A Wild Ride (Jessica Brodie Diaries #3)(34)

Then there were the constant smells. He didn’t always smell bad, but I was used to William, who grew up with Denise. Not only did William very rarely ever smell bad, even his feet, but he went out of his way to smell good. Mouthwateringly good. It was just one of the ways that I was spoiled.

“Did you remember deodorant?” I asked as he sidestepped me.

“Yes.” He answered as though I was a nagging wife.

“I am only trying to help you.”

“Uh huh.”

“Oh, by the way, I invited Lump over tonight. If you won’t have sex with her, I will.”

Adam popped his head out of his bedroom, which was the last one down the hall on the right. “Jess, I can’t keep my wits on you if I am distracted by her. You’re a dad-gum full-time job.”

“Then what will you ever do when you have kids?”

“What?”

“Well, you’ll have kids someday. And a wife, probably, unless you want a baby-mamma. So how will you protect your kids with a wife lying next to you?”

Adam blinked at me a few times, then scowled and went back in his room. I totally won that one! It was too easy. He never put up much in the way of an opposition, which reaffirmed what I'd realized shortly after I'd met him. If I was with him, I'd walk all over the guy, then feel badly. This way, I got to pick on him, then test my strength of will against William, who won half the time and kept me on my toes. Victories were always sweeter when you earned them.

I met Lump in a coffee shop around the corner. I was ten minutes late, which she reminded me by saying, “You’re late.”

“Yes, thank you for spotting the obvious. Your stupid boyfriend wanted to follow me here before he went out to the ranch.”

“He takes forever to get going.”

“I know!”

“He loves you, you know.”

I choked on my hot coffee, which was really painful. When I stopped sputtering I met Lump’s eyes, ready for an unpleasant conversation. She had a habit of springing these things on me.

“No, Lump, he loves you. Really strongly. He says it often. Thanks me for bringing you here. For getting you to stay. Loves you fervently.”

Lump smiled—thank God—her eyes going soft. “Nice reaction. At first I thought you might run. But yeah, I wasn’t kidding, he loves you. Deeply. Like he loves Willie. Like he loves his family. You are that important to him.”

“Oh. Uh. Thanks? I’m sorry? Not sure how to take that.”

Lump laughed again. “I trust him. Implicitly. He won’t cheat on me, and if he did, which he won’t, he will never, ever, leave me for you. Ever.”

“Wow…*?”

Lump bent over laughing, which made Ginger look up at her. Oh yeah, I took Ginger everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Dr. George hooked her up with a tag that people with mental issues got. She was a canine companion. I doubted many people got attack dogs for mental help, but I was special. Helmet wearing special, yes, but still.

“He says he loves you to pieces, but he can’t rest around you," Lump went on. "Either you are getting into trouble, getting him into trouble, or bossing him around. I am pretty sure he secretly thinks you smoke crack.”

“Not a secret. He asked me yesterday after I cooked him dinner, made him clean up after, then yelled at him for not throwing salt over his left shoulder.”

“He spilled it?”

“Yeah. Bad luck!”

Lump laughed. “It was the timing. You can’t spring things on the guy. You have to explain that he is cleaning because you cooked—only fair. Then you would’ve had to explain that throwing salt was because of luck, not because you wanted him to dirty what he’d just cleaned.”

“Too much work.”

“Yeah, you are too wound up. Plus, he finds it strange that you follow him around with deodorant.”

“And cologne. Both spray on. I just give him a little fixer-up squirt. He barely has to move and voila, he’s smelling like a million bucks. Man, I do sound crazy, don’t I? But you know I have a sensitive nose!”

Lump laughed and finished her coffee. “Yes, you do. I don’t, thank God. I think Willie likes the constant entertainment. Adam finds it exhausting.”

“Good thing I’m not with Adam, then. Speaking of, I told him you were coming over tonight.”

“Jess, don’t get involved.”

“I’m not involved. I just told him you were coming over. No biggie. If everyone thinks I’ll sit still while everyone plans out my life for me, then I’ll just start meddling.”

“I’m not pushing you around.”

“Yes you are. You’re just more subtle about it. Self-defense classes weren’t my idea…”

Lump shrugged. “We going out tonight?”

“Adam won’t let me. He says I’ll probably start a bar fight. I think he is counting down the days until William gets back.”

“Yeah, he’s given up the idea that he can keep you safe. I knew about his rage. You were there; I was confronted with it. But I never knew how deeply his soft spot went; his vulnerability. I think he keeps that bottled down even deeper than the rage. I see it with you, though. I see it come out. I know it now because of the other night. I don’t touch that place in him.”