29. “Invincible” #2
In fact, she acted like he had some plague, which obviously didn’t sit well with Gabe (or any of us, if I was being honest—though, at least the Angels understood her once-bitten, twelve-thousand-times shy attitude to guys now).
On the other hand, I’d seen Luna walk right up to a dude and ask for his phone number before she even asked his name.
“What you’re saying is, it takes two to tango,” I said to Javi.
“Yeah. If there aren’t two who are up for the dance, no one gets to tango,” Javi replied.
My shoulders drooped.
He pressed a hard kiss on my lips and said, “One thing I know, shit shakes out like it should.”
I saw the look in his eye. That look said we shook out like we should.
And it made me feel totally better (for then, what could I say? I wanted all my girls to have it as good as I did).
So I grinned at him.
He kissed that too.
The goons who Cap, Gabe, Titus and Titus’s “army” subdued?
Javi didn’t share what became of them.
The Angels spent a lot of time conjecturing, and in the end guessed they were bargaining chips Mace used to make sure we didn’t have trouble with the Congressman.
But since Cap nor Eric shared with Raye or Jess either, in the end, we’d never know exactly what happened with them.
It was kind of hot that our men were a hint of a mystery.
Especially mine.
Plans were in full swing for Jacob and Alexis’s wedding.
They’d moved into the two-bedroom unit.
And get this, Joey and Gemma had moved into the two units that had opened up.
At first, since this same thing had happened with Luna, Jessie and me, we all braced for new Angels to be added to our ranks.
But nothing came of it.
So maybe they were just the next ones up on the waiting list.
Though, it was really nice having them a lot closer and getting to know them better, because they were awesome.
And we knew Joey and Gemma weren’t going to be added to the ranks because we had a couple of cases since solving Trev’s blackmail/murder situation.
One was tracking down some numbskull who kept stealing money from ladies of the evening.
Obviously, this wasn’t something that those girls could report to the cops.
But Jinx reported it to us.
It took us a couple of weeks of very late nights and some undercover work that Javi, Cap and Eric put their feet down that me, Raye and Jessie were not going to do (so we were surveillance while Luna and Shanti did it).
I was glad I didn’t have to pretend to be a sex worker.
Not that the Angels went “all the way” or anything, because we had a description of the guy, and they just waved any potential customers who didn’t look like him on their way.
Just that their outfits weren’t very cute.
In the end, we found him and it was Luna who got the gross dick pic that led to us convincing him it was in his best interests to repay what he stole (and then some).
I wouldn’t call it extortion, as such.
I preferred to call it justice.
The other one was dealing with some bully at work that was making life hell for some chick that Titus knew.
This was trickier.
And a bit skeevier because we had to do surveillance that felt a tad like stalking.
But since this woman was a total pain in the butt to pretty much anyone she encountered, once we got some video footage of her being an absolute bitch to the staff at an In and Out Burger, and we approached to share it’d be all over TikTok, and until the uproar died down, she’d understand the full meaning of bullied and might even lose her job, that situation was sorted.
Other than that, we just hung at the Headquarters because it was cool.
Not to mention, Arthur kept the beverage fridge stocked, and at our request, had added killer glasses and fun pink glass straws.
The couch was super comfy to watch movies in when our boys were off doing something else.
Just sayin’.
There was nothing to report regarding Jinx and her accountant.
He was still visiting her. He was still bringing her gifts. She still thought he was doing it to make him feel less dirty about being with a sex worker.
But we knew better.
At Javi’s request, it was me who set up his first meeting with Julia and Cath.
And at his further request, I went with.
They held up their part of the bargain and didn’t mention Austin or even allude to him.
And I was not surprised in the slightest that Javi had them eating out of his hand within fifteen minutes.
What was surprising was, when we were in his truck and leaving, Javi saying, “I’m gonna have a sit-down with Atherton.”
I had no words to say to argue.
It was his choice.
I wasn’t sure it was the right one, then again, Javi didn’t have any right ones (and that was Austin’s fault too).
Though I did say, “You’re not doing it without me there.”
“Babe—”
I crossed my arms on my chest and told the windshield. “Not gonna happen.”
He chuckled.
In the ensuing time, even though Javi had several meets with his sisters, sometimes both of them, or one or the other, and sometimes even without me (one could say Javi was digging on having siblings), and they texted each other often, he didn’t mention his dad again.
