Part One: Grace
“God-fucking-damnit.”
Jeremy, Grace’s assistant, stuck his head in the open office door, eyebrow raised. “Everything okay in here?”
Grace balled up the piece of paper in her hands and tossed it in the garbage. “Fine. Can you get me a cup of coffee? Black, with a shot of some kind of alcohol if you can swing it.”
Jeremy smirked. “Sure thing.”
After he disappeared, Grace let her head fall down on the cool wooden surface of the desk with a heavy sigh. For a few moments, she made an effort to forget completely about the shitstorm taking place in her professional life. It’s just business, she reminded herself. Don’t get caught up.
As if on cue, her desk phone rang, straight through because Jeremy wasn’t at his desk to intercept it. Groaning, Grace sat up and considered ignoring it for about three seconds before picking up the receiver, eyes closed.
“Grace Chasez.”
“Hi Grace, this is Christy Collins over at Fountain Christian School.”
Grace opened her eyes. “Hi. Is there a problem?”
“Well, I’ve got Nicolina here in the office with me, and she’s not feeling so great. She says her tummy hurts. She’s pale and running a bit of a fever, about 99.2.”
Jeremy slipped back into the office, a cup of coffee in one hand and a single serving plastic bottle of Jack Daniels in the other. He waved both at her excitedly, setting them down on her desk. When she didn’t respond in kind, his brow knitted and he shrugged. Grace knew him well enough to follow his nonverbal communication cues, and this clearly meant what the hell is wrong? She waved him away distractedly.
“Oh, no. Has she eaten lunch yet?” Changing her mind, Grace snapped her fingers to get Jeremy’s attention as he retreated from the office, and scribbled Call JC on a notepad, tossing it to him.
“She sat down for lunch, but Miss Holly said she didn’t have much of an appetite.” Grace listened to Ms. Christy’s muffled voice as she spoke to Nicolina. “She says she ate some raisins, but she didn’t like the sandwich Uncle Justin made.”
Grace rubbed her throbbing temple. “I see. Well, I’ll see if I can get away to come pick her up, then.”
“I think that would be best. I’ll have her lay down on a cot here in the office until then.”
“Alright. Thanks, Christy.” Grace hung up the phone and glanced at her computer monitor, still rife with the hell that had been plaguing her all morning. Turning it off, she rose from her desk, striding halfway across the office barefoot before remembering to return and slip her heels back on. “Jeremy? Did you get JC on the line?”
“No,” he called back. “He didn’t answer his cell, so I’m on hold at the studio right now.”
Grace stepped up to Jeremy’s desk and held out her hand for the phone. He handed it over wordlessly, and she held the receiver to her ear, frowning at the ridiculous hold music. Shouldn’t a recording studio have something a little better to contribute than Muzak?
She counted a full thirty seconds before the receptionist’s voice came through. “I’m sorry, Jeremy, but JC is in the studio right now and—“
“Beth, this is Grace Chasez. I need you to get JC on the line for me. It’s urgent.”
“Mrs. Chasez,” Beth replied, sounding startled. “Um, yes. Of course. I’ll, uh, see what I can do.”
Again the hold music clicked on, and Grace tapped the toe of her shoe on the carpeted floor, watching as Jeremy played solitaire on his computer. She smacked the back of his head and he flinched.
“Why don’t you do some actual work?” she whispered. “If you can’t find any out here, I’ve got an entire shitload on my desk.”
Jeremy widened his eyes and held up his hands in surrender, feigning terror. “Okay, okay.”
The hold music clicked off suddenly and Grace felt her shoulders relax as JC’s smooth voice came over the line.
“Hey. What’s so urgent?”
“The school just called. Nicolina is sick.”
“What? What’s wrong?” JC’s teasing tone from before disappeared. “Is she okay?”
“Apparently she has a low grade fever, and she’s refusing to eat the lunch Justin made.”
JC sighed. “Well, I don’t really blame her on that one.”
“She’s never had a problem with them before now.” Grace glanced at her watch; God, would there ever be enough hours in the day? “Look, I’m gonna have to go get her, unless you can.”
“I can’t,” JC replied, sounding sincere. “I mean, I really can’t. I’ve got AJ in the booth, and we were literally just about to hit the red light when Beth came in here frantic about you on the line. I think she may have peed her pants a little bit.”
