Page 24 of Rescuing Josiah
“Could never be scared of you,” she assured him. “Upstairs just now, in the bathroom, I wasn't scared of you, I was worried about you.”
“Worried?”
Letting her hands drop lower, she ran her palms over the thick Kevlar vest. “Of course I'm worried about you. I care about you, Josiah. You know that. Everybody knows that. This isn’t normal. I mean, I can guess why you’re wearing it, but I don’t think it’s helping you. Does your mom know? Anyone else?”
Since she was sitting on his lap, Chelsea could feel the way his entire body went tense. “I don’t talk to her.”
“You mean like very often?”
“I mean like at all.”
“You don’t talk to your mom at all? Is that why you got so angry with me?”
“They call all the time. My mom, my dad, my brothers, but I can't … I don’t … since what happened, I haven’t seen them or spoken to them.”
“Josiah, that’s six years,” she said, her heart breaking for him. How could he deny himself what he so badly needed? His family was willing to rally around him, and he was shutting them out the same way he shut out her, their team, and everyone at Prey.
All he did was shrug, and Chelsea threw caution to the wind and wrapped her arms around Josiah, hugging him tight. He didn't return the hug, his arms hanging stiffly at his sides.
But he didn't push her away.
And to her poor little heart that loved this man with everything it had to give, that was everything.
“I'm extra sorry about answering your phone. I didn't realize you didn't speak with your mom. Josiah, she seemed worried about you.”
“She was worried about you.”
“About me?”
“Told me she’d find out where I was and come and spank me if I had hurt you.”
“You’d never hurt me,” she said with confidence she felt down to her bones.
“You don’t know that, Chelsea.”
Was he really worried he might? He had to know himself better than that. “Yes, Josiah, I do know that. You wouldn't hurt me. But would your mom really spank you?”
Her question surprised a bark of laughter out of him, and he shook his head. “Never. Not in a million years. When I was a kid, she usually lectured and then gave us a time-out or grounded us. She was always fair, though.”
“Because she loved you.” As much as she’d be happy to stay right where she was, Chelsea knew Josiah would hear her better if she slid off his lap and returned to cleaning up his hand. “She still loves you. You have so many people who care about you. You're not alone. Even if it feels like you are because we don’t understand, you're not. We might not have lived through what you did, but we all care about you. Please try to believe that.”
The only way she was ever going to get her shot with Josiah Fleet was if he could accept the fact that he deserved to be alive, that he deserved to live a long, full, and happy life, and got out of his own way.
She just didn't know how to convince him of that.
Chapter
Seven
May 14th
1:43 P.M.
“No tricks today,” Josiah warned as they took their seats in the waiting room.
Things had been surprisingly good between them since their talk yesterday. Not that he’d said much, well, not really, but admitting he hadn't spoken to his family in years, hadn't communicated in any way save for the text to his mom, was a lot for him.
More than he was comfortable with.
