Unavoidable Chance (15 page)

I can tell the case is getting the better of Ava. I’m glad it’s Saturday, and she can have these next few days to recuperate and relax until Monday. After dinner, we take our wine into the family room and settle in to watch a movie. She snuggles up to my side, with her knees drawn into her chest and her feet resting between my thighs. My arm is draped over her shoulder and I’m rubbing up and down her arm with my finger. She has her arm draped over my chest, with her hand splayed on my abs. Every few minutes her hand descends down my shirt then back up to my chest. On a downward stroke, she lifts my t-shirt and trails up my bare skin. I squeeze her closer and kiss the top of her hair. She looks up into my eyes and I see nothing but love staring back at me. I bend down and kiss her. I lay her down on the couch and position my body over hers. I lift her shirt as she lifts mine up and over my head. She sits up so I can remove her shirt as I continue to kiss her. The movie is playing in the background as I unbutton her jeans, then I put my hands down her pants. She removes her pants as she pulls and grabs at my back, desperate for more.

“What in the hell is going on here?” Quinn’s voice says over top of us.

Ava screams, then pulls me tight to her chest. Her eyes go big as she looks between Quinn and me.

“Oh, my God,” Ava whispers.

Ava is mostly naked, and my sister is standing over the couch staring at the two of us.

“Quinn, out!” I shout at her, covering Ava.

“No, this is my house, too. I want to know what the hell is going on here. Who is this woman? Is this the reason you’ve had that fucked up look on your face for the past few weeks?”

“Knock it off, Quinn,” I say as I get up off the couch taking Ava with me. I turn around so Ava is behind me, then I turn back around facing Quinn blocking Ava from Quinn’s view. Ava bends down while covering herself, to find her shirt and jeans. She finds them and quickly puts them on.

“I’ll just leave,” Ava says, trying to step around me.

“No, please stay. Quinn you weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow. This isn’t the way I wanted to introduce you to Ava, but you’re being incredibly rude.”

“I’m being rude?” she gasps.

“Jax, it’s alright. I should go anyway. I have work to do,” she says, trying to go around me again.

“Ava, please stay. I’ll just have a little talk with Quinn. Then we can finish the movie,” I say, looking at Quinn.

Quinn stares at Ava, just challenging her to stay. I don’t know what’s got into Quinn; she’s always such a friendly, loving person. This is so not like her.

“It’s really alright, I honestly do have work to do. I’ll still see you tomorrow for dinner? You can come to my condo around four, and we’ll drive together?” she asks.

“Absolutely, I’ll walk you out.” She grabs her briefcase and her purse and I walk her out to her car. She unlocks the door and I open it for her. I pull her close and rest my forehead against hers. “I’m so sorry about Quinn. She wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow. I’m going to have a talk with her when I go back inside.”

“Really, it’s alright. Don’t be too hard on her. She just found you making out with a woman on your couch that she’s never met before. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says, lifting her forehead, then gives me a kiss.

I watch her car back out of my driveway and disappear down the street. I look to the house and see Quinn standing in the doorway. As soon as she sees me, she turns around and heads back into the house, slamming the front door. I hang my head and count to ten before I head in, before I do or say something I may regret. Opening the door, she’s nowhere to be seen. I climb the stairs and find her in her room. She’s sitting in the center of her bed and she looks like she’s crying.

“Do you want to tell me what in the hell that was all about?” She doesn’t answer, so I continue. “That was incredibly rude. I’m sorry you had to meet Ava that way, but I didn’t think you’d be home until tomorrow. I won’t have you being rude to Ava, or to anyone, in my house. Do you understand me?”

“It’s always been about you, hasn’t it?” she says in a whisper.

“Excuse me?” I question angrily. I’m not sure I like where this conversation is going.

