This Obsession of Mine (Raine Series #5) (3 page)

Joey

I walked into the diner and glanced around for my angry big brother, and as soon as I spotted him I regretted even coming here in the first place. I slowly made my way over to the far booth that he was sittin’ in, grabbin’ a menu on my way. When I slid into the seat across from him I could feel the anger and disappointment radiatin’ off of him. This was bound to be an
awesome
talk.

“Hey, how’s it goin’?” I was tryin’ to be nice to him, but I was findin’ it hard.

“It’s goin’.” He grumbled.

“I’m surprised you didn’t bring the whole dream team to gang up on me.” I laughed, but Glenn wasn’t findin’ me amusing at this particular time. “Geez man, lighten up.”

“How am I supposed to lighten up when you ran out and got married to the first girl who said yes.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? You think I would just marry anybody who would say yes?”

“Let’s see, I’m pretty sure that you were still in love with Kayla not too long ago, and despite the fact that you sleep with everything that walks, yeah I guess I am sayin’ that.”

Now I was just gettin’ pissed. I leaned forward, pointin’ my finger straight at Glenn, “You sound a little bit jealous there, buddy boy. Are you sure
you
aren’t just mad because I married her even though she is
your
ex?” I sat back in my glory knowin’ that I had just struck a nerve with him.

“That’s rich, you big baby. No, I’m not jealous that you married my ex, who is still in love with me by the way, so good goin’ on that. Like I said, you were still in love with Kayla last time I checked.”

“I’m not in love with her, trust me. And she’s married to Madison, I mean…really? You can’t be
that
stupid.”

“Jo, just tell me why y’all got married, because I know it’s not because you two are madly in love with one another. I know Tanya, and I know what her
in love
looks like, and she was lookin’ at me in that way, more than she was lookin’ at you, her husband, in that way. So what’s the deal?”

“No deal, big brother. I told you, we are in love.”

Glenn slammed his fists down on the table makin’ the salt and pepper spill all over the table, and that’s when I knew I had to tell him. “Look, I want to tell you, I really do, but I can’t.” I could tell he was still pissed and wanted more info, but there was only so much I could tell him without incriminatin’ Tanya or myself. “All I
can
say, is that we have to play the happy couple.”

“Jesus, Jo. What did you get yourself into? Do you need help?”

Glenn was finally calm, and I was thankful that I finally had my normal brother back to kind of talk to. Even though I couldn’t tell him everything, I knew that I could tell him bits and pieces and he wouldn’t tell anyone. Well at least I was goin’ to have to make him promise not to. If any of this ever got out, Tanya and I would both seein’ the inside of a jail cell.

“I don’t need help, but I do need you to promise me that you won’t repeat any of this to anyone. I’m serious, not even Cami.”

“Must be serious if I can’t even tell her. But okay, I promise.”

“So, a while back somethin’ happened, somethin’ bad, somethin’ I can’t say. Anyway, I
had
to marry her. Trust me, I didn’t want to, but I had to. Honestly, I’m in love with someone else, but obviously I can’t be with her because of all of this crap, but yeah. That’s all I got. Oh, and she sure has somethin’ planned for you, so I’d watch out.”

“Jo, what the hell? And who is the girl that you
are
in love with? It’s not Kayla is it? Because you just said so yourself that-“

I quickly interrupted him, “No, it’s not Kayla. Her name is Diem. She’s from London.”

Glenn practically choked on his coffee as his head snapped up in horror. “When the hell did you meet someone in London?”

“You know that senior trip my class took right before graduation? Well, that’s when I met her. We spent almost the entire time together. It sounds cheezy, but when I left, it was like a part of me stayed there with her, and now she’s here and I don’t know what to do. I’ve got crazy ass Tanya on the one hand, who I’m married to, and then I have this amazing girl on the other hand who flew all the way to Texas against her family’s wishes, and there’s not a single thing I can do about it.”

“Wait a second, she’s here? When did she get here?”

“A little bit ago.” I lied.

“Does she know, about Tanya?”

“Yeah, she knows, and the shitty thing is…she’s willin’ to wait for my dumbass.”

“WOW! She must really like you, Jo.”

“Yeah, how dumb is she?” I huffed. “Glenn, I don’t know what to do. I can’t ask a girl like her to wait around while I play house with Tanya. It’s not fair to either of us.”

“Holy shit, Jo. I’ve never heard you talk about a girl like this. She must be somethin’ special.”

“She is.” I muttered into my coffee.

“Jo, why don’t you tell me
everything
, then I can help you. There has to be somethin’ we can do.”

I knew Glenn was genuinely concerned about me, but I wasn’t sure if tellin’ him everything was such a good idea, that’s just one more person involved that shouldn’t be. And with all the crap him and Cami have been goin’ through over the last year, it didn’t really seem fair to get him caught up in all of this crap.

