AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Did you step on my dog?" Juliet asked, her voice lacking any real concern. The evidence of Elvis's continued existence could be easily heard. He was on his feet, whining and slurping his desire to be escorted outside.
"Negative," I said. "He's here, in all his pugly glory, waiting to go out."
She rolled over and shot me a brilliant smile, her pink cheeks framed by all that golden hair, and my heart stopped beating for a moment as I looked at her. "I'll take him out in a minute," she said. "But first, tell me you're okay." She sat up, and her brows pulled together over those deep jade eyes. Juliet was worried about me.
It had been a while since anyone worried about me.
"Yeah, I'm okay." I stood, pulling my jeans back on. "Maybe a little unsure about all this." I gestured between us.
She nodded, her eyebrows pulling together. "Let's just enjoy it?"
"I did enjoy it," I assured her. "I guess I'm just not sure what it means. If it means anything."
"It meant something to me," she said, scooting close to take my hand and hold it between hers. "It meant a lot to me."
My steely determination was nothing in the face of her soft skin, her shining eyes. "To me too."
"Then let's just see where it goes," she said. "I like you Jace. I like you in a way I maybe haven't ..." she trailed off, leaving me desperate to hear what might have come next. "I just don't know ..."
"Your life is complicated right now." I suggested this, waiting to see if she'd tell me what was on her lips or if she'd take the out.
"It is. So is yours."
The eager excitement I’d felt about the thought that we were on the same page dampened a bit. "Maybe it's not the best time to do ..." it was my turn to trail off.
"Jace," she said, her voice nearly a whisper. "There will never be a good time. And being with you has been the first time I've felt like I'm really myself in ... maybe years. Can't we just let it be whatever it is? Enjoy it?"
God, I wanted to do that. But everything I'd ever done had been planned, strategized. There was a purpose to my actions, and those actions led to a result I'd pre-determined. And this thing? This living breathing desire I felt for Juliet Manchester? I didn't have a strategy to manage it. I didn't even know what it was.
"Don't overthink it," she suggested. "Please don't. Because if you do, I'm terrified you'll decide it's too hard, too uncertain. And I don't think I could take it if you told me that," she said.
"Okay." My mouth agreed before my mind even engaged. Because clearly, my dick and maybe my heart were driving my mouth. My brain was like a good friend who we'd stopped consulting because he just made things too damned difficult. He was the guy we didn't call when we were planning a fun night out. He was the wet blanket.
Elvis let out a pained groan, and Juliet slipped out of bed, pulling on light grey sweats and doing something magical with her hair and hands that resulted in a perfect messy little bun on top of her head. I stared at her, amazed. In about thirty seconds, she'd gone from sleeping beauty to awake, upright, and gorgeous.
Juliet Manchester had some kind of magic. And I wanted to understand it better.
* * *
Later that day,I was at Mom's house. She'd packed her clothes into duffle bags and suitcases, and now her hands were fluttering as she coughed and paced, watching me pack up the boxes I'd brought in the back of the Uhaul.
"I don't understand," she was saying as I wrapped dishes in paper and stacked them in the box. "Did you win the lottery Jace?"
In a way, I had, I guessed. "No Mom. Just figured out a way to keep you safe. To make things better for you." It felt like a lie. Juliet's money was going to make things better for Mom. And even though I’d tried, I realized I couldn't turn that down anymore than I'd been able to turn down a chance to take her to bed.
"But Brentwood? Jace, I'll feel like the lady from the stix over there. What will the neighbors think?"
In a way, it felt right. Like Mom should be in a nice place, should be somewhere that would make her own family jealous. "I don't care what they think. I care that you're safe." The kitchen was the last room I needed to pack, and as I finished up, a knock sounded at the door. "Jace?"
Jack, one of the other guards from Juliet's, had agreed to help me move the furniture. "Hey Jack," I said, calling through the locked security door. I moved to unlock it and let him in. "Thanks for helping, man. This is my mom, Renee."
Mom's hands were still fluttering, only now she was touching her short gray hair, brushing it out of her face, acting like a teenaged girl in front of Jack. "Hello," she said.
"Jack and I work together, Mom. He's going to help me move the furniture."
"Oh, how nice," Mom said, smiling up at Jack, who was intimidating in size. The guy had been a linebacker in college, but had blown a knee out just before the NFL draft and lost his shot. He'd been working security ever since. I guessed he hadn't been in college for the degree, but we'd never really talked about that. "Are you from Los Angeles, Jack?" Mom asked him as we moved into the bedroom to pick up the mattress.
"No ma'am," Jack said. "Grew up on a farm in Nebraska," he told her with a broad smile.
