Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (36 page)

“Please be careful,” he looks worried.

“I will be fine.  It isn’t like it is going to be just my team.  Narcotics will be there, along with probably SWAT.  Chief was going to call a couple of the other precincts too.”

“You need that big of a team?”

“We aren’t taking any chances.  Their warehouse is huge and there is a lot of ground to cover.”

“I can’t believe this is going to be over that soon.”

“That’s a good thing.  They took Lewis in as quickly as we were hoping and put him on top like we wanted.  They think that because he is your brother and you are with me that he is free of being brought up on any charges.”

“Really?  They obviously don’t know how horrible of a relationship we have,” he snorts.

“Want to tell me about your conversation with Molly last night?”  I look at him.

“Not really,” he looks down at me.  I'm pretty sure he knows I heard him.  “A lot of crap that he tried to pull that I just want to move forward from.  I want him to get the help he needs and get back to his own life.”

“So another wards you want him to go back home with your parents?”

“Yeah, that would be ideal.  He knows that, I told him that in Virginia Beach.”

“Why won’t you talk to me about it?”

“Because it is the past and I don’t think that bringing it up will help anything.  Honestly I think it will make you more paranoid about him.”

“Jake, the only thing that Lewis and I have in common is you.  That is why I am helping him.  If he wasn’t your brother, he wouldn’t be here right now, and I would not be getting this chance.”

“Well I wish he wasn’t my brother right now, because you have this thing about you that makes you want to protect him.  I would kill him if something happened to you; he had that right at the center the other day.”

“No you wouldn’t.” 

He looks at me and shakes his head.  “Can we change the subject?”

“Sure, what do you want to talk about?”

“When can I buy some land and start on some house plans?”

I laugh, “You are relentless aren’t you?”

“Hey, I know what I want, and I am going to get it,” he teases me.

“Ok, I will make you a deal.  You can do that whenever you want, but I will not move in with you until we are together for at least four months.’

“Four months?  That’s a weird number.”

“Well, that is around December and if things are going good we can move before Christmas.  That is if you do have a house at that point.  If you are going to build won’t it take a while?”

“This time of the year, about three months.  That depends on who I would have do it.  I know some good contractors.  Mark’s contractor had their house up in about two months.  They started building end of July I think.”

“Wow, that’s fast.”

“Yeah, but I also have the money to do it I don’t have to rely on loans and getting the money first.  That is always a plus.”

“Yeah, I guess I can see how that would help.  Jake, your money overwhelms me you know that right?”

“You’re going to have to accept it at some point.  It’s not going anywhere.”

“Don’t expect me to use it.”

“I don’t expect you to use it, but don’t get mad at me for buying you things.”

“Why do you want to buy me stuff?”

“Because I can.”

“I just don’t think that wasting money on buying things is the way to show someone that you love them.”

“You didn’t like the necklace I got you?”

“I didn’t say that, I just don’t want you to buy me all kinds of expensive things.”

“Ok, that’s fine.  But you can’t get mad if I buy you and the girls something every now and then.”

“Ok, fine,” I smile at him.  I know this is who he is and it’s what he wants to do so I will just accept it.

“So let me ask you something,” he grabs my hand.

“What’s that?”

“If I look at some land and start thinking up house plans are you going to move in with me?”

“If things are going this good in four months, yes the girls and I will move in with you.  Jake, I know that you get super busy this time of year that is why I said I wanted to give it a little time.  I have to adjust to this.  Lisa told me that she sees a lot of girls go in and out of these guys lives because the girls can’t handle it.  I don’t want to be one of those girls, I want this to work, but I have never been in this lifestyle before you know that.”

“I know that.  Which is why I understand why you want to wait.  I am fine with that timeframe, and honestly I'm happy to be moving out of that house.”

“I thought you loved that house?”

“For the most part I do, but I would love being closer to things.  Besides Jo, I told you, I want to be as close to you as I can.  Even if you don’t move in with me right away I will still be closer.”

“Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be on the go before you leave here tonight?”

“Oh, I have to leave,” he pouts.

I laugh, “You planned on staying?”

“I don’t know.  Would you let me?”

“I think I can handle you staying yes,” I laugh.  Just as he is leaning over to kiss me my phone rings.  It is Barb and the girls.  We spend about twenty minutes talking to them.  I don’t know who is more excited Jake or the girls.  Barb agrees to keep them until Sunday and tells me she will have them back about lunch time.  We all say our good byes and hang up.

