“He trusts me just fine. We spend a lot of time together out of choice,” she huffed. “What do you want?”
He shrugged, leering at her like she was a piece of meat. “Just hoping to speak to you for a few minutes. Why did you stay with him? I know you were drunk.”
She sighed, rubbing her temple. “I know you don’t want to listen to this, but I love him. And once again, I asked him to marry me.”
Mike stepped forward and grabbed her by the shoulders and almost shook her. “He’s not standing here. You don’t have to lie for him now. You can tell me the truth.”
“I am telling you the truth. Let go of me,” she stammered, trying to take a step back. “I don’t want you to touch me.”
From out of nowhere, Chris came up behind him and grabbed him, yanking him away from her. “What are you doing? You have no right to be man handling her.”
Jenny looked over at Chris with a look of relief. “Thanks, Chris. Maybe you should get him out of here before Mark sees him. He’s not going to be happy.”
“It’s too late. I’ve already saw him. I saw him on the security video.” Mark stepped around her and grabbed Mike by the front of his shirt and picked him up off the ground, bringing him nose-to-nose with him. “You’re saved once again by our location, but if I ever see you put your hands on my wife again, I won’t care where we are. I’m going to wring your bloody neck. You won’t get another free pass.”
“Mark, calm down,” Jenny said, laying her hand on his arm, trying to get his attention on her. “I’m fine.”
He sat Mike back down on the ground and turned to Jenny. “I’m not going to let this go. I need to know you’re going to be safe when you go to the store by yourself. If I hadn’t been wanting to talk to Dad, you could have been by yourself. I don’t always come to the store with you.”
“I know, Mark. But Chris was here.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Mark turned back to Mike. “I’m here to protect her, and you had better learn how to keep your hands to yourself.”
“I still don’t believe she wants to be married to you.”
“I know you’ve convinced yourself she wants you,” he snarled, taking a step closer. Close enough, Mike’s nose would have been bumping him in the chin, if the other man hadn’t been trying to look up at him to look him in the eyes. “But she doesn’t. And you had better back off. Stay away from her. She’s mine. I’m not going to just step back and let you hurt her because you don’t like taking no for an answer.”
Mike looked like he was going to try his hand at intimidating Mark. When the much bigger man leaned down and literally growled, “Go ahead, try it,” he jumped back and started shaking. Without another word, he turned and ran from the store.
******
When they left the store, Jenny asked Mark to take her to her mom and dad’s and now they stood facing off in the kitchen. The store incident had shaken her so badly, she had told him she couldn’t take it anymore. She had asked him for a divorce. And this time she meant it. But only because she was afraid he was going to end up in trouble for murder. She knew she couldn’t tell him it was for his own good, or he would try to fight her on it. She was going to have to use the deal they made to do it.
Jenny had finally started to remember what had happened the night they got married in Vegas. Mark had told her the truth. She had asked him to marry her. But he hadn’t been drunk. That had been the key that had unlocked her memory. Lisa had told her about him calling her that night. She had told her point blank he hadn’t been drunk. Her mind had been trying to deny what she had heard ever since. Now she couldn’t deny it anymore. He could have said no. So, why didn’t he. He didn’t even try to say no.
But he hadn’t made love to her that night, either. He had actually told her that night that he refused to regret the first time he made love to her, and that would be hard to do if she was regretting it because she was too drunk to make a clear decision.
She had decided she was going to have to confront him about this. That was the only way she would really be able to sound like she meant what she said, and why she now found herself standing toe-to-toe with him in the kitchen. “Were you sober when we got married?”
He looked up at her like he didn’t want to answer. “Yes,” he finally said staring back down at the floor. “Completely.” His head came up, and he looked her in the eye. “But I never said I was drunk. Everybody just assumed.”
“Then why did you do it?” She realized she was holding her breath, waiting for him to answer, and had to remind herself to breathe.
“Because I love you, and you wouldn’t ever give me a chance. And then you asked me to marry you. I honestly tried to talk myself into not doing it. But it was too late. The second you spoke the words, I was going to do it. I had everything I ever wanted right there in my arms. And you had handed me the means to hang on to you. I’ll never be sorry for trying. But I’ll just never be whole without you.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t do it,” Jenny said, her own heart breaking in two with her words. But she felt like she had to leave him to protect him from himself.
“I know. You don’t feel the same way for me that I feel for you.” She could hear the tears in his voice and felt like she needed to explain better.
“I do love you, I just didn’t want to get married. That’s why I would never date you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were the only one I was ever in danger of giving into. I knew if I ever dated you, and if you ever asked me to marry you, I’d jump at the chance. So, I had to act like I didn’t want you as much as I do. Of course, it really didn’t work. You figured it out anyway.”
“Why didn’t you want to get married?”
“I figured out fast how men viewed me. Tall and leggy. Long blonde hair and blue eyes. Big boobs. Most of the time they treated me like I was an air head. I just didn’t trust I’d ever be able to be sure that the man I was dating, was dating me for the right reasons. And I have seen so many of my friends go through divorce. I just didn’t want to take the chance.”
