Page 34 of Soft Rebound (Mad City Moments #2)

I swing my feet off the bed, placing them squarely on the floor. “Let me go to the bathroom for a few minutes,” I say as I sit up, not looking at him. “I will start the shower, and then you can join me if you want, but fair warning, the shower is small.”

“No problem.” He grabs me by the wrist and I turn around. “You sure everything is okay? I wasn’t too rough?”

I smile. “Nah. It was perfect.”

“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

I turn around, kneel on the bed, grab his head, and give him a brief kiss. “Stop worrying and stop double-checking. It was amazing. No more questions.”

He grins. “Understood. It was unreal for me, too.”

I smile and get off the bed again, hurrying to the bathroom.

I spend an embarrassingly long time on the toilet, peeing and expelling the lube.

Finally in the shower, enjoying hot water on my skin, I feel a swish of cold air as Joe joins me. There’s barely any room to move, but it feels pleasant. A bit domestic.

Joe doesn’t say anything, just washes me very thoroughly, spending a lot—a lot!—of time on my breasts and between my thighs. Then he turns me around and shampoos and even conditions my hair, then combs it out.

“You will completely spoil me. I will no longer want to wash my own hair,” I say.

“I love your hair,” he says as he combs it. “Maybe I should be the one always washing it for you.”

I turn around and wrap my hand around his forearm. “Is this just something you do? Something you did with your wife?”

He shakes his head. “Not really. I mean, obviously we did shower together sometimes, but the whole thing... It never felt like this. Not even when we were first starting out, although we were pretty young then. But no. None of it felt like this.” He cups my cheek.

“I want to simultaneously cherish and adore you, but also go absolutely barbaric on your ass. You’ve given me a split personality. ”

I smile. “Both cherishing and barbarity will be appreciated,” I say. “Let me do you next.”

I soap his back and legs, then arms and chest, and when I get to his dick he’s hard as a rock, so I stroke him with my hand for a while until he turns me around and fucks me from behind, just a few pumps, and then he comes again.

After that we agree we both need a break.

****

J oe and I’ve eaten some pancakes and we’re both finishing our coffee, when he goes to the window and pulls back the curtain.

“There’s a red truck in the parking lot,” he says. “Is that your ex?”

I join him at the window to check. “Yep, I guess he’s back. I’m not sure what he expects will happen.”

“I think I might have to go downstairs to talk to him,” he says.

I shake my head. “I should do it. Apparently, he doesn’t believe what I said last night, so it bears repeating.”

Concern is unmistakable in Joe’s eyes. “Do you want me with you?”

“I do. Maybe seeing you in yesterday’s clothes might do the trick,” I say. “Actually, you go first and tell him I’ll be down shortly.”

Joe drinks up his coffee and looks ready to do as I said, but then I stop him.

“Wait,” I say. “I have a better idea.” I go to my kitchen island and grab both of my phones.

“You have two phones?” Joe’s eyes widen. “Are you in organized crime or something?”

I laugh. “Or something. One is my Minnesota phone. The other is my Wisconsin one. I will slowly transition, but for now... I like to keep my past on my old phone.”

I pull up Jake’s contact, which I blocked months ago, and dial his number.

“Hello?” he answers right away.

“Hi, Jake,” I say. “By the way, you’re on speakerphone.”

Joe’s eyebrows shoot up.

“For your information, Joe’s here with me. As you can imagine, he spent the night. Joe, say something.”

“Hello, douchebag,” Joe says. “I see you are parked outside, even though Liz told you to get the hell out of here.”

There’s nothing from the other side for a moment, but then Jake responds. “I want to speak to Lizzie alone.”

“You had your conversation yesterday, Jake,” I respond. “I think there’s nothing else to say.”

“Oh, I think there is,” he says. “You know, your mom gave me several addresses here in town. One was your cousin’s. The other one was yours. But the third one was apparently where your little brother Bobby gets his dick sucked by some Black dude.”

Joe and I look at each other in horror.

Jake chuckles. “Speechless now, aren’t you? Yeah, who knew little Bobby was so fruity? It’s gonna break your poor parents’ heart.”

“What’s your play here, Jake?” I’m trying hard to keep calm. “I get back with you or you out my brother?”

“Oh, no, I know there’s no chance of that now.”

“What do you want then? I don’t understand. And why would you want to hurt Bobby? You’ve known him for years. He’s never done anything to you.”

“I don’t give a shit about Bobby,” Jake says with a pained chuckle. “But I want to hurt you , and I know how much you love him. I don’t want you thinking that you can pull one over me and get away with it.”

Then he hangs up.

A chill runs through my body, gripping my bones, squeezing my chest.

I watch the phone in my hand as if had answers, as if it could make me understand how the man I’d been with for years, the man I was going to marry, had this cruelty, this ugliness inside him, and somehow I never knew.

An engine roars outside, and when I rush to the window and push aside the curtain, I see Jake’s truck leaving the parking lot.

Joe comes close and puts his hands on my shoulders. “Are you okay?”

I shake my head as I turn around and look him in the eye. “I can’t believe he would do that. What kind of person does that?”

“A grade-A asshole. You certainly dodged the bullet there.”

