*Author's Note*

Thanks for reading, faving, following, and reviewing.

The birthday stuff is long and I had to split it up into multiple chapters. This is the first part. Oh, cocky Cap is in this lol. No Tolbert, he's in the next chapter tho.

Birthday Presents

Novella POV:

My day was routinely normal even though it was my 28th birthday. I was at the office working, like always anymore, whenever my phone started to ring. Instinctively I reached over and grabbed the iphone, rolling my eyes and sighing as I read Will flashing on the ID. Jerk knows not to call me unless it was about the wedding, but clearly, he doesn't like to listen. Against my better judgement I answered the phone. "What're you calling me for, Cap?"

"Oh, baby, that's no way to greet a man that wants to wish you a Happy Birthday." Cap's deep wave of a voice chuckled. "I got you something."

"Why?" I asked before following it up quickly with, "You didn't have to."

"Cause I wanted to. So, why don't we meet up for lunch so I can give you your present." I heard his voice tell me over my phone as I typed something into my computer.

"I'm busy." I deadpanned, declining in a way that didn't seem like I was being rude. Lawyers are busy people so…

"Not too busy to eat. You have to take a lunch break." He cheekily pointed out in his smug and deep rolling wave of a voice.

"I'm not meeting up with you." I told him, my voice firm in the dismissal of his suggestion.

"Okay, then I'll just go to your office to see you." He countered me, his voice rolling and deep.

Quickly, without much thought, I protested, "No, you can't do that."

"Sure I can." I knew he meant it too. One thing I knew from the few short months I spent with this man was that he didn't give a shit what people thought, he went against the grain and dd it with a big shit eating grin plastered on his face. He was cocky and would set foot into the Cline offices just to piss off everybody, cause a rukus just cause he knew he could.

I let out an aggravated sigh before telling him, "Fine, I'll swing by your office in a few minutes just for the gift."

"Or we could meet up at Steak 'N' Shake to eat in 15 minutes." No, what the one-eyed shaggy haired blonde meant was 'I'm going to be at Steak 'N' Shake in 15 minutes so your ass better be there or I'll be showing up at your office with burgers and shakes'.

"Fine. We'll do that." I agreed, since I didn't have much of a choice, before hanging up and tossing my phone onto my desk. Oh lordy, why me?

As soon as I walked into the restaurant I spotted Cap sitting at a table in a black booth. He had a menu in his hands, scanning over it, as he waited. I spotted a glass of water on the table too. Quickly I walked by the hostess station and to where Cap was. "Hi." I simply told him, making him aware of my presence, as I slid into the booth.

Cap placed his menu down on the table before looking at me. Smirking he grabbed a package from off his seat and handed it to me. "Happy Birthday, Nova."

I took the gift while politely telling him, "Thanks, Cap."

I put the gift off to the side before grabbing my menu, that Cap obviously had the waitress leave for me since I was expected to show up. "Now, babe, we both know that I prefer you to call me Will. Now open your present." Cap's deep voice rumbled as his mismatched eye looked at me playfully.

"I'll open it after we order." I told him, browsing through my menu.

Suddenly Cap snapped his fingers while shouting, "Waitress! Waitress! We're ready to order!"

Damnit, I couldn't be more embarrassed. He just had to shout for service, couldn't wait and be patient like a normal person.

In a flash a flustered girl, no more then 18 or 19, appeared by the side of our table. With shaky hands she took her pad and pen from her black apron. "Ya'll ready to order?"

William turned his head, looking directly at the young brunette, while rattling off, "I'll have the classic double burger with fries and a chocolate shake."

"And what'd ya like on the burger?" She asked since it was apart of her job to do so.

"Everything." Was Cap's simple answer. I already knew he was going to say that, the man was one for the works or at least he always was at the corner pub back east.

"Pickles, tomoato, lettace-" The young waitress began to list off as her pen moved against her pad before Cap cut her off with a deep rolling, "Yes, I told you everything."

