Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (27 page)

“What’s wrong?”  He pulls me close and I put my head on his chest.

“I could feel the heat from the fire.  The girls, I couldn’t find them, and Jarrod was there, telling me not to go in after them,” I start crying.

“Baby, its fine, it was just a bad dream.”  He holds me close.  He just sits there holding me and rubbing my back.  I feel how tense he is and I try to relax.  Once I have calmed down I pull back away from him a little bit.  “Are you ok?”

I nod, “Yeah, sorry I don’t know what that was all about.”

“A bad dream that is what it was.”

“Yeah, I guess.  I don’t remember ever having those before.  At least not like this one.  It felt so real.”  I look at the clock.  It is almost midnight.  “Did you get your sister?”

“Yeah, she is downstairs eating.  I came up to see if you were sleeping.  I'm glad I came up when I did.  Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.”

“You want a glass of water?”

I nod and look up at him.  “Thanks.  I am going to take a shower and change out of these pajamas.  Do you have a shirt I can borrow?  I only brought these with me.”

“Of course,” he lets go of me and goes over to his dresser and pulls out a shirt.  He sets it down on the bed next to me.  “I will go get you a glass of water.  I will be right back.”  He walks out the door and closes it.  I stand up and grab the shirt and head to the bathroom.  I am drenched.  I don’t remember ever having a dream like that before.  I have had them, but none nearly this detailed.  I shake my head trying to get the vision out of my head as I reach down and turn the shower on.  I close the bathroom door and take off my pajamas and get in.  I just stand there letting the water run down my body.  I hear Jake knock.

“You ok?”

I smile, “Yes Jake, I'm fine.”

“Ok, I have your water out here when you are done.”  I pull back the curtain and see his head.

“Come in here with me,” I smile at him.  I see his face light up.  He walks into the bathroom and closes the door behind him.  I let the curtain go and go back under the water.  I can hear him taking his pants and shirt off then hear them all hit the floor.  Next thing I know he is standing in front of me.  “Hi,” I look up at him.

