From The Wreckage - Complete (20 page)

"That was the day I learned I could move on. That there was something, someone, who could make me smile and feel alive. You know, you watch towns and peoples’ lives destroyed on the news all the time, whether by natural disasters, accidents, house fires or things like that...and you think about it and feel bad for them, but you never realize just how much damage something like that does to a person."

Jules looks down at her hands in her lap and eyes the red scar running down the length of her forearm. "I'm trying to figure it out myself. But that day? That day was a happy one." 

"Jules! There's some guy I don't know at the door!" She hears Jason yelling up the stairs right as she steps out of the shower. "Jules!"

She rushes to her door with a towel wrapped tightly around her chest. "All right! Is it a salesperson? Tell them to go away...but don't open the door!" she warns.

She hears him talking through the door to whoever it is, and she grabs the first thing she can find to throw on quickly before her little brother ends up opening the door to a serial killer.

"He says he's a friend."

"Of course he is," Jules mumbles to herself as she struggles to pull on her yoga pants over half-wet legs. 

"It's West!"

She almost falls on her face as she trips over a hamper full of clothes she needs to put away. Did he say
West
? Oh, my baby bunnies! Her heart leaps in excitement. 

"I'm coming! Tell him to hold on," she yells again, and frantically grabs a comb to try and put some order to her wet, tangled hair. 

"She just got out of the shower, hold on."

Jules blushes and throws the comb down. She doesn’t want to look as if she’s rushed to fix herself up for him. She hurries across her room and then slows as she rounds the corner to the stairs. Shaking her head, she bounces down the staircase, trying to act cool and collected, especially since she knows she’s visible through the window.

"I didn't open it, just like you said," says Jason the second her bare foot hits the landing of the foyer.

"Thanks, bud."

She lets Jason pull the door open to reveal West standing on her front porch with his signature grin. Jason swings open the glass, smiling at him before she has a chance to speak. 

"You like
Star Wars
?" he asks incredulously; staring at the vintage tee shirt West is wearing. "I like
Star Wars
, too."

"You do? I still have all of the Lego sets from when I was your age." West smiles and holds the glass door so he can stand there. She hears her little brother gasp and sees his eyes grow wide, and she prepares for his inevitable freak out. He is obsessed with
Star Wars
Legos, and can talk about the characters and building sets for hours if you let him.

"I collect them. I have almost all of them. I have this book with all of the sets, and I check them off when I get them. Jules thinks it’s silly. She says Legos are
stupid
."

"What?" she whines and West laughs; his smiling gaze moving from Jason to hers.

"She does, does she?" 

"No, she doesn't," she interrupts. She pulls Jason from the door and shoos him off. "Get out of here."

Jason's excited voice echoes off the walls as he races up the stairs, calling behind him, "I'll go get my Legos!" 

She watches him go with a laugh before turning to West with a raised brow. "See what you did? I'll be playing Legos for the rest of the day."

He says 'Sorry' in that 'sorry-not-sorry' way with a smirk to match. "Hi, by the way," he adds, and his voiced drops to a more normal tone.

"Hi." She shifts nervously; his nearness always making her nerves jumpy. Her hand moves to twist her hair when she remembers it’s a tangled, wet mess, and she blushes. 

"Your brother said you just got out of the shower." He nods towards her wet head. "I should have called first. I can go."

She wants to shout
NO!,
but manages to keep her calm. "It's fine. Um, did you want to come in?"

She steps to the side to let West into her foyer, and his arm brushes against hers as she pushes the door closed behind him.

"I was driving by and thought maybe we could hang out."

"You were driving by? Where were you heading?" she questions; squinting her eyes and calling his bluff.

He doesn’t bother to lie and shrugs instead, before stuffing his hands into his pockets. She's come to recognize this as his nervous gesture.

"Truthfully?"

"The truth is always nice." 

