Expected ("Unexpected" Book #2)- ON HOLD

Chapter Twenty-Four: Jake

I sat on the couch, staring at the clock on my phone. I've been home for over an hour and Marissa still hasn't shown up. I wanted to see if the two of us could go out to dinner. Cal has the kids at his apartment. He won't bring them back over until seven. Now, looking at it, it looks like if Marissa isn't here in half an hour we wouldn't be able to go out. I just wanted to spend some time with her. We've barely gotten any of that since the twins were born. The only time where we could focus completely on our relationship was on our wedding anniversary. It's in about eight months and all I'm hoping for is that Marissa will be able to spend the whole day with me like we always do. Our anniversary is on a weekend next year so we should both be free. I took my wedding ring off and just looked at it in my hands. Reading over the engraving several times. Forever and Always. It was my idea to get the engraving on both of our rings. The engraving always made me smile. It has been both of our mottoes since we got engaged. I declined plans to hang out with my friends to be home and take my wife out for dinner. They were going to the beach for a bonfire. I haven't been to the beach since before my mom and Paul got married.
The minutes on my phone seemed to be moving slowly. I was nearly asleep by the time eight came around. Cal said since it looks like Marissa's coming home late that he'll have the kids stay at his apartment for the night. I've been waiting for her to come home for over three hours. I was drifting off to sleep on the couch when the front door opened. I lifted my head to see that Marissa has walked in.
"I am so sorry I'm late," she said and walked over to me while I sat up on the couch. She sat down beside me. "Where are the kids?"
Without looking at her I said, "They're staying at your dad's tonight."
"Why?"
"Because we didn't know what time you'd be home and I didn't want the kids waiting up for you." I paused and leaned over, running my hands through my messy hair. I changed into a nice polo shirt for her tonight. "I thought you would be home by five. I asked your dad to take the kids for a few hours so I can spend the evening with you. I wanted to take you out to dinner."
Her mouth gaped open in surprise. "I'm sorry. We can go now." She started to stand up but I pulled her back down.
"It's past eight. It's too late."
"Then what do you want to do to make up for it? We still have all night."
I was silent for a moment, thinking about the bonfire Jace mentioned. "Actually, Jace invited me and some friends to a bonfire at the beach. Do you want to go?"
"I was thinking we could do something else," she said kissing my earlobe and running her hand under the collar of my polo.
I chuckled. I loved when she touched me. "We have all night. Just give us one hour at the party so my friends don't think I'm completely whipped."
She held out her pinky finger. "One hour."
I laughed and interlocked my finger with hers. "One hour." Using my pinky, I pulled her closer and placed my lips on hers.

***

I thought it was going to be a small bonfire. Where everyone sits around a fire and talks, maybe make s'mores. I wasn't expecting that it would be a party with dozens of people around and coolers filled with drinks near several bonfires. Marissa and I walked through the archway and passed several dozen bamboo tiki fire sticks. People were in the dark water and some were off to the side getting drunk off a keg. I never have been to a party like this. All the parties I've gone to were house parties and none of them were this crowded.
"Okay," I started while Marissa and I walked down the beach passing by several partygoers. "We'll give it one hour but if either of us wants to leave earlier, we leave, no questions asked."
Marissa nodded and interlocked her fingers with mine. "Sounds like a plan."
I stopped us so I can face her. "I won't be mad if you want to leave early."
She reached a hand up and stroked the side of my cheek with her fingers. "I won't be mad if you want to leave either."
I lifted my hand and held her palm still against my cheek. "We good?"
She nodded. "We're good."
I took her hand from my cheek and brought it to my lips, placing a soft kiss on the palm. "I really want to kiss you," I said in almost a whisper.
She grinned and brought her other hand around the back of my neck. "I'm your wife. You don't even need to ask. Just do."
I smiled and brought my lips to hers, kissing her softly.
We were snapped from our kiss when I heard Jace's voice nearby. "Hey," Jace cheered obviously drunk out of his mind. "You made it. Dude, the girls out there are practically naked and they're allowing us to do some body shots off of them. You in?" Has he really not noticed my wife and I kissing just five seconds ago.
Knowing he wasn't going to get the message anytime soon, I spoke up and motioned a hand to Marissa, "Jace, this is my wife Marissa. We facetimed her on the first day of school. Remember?" He nodded and I motioned a hand to Jace next. "Mar, this is my bud, Jace. He's taller in person."
Marissa stifled a laugh and extended a hand to Jace. "It's nice to see you again."
