Chapter 10

Cody

Cody couldn't get Julie out of his mind, and there was no way he was waiting two damn days to see her. He'd already ordered food and left the office by the time he called her. She wasn't going to put him off, he wouldn't let her.

When she answered the phone with sadness in her tone, he knew that he'd made the right decision. Whoever caused his little, smartass to be sad was going to deal with his wrath, he thought. Shit! She wasn't his, not at all.

Cody thought about turning around and going back to the office, but he couldn't do it. He wanted to be there for her. He wanted to be the one to make her happy again. She wouldn't tell him what was wrong. The most she'd given him was that it was a family thing, and Cody couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with her staying at school instead of going home. Either way, she was sad, and he didn't like it, not one bit.

He told her he'd be there in thirty minutes, but that was a lie. There was no way he was giving her time to leave her apartment. She hadn't invited him in that first day, and he hadn't been back since. There was something going on, and he wanted to know what it was. What was she hiding?

When he knocked on the door, he could hear what she was saying from the other side, and he couldn't help but smile. When the door opened and he saw the aggravated look on her face, he burst into laughter.

“This is not funny,” she hissed.

“Oh, it is,” he said, as he took a step forward, waiting for her to step aside.

When she finally did, he walked through her living room and into the kitchen. It wasn't a bad place for two college kids, but both Julie and her sister had graduated. Why hadn't they gotten something bigger, he wondered? Julie was teaching, and her sister was a nurse. Not to mention all of the money their dad made. They could definitely have afforded something bigger. Maybe she wasn't staying, he thought. Was that it? Was she going home in the fall? When a sad feeling moved through him, he quickly shook it from his mind.

“You coming back out?” she asked, as she rounded the bend. “My sister is dying to meet you.”

“Oh, really?” he asked, snapping back to reality.

“Yep,” Julie answered. “She wants to meet the guy that irritates the shit out of me.”

“What a potty mouth,” he said. “We better not keep her waiting then.”

Julie turned around and walked back into the living room, and Cody followed. As soon as he turned the corner, he saw them both and smiled. His mind had been so stuck on Julie that he'd forgotten the two sisters were twins. As he looked between them, he saw their differences. One of which was that Julie's sister was pregnant, and he couldn't believe it. That was one he hadn't heard, and he wasn't sure how he'd missed it. Gavin definitely would have been talking about that around the coding community. He was going to be a grandpa. Wasn't he proud? Then it hit Cody, she hadn't gone home. Did her dad even know? Shit!

“Earth to Cody,” he heard Julie say.

“Oh, sorry,” he said.

“This is my sister, Jessie,” Julie said, with attitude in her tone. “We're twins.”

“You mentioned that before,” Cody said. “It's nice to meet you, Jessie. I hear you're a nurse.”

“She's talked about me?” Jessie asked, with a huge smile on her face.

“Of course,” Cody answered.

“This is Cody,” Julie said.

Jessie reached out to shake Cody's hand, so he took it in his.

“Cody Williams,” he said, and there was no way to miss the way her hand jerked when he said his name.

“You met my sister at school?” Jessie asked, as she pulled her hand away and took a step back.

“I did,” he answered. “I was speaking in one of her classes.”

“Interesting,” Jessie said. “She hadn't mentioned that.”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “She was the only one that took notes on what I'd said.”

“I bet,” Jessie said. “She's very passionate about coding. I'm assuming that was what you were talking about.”

Cody looked over to see a very nervous look on Julie's face.

“It was,” he said, as he turned his attention back to Jessie.

It wasn't a guy at all that had Julie not wanting him to come over. It was Jessie. Julie didn't want him to meet her, but why?

“Well,” Jessie said, as a smile appeared on her face. “It's all boring to me. When that subject comes up, I want to run away as fast as possible.”

“It's kind of a love or hate kind of thing,” Cody replied.

“Yes,” Jessie said. “Julie is the only one that loves it in our family.”

“Are we going to eat or what?” Julie snapped, and both Jessie and Cody's attention turned to her.

What the fuck was that, Cody wondered? Out of everything they'd said, why was that the part that had pissed Julie off?

“I'm just hungry,” she quickly said, trying her best to cover up her tiny freak out.

“I am too,” Jessie said.

“You're always hungry,” Julie said, and Jessie shot her a dirty look.

“If you don't shut your pie hole, I'll eat you too,” Jessie said, as she turned and walked toward the kitchen.

“Will not,” Julie said. “You love me too much.”

“You're right about that,” Jessie said. “You're the second most important person in my life. If anyone ever hurt you, I'd kill them with my bare hands. Let's eat.”

When Cody walked back into the kitchen, he felt Jessie's eyes on him, but he didn't react. He couldn't. Julie hadn't once mentioned her father or their company, and there was no way he wanted Jessie to be the one to do it. If he avoided the subject, everything would be fine. Out of everyone, he knew Julie would know who he was, especially after the talk he gave her class, but there was no way he ever expected her sister to recognize his name. How had she? He knew for a fact that Jessie avoided anything and everything that had to do with Gavin's business. She'd said herself that she ran away at the mention of the word coding. So, how the fuck had she known his name? She definitely did. The second she heard it, he felt tension oozing off of her. If she could have, she probably would have shot daggers at him. What had her acting that way?

