by Susan Stoker
Benny clenched his fists and tried to calm himself down. The bruises on her forearms were highly visible against her pale skin. The marks at her throat were fading, but it was obvious what they were as well. He hadn’t gotten a good look at her legs before she’d sat, but Benny knew he’d see bruises there too.
He turned to the stove and poured the egg mixture into the steaming pan. “I hope an omelet is okay for breakfast.” Benny thought he sounded pretty normal, especially for the murderous thoughts that were coursing through his brain.
“It’s more than okay. I haven’t had an omelet in forever. Thank you, Kason.”
“You don’t have to thank me for every single thing I do, Jess.”
“I feel like I do.”
“Well, you don’t. You are not a guest in this house. You live here too. I’m sure you’ll do your part as well. Think how annoying it’ll be if we go around thanking each other all the time.” Benny tried to lessen the blow of his words by smiling.
Jess grinned back. “Okay. I’ll try. I’m just not used to anyone doing anything for me like this. Brian never did.”
“Well, one, I’m definitely not Brian. And two, you better get used to it.”
It was obvious Jess was going to ignore his words from earlier, and that was okay with Benny. He didn’t want to rush her, but he’d do whatever he could, say whatever he needed to say, to erase the hurtful words she’d most likely heard too many times from the jerk she’d lived with.
He put a glass of orange juice in front of her and turned back to the stove to flip the eggs.
“What time do you go into work?” Jess asked.
Benny turned back to her resting his palms on the edge of the counter behind him. “I’m not going to work for a couple of days. I’m taking some leave.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Well . . . because.”
Benny laughed at her. “That’s not an answer. Look. You can’t possibly think I’m going to just leave you here by yourself the day after I took you to the emergency room do you?”
“Uh . . .”
“Not happening, Jess. We’ve got shit we have to do. First up, Dude’ll be bringing some of your stuff over. At some point we have to go over there and get the rest of your things packed. I’m not letting you go back there without me or one of the guys with you. We need to find out the details of the funeral for Tabitha. I won’t allow you to be harangued by Tammy or Brian, so if I need to arrange a time for you to say your good-bye to Tabitha in person, that’s what I’ll do. You need to call the women’s shelter and tell them you won’t need the room you arranged with them. You also need to talk to your boss and tell him what’s going on and figure out your work schedule. On top of all that, the girls will want to come over and see for themselves that you’re okay. I’ve bought you some time with that, but I expect that will only last for a day or two, so you have to brace for the onslaught.”
“I don’t understand,” Jess whispered, completely overwhelmed.
“What don’t you understand?” Benny came over to the bar and leaned on it, giving Jess his complete attention.
“I can do all those things, you don’t have to stay home from work.”
“Jess, it’s what friends do for each other. You aren’t alone anymore. I’ve got your back. My friends have your back.”
“I don’t think it’s what friends do. I mean, I’ve never had friends that have done anything like this before.”
Benny reached over the bar and put his palm on Jess’s cheek. “You have friends that do that kind of thing now, gorgeous.”
Jess couldn’t help it, she leaned her head to the side and brought her hand up and put it over his on her face. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Smiling, Benny teased, “What did I tell you about saying ‘thank you’ all the time?” He put his other hand on the back of her neck and pulled her gently across the bar, kissed her on the top of the head then let go. “Do you need to take a pain pill?”
Jess had only a moment to feel disappointed Kason had removed his hands before he’d changed the subject. She thought about it for a moment. “No, I think I’m all right.” At Kason’s frown, she quickly added, “But if I hurt later, I’ll take one. Promise.”
“Okay, I was just going to suggest that it might be good if you took it with food. Here you go, omelet with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, red peppers, chorizo sausage, a little bit of bacon, and of course topped with a ton of shredded cheese. I have sour cream and salsa if you want to add a southwest flair to it.”
“Are you shitting me?”
“Nope, dig in.”
“I’ve never met a man who can cook.”
“Well, you’ve met one now. Eat.”
Jess picked up the fork and looked up at Kason. “What are you eating?”
“Mine’s cooking now.”
“I’ll wait.” Jess put down her fork.
“No you won’t. Eat, Jess. It’ll get cold. Mine won’t take long.”
“But that’s rude,” she pouted.
Benny laughed. God, she was cute. “No, it’s not. Not if I tell you to eat. Do it. Seriously, it’s much better when it’s still hot.”
“Oh all right. But next time you eat first.”
Benny wasn’t going to agree with Jess, but he smiled at her anyway. He was glad to see her in a relatively good mood. Benny had no idea what her frame of mind was going to be when she got up that morning. She had a hard day yesterday and she was going to have another few tough days. Jess would never completely be able to put the loss of Tabitha behind her, but maybe, just maybe with a little luck and a lot of support, she could deal with it and move on.
Benny agreed with her last statement about eating first, knowing he lied as he said it. “Okay, Jess, next time I’ll eat first.” He watched with satisfaction as she closed her eyes and groaned as she chewed the first bite of the omelet. Amazingly, Benny felt himself grow hard. Fuck. He had to control himself. He didn’t want to scare her away. He turned back to the stove.