“I have missed those two,” Jake smiles at me after I hang up the phone.

“Yeah?  I miss them too.  This is probably the longest they have been away from me since Abby was born,” I smile.  “So, you went outside for a little bit while I was talking to Barb, did you get your realtor on the search for some land?”

He laughs, “Maybe.”

“You waste no time do you?” I tease him.

“Nope, I sure don’t.  He said that he knows of a couple lots for sale and he is going to send me the size and prices of them.  I want you to help me with this.  Because I plan on you moving in with me in December.”

“Pretty confident huh?”

“You bet I am.  I'm not letting you go anyplace,” he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close.  “Besides, I need a woman’s touch, it took Molly to get my current place looking like it does.”

“Yeah, well I will help you; I don’t have a problem with that.”

“Good.  Now, since I am staying here tonight, can I pull my car in the garage?”

“Yes, and I am going to go get ready for bed, I'm exhausted.  See you upstairs?”

“Sounds perfect,” he gets up and goes out the door.  I head upstairs and grab my phone and send a text to Annie.

Just thought I would let you know, Jake stopped over.  I let him read the letter from Jarrod.  Told him that I do think he is my future.  He is going to be selling his house and building a new one not far from here.  The girls and I will move in with him if things are still going great in December.  Happy Now???

I can imagine the smirk on her face when she reads that.  I go into my bedroom and grab my pajamas and head to the bathroom.

He is going to build a new house so you can move in with him??  Good Lord Jo!!  If you ever let him go I will beat you down.  And yes, I am happy…its about damn time you listen to your heart…and m
e


I shake my head.  I knew she would be happy with that.  It’s crazy that I just agreed to move in with him.  No I don’t think so, I love him, I know that much.  Maybe this is moving a little faster than I had first anticipated, but I also didn’t expect to fall for him like this either, but I cannot imagine not having him here.  I walk back into the bedroom and he is sitting on the bed in his gym shorts.  I assume they were in his car again.  I walk over to him and look down.  “Hey baby,” he smiles up and me and wraps his arms around me.

“Hi,” I smile back.  He pulls me down to him and starts kissing me.

I am sitting at my desk looking over the blueprints of the warehouse that we are raiding on Saturday when my phone starts ringing.  I look at it and see that it is Jake.  “Hey, what’s up?” I glance at the clock and it is only 10:00.

“Hey, I know this is weird but is Ryan around?” he sounds like he is in a panic.

“Yeah, he is around here someplace, what’s wrong?”

“Well, none of us have heard from Molly since she flew out yesterday.  My mom is in mega panic mode.  I just wanted to know if he has heard from her.”

“Hold on let me find him,” I get up from my desk and go down to Bob and Ricky’s office.  Ryan is talking to Bob.  “Hey, Jake wants to talk to you,” I hand him my phone.

He gives me a weird look and takes it.  “Hey Jake, what’s up?”  He watches me.  “Yeah, she text me when she landed.  She said that she had some meetings then had to take care of some personal stuff.”  I see his face drop a little.  I remember that she was seeing that guy down there and wonder if that is what she had to take care of.  “Yeah, I can try calling her again.  Let me know if you get a hold of her.” He hands the phone back to me. 

“Hey,” I say to Jake.

“I will admit, I am a little worried about my little sister right now,” I hear him take a deep breath.

“You want me to make a call down there?”

“No, not yet.  Ryan is going to try calling her.  Maybe she is just busy.  I don’t know.  I think she was going to go to that guy’s house and get the rest of her stuff.  Hopefully between all of us calling her she will get that we are worried about her.”

“Ok, well let me know if you want me to make a call down there, because I will.”

“Thanks.  I have to get back to practice.  I love you.”

“I love you too Jake,” I smile and hang up.  I sit back down at my desk and go back to planning out our route of attack.  About twenty minutes later Ryan walks into the office and sits at his desk.  “Get a hold of her?”

“Yeah, she had her phone turned off for her meeting yesterday and never turned it back on until this morning.  She said she forgot that she had it off.  I told her she needs to call her mom and Jake and let them know.”

“Good, I'm glad.”

“She seemed a little off though.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know.  She seemed distracted almost.  Like something is wrong.  I don’t know.  She said she is fine and she was just getting ready to leave the hotel to go to the airport.  I guess I will talk to her tonight when she gets back.”

“What time does she fly in?”

