Jessica's Fate

Chapter 100

She laughed at me before kissing my cheek. "I do have to work tonight. Just text me if you'll be home in the morning or not, okay?" She patted the other cheek. "You're an adult and can stay out all night if you want to." She pointed her finger at Josh. "As long as you take care of her, mind you. Be respectful and as sweet as you are to her when you're with me."

I winced. "Mom... come on..." I said, under my breath.

Josh didn't flinch. "I will always respect Jessica." He said reassuringly. "Everything after the ceremony tonight is completely up to her. I won't let you down, ma'am."

I waited for mom to take offense to the 'ma'am' but she relaxed, smiling at him. "That's all I ask." She said before kissing his cheek as well and shooing us out the door. "Have fun, kids."

Josh wound his arm around my waist as we walked to his car. "I forgot to ask, did you need a wrap?"

I shook my head. "No, it's fine. It's only the beginning of October and it's not as cool as it would be in January." I smiled. "I spend most of my time being overheated this time of year."

He kissed my temple before opening the door for me. "Just let me know if you get chilly, you can wear my jacket."

I got in the car and smiled at him. "Of course."

He winked and closed my door before heading around to get behind the wheel. It didn't take long to reach the downtown hotel that was hosting the award ceremony. "I really appreciate you coming with me tonight." He said, after his car drove away with a valet behind the wheel.

I turned to look up at him. "Why wouldn't I come? You're getting a commendation for an excellent job and for the fact you were injured in the line of duty. I'm your girlfriend, I'm incredibly proud of you." I said.

The tips of his ears turned red and he smiled before his eyes turned serious. "Will you stay?" He asked, reaching out to trail a finger down my cheek.

"When?"

"Tonight?" He sounded hopeful, if not a little determined. Clearly my mother's suggestion had struck a chord deep in his heart.

"Why am I staying?" I wasn't trying to be obtuse. Well, fine, maybe a little deliberately oblivious. I had no real reason to ask, other than trying to get a handle on his intent. Neither of us had done much more with each other than a few caresses, which was along the lines of as intimate as I'd allowed any of my previous relationships to go. I could handle that.

Moving on to a more intimate relationship drove my internal butterfly monitor into a frenzy. Meaning, I felt guilty about entertaining the thought of being completely intimate with someone. As if it wasn't being fair to my previous three boyfriends.

Like they got a say in my future relationships.

I couldn't help it though.

Maybe it was the reason I'd pulled a plug, or two... on the last two relationships but I could still find myself a bit stung at how Zack had ended our relationship if I allowed myself to dwell on it and I knew damn well that as weirded out as I'd been about Tony's attempt to take us a step farther in a public place, it was mostly out of the fact I'd felt guilty as though I was betraying my first boyfriend by pursuing something with the next one.

Yeah, I was probably messed up.

But, it wasn't something that I dwelled on or allowed to color my relationships. It just meant that I couldn't help it every so often if I found myself wondering a what if or two.

Josh tilted his head, the corners of his lips tilting upwards in amusement to match the twinkle that had returned to his eyes. "I'm not sure where you mentally went right now but I'm pretty sure you weren't here in Charleston." He leaned in, brushing his lips lightly against mine. "To answer your question, you're staying tonight because I worry that we'll be too tired to go all the way back to Sunnyvale Court and my place is less than a mile from here."

I nodded slightly. "I do have clothes still there from when I was over so much while you were off work." I conceded.

"And you're also staying tonight because I feel like I might need you." His voice dropped as his gaze was caught on something over my shoulder.

"Need me?" I studied him.

"My dad's here. I'm not exactly sure how well tonight is going to play out. I might need you because I really don't have a teddy bear or a pet to curl up with right now."

I pursed my lips and reached up to redirect his gaze to my face. "You need a dog. That hamster of yours is terrible for cuddling."

He laughed, his eyes flicking back up again before dropping to meet my eyes again. "You may be on to something there."

"Oh, I know I am. My brother had a dog so I had a dog around until I was 13 and he moved out, taking Max with him. I was at major loose ends after that."

"I didn't know that."

I shrugged. "See, we haven't covered everything in our relationship yet." I teased. "Anyway, by the time school came around again, I'd successfully wrangled permission to get a cat out of my mom and Shadow was completely housetrained before I was gone all day."

He smiled. "I do like your cat." He admitted.

"My baby is very welcoming. Unlike other cats." I smiled. "Now, hot stalker cop of mine... let's go do this. We're going to get you an award, eat some somewhat dubious catering that may or may not pass as an actual meal, dance a bit and perhaps have an adult conversation with your dad." I touched his cheek again. "Trust me, I know all about troublesome dads, not as much as my brother and his friends do but I have a handle on the delicate relationship details."

"We may end up drinking coffee all night to discuss that because now I'm curious."

I smiled. "Okay. Which means it's a good thing that I'm going to stay over because you make a very valid point. Your place is a lot closer to here than mine. I'll text mom before we leave here."

He finally smiled before brushing his lips gently across mine. "Sounds like a plan, sweetie." He said before taking my hand and tucking it around his crooked elbow as we started to head for the hotel entrance.