Part 26
AJ stood staring at the medicine bottles, lost in his thoughts of Chelsea. What was he doing? He had a beautiful woman waiting for him, a beautiful woman who loved him. She’s wanted his touch but he had stopped. It wasn’t because she didn’t turn him on. The ache in his groin was proof of that. Okay, she was still in pain from the wreck, he reasoned with himself, but she’d been willing. Why was she so different? Why was he holding back?
The slamming of the front door startled him out of his thoughts. Grabbing the medicines and a glass of water, he headed back to Chelsea passing through the living room this time where Howie, Brian, and Nick had been watching television.
“Where’s ‘Rok’?”
“He went after Kevin,” offered Nick without looking up.
“I take it Kevin’s the one who slammed the door.”
“Yeah.”
“Where’s he going?”
“He didn’t say,” answered Howie.
“Damnit! He won’t let it go,” growled AJ.
“What does it matter, ‘J’?”
Nick spoke up to explain. “Brian and I told Howie what happened with her brothers. Sorry, bro.”
“No, it’s no problem. I just don’t want Kevin upsetting Chelsea any more than her brothers already have.”
“Kevin’s not going to do anything to upset her. We’ve all been to bars with erotic dancers…especially Kevin. He’s not a hypocrite,” said Howie.
“You saw how pissed he was,” pointed out Nick now looking away from the television that Howie had muted.
“He got blindsided with the news and you both know Kevin doesn’t like that. He doesn’t feel in control when that happens. He’ll calm down when he gets his answers.”
“He doesn’t need any answers, ‘D’. Chelsea’s MY girlfriend and what she does to support herself and Annie is NONE of his business. He made a choice seven years ago and it wasn’t to be a part of Chelsea’s life,” stated AJ angrily.
“Whoa! I’m not the one you’re ticked at, Alex. Look, Kevin’s pissed at himself for ending things with Chelsea the way he did.”
“Then why does he need to go to the place where Chelsea works?”
Nick and Howie looked at each other and Howie said, “’J’, sit down.”
“I….uh..” He looked at the things in his hand. Chelsea needed them but he needed to talk to Howie.
Seeing his confusion, Nick said, “I’ll take that up to Chelsea for you.”
“Well…I guess…okay. She gets one of each,” explained AJ as Nick took the glass and medicine from him. “Tell her I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“No problem,” and Nick made his way upstairs leaving the two older men alone.
“Okay. So tell me what’s really bothering you.”
“Man, Howie…I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Howie smiled, “You’re in love, AJ….nothing’s wrong with you.”
With a goofy grin, he agreed then said, “Yeah, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Then what?”
“Earlier, I was helping her change and I started…” AJ blushed not wanting to embarrass Chelsea by giving too much information to Howie. “We…we started fooling around and she wanted it.”
“But?”
“I stopped.”
Howie sat back waiting.
“It wasn’t that I wasn’t turned on…I could have gone all night with the hard-on I had but…it’s not like me to just stop like that…especially when the girl clearly wants it.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, AJ. You know that she shouldn’t be fooling around no matter how much you both want it. She just got out of the hospital and correct me if I’m wrong, but you were taking her pain medicine, weren’t you?”
AJ nodded his head.
“Then she didn’t need to be fooling around. It’s not a problem to want to go slow.” Hearing Nick coming back down, Howie said, “Stop worrying about Kevin or that something is wrong with you because you stopped fooling around. Enjoy being with a beautiful woman and getting to know her. She’s clearly crazy about you.”
“Thanks, ‘D’,” smiled AJ.
Passing him on the steps, Nick said, “She’s almost asleep, dude. She was almost in tears from the pain.”
AJ took the steps two at a time and when he reached the top, he took a deep breath before going into the room. The lamp beside the bed was still on allowing him to see that Chelsea had her eyes closed. Quietly, he stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed gathering her in his arms.
“What were you talking to Howie about?” she asked sleepily.
“Nothing you need to be concerned about.”
Chelsea snuggled closer to AJ nestling her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest. “I’m so glad I have you and Kevin and the other guys,” she mumbled.
How could he break her heart by telling her that Kevin was pissed? Howie was right…Kevin was just mad at himself for ending things the way he had. Tomorrow, Kevin would be calmed down and things would be fine.
Pulling her tight, AJ placed a kiss on her forehead. “I’m glad I have you too, beautiful,” he said softly before reaching over and cutting the light off.
In the darkness, he listened for the signs of sleep that he’d learned in the hospital and when he heard them, he relaxed and drifted off to sleep too happier than he’d been in a long time.
