Fabricating Jada

by Marie, Vanessa

  Closing my eyes, I laid my head back against the cabinet and closed my eyes. "Hi, Mom."

  My mom blew out a sigh of relief. "Why haven't you answered your phone? I've been worried to death. Are you okay?"

  I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "I'm fine. Are you guys? Is dad freaking out?"

  "We're fine, love. Dad's a little upset, but he will get over it. What happened?"

  Blowing out an exhausted breath, I shook my head from side to side. "I don't even know. It's a long story."

  Concern laced her voice. "Tell me the truth, love. Are you okay?"

  That broke me. The one person I could truly count on in this world, knew when I wasn't okay no matter how hard I tried to convince her otherwise. Tears streamed down my face. "No."

  "Come home. Whatever is going on, we can handle it."

  I knew from the tone of her voice, if I'd been in front of her she'd be looking at me with doe eyes and no judgment. My dad's angry voice cut in the background. "If I ever see that slithering snake, piece of shit, Jesse Valentine—I'll cut his dick off and shove it down his throat!"

  Saying he was angry didn't begin to cover it. He'd already had a strong dislike of Jesse before all of this started. Now? It seemed like a murderous hate.

  My eyes darted open, and I looked at Jesse, hoping and praying he hadn't heard my dad's shout. From the hard line of his mouth, I could tell he had.

  "I'm sorry," I mouthed to him.

  He stood abruptly, leaving me there, alone in my guilt and grief for the life I once knew, to finish my call.

  The silence grew on my end of the phone.

  "Jada? Are you still there?" my mom asked as if she were talking to a scolded dog.

  "I'm here," I whispered and wiped away my ever flowing tears. It was a useless endeavor at that point.

  "The house phone has been ringing off the hook all afternoon, I finally had to unplug it. So if you need me call my cell, okay?"

  I nodded. "Okay. Is it crazy out there?"

  The snap and creak of the front blinds being pulled apart told me she was looking outside. "There are people everywhere. Thankfully, Mr. Reyes next door ran them down to the street and off the lawn with his broom."

  "I'm so sorry for all of this, Ma," I cried. They didn't need their life under a microscope. It was hard enough being invisible.

  "It's okay, love. It sounds like there's a story behind everything they're saying on the news and I know you'll tell me everything when you're ready. Carter stopped by earlier."

  Closing my eyes, I knocked my head against the counter. "Carter was there? How dare she!" I snapped.

  "Yes, she was. She came to take accountability for what was happening."

  I breathed out a frustrated sigh. My face was pulled so tight, it hurt. "So you already know everything then?"

  My mom let out the same kind of sigh. I never realized how much I sounded just like her. "No. She said it wasn't her story to tell and she'd already ruined your friendship by telling more than she should have."

  "I'm surprised she owned up to her fault in it," I snapped, surprising myself that I would talk to my mom that way.

  "Love, listen. People make mistakes and I know that Carter loves you. Don't let this destroy fifteen years of friendship. Come home when you can and we will sort the rest out. Mrs. Gomez said when you come home to park at her house and sneak across the yard. All of the neighbors are standing with you. No one is going to say anything, okay?"

  My gut turned, thinking of all of the innocent people this scam was going to affect. "Tell them I said thank you. I'll try to come home soon."

  "Okay. Be careful. I love you, Jada."

  "Love you too, Mom."

  As I hung up, the room was eerily silent. I stood, finding two pairs of eyes watching me.

  I sniffed and wiped the tears from my face and looked directly at DeAnna. "My parent's will not be doing an interview. I will not let you drag them through this mess more than they already are. Apparently there are crazy reporters already surrounding my house."

  DeAnna lifted her iPad to face me. "Well, I think this is only going to get worse from here."

  The headlines read:

  "Has Jesse Valentine already gotten rough with his new love interest?"

  "From humble beginnings to snagging one of the most eligible bachelors in America."

  "Is Jada Carmen a gold digger looking to escape the trailer park?"