The waitress looked a bit flustered as she turned to me. I just gave her a sympathetic smile, since I felt for her cause I knew how cold and snappy Will could be with people. "I'll just have what he's having." I nicely told the waitress, who's nametag read Bette-Jo.

"I'll have ya'lls shake up real quick." Bette-Jo informed us as she collected our menus before leaving our table.

"Sheesh, Cap, I think you scared that poor girl half to death."

"Eh, oh well." He just shrugged his shoulders, not giving a shit. "So, you going to open your present?"

Silently I grabbed the square box wrapped in birthday print paper and tore it open. I blinked, a bit shocked, as I read Kay Jewelers on the inside of the lid I had just lifted off on the box. Staring right at me was a necklace and earring set. A set from Jane Seymour's Open Heart Collection might I add. I was left speechless by his gift. Never in my life has a man given me jewelry. Tolbert wasn't one for expensive gifts, such as jewelry, and I never stuck with anyone else long enough to receive jewelry.

"Do you like it?" Cap asked, his deep wave of a voice breaking me out of my trance.

Closing the box and setting it down on the table I answered him with, "You should've have gotten me this. It's too much and we're not together anymore."

"It's not too much, plus you'll need something near to wear to that wedding next month." He nonchalantly told me before tilting his head and going on to say, "And ya don't gotta remind me that we're not together every damn time we talk."

Before anything else could be said the waitress appeared with our classic chocolate shakes. "Food'll be out in a bit." She informed us before rushing off. Poor thing couldn't even look at Will, he seemed to freak her out.

"So, you wanna do something for your birthday tonight? I'm sure I could get you into the tavern at Mate Creek in one piece." He inquired as he both grabbed the straws left by the waitress, opening them and putting them in our chocolate shakes.

I took a sip of my shake before telling him, "No, I already got plans."

"Oh…" He drawled deeply. Cap took a drink of his shake before asking, "Doin' what?"

"Going out with some old friends." I truthfully answered between sips of my shake.

"So you're going out with your crazy murderin' McCoy tonight." Cap spat at me, his face turning into a slate of stone. His ice blue eye got hard while his milky one's stare on me felt paralyzing.

"Stop calling him that. I'm going out with a bunch of people, he just happens to be one of them."

Cap shook his head, his shaggy blonde hair going every which way, while sighing, "Of course he is."

"You sound jealous." I sing-songed, stirring my straw slightly in my glass.

"I'm not jealous." Cap quickly denied before taking a quick gulp of his milkshake. "I just don't see how you can keep defending your crazy ex."

"He's not that bad of a guy. He's just temperamental."

Will looked at me with a slight bit of compassion in his icy and milky eyes. "Nova, baby, it's clear that you still feel something for him cause he was your first love and all that bullshit, but you need to close that off. You have to realize that you can't save him from himself." He told me, his deep rolling wave of a voice sounding a tone softer then usual.

I didn't reply to him, instead just remained silent and watched out of the corner of my eye our waitress coming over to us with our food. Really, though, how was I suppose to reply to Cap that wouldn't make him continue his tirade. Cap was a cold man, once he thought low of somebody or had an opinion he refused to sway from he would unsympathetically argue his point until he felt he got his way a cross. I wasn't in the mood to hear more mud slinging on Tolbert. I mean I knew deep down some of what Will was saying made sense and was kind of true, but I did grow up with the rowdy ginger and didn't like hearing him talked bad about.

"It hasn't even been four weeks yet since our breakup. I think we should get back together, work our shit out despite being on opposite sides of the same case." Cap bluntly said out of nowhere. Like really, where the fuck did that come from?

"We're better off broken up." I told him after taking a bite out of my burger. He just lifted up his eyebrow at me while eating. I sighed and placed my burger down. While grabbing the bottle of ketchup and pouring some by my fries I told him with a pointed look, "We're not in Baltimore anymore. Here in the back hills you're a Hatfield and my family's close friends with the McCoys. It just won't work."

