Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gunnar stared after Jorja in shock. “What the hell just happened?”
“Your ex just got her ass handed to her, bro, and it’s about fucking time.” Talon, with Zombie at his heels, came to stand next to him. He glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “She has a point, you know. You taught us to stand up for ourselves and each other. We failed you, and I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t know.”
Talon snorted and Zombie grumbled as if he agreed with his master. “Keep telling yourself, bro,” he said seriously. “Most of our exes are exes for a reason. We should have known.”
Gunnar was torn. On one hand, he was proud of his baby brother wanting to be there for him.
But the big brother in him was mortified for the reason it was needed.
“Gillian would have given up eventually.” He watched as Jorja disappeared into his house.
What the hell had she been thinking? They barely even had an understanding, and definitely weren’t friends. Why would she defend him?
Why did she call me hers?
It means nothing.
“Bro, it’s been years,” Colt interrupted his thoughts. “If Gillian was going to stop that shit and move on, it would have happened already. What happened this time?”
“Something about being stranded in Florida as someone went home.” At least that was the few pieces he remembered.
He’d brought this on himself. Every single time another sugar daddy got tired of her crap, Gillian came crawling back looking for more money.
He eyed Remi warily as he came back to the fountain.
“I have never yet seen a woman lose her shit at someone else over one of us,” Remi said. “Especially when that woman spent half the morning muttering that she’d like to stab you in your sleep for being an asshole.”
Apparently, it was okay for her to call him an asshole, but not for someone else to be shitty to him. What was up with that?
“I don’t know.” He stared at his phone as if it might bite him. “I’ll never understand women.”
“Me either.” Remi shuddered. “I’m not sure I ever want to, either.”
“Or me.” Colt stepped around him and sprawled himself on the metal bench. “She,” he jerked his chin toward Gunnar’s place, “was pretty damn epic though.”
“Preaching to the choir.” Talon ran his fingers over Zombie’s head for a second before the dog laid down at his feet. “If there was one I’d want to understand though, it might be Jorja.”
“Hey.” The word was out of Gunnar’s mouth before he could stop it, and of course it was too much to hope the others had missed his slip-up.
But nope, lady luck wasn’t in his corner today.
Of course it wasn’t, she was female after all, wasn’t she?
His brothers’ faces were a mix of smirks and shit-eating grins, which he was choosing to ignore.
“We made a deal, me and Jorja.” Despite his confusion, he tried to make sense on what happened.
“But I didn’t think that,” he waved his hand in a circle, “outburst was part of the plan.”
Remi sat on the edge of the fountain. “If you plan on keeping her for yourself, tell me now.” He pinned Gunnar with a serious look.
“Because, not gonna lie, I’m tempted to break my own damn embargo on women.
” He glanced up at the windows of Gunnar’s house.
“A woman who defends me like she just did you… might just be worth the risk.”
The patience he’d always prided himself on exploded into smithereens. Gunnar fisted his hands into Remi’s t-shirt, dragged his brother upright, and when they were nose to nose, he snarled into his face, “Keep your hands off her, Remi, or—"
“Or what?”
Gunnar shoved against Remi’s chest hard.
He growled something which didn’t even make sense to him, released Remi, and stalked off toward his house, both pissed with himself for snapping and at Jorja for finding emotions he’d buried so deep he’d hoped they’d never see the light of day again.
He jabbed his thumb on the lock and muttered in frustration when he remembered Remi had switched them from right to left thumbs last week for fucking security reasons, and had to do it again to get his door to open.
He stomped up the stairs, making as much noise as he could. Because, mad or not, he didn’t want to startle and scare her if she thought she was still alone in the house. “Jorja?”
“In the bedroom,” she answered. “Getting chang—”
He came to a dead stop in the doorway and caught an eyeful of bare skin as she tugged another one of his old t-shirts over her head.
“—ed.” She tugged on the hem of the t-shirt. “I hope you don’t mind me wearing this?”
No. Holy hell, no, he didn’t mind in the slightest. “No.” He stalked toward her. For every step he took, she took one back until her knees hit the side of the bed and she sat down. “I don’t mind at all.” He leaned over her, only pausing when she put her hands on his chest and pushed against him.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have interfered.”
He cupped her face and peered down into her worried eyes. “Thank you,” he told her seriously. “Thank you for standing up for me when I didn’t.”
Her expression changed from worry to confusion, and she huffed out a harsh breath. “It’s not a big deal—”
He didn’t want to hear it. No human, man or woman, had ever stood up for him like that before.
“That woman is a fucking bitch who needs to be put back in her box. You obviously didn’t want to do it. If it causes you problems, then I’m sorry.”
Is she freaking insane?
He leaned his forehead against hers to give himself a moment to gather his thoughts. Did she not understand, the only reason he didn’t let Gillian have a piece of his mind is he didn’t want to give her the social media posts she craved? “I don’t want to bully any woman, even Gillian.”
Jorja stroked her hand down his side. “You are so far from a bully it’s not funny.
She’s fucked with your head.” She reached up and tapped the side of his skull.
“You are not a bully,” she whispered softly.
“Despite the asshole side you showed me yesterday—or was it the day before? I can’t remember.
But you are not a bully, so don’t let her convince you that you are. ”
“You are pretty adamant for someone who hated my guts until this morning.” He was still all kinds of confused. Nothing was adding up in his head, and for someone who considered himself a man who was normally pretty fast on the uptake, that rattled him to the core. “What changed?”
“We have a deal, remember? Do you plan on keeping it?”
“Of course. I gave you my word. That promise is gold. I won’t break it unless you do.”
“See…” Jorja jabbed one finger into his chest. “You,” another finger jabbed against his ribs, “are not an asshole.” Did she even know she was telling him off? He didn’t think so. “Get used to it,” Jorja told him seriously. “And start believing it, because it’s true.”
“Why does it matter to you?”
“My father treated my mom like Gillian does you. It sucked hearing my mom cry in the shower after every phone call at least a couple of times a week.”
“Ahh.” He understood now. At least he thought he did.
Standing up for him was her redemption for what she couldn’t fix when she was a child.
Jorja, it seemed, would always pick who she saw as the underdog and be the one to fight in their corner.
Wasn’t that what he’d taught the boys to do?
He already knew it was, so why did it sting his heart that Jorja’s reasons weren’t… more?
“Don’t.” She stroked the side of his face.
“Don’t try to say I would do that for anyone else.
I have never in my life wanted to be the focus of attention.
I’m always going to be the one in the background, helping where people can’t see.
If you think making a scene is something I want, need, or force to happen for just anyone, you are dead wrong.
I spoke up because you didn’t. You needed someone in your corner… ”
Gunnar stopped her in her tracks the only way he could think of.
He kissed her, and his whole world crumbled around him.
The walls which protected his heart—shattered.
The fences he’d built to keep everyone at arm’s length—destroyed.
Everything he thought he understood of himself—crumbled.
For the first time in longer than he could remember, a scalding heat sparked to life, flamed into fire, and escaped from the depths of his soul, warming him from the inside out.
In that instant, his world changed. He knew it.
He craved it. He would stop at nothing to ensure it came true.
This woman, Jorja, would be forever his.
His forever woman. As he deepened the kiss, he knew, even if it took a lifetime, he’d convince her that she was his and he was hers.