  The tears I'd just gotten to stop started again as I ran past them and up the stairs. My body was on autopilot, and I went to the only place in the house I knew. Jesse's bathroom.

  I sat on the counter, in the same place I'd been trapped between Jesse's arms the first time he'd kissed me. However, our kiss was the furthest thing from my mind.

  Everything I wanted to put behind me …

  Everything I'd worked so hard to prove … was shattered.

  In the eyes of the media and anyone who followed it, I'd now be an abused and a gold-digging slut.

  The pain in my arm throbbed alongside of the throbbing pain in my chest.

  "I know asking if you're okay is a stupid question, but do you need anything? Is there anything I can do?" Jesse asked from the open arch of the doorless entry of the bathroom.

  I glanced at him and gave my head a quick shake.

  With a few strides, he closed the distance between us. Only this time, he didn't cage me in. His large, callused hand cupped my cheek. I inclined my head to the touch and let my vulnerability show.

  "I'm sorry, Jada. If I had known what she was up to, I would have stopped it. I never meant for you to get dragged through all of this." His eyes watched me with concern as his thumb stroked my cheek.

  I sniffed as he took a step closer and dropped my forehead to his chest. Resting it there. His finger skated up and down my back, soothing me. "I need to go see my parents and explain everything."

  His hands stopped on my lower back. The rumble of his voice echoed through me. "I'll take you."

  Lifting my head, I watched him with surprise. "I can't ask you to do that."

  "You didn't. I'm the reason you're in this mess to begin with."

  I redirected my gaze to the shower in the corner of the expansive room. "I know you heard what my dad said and I'm sorry."

  He shrugged and pulled his hands from my back. "He's not the first dad to ever feel that way about me."

  Hearing that hurt. It made me ache for him. I knew this side, the side of him he was showing me. The gentle and caring guy was a bigger part of him than what he led everyone to believe.

  Jesse pressed his lips to my forehead and let them linger for a moment before pulling away.

  He sighed as I sank back into his chest and wrapped my arms around him, ignoring the protest from my burn. Whether he was sighing because of the situation, or because I'd pulled him back to me, I wasn't sure.

  Wrapping his arms back around me, we sat there in a comfortable silence, breathing each other in.

  DeAnna's voice cut through the silence, forcing us apart. He stood protectively in front of me as he had before.

  "Jesse, are you up here?" She stopped just inside the bathroom, her eyes darting back and forth between us. "I need to—"

  His rasp cut her off. "I'm taking Jada to see her parents. We're not doing any press or any other stunt you've thought up. It's not happening."

  She nodded and didn't protest. "Okay."

  "Okay?" he asked, seeming skeptical of her motives.

  "Yes. I'm sorry, Jada. I screwed up and I never should have commented. I'm sorry for all of the blowback. If I could take it back, I would."

  The sincerity in her blue gaze seemed genuine, but I wasn't in a place to forgive her. Maybe I wasn't mature enough. Or maybe it was just too raw.

  I looked away and took a deep breath to stop my quivering bottom lip. I felt like such a baby. People cried, sure. But I wasn't usually one of them. I was sure I'd reached my breaking point, and the tears were my body's way to deal with being ov
erwhelmed.

  DeAnna left without saying anything else. Jesse turned to face me. "Do you want to take a shower or clean up before we go see your parents?"

  Dipping my chin in a nod, my lips pulled into a small smile. "Sure." I was still wearing my work pants and hideous button down shirt from Auto Depot. Getting out of it would be a relief.

  His eyes narrowed at me. "What's so funny?"

  That made my smile grow. "Nothing. Just, this time you're asking if I want to take one … whereas the last time I was here, you practically stripped me naked and forced me in."

  The dangerous look in his eyes made my lady parts clench. "Oh, you were naked all right."

  My cheeks flushed scarlet, and I smacked his rock hard stomach. "You're full of it. You didn't see anything!" I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince more, him or myself.

  "You're right. I didn't see the birthmark near your hip bone." He laughed and took a few steps away from me.