“Cute, Josh.” Grace leaned against Jeremy’s desk, regretting the decision to put her shoes back on. “If I go, I’ll have to miss my 2:00 with EMI.”
“What, no!” Now he really sounded frantic. “You can’t miss that meeting, Grace. The merger more or less completely depends on you making ends meet with Branson. Only you can handle him. You and I both know that.”
“JC, this is our daughter,” Grace reminded. “Everything else is just business.”
JC sighed heavily, and Grace could practically see him pinching the bridge of his nose. “I know, I know.” He paused. “Hey, why don’t you just call Justin?”
Grace looked at her watch again. It was just past 1:00. “Have you looked at the time recently? No way he’s gonna be in any state to drive a car right now.” “
“He has to snap out of this eventually. Just, give him a call,” JC pleaded. “It’s worth a shot. I’d call him myself, but…”
“Yeah, yeah, AJ’s in the booth, I know.” Grace smoothed a hand against her skirt anxiously. “I don’t know, JC. I mean, I’m fine with him dropping her off in the morning, he’s been responsible enough to handle that. But you know how he gets. This makes me nervous.”
“I know, babe.” JC’s voice was lower now, hushed as he shifted into comfort mode. “Look, he’ll be okay. Justin wouldn’t put Nicolina in danger, you know that. This is really our only option, unless you want to send that dipshit who works for you.”
Grace bit down on her bottom lip too hard and tasted blood. “I can’t send Jeremy, he’s not on the contact list.” At his name, Jeremy looked up warily, but Grace waved him back to his work. “They won’t let anyone take her without a valid ID and paperwork on file.”
JC murmured something to someone in the background. “Well, that’s comforting. Gracie, I gotta go. Call Justin, okay? It’ll be alright.”
“Fine. I’ll make it work. Bye.” Grace hung up the phone and sucked on her sore lip for a moment as she thought.
“Problems?” Jeremy asked, his voice saccharine sweet. Grace leaned over his desk to eye his planner, her day’s schedule outlined neatly all over it.
“What do you suppose are the chances of pushing back my meeting with Branson?”
Jeremy snorted. “What do you suppose are the chances of me having sex with a woman?” He shot her a stony look. “Impossible, in case you didn’t know. You're already rescheduled from last week.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” Grace pointed out, pushing off the desk and heading back into her office. “The conference room was being redecorated.”
“The point is, his people are already on edge,” Jeremy called back. “And you know how he is.”
Grace kicked her shoes off beneath her desk again and rummaged in her purse for her Blackberry. She found Justin’s number in the contacts and took a deep breath before hitting send.
He didn’t answer.
She called again. Straight to voicemail.
On the verge of a panic, Grace dialed her home number and waited until the machine picked up. “Justin. Pick up the goddamn phone. Justin!” Her shout filtered down the hallway and Jeremy appeared to close her door quickly. “Justin, answer the phone!”
If she had any idea of echoes in her house, she knew that her voice should be reverberating throughout the entire bottom level, and possibly even the second. He had to hear her, he had to. Grace gripped the edge of her desk and counted down from ten.
She had just hit two when Justin picked up.
“Hello?”
His voice sounded distant, and Grace knew it had nothing to do with the phone connection.
“Justin. I need you to do me a huge favor,” she said, speaking slowly and clearly. “Justin. Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Now his voice just sounded tired, as if he’d just rolled out of bed. “What’s up?”
“Nicolina’s sick. She needs to get picked up from school, right now.”
Justin was quiet for a few moments. “Now?”
“Yes. I can’t get away, and neither can JC.” Grace pressed her lips together, wincing as the sore spot made contact with her bottom teeth. “You’re the only other person on the contact list. Can you go get her, Justin?”
He didn’t reply for so long that Grace nearly stopped breathing. “I don’t have my car.”
“What?”
“My car. It’s…I dropped it off to get the oil changed after I took Nic to school.”
“How did you get home?”
“Trace picked me up.”
Grace almost started freaking out again before she remembered that they had a house full of cars back at home, to an almost outrageous extent. “Justin, just take one of JC’s cars.”
“Um.” Grace listened to the phone shuffle, presumably as he crossed the room to where all the various keys were kept. It was like a small key museum, that much was true. “Which one?”
“I don’t care, it doesn’t matter.”
“What about the car seat?”