He even met Patrick, and I was definitely there then.
But Patrick was what we were expecting him to be—a complete jerk—though this was heightened when he took in all that was Javi, his insecurity came to the fore, and so did his douchebaggery.
In other words, there wasn’t a repeat of that, and we weren’t the only ones who decreed this. Julie and Cath laid down that law too by laying into Patrick right in front of Javi and me.
I knew extending an olive branch to his dad was on Javi’s mind.
I knew he’d share or talk with me if he needed to, because that was what we did, that was who we were (and it was awesome).
But I also knew Javi had made a decision, and so it was going to happen.
I was just glad he was taking his time and deciding when it was right for him.
And that was all I needed to know.
On the other hand, my family situation was surprisingly a lot messier.
Easton had shared about my no contact thing, and neither Mom nor Dad took it very well.
Since I’d blocked them both, Javi and I got an early Saturday morning buzz at the gate when we were at my place the weekend after I started my organizing thing with Shirleen and we visited Javi’s mom.
Javi answered the buzzer.
When Javi heard who was there, he told them to go fuck themselves.
I, on the other hand, went to the gate to finish things.
Javi dogged my heels.
Mom was a bitch.
Dad was a wreck.
I reiterated my stance.
Mom pitched a fit.
Dad looked like he was going to cry.
Javi slammed the gate on them as he guided me away.
Bottom line?
I unblocked Dad, and about once a month I had a stilted, uncomfortable brunch or lunch with him that Javi insisted on attending with me.
Mom and Easton, though, were out.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, at our last lunch, Dad shared he and Mom were getting a divorce.
I could tell it was bothering him.
But I was glad he, too, would soon be free.
Just like me.
I couldn’t block Easton from my email, and he sent me one, sharing his sentiments that I was solely to blame for our parents’ breakup, adding that Mom agreed.
Although this annoyed me, since this kind of thing was standard practice in the O’Neill family, that was only mildly.
It didn’t mildly annoy Javi.
He went to visit Easton at his office.
I didn’t get any more emails after that.
Just in case you were wondering, although Javi and Dad didn’t have the best first meeting-of-the-new-boyfriend in history, Dad liked Javi.
Then again, who wouldn’t like that their daughter found themselves a protective, doting, smart, financially-secure man to fall in love with?
Dad sure didn’t.
So that about summed things up.
Except to say…
Javi and I worked our two-place thing just as well as Eric and Jessie did.
His armchair arrived, and it was rad.
He bought a rug (with my input, but he totally had opinions, and in the end, it was his pick), and it perfectly pulled the room together.
His kitchen not only had the blender, the toaster, and the coffeemaker, it also had a sleek black pot filled with utensils (because we liked to cook together, and even though his kitchen was bigger, Javi found ways to bump up against me when we did).
And he spent more money on a block of knives (times two, since he wanted the same at my place) than I ever knew you could spend on knives.
And his new dresser and nightstands were arriving in a week.
We had a slight hiccup when we went shopping for my new yoga mat and exercise paraphernalia, and Javi thought he could pay. I had to take him aside so the lady at the register didn’t have to listen to us bickering, it got so bad.
But in the end, this time, I won.
It seemed I didn’t have to have my How to Deal with An Alpha lessons.
Javi and I were doing just fine.
Most importantly, the Big Thing happened like this:
“You’re the best !”
“No, you’re the best !”
“No, you are!”
“No, you are !”
“Neither of you are!” Martha entered this shouting match Alexis and I were drunkenly having across the courtyard after we’d had a foursome date during which Alexis and I had imbibed copiously. “Now, shaddup !”
At this juncture, Jacob threw Alexis over his shoulder and walked her into their new pad.
And since I was standing just outside our door, Javi picked me up under my arms, pivoted, deposited me in the apartment, turned, closed and locked the door.
When he turned back, I attacked the fly on his jeans.
“Baby,” he rumbled, his voice shaking with laughter.
I tucked the tip of my tongue into the side of my mouth as I concentrated.
“ Baby .” This time, that word was swallowed up by his laughter.
Ugh!
His zipper was being so difficult !
I gave up on his fly and threw myself at him.
He caught me by picking me up with two hands on my ass (therefore I wrapped four limbs around his body), and he carried me to the bedroom as I rained kisses all over his face, neck and throat.
We went down on the bed, me on my back, Javi on me.