Whew, this is been a long time coming. So sorry for the delay, I wrote THREE versions of this chapter before I ended up with this and I'm not still not completely sure if I'm satisfied or not.
As always thank you to my few reviewers and story alerters - you make my day any time I get the alert email! Special thanks to the reviewers: Goddess247, Niffer01, Steffy-Michelle & Writer By Nature.
Keep it up and even if there's just one reader out there who wants me to continue, I will :)
The blaring sound of Josie's alarm clock caused her to jump slightly and roused her from a deep sleep. She shielded her eyes slightly at the dull light coming through the window and chose to nestle deeper into her down comforter rather than face the rainy weather and the thought of the entire day working at the Abbey. However, thinking of the Abbey caused her thoughts to immediately stray to Pete.
Last night. Giving a soft, contented sigh Josie thought of her date with Pete. After dinner (and that first amazing kiss) they had decided to go get a few pints to-go and had spent the remainder of the evening sitting on a bench by the Thames, with her legs draped across his knees as she'd laid back, staring up at the sky. The conversation had seemed never-ending and her heart pounded thinking about how comfortable she was with him. Remembering the warmth that had come from being so close to him and the way her heart seemed to flip every time he'd gently rubbed her knee caused Josie to heave a deep sigh and finally will herself out of bed knowing if she continued down that particular train of thought she'd never get out of bed.
Touching her feet lightly to the ground she immediately cringed as her feet hit the cold tile. Mentally cursing herself for still having put off buying a rug for the floor and not for the first time, wondering why someone would ever put tile in a bedroom she sped quickly into the bathroom.
Jumping into the shower quickly she felt an unexpected pang of homesickness. The thrill of the past week had caused her to momentarily forget how much she missed home. The distance from her family had been taking its toll on her prior to that fateful day at the museum but the new distraction of Pete had considerably dulled those feelings that were now flooding back into her heart. She felt the old dull ache in her soul from having left her father and brothers. They had told her to go but she couldn't shake the thought that she had deserted them. Ever since her mom had left them Josie had felt responsible for her family and had been worried sick about how they were coping without her.
Washing the conditioner out of her hair and hurrying out of the shower, Josie glanced at the clock seeing it was just after nine o'clock. Quickly figuring it was just after four in the morning at home Josie still grabbed her phone and hit the speed dial one.
"Ello? Babygirl, that you?" Josie smiled at the sound of her dad's gruff voice, feeling only slightly guilty about having woke him up so early.
"Hi daddy, sorry I woke you. I'm just on my way out to work and I wanted to call to say hi, sooo hi!"
"I'd never begrudge a phone call from my girl. How's that country treatin' you? The people at the pub nice? You stayin' safe? I didn't really like the look of that place you'd shown me you picked out to live, seemed a bit sketchy if ya ask me." Josie rolled her eyes slightly, feeling the relief flood into her at the familiar string of questions he fired at her and the light worry that laced her dad's voice.
"Oh Da, you worry too much. I'm gettin' along fine. Listen, I'll let you get back to sleep. I just wanted to make sure you were…ok." Allowing her voice to trail off lamely, she bit down slightly on her lip waiting for the inevitable lecture to come.
"Joze stop worrying, I'm fine. It's you we're all worried about, none of the boys have heard from you in about a week. That's not like you; normally we have to tell you to leave us alone and to live your own life. What's goin' on? Everything all right?" Cringing at the concern in his voice Josie sighed into the phone, wondering whether or not she should share the events of the past week. It wasn't like her to keep things from her family and she felt the guilt bubble in her stomach as she made her decision.
"It's nothing daddy. Go back to sleep, love you." She twirled a piece of hair as she heard her dad sigh heavily into the phone, "Alright doll, love you too. Call the boys will ya? We miss you."
"Miss you too daddy, sleep tight." Hearing the click of the phone disconnecting Josie sighed once again, keeping things from her family? That wasn't like her at all. Not for the first time, Josie questioned whether or not this thing with Pete was such a good idea.
Pulling on her sneakers she threw an old sweatshirt over her head, throwing the hood over her hair to shield her from the rain as she walked out into the grim London streets with a heavy heart. Even the thought of the possibility of seeing Pete today couldn't shake the weighed down, lonely feelings that seemed to have settled in her soul after her talk with her dad.
