Love Song Series Box Set (17 page)

Jase

We lay quietly for a while, my arms wrapped around her. I’m just about to fall asleep when I hear Julie’s voice.

“
I need to get home to Jenny,” Julie says through a yawn. “She’s probably up by now.”

“
Okay, baby. You want to hit the shower first? I’ll wash your back, if you wash mine.” I smile and give her ass a squeeze.

She giggles and swats my hand.
“I don’t have any clean clothes, but you can take a shower now. I’ll grab one when I get home.”

“
There’s stuff in the closet. It’s your old shit, a few things I found around the house after you left. It’ll do until we get you home.” I run my hand over her stomach, resting it on top of our child.

Julie pulls back and looks at me.
“You kept my stuff. I saw some of it, but...” She looks around the room, slowly taking in all of the things she left behind. “Why would you keep all my things for so long?”

“
I always hoped you’d come home, so I never got rid of anything. Hell, even that basket of crafty shit you used to work on all the time is still sitting right beside the couch.” I lift up on my elbow and give her a gentle kiss. “Having all your stuff around made me feel closer to you.”

Julie has a funny look on her face. She probably thinks I
’m some kind of whack job. I know it sounds fucked up, but I needed her things near me. Shane and Matty have been on my ass forever about packing up all her shit, but I just couldn’t do it. Getting rid of her stuff seemed like giving up on her. That was something I wasn’t willing to do.

“
What did all your women think about that?” she asks quietly.

Shit, I should have known she
’d think I’d brought a ton of bitches here. My own brothers didn’t believe me when I told them about the ‘no whores in the house’ rule. I even questioned why I did it a time or two, but now I’m glad I never had anyone in our bed.

“
You’re the only woman that’s ever been in this bed, Julie.” She gives me a look that says she thinks I’m lying. “I swear, baby. Yeah, I fucked around a lot, but I’ve never brought any woman here but you. This is our place. It’s where we were happy together. I just couldn’t taint it with that shit.”

I hope like hell she believes me because I meant every damn word I just said
. I can’t let any more history fuck things up for us, not now that I finally have her back. I’m not sure what the look on her face means, but I hope to hell that her eyes tearing up is a good thing.

Julie brings her lips to mine.
“Did I mention how much I love you?” she whispers into my mouth. She kisses me, kisses me in a way that makes my dick hard again. She pulls away and crawls from the bed, then walks toward the bathroom door, buck-ass naked.

“
Thought you wanted a shower?” she says over her shoulder.

Hell yeah!
I jump out of the bed and smile all the way to the bathroom.

Chapter
20

Jase

I cut off the truck after pulling into the parking lot. Looking over at Julie, staring out the window, my mind tries to come up with something to say to make her feel better. “Babe, he understands why you can’t be there.”

It
’s been almost three weeks since Brandon’s accident, and he’s getting better every day. The Army flew him into a military hospital in California two days ago, where he’s going to spend the next few months receiving physical therapy. Mack and Angie left to visit him this morning. Julie wanted to fly out there with them, but her doctor didn’t think it was a good idea. Her blood pressure has been running a little high, not bad, but enough to make me worry. The doctor says he doesn’t think it’s anything to be concerned about, but he still doesn’t want her flying across the country.

She turns her head toward me and nods.
“I know he does, but I still wish I was there.”

She
’s been real antsy, knowing he’s back in the states, so close, yet she can’t go to him. I need to distract her to help take her mind off everything. That’s why I’m taking her out. Plus, I want to talk to her about moving in with them. I have no idea how that will go down. To be honest, I’m terrified she’ll say no, but I’ll still try.

After climbing from the truck, I walk
to her side and open the door. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

She grabs my hand and climbs from the truck.
As we walk toward Mario’s Italian Restaurant, I run through all the things I plan to say to her. I have to convince her to let me move in. I want to be with Julie and Jenny all the time, but that’s not all of it. That fuckwad, Dean, has been calling her and Bethany all the time. They’ve had to change their numbers more than once, and the police are doing nothing to stop him. Both women are on edge, and I’m starting to worry about them being there on their own.

As we step inside, Julie leans into my side.
“We didn’t have to come here. I would have been happy eating pizza and watching
Monsters Inc.
with Jenny.”

I smile down at her, knowing she is lying through her teeth.
She has told me more than once that she would rather poke out her own eyes than watch that movie one more time. “I wanted to take you somewhere special. Bethany will just have to suffer through Sulley and Mike alone.”

“
She doesn’t mind. She’s probably watched that movie a hundred times, and she would watch it a hundred more if Jenny asked her to.”

“
That’s true.” Bethany is watching Jenny for us tonight. It was kind of weird being around her at first, her being Dean’s sister, but Jenny couldn’t ask for a better aunt.

We stop our conversation as the hostess leads us to the table.
We’re looking over the menu when Brittany saunters over.

“
Well, well, Julie and Jase back together again. How sweet!” she says with fake cheeriness.

“
What do you want, Brittany?” I spit out, wanting her to go the fuck away as soon as possible.

She
ignores me and looks at Julie. “I heard you were having another kid, so I came to congratulate you and see if Jase wanted to hook up later. They’ve got extra big bathrooms here.” She has some fucking nerve. How could I have ever fucked such a bitch?

“
Walk away, Brittany. Now. I don’t know how many damn times I have to tell you, I’m not fucking interested!” I say in a near shout.

She doesn
’t walk away. Instead, she decides to share some information with Julie. “You should probably know, Jase has slept with every female member of the waitressing staff and probably half the women dining here tonight. So, make sure you check out your food really good before eating it,” she says laughing, sauntering off.