“I can handle it, Jo.”

“I know
you
can handle it, but it’s Cami I’m worried about. Y’all have enough to worry about.” I continued to sip on my cup of coffee as Glenn sat there starin’ at me with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“I wanna meet her.”

I looked up at him in shock, “Who?”

“The girl that you’re in love with. If I can see that she loves you and you love her as much as you say y’all do, then I’ll help you, no questions asked. But if for one second I believe it’s all just puppy love, and crap, then I’ll leave you be, and you can figure this whole ordeal out on your own. And don’t worry about Cami.”

I shook my head in disbelief, “Are you serious right now?”

“As a heart attack. So call your girl and let’s go see her.”

I pulled my cell phone from the front of my jeans, and quickly dialed her number. As it continued to ring, I was startin’ to lose faith in what we had. Maybe she had enough, and already headed back home. I was about to hang up when her angelic, accent filled voice answered.

“Hi, love. I was just wondering if I was going to hear from you.”

“Good morning, sweetheart. Hey, so are you able to come down and meet me and my brother at the diner up the street from your hotel?”

“I believe I could manage that. I’ll be there shortly.”

“Okay, see you soon.” I hung up and looked up at my brother who was grinnin’ from ear to ear. “She’ll be here shortly.”

“Man, I never thought I’d see the day where my little player of a brother finally found someone who he wanted to keep for longer than a weekend.”

“Ha ha, you’re funny. Please don’t get on her too much. She hasn’t met anyone, and I’d like to keep it that way for as long as I can.”

“Fine, fine.” Glenn held his hands up in mock surrender.

About twenty minutes later, my gorgeous Brit came walkin’ through the diner door. When the bell chimed to alert the workers that someone had just came in, I turned slowly in her direction, completely caught of guard by her beauty. She had long, gorgeous blonde tendrils that hung just below her bra strap, and her electric blue eyes made my breath hitch in my throat every time I saw her. I stood and met her at the door with a huge hug and a peck to her cheek. I didn’t need the town spreadin’ gossip around and it gettin’ back to Tanya. I led her back to the booth where Glenn was now standin’, waitin’ for us.

“Diem, this is my brother Glenn. Glenn, this is Diem.”

Glenn held out his hand to shake hers, “It’s a pleasure to meet ya.”

“You as well, Glenn. I’ve heard loads about you.”

“Sit down, sweetheart. You want anythin’ to eat or drink?” She simply shook her head, and scooted into the booth, then I took a seat next to her, my arm instantly going around her neck and pullin’ her close to my side.

“So, you like our Joey, do ya?”

“Indeed. He is quite a catch, this guy here.” Diem poked my side and I couldn’t help but smile at how playful she was. “Well I know he thinks very highly of you. You seem like a fantastic brother.” I could tell by the look on Glenn’s face that she was already winnin’ him over. Maybe it was the British accent.

“That’s nice to hear. So how long are you stayin’ in the states?”

Here we go.

“Not quite sure yet. I guess that all depends on how things play out here, but I’m hoping for quite a while.” She smiled up at me, and my heart began to melt.

“So Jo tells me that you know all about his predicament. And you’re okay with that?”

“I mean, I found it hard to believe at first, but now that I know more, I know he’s just doing what he feels is right.”

“Glenn, stop with the interrogation, please.”

“It’s okay, love. I don’t mind answering questions. I know it seems rather fast, but I do love Joey, very much in fact. I’ve never met someone quite like him. He’s the most kind and gentle man I’ve ever known.”

Glenn let out a small laugh, “Are you sure we’re talkin’ about the same guy?” Diem looked at Glenn questionably, “No, I’m just playin’. Jo is one of the good guys, that’s the truth. Well, I’m gonna take off, I have some stuff to take care of before I head home. Jo, can you walk me out real quick?”

I nodded, and placed a chaste kiss to Diem’s cheek as I excused myself.

“It was a pleasure to meet you Glenn. I do hope we get to know each other better at a later date.”

“Absolutely, Diem. The pleasure was all mine. We’ll see ya soon.”

As we made our way out to the sidewalk, Glenn quickly turned to face me. “Okay, Jo. I’ll help you. A girl like that deserves all of you, not just the part that Tanya is willin’ to let go of. Let’s fix what we need to fix.”

“Thanks, bro.” I pulled Glenn into a quick hug. “Meet me out by the tree by Madison’s house, and I’ll catch ya up on everythin’. Say about, nine tonight?”

“I’ll see ya then, little brother. She’s a keeper.” He shouted as he started to walk towards his truck.

“Don’t I know it.” I shouted back before headin’ back inside. Unfortunately, when I got back to the booth, Diem was gone.

