11. Josephine

11

JOSEPHINE

T he fear in Luca's voice worries me as I try to call him back, only to get his voicemail over and over again.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Jett asks as we sit beside Mojo in the waiting room of the E.R.

"Nothing, kid," I tell him, trying to tamp down the anxiety of not being able to reach Luca. I pull the hair tie off my low ponytail, letting my curls fall over my shoulder to separate the tangles before swaddling them back into the same ponytail.

Jett leans over to Mojo, who's now wearing pain plainly across her face. "Mom's worried about you. She's doing that thing with her hair again."

"She shouldn't be. I told her some aspirin and an ice pack will be fine. It's probably a sprain." Mojo assures me through her words to him.

"Don't believe her, Jett. If she were so okay, she wouldn't have swayed on her feet like she's had too much to drink."

Jett's gorgeous blue eyes dart between us. "Why would drinking too much make her sway on her feet?"

Innocence pours out of him, bringing my hand up to ruffle his curls.

"Monique Shewster?!" A nurse calls out from the desk. We share a smile of hope as we wave her over, but it's not to bring Mojo to a bed. They want her to fill out more paperwork and make copies of her ID.

"I don't want you guys here all night," Mojo says. "Take that nice car and go home."

"Whoa, who's that?" Jett's line of sight is trained on the revolving door as Luca strolls into the hospital like a man on a mission. Exhaustion blends with anxiousness, coating his expression as he turns from side to side, undoubtedly looking for us.

It doesn't take long for him to spot me and walk to us when I notice about six other guys who look ready for a fight. I'm on my feet by the time he's standing in front of me with Jett about a step behind me and Mojo using the arm of the chair to keep pressure off her foot.

"I'm so sorry, Jo. My phone died. Are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt?" He rattles off one question after another. "I should have come with you."

You already did, I think to myself with a grin of remembrance, pushing my smile to my cheeks.

"I'm okay, Luca," I assure him, my eyes scanning his face. I reach up to gingerly touch the side I hit and notice some fresh damage. My eyes glance down to his hands which are cut from an obvious fight.

"Ma Mojo was walking weird and Mom said we had to bring her here in case she has a concussion. She could have CTE like Duke the Puke."

Jett's words force Luca to take a deep breath and me to chuckle. Luca steps back to peer down at the most important person in my life standing behind me. Jett side steps me, full of courage, and extends his hand. "I'm Jett Hansen. Nice to meet you. Who are you?"

"I'm Luca Devlin, Jett Hansen. But you can call me Luca."

"You can call me, Jett." He smiles.

Luca speaks calmly but not in a way to baby Jett as he says, "I'm the guy making the movies your mom is going to be in."

Luca shakes Jett's small hand with the corner of his mouth turning up in a smile. Luca's gaze shifts to Mojo, whose eyes are opening and closing slowly from the growing pain. He looks at her dangling foot. The ankle is about the size of an orange. He shakes his head. "How long have you guys been here?"

Jett shrugs and plops down into the seat beside Mojo while I tell Luca. "About two hours, maybe? I thought we'd be able to leave by now. You could take your car back and we could take a taxi home."

Jett interjects. "Aw, Mom, but that car is so cool. Everybody in my class needs to see me tomorrow morning when you drop me off."

"Jett, enough," I admonish him. He pouts and sinks back against the seat with his arms folding across his chest.

"Josephine, I gave you the car to use while I get new tires put on yours. Also, it's getting a tune up, oil change, and new brakes. I'll have the scope of work and receipt sent to your email from the service center."

"Yeah, why is my car at the Ferrari service center? Isn't that a bit overkill for my tiny little hatchback."

Luca hooks a finger under my chin, drawing my gaze into his eyes that are as blue as Jett's, saying, "I told you I'd take care of it. People do things for me when I ask them to. You guys sit tight."

I want him to kiss me and then I don't because so many people can see us. The most important opinion already has stars in his eyes after realizing the cool car belongs to the cool guy named Luca.

Luca returns and so do a few other people. A doctor and nurse move over to Mojo to help her into a wheelchair as they take her away.