“I think her plane lands at 4:50.  I'm going to head out about 4:30 to get there.”

“Ok.  Well here, let’s go over this floor plan with the team.  I have a meeting with Captain Williams later then I have to go downtown with Chief to talk to SWAT.”

“They aren’t taking this lightly are they?”

“Who’s that?”

“Chief and Captain Williams.”

“No, I think Chief is worried about us getting bombarded when we go in for the bust honestly.”

“Yeah, I guess I can see that.”

“Me too.  But we will be prepared hopefully.” I get up from my desk and go gather everyone in the board room to go over the plans. 

When Chief and I get back from downtown talking to SWAT it is 5:30.  I walk into my office and put everything down on my desk.  I see that Ryan is gone; I assume he has already picked up Molly.  I see that Bob and Ricky are still in their office.  They have started working on another case since there is not much more we can do with this one until Saturday.  I see Alicia coming down the hall looking like she is ready to leave.

“Hi Detective,” she smiles at me.

“Hi, so how do you like our team so far?”

“Much better than patrol,” she laughs.  “I like being home at a normal time most nights.  Makes my mom a little less nervous about me driving around all night.”

“Ah yes, I remember those days.  My mom was the same way when I was on patrol.”

“Thanks again for giving me this opportunity.”

“You earned it, shows how much hard work pays off.”

“I agree, maybe one day I will be as good as you,” she smiles.

“Yeah, hopefully you won’t have to work as hard to prove yourself as I did.  Listen I have to get out of here I have to get over to the rehab center.  See you tomorrow.”

“Absolutely,” she walks past me.

I grab my car keys out of my desk and grab my laptop and head out of the station.  My phone starts ringing as I unlock my doors.  “Hello?”  I answer before I look to see who it is.

“Jo, its Bobby.”

“Hey Bobby, what’s up?”

“I was wondering what you are doing for dinner tonight?”

“I actually am still working.  I have something that I have to take care of probably won’t be done for at least another hour.”

“Oh, well then how about drinks after you are done?”

“That might be possible.  Why what’s going on?”

“Nothing really, just wanted to sit down and catch up with you.  Want to meet at Leo’s on Central say 7:00?”

“Sure, that should give me enough time I will see you there.”

“Perfect, see you then.”  He hangs up.

I drive to the rehab center and go in and talk to Dr. Manny about our newest dealer.  She tells me the same thing about her levels of the drugs that are in her system. 

“I just wonder if they are testing their dealers with these drugs.”  She sounds concerned.

“Yeah, I'm not sure, but this is getting out of hand.  I mean they have to know how dangerous these drugs are.  Why would they want to sell them to hurt the people that buy their drugs?  It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Unless they don’t know?”

“Yeah, a bad batch.  I need to figure out where they are coming from.  If they make them their selves then they have a real issue.  But we won’t know that until we can bust them.”

“Yeah, well hopefully that is sooner rather than later.”

“Yeah, that is what we are hoping for.  So how is Felicia?”

“She is good.  For the most part completely clean.  I would say that she can probably go home tomorrow or Friday.”

“Alright, well I will talk to Chief Lorenz and see what he wants to do, we might have her stay in through the weekend.”

“Ok, sounds good.  Let me know what you decide on.”

“I will do that,” I shake her hand and walk out of the office.  I get in my car and look at the clock.  I have fifteen minutes to get to Leo’s.  I grab my phone and dial Jake’s number.  It goes straight to voicemail.  I leave him a message to call me back when he gets it.  It’s weird his phone is usually always on.  I get to Leo’s and walk in and see Bobby sitting at the bar.  He smiles when he sees me.

“Hey beautiful,” he gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey,” I smile.  “How are you?”

“I'm amazing, how about you?”

“Good,” I look at him.  He is out of his mind excited right now.  “What’s going on?  You’re like bouncing on your stool,” I laugh.

“Marie and I are getting married,” he gets a big smile on his face.  My mouth drops open.

“Bobby, that’s amazing!”  I give him a big hug.  “When did you propose to her?”

“Last night, remember that dinner I told you that I had to get to?  That is why I couldn’t stay.”

“That is so awesome; I'm so excited for you.”

“Well, I figured after three years I would make an honest woman out of her,” he smiles.  “So, now that I shared my super exciting news, how did it go last night?”

“Oh, the letter?”

“Yeah, what did Jarrod have to say?”

