Josh ordered a third bottle and dessert, and as soon as the waiter left with our wine bottle order Josh took my hand and laced his fingers through mine.
“So I spoke to my mom the other day.”
I groaned and put my head down. “She hates me.”
Josh laughed. “No, she doesn’t. She loves you.”
So I ended up meeting his mom via the phone one day. Josh was in the kitchen, and I was laying on his couch, mind you the most comfortable couch I have ever sat on, when his phone went off. He just asked me to answer it and didn’t care to know who was calling.
So when I answered the phone there was a slight hesitation from the caller, then I heard a very cautious but strong female voice on the other end say, “May I ask who is answering my son’s phone?”
I instantly heard the protectiveness in her voice, which made me almost pee in my pants.
I sat up quickly and said, “Oh my goodness. I’m sorry. This is Kenya, or I mean, I’m Kenya, Mrs. Cooper. Joshua asked me to answer his phone for him, and if you like, I can go and…”
The laughter I heard on the other end made me pause with confusion.
She said to me, which by the way floored me, “Oh no, sweetheart, it’s perfectly fine. I knew it couldn’t be anyone but the woman that captured my Leone’s heart. How are you my darling?”
Yeah see? Floored.
So she and I talked for at least a half hour, me stuttering during the whole conversation every time I learned how much Josh told her about me. Josh sat next to me amused the whole time I was talking to his mom.
I rolled my eyes but smiled.
I asked him, “How is she?”
He smiled at me. “She’s good… she asked about you, of course, and then cussed me out for not bringing you to see her yet.”
“She did?”
“Yup, so she has mandated that I bring you to see her and meet her officially, sooner rather than later so… How do you feel about taking a trip to DC next weekend?”
“Next weekend? So soon?” I couldn’t keep the panic from my voice as I spoke.
Josh brought my hand to his lips. “Sweets, baby, you have nothing to worry about. I keep telling you my mom loves you, and the rest of my family will love you too.”
I shook my head, still trying to calm my breathing down at just the mere thought of meeting his mom face to face.
“How do you know your mom loves me? I mean, we’ve only spoken one time, and I was a blubbering idiot. Can we maybe push the trip back? Let’s say a month or a year from now?”
I noticed a look cross over Josh’s face that instantly told me something wasn’t right. I frowned and was about to ask him what was wrong when we were joined by Josh’s co–worker, or fellow agent, Jacks, and the black–haired woman that he kicked out of his apartment.
I tell you right now, if looks could kill, we would have two dead bodies at our table, and those two bodies were actually Josh and I.
The woman, who I keep forgetting her name said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “Aw… now this is adorable.”
She looked at me, then at Josh, and her smile turned sinister.
“So this is what you’ve been doing all this time while I was out there risking my life with no backup,” Jacks replied.
I looked wide–eyed at Josh with questions in my eyes, but he never looked at me.
He kept his eyes on both of our newcomers and said to me, “Sweets, you remember Jacks… And sitting beside him is Diane, or you may know her as Paula.”
I cleared my voice, hoping to sound less scared than I really was.
“Does she work for you too?” I asked him, meeting Diane’s gaze.
Feeling her judge me with her eyes was just as horrible as feeling Jacks undress me with his.
“No, she works for another agency. What the fuck are you doing here?” I heard Josh ask.
I was shocked at the venom that drenched his voice. I turned and saw one of the meanest looks I had ever seen coming from Josh, and it was directed at Jacks and most of all Diane.
Diane laughed. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. He can be mean.” She leaned into the table and kept her eyes on Josh’s. “He doesn’t scare me, though.”
Jacks scoffed, “Yeah well, you’re not as smart as you look, so it figures you’d say that.”
Diane looked at Jacks then set her eyes back on Josh. She seemed to be studying him, for what I didn’t know, but whatever she thought she would find behind those deadly eyes of his, she clearly didn’t.
Not taking his eyes off of the woman, Josh leaned into me. “I’ll be right back, Sweets.”
