Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
~JOSIE~
I might murder him. I may appear small when I stand next to him, but he’s in a weakened state after that accident. It’s not like I couldn’t take him out.
I am my father’s daughter, after all.
My hands fist at my sides, and I glare down at him as he just sits there and flashes that stupid, cocky grin at me.
“ARGH!”
I turn and storm away, moving out the front door and letting it slam behind me. Oh, my God. He makes me so mad.
I should just leave him to fend for himself. He’s a big boy—a very big boy. And I’m not the only person in his life who can help if he needs it.
He has a whole band of people.
I sigh and kick my tire, then walk back into Brax’s house and cross my arms over my chest as I scowl at him.
“I don’t owe you dick, Braxton Adler, and you know it.”
“You do realize that it turns me on when you’re mad, don’t you?”
“Why are you the way you are?”
That damn smile slips over his stupidly handsome face. “You wouldn’t want me any other way, sweetheart.”
I hate that he’s right. I don’t want him any other way. But for today, he’s irritating the hell out of me.
“I didn’t dump you,” I say to him, and that sparks some emotion in his brown eyes. Hurt? Anger? I can’t be sure.
“Felt that way from over here.”
“How in the world can you even think that I dumped you?”
“You left.”
I blink at him. “I went away for a year for my freaking job, Brax.”
“You left,” he says again. Now I really do need some fresh air, so I stomp back out to his porch and kick the post next to the steps.
“That’s it,” I mutter and pace. “I’m done with this. If I don’t leave and wash my hands of this, he’ll suck me in with that smile and sweetheart , and I will not let this man break my heart twice.”
I walk back through the door, ready to tell him that I’m leaving for good, and almost collide with the man himself. He’s standing in the middle of the living room, watching me.
“You’re supposed to be resting. Why are you standing?”
“Because I saw you throw that adorable little fit on my porch.”
I narrow my eyes at him.
“Josie,” he says and reaches for my hand. “I’m sorry, okay? Really.”
His voice has softened, lost that cocky edge, and now I know I’m in deep shit.
“I should go,” I say but don’t pull away as he gently tugs me closer to him. “And you should lie down.”
“I think we need to talk some things out.” He presses his lips against my forehead, and my eyes slide closed. It’s always felt so right when I’m right here, like this. And I know I’ve missed him.
Yeah, we have plenty to talk about.
His fingers link with mine, and his free hand drifts up my arm to cup my face. As if in a trance, my mouth lifts to his, and his brushes over mine, so gently it’s almost like a whisper.
His fingers tighten on my cheek as he takes the kiss just a little deeper, nibbling my lips and rubbing my nose with his.
My God, did he get even better at kissing since the last time I saw him? How is that even possible?
“Josie,” he says in a whisper. “We need to talk. But I might fall over if I don’t sit.”
That pulls me out of the romantic haze. “Oh, God. Of course, you need to sit. Come on, let’s get you settled.”
“I think everything just caught up with me,” he says as he carefully lowers himself to the couch and lies down. “Don’t go, okay?”
“I’m going to go get you some supplies,” I tell him as I cover him with a throw blanket. “You just sleep.”
Before I finish the sentence, he’s breathing deeply, already under. The poor guy was in a traumatic accident less than twelve hours ago, and I’ve been arguing with him.
Not that he doesn’t deserve it, but it can wait.
I set the medicine on his counter with explicit instructions that I wrote on yellow sticky notes and placed in front of the bottles. While I wrote instructions for him earlier, these are clearer. There’s also soup in the fridge that he just has to heat up. That should last him a couple of days.
I check his temperature one last time before I go.
I don’t want to see any sign of fever, and thankfully, there isn’t any.
I need to go home and sleep.
So, I kiss Brax on the forehead and then let myself out, locking the front door as I leave by pressing the button on the keypad and turning the deadbolt.
I feel like a zombie. I’m exhausted from work and not much sleep to speak of yesterday, and I’m emotionally drained after having Brax unexpectedly crash back into my life.
Literally.
All I need right now is rest.
Maddie’s already left for work when I get home. I don’t even bother eating anything, just bypass the kitchen on my way up to my bedroom. I quickly shower off the night of work, put on pajamas, and make sure that nothing interrupts me while I sleep by setting the phone to DND, drawing the black-out blinds, and turning on my sound machine to drown out any noise from outside.
It’s dark and cool in my room as I snuggle down under the covers and fall into a dreamless sleep.
“Have you heard from him?” Maddie asks. I’ve been awake for all of fifteen minutes after a solid eight hours of sleep. The first thing I did was walk downstairs and tell Maddie about Brax’s accident and everything that unfolded afterward.
“No,” I reply and pour myself some coffee. “Either he’s still sleeping, he doesn’t want my help, or he woke up and remembered that he doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
“I’m sorry he was in an accident,” she replies and sips her tea.