West steps closer to her and allows his scent to swirl around her as he speaks. "You didn't call me back last night," he admits. He pulls one hand from his pocket and touches a finger to a bead of water that has worked its way to the tip of her hair. Jules draws in a shaky breath as he inches closer. "I wanted to see you. Thought maybe we could go for a ride, get away to a little cornfield I know." His brows rise hopefully.

"I'm on duty today."

"On duty?"

"Yeah." She nods her head. Jason's voice fills the hallway above and she jumps back. They hear him before they see him. He is happily going on and on about something he is trying to build. "Kid brother duty."

"Oh." He grimaces, lowers his hand and thrusts it back into his pocket. "I really should have called first."

"No, I'm glad you didn't. Er, I mean, I'm glad you're here. You can hang if you don't mind a shadow."

"I'm not a shadow," Jason complains as he bumps into Jules on purpose and holds a spaceship in West's face.

"Oh man, wow. I don't have that one." 

"You don't? Want to see my other sets? Can I show him, Jules, please?" he begs.

"Of course, as long as West doesn't mind."

"Do you want to see all my sets? I bet I have a lot you don't, since you're older and don't get them anymore."

"What do you mean I don't get them anymore?" West asks as Jason waves for him to follow upstairs.

Jules follows behind them and happily watches West from behind. His faded jeans fit him to perfection; not too loose to droop, but not too tight either. His blue vintage
Return of the Jedi
tee stretches across his back and molds itself to each of his muscles. The boy worked out…that much was glaringly evident.

She listens as Jason explains how
obviously
since West is older he doesn’t buy Legos anymore, so he can’t
possibly
have all of the new 'cool' sets. 

"I'm going to change real quickly, if you don't mind hanging with Jason for a minute." 

Her brother continues on to his room and West stops. He flicks his eyes across her body and shakes his head. "You look great. Don't change on my account."

"C'mon West," Jason calls from his room impatiently, making West smile.

"Excuse me, I have some Legos to inspect." 

Blushing from West's once-over, Jules enters her room and decides to stay in the cropped yoga pants and pink workout tee she had thrown on. No matter how great West thinks she looks, she decides she needs to take a moment to brush her hair up into a high ponytail and spray on a little body spray. Confident she looks a little more presentable, she leaves her room a few minutes later and is surprised by the sounds of a pretend battle coming from her brother's room.

She can make out the mock light saber and blaster sounds. She's watched the movies and played the video games enough to recognize the sounds. Her eyes mist over as she leans against the wall directly outside Jason's room and listens to their playing; West's deep voice blending with her younger brother’s higher sounds.

Jason laughs as West makes a strange "Argh" sound and goes silent. Then his voice begins to breathe deeply as he mimics Darth Vader. "You
will
join me..." he hisses and Jason giggles; a full-blown, cackling giggle that only Jason can make when he is thoroughly amused. Jules can’t stand it. She peeks around the door frame to spy on the boys.  They’re sitting on the floor with little Lego men, pretend fighting. 

She fights back tears when her brother looks up at her standing there. "Come play, Jules," he invites her with a grin.

West looks up too, and what Jules finds makes her heart flip. He doesn’t get embarrassed, or drop the guys because he’s too cool for playing. Instead he flashes her a smile, picks up another guy and sets him on a ship sitting on the box in front of him. 

"How about a snack instead? Why don't you go make some popcorn?" Her voice is thick with emotion and West looks up from his men. His face softens as he looks at her, and she imagines he knows she is emotional. Jason looks a little sad as his eyes go from Jules to West and back. 

West notices Jason's concerned face too, and immediately sets him at ease. "Yum! Using the force sure does make me hungry. I could really go for some popcorn." When Jason's face looks doubtful, he adds, "Besides, you know we have to follow the Princess’s orders, young Padawan."

"She's not a Princess." Jason laughs, but drops his Lego men and stands up anyway.

West also stands up and sets his men on the dresser, but his concerned eyes lock on Jules. "I see a Princess." 

"Ewwww! I'll be downstairs." 

Jules laughs at his 'icky' face as he leaves the room and calls behind him, "We'll be right behind you, bud. You can turn on cartoons if you want, or pick a movie."

