Chapter 23 All Out for Love #2
We all held our breath because we didn’t want Jinx to latch on to that.
“But you’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t do this,” Harlow finished.
Jinx stared at her.
We all waited.
Jinx stared at her longer.
We all waited.
“Okay, linda, let’s do this,” Jinx whispered.
We all let out a collective sigh of relief.
So as not to spook her, we also stayed silent as we walked her out to the cars.
Shanti, Joey, Gemma and I got into one.
Raye, Luna, Harlow and Jessie scrunched with Jinx in the other one.
And we rolled out.
It was with fear, awe and shock when both cars slid to a halt at the curb outside Noah’s house.
“Well, shit, he lives in a mansion with a pool and a view of the mountains,” Shanti muttered.
He did.
Yeesh.
How much did accountants make?
There appeared to be a drama happening in the car ahead, so we sat in ours watching nervously.
Finally, it seemed like Jessie physically booted Jinx out with the way she went flying from the back seat.
But we had another problem.
The door to the mansion was open, and a tall man was standing in it, leaning against one arm held high against the doorjamb.
He was watching all of this happen.
“Okay, right, he is hot,” Joey breathed.
Yep.
We tore our attention from the hot guy to watch as Jinx walked slowly up his driveway in her cute shorts, cute shirt and cute high-heeled wedges.
And, not moving a muscle, we watched her make the front door.
Then we watched as, before she even got that first word out of her mouth, Noah bent, hooked her around the backs of her thighs, lifted her up, and she let out a surprised shriek that carried down to the cars.
Once he had her in, he shut the door.
“Well, all right,” Shanti said, and I didn’t have to look at her to know she was smiling big.
“That was unexpected…and awesome,” Joey added.
I agreed so much, I felt a tear slide down my cheek.
The door to the house opened and we braced.
But all we saw was Jinx poking her head out before she shouted, “Adios, amigas.”
Noah appeared behind her, curved an arm around her chest, she disappeared, and the door shut.
There you go.
We pretty-womaned the hell out of that.
And Mom was right.
It was always worth going all out for love.
Totally.
* * *
My hyperventilating this time, as I idled in Gabe’s driveway, waiting for the garage door to go up, wasn’t all good.
This was because his parents’ car was parked behind the man-mobile.
Sure, I could do the meet-the-parents thing when a lot of people were hanging around and drama was ensuing.
No one there to provide a buffer?
Eek!
Since I already ran and hid once, and I didn’t think that was a good look the first time, with no other choice, I drove in next to the Jeep, hit the opener so the door would close, and got out.
When I made it to Gabe’s kitchen, I saw his mom futzing around, as moms had the tendency to do (I swear, I never knew where anything was in my kitchen, medicine cabinet and even makeup stash after Mom stayed, and as such, I was currently bracing for that very inevitability).
She was doing this while the two dudes were out on the deck in Gabe’s square of a backyard, drinking beer illuminated by strings of some kickass outdoor lights.
“Oh, hey there, Willow,” his mom greeted.
I saw Gabe clock me, put his hands immediately to the arms of his (also kickass) deck chair, but I shook my head.
He looked to his mom then me and back again, before he settled in, though he didn’t seem committed to this decision.
“He’s protective of you,” Shelby said, bringing my attention to her.
She’d seen that Gabe was coming to rescue me from a one-on-one with his mother.
“I had a bad boyfriend before him,” I shared. “And no, it isn’t a thing.” I told her when her face closed down. “Though, I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to you that it’s Gabe’s way to be protective. But Kevin was a jerk. Kevin was a mess. And Kevin is very gone, and now I’m with Gabe.”
I moved to the island, swung my purse off my shoulder and put it on the counter.
“My mom says, there are a lot of frogs but only one is the prince,” I concluded.
Shelby’s expression cleared entirely, and her pretty green eyes lit, because she knew I knew I’d found my prince.
“Your mom is smart,” Shelby murmured.
“She is,” I agreed. “And Gabe’s has a gift for interior décor. He told me you got that butterscotch chair for him. It’s totally rad.”
She smiled, dipped her head to the side to acknowledge the compliment and asked, “How’d it go with your friend?”
“We had to put a lot of oomph in our pep talk before we left, and that’s after we had to force our way in the front door,” I said.
Shelby’s eyes got wide.
“But she didn’t even have to open her mouth to apologize before he picked her up and carried her into his house. So we’re thinking good things,” I finished.
“That’s great,” she replied on a smile.
“Luke talked to me,” I announced.
Now she seemed confused. “He did?”
“About why you guys came down.”
Understanding dawned with a cautious, “Ah,” from Shelby.
“Just so you know, I don’t mind. I didn’t mind even before Luke explained it to me. I get it,” I assured. “I noticed he was quiet.” It was me smiling now. “But he talks a lot to me.”