Cody looked over at Julie, and there was no missing how nervous she was. She was trying to get the containers of food open, but her hands were shaking so damn bad that she couldn't. In that moment, the only thing he wanted to do was calm her nerves and let her know that everything was okay. He walked around the counter to her, and he put his hand on her lower back.

“I'll get it,” he said, as his other hand reached for the container she'd been fighting with.

She looked up and back at him, and he smiled.

“It's okay,” he said. “I'll get it.”

She dropped her hands, giving him the container of food.

“I'll get plates,” she said.

As Cody opened each of the containers and set them out, he couldn't stop himself from wondering what exactly was going through Julie's head. Why was she so nervous? Why had she been keeping him from meeting her sister? What exactly did she think of him?

Jessie was the first person to grab a plate and fill it. After her, Julie grabbed one and scooped a tiny bit of food onto it. When she turned to walk away, Cody reached out and grabbed her arm.

“Is that all you're going to eat?” he asked.

“I'm not that hungry,” she said.

Cody had no idea why, but he couldn't help the protective feeling that came over him.

“That's bullshit,” he said. “You just said you were hungry, and you need more food than that. Your ass could eat a plate double that size and still have room for dessert.”

“Cody,” she said, barely loud enough for him to hear her.

He grabbed her plate and loaded it with food. Then he handed it back to her.

“I don't know what this is all about,” he growled out in a low tone, as he looked over at Julie's sister and then back at her, “but it's pissing me off.”

Cody heard a phone ring, and he looked over on the table the noise had come from to see Julie's phone sitting there.

“You want to get that?” he asked.

“Nope,” she said, as she turned and walked away with her plate.

She sat down on the couch next to her sister, and once his plate was full, Cody sat down on the chair next to the couch.

“So, what had you out of sorts earlier?” he asked, knowing damn well Julie wouldn't want him to ask it in front of Jessie. “You said it's a family thing. I can't imagine it's Jessie.”

“Family thing?” Jessie asked.

Cody watched Julie's body stiffen, and he didn't like it. He hadn't meant for that to happen.

“So, you're having a baby,” Cody said, as he turned his attention to Jessie. “I bet you and your man are happy.”

“Oh, it was,” Julie quickly began, but Jessie cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

“He's no longer here,” Jessie said, “but it'll be okay. I've got my sister.”

Jessie smiled a big smile, but Cody could see something very different in her eyes. It wasn't happiness, and it wasn't anger either. It was hurt. He looked over at Julie, but she didn't seem to notice. She had a smile on her face as well, and it was about as genuine as her sister's.

Before any of them could speak again, a phone rang, but it was a different ringtone and came from over by Jessie. She quickly looked down at the screen and then over at Julie. When she didn't answer it, Cody was more confused than ever. They were both blowing off calls. A few seconds later, Jessie's phone made a ding noise. She looked down at the screen. As she looked up from it and back to her sister, her eyes widened and they were filled with concern.

“I'll be back in a minute,” Julie said, as she quickly set her plate down, got to her feet, and took off down the hall.

It took all Cody had not to get up and go after her, but he didn't have the right to do that. Julie was already stressed enough. There was no way he wanted to make it worse, but he also couldn't stand the thought of her being upset.

“What the fuck was that?” Cody asked.

“She's right,” Jessie said. “It's definitely a family thing. She'll be okay.”

“You sure about that?” Cody asked, wanting to hear more than just she'll be okay.

“Yes,” she said. “That's all I can tell you, but I will say one more thing.”

“What's that?” he asked.

“Beside this baby,” Jessie said, “Julie is my everything. If you hurt her, you will be sorry, more sorry than anyone has ever made you before.”

“Don't plan to hurt her,” Cody said. “It's not like that.”

“I know,” Jessie said. “She told me the same thing. I sure hope you know what you're doing. She's having a hard enough time with things right now. I'm not sure she can take much more.”

“What's going on?” he asked, wanting more than anything to know, and not so he could hurt her, but so he could help her.

“You want to know, you ask her,” Jessie said.

“Why have you looked at me like you despise me since the moment I walked through that door?” he asked, pointing back toward the apartment door.

“I'm not Julie,” Jessie said. “I don't give everyone a chance to fuck me over. We're actually very different. Where she's sweet and reserved, I'm up front and honest. Where she wants to take care of people, I can't be bothered with that shit. Where she's willing to take a risk, I'm always on defense. No matter what people tell her, she always forms her own opinion. I can only imagine that's what she's doing with you.”

“Look,” he said. “I don't know what you've heard about me, but I'm not a bad person.”