I walked over to the waitress to see if she saw where she may have disappeared to, but she said that she didn’t notice her leavin’. I searched the entire diner, but came up empty handed, that is, until I sat back down in the booth. There on a small white table napkin, in the most perfect handwriting, sat a note:

Sorry to leave you, love, but she was watching and I didn’t want to interfere with anything. Call me later.

Love,

D

I quickly crumbled up the note, and shoved it into my pocket while pullin’ out enough money to pay the bill. I threw the money down on the table, and started makin’ my way out to my truck. I looked before crossin’ the street and was completely shocked when I saw Tanya leanin’ against my truck door. Looks like tryin’ to get out of this whole marriage thing was gonna prove to be harder than I anticipated.

Diem

I wish I could’ve stayed with Joey, but it was just proving to be loads harder than I ever expected. I waited all day in my hotel, but the only person who came to see me was his
lovely
wife. We had a bit of a kerfuffle, and she out right told me that if I didn’t leave that instant that she would make me. I’m not one to talk bad about another girl, but she was a bit of a wanker, and I tried to stand my ground, but in the end it was all too much to take. Her threats were real, and I could tell that she would stop at nothing to have him all for herself.

Once again I was gutted to have to say goodbye to him, so I opted to just leave a note at the front desk. I wanted to stay and fight for him, but I knew that there was a serious situation to take into consideration, so this was all I had to give at the moment. I could only hope that he found this note to explain my hesitation to stay. I had tears in my eyes as I handed the envelope that contained my emotional goodbye over to the guy working. I apologized, and ran out to my taxi.

As soon as I walked through the door of my flat, I lost it. My father tried calling me at least a billion times, but I was so exhausted from crying that I couldn’t muster up the energy to call him back. This lasted for about a week before my father finally came knocking. As soon as I pried myself off of my bed and answered the door, he came rushing to my side. Once again I felt like a child who needed their daddy to take care of them and fix all their problems. I was better than this.

“Diem, love, I’ve never seen you like this before. What happened?” I could tell my father was genuinely concerned, but I wasn’t ready to talk about it just yet. So I just shook my head. “Honey, everything is going to be all right. I promise. I brought a bit of good news to you.” He reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket as I wiped my tears from my cheeks.

“What is it?” I blubbered.

“Just open it,” he smiled as he pushed the envelope towards my hand.

When I saw the logo on the envelope, I practically lit up. “Are you serious?” I laughed. I ripped through the envelope with glee, and stood there staring at the letter in my hand. “I got in.” I mumbled.

“What? Are you serious?”

I started nodding my head, “Yes, I made it into the University of San Francisco. I can’t believe it.”

My father came barreling at me around my kitchen counter, swooping me up into a giant bear hug and swinging me around. “Oh my baby girl, I’m so proud of you. See, I knew you could do it.”

I was deliriously happy, but it all came to a screeching halt when the only person I wanted to celebrate with besides my father, was the one person that I couldn’t call. This was crap. I just couldn’t fathom how I was going to move to the states, and not even be able to be with the one person I absolutely couldn’t see spending the rest of my life without. That’s when the tears started running down my face again. I buried my face into my father’s jacket, letting all my emotions go.

“You’ll get over him, honey. This will be the perfect opportunity for you to move on, and focus on your brilliant self. Do you hear me?” I shook my head into his hands that were holding my face, but I just couldn’t believe what he was telling me. He just had no idea. “Okay, I’m going to go now. Are you going to be okay?”

“I think so.” I lied.

“Don’t forget about dinner tonight.”

In all of the self-loathing and heartache, I had completely forgot about the date. “I’ll start getting ready, Daddy. I’ll see you in just a bit.”

“I’ll get the flowers?” I nodded in agreement as I walked my father to the door. “Love you.” He placed a chaste kiss to my forehead, and I suddenly remembered just how hard life can really be.

As I stood in the loo, getting ready for dinner, I couldn’t help but think of her. It felt like a million years ago, the last time I saw her, but in all actuality it had only been four years. I remember my mum’s beauty more than anything. She was absolutely gorgeous. My father had come over to London on a business trip, and ran into her at a local café. My mum used to tell me the story every night before bed, and I loved hearing about a love like theirs.

She would recollect how nervous he was, and that he practically spilled a glass of wine on her white shirt while trying to wave the waiter down to get her a glass. She told me she took a shine to him from that moment, and she knew her life would never be the same after that. Until I was born, that is. She adored my father, and I had never witnessed another couple so in love and romantic. It was as though I was watching one of those sappy romance movies. Looking back I wish I would have taken note of how to be the perfect…well…everything.

My mum was my world, even more so than my father, and I never expected to lose her so early in my life. I was only a month into holiday when it happened, and I was completely devastated that I wasn’t even sure if I would make it to my last year of school. She just didn’t wake up one morning, and some how my father and me were supposed to be okay with that. If it weren’t for me, he never would have made it. It took me quite some time to even cope with what had happened, but my father needed me, and I was determined to make him whole again. Once he was put back together, then I put myself back together.

