Chapter 18
Monday morning, Julian—driving in the pouring rain which was turning out to be a, huge, three-day event—followed Petula at a distance that kept her in his sights but wouldn’t necessarily alert anyone that he was tailing her.
He was using his brother Spencer’s work truck, which—if anyone had been watching and noting that he and Petula had been meeting up for dates—wouldn’t be on their radar.
While staying vigilant in the low visibility situation, Julian’s mind went back to the days following the Monday night gathering at Petula and Stat’s house where he’d been welcomed with open arms. That had been a huge relief.
He hadn’t wanted anything contentious standing in the way of getting to know Petula, and his wish had been granted.
By the time the assemblage had broken up, Petula’s brother and friends had been tapped to follow her for the remainder of that week, with plans that they’d all meet up the following Friday night at the elder Sothard’s home on the outskirts of Bangor.
There, Stat and his crew would enlist the help of those in Julian’s family who wanted to be part of Petula’s protection contingent.
As it turned out, that was pretty much everyone.
Petula, Stat, Blue, Dizzy, Tonka, Hazard, Pipes, and Sherbert had been introduced or reintroduced to almost all of Julian’s family. Everyone except Vincent and Seifer had been present.
With Julian’s parents, his paternal grandparents—because the older pair who live just up the hill, never wanted to miss a thing—and all his brother’s wives and kids attending, the clan had numbered seventeen.
That had made a grand total of twenty-five people when Stat’s contingent had shown up.
All interested parties, both large and small, male and female, had gathered in his parents’ house.
It had been a tight squeeze.
They’d gotten right to business, with necessary details being quickly revealed and discussed, after which all the people who would be protecting Petula filled in their names on a calendar for the days they were available.
Final copies had been distributed with admonitions that if someone couldn’t make their shift, they were to immediately let the group know, so a replacement could be tagged.
Ellen Sothard had then put on an enormous rib dinner, for which she was renowned, using the industrial sized smoker in the back yard. It was quite the spread. Needless to say, the group thoroughly enjoyed the food, and mingled for hours together like they’d known each other forever.
Julian’s savvy mother, of course, had at one point taken him aside, a huge, beaming smile on her face. She’d asked if Petula was his girlfriend.
He couldn’t deny it, and didn’t want to. Julian knew it was written all over his face, anyway, and his interest was further evidenced by how much he’d lingered at her side that evening.
“Yeah. I want her to be,” he’d answered.
“I like her,” his mother had said joyously. “She’s lovely and down to earth, and she looks at you like you hung the moon and stars.”
Julian had scoffed. “Oh, I don’t know about that,” he’d hedged, but inside he was pleased. If his observant mother thought Petula was smitten, it had to be true.
Not that he’d had any serious doubts. The kiss that they’d shared, and the way Petula wanted additional contact—not showing any fear—had told him he was more than just a casual hookup to her.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to make their schedules mesh up again until a week later. But that night had been memorable…
Having finished their restaurant meal while throwing scorching glances across the table at each other the entire time, Julian walked Petula to the parking lot, trying to remember what he’d just eaten.
And didn’t that say it all? His brain had been so entirely focused on Petula, he could have been fed bird seed for all he knew. The only thing he’d been able to concentrate on was getting her out of there and into his truck where he could finally kiss her again.
Thank fuck she was on the same page, because the minute they were inside his vehicle, kiss, they did.
Frantically.
Julian was barely aware of the passing of time, but eventually, as libidos continued rampaging, he knew he had to pull back or risk fucking her right here. It took everything in him to hold firm when Petula whimpered at the loss of contact.
Man, his morals sucked sometimes.
“I’m so sorry, Petula, but I’m not cool with doing anything more in this parking lot,” he strangled out, feeling like he’d just sprinted several miles.
No. He wasn’t going to maul Petula in a public spot like some kind of teenage horndog. He wanted to worship her. Take his time and savor her. Make every touch they shared, memorable.
“Where then?” she asked, her reddened lips apparent even in the semi-darkness of his vehicle.
He growled, frustratedly. “Well, we certainly can’t go back to my parents’ house where I’m currently staying, and…do anything. And I’ll bet your brother wouldn’t exactly want us…uh, co-mingling within earshot of him.”
Petula giggled at his choice of words.
“But on that note, I have some good news to impart.” He probably should have told her over the meal that he couldn’t remember, but he’d already planned on doing an after-eats, show and tell.
“Huh. That seems like quite the non-sequitur,” she snorted. “But do tell.”
“I, um, actually have to show you something.”
Petula smirked and glanced down at his jeans-clad-hard-on, sassily. “Oooh. Right now? I mean, I’ve felt how impressive it is, but are you really going to whip it out right here?”
“Fresh,” he said, and with a grin, landed a quick kiss on her mouth.
He managed to end things before they got heated again, then he untangled from her without—thankfully—hurting his engorged appendage.
He nudged her across to her side of the bench seat, buckling her seatbelt around her.
“No, is the answer to that. I’m not an exhibitionist. But I do have something else you need to see. ”
She made an exaggerated pout. “Okay. But I’m all in for the first reveal, just so you know. Ready and waiting.”
He scoffed. “I’m ready, too. But this is definitely not the place.”
She brightened. “Oh! You’re taking me to a motel, then?”
Damn, she was cute.
“No,” he chuckled. “And stop trying to guess. You’ll ruin the surprise. And you’ll see soon enough, anyway. It’s only a ten-minute ride.”
“Okay.” She sat back in her seat, seemingly relaxed, but he could tell she was still aroused.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and she rubbed her thighs together as if assuaging an ache.
