Chapter Seven
Josh
Josh had just enough time to stop at work and confirm his schedule for the week before returning to campus for class. He stared at the handwritten schedule posted on the breakroom wall and learned that he had been granted the coveted weekend rotation. His mother would have a coronary if she knew that her son was a bartender, that he took orders from others, that he lived on tips and a paycheck that barely covered his expenses.
But he couldn’t care less what Ava Graham thought. Of him. Of his job. That she had finally caught on that he had secretly transferred the money from his bank account into one he had opened in a small chain bank in New Jersey, into an account she had no jurisdiction over, when he was eighteen years old. The night before he and Julia had graduated from high school, Josh had checked his online bank statement and determined that he had secured enough money to get them through their first few years of college. Beyond that they would need to apply for financial aid and get jobs.
His mother had accused him of stealing from her and his father. But Josh didn’t see it as stealing. It wasn’t his fault that his account had expanded with each passing birthday, holiday and monumental event. While most kids would receive a new video game or a baseball glove from their parents on Christmas morning, he would be handed a check made out to Joshua Dylan Graham, one that contained an obscene amount of zeroes. At five years old, he had stared at that rectangular piece of paper and wondered what he was going to do with it. He couldn’t play catch with it. At ten years old, he had stared at his ‘Christmas gift’ and fought the urge not to rip it up into a million pieces. Because he wanted to be holding a baseball glove in his hand, a gift that his mother had picked out just for him, not a piece of paper that only proved how cold and detached she was from her own children. At seventeen years old, he had stared at those zeros and smiled. Because he had finally found a way out.
Josh was back on campus and actually a few minutes early for his next class. As if by instinct, he picked up speed as he passed the advisor suite. He hadn’t heard from a certain professor in two days, but one could not be too careful. Just as he thought he had cleared the last window, he heard his name and halted. Not now. Not fucking now!
“Mr. Graham, I was wondering if I could have a word with you? There is a conflict in your schedule, one that we should remedy as soon as possible.”
Josh turned and stared at the stunning blonde he had fucked countless times. With her chic haircut, expensive suit, and her overall polished appearance, Amanda Brookes was the picture of sophistication. Up until a month ago, they had a very agreeable arrangement. And then the shit had hit the fan. Amanda had wanted more. And that was not possible. He had no choice but to break up with her.
“Dr. Brookes, it’s nice to see you, but I have to go to class.”
“It will only take a minute, Mr. Graham.” Amanda didn’t wait for a response. She opened the glass door and walked to her office, bypassing several occupied offices. Josh debated whether he should just leave well enough alone and head to class. But he had the uncomfortable feeling that there would be repercussions if he ignored her.
Amanda closed the door behind him and engaged the lock. Normally, that sound alone could get him hard. He could have her stripped and ready in seconds and no one, not even her colleagues next door, would be the wiser. Experience had told him when he needed to muffle her cries, when to swallow her screams as she climaxed. But this time his cock remained limp and unresponsive.
“Amanda, what do you want?”
Josh watched her eyes travel southbound. She walked over and said, “I need you one last time. I need this inside me.” She reached down and cupped his balls. Josh stepped back, putting distance between himself and the woman who didn’t look like she was willing to take no for an answer.
Josh didn’t want to be an asshole. But he also didn’t want to leave her wondering or hoping that there was a chance they would get together, even for a quickie. “Amanda, we discussed this. I enjoyed the time we spent together, but it’s best we move on.” For a moment he thought she was going to cry, but then her pout turned into a mischievous smile and she stepped toward him once again.
“I can be anything you want. No strings attached.” She trailed her fingers along the buttons of his shirt. “You can do me any way you like.” Amanda stood on her toes and whispered in his ear, “And since I’m on the pill now, you can come inside…until you have nothing left.”
Josh again retreated, but this time he brushed past her and made his way to the door. There was no getting through to her. “Amanda, I’m sorry, but I’ve met someone. This…” he waved his finger between them, “is over.”
He met someone? Where did that come from? It didn’t matter. Hopefully, his lie would get her off his back. Because being honest with her sure as shit hadn’t worked.
“You’ve met someone? You? The man who doesn’t believe in getting attached?” Josh unlocked the door and was halfway out of her office when she told him to go fuck himself.
After class, Josh didn’t waste any time. He didn’t want to take any chances by lingering about and having yet another run-in with Amanda. He practically jogged the few short blocks home to his apartment. Once inside, he secured the deadbolt and grabbed a beer from the fridge. He sat on his loveseat and withdrew his cell phone from his jeans pocket. He had several texts and two voicemails, all from women he suddenly had no interest in. Carina hadn’t contacted him since this afternoon. Josh reread her last text and winced.
Feeling out of sorts, he dialed the one woman who always had a way of keeping him grounded. “Lady Jane, did I wake you?”
The old gal chuckled. “Wake me? I was on my way out the door. Bets is outside honking that god-forsaken horn of hers. It’s bingo night, remember?”
“How could I forget?” Josh smiled. His grandmother was pushing eighty and as spunky as ever. “Well, I won’t keep you. I was just calling to see if you could fit me into your schedule this weekend.”
“Joshua Dylan Graham, don’t tease your grandmother. It’s not polite.”
It was his turn to laugh. “It’s been too long.” He sighed. “I’m sorry I haven’t been out to visit.”
