Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Inadvertently?
Maybe at the time.
After I shared my truth?
The woman needed to self-reflect.
Second voicemail: “Your mother says you’re dating someone. Is it serious? She made it sound serious. I hope you understand how she and I would both be upset that our daughter hasn’t shared she has someone in her life to the point this relationship sounds serious before we heard that first word about him. Please phone me.”
The last voicemail was playing when the back door opened, and Javi and Eric stepped in.
My dad being stern.
“Harlow Nicole, it’s unconscionable that you would speak to your mother the way you did, and your brother and I have been trying to reach out to you, and you’re ignoring us. This is not the daughter I raised. I expect to receive your call the minute you listen to this.”
I was seeing the error of my ways with the rage on Javi’s face.
We should have listened to these when we were on a break.
Or maybe, never at all.
“Javi, brother,” Eric said in the same alarmed, cautionary tone Jessie had used moments earlier.
And just like me, Javi ignored him.
He walked to me, took my phone from my hand and stared into my eyes.
“Gonna stop me?” he asked.
“I want a chill night with you,” I replied. “I want to make dinner and eat it with you and watch TV with you then take a bubble bath and then have sex and go to sleep. I shouldn’t have listened. I should have known they’d take her side. I should have known I was imploding my place in our family simply by telling them I would no longer accept them treating me like garbage. I did, and it hurts. But only because I now know that whatever I hoped would be, will never be. So now I have to do the work to get used to knowing that and decide whether it’s healthier for me to go no contact totally, or put in the work to have something surface, even if it’ll never be meaningful.”
Javi handed back my phone then hooked me around my neck and yanked me into his chest.
“I’m okay, Javi,” I said with my face smushed against his shirt.
And weirdly, I was.
It felt good to tell Easton off. I’d been wanting to do that for forever.
And although it didn’t feel the same to understand where I stood with my family was always where I stood, and always would be, now I understood it totally and completely. I understood in a way I could make an informed decision. I understood I could stop putting effort into something that was never going to give me what I needed in return.
Maybe I’d react later.
But for now, I was okay.
Javi didn’t let me go, but he did let me turn my head so my face wasn’t smushed into his chest, and, obviously, Javi holding me was part of why I could be okay.
Shanti rubbed my back and murmured, “They suck. You don’t. Looks like Javi has this covered. If you need reinforcements, though, you know where to find me.”
And more reason why I could be okay.
Still held close to Javi, I looked at her and said, “Thanks, babe.”
Jessie did much the same, but she did it pulling a lock of my hair playfully and saying, “You feel like TPing their house, I’m all in.”
And yet more reason why I was okay.
Also, that sounded fun.
But instead of taking her up on it, I just smiled and semi-repeated, “Thanks, Jess.”
She gave me a smile back, it was a little off because she was worried about me, but that was what besties did.
Eric came into my vision, and he winked at me.
It was hot.
Man, I just loved he was my bestie’s guy, he was the greatest.
They all left.
Javi let me go only to catch me on both sides of my neck.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked.
“Are we going to make dinner, eat it, watch TV, chill out and have sex before we go to sleep?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m okay.”
Javi’s face got soft before he tucked me to his side and headed us toward the door.
He did this asking, “What’s this about a bubble bath?”
I looked up at him. “Do you take baths?”
“No.”
“I could delete that from my schedule,” I offered.
“Or you can show me how fun bubble baths are.”
“They aren’t fun, they’re relaxing,” I educated.
He grinned wolfishly at me, and my nipples responded accordingly.
“Okay, we’ll do a fun one,” I whispered.
He dropped a kiss on me, loaded me in his truck and took me home so we could make dinner, unwind and chill out.
And yeah.
We had a bubble bath together.
On first glance, Javi and I didn’t fit real great in his tub.
But we made it work.
Oh yeah.
Boy, did we.
TWENTY
“GIRL ON FIRE”
(ALICIA KEYS)
A throat was cleared loudly.
Javi and I kept making out, standing by the side of his truck.