Jace ignored her hand and just looked her up and down, making the situation a bit awkward. "Dude, your wife is fucking hotter in person." I was surprised when Marissa's reaction to that was a laugh like she actually thought it was funny. Me, on the other hand, wasn't exactly thrilled with the comment.
I put a hand on his shoulder to try and steady his wobbling movements. "How much have you had to drink?"
His eyes rolled around in their sockets as he thought up an answer. "Phew, I don't fucking know. But, who cares? It's a fucking party. I can drink how much I ever want."
Marissa placed her hand to her mouth trying not to laugh at his choice of words and how he ordered them. "Where're the others?" I asked. I at least want to talk to one sober friend.
He pointed his beer bottle down the beach. "About six fires down yonder." Marissa really wanted to laugh at this point. "Good luck. They're not nearly as sober as me."
Marissa coughed out a laugh she couldn't hold. I took a hold of Marissa's hand, pulling her close to my side. "I'm guessing that's not a good thing," I mumbled. "Be careful," I told him before walking Marissa and me down the beach where every ten yards was a new bonfire. I held Marissa to my chest when I stopped us at the bonfire my "friends" were gathered around. "Hey, guys," I greeted them all. They all seemed excited to see me and so far it looked like Jace was the drunkest out of all of them.
"Hey, man," Nick greeted me, standing up to give me a pat on the back. He had a beer bottle in his hand that wasn't even half finished. I didn't know how many he had before this one but I could tell he wasn't drunk. He turned from me and looked down at Marissa wrapped in my arms. "This the wife?"
I nodded. "Yeah, this is my wife Marissa. Marissa, this is Nick."
"It's nice to meet you," Marissa said and offered him a handshake which he politely gave.
"It's nice to meet you too." Nick let go of her hand to look at me. "Bro, why didn't you tell me your girl is so beautiful?"
Marissa looked up at me with a smile. "Yeah, why didn't you?" She smirked.
I hugged her tightly and nestled my chin onto her shoulder. "Because it should be obvious."
"So, if I wasn't good looking you wouldn't have even considered dating me?"
My head shot up. "No," I said anxiously shaking my head.
She smirked at my shaking figure. "I'm joking. Don't work yourself up." She moved her head to look at me. "Kiss." I smiled and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"Y'all are gross," Trish said from the other side of the fire, making a few of us laugh. She was obviously mad that I turned her down at the frat house. I never liked having girls all over me. Which is one of the reasons I fell for Marissa so fast. Marissa never groped me in public or grind herself on me like Trish and the others. We didn't do that type of stuff before we were dating. And then even after we would take it to the privacy of the bedroom. All we ever really did that was a form of PDA in public was short kisses.
I nodded my head to Trish and looked down at Marissa. "That's Trish." I leaned my lips down so they were brushing across her earlobe. "Just ignore her," I said and kissed her cheek.
"Well, well, well." We turned our heads to see Shawn making his way over with his friends from high school. Each one with a beer bottle in their hands, chugging them down as if they were water. "If it isn't lady and the tramp." I held Marissa tight against my chest, not wanting to let her go.
"What's he doing here?" Marissa asked me in a whisper which I replied with just a shrug.
"I thought my dad told you to leave me and my family alone?" I snapped, trying to keep my distance from him.
He chuckled and took a step closer. "Unlike last time, he won't be a phone call away." He reached down and slid my phone out of my front jeans pocket.
I removed one arm from Marissa to try and grab my phone. "Give me that!" I yelled at him trying to snatch the phone but he held it high in the air above his head.
"Give him his phone back," Marissa said suddenly. Her voice was so nonchalant. Sounding like she was already done with his game.
Shawn put the hand with the phone in it over his heart. "Aww. You have to have your wife coming to your rescue? Can't you defend yourself just once, Murray?"
"He doesn't need to answer you, asshole," Marissa surprised me by saying. She snaked her way out of my arms and took several steps in Shawn's direction. "We're not in high school anymore, Shawn. So, how about you fucking act like an adult? And leave my family alone or you'll have me to deal with." She was now in his face. Her face was red with anger.
He leaned down to her height with a laugh. "You can't intimidate me." When he got to her height, she was able to snatch my phone out of his hand and toss it to me. He has a peer look that said he was more than pissed off that his ex-girlfriend was standing up to him.
I took a few steps closer until I was next to Marissa, wrapping an arm around her waist protecting her. "Don't talk to her," I said calmly. I turned to look at Marissa. "You want to go?" Marissa nodded and I took her hand to lead us away from the party.
