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Published By

Etopia Press

1643 Warwick Ave., #124

Warwick, RI 02889

http://www.etopiapress.com

The Perfect Storm

ISBN: 978-1-941692-28-8

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Etopia Press electronic publication: October 2014

~ Dedication ~

To J.J. and Samantha Jane

CHAPTER ONE

J.J. Blake woke to find his bed empty and a note from Eden on the pillow saying she didn’t have it in her to say goodbye. He stared at the ceiling, wishing he could stay in bed for the rest of the day with the memory of the heady, lust-filled night with his ex-wife. He’d danced with her at Seth and Morgan’s wedding. Four dances later, they’d swiped a bottle of champagne and retired to the house for one last night of passion. As soon as J.J. opened the door, years of angst let loose like a broken dam as they stripped each other and made love into the wee hours of the night. It was the perfect way to end their otherwise disastrous marriage. Sex was only time the two of them weren’t at each other’s throats.

He roamed around his living room, taking one last look at the place. After two weeks of scouring the house he was pretty sure he’d removed anything of sentimental value. A picture of Eden and him on their wedding day sat on the mantle. It hadn’t been there yesterday. She must have brought it with her. He picked it up and smiled, thinking how happy and clueless he’d been back then. Still, it had no place in the house anymore, so he snagged it and put it in the kitchen trash. Satisfied, he went outside to put a few things in his truck.

“Mr. Blake, we should be ready for phase two in about a half hour.”

He nodded at the foreman. “Thanks, Jesse.”

A truck headed toward them on the road. He could see his mother’s red hair peeking over the steering wheel. She parked and cut the engine.

J.J. helped her get out of the vehicle. “Good morning, Momma.”

“Good morning baby. Is Eden here? I saw you leave with her last night.” She looked around for her daughter-in-law’s car.

“She left hours ago. Did you want to say goodbye?”

“No, we said our goodbyes. We had a long talk last night.”

J.J. furrowed his eyebrows. “You did?”

Teri-Lyn touched his arm. “I told her that I’m sorry things turned out the way they did and I wished her the best.”

“Wow. Thanks for saying that Momma.”

“Just because the two of you didn’t work out doesn’t mean there isn’t true happiness out there for each of you.”

“If this relationship has taught me one thing, it’s that I’m just not cut out for marriage.”

“You can’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do. It took seven years to figure that out and I will not go through it again.”

“Promise me you’ll think about it some more before you cast that die into the universe.”

The rest of the family was beginning to arrive. J.J.’s brother Seth pulled up and was helping his wife Morgan and their kids out of their truck.

Morgan came over and kissed him on the cheek. “Hey, J.J.”

“Can’t wait to see this surprise you have for us.” Seth laughed as he balanced his twin boys Connor and Colby in each arm.

“Just a little spring cleaning.” J.J. scooped his Jake nephew into his arms.

It was time to begin anew and it felt right to have his family with him when he did it. The rest of the family began pulling up. John Jacob, Tyler and Channing arrived together in his dad’s truck while Tate and Isabelle came riding up on horseback. J.J. scanned the Blake clan, who were all assembled on his front lawn. Morgan’s mouth gaped open when she spied the button in his hand. He winked at her and she nodded back, apparently she understood what he was trying to tell her. She gave him the inspiration, after all. He’d laughed for a half hour when he’d found that steamy romance novel she’d snuck into his briefcase during his visit to Philadelphia, but when he’d read it, he’d realized what was missing in his world.

“Thank you for coming out this morning as I bid goodbye to the past.” J.J. pressed the button and felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders when the house began to crumble. He’d gotten the idea to start over with a literal clean slate while he was traveling for business. He visited a prospective property for a land deal and was overtaken by the serenity of the open space with nothing but the blue sky and luscious greenery all around. When he saw the blueprints Morgan’s brother Jared had drawn up for Jake’s tree house, he knew he’d found the right architect to help him design his new home.

No one really knew what to say; the look of shock and awe was plastered on their faces. Finally his brother Tate started clapping. The rest of the family, including the twins, Connor and Colby, joined Tate.

“Uncle J.J., your house go boom.” Jake clapped.

“It sure did. Now I get to build a new one that will have a great room for you, Connor and Colby.”

“Yay!” Jake clapped harder.

“Is this your way of announcing your separation?” Channing raised an eyebrow.

“Eden and I are divorced. It was finalized last month.”

“And you waited a month to tell us because…?” Seth asked.

“I didn’t want to disrupt the festivities of your wedding,” J.J. replied.

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you two leave together last night?”

J.J. shrugged. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, I wish you the best on to the next chapter in your life,” Channing quipped.

“All I ever wanted was for you to happy.” Tate patted his shoulder.

“Me too. So what now?” Seth added.

“It’s time to rebuild.” J.J. looked on as the construction men started clearing debris.

* * *

Blowing up the house he’d shared with Eden was therapeutic, but he’d rendered himself homeless. Now he was back living with his parents and Tyler and Channing, who were home for the summer. By the end of the evening he’d settled into his old room at his parents’ house. It was smaller than he remembered, and still decorated the same as it had been when he was in high school.

His father, John Jacob, appeared at the doorway. “How are you handling all this?”

“You know me, Daddy. I’ve been knocked down by bigger things than this.”

“Your mother said you’re going back to work on Monday. You sure you don’t need more time?”

“There are some things that need my attention.”

“There will always be something that needs handling, that’s the nature of business. You have pretty good employees who can take care of things.”

“Work is the best thing for me right now.”

“If you say so. The annual audit with Regency Private Security Group is coming up. Bubba normally does it, but he and Bo are going on vacation. Think you could cover for him?”

Bubba was Bodine Jamison, Jr., the chief financial officer for Blake Enterprises. He was an old friend and Bo senior’s son.

“What does it entail?”

“Sam Carson, our Regency liaison, does a check of security at all Blake properties for vulnerabilities and fine-tunes things when necessary.”

He didn’t know the specifics of how the security remained as tight as it did, but now was his chance to learn. Maybe it was time for a meet and greet with the man both his dad and Bubba gushed about.

“I welcome having something new on my plate.”

“Good.” John Jacob scratched at his beard. “Don’t go working extra hard to avoid having a social life. When you finish licking your wounds from the divorce, get back out there and have some fun. This is just a hiccup. Pretty soon you’ll be in a new house and getting on with your life.”

“You’ve never voiced your opinion about the marriage or the divorce. Why is that?”

“A man’s gotta make his own decisions about his life. Consider yourself lucky there wasn’t a whole lot of collateral damage. Aside from the five-million-dollar house you just tore down.” John Jacob shook his head and walked off.

A few minutes later Tyler and Channing stopped by.

“Now that you’re single, we thought we’d get you a bachelor’s survival kit.” Tyler flashed a cheesy grin and handed him a gift bag.

The contents of the bag included a bottle of tequila, dirty magazines, flavored lubricants and a box of condoms. Yeah, it was going to try his patience living with these two idiots again.

“Considering how much thought the two of you probably put into this, thank you.” J.J. threw the bag on the bed.

“If you’re looking for any pointers on women…” Tyler smirked.

“Tyler, I do recall you trying to get away from Michelle a few days ago.”

Tyler held up his hands. “I can’t help it if women find me irresistible.”

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