Her smile stayed pinned in place as she said, “I’m glad.”
I knew why that smile was pasted there.
Because her son had a partner who didn’t let him share when he most needed to do it.
I moved closer to her before I said, “I’m not a psychologist, but he can pile on me whatever he needs to unload. Because I’m also not a wimp. I can take that load. And he knows it.”
“We all liked Denise very much. Her loss was a huge blow. She was a sweet girl,” Shelby replied.
It struck me then, tardily, what I had yet to say, so I moved to rectify an omission.
“And it must have been hard on you too, losing her,” I said gently. “I’m sorry all of you had to go through that, all Denise was struggling with, all that fell on Gabe because of it, and Denise being gone.”
“Thank you for that,” she replied. “And thank you for understanding it.”
I nodded. “I could tell by the way Gabe talked about her she was really sweet, and he loved her very much.”
When I said this, something mammoth shifted through her features, relief, gratitude, hope, all of it the motherly type, so it was obviously huge.
And it ticked me off.
“God, I’ve not even met the woman, and I wanna punch Ariana Whatever-Her-Last-Name-Is right in the throat,” I snapped.
Shelby blinked.
“Sorry,” I said quickly, and carried on lest she think I was prone to violence. “Obviously, I want to do that. It doesn’t mean, given the chance, I would actually do it.” (Maybe.) “But, I mean, who does that? Who knows that information and doesn’t handle it with care?”
“I know, right?” Shelby asked.
“Is she with another guy now?” I inquired.
“I don’t really keep up with her. I was just glad she was in Gabe’s rearview,” Shelby told me, then asked curiously, “Why do you want to know?”
I flung an arm toward the back door. “Well, he’s Gabe.
If she’s moved on, that’s one thing. If she’s alone and pining for what she screwed up, and decides to make some move, I like him.
A whole lot. I like my job, friends, life.
And orange doesn’t suit me, like, at all.
So doing my time for felony assault would be a bummer. ”
Shelby busted out laughing.
I grinned with her.
The back door opened, and Mike asked, “What’s funny?”
“Girl talk,” Shelby said as the men came in to claim their women.
Obviously, we couldn’t suck face in front of his parents, so Gabe’s lip brush was chaste when he made it to me, and he claimed me only with an arm around my waist, but both were still super sweet.
“We should go. Give them some alone time,” Shelby said to Mike.
“And Gabe doesn’t see his folks every day, so stay as long as you like.” I said this even though I wanted nothing but to wash my face, give and receive an orgasm and fall asleep.
Also, I needed sleep.
I had a cupcake tower, four dozen cookies and a three-tier cake to decorate, along with regular work, along with getting briefed on the Amy/Dexter situation, along with meeting with Titus, along with hatching a plan to screw over the people who screwed over Duane, along with being fully awake and alert when we did whatever we were going to do.
I didn’t have the luxury of waiting until Sunday to catch up with shuteye.
I needed it now.
“No, we need to go, Willow,” Shelby said. “I only used you two as an excuse, but I have an early morning schedule of spa appointments tomorrow.”
“Well, use away,” I offered. “Everything’s fair game when spa appointments are on the line.”
She smiled at me.
Gabe gave me a squeeze.
We walked them to their car.
I gave Mike a hug first, while Gabe was doing the same with his mom.
Then I hugged her while Mike and Gabe man-hugged by doing a stand-up arm-wrestling thing and pounding each other’s backs.
Before I let her go, though, she whispered in my ear, “I think the periwinkle is perfect too.”
Whoa!
Shelby enters warp speed!
I pulled away and caught her soft look.
I returned my own.
“We can’t go unless you get in the car, woman,” Mike warned.
Shelby rolled her eyes.
Gabe claimed me again, this time with an arm slung around my shoulders.
We stood in his drive and waved them away.
“All good?” Gabe asked the road and their brake lights.
“Yeah. Jinx is probably getting it good right now, or has already gotten it good, and I’m going to get it good soon too.”
He looked down at me with a smirk.
Then he asked, “No, I mean your chat with Mom.”
“Well, for the point zero six seconds you allowed us to talk before performing a rescue I didn’t need, sure.”
He turned us to walk up to his place. “It wasn’t point zero six seconds.”
“Okay, one point zero six seconds,” I allowed.
He chuckled.
Yeah.
Those were definitely coming more often these days.
“And it was fine,” I said gently. “Stop worrying. She loves you. I dig you more than a little bit. So it’s totally fine.”
His brows went up as he pushed open his front door and waited for me to precede him. “You dig me more than a little bit?”
“Well…yeah.”
His expression changed.
My nipples got hard.
He locked the front door.
I bit my lip.
He tossed me over his shoulder.
And…okay.
I’d give it to him.
I dug him a whole lot more than a little bit.
And half an hour later, I dug him even more.