15. Nia
15
NIA
“Men are stupid, and I think we should just cut off all their penises and the world would be a better place.” My voice is laced with the frustration I’ve been feeling nonstop since Josh practically peed on me when Eddie showed up at work.
The moment the words leave my mouth, I realize they’ve echoed louder than intended. It’s not just Ella who hears me, either. Several of the parents hanging around the yard turn their heads, eyebrows raised in surprise.
Ella’s eyes widen in shock, and her hand freezes halfway to her mouth as she is about to take a sip of her iced tea. “Wait,” I mumble, suddenly aware of how many ears might be listening, “did I say that out loud?”
“Yes.” Rich laughs from the other side of the backyard. “You definitely did.”
I roll my eyes, aiming the Nerf gun that Lyla insisted I carry around “just in case.” I pull the trigger, and the soft foam dart hits Rich square in the chest. “That’s for eavesdropping,” I call out, my tone playful despite the earlier outburst. Rich mock-staggers backward, clutching his heart dramatically like I’ve mortally wounded him. I turn back to Ella, sighing. “Thanks for not sticking up for me.”
Ella just shrugs, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiles. “What can I say? Sometimes, you just have to let the truth out. Even if it means you sound like a crazy person.”
“How many of them are there?” I try counting the kids around the yard, but they are running too fast, and some of them are hiding in the bushes and one is even up a tree while another one is spinning around, yelling out numbers like they’re playing a game of pro football.
Lyla’s end-of-the-year party is something that every single kid in her class usually goes to. But with the amount of kids playing all around us, I think it is more like the entire school has to be running around the back acre of Ella’s yard with nerf guns, water guns, and even some water balloons.
“I think we have something like forty or fifty kids this year.” Ella sips her iced tea. “Lyla said she wanted to invite her friends from other grades, too.”
Just then, a boy who’s been counting, probably for some elaborate game of hide-and-seek, sprints by us with a huge, infectious grin on his face. “I see you, Bee! You’re not gonna get away!” he shouts, his voice full of determination. His little legs pump furiously as he chases after a flash of blond hair that I recognize as Bee, one of Lyla’s best friends.
“You’re vermin, Nox!” Bee shouts back over her shoulder, her blond hair streaming behind her like a banner as she deftly dodges him by mere inches. The next moment, she’s darting toward the edge of the yard, where the trees provide the perfect cover for her escape. I can’t help but laugh at the sheer fierceness in her voice, even as she disappears into the woods, leaving Nox to chase her into the shaded underbrush.
“Damn,” Ella says as the little boy follows her, fast on her heels. “I wanna be her when I grow up.” She looks around, trying to find Lyla.
“She’s in the tree house,” I tell her. “Hiding out and eating pizza with Deacon’s son, I think his name is Rett?” I nod to the big-ass biker standing with Rich and my dad on the other side of the yard. “Why is he here, anyway?”
Ella snorts and then shakes her head. “Rich is apparently considering a retainer from the club. But he told Deacon he refuses to defend them against anything to do with drugs, so I think they’re discussing the specifics. Honestly, though, I’ve been trying to stay out of it.” She looks around, like she is mentally counting the too-many-to-really-count children, and then turns her attention back to me. “Where’s Josh at? I didn’t hear whatever bullshit excuse you gave our parents for not bringing the man you’re seeing.”
At her extremely unsubtle way of calling me on my lie, I flinch. “It wasn’t that ridiculous.”
Ella rolls her eyes, the gesture so familiar it brings a small smile to my face despite myself. “You’re a terrible liar, Nia,” she says, her tone bordering on exasperation. “You’ve never been able to get anything past me, so why don’t you just tell me what’s really going on? I’m all ears, and you know I won’t judge.”
Since she’s right and I’m probably the absolute worst liar that ever existed in our family, if not the entire world, I decide to just tell her the truth. Besides, Ella knows every single one of my weaknesses, and she has a key to my house.
If she really wanted to, she could absolutely do some damage.
“Fine,” I huff pretty dramatically, considering we are surrounded by a group of kids who are screaming and ignoring us as they continue to play. “But I want it noted that I’m only telling you this under duress.”