Grace rubbed her hand over her face, tempted just to fuck everything and go herself. “We have an extra one in…God, I think it’s in the Mercedes.” She tried to visualize the backseats of all her husband’s cars, trying to remember the last time they’d earnestly used something other than her Audi and his Jeep. “Yeah, it’s gotta be in the Mercedes. Can you find those keys?”
“Mm, yep.” Grace heard the jingle in the background as Justin lifted them off the hook from the small cabinet. “Is Nic okay?”
“Probably. I don’t think it’s serious, but…” Grace trailed off and tried to refocus on the task at hand. “Justin, are you sure you’re okay to go and get her?”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” He sounded defensive now, and that was good. At least he was conscious enough to feel some other emotion besides despair. “I take her to school every morning. I think I can swing picking her up once.”
“Okay. Thank you, Justin. Just…call me after you get her home, okay? Just to check in.” She glanced at the time again, cursing under her breath. She was completely unprepared for a groundbreaking, ridiculously crucial meeting that she had to be at in 35 minutes. “I’ll probably be in a meeting, but leave a message with Jeremy and he’ll get it to me.”
“Alright. See ya later.” Grace barely had time to say goodbye before the line went dead.
-
The first thing Grace looked forward to about getting home every day was kicking her heels off as soon as she stepped in the door, basking in the relief of feeling her feet resting flat on the cold surface of the tiled entryway. She usually left them there, kicked unceremoniously off to the side, until someone (she suspected JC) picked them up and brought them upstairs for her.
This afternoon, however, Grace left her heels on in her hurry. “Justin? Hello?”
An empty beat of silence passed in the large house before Justin’s voice rang out from the family room. “We’re in here.”
Sighing her relief, Grace crossed the entryway into the kitchen, her heels still clacking against the tile. She abandoned her purse and briefcase on the counter island and passed through into the sunken family room. The TV was on, playing some sports game, and Justin was sprawled on the couch, shirtless. A cold can of Coke sat on the mahogany coffee table, without a coaster.
Before she could complain, Grace spotted Nicolina, lying on the floor with their chocolate Labrador retriever, Scout. The majority of her small body rested on one of the oversized throw pillows from the couch, and her hair was splayed out beside her. She was fast asleep, Scout’s head resting on her knees.
“Hey,” Justin greeted, leaning forward to pick up his drink. Grace grabbed a coaster, waved it at him, and set it down where the can had previously been resting.
“You never called,” she accused, hands on her hips. Justin stared at her blankly.
“Oh. Shit, sorry. I totally forgot.” He nodded at Nicolina’s prone form. “She’s sleeping.”
“Yeah, I can see that. You could have put her in bed, Justin.”
He held up his hands. “That’s what I said, but she wanted to stay down here with me. I tried to get her to eat too, but she wouldn’t.”
Grace crouched down next to her daughter and rested her hand on her forehead. She definitely felt warm, but not hot. She was still wearing her school clothes, a pair of jeans with sparkles bedazzled on the back pockets, and a flowery printed dress over a long sleeved black t-shirt. “Did you help her get dressed this morning?”
Again, Justin tried his best to look innocent. “She picked out the clothes, I swear. I just tied her shoes.”
Grace sighed and stood up straight again. Scout’s tail wagged and he whined softly, so she leaned back down to scratch behind his ears. “Maybe I should call a doctor.”
Justin shrugged. “She seemed okay to me. When I got to the school, she was sitting up telling all the ladies in the office some story about her last trip to Disneyland.”
Feeling slightly reassured, Grace left Nicolina on the floor, deciding moving her was the least attractive option, and finally kicked her shoes off. The feeling of her bare feet sinking into the plush carpet was almost enough to erase all the worries from her day, and she made her way back into the kitchen, considerably more relaxed.
“Are you making dinner tonight?” Justin asked, following her into the room. Grace opened her briefcase and thumbed through a few of the files inside as Justin opened the fridge to rummage.
“Who else would? Unless you’re volunteering.”
Justin shut the fridge door with a dramatic sigh, picking up an open bag of potato chips from the counter and sitting down at one of the barstools next to the island. “No, I just keep forgetting you guys don’t have a maid or anything.”
“We have a maid,” Grace corrected. “Marcela comes on Sunday afternoons.”
“But she just like, cleans,” Justin said. “Not like anything’s ever dirty. I don’t know why you even have her come.”