She knew the whole time she was talking, she was lying. Her old fears weren’t relevant. She knew he loved her. The real her. Not just the body. But she was still having trouble dealing with his possessive side. She was truly afraid one of these days he was going to kill someone. But she was afraid to try and explain that to him.
“So, I guess, no matter what I do, it just won’t ever be enough.” It was a statement, not a question. He sounded defeated. She almost took it back. But she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. “I’ll give you what you want. I knew it was a big risk. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to put myself back together.”
“Mark.” She could feel herself caving in.
“Don’t,” he said shaking his head. He didn’t want her pity. He loved her too much. It would kill him. “Just file for a divorce. I’ll pay for it. I won’t ever bother you again.”
He turned and walked out of the kitchen with his head down. He never looked back.
******
Jenny sat, barely touching her food. She had managed to swallow a few bites, hoping not to alert her mom to how upset she was. She shouldn’t have bothered. Zane finally gave in and broke the strange silence that had fallen over the normally noisy table. “Jenny, why did you do it? You are absolutely miserable.”
She shrugged, trying not to let the tears that had been threatening ever since he walked out the front door fall. “We agreed to try and make it work. We knew going in it might not. I guess you could say it was on a trial basis.”
Her brother just snorted and shook his head. “That doesn’t tell us why you just left him. Try and remember I’m a cop. I know there’s something more going on here.”
“I had to leave. Okay? That’s all I’m going to say on the matter.”
“Why?” he asked, still pushing. “You have to tell us why. You have obviously been crying. You look like death warmed over. And not very warm death at
that.” Zane knew he was being cruel, but he felt like he needed to, to get the point across.
She looked up at Zane and gave him a dirty look. “The same reason I never dated anyone guy more than three or four times. I can’t bring myself to trust what he’s saying.” For whatever reason, she felt the need to stick with the lie and just prayed her brother didn’t see through it.
“Mark isn’t like all those other guys, Jenny. He really loves you. And you’re killing him with this.”
“Wait a minute, Zane,” Jamie said, stopping her from replying. “Can one of you, please, catch the rest of us up?”
“All the guys in school always drooled all over her. You remember? They only wanted one thing from her.” Zane looked over at his mom, waiting for her to catch up.
“You think Mark just had a thing for your...,” her mom hesitated, trying to find the right words, “...assets?”
Jenny looked up at the ceiling, trying hard not to let the tears fall. “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Jenny,” their mom sighed. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. How could you think that? That boy would walk through fire for you.”
She sighed, finally just pushing her plate away. “That’s not all of it.”
“Please, tell us the rest,” her mom said, crossing her arms in front of her in irritation. She was trying to be understanding, but it was getting really hard.
She took a deep breath, taking a few seconds to decide how to word what she had to say next. “He is very possessive. I’m afraid he’s going to kill someone one of these days. I thought he was going to take Mike’s head off earlier today at the store.”
“The reason he’s that vicious with Mike, is because he knows Mike is just mad because he didn’t get you in his bed before you two got married,” Zane said, being blunt enough his mom gasped and slapped him on the back of the head.
Her brother just turned and looked at her for a second with a raised eyebrow and then turned back to Jenny like nothing happened. “He wouldn’t be that bad if it wasn’t for Mike’s philosophy for life. Get laid as often and by as many different women as he can. Mike actually disgusts Mark. Mark might have dated a lot, but he has a lot of respect for women. He would never use one like that. If he was just possessive of you, he wouldn’t have let you leave him. But that’s not who Mark is. And you know that.”
“Oh,” she breathed, sitting up straighter in her chair. “I didn’t realize Mike was that bad.”
“He’s actually worse than that,” he replied, taking at drink of his iced tea before continuing. “I know you didn’t think he was dangerous, but I’m not sure he wouldn’t have tried to force himself on you when he realized you weren’t going to sleep with him. I don’t believe you’re truly safe even now and with Mark and you split up, I’m going to have that much more to worry about. Before you had constant protection.”
She shook her head, giving him a startled look. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“Really? With everything that’s happened already, you really think Mike is just going to walk away now that Mark is out of the way?” he questioned dryly, raising an eyebrow at her. “He has a really bad temper. If I had known beforehand that you were dating him, I would have advised you against it. But you won’t have to worry about Mark getting that vicious with anyone else. It’s just Mike.”
Jenny was starting to feel like the rest of her argument was pointless, but she continued on just the same. “He wasn’t drunk when we got married. He knew what he was doing.” She heard a few gasps, but not as many as she was expecting.
Her mom just looked at her. “Why does that matter? I never heard him once say he was.”
“He took advantage of the situation.”
“Yeah, Sis, I don’t know why he would have to resort to desperate measures. It’s not like he asked you out once a week or anything.” Zane was so sarcastic, it felt like a sting across her face.
“Take it easy, Zane,” their dad said, speaking up for the first time since the conversation had started. “This is her decision.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t the wrong one.”