“It’s always been about you. You got hurt; you were discharged from the Air Force. You lost your wife; you have to be a single dad. You own a restaurant; you work long hard hours. It’s always you, you, you. Well, I’m fucking sick and tired of it. Everyone walked on eggshells when you got home. You were dealt a double whammy and that fucking sucked, but everyone catered to you. No one ever stopped and thought about anyone else that may have been affected by everything. I almost lost you. I lost my sister-in-law and one of my best friends. Who do you think Scarlett used to talk to in the middle of the night when she was home alone with two little girls? Who do you think she went to when she was scared out of her mind with worry about where you were, or if you were even alive? ME! That’s who. But no one cared that I too had lost someone or that I almost lost my brother. Everyone had to be strong for you. Everyone else had to pick up the pieces and grieve in silence, because she was your wife. Well, she was my best friend, and I didn’t have the luxury of having people pick up my pieces. I left my pieces on the ground and dropped everything to move in with you, to help take care of you and the girls. Did you think I just needed a free place to crash? I put my life, my dreams, on hold for you. You’d think that when you met someone that you’d have the decency to at least mention it to me. But no, instead I have to find her half naked with your hands on her on our couch. What if I had the girls with me? What do you think they would have thought about their daddy?” she shouts.

“First of all, I had no idea Scarlett called you worried about me. I had no idea you two were even that close. And you’re right, I’m sorry, I did selfishly let everyone around me pick up the pieces. You have to understand where my head was at. I lost my world; I’m not talking about my job as a PJ, I’m talking about my wife. I didn’t know if I could even make it out of bed most days to take care of my girls because my head was so messed up. I have been taking you for granted and for that I’m sorry, too. You do have your own life, and you did, and do, pick up major slack so I could open up the restaurant. I knew if I didn’t do something big in my life to keep me busy, I’d fall into something that I knew I would never recover from. But let me get this straight with you. I know where my girls are tonight and I know for a fact they wouldn’t be walking in my front door. You weren’t supposed to be here either. I would never just blatantly throw a new relationship in your face like that. I planned on introducing Ava to you and the girls Sunday after we got back from dinner.”

I walk over to her bed and sit next to her. She shifts her body away from me and crosses her arms over her chest. I feel sick to my stomach that I’ve never really stopped to think about anyone else’s feelings.

“Do you want to talk about Scarlett?” I ask quietly.

She turns her body farther away than stands and says, “I’m going back to my friend’s house.”

“Quinn…” She rushes down the stairs and slams out the front door again. I hang my head, then head downstairs for a much needed hard work out.

The next morning I make the drive to Lake Stevens to pick up the girls. We ate a picnic lunch out by the lake, then headed home. I told the girls that I have someone special I want to bring over later tonight to introduce them to, and that we’re going to bake cookies. They were both excited, but I’m not sure if it was to meet my ‘someone special’ or the fact that we’re going to bake cookies.

Chapter 10

Ava

Sunday morning I wake up excited to bring Jax to dinner tonight. I know my family has already met him, but brining him to dinner is different. I’m so excited that I decide to forego all lawyer duties, instead, commence pamper Ava day. I make an appointment for the spa and head to the mall with the mission to find the perfect ‘to die for’ pair of sexy heels. I stop at my favorite coffee house that I’ve missed so freaking bad, and order my favorite drink, then head to the mall. I head straight to my favorite store and directly to the shoe department. As I’m walking down the aisle, my eyes hone in on a pair of Giuseppe Zanotti suede, circle-cut out ankle boots, with a four and half inch heel that zip up the back. They will look killer with a pair of black cropped pencil trousers. I make my purchase then head to the spa. While at the spa, I decide to get my hair trimmed and blown out. Tonight I’ll look killer for my man.

At ten to four, Jax’s monster truck pulls up my driveway. He steps out and looks amazing in a pair of jeans and a tight t-shirt. He walks up the walkway with a smile and a bouquet of flowers. There’s just something about him, the way he carries his large muscular frame. Add the sight of him with all he is and carrying flowers walking up my walkway, and it sends me as giddy as a school girl, and makes me lose my mind.

I open the door with a smile of my own and he immediately says, “Hey, beautiful.” He kisses my cheek and hands me the flowers. My insides turn to goo.

