“I do know what I’m doing!”
“I think what he meant to say was, he thought he knew what he was doing until you did it better!” The blonde quipped.
Josh’s affronted look caused Lux to turn away to hide her grin.
The blonde didn’t offer him the same courtesy. She was more than happy to rub his face in the fact that Lux had handled Matthaeus without his help.
Chapter 24
Accepting the offer of a car, Josh and Lux didn’t wait around for the ramifications of the attempted interrogation. The cleanup was down to Sam and Rachel, or at least that was the name she gave. Keeping his thoughts to himself, Josh was certain nobody would ever hear from Matthaeus again.
Being closer to his house than Jason’s, Josh headed home. Everything was a mess and Lux’s’ continued silence now that she was coming down from their encounter only heighten the tension.
He’d kept too much from his family and her. Keeping Sam’s confidence was over. That he’d done the right thing in the wrong way; was a position he would have to defend.
Deep in thought, Josh returned to awareness by the sound of Lux asking him the inevitable question.
“What is the extent of your involvement with my brother?”
“It’s a long story–”
“I’m not in the mood for clichés, Joshua. All I want and deserve is an honest answer.”
“I know you do, Luxie, but I think we should wait for Sam. This is his story and this time I think you really need to listen to what he has to say.”
“Suppose I don’t want to listen to anything he has to say. Suppose I’m still pissed that while I was going about my business, I was struck on the head, tied up, and abducted. Hmm, Josh, what then?
“You have a right to be angry about all those things. But at some point you have to stop being so Goddamn judgmental. The world in not made up of perfect people and that includes you!”
“I don’t need you telling me what I should and shouldn’t do!”
“Now you just sound like a petulant child. You’re thirty-one years old Luxandria, start acting like it!”
Taking his eyes off the road for a second, he tried to gauge her reaction. Nothing, her expression was blank which told its own story. He wasn’t going to like what she was about to say.
“When we get back to the house, I want my passport so I can go back to being the adult that I know I am. That means, going back to the Caribbean so I don’t have to listen to you telling me how I should behave. It also means that my decision not to have a relationship with a murderer will be mine alone.”
Okay, so he’d pissed her off more than he’d thought, but it was too late to change that. If she was pissed now, she was about to go supernova with what he was about to say.
“You may not have your passport because you’re not going anywhere.”
“We’ll see about that.”
The sound of her laughter grated on his already taut nerves. He felt the same way as her about the ambush. In fact, he was still so angry, it was as though it were a living entity within him.
She was pissed with him and that was her right. However, she was going nowhere. She would fight him, but he was exceptionally good at getting his own way.
As they neared his home, Josh thought it best to attempt to lighten the tension between them.
“Are you done sulking?”
“What’s best at this point; is that you refrain from speaking to me,” Lux responded with such a lack of emotion that he couldn’t help but pay attention to her tone.
For a millisecond, he considered attempting to coax her into a better mood. The thought floated away almost as soon as it came. There was far too much riding on the next few hours to piss her off even more. He was serious about what he’d said, she was here to stay.
It was just after 9:00pm by the time they pulled up to the house and every light was blazing. Once inside they heard the sound of raised voices coming from the family room.
Taking a deep breath, he glanced over at Lux, who still refused to spare him even the briefest of looks. He was sure if she thought she could get away with it, she’d head up the stairs and shut herself away.
Without warning, the family room door was wrenched open. His brothers stood one behind the other in the doorway looking at them as though they were apparitions.
“Yeah, we’re real. Did you miss us?” Josh quipped.
Their surprised expressions soon disappeared, replaced first with looks of relief and then anger.
“Why the hell didn’t you answer your phone?”
“I should kick your ass for worrying my wife!” His brothers barked at the same time.
“Ahh, I missed you too,” Josh replied in his usual flippant manner.
“Not funny, Josh,” Jake warned. “We were worried.”
“You guys worry too much. I can look after myself.”