“Nothing I didn’t already know.  He just wanted to make sure that I knew he wanted me to be happy and to make sure I move forward with my life.  It was like a sign from him since I have been going back and forth with this crazy amazing relationship with Jake.”

“Funny how that works isn’t it?  I told you that Jarrod would be happy for you.”

“I know that.  It is just weird to think about moving forward after so long.”

“Yeah, I understand that,” he waves the bartender down and orders us some beers.  “Listen, I know that you two just started seeing each other a couple weeks ago, but I have not seen you this happy in a long time.  It is like he is the piece that was missing.”

“You aren’t the only one to tell me that.  I think everyone would agree with you.  And it seems like that is how his friends and family feel also about him.  They have all told me he has done a complete turnaround from who he was two months ago.  It’s just such a crazy thing to think about how far he and I have come in two weeks.  It seems like it is moving super-fast, but it feels right.  You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do.  I can see that you are falling in love with him Jo.  I think it is amazing.  Not many people find a second chance at a love like that.  I think out of most people in this world you are one of the ones that really deserves it.”

“Thanks Bobby, that means a lot coming from you.  I know how close you and Jarrod where.  It means the world to me that you approve.”

“The guy adores you so there is no reason for me not to approve.  He treats you amazingly; I have seen that first hand.  I mean look what he did for the firehouse last weekend.  And then having all your friends back to his place to just hang out and get to know them.  If he is as good with the girls as he is you then there is no reason for me to worry.”

“He’s even better with the girls.  He adores them, and they can’t get enough of him.”

“That’s awesome Jo,” he smiles.  I miss spending time with him.  “You know, we should all get together and celebrate soon.  I just wanted to tell you because I was so excited.  You are still one of my closest friends you know that right?”

“Good, I'm glad because I feel the same way about you.  And I agree, I miss hanging out with you and Marie.”

“Well, you know we still shoot darts on Sundays here, you can always stop down anytime.”

“No, I don’t think I should do that.  There are people that are here for that I would not want to see.”

“Yeah, I understand that.  But you know what, it doesn’t matter what she thinks or does anymore, she has lost the respect of a lot of people.”

“Understandable, however I don’t know that I could control myself around her.  I have not seen her since she tried to start that fight with me the night I came to see you guys down here after Jarrod was gone.  I'm pretty sure I would smack the shit out of her.”

“Yeah, I guess.  But I bet a lot of people would like to see that,” he laughs.

“I'm sure they would,” I shake my head at him.  Just the thought of Amber makes my skin crawl.  She is the one person that I don’t think I could handle seeing again.  I take a drink of my beer and my phone rings.  I pick it up and see it is Jake.  “I have to take this, I will be right back,” I walk outside where it is quieter.  “Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey Jo, sorry I just got your message,” he sounds tired.

“Its fine, I was just out having a beer with Bobby.  He gave me some really good news; he and Marie are getting married.”

“That’s awesome, tell him congrats from me.”

“I will.  Is everything ok?  You sound different.”

“Yeah, I'm just tired is all.  I got hurt at practice today.  They have me on some pain killers that are kicking my ass.”

“What did you do?” I panic.

“Nothing too bad, pulled a muscle in my bicep.  Should be healed in time for me to play second game.  For now I don’t touch a football until the doctor clears me and I do some therapy.”

“Well, I will let you go so you can go to sleep then.”

“I didn’t say I wanted to go.  I was actually looking forward to your call.”

“Why is that?”

“Because, I heard from my realtor today.  He sent me some stuff; I was hoping you would come over and take a look at it with me?”

“Oh you were huh?” I laugh.

“Yeah, that and I miss you and want to see you.”

“Jake, you just saw me this morning.”

“So?  Does that mean I'm not allowed to miss you?”

“No.” I laugh.  “Let me finish my beer and I will head that way.”

“Perfect.  I will be on the couch, I can’t promise that I won’t be sleeping, but I will be there,” I can hear him smile.  He sounds so different; I hope he is really ok.

“Ok, see you in a little while,” I smile and hang up.  I walk back into the bar and sit back down.

“Everything ok?”

“Yeah, it was Jake.  I called him on the way over here, he was just calling back.  He wants me to go over there and see him to look at some stuff I guess.”

“What kind of stuff?” I see him smile.

I take a deep breath, “well I suppose you will find out soon enough.  He is going to be selling his place and building a house about three or four blocks from my place.  I told him if things are still going this good in December the girls and I would move in with him.”  I look at him, not really sure what to expect.