Grace had to admit the validity of his point; she’d spent her whole life cleaning up after herself, and felt no need to change that when she’d married JC. Even in their five bedroom house, Grace didn’t find herself feeling overwhelmed with the cleaning requirements. Part of the reason they kept Marcela on at all was simply nostalgia – she’d been working for JC for years prior to their marriage, plus it was nice to have someone come tidy up on Sundays and leave everything looking spotless to start the week. On top of that, Nicolina adored her and was constantly preparing surprises and art projects for her visits.
“Are you trying to insinuate that I need someone to cook for me?” Grace shut her briefcase and set it aside, peering inside the fridge as Justin had done a moment before.
“Not at all.” Justin finished swallowing his mouthful of potato chips before continuing. “You’re just unusually self-sufficient. Not a bad thing.”
“Well, thanks.” Grace pulled out a tray of chicken breasts that she had left to thaw the night before. “I hope chicken parmigiana sounds okay to you, then, because that’s what we’re having.”
While Grace cooked, Justin stayed in the living room, flipping channels and polishing off several more Cokes. Around 5:30, the front door opened and Scout bounded out of the family room to greet JC as he returned home. Grace finished plating the meal for herself, JC, and Justin, setting aside a small plate of cut up chicken for Nicolina, though she doubted it would be eaten. She was considering heating up some soup for her when JC entered, interrupting her thoughts.
“Hi,” he greeted, shrugging out of his jacket and setting his own briefcase on the counter. “How are you doing?” He crossed the kitchen to wrap his arm around her shoulders and kiss her forehead. “How’s Nicolina?”
“She’s asleep out there,” Grace replied. “She’s warm, but I didn’t want to get her up. Maybe she just needs to sleep it off.” JC nodded in agreement.
“Did you just get home?”
“Like an hour ago. Why?”
He shrugged, smiling at her and trailing a finger over her tweed pencil skirt. “You’re still in your work clothes. I like it.” JC raised his eyebrows suggestively and Grace shook her head as she picked up a potholder to move the hot glass pan she’d cooked the chicken in.
“All day long, you dream about sex,” she chided, and JC groaned, slipping past her on his way out to the family room.
“That joke is so played out. Seriously, Gracie. Get some new material already.”
“I still think it’s funny,” Justin offered over his shoulder as JC approached the couch.
“No one cares what you think,” JC reminded, punching Justin on the arm before he crouched down next to Nicolina, pushing the hair out of her face and touching her forehead, much the same way Grace had.
“Will you wake her up, JC?” Grace asked, setting the table in the breakfast nook right off the kitchen. “We need to try and get her to eat.”
Nicolina resisted the wake up attempt at first, squirming away from JC’s touch and whining, but she eventually relented, her whines giving way to giggles when he started to tickle her.
“Daddy, stop!” she pleaded, shrieking with laughter as JC squeezed her sides. Finally, JC picked her up and carried her into the kitchen.
“Are you gonna eat something or what?” he asked, smoothing the hair back off of her forehead as he sat her down on one of the barstools. Nicolina made a face and shook her head.
“No, my tummy hurts still.”
Grace frowned, leaning across the counter to appraise her daughter. “Nicolina, when did you start feeling yucky? This morning?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. After I was at school for awhile.”
“Did you eat breakfast this morning?”
“She did,” Justin confirmed, pulling a t-shirt over his head as he stepped into the kitchen. “We had Pop Tarts.”
JC rolled his eyes. “Real nutritious, J.”
“What’s that word mean, Daddy?” Nicolina asked, batting her eyelashes up at JC. He nudged her with his elbow.
“It means healthy for you. Pop Tarts aren’t a really healthy breakfast.”
Nicolina looked confused. “But you just said they were. You said ‘real nutritious’.”
Grace laughed and JC sighed, hanging his head. His sarcasm was forever getting him in trouble with their very literal daughter. “You’re right. I did say that.”
“Let’s sit down for dinner,” Grace suggested, motioning everyone towards the table. She filled Scout’s dog bowl and put him outside before having a seat herself.
To her relief, Nicolina picked a little at the chicken in front of her, but eventually ate it all, and then mooched some of Justin’s. In addition, she drank a full glass of milk and seemed to be fairly lively throughout dinner. Grace relaxed, glad she wouldn’t have to call a doctor after all.
