Page 9 of Love Unbound
“Come on, now. Is that any way to talk to your husband?”
Chapter 6
Jodi crossed her arms over her chest, blocking the doorway as best she could. “You mean ex-husband, Joshua.”
Leaning his shoulder against the door jamb nonchalantly, he shrugged arrogantly. “Schematics.”
Refusing to let him bait her, Jodi stared stonily ahead. “It’s not schematics, Josh. The divorce was finalized three months ago.”
Straightening to his full height of six-foot, Josh’s hazel eyes narrowed on her face, making fear tighten her throat. His dark blonde hair was cut short, and several days of growth shadowed the lower portion of his face. Jodi had once found Joshua Murphy incredibly handsome, but dread and loathing had taken its place long ago.
“You look nice,” Josh muttered, ignoring her statement. Making a point to rake his gaze from her bare feet to the top of her head, Jodi shivered with revulsion. “Apparently I’m not the only one who noticed this morning.”
Jodi shifted her weight nervously, wishing she wasn’t still wearing the short jean skirt and white tank top she’d worn to the market earlier. She should have known Josh would have heard about Free and her talking this morning. He had a network of people who were loyal to him and kept him abreast of her comings and goings.
“Don’t your friends have anything better to do than to report to you what I’m doing? Would they like to see my grocery receipt so they can tell you what I bought?” Jodi asked acerbically.
Josh smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes, which Jodi knew meant his temper was simmering just below the surface. She swallowed hard. She despised how much he could still intimidate her with such little effort.
“I could care less what bullshit you bought for your stupid bookstore this week, Jodi,” he murmured quietly.
“If you don’t care about mystupid bookstore, how about you let me buy you out of it?” Jodi asked sweetly, though the false sweetness didn’t reach her eyes.
Josh smirked and tilted his head to one side slightly. “Nah, I like to be able to come and go as I please.” He stretched his arms out to brace his hands on either side of the door frame and leaned forward ever so slightly, knowing full well it would cause her to take an instinctive step back. “What I don’t like, is finding out my wife—”
“Ex-wife,” Jodi reminded again, but he shushed her quickly, making her bristle with anger.
“—finding out my wifeis entertaining another man, while in a public parking lot,” Josh finished, his voice lowering menacingly. He brought one hand down from the door jamb and Jodi flinched unconsciously. Seeing her reaction, one corner of his mouth tilted up in a twisted smirk. Oh, how she hated him! “You can imagine what people are saying, Jodi.”
“You have a girlfriend, Josh, you’vehada girlfriend, for almost a year. And seeing as we are no longer married, I don’t really give a damn what people are saying about it,” Jodi snapped, bracing one hand on the edge of the storm door. “I wasn’tentertaininganyone. I was talking to an old friend… not that it’s any of your business who I talk to, anyway. Especially since you didn’t give a shit about being unfaithfulduringour marriage. You have no room to talk to me about discretion.”
Before Josh could make a rebuttal, they both heard a car coming down the driveway, and a moment later Jodi recognizedher sister’s Chevy Silverado as she parked beside Jodi’s Jeep. Josh coughed a snide laugh as he straightened, stepping away from the door as Shauntelle Kendall climbed out of her truck.
“The fu—”
“I’m leaving,” Josh snapped loudly in annoyance, cutting Shauntelle off before she could finish the expletive. Quietly, for only her ears, he muttered, “We’re not finished with this conversation, Jodi.”
“Yes, we are,” Jodi hissed as Shaun crossed the driveway. “Please leave my home.”
Josh narrowed his eyes on Jodi before turning and walking toward the steps, passing Shauntelle as she bounded up them. Smiling sweetly at Josh as she passed him, Shaun flipped him off with both middle fingers for good measure. Jodi grinned with perverse pleasure as Josh’s lips tightened in anger at Shaun as he headed down the steps. As Shaun reached the front door, she put an arm around Jodi’s shoulders, and they both turned to watch as Josh climbed into the sleek black Lincoln and drove back down the driveway.
Jodi breathed a sigh of relief when Josh’s car disappeared around the corner of her driveway. Shaun squeezed Jodi’s shoulders and said candidly, “I hate that douche bag.”
Jodi laughed gustily at her sister’s frankness. “I know.”
The two retreated into the house, walking together into the kitchen. Jodi and Shaun were almost identical in likeness. Both had long, curly brunette hair and sapphire blue eyes. The main difference was their height; Jodi was petite, and had been five foot two since she was twelve, whereas Shaun had kept growing; now standing just shy of six feet tall and had an hourglass figure that Jodi envied. Their personalities were polar opposites, though. Where Jodi was soft, quiet, and reserved, Shaun was loud, brash, and stubborn as a mule.
Today, she wore a pair of cutoff camouflage shorts thatshowed off her long, tanned legs, and a simple black t-shirt that hugged her curves. Slip on Chuck Taylor All-stars that had seen better days adorned her feet. Shaun’s curls fell in haphazard riots down to the lower part of her back.
“Do I dare ask whatLa Douchewas doing here before noon? I’m surprised he’s not home hung-over as hell,” Shaun mumbled, her tone unapologetically snarky.
Jodi shook her head and chuckled. Her sister had her ex-husband pegged to a T. One of the many reasons she had requested the divorce after only ten months of marriage was his alcoholism. The domestic violence charges were another. The infidelity had just made the whole thing humiliating. “Just being his usual dickhead self.”
Shaun made a noise in the back of her throat and crossed to the cupboard, picking up a coffee mug. Jodi held out the coffee pot and filled the mug to the brim. Shaun liked her coffee bitter and black. Jodi made a face and Shaun smiled as she took a long drink. Hopping up onto the counter, Shaun tucked her legs under her crisscross and watched Jodi as she moved around the kitchen. She sat studying her cuticles intently, and with feigned disinterest, “So… did you hear that Free is back in town?”
Jodi rolled her eyes. “Is that why you came over so early?”
Shaun shrugged and one corner of her mouth tilted with a telling smirk. “Maybe. So? Did you know he’s home or not?”