"I'm having her moved to the private wing for immediate treatment," Luca says as we follow the group of people taking over Mojo's case. Once she's settled inside the hospital room upstairs from the mayhem of the emergency department, he starts with the questions again. "What happened, Jo?"

"I was having lunch with Monique?—"

"Monique? But Jett called her Ma Mojo." Luca peers at Jett who's giggling from his chair in the hallway beside us.

"Monique's my best friend. We've been inseparable since the day we met. With everyone calling me Jo, it came naturally for people to call her Mojo, a little more Jo since we were practically attached at the hip. With Jett, it started as him saying My Mojo and morphed into Ma Mojo."

"Cute." He nods with a smirk, and glances over his shoulder at the team of people treating Mojo. "How did she get hurt?"

"Don't be mad," Jo begins.

"Any explanation which starts like that is bound to do exactly that. Spit it out, Josephine." Luca demands.

"I was having lunch with Monique when Duke showed up?—"

Jett mimics retching noises. "Duke the Puke strikes again."

I sigh and look at Luca, who's not amused. The corners of his jaw are rigid, clenching his teeth as I tell him what happened near the pier with Duke demanding answers about a car that isn't mine. He balls his fists with every word spoken about the incident that a stranger stepped in to help us resolve. But once he notices Jett paying attention, he unclenches his fists and shoves his hands in his pockets.

A handsome doctor comes out to speak to us. He shakes Luca's hand and there's some familiarity between them, but he introduces himself to me. "I'm Dr. Antonio Calisi. We're going to keep Monique overnight to run scans on her ankle to confirm what's happening. As of right now, it is a sprain, but we found a bump on the back of her head I want to look into and keep her under observation."

"Thank you," I tell the doctor. I pop in for a quick visit with Mojo to make sure she's set before we leave. Luca offers to drive us home, which I gladly accept.

"Is your ex following you?" Luca asks once he pulls up to our house. His eyes watch the street as we get out of the car.

"I don't think so. He's probably upset about this morning." I tell Luca with a look to Jett who's asleep in the back seat. He looks so small. A reminder that as big as his personality may be, he's still a baby in all of this.

"So why is he standing on your doorstep?" Luca snarls.

I turn around. "Jett. Wake up, kiddo. We're home."

Luca bristles, taking a deep breath, and opening the car door to get out. "You two, stay here. I'll get rid of him."

"I can't believe it's you again." Duke growls, walking toward us. "Why won't you leave my family alone?"

"Luca, get back in the car. Let me call the police to get him out of here." I call out to him, but Luca doesn't back down.

Duke is unstable. He doesn't actually care about me or Jett. He wants us miserable, with me desperately clinging onto hope he'll be a better father and human toward us.

"I'm pretty sure signing away the rights to your child announces to the world you no longer consider them family," Luca fires back at Duke.

"I'm trying to save my family. You need to leave and take your stupid car with you," Duke hisses back at Luca.

"This is exhausting," I murmur. Jett's eyes are glued to the interaction unfolding as the sun sets on this absurd day. The sky's a vibrant pink and orange, making me wish I were on a beach somewhere in a bathing suit, enjoying the peace and solitude. Instead, I'm in another standoff with Duke.

"You're not trying to save your family," I tell Duke, my tone low and weary. "You're mad someone else is paying attention to us. You can't have it both ways, Duke. You said you didn't want to be a father to Jett. You said you were leaving for Arizona. Go. I'm not stopping you and I don't care anymore. Jett, let's go inside. I'm sure you have homework and I need to get dinner together."

Luca's eyes are glued to Duke, but Jett getting out of the car has Luca's focus shifting between all of us. Luca walks back toward Jett, but I move to the front door. I don't want to be close to Duke, but I'm ready for this day to end.

"Get out of the way, Duke. Go home. No one wants you here. Hell, you don't even want to be here," I tell him, unlocking the door, but his hand on my shoulder stops me from going inside.

"Now wait a minute, Jo. I was hasty this morning. I didn't know that this guy was footing the bill?—"

I cut Duke off. "You're driving me crazy. Why are you only interested in your family when someone else picks us to be a part of theirs? Leave us alone. I gave you what you wanted and that's still not enough. Now, get your hands off me."