“Jesus, Kason. This is awesome.”
Benny shrugged. “It’s just an omelet.”
“Uh, no. It’s not. It’s . . . hell, I don’t have the words, but I’m sure if you were on one of those cooking reality shows you’d win hands down.”
“Thanks, I think. Now quit talking and eat.”
Jess just shook her head at him and did as he requested.
Not long after they’d finished breakfast and Jess had done the dishes, at her insistence, there was a knock at the door.
“Stay put, I’ll get it,” Benny said.
Jess knew it was an order, even though he’d used a gentle tone. She stood next to the bar by the kitchen and waited to see who it was. Benny opened the door and one of his military friends came in.
“Hey, Dude, Thanks for coming over. Did you have any issues?”
“Nope, didn’t see anyone. Just got in and grabbed the bag. It was right where you said it would probably be.”
The man turned his piercing eyes onto Jess. She felt completely naked standing in the room in nothing but Kason’s shirt and boxers, but forced herself to come forward and thank the big man for bringing her bag over. “Thank you so much!”
“Are you fucking shitting me?”
Jess was taken aback at the harsh words coming out of Benny’s friend’s mouth and involuntarily took a step away from him.
“Dude . . .” Benny warned in a quiet voice.
“You didn’t tell me he tried to fucking choke her, Benny.”
Jess brought her hand up to her throat and tried to cover the lingering marks. She’d honestly forgotten about them. Benny had made her feel so comfortable and relaxed around him, she hadn’t even remembered her bruises.
“I told you there was a reason she was wearing a turtleneck.”
“The only reason a woman should feel obligated to wear a fucking turtleneck when it’s seventy fucking degrees outside is if she needs to cover
up the angry marks a man made on her neck the night before because she doesn’t want anyone to see and because some asshat guy doesn’t want anyone to ask any questions and get his ass thrown in jail.”
Holy crap. His words made Jess shift where she was standing. This guy was intense, but he hadn’t made a move toward her and his words came off as concerned somehow at the same time being very scary. It was obvious he was pissed at Brian, not her. She’d sensed he was somehow more intense than the other men that she’d met at Aces, but up close, he was kinda scaring the shit out of her.
Dude continued his mini-tirade. “You having those marks on your neck means that asshole you lived with needs a lesson in manners and the proper way to treat a woman.” Dude walked further into the apartment and came to Jess.
Jessyka’s eyes moved to Kason. He said he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. She couldn’t run, for one, her hip wouldn’t allow it, but two, she had nowhere to go in the small space. She took a breath. Kason looked calm. Whatever his friend wanted with her, it wasn’t to hurt her. His non-concern about his friend hurting her allowed her to have the courage to stay where she was as the big SEAL came toward her.
Dude gently took her chin in his hand and raised her head. Jess felt his other hand brush against her neck. Then he dropped her chin and picked up one of her hands, he pushed the sleeve of her shirt up to examine the bruises on her upper arm, then did the same on the other side. “He cause that limp?”
Jess shook her head, she couldn’t get a word out of her tight throat if her life depended on it.
Dude cocked his head as if determining if she was telling the truth or not. Whatever he saw apparently was enough, because he turned on his heel and headed back to the door. “I’m calling Wolf. We’ll get the rest of her shit today. You take care of her.” Then he was out the door and gone.
Jess let out a breath and looked at Kason again. He was standing at the now closed door.
“Come here.”
Jess didn’t think. She went to him. She limped across the room and straight into Kason’s arms. As they closed around her, she breathed easy for the first time since the knock on the door happened.
“He’s a little intense,” Jess commented, even if it felt like the understatement of the year.
Benny laughed. “You don’t know the half of it. You okay? Dude would never hurt you, but you didn’t know that.”
“I did know it. Okay, well, not at first, but you said you wouldn’t let anyone hurt me and you didn’t move when he came toward me, so I figured I was okay.”
“Jesus, Jess. Thank you for trusting me.”
“I thought we weren’t supposed to thank each other,” Jess said with a grin, looking up at Kason as he held her in the circle of his arms.
He laughed. “You got me there. Okay, let’s tackle one thing at a time today. Go get dressed. I’m assuming you have some clothes in the bag Dude brought.” Benny gestured to the bag sitting on the floor that Dude had dropped by the door when he’d stalked inside.
“Once you’re dressed, we’ll handle the other shit. Obviously we can cross ‘getting your stuff’ off the list, Dude and the guys have that covered.”
“How will they know what’s mine and what’s Brian’s?”
“They’ll figure it out, and if they don’t, who fucking cares. If they miss anything, I’ll get it for you.”
“I can’t ask you to . . .”
“You didn’t ask. I offered.” Benny interrupted Jess before she could finish her thought and leaned down, grabbed her bag and handed it to her. “Now get changed. As much as I like seeing you in my shirt, we have shit we have to do, and I’m not letting you leave the apartment looking like sex on a stick. Get moving.” Benny let go of Jess and turned her gently to face the room. He gave her a little push to the small of her back.
“You guys must take lessons in ‘bossy,’” Jess said, laughing as she limped toward the hallway. She looked back to see Kason’s eyes on her ass as she walked. She faltered a bit remembering what he’d told her earlier.
