Chapter 31

31

Julie

Life was good.

It had been a week since her and Connor's first fight and a mostly uneventful week. According to him, Sandra had given him a bunch of advice about how to ‘handle' her when he'd gone back to work. Not that he would share any of the supposed advice. She called Sandra, who claimed innocence, then asked her—again—about the size of Connor's dick. Julie hung up on her.

Talking to her parents had been a little more difficult, but not much. She'd very firmly told her mom that she and Connor were still together and that it wasn't her business what they'd been arguing about. Surprisingly, her mom had been full of apologies, seeming to think the argument must have had to do with John. She'd also wanted Connor's phone number so she could apologize directly to him again. Julie had refused but had agreed to get together for dinner.

Connor said it would be okay if she did give her mom his number, but she was going to protect him from that for as long as possible. Was she also a little nervous that they'd be going around her to talk, the way John and her mom had?

Absolutely.

Which she admitted to him. He reassured her that her mom didn't need to have his number until Julie was ready for that to happen, and he would not be trying to go around her to collude with her mom. The fact that she had that worry was also something she'd brought up in therapy that week when she was recounting the events of the weekend. It had been a good appointment, kicking off a whole new round of things to work through.

Things were still a little awkward between her and Law, but they were working on that tonight.

"I'm going to build my second wonder," Law said, sliding his card into place.

When Connor had invited Julie over for game night, she'd thought they'd be playing Monopoly or something. She'd never considered herself a board game person, but she'd been willing because she knew it was something their group of friends did regularly. She wanted to be a part of his life. At the very least, she figured she should do it once, especially while things were still weird with Law, then she could bow out more often in the future.

But Seven Wonders was a lot more complicated than any game she'd played before. She liked it.

"I'm going to get some wood from Connor," Julie said, then snickered, making Law shake his head.

The number of wood jokes going around the table had gotten a bit ridiculous, but the only person who didn't seem to find it hilarious was Law. Which just made it more hilarious.

"Get it, Jules," Iris called out from where she was sitting on the couch. Only seven people could play Seven Wonders, so she'd elected to sit out the game this time since she had some emails she needed to answer.

Snickering again at Law's expression, Julie built the card she'd chosen.

It was impossible to tell who was winning, which she kind of liked. Points wouldn't be added up until the end, and there were so many things to take into consideration. The inability to know where she was in the standing actually helped her enjoyment of just playing the game.

She wasn't the most competitive person she knew… but who liked to lose?

"I need to get some wood from Morgan," Asad said with a lascivious leer at his girlfriend, who laughed at him.

"Oh, really?" Q asked, raising his eyebrows. "Does that mean you're going to try that in more than one way?"

"That's not what he's saying," Law said immediately, though his focus was on the cards on the table. Speaking of competitive… she was pretty sure he was looking at everyone's cards and trying to count up the current points in his head, which was a mind-boggling amount of work. "Stop pressuring him."

Julie's lips twitched. Poor Law. She was definitely rooting for Q to win the bet, though. Whether or not Iris would actually want to try pegging Law, she didn't know, but just having to offer was going to pain him. Then again, if he hadn't been open to it being a possibility, he wouldn't have made the bet.

"Don't knock it till you've tried it," she said mildly. She wasn't sure if Connor had told them that he'd told her about the bet. Law shot her a suspicious look, so she was pretty sure he hadn't. She smiled innocently at him.

"Ah, shit," Iris said in a disgusted voice, making all of them look over at her. There was something more than disgust in her voice, though Julie couldn't pinpoint the exact emotion. It wasn't a good one.

"What's wrong?" Law asked immediately, going from competitive board gamer to protective boyfriend in a heartbeat.

"I got a text from Noelle."

"I thought you blocked her."

"I did, but I just connected my computer and my phone, and it linked my texts, and one came through from her. Maybe the block doesn't work on the computer."

"What's it say?" Sam asked tensely, an unhappy expression on her face.

Julie didn't know what was going on with Sam's other group of friends, which included Noelle, but it seemed like it was a bit of a hot mess. Not helped by the fact that they were all bridesmaids in an upcoming wedding.

"I'm not opening it, so I can only see the preview." Iris was scowling, but she kept her voice even, as though she was trying not to show too much emotion. "Something about how she hopes I'm happy, and she's glad she knows now that she always cared more about me than I did about her."

That was some preview.

Law was already on his feet, game forgotten, holding out his hand to Iris.

"Give it to me. You aren't reading any more of those. I'll get them deleted."

Sighing, Iris handed her laptop over, leaning back against the couch and rubbing her hand over her face.

"Thank you." Dropping her hands down into her lap, she looked over at Sam and Morgan, who both looked uncomfortable. "I promise I did really care about her. I'm not trying to bully her or make people hate her or anything like that. I'm honestly glad she found new friends. I don't want her miserable or anything, I just can't be her friend anymore. I just wish she would leave me alone ."

"She should. I'm really sorry, we keep telling her that… but she's really sensitive. Like, if we're not agreeing with everything she says, then she freaks out." Sam sighed, glancing over at Morgan. "She keeps accusing us of taking your side, and it doesn't matter how many times I've tried to explain that I'm not, it doesn't seem to matter."

"It's not your fault." Iris waved her hand. "Trust me, I know how it is. There was a reason I ended up with very few friends other than her… Shit, that sounds bad. I don't mean to talk badly about her in front of you."

"No, no, you're right." Sam sighed and looked over at Morgan, who shrugged.

"I don't think I'm going to be friends with her after Amy's wedding is over," Morgan said baldly, which was her way. "She tries really hard to be my friend, but it doesn't feel right."

