Page 42 of Fighting Temptation (Men of Honor 1)
“No!”
I ignore Jaxson and continue talking to Cooper, “Trust me, Wyatt won’t want me pressing charges, especially right now. He told me his dad is running for Mayor. With the campaign starting up soon he won’t want bad publicity.”
Surprise flashes in Cooper’s gaze, “He said his old man was running for Mayor?” I nod. “Fuck that’s the last thing we need… You’re right though, it’s leverage.”
“Goddamn it I said no! I don’t give a fuck what happens to me. She’s pressing charges!”
“Well I do care and it’s my decision!”
Jaxson stands up, shoving his chair into the wall, and starts pacing.
“Look just calm down. Julia’s right, it’s something that we can try.” Cooper puts up his hand to silence Jaxson’s protest then turns to me, “I think you need to consider putting a restraining order on him at the very least.”
I look at him in shock, “A restraining order?”
“The guy thinks he’s in love with you, Julia. If you have had as much contact as you say you have then that shit’s not normal.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary Cooper, I think putting a restraining order on him will just make the situation worse in the end.”
“Listen Julia, when I questioned him, the shit he said made me nervous. He’s not right in the head, I’m telling you, you need this. I have no doubt he will not leave you alone unless you do.”
“I’ll fucking kill him if he goes anywhere near her,” Jaxson says with terrifying calmness.
“Jesus! I did not just hear you say that!” Cooper says, distressed.
I drop my head in my arms, “I just want this over with.” Kayla gets up, moving beside me and rubs my back. “Ok,” I mumble under my arms. I lift my head so they can hear me better. “I’ll put a restraining order on him. But first I want you to try to get the charges dropped against Jaxson.”
“For fuck sakes!” Jaxson shoves his hand roughly through his hair.
Cooper nods at me, “I will.” He looks over to Jaxson, “You need to come to the station with me and do an official statement. Kayla has given one and I will too. We have a strong case to get the charges dropped either way but we can use Julia’s for leverage.” I feel much better after hearing that but I can tell Jaxson is not happy about it.
“Julia shouldn’t be alone right now. She’s still healing.”
“I’ll be fine on my own Jaxson.”
“I’ll stay with her for a while,” Kayla says cutting in.
“You don’t have to.”
“I know, but I want to. We can catch up, maybe watch a movie while you rest.”
I smile, “Sure that sounds good.”
Cooper stands up now, “Alright let’s go.”
Jaxson walks over to me and hands me my pain pills. “Take these, I know you’re hurting.”
I roll my eyes at his bossiness, “I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself. Now go with Cooper and cooperate or I’ll be forced to call Gladys for your punishment,” I say, biting back my smile.
Jaxson glares at me, “You’re such a smart-ass,” he catches me off guard when grabs me and plants a hard kiss right on my lips.
“I told you to stop doing that,” I try to sound angry but it comes out breathless.
The arrogant ass just smirks knowing his effect on me and walks away.
“Who the fuck is Gladys?” Cooper asks as they walk out the door.
“Ya goodbye to you too,” Kayla mutters under her breath.
I look over at her and see an expression full of hurt. I grab her hand, “Is everything alright?”
She lets out a breath, “Ya it’s fine, Cooper and I have just been butting heads lately.” She smiles trying to reassure me but it doesn’t reach her eyes again.
“I hope it isn’t because of Jaxson and I?” I ask, feeling guilty.
“No! Really it’s fine. Let’s go pick a movie. Wanna watch it in your room?”
“Sure.”
I can tell she doesn’t want to talk about it. She turns to go into the living room but I grab her arm quickly. “You know I’m always here for you right? You can call me day or night.”
“Ya I know that, thanks Jules,” she hugs me tight and I wince a bit.
“Shit sorry! Are you going to take the medication?”
“No! I don’t feel I need them that bad.”
We pick Dirty Dancing which is a favorite of ours, then make popcorn and walk upstairs to my room. We snuggle down in bed and half-way through the movie Kayla turns to me.
“We should go out dancing one night, it’s been a while. We can make it a girls night and invite Grace too.”
“Ya that would be fun. Let’s do it soon. Grace could use a night off, she’s been working herself into the ground. I saw her the other day and she looked ready to fall over.”
“I know, I’m pretty sure it’s because she needs the money though.”
I agree with Kayla. Grace just moved to Sunset Bay a year ago. Kayla and I hit it off with her right away and we all quickly became friends. There’s still a lot we don’t know about her, but we can tell something has happened to her. When she found out about my mom passing away she opened up, telling us that she lost her mom too. But she never shared how she lost her and I didn’t want to be rude and ask. As far as we know she’s alone with no other family. I’m hoping she will open up once she gets more comfortable with us.
“Depending how you’re feeling, how about next weekend?”
“That works for me. I’m sure I will be fine. I’m surprised how well I’m doing today considering…”
“I still can’t believe we never knew about Wyatt. Why wouldn’t Coop and Jaxson just tell us the reason from the start?”
I shrug not having any idea.
“So fill me in on what’s been happening with Jaxson. Your conversation looked pretty intense when I walked in yesterday.”
“Ya and you didn’t help by the way, talking about my hot date.”