She feels West's gaze on her back when she turns and watches Jason walk happily down the hall. A stray tear escapes down her cheek when she hears Jason hum the galactic song. "Thanks for that."

"For what?" he speaks, his voice directly behind her. 

Her pulse leaps and she throws herself into his chest. "For playing with him. He's had a hard time getting over the tornado, and I haven't seen him truly laugh that way since it happened."

His arms go around her immediately. He rubs the back of her neck to soothe her as his other hand presses against the small of her back.

"Then I'm happy I came by, if only for him."

"You're totally going to lose your bad boy reputation, Rutledge."

"Do I have one?"

"You did, but I'm wondering if it was all part of some elaborate ruse."

"Reputations often are," he offers.

"I'm sorry I didn't call last night. I fell asleep, if you can believe that."

"I thought maybe you changed your mind." Jules hears the nervous hitch in his voice. 

"Changed my mind? About what...you and I? Why in the world would you think that?" She pushes up to her toes and presses a kiss on his chin, because that is the only thing she can reach without him leaning down.

"I keep thinking you're going to get your memory back from before the tornado."

"Huh?"

"I know; I'm crazy, right? I don't know if I could handle it, Jules. You're not going to wake up and be all – ‘Dude, I love Stuart! What am I doing with
this
loser?’"

Jules would have laughed if his comment didn't make her so angry. "Dude? What the hell? First, I have all of my memory from before the tornado and I’m not changing my mind. Second, don't call my boyfriend a loser, you loser," she growls, and kicks at his foot with hers.

"Your boyfriend, huh?"

"Yeah, my boyfriend. Didn't we just agree to this last night? Or are you already leaving me? Is that part of your bad boy charm…love 'em and leave 'em?" 

She bites her tongue when she realizes she said
love
. All of a sudden he appears to be questioning things, and she just mentioned the 'L' word. Way to go.

"I told you, gorgeous, I'm not leaving. As for love, well I've never been there with another girl."

"You haven't? Not even with Carley Raine?"

"Nope. Not even Carley. She was fun, but she wasn't love."

Jealousy blooms in her heart and suddenly she kicks herself as she asks the one thing she knows she shouldn't. "And what about me? Am I just fun?"

He presses her against his chest; his hand increasing the pressure on her back, glaring at her almost angrily as he bites out his next words. "You, Jules Blacklin, are not for fun. You are..." He swallows hard, the muscle in his cheek leaping.

"Never mind, I was playing."

He kisses her then, a short peck, which effectively shuts her up before he tells her calmly, "No, you should know. You’re not for fun.
You
might even be love." He pauses, stepping back and running a hand over his face. "I think, or at least I'm pretty sure, I could fall in love with you. Does that scare the crap out of you?"

For a few moments she’s a fish out of water. She struggles to breathe, much less comprehend what he just said. Then she grabs his face and makes him look directly at her. 

"The only thing that scares me right now is that I feel the same way."

Pulling his face to hers, she kisses him soundly, but not before she spots the soft warmth in his eyes. 

"This is crazy," she whispers against his mouth.

"But real," he counters, his voice as low as hers.

"Perfectly real." 

West's hand rounds her hip, curving over her backside much as it did the day before, but this time she doesn’t laugh when he asks, "Do I get to see your room?" 

She works hard to suppress the knowing smile tugging at her mouth as she pulls him behind her and down the small hallway into her bedroom. She expects him to attack her the moment they cross the threshold, but instead what she finds when she rounds on him is a very serious face as he checks out the room.

Looking around, she quickly scans the floor for anything that might embarrass her. She's always been a neat freak, and today’s impromptu visit makes her glad she is. Her room isn’t overly girly. There are a few stuffed animals in a chair, and pictures of friends and family cover the two cork boards over the desk that holds her laptop. The white lace curtains covering both windows are about the most feminine items in there. Her bedding is deep gray with white throw pillows, and her bookshelves are covered in books, trophies, framed pictures and knickknacks she's collected through the years.