“Yes,” Ella says dramatically. “Because duress is the two of us standing here while I watch my daughter obsessively during a party to make sure she doesn’t have an asthma attack while she’s playing with her friends.”
“I got upset with him and accused him of acting like he owned me.” I stare at the grass around us, pretending to be fascinated by the different shades of green. “We were joking around with his roommate, then later Eddie showed up at work to ask a favor. Josh acted like a guy, and instead of talking to him about it, I kind of pushed back, saying some not great things. I didn’t mean it. Most of it.” I add the last part as an afterthought, fighting off the shard of embarrassment at letting my sister into my hidden shame.
“Ahh.” Ella finally takes her eyes off the tree house, her gaze sharpening as she focuses on me. The emotion in her eyes catches me off guard, making my breath hitch in my throat. “So what you’re saying is that the ambitious Virginia Lee Davidson—the one who’s spent her entire life avoiding anything resembling settling down—is struggling with the idea that she might have actually found someone worth loving?” She pauses, letting the weight of her words settle over me like a blanket. “And not only that, but you accused him of acting the same way Rich’s brother Royal used to act about Kennedy. Do you realize how big of a deal that is? How much that would hurt a good man?”
If I look in a mirror, I’ll no doubt resemble a fish out of water. Even while I want to stop gaping at her, I can’t. Everything she says is the truth, and it freaking hurts to hear it.
“Besides,” Ella goes on like I’m not having the biggest breakthrough in my entire emotional life. “It looks like you didn’t scare him away, even if you wanted to.”
Mouth still hanging open like a dork, I turn around and watch as Josh hands my dad a reusable grocery bag full of what looks like steak and chicken, gives my mom a kiss on the cheek, and then walks directly toward us.
“I’m just gonna go,” Ella announces abruptly, her voice laced with something that sounds suspiciously like glee. Before I can even think to grab her arm and keep her by my side because let’s face it, I could really use a buffer right now, she’s already turned on her heel and is making a beeline for the other side of the yard. “Bye!” she calls over her shoulder, leaving me standing there like a deer caught in headlights.
“Josh,” I say quietly, unsure of both how I sound and myself in the current situation. “What are you doing here?”
“Well…” Josh trails off, his hands finding their way into his pockets as he rocks back on his heels, that familiar easygoing demeanor barely masking the uncertainty in his eyes. He’s watching me carefully, like he’s bracing himself for a potential explosion. “After what happened at work yesterday, I figured you might need some space to handle shit, so I wasn’t planning on showing up. But then your mom showed up at my apartment this morning. She knocked on my door at an ungodly hour, by the way, and demanded my presence here.” He chuckles softly, a hint of nervousness in his tone. “Your dad even told me I had to bring the meat for the barbecue. Couldn’t really say no to that, could I?”
“Look.” I freeze, unsure of what I can say, or should say, in that moment. An apology isn’t enough.
“You were right.”
For the second time in five minutes, I am shocked speechless. First, by Ella calling me out on the way I’ve acted and then by Josh trying to take all the blame when he clearly wasn’t the only one at fault. If there was anything wrong in what he did at all.
“No.” I hold a hand up when he looks like he is going to contradict me. “I wasn’t right.”
After rubbing a hand down my face, I tilt back the rest of my iced tea and finish the glass. Then I take Josh’s hand and lead him up the back steps and into the house, shutting the sliding back door behind us. I don’t stop, though, until I put my empty glass in the sink. Josh, proving to be even more perfect than I already knew, follows me without saying a single word. He just lets me direct both of us, allowing me to take control of everything.
“I wasn’t right,” I tell him after turning around and seeing the unsure look on his face.
“I shouldn’t have been an asshole when you were talking to Stryker.”
With a half smile, I reach out and run a hand down his arm, trying to force myself to face the truth. “You’re right. You shouldn’t get jealous of Eddie. But I also shouldn’t have jumped down your throat and accused you of trying to own me. You’re not possessive or abusive or anything like that.”
“I’m a little possessive.” He pulls me into his arms and presses a soft kiss to my lips.
