Breaking Ice

Chapter 64

Amelia

I pulled myself together and Luke and I went inside of Capps. Together we sat at the bar stools closest to the well. Steve was down there for most of the night.

"Princess what's wrong" Steve asked when we sat down

I looked over at Luke who has doing a throat cutting motion behind me. To think we are in our thirties.

"Luke oh my god" I laughed

"Josh is the worst" Luke shrugged

"We've been knew but what did he do this time" Steve laughed

"He called our relationship a mistake, we got in a screaming match in Tyler's living room and then decides to text me and tell me Sidney is coming to Christmas at Momma Dun's place, I as usual had to say a snarky comment so he calls me and started screaming at me over the kids because I called them 'my' kids. Who the hell does he think he is."

"I'm going to kill him for real this time. I swear to god Amelia" Steve said shaking his head. His face was getting angrier every second

"Babe" Luke said glaring at his husband

"Don't babe me right now Lucius. I can't believe him. What happened to the soft boy that would make late night taco bell runs when you were pregnant or that bawled his eyes out at the sight of kittens. What happened out in Portland"

"Hell if I know"

"Ahem call him. Have him come up here I want to talk to him. You two can go upstairs while I talk to him if you don't want to see him but I'm going to get down to why this idiot is treating you this way"

"No Steve you're just going to end up punching him and getting nothing out of him or just making him angrier"

"Amelia Lucia Jones I swear on Luke's life that I won't do anything stupid or over dramatic" He said putting his pinky out

Against my gut I agreed. Deep down I wanted to know what Josh had to say. I pulled out my phone and texted josh to meet me at Capps not mentioning Luke or Steve. Hopefully it wouldn't result in a big blow out like usual. Can we all just have one civil conversation. Luke and I decided to stay at the bar but move to the other side still able to hear them but not close enough for Josh to notice we were listening. Barely fifteen minutes later Josh had walked in and took a seat next to me. Of course.

"What did you want to talk about?" Josh asked me

"Oh I have nothing to say to you right now but Steve however does"

"Join me in my office Joshua" Steve grinned pointing to the other side of the bar.

Josh rolled his eyes but moved to the other side of the bar.

It felt weird eves dropping on them.

--Steve--

"What's your deal man" I asked "What's got you being a dick to everyone you come in contact with. It's not the old man Dun we all knew and loved"

"Amelia" Josh answered with a shrug

"Come on Josh if Amelia was the reason. Why are you only acting like this now. What about twenty years ago huh?" I asked with a confused look "What happened in Portland that changed you so much"

"This whole Ronnie situation fucked me over big time. I had to practically go into witness protection I had to create a whole new identity for myself. Mr.D is a scary dude. You don't understand and you never will, imagine the hell I've gone through only to come back and have my entire life explode in my face." he said "everything would have been fine if you had kept Amelia from dating Travis"

"Come with me Josh" I said grabbing his shoulder.

I pulled him into the office and slammed the door. I could tell this is something Ahme and Luke didn't need to hear, at least for now.

"Tell me what happened right now Dun. For Amelia's sake I can tell you still have feelings for her. We get it being gone changed you but what has gotten you so angry."

"It's no secret that I'm a jealous guy so seeing that Amelia had moved on and started dating again crushed me"

"You were gone for thirteen years dude" I said cutting him off "did you expect her to be single forever"

"No but I just didn't expect it to be with Travis. He's such a prick and is part of the reason I had to leave."

"What the hell does that mean"

"He's part of Mr.D's crew. He's the one that gave me the black eye not long before I left. Remember that"

What the hell. Sure Travis had a shitty attitude but he had been a family friend forever. Amelia even got her first tattoo done by him. I couldn't imagine him ever getting physically violent, the guy sure knew how to run his mouth. Amelia surely does have a type.

I remember when Josh came home with that black eye. His lip was split and was barely recognizable for a while. He had said a crate of records had fallen off the shelf. I should have known better. I've been punched in the face enough to know the difference. 

"They started spending a ton of time together when you left. She decorated his shop and started working there part time. They weren't together long, maybe 6 weeks. He really screwed that up. Amelia has always put the kids first"

"He didn't hurt her did he?"

"He broke Kintsugi and Isaac flipped out that kid loves Death Cab"

"It was my copy. I thought Isaac hated me"

"How many times do we have to tell you that these kids adore you. They've always wanted you to be in their life. The only reason we're all pissed about you being back is because you have no remorse and are acting like nothing even happened."

"I don't know what you guys expect me to do or say."

"Maybe an I'm sorry and less yelling like, come on dude we can't say a thing to you without you flipping shit. Are you serious that the only reason you're constantly bitching at us is because Ahme dated Travis."

"Yeah. I missed out on so much and I know that it's partially my fault but you guys seemed to move on so well. Sure I had a life out in Portland but it was nothing like THIS, I missed all of you so damn much I couldn't take being away from you guys for so long. Now that Mr.D is dead I don't have a reason to hide anymore. I want to be back with Ahme and be friends with you and Luke again and be a part of the kids lives, I let them ruin my life for too long." Josh finally said

That's why he was mad, thirteen years of his life were stolen from him all due to some dumb shit Ronnie got him involved in.

---

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed I can't believe I've come back to this story after so long. I have written a few chapters and i've really enjoyed continuing this, even if it is keeping me up to 3AM every night since my brain only works between midnight and 3. 

-izzy