I shrug out of his grasp when Jett walks into the house and Luca approaches with anger radiating from his eyes.

"You really should learn to keep your hands to yourself," Luca growls.

"If I want to do something with this woman who's been nothing but a pain in my ass since she was fifteen, that's my business. There's nothing either of you can do about it because inside that house is my kid," Duke tells us. "As a matter of fact, get Jett back out here. He didn't even speak to me."

"Are you delusional, Duke? Why are you doing this? Let it go. Let us go and let me go," I tell him after realizing he still has his hand on my arm.

"Listen to Jo,” Luca says, his tone lacing a warning through every syllable to Duke. “Let her go and leave." A subtle reminder of this morning's events, but Duke can't get a clue if it was drawn for him by an animated dog.

"I do what I want. JETT! Come on out here, son." Duke grips me by the elbow in an attempt to pull me closer to him. A big mistake as Luca knocks Duke's hand from me.

Duke moves to punch Luca, but Luca ducks, dodging the blow. Luca's movements are swift as he comes around to hit Duke with two quick punches. A pained expression follows shock as Duke takes the brunt of Luca's blows to the gut. He bends at the waist, holding out his hand to get Luca to stop.

Duke growls. "I'm leaving, fucking?—"

"Don't call Josephine anything other than her name, you piece of shit." Luca turns away from me to usher me inside the house, closing the door behind us, and leaving Duke bent over on the porch.

Luca seems huge inside of the same entryway I tried to convince Jett to discard those lucky socks of his. White beadboard walls complement the wide plank, light oak floors which cover the stairs up to the second floor. His blue eyes scan the pictures along the wall as we walk a few feet into the hallway.

"Let me take a look at you," I tell him, grabbing him by the hand to lead him into the kitchen. It's at the back of the house with a door leading to the yard next to the garage which sits at the end of the driveway. "Sit."

"Back to the commands, are we?" Luca asks with a seductive smirk.

"You like it when I tell you what to do."

"I do." He smiles as I put a first aid kit on the small table. The L-shaped countertop holds a few appliances along with the remnants of dirty dishes from Jett and Collin dashing out of here this morning.

Luca takes my face into his hands, lowering his mouth to capture a kiss. Soft and gentle at first, it grows into something aggressive and passionate. His tongue enters my mouth, exciting my pussy with desire for a repeat of our earlier performance.

He pulls away, breaking the kiss at the sound of Jett barreling down the stairs.

"Duke the Puke left." Jett beams with a smile on his face. "What's for dinner? Luca, are you staying? Can you drive me to school tomorrow in your car? Where's Mom's car? Are we getting a new one?"

"Easy there, kiddo." Luca chuckles. "Let's talk about dinner first. How about I order us some pizza, if that's alright with your Mom?"

"Mom, please? I already finished my homework. Can I get pepperoni and pineapple?" Jett's now bouncing with joy at the sound of junk food for dinner.

"Pizza is fine, but I'll pay for it. You've already let me use your car all day," I tell Luca. He nods, but I have a feeling he's only being agreeable because Jett's here.

The sound of the back doorknob turning gets all of our attention and Luca out of his seat, ready to fight. I touch the inside of his arm to hold him back as Collin comes into the kitchen.

My brother's shirtless, sweating, and smeared with dirt.

"Ew, you look like you've been crawling through a sewer," I tell him before stepping aside to let him into the house. "Um, Collin, this is Luca Devlin, Luca this is my brother, Collin. What are you doing here?”

"I told you yesterday I was coming to clean out the garage apartment," he says and turns to Luca, giving him a brief handshake. He and Jett do their signature one before Collin stands still for a moment looking between everyone in the kitchen.

"Are you hungry? We were about to order a pizza," I tell Collin.

He continues to shift his gaze from me to Luca to Jett, and says, "How about I take Jett to grab something to eat?"

"Oo, Mom, can I do that instead?"

"Yeah, sure, be back before eight, Collin. Showered and in bed by nine, Jett," I tell them.

Jett darts out the kitchen as Collin follows, leaving me alone with Luca. My attention goes back to my soon-to-be boss, who's simply grinning.

"We can order food if you're hungry, Luca."

"The only thing I want to eat Jo, is you."