"She's good at putting on a show," Sam agreed. "Honestly, I'm not sure Amy is going to be friends with her after the wedding is over, but I think right now, she feels like she can't kick Noelle out of the bridal party. She always wants to give her another chance. At some point, though, her chances have to run out. She has to accept that someone not wanting to talk to her after a fight is not the same as being bullied. And I have never heard you badmouth her to anyone, ever. I can't say the same about her, although she always does it in a way where she says something shitty, then acts like she either didn't mean it that way or like she's super apologetic, but she's just so hurt, she couldn't help herself." Sam shook her head.

"Well, I have said some things about her, but only to people who aren't also friends with her. I would never complain about her to you guys. That wouldn't be fair."

"That's appreciated," Sam replied. "I wish she would act more like you."

Julie raised her eyebrows. It sounded like things with Noelle were seriously escalating. Then again, Sam wasn't the type to put up with the kind of hypocrisy and drama that Noelle seemed to thrive on, so maybe she shouldn't be surprised.

"There, all done," Law said, handing the laptop back to Iris.

She beamed up at him. "Thanks, honey."

"You're welcome." Leaning down, he gave her a very thorough kiss on the lips. Damn, they were cute together.

Julie was glad they'd found their way to each other. Iris needed the support. Especially after having to deal with Noelle.

The fact she'd wormed her way into the club and into making friends with people, and even getting them on her side against Iris, still made Julie want to go around smacking people upside the head. She could see so clearly how Noelle manipulated everyone around her; it was hard to understand why those being manipulated couldn't see it. Yeah, she was good at playing the victim, but why hadn't people noticed that she was somehow always the victim and that she never took real accountability for her actions?

At least Sam and Morgan had had their eyes opened. It sounded like Amy had, too, though whether she'd do anything about it was up in the air. Connor had called himself a people pleaser, but Amy's people-pleasing ways put him to shame. Julie would love to get her in for an appointment, but it wasn't like she could go recruiting like that.

A hand slid around the back of her chair, Connor's lips coming to her ear.

"You're looking a little murderous," he murmured.

Oops. Julie took a deep breath, rearranging her expression to something less… angry. People like Noelle just ticked her off.

"Sorry. Sometimes, my face has subtitles," she murmured, making him laugh.

Connor's laughter broke some of the tension as everyone turned their attention to them.

"What's so funny?" Asad asked, looking at them suspiciously.

"Nothing." Connor smiled, still chuckling as he looked down at his cards. "Come on, let's get back to playing."

"Fine, be that way."

"I will."

Good grief, it was like playing with children. But it was also fun, so she really couldn't complain too much.

Connor

Board game night was either the best or worst idea he'd ever had. Law had always been the most competitive during board game night in the past, but Julie was giving him a run for his money. On the other hand, their trash-talk banter was a lot better than the awkward tiptoeing around each other that they'd been doing at the beginning of the night. They'd settled into trying to beat each other and had forgotten about being careful with each other's feelings.

He also hadn't known that the Quacks of Quedlinburg could be so competitive. It definitely hadn't been in the past.

"Maybe we should play some cooperative games next time," he suggested as Law scowled while they put the game away. Julie was beaming because she'd won. Or maybe next time, he'd make sure that when they split into two groups to play games that Law and Julie were in different groups.

Because wow.

"Oh, that sounds fun. How does that work?" Julie had taken to board game night like a fish to water. He'd been able to tell that she hadn't been super enthusiastic about it before, then a little dubious when she'd realized she'd never even heard of the games they were playing, but she'd clearly ended up loving it.

"Basically, we all work together, and it's us against the game. Pandemic is a good one to play for that." He grinned when Law made a face.

Law didn't like Pandemic because, as he said, he liked to beat people, not a board. Julie's eyes lit up with interest, though.

"I'd like to try that one," she said with obvious enthusiasm. Connor grinned, feeling incredibly happy that she'd had such a good time tonight.

In the long run, would it have really meant anything bad if she hadn't liked board game night? Of course not. He'd still feel the same way about her that he did. But he felt as though tonight, he'd fallen a little more in love, seeing another side to her.

And he really liked how well she got along with his friends. He'd enjoyed watching her beat Law. Law cared enough about winning that it was rare for someone else to beat him, and it had been fun to watch.

Both Law and Julie's phones alerted simultaneously. Different sounds, but they'd gotten a text message at the exact same time, which was either a colossal coincidence or…

Julie glanced at Law as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and glanced at her screen. She was so much shorter than Connor when she was right next to him, and looking at her phone, he couldn't see her expression, but he could see Law's.

The scowl Law had worn when losing had been real but without any real driving emotion behind it. It had now morphed into something much more intense, with real fury blazing in his eyes as he looked up and over at Julie.

"What is it? What's going on?" Iris asked, jumping up to try to look at Law's phone. Rather than keep her away, he tilted the screen toward her so she could see, and she gasped as Julie told the rest of them.

"The upcoming introduction classes are on hold. Cassidy's ex has been seen around Marquis, and Olivia's tires were slashed today."

"Was it him?" Asad asked, getting automatically to his feet, his fists clenching at his side. The others were upon their feet as well, only a moment behind him, looking just as ready to throw down as he was. "Was it her ex?"

"They can't prove it because there are no cameras where Olivia was parked, but…" Julie's voice trailed off.

Sure, it could have been someone randomly targeting Olivia's car while Cassidy's ex was in the neighborhood. It could have been.

But what were the chances of that?