“I might bring you shopping more often, baby,” I winked at him and got dressed.

Grabbing the dress I wanted to buy, J opened the door and we headed out to the sales counter to make our purchase.  It was a busy Saturday morning in the shop, and from the looks we were getting, I was pretty sure everyone had heard us screwing.  I just grinned at them, not giving a shit what anyone thought.  The sales assistant was fawning all over J as he paid for my dress.  He hadn’t let me pay for anything today, and after arguing with him for the first two hours, I had given up now and just let him pay.  Honestly, sometimes it was just easier not to argue with the man.

J finished up the transaction while I did my best to ignore the flirting that the sales assistant was doing.  It really pissed me off though, because she could see we were together, that he was buying me a dress and had most likely heard us having sex.  So, why the fuck did she think it was okay to openly flirt with him in front of me?

I checked her name badge.  Kate.  Yeah, that figured.  The only Kate’s I knew were sluts, and this one wasn’t any different.

“Fucking bitch,” I grumbled under my breath, and J stopped what he was doing to turn and look at me.

He obviously hadn’t heard what I said because he lent down and whispered in my ear, “What did you say, baby?”

As he pulled away to wait for my answer, I muttered, louder this time, “I said, fucking bitch.”

He grinned at me, realising what I was getting at, and came back towards me, capturing my mouth in a passionate kiss.  When he was finished, he said, “God, I love you.”

I grinned back at him, “I love you too.”  And then I took in Kate’s face.  I noted the displeasure written across it.  Yeah, take that bitch!

J convinced me to go on a bike ride with him that afternoon.  I figured it was only fair, after he spent all morning shopping with me.  Being on the back of his bike was something I enjoyed anyway, and it was a beautiful sunny day so I enjoyed the afternoon with him.  We rode for about three hours, heading out along the coastline.  He bought us burgers and chips for lunch, and we sat on the beach and ate.  I loved this quiet time with J, away from everyone else.  Being back together meant that we had to figure each other out again.  We had picked up almost like we had never been apart; we knew each other so well that it had been easy to do.  However, as much as we knew each other, we had been apart for over two years and had both grown and changed a little, so I craved some time with him to discover these things about each other.

We arrived back home around five o’clock.  Storm clouds had rolled in, and the wind had picked up.  Our plans for the night had been to go out for dinner and a movie, but with this change in the weather we decided to order in and watch a movie at home.  J had some calls to return before dinner so I jumped in the shower while he did that.

As I walked into the living room after my shower, I realised we had company.  Scott was sitting with J on the couch, their heads together while they talked quietly.  They stopped talking when they realised I had entered the room.

“Babe, I need to go out for awhile.  There’s been some trouble at Indigo that we need to sort out,” J said.

Indigo was one of the strip clubs that Storm owned, so I could only imagine the kind of trouble they had to go and sort out.  I sighed.  “Okay,” I agreed, disappointed that our evening had been wrecked.

They both stood and Scott headed outside, answering his ringing phone as he went.  J came to me, and held my face with both his hands.  He looked genuinely sorry, so I decided to cut him some slack.  “I’m sorry.  I’ll try and hurry things along so I can get back here soon,” he promised, as he laid a quick kiss on my forehead.

And then he was gone.  And I was alone on a Saturday night.

Chapter 21

Madison

J and I settled into a routine over the next couple of months.  He dropped me off at work and picked me up when I was finished each day, while he took care of Storm business.  Some days we also managed to get lunch together.  Our nights were filled with time together, rebuilding our relationship.  Some nights he got called out for club business, but thankfully, those nights weren’t too often.

It was the weekends that I lived for.  J was around for most of them, and along with spending time with our family and friends, we devoted a lot of time to just the two of us.  When he said he would do the work to make our relationship work, he had been telling the truth, and I was the happiest I had ever been.

I was also trying hard to be a better girlfriend.  This was hard sometimes, because J still refused to tell me much about club business.  And it still pissed me off.  Mostly though, I managed to keep my mouth shut and not argue with him about it.  I was still hopeful that over time, he would come around.

Crystal was doing okay.  J and I spent a lot of time with her and Brooke, and I was surprised at how well we were all getting along.  We helped Brooke out, often looking after Crystal so that she could have some time to herself.  I think we were all still in shock that Bec was gone, and navigating our way through the grief tied us all together.

It was a Tuesday afternoon, about two months after I returned to Brisbane, that my bubble burst.  I was at work, at O’s, the little boutique dress shop that I loved coming to every day, when another fucking blast from my past waltzed in and blew shit all over my life.