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Another thing I did not want that I had to pocket for now (or forever) until Javi needed it?
It was clear Julia and Cath were dedicated to their dad.
He was the one who created this situation, and they were female, but they were still devoted to him. At the expense of their mother, who, in the beginning, was the wronged partner.
So, first, what Tiffany put them through must have been super bad.
And second, evidence was suggesting Austin was a really loving dad who’d earned that devotion.
I tucked that away and got into something else.
“You know Ximena’s name?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “Dad talks about her. He says she was really beautiful. He wonders, if he could have intervened, if she’d have gotten as bad as she did.” Her expression changed to earnest as she went on, “I’m honestly not saying this to bullshit you. But truly, I think, the way he talks about her, he loved her. Or at least he cared about her a lot. What I do know is, it wasn’t a one-night stand at all.”
Dang it!
This I really didn’t need.
“He just couldn’t…” she continued, “with Mom…Patrick on the way…things just got really complicated.”
“You can say that again,” Luna spat.
Julia ignored Luna and picked up her earlier trail. “Even though Mom and Dad split a while ago, it took him forever to get up the courage to approach Javier. He knew this would happen. He just…he just…”—her shoulders slumped—“wanted to keep at him so Javier would know he wasn’t going to give up. That he cared. That this wasn’t a lark or something. That he was going to put the work in.”
“And this matters now, how?” Jessie demanded. “Javi’s made his decision and anything else from your dad is only adding insult to injury.”
“He knows that now, I guess,” Julia mumbled.
“So you think Harlow should share this tale of woe with Javi?” Raye asked.
And, man, the girls were giving no quarter. They totally had Javi’s back.
Gah!
I loved them so much!
“I just…I just…” Julia drew in a breath and released it. “I guess I just wanted someone to know.”
“Now she knows,” Ally stated. “Are you done?”
Julia nodded.
“Let’s roll,” Stella said.
“Wait, are you…? Holy cow. You’re Stella Gunn,” Julia breathed, staring wide-eyed at Stella.
And there it was. Such was the darkness of the vibe, it took that long for her to notice she was keeping company with Rock ’n’ Roll Royalty.
“In the flesh,” Stella replied, and then she jerked her head at the Angels and the Rock Chicks.
We moved to our cars.
And we rolled.
“I’m getting your concern with the pink nutribullet. All this pink I’m sure is making my dick shrink.”
Late that night, lying crashed out, naked, post sex, on Javi’s big, strong body on my bed at the Oasis, I lifted up only enough to smack his pectoral.