Most girls had tons of best friends, ones they'd grown up with or ones they'd met in college. Josie had never had time for anyone but her family. If she wasn't struggling with paying her tuition or helping her dad at the pub then she was studying. She'd never needed anyone but her dad and brothers. Now, some boy (well, man really) had strolled into her life and completely thrown her for a loop. So much so, that for the first time in her life she was keeping things from her family.
Heaving a deep sigh she glanced across the street to see that she had reached her destination. Wishing she had more time to sort through her own thoughts she took a peek at her watch only to see that she was a few minutes late as she hurried across the road to get out of the rain.
Contrary to the manner in which Josie had woken Pete's eyes opened of their own volition, snapping out of a delicious dream he'd been having in which Josie had been laying next to him in bed, brown-gold curly hair scattered over his pillow and swimming in one of his old West Ham t-shirts he heaved a deep sigh. Christ, now it wasn't only when he was awake that she wouldn't leave his thoughts, she'd seeped into his subconscious as well.
What was it about her? Even as Pete asked himself that question memories from last night came flooding back to him: the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed, how she bit down on her lip whenever she was contemplating something, the light constellation of freckles that he'd noticed dancing across her bare shoulders as well as the ones dusting the bridge of her nose. Everything about her seemed familiar and a mystery all at the same time.
Pete's mind strayed back to her freckles, groaning as he wondered where else he might find them on her slight body. Swinging out of his bed, he quickly made his way into the shower, knowing a cold one was in order.
The frigid water streamed over his body and he felt himself calming down, though his thoughts still remained solely on Josie. After a few minutes he leapt out of the shower and as he toweled off he heard the sound of his phone. Hurrying out of the bathroom he reached it just as it stopped ringing.
"Fuck." Swearing loudly into the silence of his room he clicked through his recent calls to see both Bovver and Dave had already called and it was just gone 10:30. What could they possibly want this early on a Sunday? The message indicator on his phone blinked back at him and he saw both men had left messages.
Bovver's voice came through first, "Oi Dunham, where da fuck 'ave you been? Headin' down to the Abbey now, give us a bell will ya?" Pete gave a slight chuckle – only the unemployed think a Sunday morning is a fine time for the drink.
"Hey bruv, stopped by the Abbey last night only to find you'd already been in and out and had taken home a prize. Bov just called and is headin' there now so I'll see you in a few. We expect all the gory details mate, so don't dodge us." Dave's message caused the smile to fall from Pete's face, he may want Josie for himself but it seemed the rest of the boys would have a thing or two to say about that.
He'd never had a steady girl; it'd been more like a line of bedmates rather than anything serious. Pete had the sense of mind, even in the privacy of his own home, to feel slightly ashamed at the way he'd gone about pulling girls before. Not for the first time Pete questioned whether he was right to pursue anything with Josie. Between his own inadequacies coupled with his involvement in the GSE, he knew that in the end, someone would end up hurt but fuck if he was going to give up on whatever it was they'd already started.
Throwing on a dark sweater over his jeans he grabbed his long trench and quickly strode out of his apartment. Pulling his collar up high to cover his neck against the rain he rubbed his hands together, knowing he would be seeing Josie soon and he couldn't stop the pang in his heart knowing that he'd never be able to stay away from her for too long.
As Pete walked quickly to the Abbey he mulled over what the possible outcomes of a relationship with Josie would be. He came up with three options: a) they'd have some fun and in a year she'd go back to the States; b) he'd fall in love with her (& if he was being completely honest with himself he was already pretty much there) or c) she'd end up hurt by his involvement in the GSE. Unfortunately, he was almost positive that it was going to be some mix of those three and that gave him no relief from his troubled thoughts.
Finally reaching his destination, he looked through the window as he passed by it and the sight of Josie standing talking to Terry immediately wiped all thoughts from his mind. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from her. Or think when he had her in his sight.
"Aye aye bruv, whatchu doin' standin' out here?" Pete looked up, startled by the arrival of Swill and Ike. Managing to wrench his gaze away from Josie he gave them both a lopsided grin.
"Just enjoyin' our beautiful English weather. Pint?" The two men eyed him suspiciously as their eyes followed his through the window where, luckily for Pete, Josie had just disappeared out of sight. Giving a casual shrug of his shoulders Pete pushed through the door with Swill and Ike closely following him.