A soft kiss that quickly turns to more. Josh’s hands wrap around my waist and lift me up onto the counter. I wind my legs around his body, lock my ankles together, and moan as his tongue caresses mine.
When I lean back slightly, Josh’s hands press into the counter next to my body, effectively caging me in—like I would ever try to escape.
Before we can do anything stupid, like have sex on my sister’s kitchen counter, Josh apparently decides to do the responsible thing and step back.
Which sucks.
“No,” I groan. “I wasn’t ready to stop.”
“If we didn’t stop,” he says with a smirk. “I’d be doing extremely inappropriate things in the kitchen where anyone could just walk in and see.”
Like he’s summoned them, a stream of children appear like magic. Okay, not like magic since they start knocking on the glass door behind Josh and then open it carefully.
“Josh!” the little Nox kid calls out. “Did you bring your fire axe?” He turns to the girl he called Bee who stands at his side. “This is the firefighter who almost won career day last year. But he didn’t have a machete, and Aunt Kennedy has a machete so she won. Not even a fire axe wins against a machete.”
Bee nods solemnly before she leans toward him and tries to whisper. Unfortunately, they are kids and are terrible at it. “I don’t think firemen are cool, anyway. Both Emma and Dom are cops, and they say firefighters are just hose chasers.” Then she smiles brightly at us and waves. “We’re going to go watch a movie in the living room ’cause Mrs. Prince said that it’s okay.”
Then she takes Nox’s hand and leads the five other kids behind him through the house like we don’t matter.
Lyla is last, and she stops right at Josh’s side before shoving him out of the way with her elbow. “Was he hurting you, Auntie Nia? If he was, I’ll go scorched earth on him and Daddy would keep me from getting in trouble ’cause he says I’m his favorite.”
She stares at Josh like she’ll stab him with a spork, and I can’t help laughing at her not-so-subtle threat.
“You’re adorable, you little heathen. Josh isn’t hurting me. He’s my boyfriend.”
That has Lyla looking outraged. “No.” She shakes her head. “You told me you hated boys just as much as I do.” With her arms crossed, she stares mutinously, not at me, but at Josh. “You stole my auntie away from me. I’ll get my revenge, just you wait and see.”
We both watch as she marches away with her blond hair swinging back and forth, and Josh leans into me.
“I don’t know why, but I’m terrified of her.” His whisper isn’t nearly as loud as Bee’s and Nox’s had been, but I still shake my head toward the sliding glass door.
Without saying anything else, I lead him back to the yard and make sure the door is closed behind us.
“Never show her weakness. Not only is her dad one of the best defense attorneys that I’ve ever heard of, but both Ella and I have raised that girl to be ruthless. I would literally sleep with one eye open if I were you. At least until you manage to win her over.”
Josh keeps laughing until he sees that I’m not. “You’re joking, right?”
I shake my head. “Not even close. She’s a ferocious little girl. Especially when it comes to protecting her family. I watched her lock Rich out of the house once because he accidentally closed the door on her. She’s not afraid of the dark or showing up at my house in the middle of the night. And she’s done it before.”
“You’re talking about her like she’s dangerous.” Rich shakes his head as he walks up to us. “She’s not. She has the same impulse controls that every little kid does. You’ll see. One day when you have kids of your own.”
I gasp. “You take that back, heathen.” Then, just for good measure, I pick up a stick from the ground and throw it at him. “Keep your baby-making germs on that side of the yard.”
When Rich throws a soccer ball at me in the next instant, I decide it is time to play dirty. Taking the back steps two at a time, I throw open the sliding glass door and laugh when I hear him pleading with me not to do what we both know is coming next.
“ Lyla ,” I call her name. “Your father’s being mean to me.”
There is nothing but silence for ten solid seconds. Then the sound of more than twenty footsteps fill the air and I step to the side just in time to avoid being trampled by the massive horde of children. Each and every one of them runs after Rich.
“That was mean, you know.” Josh pulls me into his arms.
With a laugh, I kiss him and then run to help Lyla and the other kids. “I never said I was a nice person.”