I touched his arm, and his eyes fell on mine. I did not want him to leave me with Jacks, he definitely creeped me out.
Josh leaned in and lightly kissed my cheek.
He said close to my ear, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back before they bring dessert, okay?”
Josh stood and walked around the table to pull out Diane’s chair. Diane, looking back at me, smiled conspiratorially and rose from her chair. I watched them disappear then my eyes fell on Jacks.
We kept eye contact for a very uncomfortable time before I broke the connection and reached for my semi full glass of wine, dessert please hurry up.
“So uh… what are you calling yourself these days, Summer or Kenya?”
My eyes narrowed. “Kenya.”
Jacks put his hands up in defense. “Whoa okay, I just wanted to make sure I called you by the correct name you’re currently using.”
Okay, so remember when I first met him, I thought he was sexy, and I can’t lie, he still was. He wore a pair of dark jeans and a hunter green and navy pullover shirt that showed he definitely had a body underneath, but his face, more importantly his eyes, had no warmth in them.
My eyes traveled in the direction Josh and Diane went.
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, love. I’m sure whatever they had in the past is nothing compared to what you and Coop share now.”
I wouldn’t have taken what he said to heart if I felt he meant it. But I’d dealt with people like him all my life. I knew what this was, and I should be able to handle it, right?
I took a few deep breaths and looked at Jacks. “What do you want?”
Jacks feigned shock. “I’m sorry?”
I frowned and folded my arms in front of me. Jacks laughed, put his head down and shook it. When his eyes met mine again, I instantly felt a chill run through me, and I wanted nothing more than to have Josh come back this very moment.
“Why don’t you admit to yourself this is all too much?” I said nothing, so he continued. “I’m going to be straight with you because clearly my mate hasn’t been. This life is not for you. Our life is not for you. I can see and tell that you do not have the stomach for what we do.”
He moved his chair closer to me, and I instinctively moved my chair back from him.
He said, “The things we do is so far from what you can imagine and dream up. We aren’t heroes. This is not a movie where the good guys arrest bad guys, and everyone goes home at night. Our life is dark and dangerous and deadly, and what Josh doesn’t need is a fucking Pollyanna hanging around him. Some bloody rich little girl who thinks it’s a travesty that daddy cut her off from his credit cards.”
I narrowed my eyes but still kept tight lips closed. I could feel the anger boiling inside me, but I didn’t give this man the satisfaction. He could say all he wanted, but he didn’t know me or what Josh and I had. I had to keep telling myself…
“Josh needs to be focused, disciplined and dedicated to the cause. He can’t worry about what silly shit rich people worry about. I mean seriously, you ran away from home for what? Because you wanted to make it without daddy’s help? Because it was getting too much to handle living off your parents, you figured ‘let me find out how it feels to slum a little bit, show daddy a bit of something’, eh, love? Maybe have a low–life boyfriend just to show the parents a thing or two?”
I’d had enough and said, albeit softly, “You don’t know me.”
“Oh please, you are all alike; spoiled little rich girl who depends on daddy to do everything for you. You have the world handed to you on a gold spoon, and that’s never good enough. You throw it all away for the thrill of it. Well, I won’t let you take my mate down with you. He has a job to do, and you, Pollyanna, are keeping him from it.”
“No, I’m not,” I said defensively, and I really sounded like the very ‘girl’ that Jacks described.
“Huh, I’ve known Josh a lot longer than you have, and I know for a fact he would throw everything he has worked hard for, just for you. He’s done that shit before. If I’m lying, then why is he still here, taking you out to some bloody overpriced restaurant instead of preparing for the job we have to do in two weeks?”
Now he had my attention. I sat up straighter in my chair.
“What job?”
Jacks nodded. “Yeah, just what I thought.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. There were so many things running through my mind, I couldn’t get it all straight. The look of pure hatred was etched in Jacks’ face, and I tried to understand where he was coming from. I knew Josh was taking some time off from his job, but I had never asked him to. All I wanted him to do was tell me how he would keep me in the loop and stay safe when he was away.