A Taste of You : The Next Course

21. Stubborn Overgrowth

*** One month later ***

*** Ethan's POV ***

"You sure this is what you want, E?" Aron challenged me.

"Why are you asking me that?" I asked indignantly. I was on edge as usual these days when I was at work.

"Hey man, relax. It's me. We're cool with each other right?" Aron tried to put me at ease.

I was standing with him on the field. We had a weekend event that we were hosting for veterans. I looked around nervously because Julie had made me nervous to speak freely, lest something I say be taken out of context. She was still giving me hell after she felt like I abandoned her after her miscarriage. I still didn't fully understand what I had done, but I wasn't about to engage with her to find out.

Thankfully, things at home had improved following our last tiff over Alise being too busy to proritize us. She had gone to the doctor to get her IUD removed. The doctor said that while she may get pregnant sooner, that her regular cycles wouldn't likely resume for a few months. We had also started therapy again, meeting once in person for the original consult and then weekly through video conference.

Alise acknowledged her guilt over putting off the appointment, but also in not realizing that I was dealing with something at work. I admitted to keeping it from her because I didn't want to add anything to her already full plate. The therapist told us we needed to be transparent and gave us homework. We were doing well or at least, I thought so. I saw Alise devoting more attention to us, and that was really all I wanted. To feel like our family was still one of her priorities.

Now, if Julie would just back the fuck off it would be great. I turned my attention back to Aron. "Yeah, man. Sorry."

He dropped his voice. "Is that devil woman still messing with you?"

"Yes. Thankfully she hasn't gone after any more of my staff, but she is constantly trying to bait me into saying or doing something that she can use against me." I told him.

"Yeah, I heard about her trying to bring Vera back from the grave." Aron said.

I groaned. Vera was my ex and somehow Julie found out and tried to set up a compromising situation involving her for a photoshoot. Thankfully legal stepped in because Vera was barred from doing anything with the club after her public meltdown over me and Alise.

"She also tried to get an underage intern to report that I had made her uncomfortable. Except the intern caved when she was asked to give her report to HR. Admitted she never met with me one-on-one like her original report stated and that I was nothing, but respectful in our public interactions. She never came back" I shared.

"What the hell! This woman is seriously trouble." Aron observed.

"You're telling me. And John is no help." I muttered as I saw Julie approaching hurriedly across the field towards us. "Fuck, speaking of the devil..."

"Ethan! Why are we set up here?! I told you that there were mobility issues for several of the veterans that would make this impossible." She yelled at me in front of my staff and the players present. I was used to it by now.

"It's no problem, Julie. We can go to them." Aron interjected.

"He is setting us up for a lawsuit with his ineptitude!" She hissed, gesturing at me.