what he sees as a shit ton of failings. The kind that haunt you. Is this
starting to make sense?”

Oh God, it was. Why hadn’t she seen it before? He felt responsible for David’s death
and had tried to say so a bunch of times. Making love to her was something his soldier’s
conscience couldn’t handle. That was what the pained
no
had been about. He’d disrespected the memory of one of his men by being with her.
Plus, he wouldn’t know that their lack of precaution wouldn’t turn in to a shit show.

“Tori. You said Draegyn told you how Alex and I met. I want you to know that no matter
what Alex thinks now, I was never going to marry David. I can’t tell you why, but
I swear. It wasn’t going to happen. I cared for him, yes. Maybe even loved him. I
knew him most of my life and despite what appearances may suggest, our so-called engagement
was a moment in time spurred on by a war and something else.”

“Does Alex know this?”

“I’ve tried to tell him but he won’t listen. It’s like he has this picture carved
in stone inside his head where David’s dead, somehow he’s responsible, and being attracted
to me is like pissing on a dead man’s grave.”

Tori thought about that for a moment and told her, “Maybe you should try and find
out what that
somehow
means and go from there. I’m thinking that’s what is driving him to keep you at arm’s
length.” Taking in how she looked, the other woman smiled. “Doesn’t look like he was
all that successful at it either and before you say another word,” she insisted as
she put up her hand to stop whatever Meghan had been about to say. “There’s no possible
way you made a fool of yourself and if you think you seduced an unwilling man, think
again. I knew that first night we met from watching him track your every movement
that he was a goner.”

Meghan sniffed again and gave her a watery smile. “Really?”

“Yes, sweetie. Really
truly
really. Now go get your shower and put on something pretty. Ria and Ben have a cookout
planned and you don’t want to show up looking like someone ran over your dog. And
speaking of dogs, what’s up with Zeus?”

Meghan looked at the big dog that sat by the bed watching them and giggled. “I think
she’s mad at him.”

Tori scuttled off the bed and scratched the dog behind the ears. “I always did like
her. She knows what’s up.”

They both laughed at that, and Meghan felt a measure of calm return to her senses.
She was done crying, and she wasn’t going to run. Tori was right. She had to find
out why her hesitant lover was so damn conflicted. Maybe if she told him her truth,
he’d share his.