Stupid
cunt! I look at Jules and notice that her face is pale, and she’s clenching her teeth. I reach my hands over to hers, noticing they are also clenched. “Baby,” I say quietly.

She takes her hands out of mine.
“Please, Jase, just take me home.” Her voice is sad, and she’s refusing to look at me.

“
Julie, don’t let Brittany or any other girl here ruin tonight for us. Please,” I beg.

“
Fine. Jase, if one more woman decides to spew shit at me tonight, I’m leaving with or without you.” Her voice is firm.

I nod in agreement.
“If it happens again, we’ll leave.”

Julie looks over at where
Brittany is sitting. She then looks back at me. “Does she talk to you like that with Jenny around?”

I hesitate in my answer, but I need to be honest.
“Yes, she has a time or two, but I’ve put her in her place.”

Her eyes narrow
, and she throws the menu down. A second later, she is storming over to Brittany. Her hands are clenched to her sides, and her body is taut. Raising a hand, she puts her finger right in Brittany’s face. “If you ever go near my daughter again, I will kick your ass. Jase might not be willing to hit a woman, but I will do whatever I have to do to protect Jenny. Do you understand me?” Julie says in voice that is anything but calm.

Brittany
laughs and rolls her eyes. “Oh, I’m so scared.”

“
I’m funny, huh? How about this? If you so much as look at my daughter again, I will let Kristen go after your skank ass.”

Oh shit! Everyone in town knows that you do not cross Kristen. She can be one bad
-ass bitch when she wants to be. I don’t even bother to look at Brittany’s reaction to Julie’s words, but when Julie comes back over, she is calm and collected. She grabs her menu and says, “I think I’m going to get the cheese ziti.”

Julie

“Are you okay?” he asks as he stares at me.

I feel bad because tonight isn
’t going as planned. Jase tried so hard to make it special, but five minutes after we walked in, his past came ‘round to slap me in the face. That seems to be a pattern for us, one that I hope like hell we can change. I avoid his eyes and lie. “I’m fine, just hungry.”

I
’m anything but fine; I’m mad as hell. For once, my anger isn’t directed at Jase. It’s all focused on the bitch across the dining room. I can’t believe I just went up to her in the middle of a busy restaurant. Was it a good idea? No. But it needed to be done. It’s one thing for her to come up to Jase or me, but it’s not going to happen when Jenny is around. I also hope with that little scene I just caused, any other woman thinking of coming over here tonight will think better of it.

“
Are you sure?”

My eyes finally meet his.
“I may not be fine, but I’m here with you, so I will get there.”

I
’m getting sick of all this, but I realize there isn’t anything he can do to stop it. There is no way he can change the past, so I can’t be pissed at him now. In fact, if anything, I feel a little sorry for him. With every woman I meet, I get a better idea of what it was like for him while I was gone, and I hate it. Every story I hear starts the same: Jase was drunk off his ass...

I know Jase has been trying. He hasn
’t been drinking, except a beer or two, since we got back together, but I can tell it’s hard on him, especially when everyone is trying to cause us trouble. We haven’t even been back together for a month yet, and I have had the pleasure of meeting a ton of women that he has screwed. They want to share all the seedy details of their time with him. I’m not sure why because it all just sounds sad to me. Is it too much to ask that if Jase and I go out, we get to have a nice time together without some woman he has slept with ruining it? Can’t they just give us a break?

He reaches across the table and places his hand over mine.
“You know I love you, right?”

That is one thing I know for sure.
“I know you do. I love you too.”

We sit quietly for a few more minutes before the
waitress finally shows up to take our order. She looks a little nervous, so I smile at her to let her know I’m not going to freak out again. She walks away, but comes back with bread sticks a few minutes later. I am just starting to take a bite when Jase breaks the silence.

“
I want to talk to you about something. I know this isn’t the best time, especially after all that shit,” he adds, looking toward Brittany’s table and shaking his head before he continues, “but I think that I should move in with you.”

What? Oh my God!
Is he serious? “Don’t you think that would be a little too fast?”

I must look scared out of my mind because Jase start
s to laugh. “Yeah, baby, it is fast, but I have my reasons. Now, just hear me out.” He takes a deep breath and continues rocking my world. “I don’t like the idea of you girls being there all alone. That dickhead you were married to has been calling damn near every day. Bethany is a fucking basket case, and you’re on edge. Even Jenny looks nervous. I can’t protect you from across town.”

I think about what he
’s saying, and it makes sense, but I’m just not sure I’m ready for this. “I don’t know, Jase.”

“
Baby, it doesn’t have to be permanent. When the shit with that bastard calms down, I can move back home, but I’m hoping you won’t want me to.” He ends with a wink, trying to make light of what is truly a serious conversation.

He
’s right about everything he is saying. Him moving in would be the smart thing to do. Dean’s calls are coming daily, and each time he calls, his threats are worse than the time before. Even though I’ve filed report after report, there isn’t much the police can do with him calling from Missouri. As long as he stays there, we will be okay, but the possibility of him showing up on my doorstep grows more frightening every day. “Maybe…”

“
I just want to protect you.”

Seeing the truth in his eyes, I know I have to say yes.
The thought of Jase moving in, despite the reason, thrills me a little. Maybe it would be for the best? I look up at Jase and smile, my mind made up. “Okay, we can give it a try.”

Jase gets up and walks around the table
. He leans down and gives me a kiss. “I promise you won’t regret this.”