Julian wished he could take care of that for her, right the hell now, but circumstances dictated that they wait.
Living with family was fine for most things, but for privacy to explore a new relationship? Not so much.
Which is why…
Ten minutes later Julian pulled into the driveway of a cute bungalow that backed up to a small, private pond.
“What’s this?” Petula questioned, looking around curiously.
Julian didn’t answer, but smirked and pointed to a sign in the front yard that was just visible in his headlights.
“Contract pending,” she read, then squealed. “Did you buy this house, Julian? Is it yours?”
“Not yet,” he cautioned. He didn’t want her to get ahead of herself and go running up to the door expecting it to be warm, furnished, and ready for stripping off clothes. “I pass papers next Wednesday.”
“Then we’ll have a place to be alone.” She clapped her hands.
“We will. But with one immediate problem. I have no furniture. No household shit. Nothing.”
“Oooh.” Petula’s face now registered a different kind of excitement. “How about we spend the next few days hitting up some stores and buying you things?”
Julian was glad Petula was excited about the prospect of outfitting the place, because thinking about it hurt his brain. He’d never had to set up a living situation before, always having resided in furnished, base housing.
He certainly wasn’t going to say no.
“That sounds great.”
Julian brought his mind back to present, put the truck in gear and followed Petula to her next drop-off, still remembering the balance of that night.
Because the house had been empty, they’d spent several more minutes making out in the driveway, where much to Petula’s disappointment, none of her cute coercion had convinced him they should shed any clothes.
He knew the anticipation was killing her, as it was him, but Julian was trying to savor every moment.
Flirting, kissing, and innuendos could be fun.
Just not for too long.
True to his word, in the following two days, Julian had let himself be dragged from furniture stores, to home-goods retailers, to frou-frou establishments, and before the weekend was over, he had a lot of the necessities to stock his kitchen, and enough linens to host several toga parties.
And the bathroom stuff like toothbrush holders and soap dispensers?
He never would have considered buying any of that. Petula had been a godsend.
The entire lot of their purchases was currently tucked away, safe and sound in his parents’ barn.
Deliveries of a king-sized bed and two dressers had been set for the day after the closing, which was now just two days away, and even though he’d wanted to get all the furniture purchasing done, Petula had smartly told him he needed to wait, measure spaces, and pick color schemes before he committed to anything more.
If he’d been doing the buying alone, he would have picked out one comfy-assed sofa, a big screen TV, and called it a day.
But if Petula were to become an integral part of his life—and he could already picture her living in this bungalow with him—he’d happily defer to her about wall colors and stuff to sit on.
He sighed, looking out his windshield.
The rain was coming down harder now, if that were possible.
In the last few hours, it had been torrential. It was almost impossible for his windshield wipers to keep up with the deluge.
He marveled at the way Petula seemed to be rock-steady, driving her van.
She’d probably piloted it in much worse conditions, having delivered for UPS for so many years.
She would have seen snow, ice, and all kinds of weather, but—Julian frowned—her route had been in town then, so he still worried about her.
They were currently in the back end of nowhere, traversing roads that even Julian didn’t know about.
Which was saying a lot with him having grown up in the region.
He eyed the ditch to the side of the road, which was now filled with rushing water, and hoped Petula wasn’t freaking out.
They had yet to discuss how they’d move forward to try and mitigate her water fears, but Julian had tossed a few ideas around with his brothers, and they—with their wives—were coming up with a plan.
Mid-day came and went, with the skies unrelenting.
They eventually stopped at a small, mom and pop lunch joint, where they went in separately; Julian pulling the hood of his jacket low to obscure his face.
They sat, two tables away from each other to eat, but as he kept watch, there didn’t seem to be anyone who was overly interested in either of them, for which he was equal parts thankful, and annoyingly frustrated.
Yeah. Frustrated.
Why wouldn’t the person stalking Petula show his face or make a move so they could take him out?
Stat and his crew had documented several sightings of the now infamous blue truck, and had even gotten a partial plate number.
That, unfortunately hadn’t helped the police or Tex track it, because the majority of the numbers had been obscured with mud.
And every time Mason or Kyle’s departments were called in for back-up, the vehicle had already disappeared.
Julian hadn’t had a single sighting today, which he put down to bad weather. Nobody wanted to be out in this unless they had to. Not even a stalker.
Lunch had been good, but getting back onto Petula’s route was a bummer.
The roads were awash with an inch of precipitation, and the long, dirt driveways Petula had to navigate were nothing more than slippery mud-pits. Every time the back end of Petula’s van slid out as Julian looked on from the main road, he held his breath.
Petula was a champ however. Always managing to correct for those skids.
Finally, with the light waning, they approached what Julian knew was Petula’s second-to-last stop.
He parked beside a full-to-the-brim reservoir he’d never seen before, and watched as Petula made her way up a driveway that was adjacent to the large body of water.
This time, thank god, the way in and out was paved, so he wasn’t afraid she’d slide off into the proximal drink.
As he watched Petula emerge from the porch of the house, get into her van, and put in in reverse, Julian let out about his fiftieth relieved breath of the day.
One more stop, and—
A huge cracking noise up the hill to the right of the driveway caused him to glance curiously in that direction.
Every hair on his arms immediately stood at attention, and his body flooded with adrenaline.
Up the rise from where Petula was just now backing down the long egress, trees were falling like matchsticks.
As the annihilation moved closer, Julian scrambled up in his seat to see the cause, and when he did, every one of his muscles froze in horror.
Water, in great, unleashed torrents, was surging down the hill.
Headed right for Petula’s van.