Finding Us (12 page)

“So, Jag’s never mentioned that he has an underwear model for a neighbor,” Logan said, shooting me a dirty look.

“Well, he’s been slack in his introductions then,” she said with a chuckle,
slack
coming out as
slock
, which just kept me laughing.

“He has at that. Mark Logan,” he said and I noticed he’d not dropped her hand. “Catcher for the Dodgers.” He kissed her hand again and I’d had it. If I laughed any more, I knew I was going to hurl, so I pulled everything from my jeans, throwing my phone, keys and wallet on the bar.

“I’m out, dude. Make sure to lock up,” I said still chuckling as I made my way to my bedroom where I fell face first into bed and didn’t move a muscle until the next morning.

“Holy fuck!” Logan said when
I came out of my bedroom the next morning. He was in the kitchen frying bacon and eggs. It smelled great and had been what’d gotten me out of bed, surprising me since I should’ve had a damned hangover and the smell should’ve made me feel sick. Whaddya know? Things were actually looking up.

I walked to a cabinet and pulled out a coffee mug that El had left which made my heart do a little jump thinking that
I’d see her in a few hours. As I poured my coffee, I asked him what he was “holy fucking” about.

“That little num
ber down the hall? Holy fuck!” he repeated, grinning at me as he used tongs to take the bacon out of the pan and lay it on a plate covered with paper towels.

“Jesus Christ. Don’t tell me you banged her,” I said, knowing she’d probably bug the shit out of me even more
now wanting to know our schedule and when she could see him again.

He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Of course I did. And in your guest bed. Might wanna wash the sheets later.”

“Gross,” I replied, leaning a hip against the counter. Forget the smell of breakfast cooking making me sick; that info was just enough to do the trick.

“Swear to fuck, she could suck a rock out of a garden hose, man.”

“You kidding me right now? I think I’m gonna puke if you keep on with the details,” I said, sipping on my coffee, feeling my stomach churn in spite of my being hangover-free. Again, gross.

He plated our food and continued with his
yammering. “She’s hot, man. I mean it. Once we got past the fake orgasms, it was cool.”

I did a spit take with my coffee then, spattering the counter. Using a sponge to wipe it up, I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off. I knew it.

“Figured she was like that,” I said, throwing the sponge into the sink. He handed me a plate and we stood against the counter eating. “You gonna see her again? Please tell me you are so I don’t have to field all her questions about where you are or when we play.”

“Nah. She’s too fake for my ass, but it was a decent one-nighter,” he said, jamming a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

“Fuck,” I murmured.

“Sorry, man,” h
e said with a grin, not sorry at all.

I se
t my plate down, snatching up a piece of bacon. “I’m gonna give her your number and you can deal with the aftermath, dude.” I crunched on the bacon, smirking at him.

He shook his head at me. “Oh, no, you don’t.”

I grinned. “Oh, yeah, I will.”

“I’ll just change my number then. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I fucking hate you right now, you asshole,” I muttered, picking my plate back up to take a bite of eggs.

I sighed knowing I was going to have to deal with the drama that was Alessandra. Maybe she’d have a shoot in another country and would have to leave soon and wouldn’t bother me about Logan. Yeah, I definitely wasn’t going to hold my breath on that one.

I arrived that night, going
straight to El’s from the airport. I’d called before I left and had to tell her, rather sheepishly, that I had Ross’s key and could let myself in when she told me to come by Starbucks to get hers. She’d laughed and said she’d wondered how the heck I’d been getting in. And that was my El, so sweet and forgiving. God, I loved her.

“I missed you!” she shouted when she came in the apartment that night, running and jumping on me from where I’d gotten up from the sofa, wrapping her legs around my waist. She spread kisses all over my face then pulled back to look at me. “You’ve been a bad boy, Jagger Knox Jensen.”

My eyebrows came together as I chuckled, wondering what she was talking about.

She raised an eyebrow. “You came all the way from California and didn’t bring me In-N-Out!”

I laughed and kissed her hard, wet and deep. “God, I missed you,” I said then kissed her again.

“So, I’m starving. What’re you gonna cook for me?” she asked.

Still holding her, I walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. She clung to me like some kind of marsupial which had her giggling and me chuckling as I bent down to pull something out of the fridge. When I stood back up, she squealed.

“You did not!”

I nodded, grinning. “I did.”

“Oh, my, God! I love you so much right now!” She covered my face in kisses again as I walked to the bar and sat her ass on it.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said. “What do you mean ‘right now’?” I held the bag of In-N-Out away from her reach, my other arm wrapped around her waist keeping her sitting on the bar.

She giggled some more. “I mean, I love you all the time, but right now, I
really
love you.”

“Because I brought you burgers?” I tilted my head down
, looking at her as if I were looking over spectacles.

“Well, yeah!” She laugh
ed even more, trying to grab the bag from me.

I kept pull
ing it away from her, making us both laugh. “So if I hadn’t brought you burgers, you’d only love me a little, huh?”

She stopped reaching for the bag and put her hands on either side of my
face, rubbing over my scruff then said seriously, “Jag, I love you for always. Nothing’s gonna change that. Not even if you didn’t bring me burgers.” She pulled me to her and kissed the hell out of me, biting my bottom lip as she pulled away, letting it go after a second, which was sexy as fuck.

“Always?” I asked, ready to take her to bed right then even though I knew she was hungry.

“Always,” she said, smiling wickedly at me, before bringing the bag up to shake it in front of my face.

“How the hell?” I asked, wondering how she’d gotten it from me.

“I have my ways,” she said with a snort as she jumped down from the bar, pushing me out of the way and going to the microwave to heat up a burger.

All I coul
d do was shake my head and grin.

