Wicked Things We Crave

Chapter Twenty-Five

Astrid was all smiles as they drove back home. Jonah had to admit, he fucking loved the house. It was hella modern compared to where he'd been living the last fifteen years, all appliances updated and sleek, and he fully intended on screwing Astrid in every damn room on that house on moving day. The jacuzzi tub twice.

She'd spent this last week a quiet shell, coming out on Friday, only to be come back to life today. Every time she hurt, he hurt. It'd been the reality of his life for the last twenty-three years. But when she was happy, nothing could be better in his world, and today she was happier than he'd ever seen her.

The realtor had thrown him through a bit of a loop with her comment about having kids. He supposed it was a fair question since she was selling them a future, and it would be stupid not to look at their future when buying a house.

He knew two things for certain.

The first, Jonah intended on marrying Astrid. It was a fucking mind blow and a half, but there it was. He loved her. He had fallen in love with her. If they could weather the storm with Scott, they could face anything. But he also knew that agreeing to move in together was a big step for Astrid. He'd marry her tomorrow if she said yes, and if getting a marriage certificate was a shorter process. He also wanted to enjoy a regular relationship with her for a while. This new house would give them that.

The second, he'd fill that house with kids if she wanted them. Jonah had given up the idea on having a family of his own some time ago. No one special enough came along where he could imagine forever with them. And that was okay. As fucked up as it sounded now, he'd raised Astrid and that was good enough for him at the time. He could be a part of her entire life without being stuck with the bills.

If Astrid wanted kids, he'd give her that. They didn't have a lot of time to spare in that regard, but enough where he wasn't about to rush her.

"What's my dad doing here?" Astrid asked from beside him as he pulled in front of his house.

Scott was sitting on the front porch, beer in one hand, cigarette in the other. He couldn't remember a single time when Scott smoked for anyone to see; that anyone being Astrid. Whatever the hell led him to his place wasn't good.

As soon as he put the car in park and killed the engine, Astrid jumped out and rushed over to him. He watched as Scott shook his head, spoke a few words to his daughter, then Astrid walked slow toward the house. After pausing at the door, she went in, and Scott's eyes found his at the closing of the door.

Jonah undid his seatbelt and stepped out of the car, taking his time walking the cement path to his house.

Scott didn't open his mouth until Jonah sat beside him. "Got a surprise visit from someone today. Haven't spoken to her in a good ten years."

Although she would have been his last guess with someone showing up in town, the time since Scott had last spoke her synched things. It'd been much longer since they'd seen each other in person, but Jonah remembered having the bar call so he could pick up Scott after he'd received a call from his ex earlier that day. "Rachel? What the hell does she want?"

"A divorce. Met a man and wants to get married, I guess."

Something told him the business was the last thing on Scott's mind, but it needed to be brought up. "Should we hold off on signing things over? If I sign them over now, she'll get half of everything. If we wait, she'll only get half of what your half is worth."

"Hadn't thought about that," Scott admitted before taking a drag. "Suppose it'd be smart to wait until this shit's over with. She didn't bring up anything about money, but probably just figures I still don't have much."

Jonah grabbed a cigarette from the pack between them, looking over his shoulder to see if Astrid was watching through the window. Once he saw the coast was clear, not that she didn't already know, he lit it. "Did she bring up seeing Astrid?"

Scott gave a slow nod. "Said it'd be nice to see her while she's in town. Said it like she hoped to run into some friends from high school, not her own fucking daughter."

Jonah and Rachel never got along well. They were on fair terms early in the relationship, but after he overdosed in their living room, she treated him like he was a damn ghost.

It was also no secret that the woman wasn't cut out for motherhood. She seemed relieved when Jonah got clean and moved in, if only for the fact she'd gained a live-in nanny. Parenting never came naturally to her and was never something she bothered to work on.

Rachel and Scott were head over heels for each other from the start, but after Astrid was born, she seemed indifferent; like Astrid infringed on quality time with her new husband. It was all sorts of fucked up. Scott called it postpartum depression, but Jonah had seen it throughout the pregnancy. She had no interest in having children, and if Rachel could have done it all over again, she probably would have gotten an abortion behind Scott's back.

"I don't even know if there's a point in telling her. Rachel didn't seem to care either way, and Astrid deserves better than that."

"It's a small town," Jonah pointed out. "I don't know how long she's here for, but if it's anything more than a day, there's a chance they'll run into each other. You don't want Astrid finding out like that."

Scott nodded slowly once again, took a final drag, then put in out on the step. "I'm ready for this fucking week to be over with, man. First, I find out my best friend of over twenty years is screwing my daughter, then my dad shows up, then the wife I haven't seen for fifteen years comes knocking on my door. I'm about to just go to bed and not wake up till Monday."

It was already Saturday, so Jonah wasn't sure how much more could happen, but he also wouldn't say that shit out loud and risk Armageddon.

"Not a lot of places she can stay. Want me to see if I can track her down? Maybe get her to leave town?" Jonah didn't want to keep this from Astrid, and had no intention of doing so, but also didn't want Rachel to mess with her head and break her heart a second time.

"You gonna talk to her, one home-wrecker to another?" Scott joked. Sort of.

Jonah had already promised himself to take whatever Scott had to dish out, but couldn't let that one slide. "Astrid wasn't living with you, and if we're going for literal, you trashed your own fucking house."

Scott scratched his temple with his middle finger, the gesture not going unnoticed by Jonah. A beat or two passed before he spoke. "You and I aren't friends anymore. What you did, there's no coming back from something like that."

"I know." And Jonah did. While he hoped a time would come when Scott no longer hated him, he knew well that their friendship could never be rekindled or put back together.

"Still," Scott began, "I need you to tell me what in the hell I'm supposed to do here. You're the only one I've ever gone to about serious shit. You've been around since day one. Fucks with my head to say it, but no one knows me better than you. Rachel may have been married to me, but you're the one who saw all the signs I was too close to see. I saw the woman I loved, but you saw her for who she was. And as much as I fucking hate you right now, you and Astrid always had a bond where you instinctively always knew what to do and how to help her. 

"We can't go back to who we were to each other, but I need a lifeline right now with someone who's going to say it like it is and know what the fuck he's talking about."

Astrid was going to hurt no matter what Scott did with this information. They could run that bitch out of town, but if Astrid found out they knew she'd been there at all and decided not to tell her, shit would hit the fan. If the two arranged to meet, Rachel's lack of interest in Astrid's life would cause her pain.

Either way, there was only one right answer in this. "Tell her. Let her decide for herself what she wants to do."

"Yeah," Scott said with a slow nod before he put out his cigarette, "I guess I already knew that. Was just hoping there was another way that would make this shit just magically go away forever."

Unfortunately, there was no magic wand for human nature or life struggles.