“You better fucking hope not,” she whispered. “You not only have the ability to tear my sister apart, but you also have the ability to tear her from her family too. If you're here for selfish reasons, then I'm asking you nicely to step away from the situation. If you don't, and you hurt her, you'll have way more than me to deal with. I suggest you think about that, Cody. We have a military brother. After him comes our crew, one of which is a race car driver, and they won't give two shits who you are or what you own. Then comes the adults in the family. They most definitely are not to be fucked with. They each drive us crazy in a different way, but they're the real deal. There's a retired police officer, a retired firefighter, a builder, and another two, who I'm sure you've met. Just so you know, they'd go all in to ruin your ass. Think really hard about this, Cody. She stayed here for me, and if I'm being honest, I think it had something to do with you too. She has enough shit going on with the people she loves. She doesn't need you in there fucking with her too. I won't say another word about this. I'm giving you one chance, but know that I am only doing it because she must see something good in you. Don't make me sorry that I did.”

Jessie got up, took her plate, and headed for her sister's room.

“Thanks for dinner,” she said, and then she was gone.

Cody wasn't sure what to do. He was torn. Jessie knew who he was, but how? She never went to the company, and she'd been at school for four years. How the fuck did she recognize his name? His hands went up and moved through his hair. Should he stay, or should he go, he wondered? What the hell kind of person had Gavin and Ethan made him out to be? He wasn't an evil mastermind, but Jessie had made him sound like the worst person on the planet. Was it her sisterly love? Was it some strange twin connection? Did everyone think of him that way? He'd done nothing wrong. Nothing except show up where Julie was just to get information on her father. Shit! Was he that guy?

Should he have got up and left? Yes! That was exactly what he should have done, but he couldn't. Julie was upset, and she hadn't eaten. There was no damn way he was leaving. So, he didn't. He sat on that chair, and he waited.

After thirty minutes, he heard the door open, and both Jessie and Julie walked out. Julie had a smile on her face, but he could see sadness in her eyes and a redness on her cheeks from where she'd been crying. Cody got to his feet, rounded the couch, and pulled her into his arms.

“You okay?” he asked, as he kissed the top of her head.

When her arms came around him, and her head nuzzled in against his chest, he knew he wasn't leaving. He wasn't going anywhere. He looked up at Jessie with a questioning look. She shook her head and shrugged. Then she turned around and walked out of the room.

“You need to eat,” Cody said, as he pulled back a bit so he could look down at Julie. “I'm going to heat your food up.”

“I'm sorry,” she whispered against his chest. “You should probably go.”

“Not going to happen,” he said. “Go sit down. I'll have your food ready in a few minutes.”

Cody kept his arms around her until they were back in front of the couch. Then he let her go, grabbed her plate, and walked toward the kitchen. As he watched the plate turn in circles in the microwave, he thought about the fact that Julie hadn't gone home like she had every summer. Her sister was pregnant, and from what he could tell, their parents didn't know. Why they would hide it, he didn't know, but they were, and that was what mattered. The man that prided himself on being a family man had one daughter that was hurting over some type of family matter and one that was keeping a pregnancy from him. Gavin's life wasn't so perfect after all, Cody thought. That was what he'd wanted, to find out Gavin's imperfections, wasn't it? Jessie's words played through Cody's mind. He had a big decision to make. One that wouldn't just affect Gavin, the man he was beginning to dislike for more than just business reasons, but the people Gavin loved as well. Cody turned around and looked out at the woman sitting on the couch, the one he didn't want to walk away from, and he knew he didn't want to be that man to her, the one Gavin had made him out to be. If she'd heard the same things about him that Jessie had, why was she giving him a chance? Was she giving him a chance? It sure seemed that way. Then he thought about her dad and what he could have possibly told his family about him. Was she like Gavin? Was it all a front? Was she trying to get him to think she actually cared, just so he'd let his walls down and give her something to tell her father? Was Jessie in on it too? Fuck!

Cody grabbed the plate from the microwave, took it into the living room, and set it down in front of Julie. He wanted to stay. There was no way he wanted to leave her, but there were so many things going through his mind. Was she a good person? Was she evil? Jessie had said that she thought he was part of the reason Julie had stayed? Was he, and if so, was it sincere, or was it for her father?

“I have to go,” he said, as he stood in front of her.

“I get it,” she said, as the first tear fell. “If I were you, I've leave too. It's probably for the best. This isn't me. I'm not a mess, Cody. I swear I'm not. I'm sorry for leaving you out here. It wasn't right. My dad called me earlier to tell me my brother is going to work for him, and it really got me. It's not my brother. I love him, but he hates the place, and my dad couldn't be happier that he's joining his team. That shouldn't bother me, but it does. I totally understand if you think I'm crazy. I'm beginning to think I am too.”

The moment the words were out of her mouth, Cody was sitting next to her with his arms wrapped tightly around her. There was no damn way he was walking away. He was going to be right there, holding her, doing his best to take away the doubt her father had put there. That man was quickly moving up Cody's shit list, and not the one associated with business.

“You're not crazy,” he said. “You're just passionate, the most passionate person I know, and you're amazing, Julie. Don't you ever let anyone make you feel less than that.”

When Julie looked up at him, he held her face in his hands, dried her tears with his thumbs, and then kissed her. It wasn't just a quick peck as he held the door to her car open for her. Instead, it was a passionate kiss filled with every confusing emotion that was going through him in that moment. That was when he realized he was just as big of a mess as she was, and he had no idea what he was going to do about it.