Pete's eyes immediately swept the room, searching for Josie until he heard a distracting "Aye Aye boys!" coming from their usual corner where Bovver and Dave were already seated, rows of pints already lined up waiting for them. Giving another glance towards the bar he saw Josie was nowhere in sight as he quickly moved towards the corner table, taking the open seat at the head of the table. His eyes continued to be drawn towards the bar, wondering if he'd imagined seeing Josie standing there.
"Ah, lets 'ear it mate! You've got lots of sharin' to be done." Pete gave a startled look in the direction of Dave's voice and realized he must have looked like a deer in headlights by the smirks that were shot in his direction from all the boys – all except Bovver.
"From the sounds of it – you went hunting last night and caught yerself a bird." Swill gave a foolish grin as he tried to take a huge gulp of his pint and managed to dribble half of it down his shirt. Pete looked at him for a long moment before he burst out laughing.
"Hunting? Caught a bird? What'd you stay up all night comin' up with that one?" Throwing an empty peanut shell at Swill, Pete laughed as Swill managed to splash more beer down the front of his shirt. Leaning back in his chair he arched an eyebrow at Bovver who was currently shooting daggers at him. "Problem mate?"
"Nah bruv…" Bovver threw a quick glance over at the bar and shoved out of his chair quickly before any of the boys could say a word, walking towards the bathroom.
"What's his deal?" Pete glared at the door of the men's room that had slammed shut with the force of Bovver's hand.
"Dunno mate, he's been a right prick for the past week. Heh, you don't think he's jealous, do yah?" Ike looked questioningly at Pete, whose eyes remained on the door, staring at it thoughtfully.
"Eh, you know Bov, he's always had it in for Yanks. Just wish he'd fuckin' behave 'imself, Joze doesn't deserve his shit." Pete continued to stare at the closed door, trying to figure out just what Bovver's problem could be until he was distracted by the sound of Dave loudly (and obnoxiously fake) clearing of his throat.
"Soo, things with Ms. Josie seem to be progressing along at an astounding rate. 'Ow'd it go last night?" Pete rubbed his temples in slight frustration before looking up at the three expectant faces. To be fair Dave, Ike and Swill were the three who were always pushing Pete to actually date girls rather than use them in his usual manner so he supposed they deserved some type of explanation as to what was going on.
"Well, I came by last night and Terry let her off early so I took her out." Giving a slight shrug of his shoulders he leaned forward to grab his pint letting out a groan of aggravation when Dave quickly snatched it out of his reach.
"Don't think so bruv, we need more details besides 'I took her out.' Namely: how her legs look in a skirt, cup size and just where else she's got freckles." Dave wagged his eyebrows at Pete suggestively and he felt his blood begin to boil as he glared at Dave. He clenched his fists while trying to remind himself this was Dave, but it was hard to keep this in mind when his words had infuriated him to the point of contemplating the many ways he could cause grave bodily harm to him.
Before Pete got the chance to respond one way or the other a loud crash resounded from the store room downstairs. The boys looked up startled only to see Terry bolting from behind the bar in the direction of the sound with Pete quickly on his feet following him.
"Joze?" Ignoring the sound of Terry's voice Josie chanced a quick look to the corner of the bar where she saw two sets of eyes staring at her – one set crinkled in affection, the other glaring boldly at her, not even trying to hide his disdain.
She cringed and sighed before looking up at him from the pints she was currently pouring for the two men, "Yea Terr, what's up?"
"Lemme finish those off. Why don't you head downstairs and do inventory? You look like you'd rather be anywhere but in the line of Bovver's glare right about now." Josie felt her face flush an even deeper shade of red as she shot a quick, thankful smile in his direction before walking to the end of the bar and through the door that was adjacent to the men's bathroom that led to the store room.
Walking slowly down the short staircase to the storeroom Josie let out a deep sigh at the sight of the boxes of liquor bottles waiting to be counted and put away. She felt her cheeks losing the heat from earlier and her breathing returned to normal. The look on Bovver's face was enough to send a girl into a panic and most certainly not in a good way.
Josie wiped her sweaty palms down the front of her shirt before diving into one of the full boxes and beginning to count and stack them on the shelves, marking the numbers in the faded notebook that remained the sole form of Terry's bookkeeping.