"Those jeans look great on you, Marissa," Shawn called out from behind us as we walked. "I remember ripping through a pair just like those to fuck you senior year. Do you still like it rough?" I let go of Marissa and began walking back over to Shawn. More crude phrases leaving his mouth with each step I took. "Remember how good it felt when I ran my hands over every inch of your slim body? How I curled my fingers when I-" He didn't get to finish his sentence when my fist collided with his face. Making him fall backward in his drunken state. I jumped on top of him and started slamming his body into the sand.
I growled and pulled him up by the shirt to make him look me in the eyes. His mouth was bleeding from the corner. "Don't ever talk to my wife like that again." I slammed him back into the sand and with one final punch, I got off him to go back to Marissa. "Hey, you okay?" I asked her taking her face in the palms of my hands.
She nodded and wrapped me into a hug. "I'm sorry," she mumbled against my shirt.
I ran a hand through her hair. "It's not your fault." I looked up, still holding her in my arms, giving Shawn a hard stare. "What the hell is your problem?" I yelled at him causing a majority of the people at the party to look over at us. "We're all here to have a good time. You can't just come over here and slut-shame my wife."
Shawn stood up and spat blood onto the sand. "I can do whatever the fuck I want."
"Just shut up, man," Jace said out of nowhere. Jace somehow snuck up next to Shawn while we bickered. He was a little less drunk and was fully aware of the situation. I was starting to think he was never as drunk as he lead on.
Shawn turned and looked Jace dead in the eyes. They were about the same height, making it fair game. "What did you just say to me?" Shawn lifted his hands and pushed Jace back. Luckily, Jace was sober enough to keep his balance.
"Just go," I tried to say as calmly as possible.
"How about you just go," Shawn slurred. "You don't like me talking dirty about your wife? Not my fault that she gave me so much to reference off of."
No one even got a word out when Jace tackled Shawn to the ground, punching him in the face. Shawn was too drunk to try and stand on his own two feet. Jace kept bashing him into the sand as hard as he could. Shawn aimlessly throwing punches at the air.
I let go of Marissa and went to get Jace off of Shawn. "I think he gets it," I said trying to pull him off but it wasn't easy since he was like five inches taller than me.
"I'm not through with him!" Jace yelled and kept kicking at Shawn as I tried to pull him away.
"Yes, you are." I finally got Jace to stop thrashing and moved him to stand behind me. Shawn was clutching his gut and groaning. This guy really doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.
"You ever come near him again," Jace started as I tried to push him back with my hand. "I'll make sure you never see the light of day again, you little pussy ass fucking shit face dick!" God, it felt like my little brother was trying to fight my battles. I know Jace means well but Shawn is my battle and he's something I should fight alone.
"Jace, I'm serious. Knock it off," I said still trying to push him back but he was determined to charge at Shawn.
"He's a dick!" Jace yelled.
Shawn just stood there laughing. He wandered around us until he was next to Marissa. "Does this kid have PMS or something?"
Marissa suddenly let out a loud gasp and moved her hands to her ass. That's when I saw that Shawn just secretly smacked her there. Marissa gave me a look that told me to do something. She looked scared.
My jaw clenched tightly with anger and I let go of Jace, marching my way over to Shawn. My hands balled into fists at my sides.
"You ready to fight your own battles now?" Shawn said with a laugh.
Without saying anything, I threw my fist up and punched him hard in the face. "Don't you ever touch my wife again!"
He composed himself and laughed. "She just seemed so... tight."
I was about to throw another punch when Jace attacked Shawn from behind. Wrapping his arms around his neck, choking him. I felt pure comfort watching Shawn gasping for air.
Shawn was eventually able to remove Jace off him and threw him to the ground with a hard thud. I reached forward and grabbed Shawn's shirt, throwing punches at him.
"Jake, knock it off!" I heard Marissa yell angrily from behind me. "He's not worth it!"
I stopped punching him at her command. This gave Shawn time to take in what just happened and his anger to fume up at the sight of me. "You fucking prick," Shawn mumbled to me. "You done?" he growled.
"Not quite," Jace said all of a sudden. He stood behind Shawn and in one swift motion, he turned Shawn around and punched him straight in the face, knocking him to the ground. Jace shook his bruised fist as he breathed heavily while looking down at Shawn. "Now I'm done." Jace looked over at me and Marissa with an unreadable expression. Marissa and I just stared in shock. Shawn may have some more pounds on him than Jace but their equal height made it fair game. "I never liked these parties anyway."
Marissa wrapped her arms around my bicep. "We should probably go before the police show up."
I nodded in agreement. "That's probably a good idea."
We looked down at Shawn as we walked around him to get to the car park. I honestly was not expecting such a reaction from Jace. It could've been adrenaline or the alcohol that ran through his veins, but what I knew for certain was that that boy could throw a mean punch.