  "Jesse!" I yelled. Heat crept up my neck and dipped into my shirt at the sounds of his chuckle. There was no way he'd know about my birthmark unless he had seen me. That meant he hadn't seen me from behind, which wouldn't have been as bad … but he'd seen the front of me. Completely nude. And not from a distance which would have been somewhat easier to handle … He'd been close enough to see an inch long, light brown oval on my hip.

  The illusion my push up bras gave?

  Gone.

  The illusion my jeans gave—the ones that made me look like I had a butt?

  See ya.

  The illusion my body was anything other than that of a twelve-year-old-boy?

  Sayonara.

  I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

  Wrapping my arms around myself as if it would change anything, I closed my eyes, completely embarrassed.

  I'd been so distracted by the information that I wished I didn't know, I hadn't noticed him leave. Or come back.

  Jesse set a pile of clothes and a towel next to me on the counter. "Here, these may fit you a bit better than my stuff did."

  The clothes were women's. Probably DeAnna's, which meant I'd swim in the shirt, and the pants would probably fall off. "Thanks," I said and covered my eyes with my hands.

  "You covering your face doesn't change the fact I've seen you naked."

  I dropped my hands and glared at him. "I can't believe you were such a creep." I backhanded his bicep.

  He shot me a look that screamed are you stupid? "Come on now, Jane. Did you really think I wouldn't sneak a peek at a good-looking naked chick in my shower?"

  Did he just call me good-looking?

  I shook the thought from my head. "I guess I thought you'd have a little more respect."

  Jesse laughed. I'm talking, full-out belly laugh. "You give me too much credit. I have a penis and think with it ninety percent of the time."

  Groaning, I dropped my head into my hands. "I'm so embarrassed."

  "Doll, you have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about," he said in a husky whisper against my ear and nipped at it before pulling away.

  I lifted my head to see him leaving the bathroom. "I'll give you some privacy—this time," he said and closed his bedroom door behind him.

  Sinking back against the mirror, part of me wanted to ask him to stay.

  I wasn't the only one who had neighbors willing to go to bat for them. Jesse's next door neighbor was generous enough to let Jesse park his undercover car in his garage for times like this, when he needed to get out without being followed. I had no idea what their understanding was, but Drew seemed like a nice old man who was willing to help out. They seemed awfully close in their interactions. Maybe Jesse helped him out a lot or something. After sneaking through both back yards, we pulled out of Drew's driveway and past the slew of paparazzi stalking the security gates. They never even gave us a second glance.

  It was public knowledge what kind of cars Jesse and DeAnna drove. I don't think they ever expected to see him driving a Camry, even if it was fully loaded.

  I pulled the too deep V-neck of DeAnna's shirt that I was currently wearing up to hide my nonexistent cleavage.

  "You look fine, will you stop fidgeting?" It wasn't a question. He was demanding I stop fidgeting.

  "Sorry if it bothers, you, Valentine, but I'm swimming in these clothes. I feel like a little kid playing dress up." I gestured to the too long sweats bunched up at my ankles.

  He cut his gaze to mine. "You need to get your arm looked at. It looks worse than it did the other day. Have you not been cleaning it properly? Or putting that salve I gave you on it?"

  So he had been the one to give it to me. Now I knew for sure.

  I glanced at the clean bandage he'd put on me when I was done getting dressed and frowned. It hurt, sure—but it was almost as if I was getting used to the pain. Which wasn't a good thing.

  "It's fine."

  He growled at me. Growled. Like a damn dog. "It's not fine, Jane. You're going to end up doing permanent damage unless you go to the doctor. You need to stop being so damn stubborn and go."

  There was no point in arguing with him. He'd never understand what it was like. So I agreed just to shut him up with zero intentions of following through. I'd figure it out. I always did. "Fine. I will."

  We drove in silence for a few miles before he spoke again. "When we get there, if the vultures are still out, I can clear a path for you to get to the house."

  I gave my head a quick shake. "No. We'll park at the neighbor's house behind ours. She told us to park there and cut across her yard up to the back of my house."

  Trailer.