She quickly became engrossed in her work until she felt the odd feeling she was being watched. Josie whipped around to see Bovver standing in the doorframe, leaning against it while smoking a cigarette and throwing a sneer in her direction. Her first reaction was to shiver at his obvious hatred for her and the second was blinding anger.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing down here? Get. Out." Josie felt her jaw clench as Bovver looked her up and down and she felt the hand she currently had clenched around a large bottle of vodka begin to shake violently.
"Just thought it was bout time we 'ad a little chat, seein' as you're hell bent on takin' down ol' Petey boy. Just thought I'd help ya get to know 'im better. See – he don't do dating, he's more of a fuck and run type." Josie watched in anger as he took a long drag of his cigarette and took a few steps towards her. Not being one to shy away she stepped forward, feeling her breath come in short gasps.
"Now you listen to me and you listen sharpish. I don't give a shit what you think of me. I don't care if Pete has screwed half the girls that frequent this joint. Fuck, I don't even care if you think I'm the ugliest one he's ever taken a liking to. All I know is nothing I do with Pete is any concern of yours. So just stay the hell away from me." Josie threw her hands forward to push him back, dropping the bottle of vodka in the process and jumping back in shock as the bottle smashed loudly to the floor, splattering liquor all over the floor of the storeroom.
"Well well well, seems kitty's got claws. Keep in mind, love," Bovver sneered at the word and his voice dripped with venom, "me and the boys were 'ere first so Pete may be all lovey-dovey with you now but you hear me: we don't like outsiders. Got it?" The two of them stood locked in a glare that was quickly interrupted by the arrival of Terry and the very object of their little 'conversation.'
"Bovver – what in the hell are you doin' down here? Get out now." Terry was quickly during a deep shade of purple, seeming to be fighting with himself to keep his temper in check. "I mean it, get the fuck away from her and keep it that way, understood?"
Bovver gave a casual shrug of his shoulders before moving towards the door. Pete's large frame filled it completely and Bovver surged past him, knocking his shoulder into Pete's roughly. Josie looked up as Pete grabbed hold of Bovver's arm and she just barely heard him mutter through clenched teeth, "We'll be talkin' bout this later mate."
Josie watched as Bovver shook off Pete's grasp to hurry up the stairs, waiting anxiously for him to turn towards her so she could try to read his face. As he looked back at her, Josie sucked in a quick breath feeling her heart pound at the anxious look of concern Pete was wearing. Biting her lip softly she tried to give him a soft smile but it came out as more of a grimace.
"Alright there gorgeous?" Pete gave his signature grin that didn't quite reach his eyes and Josie sighed in relief at the already familiar words that he always seemed to be uttering to her. She didn't quite know what to expect from him: Bovver was his best friend. She thought there might be truth behind his words but just seeing the look in Pete's eyes quickly erased the unease from her encounter with Bovver.
Josie gave a quick shrug of her shoulders, "I'm fine. Bovver and I were just having a little chat. My hand slipped and I dropped the bottle I'd been trying to put on the shelf." Josie looked beyond Pete's disbelieving gaze, knowing if she met his eyes he'd see right through her lie, "Sorry Terry, you can take it outta my paycheck. You shouldn't have to pay for my clumsiness."
Terry's eyes crinkled into a smile as he looked down at her, "Nah love, I'm sure you were provoked. No harm, no foul. I'll grab a mop and clean this up." Before Josie could argue that it was her job to clean up this mess Terry quickly moved up the stairs and away from her protests, leaving her in silence with Pete.
"I'm fine Pete, I swear…Bovver just startled me." Josie stared up in earnest into Pete's clear blue-eyes feeling her heart give another tug as she tried to fight the urge to lean up and press her lips against his when he did it for her. He pulled her close and clung onto her like a drowning man. It was a long moment before they broke apart, both breathless and staring into each other's eyes until another interruption appeared.
"Uh Joze, could you run upstairs? There are a few o' the old ones waitin' for a pint 'pulled by a pretty lady, not an ugly mug' as they so kindly informed me." Josie gave a slight smile at Terry as she stepped away from Pete reluctantly and moved to walk up the stairs. She quickly felt Pete's hand on the small of her back, leading her up towards the bar. Sighing again in relief, she knew this path wasn't going to be easy but she'd be damned if some surly mate who had his panties in a twist was going to get in the way of a possible relationship with Pete.
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