“Hush,” she snapped. “I’ll have none of that. Now, when can I expect you?”
“I’ll leave after my last class on Friday. I can be on the island, barring traffic, by dinnertime.”
“Perfect. I’ll make your favorite.”
“As much as I love and miss your cooking, it’s my turn to treat. Be prepared to hit the town with the best-looking guy in Avalon.”
His grandmother giggled like a schoolgirl. “Ohh, I know just the place. Bets and Harold rave about this classy little Italian joint. I’ve been dying to go.”
“Well, go get all dolled up, because that’s where I’m taking you, Lady Jane.”
“But, my kind sir, whatever should I wear?” she asked in her fake quasi-British accent. Josh laughed once more, but his thoughts went to the first time he had heard his grandmother use that accent to help dull the pain he and Julia had been going through.
He still couldn’t believe that his loving and ever-so-feisty grandmother could have given birth to the cold and calculating woman whom he had the displeasure of calling his mother. With the exception of subtle physical similarities, his grandmother and mother were polar opposites. Jane Preston lived each day as if it was her last. She had never been afraid to tell him and his sister how much she loved them. She had been one of those grandmothers who you used to see on television, a grandmother who baked you cookies and honestly wanted to know how your day at school went.
But Lady Jane didn’t live in fantasyland. She was well versed in the horrors of the world, one being her only daughter, Ava. Josh wanted to believe that his mother had not always been a money-grubbing, evil bitch. He wanted to believe that there was a human in there somewhere, buried underneath that fossilized heart of hers. She couldn’t have always been obsessed with money and power. But when Josh asked his grandmother what his mother had been like as a little girl, his grandmother always had a way of changing the subject.
By the time Josh and Julia had turned seven, they had a vivid picture of what drove their mother, which was her insatiable need for more, always more. She could never have enough clothes and jewelry or trips to the spa. Her hair had always been perfect, her make-up never smudged or overdone. Josh had once told Julia that she reminded him of the museum they had visited on one of their school trips. You could look, but never touch. You could admire, but only from afar. And that was exactly what their equally detached father had seemed to prefer. She was his beautiful, prim, and proper wife…and she looked incredible on his arm when they went to social functions and mingled with the city’s most elite citizens.
His grandmother had swooped in and filled that void, or canyon, that his mother had created. Josh and Julia had thanked God every night before they went to bed that their grandmother was in their lives. Because without her, they wouldn’t have known parental love, that kind of unconditional love that many take for granted. They had spent every summer of their childhood with their grandmother at her shore home in New Jersey, far away from New York and their stone-hearted parents. For two months a year they had known what it was like to be kids, swimming in the ocean, making sand castles and tracking wet sand into Lady Jane’s home.
In her best rendition of British aristocracy, Lady Jane would scold them playfully. Even at seven, Julia and Josh knew what she was doing. Their grandmother was mocking the stiff, pretentious life they had been forced to live. Josh would reciprocate in a British accent, which always made his sister laugh, and address the lady of the house as his Lady Jane. But when September rolled around and the real world came a-knocking once again, he and his sister would return to their home in Manhattan where they would be subjected to the critical eye and belittling attitude of one Ava Graham.
Nothing Josh and Julia did had pleased their mother. She had never acknowledged their near-perfect grades or the facts that Julia was a wonderful pianist and he had set his mind on becoming a doctor. In all his years, he couldn’t remember his mother telling them she loved them, or was proud of them. They just weren’t important enough, not as much as her high-powered friends and the jewels their father showered her with.
Josh had finally run out of patience by the time he had turned fifteen. It was after one of his sister’s many piano concerts that things had come to a head. Julia had just received a standing ovation for her flawless piece. Josh had stood and scanned the crowd, looking for their parents. They had told Julia they would attend, but with each passing minute as the crowd dwindled to the point that only Josh and his grandmother were left in the grand hall, he realized they had stood their daughter up…again.
Josh, Julia and Lady Jane had driven home in silence, only to be greeted by a houseful of people. Ava Graham had poured on the charm in front of her friends. With her wine glass dangling between two fingers, she had approached him and Julia and had given them each a kiss on the cheek. She had apologized to Julia for missing the concert, claiming that the dinner party she was throwing was unavoidable. Josh had had enough.
In front of her friends, in front of all those who viewed her as the perfect hostess, the perfect woman with the perfect life, he had grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to his father’s private office. He couldn’t recall everything he had said to her, though the words ‘selfish, greedy, worthless, sorry excuse for a mother,’ rang a bell. He must have either hit a nerve or she was furious with him for embarrassing her in front of the leeches in the next room, because the conversation ended with one loud, explosive slap to his face.
Josh didn’t flinch or even think to retaliate. He had finally told her what had been on his mind and in his heart for all those years. Before leaving the office, Ava Graham had checked herself in the mirror, ensuring that every hair was in place, that her perfect image was firmly intact. Seconds after her silent departure, his grandmother had entered the office and hugged him for what felt like hours.
“You’ll look beautiful in whatever you choose. I’ll see you Friday, Lady.” Josh ended the conversation and then called the Irish Pub to let them know that they could give his weekend shift to someone else. Although the money would have been nice, he needed to get away. Lady Jane had always come through for him. And he needed her now more than ever.