The next day was Thanksgiving
and we were making appearances at both our parents’ houses, dinner at El’s then dessert at mine. I’d already told her about Robbie and all that’d gone on between us, so that morning as we ate breakfast, she’d called him, making sure that he was okay with my being there and that he wouldn’t make an ass of himself. She’d also talked to her dad to make sure he’d keep an eye on her brother.

“I’m not a wimp, El. I don’t need
you or your dad to step in, for God’s sake,” I’d told her.

“I know,” she said. “But I want things to be nice while we’re there. I don’t want Robbie giving you the evil eye the whole time.”

“Look, I understand where he’s coming from. I’d do the same for Starr if it’d happened to her. I get it, El. It’s really not that big a deal,” I explained.

“It’s a big deal if you’re bleeding all in the stuffing,” she said with a frown.

I laughed. “Babe. Your mom’s stuffing is amazing. I wouldn’t do that. I’ll do it on the green Jell-O Mike’s wife always brings.” We both snickered about that one. Then I told her seriously, “I can handle it. Trust me?”

She sighed. “Oh, all right. But I swear, you get any blood in my stuffing, and it’s on.” She looked at me
in caution then smiled.

“God, I love you,” I said, hugging her to me hard.

“Can’t… breathe…” she muttered.

I chuckl
ed and let her go then bent to kiss her. “You’re the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, you know,” I said when I’d pulled back.

“Yeah, yeah. You just want first serving of Mom’s stuffing. I mean, seriously, Jag. When
did it become all about the stuffing?” she huffed out, then turned and walked to her bedroom, throwing me a cheeky grin over her shoulder.

Cutest fucking thing I’d ever seen.

“Get out of my parents’ motherfucking
house!” Robbie growled the minute he saw me when he walked inside.

“Robbie!” Mr. Love said in a warning tone.

Robbie’s eyes didn’t leave mine the entire time as he stood staring at me antagonistically.

“It’s okay, Mr. Love,” I said, putting a hand up in front of him. I walked toward Robbie, ready to block it if he swung at me. “Can we talk outside?”

He glared at me before nodding then followed me through the kitchen where he grabbed two bottles of beer out of the fridge and we went out the back door. I was hoping he wasn’t going to break the bottles, holding one in each hand and cut me up with them. And I can’t say I wasn’t shocked when he twisted the lids off both and handed me one.

“Thanks, man,” I
said before I took a well-needed pull on mine. After bringing the bottle down, I said, “Look, Robbie, I understand where you’re coming from.”

“Oh, yeah? Do ya?” he asked a little sarcastically. He was
four years older than I was and built like a wrestler, about five-foot-ten and all bulky muscle. Matter of fact, he had wrestled in high school and I’d seen him take down guys at least four inches taller than he was, so I knew he was no slouch.

“I do. I don’t know if you know the whole story, but I
do know I was an asshole to El, and I’m sorry.”

He took a slow drag on his bottle then looked at me.
“Told you last Christmas not to fuck up.”

I nodded. “I know. And I tried not to. It’s just shit got in the way and—” And that was when he punched me in the face so fucking hard, I went down on one knee, not having been expecting it. I looked up at him in surprise and rose slowly, ready to take him on if I had to.

“There. That squares shit away.” He shook his hand and I hoped he’d broken it.

“You fucking kidding me?” I asked, cupping my jaw in my hand, moving it back and forth to make sure it wasn’t dislocated.

He laughed. “I’m not. Look, I like you, Jag.” When I looked at him as if he were crazy, he clarified. “I really do, and I think you and El are perfect for each other. But she’s my baby sister. You had to have known we’d all wanna beat the shit out of you if you fucked up.”

He picked my beer up off the ground, wiped the mouth of it with his shirt and handed it to me.
I took a drink, swirling it around in my mouth before spitting it out, tasting some blood in it.

“Yeah, I knew it. Just wish you’d fucking warned me
right now before cheap-shotting me,” I replied, taking a real drink then rubbed my jaw again. Fuck, that hurt.

He shrugged. “That was a love pat, dude. Mike and Jake got hold of you, you’d probably end up in the ER. Consider that me saving you from a long hospital stay.” And then the fucker grinned.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Guess so,” I agreed.

“So we square?” he asked.

“Can I hit you back?”

“Nah. Only if I do some stupid ass shit to El like you did, but that’s not gonna happen.” He kept grinning.

“Then I guess we’re square.”

H
e clapped me on the shoulder then we walked back inside as if nothing had happened. El raised an eyebrow at me when we entered the dining room where everyone was already seated, but I shook my head and took a seat next to her.

“You okay?” she whispered.

“I’m fine,” I answered, putting my arm over the back of her chair. And I was. In the land of “Dude politics” Robbie had been justified in his actions, and I knew it. Like I said, I’d have done the same thing.

Dinner went off great, all of us chatting about everything, El’s brothers asking me how pro b
all was going, even Robbie, all three razzing me for our not making the Series. All in all, it was a nice dinner and I didn’t, not once, bleed into the stuffing.

“Oh, my God!” El shrieked as
soon as we walked inside my parents’ house.

“What?” I asked,
turning to her, startled. My parents were too because they both jumped up from the couch where they’d been visiting with Starr and her husband, turning to look at us. My nine-year-old niece and eleven-year-old nephew, Lark and Finn, had been busy playing video games in the den, but they came running in to see what the fuss was all about.

“Did Robbi
e punch you?” she all but screamed as she grabbed my jaw, making me wince and pull away from her.

“It’s not a big deal,” I hissed, scowling down at her.

“It is! I’m gonna kill him!” She yanked her cell phone out to call him, but I took it away from her.