“Hey,” he smiles and pulls me close to him.  He leans down and kisses me, I am very distracted by the fact that he is standing here with me completely naked.  I feel super shy in front of him right now.  His kiss gets more passionate and just like a switch goes on in my brain I am completely lost in his kiss.  I lose all control of thought and power.  He kisses my neck and shoulder then reaches past me and grabs the washcloth hanging on the rack.  I can feel his hands working behind me but he never backs away from me.  I trail kisses down his chest and over his muscles.  I feel him tighten up as I touch him.  I bring my hands up and trail my fingers down over his chest and down his stomach.  I feel his hands on my back and feel that he has the washcloth.  He rubs it across my back and I can smell his body wash.  It smells amazing.  I bring my hands up around his neck and pull him back so that he is kissing me.  I can feel that he wants more.  He backs away from me for just a second and looks down at me.  I smile and I think he knows that I have the same thing in mind that he does.

~~~~~

“Jo, it’s time to wake up.  I have to go to the airport,” he kisses my ear.

“Why do I have to get up?” I roll over and look at him.

“Because you are coming with me.  I'm taking everyone out for breakfast.”

“What?”  I look up at him.  I don’t know if I am ready to meet his family this early in the morning.  I had a bad night last night and didn’t sleep well at all.  “You want me to meet your family looking like this?  I have gotten like four hours of sleep Jake.”

“Baby, you look beautiful all the time, so don’t give me that.”  He rolls out of bed.  “We have to be there in like half hour, so move it,” he throws his pillow at me.

I laugh and stand up.  “Where are we going for breakfast?”

“To this nice little restaurant not far from the airport.  I know the owner, and his sister is pretty hot too,” he smiles at me.

“I didn’t know Lucas opened back up.” I smile at him.

“Yeah, he is opening back up today; I talked to him about it last night when he was here.  I thought it would be a good place to take the parents, and siblings.  Speaking of, you still have to meet Molly.  She was excited hoping you were still up last night when we got back.”

“I was after you got back,” I look at him.

“Yeah, well I wasn’t sharing you,” he smirks.  “I see you brought my favorite dress,” he looks at me as I pull the pink dress out of my bag.

“Yeah, I thought it would come in handy at some point this weekend.  You are always on me to wear it so I figured today would be a great day.”

“Good choice,” he walks over to me.  “We need to get moving,” he smiles and puts his arms around me.

“You’re the one in the lovey mood today, not me,” I smile up at him and put my arms around his neck.

“Yeah, but you distract me,” he bends down and kisses me.

“Sorry, I will go in the bathroom and get dressed,” I laugh.

“Yeah, you do that then I can go down and get my sister ready, because I'm sure she isn’t ready yet.  Want me to make you some coffee?”

“Yes please,” I grab my dress and the rest of my clothes and go to the bathroom to get ready.  I hear him put his pants on and leave the bedroom.  I am standing there looking at what a mess my hair is and smile.  Now I remember why I don’t shower before I go to bed and then try to do something with my hair the next morning.  And I have nothing to fix it here.  I try to pull it back and make it look as nice as possible.  It will do.  At least I don’t look like I just crawled out of bed anymore.  I pull my dress on and zip it up.  I do like this dress, and with my new tan it looks good.  I grab my toothbrush and brush my teeth and go out into the bedroom.  I go over and grab my perfume but change my mind because I still smell like Jake and I like that smell.  I look for my flats but remember that I took them off downstairs when we got back after the fundraiser yesterday.  I walk out of the bedroom and go to the steps.  I can hear Jake talking.  I walk down and see he is sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace.  He is talking to the girl sitting across from him.

“Molly, I just think that you need to be careful.  I mean the guy told you that he was going to break up with you if you came home.  I don’t think you get the point of that sentence.  He didn’t want you to come home to see your family.”

“How is that any different then you not going home to see mom and dad when you had the time?”  She snaps back at him.  I know she is talking about last week when we went down to Virginia Beach

“Because mom was ok with that.  She understood.  Molly, please don’t be stupid.  This guy seems like an asshole.  I have seen you go through a lot of guys and I have seen you get your heart ripped out.  I don’t want to see that again.”

“You mean like how you ripped girls hearts out?  He is no different than you were Jake.”

“Yes, I know that, but I have grown up and look what I have now.  I'm happier than I have ever been.  Being with a football player in his first year is a very bad idea.  All he is going to want is flaunt off who he is.  I have been there and done that Molly.  Please just think about it before you go back.”

“Fine, I will but please don’t tell mom, she still doesn’t know that I am seeing this guy,” she gets up and walks into the kitchen.

“Hey,” I walk into the living room.