  He was going to find out I didn't actually live in a house. Telling him that right now was the last thing I wanted to admit … well maybe not the last—especially after the moments we shared in his bathroom, but he didn't need to know that either.

  Jesse shot me a strange glance. I had no idea what he was thinking about, and I really didn't want to know, so I glared back at him.

  Once we got off the interstate, I gave him directions to my trailer park. RV park as my mom always said. Like that made it any better. There were nice RV parks, and then there was ours.

  If he was trying to hide his surprise as we pulled past the entrance, he did a crappy job. The look of horror that contorted his beautiful face made me sink further in my seat as I pointed toward our destination.

  "Turn in by that broken down van," I said, and pointed to Mrs. Gomez's trailer.

  "Which broken down van? They're everywhere." The way he said it felt like judgment. As if he was too good to be in a place like this. Little did he know Mrs. Gomez couldn't drive anymore, her eyesight was too bad. So she asked me if I could put it on blocks, disconnect the battery, and hide the tires in my workshop so they wouldn't get stolen.

  I'd kept that van running for the last eight years, and it would have met a mini-van graveyard long before now, if I hadn't.

  "The green one on blocks."

  His gaze darted to mine. "Is that your house?"

  "No," I snapped.

  Any kind of feelings I thought I was starting to develop for him evaporated. His judgmental stares told me all I needed to know about him. So what if we lived in HUD housing? I was allowed to criticize it, but he didn't have a right to criticize it. Or me.

  Pulling the car into the driveway at a snail's pace, he put it in park and looked over at me. "I didn't mean to insult where you live."

  "Whatever. Let's just get this over with," I snapped and got out of the car.

  I wanted to slam the door and sprint to my house and into my mother's arms. Unless I wanted to get swarmed by the creeps I could see standing around my front yard, I needed to play it cool.

  "Get out of here you cretans!" Mrs. Gomez yelled from her front door, waving her cane in the air.

  Jogging up the stairs and ducking past the swing of her cane, I placed my hand on her arm. "It's me, Mrs. G."

  She pulled me in for a hug. "Oh, sweet Jada girl. Are you okay?"

 
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you for letting us park here."

  Her clouded eyes did their best to search mine. "Us? Is it true then? You're with that … that … pompous ass?"

  Jesse's chuckle sounded directly behind me, sending goose bumps across my flesh. "She's here with me, the pompous ass, yes."

  Mrs. G's mouth parted like she was at a loss for words. She waved her cane in his direction, barely missing my head. "You hurt her, boy, and you will have to deal with the likes of me! You got that?"

  I took a step back to keep from getting whacked and backed right into a wall of man. Jesse gripped my biceps, and held me against his torso to steady me.

  "Yes, ma'am," he replied.

  We said our goodbyes and snuck across the back yards. Movement and people hollering from the front of the house made us duck inside my workshop which sat behind the house.

  Shed.

  Trailer.

  It was a crappy shed behind a crappy trailer. I'd never thought about the specifics of my life until someone like Jesse was crouched down next to me in the pitch dark. Once the door was latched in place from the inside, I hit the light.

  The single lightbulb hanging from a chain that Mr. Reyes had helped me wire wasn't bright enough to make us squint. Usually, I kept the door open while I worked for extra light along with the lights on my work bench.

  "Is this your shop?" Jesse asked, as he moved around the cramped space, picking up half-finished projects.

  Still on the defensive, I snapped at him. "Yes, it's my shop. Sorry if it doesn't live up to your standards, like my house. Oh, I'm sorry … trailer."

  His gaze softened. "Jada, I'm not judging you."

  I shrugged and looked everywhere but at him. "Whatever. We need to get inside, and there's only one door to get in and it's in the front of the house. So we're going to have to crawl through my window."

  He smirked. That sexy, half smirk he occasionally sported. "I haven't crawled through a girl's window since I was sixteen."

  I rolled my eyes. "Shocker. Now you've graduated to a Peeping Tom."

  "Jada," he said reaching for me.

  "Save it." I opened the door and stuck my head out to see if the coast was clear. My mom was waving at me through my open bedroom window.