Cap's mismatched eyes narrowed at me. I couldn't tell how he was feeling since his face had that stonewall look on it. Without warning he snapped his fingers in the air and growled, "Waitress! We need the check and doggie bags, now!"

Well, lunch with Cap went about as good as I thought it would. Little cocky jerk doesn't get his way and gets all pissy. Damn, how did I even date him for as long as I did? He's smug asshole. Okay, I had to admit he is ruggedly handsome looking with his shaggy blonde hair, thin mustache, scruffy beard, and long toned body. His deep voice was a turn on too, but his personality wasn't very becoming.

Shit, did I attract assholes? Tolbert was a hot-headed fool while Cap was a cocky jerk. Yep, it's official, I'm an asshole magnate.

The rest of my day after my lunch with Cap went well. I finished my day working at the firm, had dinner with my family, and even got some gifts from them. Currently it was night time, a little after 7, and I was in my room with Nancy. Her husband Frank was down in the parlor talking with Uncle Perry and Moses while their kids were playing with Sarah Elizabeth and Roseanna. Nancy was helping me get ready for a night out at the Barn.

The Barn was a local country western bar in Pikeville. The building was actually an old red barn. Since Pike county was the only wet county in Eastern Kentucky due to the fact that the only place able to sell booze was Pikeville, the Barn was a pretty popular spot for drinking and dancing. People from up and down the hills went there.

"I can't believe you want me to wear this." I remarked, shaking my head, as I pulled a red floral dress along with a jean jacket and boots out of a Ross bag.

"Why not? It's your birthday present from me and my Frank. 'Sides you can't go to the Barn in what you've got in your closet now." Nancy told me matter-o-factly as she sat on my bed in a green dress paired with her own jean jacket and boots.

"Thanks for buying me clothes, but what's wrong with what I got?" I asked, dropping the new clothes on my bed.

"They're not fittin' for drinkin' beer and knockin' back whiskey at a country bar. They're more for goin' for cocktails at some city slicker place." I never went out for cocktails. I never drank cocktails. When I went out with Will er Cap we always got either glasses of Makers Mark or bottles of Yuengling Lager. He once said he was impressed that I could drink him under the table.

Shit, I shouldn't be thinking about that jackass. I'm hanging out with a bunch of McCoys tonight, in a matter of minutes too.

"Of course." I sighed knowing that there was no winning with her. I was stuck wearing the outfit she had gotten me for my birthday.

Nancy grabbed the floral dress and tossed it at me. As I caught the dress mid-air she ordered with a smirk, "Now put them on so I can do your makeup and hair."

"So, what do you got in mind for my hair?" I asked my once close friend as I began to change.

"Half pulled back with curls." She simply answered as she crossed her legs as she sat perched on my rose bedspread.

"Really? I can do that myself." I huffed, slipping the spaghetti strap dress over my head. I smoothed it out, tugging it down a bit too.

It wasn't my style, or at least not since I was a teenager, so I felt a bit out of my element in the dress that was so low and triangle cut that it barely covered my bra. The thing was also laying high up on my thigh too. I was used to wearing knee length pencil skirts nearly everyday for the last 4 years, hell even my casual and dressy dresses were at least mid-thigh.

I hadn't worn anything like this in years. Damnit, Nancy would be one for still squeazing into tight and sexy clothes instead of growing up and choosing something a bit classier.

She tossed the heeled boots at me while chidingly telling me, "Hush, you know Tolbert likes your hair like that."

"What?" I squeaked out, my blue eyes popping and my face falling in shock, as I caught the boots before they connected with my chest.

While I put on my boots she told me with a knowing smirk, "Hun, you and Tolbert still got somethin' there. It's the reason why him and Mary never worked out."

"What'd you mean? I thought Mary skipped town on him after Sally Elle was born." I asked, walking a few short feet over to my bed and grabbing the jean jacket.

