Mrs Jones (GxG)

Bonus Chapter 1 - {Keeping up with the Joneses}

Julia's P.O.V

Mt Ida, Alexandria, VA
Friday May 24th, 2025 

I woke up, and Drea was not in bed. It was immediately uncomfortable without her and so cold that I could no longer stay asleep. The dim lights shining through the sliding doors let me know it was just about dawn. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 4:57 a.m. With half-sleeping limbs, I pushed the duvet away to slip out of bed and into my fluffy slipper. The cold air wrapped around my half-naked body, threatening to freeze me. I grabbed my robe from the loveseat near the door and shrugged it on. The sight of Drea sitting on the patio steps caught my attention. She was wearing a grey-knitted blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her head thrown back as she watched the early morning sky.

I reached up to free my hair from the collar of my robe as I slipped through the sliding doors. It fell back into place down my back. As I approached, my hand glided along her shoulder and up the back of her neck. Her undercut greeted me, the softness of her shaved hair brushing my fingertips as they glide through. On New Year's Eve, she'd come home after a day out with her friends, with almost the entirety of her hair shaved off. Okay, let me stop lying. She just got an undercut and had had the rest of it in braids. Very, very long braids, as if to make up for the absence of the shaved parts. I almost had a stroke. Not because it didn't look nice, but because of how sudden the change was. How drastic ... I wasn't ready. Then she dared to tell me, "Sonji made me do it."

But I forgave her because now, I love it and she loves it and August and Willow love it. So...

She turned to face me as I sat next to her, and her arm with the blanket wrapped around me in a cocoon of warmth. My head found her shoulder, and my eyes found the sky, too. "What are we looking at?"

"I was just thinking."

"About?"

She sighed heavily, reluctance tying her words to her tongue. When I glanced at her, I could see her conflicting thoughts. Still, she didn't voice them, turning to me with a smile I registered as one of the fake ones. The arm around my shoulder pulled me even closer to her as she said, "How lucky I am to have all of you and Alex."

I scoffed, not believing the lie I was being fed for a second. "You're being a yes bitch."

She rolled her eyes, stood up, and offered a hand to help me. Then she was leading me back inside our bedroom through the sliding doors. The house was quiet since it was so early, and Alex was still fast asleep. My mind wandered to August and Willow. They've been in London for the past week on tour so we haven't seen them much since last weekend. We should be meeting up with them in LA this evening and spend the entire weekend together.

My bags and Alex's bags were already packed. I was that excited. I could hardly wait. For now, though, I pushed the excitement aside and made my way over to our king-size bed, wanting to catch up on my sleep. The soft linen sheets felt as if they were summoning me, and the exhaustion I felt made me unable to resist.

I peered at my wife through half-open eyes. "Coming back to bed?"

She shook her head, her braids shaking with the movements. In the room's darkness, she was a silhouette against the light, but I could still very clearly see her wary expression.

"I think I'm gonna go call Emilie." When I frowned, she added. "Then I'll join you."

"Adreanna, it's 5 a.m." I slipped under the duvet and pulled it up to my waist, my hands resting in my lap as I watched her. "They probably aren't even up yet."