#1 - Page 48 (1/2)

“Clark can have a drink. I’ll drive,” Elodie relented and we grabbed our things to leave.

Elodie and Clark shuffled the kids out first. Adam had his arm around Ellie and she was tucked in close to him, looking amazingly happy for someone who had major surgery coming up in a few weeks’ time. Then again, for over twenty four hours we’d all been convinced she had cancer only to discover she probably didn’t… and of course she finally had Adam right where she wanted him.

That left me and Braden to trail at the back, and I got the first taste of what he’d meant earlier. His fingers brushed my lower back to guide me out of the door and it was so deliberate it wasn’t funny.

He knew I was sensitive there.

I tried to hold back the s.h.i.+ver as I turned to lock the apartment, but Braden got in my way, so when I turned I collided with him.

“Sorry.” He smirked, moving slowly so my br**sts brushed against his chest.

I felt my ni**les harden and flinched at the heat that pulsed between my legs. My look was scathing. “Sure you are.”

Braden laughed softly as I leaned down to lock the door, and then I felt his shadow fall over me. I glanced up to my right to see his hand pressed against the door near my head. I twisted around to look up at him, only to find he’d coc.o.o.ned himself around me. “Need a hand?”

I narrowed my eyes into slits. “Back off before I turn your b.a.l.l.s into a keyring.”

I could tell he tried really hard not to laugh. Unfortunately not hard enough. “Babe, you’ve got to know when you say s.h.i.+t like that, it just makes me love you more.”

“You sound like a very bad villain/stalker right now.”

“I don’t care how I sound, as long as it’s working.”

“It’s not working.”

“A few more days of it and it will.” He brushed a quick kiss across my cheek and then abruptly pulled away before I could kill him.

“Come on guys,” Ellie called to us from further up the sidewalk. Elodie, Clark and the kids must have already gone inside. “What’s taking so long?”

“Jocelyn was just begging for s.e.x, but I told her it was a highly inappropriate time for it,” Braden answered loudly, causing pa.s.sersby to chuckle at him.

Furious at him for so many reasons, I rushed down our stoop towards them. “That’s okay, sweetheart,” I answered just as loudly. “I have a toy that does a better job of it anyway.” With that I slammed into the pub where he couldn’t hound me in front of the kids.

And although immature —and yes highly inappropriate considering the reason we were going for a drink—I couldn’t help but feel satisfied I’d finally got the last word in.

I admit it. I was a big fat coward.

I didn’t meet with Rhian and James on Monday like I’d promised. Instead I emailed her, explaining Ellie’s situation and that I didn’t want to leave her alone at the moment. If Rhian thought it was weird I couldn’t take just two hours out of the day to see her, she didn’t let on. If she thought it was weird I was emailing her instead of calling her, she didn’t let on.

The truth was I barely saw Ellie over the next few days because Adam had practically moved into her bedroom and the two of them only came out of there for snacks and bathroom breaks.

I didn’t want to see Rhian and James. That was the truth.

And why?

Because not too long ago I had spewed c.r.a.p down the phone to Rhian about not running from James because she was afraid of what the future might hold for them, and I really wasn’t in the mood to get a lecture from Rhian about breaking up with Braden and being a total hypocrite.

My story with Braden was entirely different. It was.

Really.

Okay.

I was just scared. No. Terrified. And I had every right to be. I just had to look at the way I’d reacted to Ellie’s situation to know that Braden would be in for a tough, neurotic life with me. Plus, my life had been so much calmer without him in it. I rarely worried about anything, my emotions were pretty stable, I had, if not peace, then quiet. Being with Braden was tumultuous and, really when I thought about it, exhausting. Take out the amazing s.e.x and all that you’re left with is a bunch of ugly emotions. Worry—that he might get bored and stop liking me. Jealousy— I’d never been the jealous girlfriend before meeting Braden, but now my claws got all sharp anytime I saw a woman flirting with him. Fear for him—as if I didn’t have enough to worry about for myself, now it freaking mattered to me if he was happy or healthy. And it mattered more. That just was not cool.

I liked pre-Braden Joss.

She was s.p.u.n.ky and cool and independent.

Post-Braden Joss was kind of a mushy a.s.shat.

It didn’t help matters that Braden had kept to his word. He turned up at the apartment any chance he could, and even though I told him that Ellie was pre-occupied, he still hung around.

“I was was.h.i.+ng the dishes and the sneaky b.a.s.t.a.r.d crept up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. And kissed me. Right here.” I pointed angrily to my neck. “Can I not have him committed or something?”