Crescent City Summer

Chapter 15: Schemes

"Hello?" Josse asked as the sound of his phone ringing awakened him.

"Meet me at Deville in thirty minutes." A voice on the other end said, then hung up.

Josse looked at his phone and let out a deep sigh.

"Madeline." He rolled his eyes and back into his pillow, pulling the blankets over his head.

His phone dinged, and he slowly pulled it off the nightstand to read the text message.

"Don't go back to sleep!"

"Well, I'm awake at eight on my day off. Perfect." He murmured as he got out of bed to get dressed.

As Josse strolled downstairs, he didn't see anyone and thought it was clear. He didn't want questions; he wasn't in the mood for them. He was almost regretting getting involved in this whole plan with Madeline.

"Where are you off to this early, big brother?" Desmond asked as he sat at the dining room table eating breakfast.

"Dude, you scared me! I didn't see or hear you." Josse exclaimed.

"Boo?" Desmond joked.

"Don't you have a house of your own?" Josse shot a look at Desmond.

"Yes, but I'm not ready to move in yet. What about your house? Oh yeah, you just now bought one, and it is being renovated." Desmond pointed at him, grinning.

"I am meeting a friend for coffee if it's any of your business," Josse said dryly.

"Ah, a friend? How cute." Desmond said sarcastically.

"Yeah, a friend. I'm leaving." Josse put his sunglasses on and walked outside to climb into his Ferrari.

Desmond followed him outside and stood there watching as he entered his vehicle.

"Do you need me to move my Bugatti? Is it in your way?" He laughed.

"Shut up," Josse said as he rolled the window up and sped out of the driveway and onto the street.

Desmond shook his head, thinking of how horrible of a brother Josse was but wishing he would change his ways simultaneously.

Desmond washed his cereal bowl and walked upstairs to prepare for the day. He picked up his phone, looked through the pictures of him and Gabby, and smiled. He got caught up in looking at her photos on her socials and couldn't help but feel like he had known her his entire life. He saw her smiling in pictures with her sister, Briar. Pictures of her as a kid, through elementary school into high school. He saw her wearing braces and photos of her as homecoming queen and prom queen. She was so beautiful, even then. He saw her as a cheerleading squad captain, a high school, and a college graduate. He smiled at the pictures of her and her parents. He thought she favored her mom a lot. He saw how she went from this pretty little girl to a gorgeous young woman. It was a gift to witness this. He loved how down-to-earth she was. He loved that she wasn't from the city. She was from a beautiful place he had never been to. Now he longed to see where her life had been.

As he was exploring the life of Gabriella Ashbury, his phone dinged, and he smiled when he saw it was Gabby texting him.

"Good mornin' handsome."

He smiled and quickly texted back.

"Good morning, gorgeous."

"I am going to spend some time with the girls today. Hope you don't mind."

Desmond continued to smile.

"Of course. Text me later."

"Of course. Love you."