Breaking Ice

Chapter 67

Amelia

We pull into the driveway, the lawn covered in cars already. I wish Steve would have let me down the entire bottle of wine before we left. Josh isn't here yet and I'm thankful for that. We finally make it the front door and I can't help but see Hayden bouncing in excitement to see her cousins. This is for them, I tell myself as I turn the knob. We are welcomed by loud laughter and warm lighting. The air smells like apples and pine trees, Christmas.

Momma comes charging at us squeezing her grandkids first. I'm surprised when she wraps her arms around me and whispers in my ear to follow her upstairs. I wave to Ashley as I follow Momma up the stairs. She pulls me into her bedroom a sits on her bed.

"I saw him" she whispers "he told me what is happening between you two"

"I'm sorry." I whisper losing all feeling in body

"Don't be. Just tell me one thing and I won't bring it up again" She says "What did he do?"

He didn't tell her. Of course he didn't.

"He said some things that I can't forgive and he slept with someone else. Shit. I'm so sorry" I said covering my mouth.

"Amelia sweetheart I had a feeling the way he flipped out when I said Jordan was bringing Sidney tonight"

"I shouldn't have said that. Is she still coming?" I ask

"I haven't heard"

"Do you have any wine?" I ask and she laughs

"Come on and I'll make some cider" She smiles

We head down the stairs and my heart stops. Steve and Josh are sitting on the couch laughing with each other. I thought Steve was on my side of this.  I follow Momma into the kitchen and she hands me a glass of cider. It's no wine but it will do to calm my nerves tonight.

"Amelia you look beautiful" Josh smiles when he walks in

"Thanks" I say walking out of the kitchen.

"Can we talk" He asks following me

"Not tonight. It's Christmas"

"She's not coming tonight"

"Good."

"Amelia please"

"Your mom knows" I say taking a sip

"I told her about our fight"

"About Sidney"

"What the hell Amelia." He says putting his hands through his hair

"She asked me what happened and it just kind of spilled" I shrug

"Damn it" he sighs resting his head against the wall "What the hell is he doing here?"

I turn around and see Ronnie at the front door smiling. Hayden pulls him away to the living room but once his eyes catch mine the smile drops. His eyes move between Josh and I, he obviously can't believe the sight. Josh looks scared. Ronnie makes his way over to us without thinking I move in front of Josh. This is weird.

"Why are you here" Josh asks once Ronnie gets to us

"I could ask the same for you" Ronnie says getting closer "Shouldn't you be dead"

"Ronnie please" I say getting on my tip toes

"Shouldn't you be in jail" Josh smiles "Or at a bar"

"Josh" I gasp

"No Ahme its fine. He leaves for thirteen years and comes back forgetting where he came from"

"You know damn well what happened" Josh says getting closer to him sliding me out of the way

"If either of you lay a hand on each other I swear I'll never talk to either of you again" I say glaring at them.

"This isn't over Dun" Ronnie says glaring at us

"Ronnie you are just a responsible for this as he is. You lied to me." Tears welling up in my eyes "I trusted you."

"Ahme please not right now" Ronnie said shaking his head "It's Christmas"

"Now it's Christmas but five minutes ago you were perfectly fine with  ripping Josh's head off." I say my voice getting louder and angrier by the second.

"Guys if you want to talk about it we can go outside but not in here" Josh said getting between us

"Not today I can't handle all of this right now" I say walking away from the two of them, I need to find Steve.

Seeing the anger in Josh's eyes made him unrecognizable. Sure we have had our fair share of fights but nothing that made him this angry. He had revenge in his eyes. Steve knows what went down better than anyone, I knew Josh wouldn't tell me the full truth but he would tell Steve.

I looked around the entire first floor Luke and Steve were no where to be found. These boys are going to kill me one of these days. Once I hit the second floor I hear Steve's laugh. I knock on the door before walking in. Steve and Luke are cuddled up in Josh's old bed.

"Hey Princess" Steve says when I walk in. His smile fades once he sees me. "What's wrong"

"Ronnie is here and I just got stuck in the middle of a testosterone filled argument between him and Josh" I say laying with them

"Fuck" Steve says shaking his head "Why is he even here?"

"He's family. He comes every year."

"Yeah but I thought since Josh was back he wouldn't have the guts to show his face around here especially since it's all his fault. Josh had thirteen years of his life stolen from him all because of Ronnie and his fucked up ties" Steve shrugs

I didn't know thats how Josh felt about all of this.

"Is that what you and Josh talked about the other night" I ask

"Yeah and he said he was more pissed about you dating Travis than anything else since he was a part of D's crew, he gave Josh that black eye"

"What!"

"Ahme I didn't know. I never would have let you near him if I knew"

"I can't believe this, so that is what Josh is mad about? I dated Travis so now he's treating everyone like garbage"

"No Princess it's only part of it. Thirteen years of his life were stolen from him because of Ronnie. He trusted Ron. He was trying to protect you and the kids all these years now that Mr.D is dead he's back and he wants to go back to how things were. You mean the world to him Amelia. I've known since the day you two started dating that you were his entire world and he's done nothing but prove that since, forget the last three weeks. We all know you still have feelings for him and miss him. "

"LUKE!" I yell

"I said nothing" Luke said putting his hands up

"He hurt me Steve. Sleeping with Sidney again and calling our life together a mistake is too much for me. I want to forgive him. I want to go back to before all of this even happened so we can be a family. Ice wouldn't be depressed or have anxiety all the time. Hades wouldn't be anxious or hate school. I would still be following my dream. You think I don't want to forgive him Steve! I've wanted nothing but him back in my life for years." I yell

Steve and I have had three real fights in our entire 25 year friendship, I guess its four now. I thought he'd be on my side for this.

"Amelia I'm sorry" Steve yells as I walk out of the room.

Tears are streaming down my face as I go down the stairs. I head outside and go to the only spot in this house that still brings me joy.

——
Thank you all so much for reading. I'm so glad that there are still people reading this I thought I'd come back and be updating for myself. Also happy 10.4k reads and just in time for my 18th birthday which was yesterday (I'm writing this at 1am on the 26th and it was the 25th).

Crazy to think I was 13 when I started writing Josh and Amelia's story. I never thought it would get this far or be this successful. None of this was ever the plan but I'm writing from the heart this time around and not following any type of mold on what this should be.