After dinner, Grace finally changed out of her work clothes and snuggled on the couch with Nicolina to watch a movie. JC and Justin disappeared down to the studio to mess around with something. Grace must have nodded off, because the next thing she knew, she opened her eyes to find the movie they’d been watching long over, and Nicolina passed out in her arms.
Grace carried Nicolina upstairs and changed her into pajamas without too much difficulty, managing to stay awake herself long enough to tuck her in and kiss her goodnight.
She was surprised to find JC already in their room, reclining on the bed with his glasses on and a book in his hands.
“I thought you were still downstairs, tooling around with Justin,” she said, pulling the drawstring on the cotton lounge pants she wore. JC set his book on his chest, watching appreciatively as she changed into pajamas. “How come you didn’t wake me up?”
He shrugged. “You looked comfortable. Come here.”
Grace crawled across the bed until she was straddling his lap. JC rested his hands on her bare thighs and smiled up at her. “You’re never in bed before me.”
“I know, right?” He reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “How’d the meeting go today?”
Grace groaned, moving to get off of him, but he held her in place, shifting his hands up to her hips. “I knew you were going to ask that. You can never just wait and find out, can you?”
“No,” JC admitted. “Come on, Grace. It was a big meeting. This is our livelihood we’re talking about.”
“But you know I’m not going to talk shop with you in bed,” Grace replied, pointing a finger into his chest firmly. “So you might as well drop it now before I just leave.”
“You’re a hardass,” JC mumbled, and tightened his grip as she made to move off him again. “Kidding, kidding. Okay, we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
“Speaking of tomorrow.” Grace allowed JC to keep her captive on top of him, but ignored his fingers creeping beneath her t-shirt. “I may need to stay home with Nicolina if she’s too sick for school.”
“She seemed fine at dinner,” JC said, then shrugged. “Yeah, maybe you should keep her home, just in case.”
Grace raised an eyebrow. “Are you actually agreeing with the notion that I not go into the office tomorrow?”
“Yes.” JC matched her raised eyebrow. “Baby, you know we’re on the same page. Family first.”
Grace shrugged. “Sometimes I forget.” He caught her meaning and sighed.
“Grace, I really couldn’t get away today. Really. You know I would have dropped anything if I could have, but I had everyone in the studio ready to go.”
“They couldn’t have done it without you?”
“I was the only producer there. Brad’s been working across town, you know that.”
Grace nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry.”
JC let go of her hips and reached up to pull her face down to his. “It’s okay. Sorry I asked about the meeting.” The last words were mumbled against her lips, and Grace leaned closer, increasing the pressure of their kiss.
They were in a full on makeout session, JC’s hands gripping Grace’s ass and grinding her against him, when a tiny voice echoing down the hall caught their attention.
“Shit,” JC muttered. “You gotta go,” he insisted, motioning at his erection helplessly. Grace muffled a laugh and slid off of him, hurrying down the hall to Nicolina’s room.
“What’s wrong, baby?” She used the visibility granted from the night light in the corner to make her way over to Nicolina’s bed and turn on the lamp. The soft light illuminated Nicolina’s face, covers pulled up to her chin and tear streaks shining on her cheeks.
“I had a scary dream,” Nicolina admitted. “I know it’s not real though. It was just scary.”
Grace smoothed a hand across her daughter’s forehead with a smile. Always practical, always logical, even at five years old. Just like JC. “Okay. Do you wanna tell me about it?”
Nicolina shook her head and shut her eyes tight. “Too scary.” Her tiny hand snaked out of the covers and reached across the purple quilt to latch onto her mother’s. “Will you stay in here with me?”
Grace sighed inwardly, thinking of how long it had been since she and JC had actually gotten to spend the night together, not just passed out in bed next to each other. “Sure, honey. Do you want me to read?” With any luck, after a couple stories, Nicolina would be out cold again, and Grace could make it back to the bedroom in time to catch JC before he was in the same position.
Nicolina shook her head again, emphatically. “No. Can you tell me a story instead? Like a made up story?”
Grace pursed her lips; she wasn’t the creative one in the family, didn’t Nicolina know that? If she wanted some fantastical story or song and dance (literally), JC was the one who needed to be in here.
“Um…”
“I’ll tell her a story.” Grace spun around to see Justin leaning casually against the doorway. He was still dressed and didn’t look like he’d been sleeping. “I heard her call out from downstairs, so I thought I’d come check.”
