Page 62 of Furious
“Shoot.” I say, getting ready to leave her truck.
“Why JJ Smith? Where did you get the name?”
I shrug, feeling a little ridiculous explaining it out loud. “Smith is Mom’s maiden name. And when I was younger, I followed Dad everywhere and wanted to be like him. Mom used to call me John Junior, when she still found it funny that I wanted to race motorcycles. So I shortened it to JJ.”
Wren smiles. “I like it. I always told you that if you had been a boy, I would have wanted to date you, right? I guess I at least get to date JJ.”
She’s such a goofball. “You’re the best fake girlfriend ever.” I tease.
“You can bet your ass I am. One day, I’ll make someone really happy. It’s just that I haven’t met the one yet.”
I pull her into a hug. “No one deserves it more than you, Wren.”
“Yeah, yeah. Not everyone is lucky enough to date her two hot stepbrothers and their equally hot best friend. Just saying.”
“Talking about Chance and Lev, I better hurry before they come home and catch us red-handed. I’d rather they found out from me that I’m JJ.”
She laughs. “Get out of my truck, then. And don’t get caught. Text me tomorrow, ok?”
The driveway and the house are dark and quiet when I sneak back inside. But it isn’t until I’m in the safety of my bedroom that I exhale the breath I’ve been holding all night long.
Chapter 17
Bittersweet
ARES
I’m pretty sure Calvin Fox is doing something very wrong and very illegal and that his job at Noel’s barbershop is just a cover up.
If it was up to me, I would have followed him. People like him aren’t that smart, and I know he would inevitably lead me to whatever he’s hiding.
Unfortunately, though, I’ve been caught up in a string of back to back twelve-hour shifts. After that first fortuitous shift at the old marina, we’ve been sent to patrol a completely different location on the opposite side of town.
The fact that Chance and Lev are involved in whatever Fox is cooking up has been keeping me up at night, too. A part of me wants to confront them and find out what the fuck is going on.
I was the one who gave them the heads up that Fox was in town, so I think they owe me.
There’s only one reason why they would keep something like that secret from me. It must be something illegal. Which isn’t a big stretch of the imagination since Fox is mixed up in it.
The other night, at Dad and Kelly’s welcome home party, I tried to give them the opportunity to come clean by hinting thatI had found out where Fox was working. All I got was sheepish expressions and an outright lie when they claimed not to have seen Fox at all.
If this is how they want to play this, I can beat them at their own game. I have a week off for my birthday and I’m planning to be their shadow. I just hope that whatever they’re doing isn’t so bad that I can’t protect them.
A knock on my door pulls me out of my reveries.
“Hey.”
Zara is the only person who can make me smile today. Especially since she looks stunning in a little white sundress that makes her look like a dream.
“Happy birthday.” She says softly.
I trap her chin between two fingers and brush my lips against hers. Today is a difficult day for me, and spending it with Zara is the only way to rescue it. If not, I would probably already be black out drunk and it isn’t even noon.
“Happy birthday, bro.” Lev is standing behind her. “I’ll come back to get Zara tomorrow morning, like we agreed.”
“Thank you.” I say, and I really mean it. “What are you gonna do all day, since you’re supposed to be with Zara?”
“I’m going to hole up in my room and play video games.” He shrugs. “Chance might come to hang later. We told Kelly and Scott that we were going out shopping in Shell Cove and then have dinner at my place. They probably think we’ll be fucking all day.”