“Hey,” he stands up and walks over to me.  “You look amazing as usual,” he smiles.  “I have a to-go cup for you in the kitchen.  And I was wondering if you could follow me to the airport because there is obviously not enough room in my car for everyone.”

“Sure, but my car is at home,” I look at him.

“You can drive my car and I will drive my truck.”

“You’re going to let me drive your fancy car?”

“Only if you promise to be nice.  I will introduce you to Molly and she can ride with you that way you don’t get stuck with my parents,” he smiles.  “It will be you two and the twins I'm sure.”

“Ok.”

He grabs my hand and leads me into the kitchen.  I see Molly standing there and she smiles when we walk in.  “Molly this is Jo, Jo, my sister Molly.”

“Hi,” I put my hand out.

“I don’t shake hands,” she laughs and pulls me into a hug.  “So you are the girl that has stolen my big brothers heart,” she smiles at me as she steps back.  “I never thought it would be possible.  I figured he would be alone and miserable for the rest of his life.”

“Thanks Molly,” he rolls his eyes at her.  “We should really get going.  Their plane should be landing in like fifteen minutes.”  He grabs two sets of keys off of the counter and tosses one at me.  “Be nice,” he winks.

Molly’s mouth drops open, “your letting her drive the Charger?”

“Yes, because I trust her.  You will be a mad woman if I let you drive it!”

“I will not,” she frowns and turns toward the garage.

“She will get over it,” he smiles at me.  “She has wanted to drive it since I got it.  She has totaled three cars in the last two years, so I don’t really want her driving mine.  Now let’s go,” he hands me the cup of coffee.  I follow him and slip my shoes on before I go out the door.  I get in the driver’s seat of his car and instantly feel intimidated.  This car is awesome; definitely not something I am used to driving.  I see him signal for me to follow him to the airport and nod.  I back the car out and follow him. 

“So I hear you’re the cop that busted my brother’s ass with drugs,” Molly says to me. 

“Not quite.  I am the one that made it possible for him to get transferred up here.  Figured rehab would be a better place for him then jail.”

“Probably not, he has screwed up so much he probably doesn’t deserve this chance.”

“Everyone deserves a chance to right their wrongs.”

“Not when you have a lifetime of them.”  I don’t say anything.  I can’t have his family knowing what is really going on.  Which reminds me I need to tell Jake to make sure that he doesn’t say anything.   We pull up outside of the airport and we park he gets out and walks back to me. 

“Thank you for being nice to my car,” he smiles.  He glances at Molly.  “How was she?”

“Pretty hard on Lewis.  Which made me remember you cannot say anything about what is really going on.”

“I know, I didn’t plan on it.  I know you guys need as much privacy with this as possible.  Hopefully it doesn’t take too long to get handled.”  I smile at him, knowing that will probably not be the case.  “Ready to meet some family?”  He grabs my hand and leads me into the airport.  We go up to the gate where they are supposed to be coming from and I sit on the bench behind where Jake and Molly are standing.  I look up at him and he looks excited.  I realize that is a good thing even given the circumstances and the real reason they are up here.  I am just sitting there watching him when my phone starts to ring.  I look at it and see it is Dr. Manny.  I have to answer it.

“Hey, I have to get this,” I tell Jake and walk away from him and Molly.  “Detective Lewis.”

“Jo, this is Dr. Manny.”

“Yes, hi Dr. Manny.  What can I do for you?”

“I just want to let you know that we had a breech at the center last night.  We didn’t know who the guy was after but now I figured out that it has to be Lewis he was after.  They found some drugs on him.  Are you sure that Lewis is really on your side with this?”

“That is the question that has burning in the back of my mind since I talked to him in Virginia Beach.  He claims he is.  What kind of drugs?”

“Cocaine, enough to give us the idea that they wanted him to pass it out.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me.  He is in a bad group with this and anything that comes up like this is not going to surprise me.  Where is Lewis now?”

“I have moved him to a different room, cleaning out the one he was in, seeing if we can find anything in there.  I will keep you posted on what we find, but I'm thinking it will be nothing.”

“Perfect.  Is he going to be allowed to have visitors later today?  His parents are coming in from Texas and I'm sure they will want to see him.”

“That is your call, he is your prisoner.  Personally I think he will be ok and it might do him some good.”

“Ok, good.  Well if you find anything let me know, but I think his room will be clean.”

“Sounds good, thanks Jo.”

“No problem, thanks for letting me know.”  I hang up.  I look toward Jake and see him hugging who I assume is his mom.  I slowly walk back over toward him.

“There she is,” he smiles at me and holds his hand out for me to grab.  “Mom, this is Jo.  Jo, this is my mom Linda,” he smiles at me.

“Oh look at her what a beauty,” his mom pulls me into a hug.  “Jake, you picked a good one.” She steps back and looks at me.  She introduces me to her husband, Glenn, and Jake’s youngest brother Max, and the twin girls Lindsey and Chelsea.  They all seem very excited to be up here. 

“Well, I am taking you all out to breakfast, so let’s grab your bags and head out,” Jake smiles at his mom.