“Thanks, Jus, but—“
“Uncle Justin,” Nicolina pleaded, tugging on Grace’s hand. “Can Uncle Justin stay with me?”
Grace frowned. “I thought you wanted me to stay.”
Nicolina put on her best damage control smile, the brightness of it nearly blinding, even in the dark. The kid was going to be a great businesswoman someday, Grace thought fondly. “That’s okay, Mommy. Uncle Justin can stay instead.”
Justin pushed off the doorway and crossed the room, settling in the rocking chair on the other side of Nicolina’s bed. He waved Grace away. “It’s cool. I’ll stay.”
Grace stood slowly, feeling torn. “You sure?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “It’s not like I’m missing out on any legitimate sleep, anyway.”
The significance of his comment wasn’t lost on Grace – she knew Justin hadn’t been sleeping nearly at all since he’d moved in with them. Not that she was invading his privacy or anything…it was just easy to tell, from glancing in the guest room, that the bed hadn’t been slept in. Or that the throw pillows on the couch were obviously indented differently every morning.
“Okay. Well.” Grace bent down to kiss Nicolina. “Goodnight.”
“’Night, Mommy,” Nicolina called after her, sounding considerably more happy go lucky than before.
“See ya, Grace.” Justin waved at her from the rocking chair, and Grace pulled the door almost shut behind her. She hesitated a moment, listening from the hallway as Justin launched into an elaborate story about a magician king and his kingdom of monkey princesses. Nicolina’s soft giggles followed her back down the hall.
JC was miraculously still awake, brushing his teeth in the bathroom when Grace slipped back in.
“Everything okay?” he asked, muffled around a mouthful of toothpaste.
“She had a bad dream. Justin’s sitting with her.”
JC spit in the sink and turned the water on as Grace passed him on the way to her own sink. If there was anything she loved about being “rich”, it was having a bathroom counter with two separate sinks.
“Oh, yeah? He’s cool with that?”
“He volunteered.”
“Does he know that she’s liable to keep him up all night, forcing him to tell her stories and sing her songs?”
Grace shrugged as she washed her face. “Yeah, probably. You know he hasn’t been sleeping.”
JC turned and leaned against the counter with a sigh. “I suspected.”
Grace patted her face dry with a towel and got out her toothbrush. “Why don’t you stay home with us tomorrow? Play hooky from the studio for once.”
“I’ve got a full day of recording,” JC admitted. “Plus an interview.”
“An interview? For what?”
“Doing promo for Tony’s album. I don’t know, Rob set it up.”
Grace stuck her toothbrush in her mouth to avoid calling JC’s publicist any colorful names.
“I want to do something fun this weekend, though,” JC continued. “If Nicolina is feeling better. Maybe the beach?”
Grace nodded in agreement and JC kissed her cheek before heading back out to the bedroom. “Good. I feel like it’s been forever since we’ve really done anything as a family.”
When Grace turned out the bathroom light, she found JC back in bed, t-shirt missing this time as he leaned against the headboard with his book. Grace used his moment of distraction to slip into their walk in closet and change out her usual pajamas for a slinky purple slip from La Perla. Of course, it cost more than half her wardrobe combined, but it was for a good cause.
JC didn’t notice her change of clothes until she was in bed next to him, the silk rubbing against his thigh. Glancing over at her, he set his book aside and removed his glasses with a smile. “What’s up?”
Grace trailed her hand across his bare chest. “Well, you’re awake. And I’m awake. And we’re here, together. That’s a pretty rare occurrence.”
JC laughed, the sound sending a smile to her face. “True story.” He fingered the lace at the hem of her slip. “This is nice.”
“Thanks.” Grace slipped one of her legs over his.
“I like the color.” JC let her pin his hands down and slide on top of him. “It really brings out your eyes.”
“Oh, I’m sure it does.” Grace stilled on top of him, still smiling. “I love you, Josh.”
“I love you, too.”
“Now,” Grace released her hold on his wrists and allowed him to skim his hands up her sides, “will you please ravage me until the early morning hours?”
JC smirked, sliding one of the thin straps down her smooth shoulder. “I think that can be arranged.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
thanks for the reviews. just fyi, I'm toying with chronological order in this story, so don't be confused. everything will make sense eventually.
Chapter End Notes:
really sorry for the cheesy ADIDAS line...I couldn't resist it.
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