“Jenny,” she heard from down the table a little-ways.
She turned to look at her brother-in-law. Luke had spoken so softly, she wasn’t sure it hadn’t all been in her head. When she was sure he had spoken, she found herself wondering if he was angry with her. Mark was one of his best friends. But when he spoke again, she realized he was only concerned. “He once told me, when you finally said yes to him, that he’d finally settle down.”
“What am I supposed to do with that?”
“I’m just saying he is in love with you. He has been since college.”
When Jenny’s cheeks flushed pink, her mom jumped back in the conversation. “What happened in college?”
“Well, it was actually summer break,” she shrugged. “We kissed. It was when I realized I was in love with him.”
“Apparently, that’s when he realized he was in love with you, as well.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t change the way we got married.”
“Didn’t you ask him to marry you?” her mom pushed.
“Yes, but I was drunk.”
“And you can’t forgive him?”
“I don’t know. Maybe,” she shrugged, feeling hopeless.
“Why don’t you tell us the whole story?”
“Okay, I’ll try.” She took a deep breath, and started, trying to be sure and tell them everything she could remember. “We were supposed to be eating dinner. It was my idea to order wine instead of something else to drink.”
“What do you mean, you were supposed to be eating dinner? Either you were, or you weren’t.”
“He was eating. I was drinking. I was too nervous to eat.” Jenny took another deep breath and continued on. “We were done, and I asked him to dance with me. He tried to say no, but I dragged him to the dance floor. He had to hold me up.” She had to pause while she hid her face in her hands waiting for the embarrassment to cool a little bit.
“When the song finished, he turned me back toward the table to leave. I was very wobbly, so he picked me up to carry me.” She had to hide her face once again. “This is where it gets...,” she paused looking for the right word, “...dicey. While we were waiting for the elevator, I started nibbling on his ear. He asked me to stop. He said something about having wanted me for a very long time and only being human. I said that was the perfect reason to keep going.”
She looked up at Mindi when she heard her snort. “Continue, please. Don’t pay any attention to me.”
“He said something about not wanting to regret making love to me the first time.”
“I understand the feeling,” James said, barely above a whisper.
“James, don’t start. We’re fine.” He just looked over at his wife and shrugged.
“Anyway, that’s when I asked him to marry me.” She swallowed the tears back down and started again. “He told me he tried to get off on the second floor like he should have. But when he stepped forward, he pushed the button to go back down.”
“Okay, I can’t take anymore,” Mindi said, giving her a frustrated look. “Do you remember telling me once that I was tugging on Luke’s cape?”
“Tugging on my cape? What’s that mean?” Luke asked with a bewildered look on his face.
“It was before we were married. Well, after I kissed you the second time,” she said looking over at her gorgeous husband. “When I ran off, I went to talk to Jenny. She told me you were only human, and that I was tugging on your cape.” When Mindi looked back over at Jenny, she noticed she had a look of horror on her face.
“So, you’re saying it’s my fault?”
“Not exactly. I mean, you were drunk. You were at a diminished capacity. It’s just that you’re laying it all at his door step, but it’s more mutual than that. You could say he was drunk from too much of you. And love is far more potent than any alcohol. It only takes a
tiny bit to make a person act like a crazed lunatic.”
******
The first thing Mark had done after leaving the Townsend’s when Jenny had told him it was over was stock his fridge with beer and whiskey. She had totally blindsided him. They had been doing so well. Then all of the sudden she had changed. He didn’t even know what he had done. All he knew was, he had never been more miserable in his life.
He had come to the bar to wait for all of the beer to get cold. He was hoping he could get drunk enough not to feel the pain for a while, but apparently Joe wasn’t going to give him enough to get that drunk. He didn’t know Joe had already called somebody to come and get him. He had to call around for a while to find someone Mark wouldn’t be able to get the better of. He had finally managed to get a hold of Jeff Campbell. The guy might be a lot smaller than Mark, but he was absolutely fearless. And he had skills that no one else in Sapphire Springs would be able to match.
“Mark, you’re too big,” Joe said, shaking his head. “If I let you get that drunk and you get angry, someone could get hurt.” Or killed.
He tilted his head back, doing his best not to get angry now. “I promise, I’m not going to hurt anybody.”
The older man just shook his head again. “Mark, I’m sorry. I feel it’s prudent not to give you another. You’re not your normal good-natured self, right now.”
He gave the bartender a very serious look and mumbled, “She left me.”
“Jenny left you?” Joe asked, nearly shouting. Thankfully, with it being Friday night the bar was pretty noisy, and he didn’t figure anyone else heard.
“Yep,” he nodded. “Three months of heaven, and now it’s over.”
“Yeah, you definitely don’t need any more alcohol.”
Just then he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. When he turned around, it was the one person he couldn’t really promise Joe he wouldn’t hurt. “What do you want?”
Mike glared at him and doubled up a fist. “Just this.” When he swung his fist, it looked like he was trying to punch Mark as hard as he could in the ribs.
Married in Vegas (The Townsends Book 3) Page 20