She watched as Benny’s eyes came up off her ass and up to meet her eyes. He merely winked and dropped his eyes again. Jess could only laugh and shake her head as she limped out of sight down the hallway.
Chapter Seven
Jessyka sat on the couch at Kason’s apartment and tried not to cry. She’d cried enough for one day.
While the morning had started off all right, the rest of the day had sucked. She’d called her boss at the bar and he’d been horrified at everything that had happened. Luckily, since she was a good employee, he’d given her an entire week off.
Next, Jess had contacted the women’s shelter and let them know she was safe and with a friend. Jess loved how Kason had put his hand over hers when she’d said that.
Then Kason took over and called Wolf. Dude had already talked to him and the rest of the SEAL team had arranged to go over to her old place and collect her belongings. Caroline, who was apparently married to Wolf, insisted on accompanying them. Jess had wanted to go too, but Kason waved her off and continued making arrangements without her involvement.
Jess had been pissed, but after Kason had explained that she had to go and see about Tabitha, she relented. He was right. If his friends could go over and get her things without her, why shouldn’t she let them? Deep down inside she was relieved she wouldn’t have to face Brian or the townhouse where she had such horrible memories again.
The last thing on the list was Tabitha and the reason the rest of the day had sucked. Kason had pulled some strings and talked to the caretaker of the funeral home. The guy had explained that Tammy had requested to have Tabitha’s body cremated. She hadn’t even arranged a service for her daughter.
Kason arranged for Jessyka to be able to go and say her goodbyes. Jess had no idea how he’d done it . . . surely it wasn’t as easy as calling up and saying they wanted to see a body . . . she technically wasn’t even related to Tabitha . . . but somehow Kason had done it. They’d arrived at the funeral home that afternoon. The caretaker had led them to a back room and left them alone with Tabitha’s body.
Jess had stood paralyzed by the door, staring at the gurney. She knew Tabitha lay under the sheet and she didn’t know if she could handle seeing her.
“I can’t,” she said quietly, her voice hitching.
“Take your time, Jess.” Kason wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her into his body. She melted into him, desperate for some support.
“I can’t,” she repeated despondently.
“Okay.”
Jess didn’t move and neither did Kason.
After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a minute or two, Jess took a hesitant step toward the body on the platform, then stopped. The sheet was almost obscenely white. She wished like hell Tabitha would sit up suddenly and say “surprise!” and giggle the way Jess remembered she used to do when she was younger.
“What if she doesn’t look like Tabitha? I can’t have my last glimpse of her that way.”
“Stay here.” Kason put his hands on her shoulders and pressed down. He leaned down and spoke quietly into Jess’s ear. “I’ll take a look and let you know. Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” Jessyka’s answer was immediate and relieved. “I shouldn’t ask you to . . .”
“Jess, look at me.” Benny came around her and stood in front of her, blocking her view of the body under the sheet. He put his finger under her chin. “I can handle this. I’m a SEAL. This won’t be the first dead person I’ve seen. Okay? Trust me to know if you can handle this.”
Jess could only nod. She briefly leaned forward and put her forehead on Kason’s chest, needing that contact. Her hands came to his sides and gripped his T-shirt in her fists. She felt Kason’s hands come around her and enfold her into his body. They stood like that for a minute or so, then she felt Kason’s arms loosen. He kissed the top of her head and then gently spun her around so she was looking at the door.
“Give me a s
econd.”
Jess simply nodded again. She heard the rustle of the sheet and then nothing. Then Kason was back.
“It’s okay, come on.”
Jess took a deep breath and turned around. Kason put his arm around her and they walked to Tabitha’s side together.
Kason had pulled the sheet down enough so Tabitha’s face was the only thing visible. Jess choked back a sob. It looked like she was sleeping. Tabitha was pale, but otherwise she looked just like she had the last time Jess had seen her.
Jess lost it. She didn’t think she’d ever cried that hard. Kason had been so patient and kind with her too. He’d held her and murmured words of encouragement. He hadn’t rushed her, as a lot of men might have. Jess thought they were in the room for at least an hour. Every time Jess had decided she was ready to go, she couldn’t make herself leave.
Finally she was ready. Jess thought she’d gone through all five stages of grief in that hour with Tabitha. First she had tried to deny she was really dead. Tabitha had looked so normal, that she hadn’t believed she could be dead at first. Then she’d gotten mad. Tabitha had no right to kill herself. It was selfish and inconsiderate of their friendship. Then Jess had moved to the bargaining stage. Kason had to reel her back in from that one. She’d gone back to the “if only” statements she’d made the night before. Kason gently reminded her that it wasn’t her fault and there wasn’t anything Jess could have done to make the outcome any different.
Finally she cried. Hard. It was depressing as hell to see such a wonderful person, lifeless. The world would never get to read her wonderful stories, they’d never get to see what an awesome person Tabitha was. Finally, Jess had moved to acceptance. Tabitha was dead. She wasn’t in pain anymore. Jess didn’t have to worry about her friend being overly sensitive to everyday life events.