Maddie will likely head to bed in a couple of hours, but my day is just getting started. Even on nights when I don’t go into work, I stay up because I don’t want to have to readjust my internal clock for three nights off.
“He’ll be okay,” I reply.
“I can see that it messed you up some.” My sister narrows her eyes at me.
“Damn twin senses,” I mutter and then shrug. “I was surprised to see him, and then I was mad at him, and then I felt bad for him and helped him. It was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. You know, until the day we broke up, we never fought. Not really. We argued sometimes, sure, but we didn’t have a fiery, tumultuous relationship.”
“Maybe it would have been easier when it was over if you had,” she suggests.
“Probably. Today, I was so mad at him. I would have been angry even if I hadn’t heard him on the radio, but that made me even madder. And he just smiled and told me I’m beautiful when I’m pissed off.”
“He’s right.” She smiles with satisfaction. “And I can say that because we look alike.”
“We had some of the best sex of our relationship after we argued,” I admit.
“You had sex with the patient today?” Maddie demands. “You should have led with that, Jose.”
“No.” I laugh. “I meant before. He did kiss me today, though. All soft and sweet and romantic. The big jerk.”
“Yeah, what a horrible man he is to softly and romantically kiss you.”
I raise a brow at her sarcasm. “Ha. Ha.”
“Listen, we all know that he’s your soul mate. Or one of them, anyway—if you believe in that sort of thing. And, yes, he did break your heart. If he tries to do it again, I’ll sic Dad and the uncles and cousins on him.”
“So, you’ll murder him?”
“Absolutely. But maybe he just wanted to try to make amends with you. Maybe his apology was sincere.”
“I think it was.” I sigh and drink my coffee. “Who knows, Mad? I might not even hear from him again once he comes to his senses. And that’s okay.”
In no universe is that okay with me. But it is what it is.
Now it’s my sister’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “Right. Uh-huh. Sure. Well, I’m going up to read for a while before I go to sleep. Come hang out if you need me. And don’t forget, we have cousins’ night at the Alki house tomorrow.”
“I haven’t forgotten. Goodnight.”
Every month, we get together with all our cousins old enough to drink for a fun night of games and chatting to spend time together.
Our family is tight, and as we grew older, we found we spent less time together. So, we all make sure to make it to the cousins’ nights.
I’ve just settled on the couch with coffee number two and my computer to pay some bills and be an adult for an hour when my phone signals an incoming text.
Brax: You left. Again.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I mutter as I sigh and lean my head against the couch.
Me: I had to sleep, you know. How are you feeling?
The little dots dance on the screen as he types, and I sign into our mortgage company website so I can pay that bill. I’ve just hit Pay Now when his response comes through.
Brax: Like I was in an accident. Sore. I didn’t dream you, did I?
Okay, that makes me grin.
Me: No. You didn’t dream me.
I pay the cable and water bills as the three dots bounce on my screen.
Brax: Good. That would have been embarrassing. I’ve been taking the meds, and I ate the soup. Thx for that. Hit the spot.
Me: You’re welcome. You should go back to sleep.
I finish paying the rest of the bills and send Maddie an email with the amount of her half for the month, as usual. I do this part, and she runs the errands: goes to the grocery store and does the things that I can’t do because I work at night and sleep all day. It works out well for us.
If we end up as old spinster sisters who live together forever, I don’t think either of us would be heartbroken.
Just as I set the computer aside, another text from Brax comes through.
Brax: I’m wide-awake now. Come over, and we’ll watch a movie or something. We can talk.
Damn it, I’m too tempted.
Me: Do you think we can have a calm discussion?
His message comes faster than before.
Brax: Hell, yes. It hurts if I’m not calm.
Me: You really should go back to sleep.
Brax: You really should get your fine ass over here.
That makes me laugh.
Me: There in 30.
I hurry upstairs and knock on Maddie’s door.
“Come in.”
“I’m headed over to Brax’s.”
A slow smile spreads across her lips. “Are you? Well, I’ll want all the deets later. I bet you get to be on top since he’s injured and all that.”
“I’m not having sex with him.”
“Sure. Of course, you’re not having sex with the hottest man you’ve ever dated.”
“I’m not dating him. I’m…helping him.”
“Yeah, you are. Helping him get naked.”
“You’re a perv.”
“If you say you weren’t thinking it, your pants are on fire.”
“You’re sick. He’s an injured man. He’s my patient.”
“He’s a tattooed musician who’s already been in your pants countless times before. Just be gentle. Be ready to give CPR or something, just in case.”
“You’re not funny.”
Maddie giggles into her hand. “Yes, I am. Have fun. Be safe. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“I shouldn’t have told you where I was going.”
“It’s okay. I’ll pump you full of vodka tomorrow night and get all of the good stuff out of you.”
“Love you,” I say, glaring at her.
“Love you more.”