"She did, but only cause she realized even with givin' him a baby he still wasn't in love with her. He was still in love with you." Nancy informed me as she watched me slip on my jean jacket as she got up from my bed, walking over to my vanity. I gave her an unbelievable look while joining her at me vanity, taking a seat in front of it. "He tried real hard to push his feelin's for you onto her, make himself forget 'bout you, but it never worked." She told me as she grabbed my curling iron, plugging it in and turning it on high.

"Nancy, you shouldn't be tryin' to get me and Tolbert together. We've both moved on from our younger years, both have our own lives." I sighed while watching Nancy in the mirror place the iron down to heat before grabbing a clip and pulling half of my hair up.

Her black eyes looked at me pointedly, knowingly, over my head and into the mirror as she firmly remarked, "You and Tolbert ain't never really moved on." Great, just what I need another person today telling me I'm still holding onto Tolbert.

"Of course, we have." I firmly protested at Nancy as she grabbed my brush. As she began to brush and smooth out my hair I reminded her how we moved on by snapping, "He left me in Louisville without a reason other than just cause."

"Tolbert had a reason, one I think I've figured out, but you'd have to ask him for it." She said, a soft sadness in her usually coarse voice, as she finished brushing my hair. Setting the brush down and picking up the heated-up iron she went on to tell me, "He might give it to ya now that ya'll have a real chance at somethin' now that you're back."

"I'm only back for his trial, then I'm leaving." I informed Nancy as she wrapped a strand of my red hair around the barrel of the curling iron.

"No, you'll be stickin' 'round for good. I can feel it." Nancy told me in a vert confident voice as she released the curled piece of hair from the barrel iron.

I rolled my eyes as she grabbed another strand of my copper hair, wrapping it around the heated curling iron. "Whatever, just finish making me look pretty so we can go."

She nodded her head, a ghost of a smirk on her long oval face. "Okay, but just keep what I said in the back of your mind." Nancy advised as she let another curl unravel from the barrel in her hand.

I felt like I was on prom display whenever I walked into the parlor behind Nancy while she loudly announced, "Got our Novella all dolled up for the night." I mean she did the exact same thing for our Senior prom. Talk about a blast to the past. Shit, my prom dress was red too. Dear lord devaju, only this time the significate other waiting on us was Bad Frank instead of Tolbert and we were 10 years older too.

"Well, won't Mr. Tolbert McCoy be glad to see you. A real homegrown beauty." Bad Frank told me with a crooked line of a smile, looking me over as he grabbed his walking stick and rose from his seat adjacent to my uncle.

"Thank you, Frank." I told him with a tight smile. So far, the man seemed okay, but something about him made me uneasy. Don't know why though.

"Novella, dear, you look lovely." Uncle Perry complimented me in a tone I hadn't heard since my graduation day from law school. You know that tone that men get when their little girl's all dolled up.

"Reckon you'll be out with Tolbert after last call." My brother, ever the manner less jackass, remarked with a crafty smirk crossing half of his scruffy face. The little shithead was lounging on the sofa, only taking his attention off of his smartphone long enough to torment me.

"Shut up, Mo." I quickly ordered my brother, causing him to just laugh at me.

"We gotta get goin' or we'll be late." Nancy stated, tugging on Frank's hand to get him to start moving towards the doorway.

"Oh, make sure to tell Tolbert he needs to come by the office tomorrow." Uncle Perry reminded me as I began to follow Nancy and Frank out of the room.

While continuin' to follow the couple in front of me I just looked over my shoulder and called out to my uncle, "I will, Uncle Perry. Bye."

AN:

Nancy is team Tolbert all the way, so she's fanning the fires of that part of the triangle in Novella's mind. Cap is making sure to keep his part of the triangle alive by continuing his pursuit instead of ending it like Novella keeps telling him to do lol. Oh boy, Novella's gonna be stuck in a full fledge triangle sooner rather then later.