I take the flowers into the kitchen and put them in water then place them in the center of the island. I grab my purse and walk back out into the family room. His eyes dilate as they go straight to my shoes. Someone likes what he sees. He takes two large steps toward me and pulls me in for a hot, steamy kiss. I smile on his lips, give him one more kiss, then we head out the door. He holds open the door for me to his Mt. Everest vehicle, and for a second, I envision him getting down on all fours, then plant a four and a half inch heel in the center of his back so I can climb in. I smile at my stupid over-thinking brain, use the truck step to get in instead, then when he’s seated, I tell him how to get to my mother’s house.

True to my family’s weirdness, they’re lined up like football players do when they come out onto the field for a game. They flank both sides of the door, but they’re not patting our butts as we walk by, but scrutinizing us - or maybe it’s just Jax - as we walk through.  Jax also brought in a bouquet of flowers for my mother; she accepts them with a stupid grin on her face.

I turn to Jax and whisper, “Did my face look that jacked up when I took the flowers from you at my house?”

“No, yours was sexy and had fuck me written all over it,” he replies hot in my ear. My mouth goes dry and I’m sure the expression to that comment is priceless.

“Where’s Savvy?” Max asks.

“She wasn’t home when I got back from the mall. I tried her cell, but she didn’t answer,” I answer concerned.

Max gets on the phone and walks into the other room. Just before he was out of earshot I hear him start talking to Levi, one of his employees at his PI firm. What is going on with Savvy?

Dinner is put on the table, and everyone is called to sit down. I caught Jax’s questioning eyes when he spots the vacant seat at the head of the table, but then there is a look of understanding and respect that passes between him and the empty chair.

Jax must have passed the firing squad line up at the front door because everyone is happy and including him in their conversations. Willow and Shay are exchanging pregnancy stories about their morning sickness and fat feet. Max and Asher are talking about the motorcycle ride Max and Chloe are planning to Sturgis. Max’s mom Sharla, Adrian and Chloe are talking about construction on Chloe’s House. It’s this amazing new construction project that Chloe and Max are building for battered women. Shay has come out of semi-retirement to take the lead in the design, and Adrian’s construction company is building it. Chloe went through hell and back when she was kidnapped, and now she’s giving back by donating her time, her services as a doctor, and a house. She is truly a remarkable woman. Kyle and Amelia are having an animated conversation with my mother, when Jax leans in and says, “I’d like you to come back to my house after dinner to bake cookies with me and the girls. I’d like to introduce you to them.”

My world comes to a claustrophobic halt. I mean, I knew this day would happen. Well in the way back of my mind, I knew it would happen, but I didn’t think it would be so soon. I was thinking it was better timing to meet them after this case was over. The smile on Jax’s face, though, says a thousand unspoken words of his trust, his excitement, and yes, his love. This isn’t a step to be taken lightly. Meeting his children, especially because they’re so young, this is serious. With that look in his eyes and the smile on his face, I just couldn’t say no. I found my mouth saying yes with a smile, but my mind was screaming, no it’s too soon.

I’m usually one of the first people to leave my mom’s after dinner, because I usually have a ton of work to do, but I find myself wanting to stick around to avoid going home with Jax and meeting his girls.

At seven-thirty, Jax finds me in the kitchen scrubbing my mother’s stove, which is something I never do. “We should get going. The girls have had a long day, and I don’t want them to fall asleep before we finish the cookies.”

I kiss my nieces and nephews and give my family hugs and kisses goodbye. They all extended the invitation to Jax for next Sunday family dinner. Jax helps me get in his vehicle, this time I didn’t envision some erotic shoe torture stool. Maybe I can pretend to sprain my ankle; I am wearing four and a half inch heels. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched. Instead, I climb in his H3 a little numb, but Jax is all smiles.

Before I can even step foot out of his H3, the front door flings open and the two little girls that I met at the mall, come barreling out the front door.

“Is this your new friend, daddy?” Sky asks.

“Can we bake cookies now, daddy?” Hope asks.

“We sure can bake cookies now, but first I’d like to introduce you to Ava. Say hello to Ava, girls,” he says, looking at them.

“Hello, Ava. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Sky says formally, extending her hand for a handshake. She has a cautious look on her face, but she is so Jax’s daughter.

“Hi, Ava,” little Hope says, with a cheesy grin. “Are you good at baking cookies?” she asks.