“Oh, God.” I slap my forehead as something dawns on me. “I have to tell Bobby right away.”

****

I call a couple of times, but it goes straight to voicemail. So I text.

Lizzie: Jake was here this morning

Apparently Mom got Madison addresses off your GPS

Gave them all to Jake

So he found me, but he also found Trey

He went to Trey’s last night

He saw you two together

I’m so sorry, Bobby

I think he might out you with Mom and Dad

Tell me what you want me to do

This can’t be happening. I ruined this for Bobby. My fucking asshole ex ruined it for Bobby.

“Come here,” I hear from the sofa. I almost forgot Joe was here. “Come, sit with me.”

“He will out Bobby,” I say as I lower myself next to Joe, my voice trembling as I try not to cry. “I can’t believe he would out Bobby. I never thought he’d be such a prick. I spent so much time with him and I didn’t know him at all...”

“Yeah, that hurts the worst, I think. Realizing there are whole swaths of personality that the person hid from you. Or they didn’t exactly hide them—they were barely concealed, almost in plain sight, but you didn’t realize that’s what they were because you were in love.

” Joe strokes my upper arm and looks out the window.

“That shit makes you question everything you know about the world. Makes you question your own sanity.”

“Are you talking about Kim?”

“Maybe. A little.”

“Does it still hurt?”

He shrugs. “Not really. Not anymore. It’s more of a dull, full-body ache when I remember it.” He looks out the window again. “Mostly I am ashamed of myself. Of how stupid I was. How blind. That’s the worst. I can’t even hate her. Mostly I hate myself.”

I stiffen.

“Joe, do you still love her?” I ask.

He looks down at me, puzzled. “What? No! No, of course not. I don’t.”

But there’s a little kernel of fear that has embedded in my heart. It’s tiny. Really tiny. But I already fear it will be hard to dislodge.

He squeezes me tight. “I don’t, Liz. I promise, I wouldn’t pursue you if I weren’t over my ex. I’m completely over her. It’s just that, sometimes, something reminds me and there’s this wave of mortification. I can’t seem to forgive myself for being stupid, I guess.”

“I think I get that,” I say. “You know, I confronted Jake yesterday, about the girl he left me for. I asked if he’d cheated on me before he’d broken it off.

He had.” Joe’s jaw clenches and his fingers tighten around my shoulders.

“Honestly, I think I’ve always known. I had to convince myself it wasn’t true, because he made it seem I was crazy to even think such a thing.

But I wasn’t crazy. I saw the truth. And I don’t think she was the only one, but I don’t have it in me to dig further.

It’s just... He’s turned everything to shit. Seven years is all shit now.”

Joe pulls me into his arms for a proper, all-encompassing hug. “I’m so sorry, baby,” he murmurs in my hair. “I’m sorry he’s turned it all to shit.”

“And now he’s gonna hurt Bobby.” My eyes well up, my voice shaky with imminent tears.

“He’s going to out my brother and humiliate him in front of my parents and everyone in St. Cloud and just ruin his life,” I say, and, at that, my voice breaks.

Once I start crying, I can’t seem to stop. It just pours out of me.

“It’s okay,” Joe says softly as he strokes my hair. “It’s gonna be okay, I promise.”

But I can’t stop weeping. I feel tired, depleted, and my nice postcoital buzz is a thing of the past.

Finally, my phone rings. It’s Bobby. I put him on speakerphone.

“Lizzie, what the hell? Jake was here and saw me with Trey last night?”

I quickly recap what happened, and Joe considers me in silence.

“This is a shitshow,” I hear Bobby say. “Should I just preempt and tell Mom and Dad now? What should I do?”

“I think you should tell them,” I say.

“When I get back?” he asks. “In person?”

“I’d call them and tell them now,” I say. “I have no idea what Jake will do. He seemed pretty pissed.”

“Mom and Dad can’t really do video calls,” he says. “And I want you next to me when I tell them.”

“Of course. I can come to Trey’s.” I look at Joe, who nods. I can’t tell what he’s thinking, but he looks very serious. “ We . We can come to Trey’s. Joe and I.” There’s the smallest trace of a smile on Joe’s lips. “Or you can come here,” I add.

“Trey and I will come to your place,” he says. “Shit. I wasn’t ready for this today.”

“I know, Bobby. I know. I’m sorry.”

I hear Trey murmuring something softly on the other side.

“We’ll be there in half an hour. Jake won’t be back in St. Cloud by then. So unless he talks to them on the phone, we’re okay.”

“Sounds good.”

Joe’s still holding me after I’ve hung up with Bobby. “Let me know if you want me to leave,” he says.

“No. No, I want you here.”

“Okay.” He smiles. “Then let me run to my place to grab a change of clothes and pick up some food for everyone. I’ll be back soon.”

I nod and bite my lip. “Thank you. I can’t believe all this drama is intruding on our sexy weekend.”

“Pfft,” he says, waving away my concern. “Nothing can stop us now. Let’s see Trey and Bobby and deal with your parents, and then maybe the four of us can get drunk, and you and I can resume all the fucking.”

Resume all the fucking. I feel those words between my legs.

“Sounds like a plan,” I say.

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