Now here we are, four years later, at our favorite restaurant, eating her favorite dish. It was bittersweet, and as much as I miss her, I know she would want what is best for me. “Daddy, I’m wondering if I should stay here…with you.”

“Oh honey, you can’t do that. Your mother is turning in her grave as you speak. She would kill me.” He laughed as he took a bite of his pasta Bolognese.

“It’s not funny, Daddy. I’m serious. I don’t want you to be alone.” I reached for his hand, and he pulled mine to his lips.

“My baby girl, always so worried about her dear old dad. I will be fine. I’m good now, and you need to go and be a young woman and experience the world…without your dad.”

I pulled my hand back from him with a frown on my face. “I don’t know how to live without you.” I muttered under my breath.

“Oh my dear girl, of course you do. You’ve been doing it your entire life.” He laughed. “In fact, you lived without me, and even brought me back to life. You are far more capable than what you give yourself credit for. For crying out loud, you just tried to move to Texas without me. You are going, and that is that.”

I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to tell him that I just couldn’t bring myself to go all the way back to the States knowing that the only person I have ever loved was within my reach. But I couldn’t, and I didn’t. Instead, I sat there and smiled as we made plans to have him fly out with me, to see where I would be living of course, and all the things we would do together before he headed back home. He just looked so damn happy, I couldn’t help but smile along with him and agree to it all.

A few short days later and I was all packed and ready to go. I stood in the entryway of my flat, already missing all the amazing memories that I had made in this place over the last, and shortest year of my life. I took in a deep breath, and clutched my rollaway in my hand as I turned and walked out the front door for the last time…at least for a while. I gave my father a quick wave hello just before turning and locking up. When I turned back around he was already at my side taking my baggage from me.

“How is my baby girl doing today? All set to go?”

I smiled and nodded as we walked down the short walkway from my door, and out the small black wrought iron gate. From this moment forward, nothing in my life would be the same. But I was pretty sure that I was okay with that. Over the last month I had actually had some time to get used to the idea of moving, and I just knew it was going to be the best thing for me. This English gal was about to become a California girl, and I couldn’t wait.

~~~

Twelve hours later we were landing in my new home state. I glanced over at my father as we were coming in for our landing, but he was still sound asleep. The eight hour difference in time was definitely going to throw us for a loop. I gently shook his shoulder as the plane began taxiing into its slot for us to deplane, but he wasn’t waking. I shook him a little bit harder, and he finally awoke with a startle.

“Sorry Daddy, I didn’t mean to scare you. We’re here.” I smiled.

“Did I sleep the entire flight?” He yawned as he stretched his long legs out into the aisle of first class. Daddy always flew first class.

“Most of it, yeah. That’s okay though, it gave me time to read through the school booklet.”

“My little nerd, please don’t ever change.”

I smiled as the loud annoying binging noise come over the intercom to let us know that we could now stand up. The best part about flying first class was that I was able to get off the plane faster than anyone else. I was beyond claustrophobic, and as soon as people began moving about to gather their belongings, I practically have a panic attack at the closeness of all of them. My father patted me on the back as I made my way down the metal staircase outside of the plane. I took in a deep breath as I slipped my sunglasses onto my face, stopping long enough to look at the beautiful sights before me.

I had never been to California. Sure I had seen pictures and movies that were filmed here, but none of that did this place justice. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The buildings, bridges, the ocean…everything. The ocean was completely different from the one we see in Europe. It was fascinating.

“What do you think?” My father’s voice caught me off guard as I began moving my feet again.

“It’s gorgeous.”

“Come on, let’s get our bags. I have a surprise for you.”

“Daddy, you shouldn’t have. You’ve already done enough, between paying for school and the flight, you don’t need to do anything more.”

“I know I don’t
have
to, I
wanted
to.” He draped his arm across my shoulders as we walked through the airport to grab our baggage.

We flagged down a taxi, and off we went. I wasn’t quite sure where exactly we were headed, but I knew it was most likely one of the most fancy hotels around if my father had anything to say about it. So when we pulled up in front of a gorgeous Victorian house, I was baffled. I glanced out the window in confusion, but when I glanced over at my father, he was already exiting the taxi. I followed suit, not sure if he had rented this place for the week he was going to be here.

“Daddy, where are we?” I implored.

He held out his hand that was clutching onto a shiny silver keychain, “Welcome home.”

My mouth fell open in shock, “You’re joking me?” I laughed.

“Nope. This is all yours.”

I jumped into my father’s arms, and held onto him tightly. “You’re amazing.”

“Well, let’s go inside.”

I clutched my father’s hand in mine, and made my way up the steps to my new American home. It was utterly perfect, and all mine, and I couldn’t have been happier in this moment…unless I had my mother on the other side of me.