Startling me from my thoughts, J came back into the kitchen, freshly showered.  I took in his jeans and the fitted black t-shirt he wore that defined his muscles.  And then his scent filled the room; sandalwood.  God, I loved that smell; it was the one he had always worn, for as long as I had known him.  It hit my nostrils and then it hit my heart; memories came flooding back of the good times we had shared.  It’s funny how a smell can bring so much back to you.

I stood and at the same time he moved into my space.  Too close.  His presence, his smell, his breath; it was all messing with me and I couldn’t think straight.  Our eyes locked for a few silent seconds, and then I stepped backwards to escape whatever was happening between us.

“I’m sorry for being an asshole to your friend before,” he apologised, and shocked the shit out of me.

“Since when do you apologise for things you’ve said?” I was intrigued.  This was a new side to J.

He shrugged.  “Since now.  Since I’m trying to get you to stop being angry at me.  I know you’re still mad at me for what I did, but babe, that was two years ago and we need to move forward if you’re gonna come back home.  Be a lot easier to do that if you weren’t mad at me.”

“Umm, who said I was coming back to Brisbane?” I cocked my head, interested in his answer.

He smiled.  “You will be coming back with me.  That’s a given.  Just a matter of time till you agree.”

“You’re still as cocky and bossy as you always were, aren’t you?” I speculated, trying hard not to let him annoy me.

Before he could reply, Serena waltzed back in and said to J, “So, biker boy, Madison and I have shopping planned for today.  Will you be coming with us or will you allow us to go out on our own?”

J smirked, and then looking from Serena to me, he said, “I like your friend, even if she does have a smart mouth on her.”  Then he focused his gaze on Serena.  “And, no, there won’t be any shopping today,” he said, firmly.

This only served to anger Serena.  “Maybe not for you.  We’ll be going though.”

He lent down and got in her face, all lightness gone from his eyes.  Nobody said no to J.  “No, you won’t be, sweetheart.”

Shock flashed across her face.  Serena wasn’t used to men like J; men that said no to her.  And she certainly wasn’t used to being spoken to in a menacing tone like the one J had just taken with her.  She quickly looked to me for backup.

“J, I think we will be okay going shopping.  I highly doubt that Nix will be out looking for us in a shopping mall,” I tried to reason with him.

He turned his head in my direction.  Oh, shit.  The look flashing in his eyes was not one I wanted to mess with.  “Did you not fucking take in what I told you about Nix last night?  Do you need to see those photos again or perhaps I should show them to Serena so she can fully appreciate what we’re dealing with here,” he fumed, reaching for his phone.

I held up my hand.  “Stop!  No, we don’t need to see those photos.  We won’t go shopping.”  I gave in, but I wasn’t happy about it.

He appeared like he was going to say something but then he changed his mind and nodded once before turning and stalking out of the room.

“What the fuck, Madison?” Serena rounded on me.  Now I had her mad at me; I couldn’t win.

I held up both my palms to silence her.  “Not now, honey!”  I paused for a moment to think, but nothing came.  “Fuck it, I need a smoke!” I decided, and left in search of one.

Five minutes later, I was outside, smoke in one hand, phone in the other.  I needed Blake.

He answered on the first ring.  “How’s it going over there, baby girl?”

“Well, J’s telling us what we can and can’t do, Serena’s mad at both of us, and I’m hiding outside having a smoke.  What does that tell you?”

“Do you want me to come over?” he asked.

This was why Blake was a superstar in my eyes.  He was busy running his restaurant, but willing to drop everything for me.  “No, don’t do that.  I just needed to hear your voice; it always makes me feel better.”

“Have you decided what you’re going to do?”

I sighed, and blew out a long breath of cigarette smoke.  “I don’t want to go back, but I probably will just so I can make sure Crystal, my friend’s daughter, is okay.”

“Yeah, I get that.  I would do the same thing.”

There was a loud bang inside the house.  “Shit, Blake, I’ve got to go.  I’ll call you later, okay?”  I said, putting my smoke out and getting ready to go and see what that noise was.

“Yeah, babe.  Later,” he said, and hung up.

Heading back inside, I yelled out, “What happened?”

I found them both in the laundry.  Turned out the noise I had heard was the dryer falling off the wall.  “Bloody hell, how did that happen?” I asked.

Serena looked sheepish.  “I may have slammed the dryer door really hard, and as a result, the dryer may have fallen down.”

J was inspecting the wall.  God, I hoped he could fix this because our landlord would not be happy.  He looked up at me.  “I can fix this.  But it’ll mean a trip for all of us to the hardware store.”