Page 60 of Recklessly in Love

“Jesus fucking Christ, Greg,” Joanie screams as she convulses under me. “God, baby, yes, fuck, yes.”

I cover her body with mine, the pace of our bodies colliding slowing as our orgasms fade. Sticky, sweaty, messy, and unbelievably sated, I cover her lips with mine as she wraps her legs around me.

“I love you, Joanie,” I say softly onto her lips. “I’m crazy, recklessly in love with you.”

Joanie giggles and presses a gentle kiss to my lips. “I love you too, Gary.”

I pull my head back to give her a look of incredulity, but I can’t maintain it, and we both burst out laughing.

“Oh good, you’re done fucking,” Mia’s voice calls from downstairs. “Next time, close the damn door.”

The admonition makes us pause for a split second before we laugh again.

“Payback’s a bitch!” Joanie calls loudly to Mia.

Unfortunately, she yelled so loud it took ab muscles, so it pushed my cock, and everything else, out of her. I look down between us and back up at her with a smirk.

“Shower for my dirty girl?” I ask teasingly.

She grins and nods. “Definitely in order. But maybe after that, we can go to your place,” she suggests.

My eyes darken at the idea of having her back in my bed. “A quick shower, then.”

* * *

After a night filled with more dirty talk and dirty sex than I’ve ever had in my entire life, I, unfortunately, have to go into the community center for some scheduled training sessions. But I can’t bear the thought of being far from Joanie, so I ask her to come with me.

But when my aunt and uncle barge in between appointments, I realize that was a huge mistake.

“You bitch!” my aunt screams, pointing at Joanie. “Our baby is in jail because of your lies! We’re going to have you arrested for filing a false report!”

“And after you’re done serving your time, we’ll be suing you for defamation!” my uncle adds, his face purple with rage. “How dare you?”

Before I can even react, my aunt is in front of Joanie, shoving her. Joanie stumbles back, shock on her face.

And just like that, I see red, which snaps me out of my shock. I step between them, forcibly moving my aunt away. “Are you fucking kidding me? Get the hell out of here,” I snarl. “Before I call the cops on you for assault.” I advance on them, forcing them back toward the door as they continue to hurl insults at Joanie.

“This isn’t over,” my uncle threatens as I push the door closed behind them. “You’ll pay for this!”

I turn to Joanie, and in a few long strides, I’m cupping her face in my hands, my eyes searching her for any physical damage. “Are you okay?”

She nods, but I can see she’s shaken. I am, too, honestly. That all happened so fast. “I’m fine,” she assures me. “I just … I’m a little blindsided.”

“Me too,” I admit. “On the bright side, it sounds like Ned was arrested, so there’s that. Still, let’s report this.”

Joanie’s shoulders rise as she steels herself, and her shaking stops. “I agree. Let’s go down to the sheriff’s office. And then I guess it’s back to the County Clerk’s office on Monday.” She presses her lips together grimly.

My brow furrows in confusion. “Why?”

“To file an order of protection against Ned and his parents.” She squeezes my hand. “Just to be careful.”

My chest aches in both a good and bad way. Bad because this whole thing with Ned just took an even more fucked-up turn. Good because somehow she’s managing to show me that even in a shitty situation, she wants to reassure me that she heard me, that she’s trying.

I pull her into my arms and stroke her hair. “Thank you,” I murmur. She wraps her arms around me and rests her head on my chest. For a brief moment, the world stops, and there is no Ned, no bullshit with my father, nothing standing between Joanie and me. It’s just us. It feels so fucking good that I never want to let go.

Still, I have to, so we close the center and head to the sheriff’s office, where we give our statements. Joanie mentions the orders of protection. Given their history, I mention that I doubt they’ll care about a piece of paper. The officer assures us it’s a good idea to have everything on record.

When we return to Alpine Ridge, we stop at the bakery so Joanie can tell Mia what’s happening if she hasn’t already heard.

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