Page 37 of Justice for JoElla

“No, thank god. It was a through and through. But I’m surprised you didn’t catch that one in surgery.”

“I only worked during the day.”

“Oh, yeah. Right. Surgeon and all.” Her words stung like a bee, and he guessed he must’ve made a face, because she added, “Sorry. That was harsh.”

“Yeah. It was. But I told her last night that I’d come up with something fun to do today because she said she never has fun. And then she acted like I had the plague first thing this morning.”

“She didn’t want to postpone the inevitable.”

“What do you mean?”

Jerrica pulled Sim from the high chair and sat back down with him on her lap. “You’re going to leave her. She knows that. Everybody leaves her. So she figures she’ll just get it over with and won’t have to go through that pain.”

“I thought of that, but I?”

“Trust me, that’s what it is.” She patted the front of the baby’s diaper. “He’s soaked. Gotta go change him. But now I think it’s up to you to decide what you’re going to do. Will you wait and see, or will you walk?”

As she toted the baby away, Brandon thought about what Jerrica had said. Was she right? He was pretty certain she was. But what should he do about it? “Oh, shit.” He didn’t even speak to Jerrica, just ran out the door. Then he ran back in, went straight to his room, gathered up some clothes, and ran back out again. He squealed the tires as he left, but he didn’t care. Jerrica would wonder what the hell had possessed him, but he didn’t care about that either. All he really cared about was getting back there.

The drive-thru at the fast food place was empty?it was Saturday, after all, and the usual off-to-work crowd was at home. He grabbed everything he thought they might need and blew down the streets until he got back to the apartment complex. As soon as he got out with the food, he stood for a second and took a big, cleansing breath.I’ve got to make it look like this was my plan all along, his brain whispered as he strode to the door. The knob was locked, so he knocked on the door. Then he waited. And waited. And waited. He’d just about decided she wasn’t coming when the door opened a crack. Instead of speaking, he held up the bags.

JoElla didn’t speak either, just opened the door wider and motioned for him to come in. Brandon went straight to the little dining table in the eating area and started laying everything out. When he was finished, he turned to her. “Pick out what you want and I’ll take whatever you don’t like.”

“I like it all.”

“Then eat it all. I don’t care if I eat or not. I just wanted to make sure you did.”

The woman standing in front of him stopped and stood there, still as concrete. She didn’t say a word or move a muscle, and he wondered what was going through her mind. When she did finally speak, it sounded more like a challenge than a statement. “So you came back, and I have no idea why you didn’t just stay away.”

Brandon let his head tip forward until his chin almost touched his collarbone, let out a sigh, and lifted his head to look into her eyes. “I came back because I promised you that I’d take you somewhere fun today, and I keep my promises. And I brought clothes so I could shower here, because that way I get to spend more time with you.”

She couldn’t have given him a stranger look if he’d been speaking Thai. When she’d stared for what he was guessing she’d realized was an inappropriate amount of time, she went to the table, picked out a couple of items?a bacon and egg biscuit and some tater tot kind of things?and sat down to unwrap it. Brandon took a couple of the other items without looking to see what they were and sat down across from her. He pushed one of the cups of strong, hot, black coffee across the table to her, and she froze.

In a split second, she was gone, almost running to the bedroom.What the hell?he wanted to yell, but he didn’t. Instead, he wandered that direction and found her standing near the end of the bed, still as a tree, her back to him. “JoElla? Babe, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t even turn. She just asked, “Why are you still here?”

Brandon stepped over to the bed and sat down on the side of it. When he looked up at her, her eyes were closed. “Because I told you I’d take you somewhere today. Because I like you. Because the sex was great last night, and it wasn’t just about getting off. Because I need somebody who’ll hit me in the head every once in a while. But only once in a while?not every morning.”

Her head dropped, her shoulders shook, and he thought she was crying. When she lifted her head, she was laughing silently. “Well, I can accommodate that request.”

Brandon stood, stepped up to her, and wrapped his arms around her waist. To his amazement, she pressed her cheek into his collarbone and stood there, his arms around her, motionless, her own arms at her sides. She didn’t make a move to embrace him, but that was okay. He could hug her tightly enough for both of them, he was sure. Brandon’s hand stroked her hair and he heard her sigh. “Honey, I’m not the enemy.”

“Feels like it to me.”

“To you,everybodyfeels like the enemy. Am I right?” When she didn’t answer, he added, “Why didn’t you tell me you were shot?”

She couldn’t pull away fast enough, and those eyes pierced him as she glared at him. “Who told you that?”

“Nobody. I read it.” Didn’t matter if he lied. He was sure it had been in all the papers anyway. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It wasn’t important.”

Something didn’t seem quite right. “But you told me everything else. Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“I don’t like to talk about it.”

That was understandable, but it seemed like something else, something she wasn’t saying, lying right below the surface but impossible to draw out. “Let’s eat before it’s cold, okay? We can talk about it whenever you’re ready.”

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