by Mae Martini
He thought about Gia. He needed her. Whenever she was in his arms, all felt right. Whenever he laid his head on her belly and she caressed him, all was right. He wished she had been with him that weekend, he was sure he wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed at that point if she had been.
****
Gia had seen Calista and Rory in front of the hospital and made eye contact with them as she was paying the cab driver. She didn’t comprehend when she eyed her father walking out of the front door of the hospital with Joan’s hand in his. She cocked her head to the side.
“Daddy? What are you doing here?” She looked around at everyone else. Panic set in. “Oh my God. Jake?” Her heart dropped and her legs had become a little wobbly.
“He’s fine sweetheart, he’s okay. He has some bruises. He’s resting, and he’s been asking for you,” Luke said as he dropped Joan’s hand, and held his daughter’s arm to steady her.
“What happened?” She began to feel just a little bit calm.
“He went to Doug’s house to see Jennie-”
She looked to Joan then to Calista and Rory. “You all knew this?”
They all either nodded or verbally said yes at the same time.
She looked to her father, glanced at Joan, then looked back to her father, and took in a deep breath. “And… you and Joan?”
Luke and Joan shared a look and he reached for Joan’s hand again. Then he turned his attention back to his daughter. “We were going to tell y-”
“Does Jake know?” She cut him off.
He looked intently into her eyes.
She looked to Joan, who was biting her lower lip, then back to her father. He nodded his head.
“Oh God, I’m the last to know.” She backed up when her father tried to place a hand on her arm again.
She looked everyone else in the eye as she continued to back up, then she turned and ran. She had no idea where she was running to, she just needed to get away.
Luke ran after her and grabbed her arm when he caught up to her. “Gia, let me explain.”
She stopped abruptly and turned, causing him to crash into her awkwardly.
“Explain.” She shook him off.
“I, we….” He stammered for something to say.
She folded her arms in front of her and wildly tapped her foot.
He blew out a breath. “We didn’t mean for it to happen. We hit it off that night when we went to the art gallery and we had stayed in touch. I invited her to that fundraiser in San Antonio and she came with me to the fundraiser in Malibu-”
“Wait.… She was in California, too?”
He nodded.
She spun around, not wanting to face him.
“Can we finish this later? Jake needs you now.”
She whipped around. “Jake needs me now? Did he need me when he went to Jennie? Did he need me when he found out you and his mother are, are… I don’t know what you are?” She began to walk away.
“Jennie shot Doug, he’s dead. The kid has been asking for you, practically begging for you and you’re going to just walk away?”
Whoa! Did she even want to know anymore? Was there some sort of love triangle thing going on with them? And now someone was dead. No, no, no, she didn’t want, nor need any part of this. She turned back to him. “I am moving down here next week, for a guy I clearly know nothing about. How stupid is that?”
“That’s not true.”
I was the last to know, Daddy.”
“What?”
“He said I wouldn’t be the last to know.”
“Know what?”
She just shook her head and began to walk away again.
“So, that’s it?”
She turned to face him. “No.” She crouched down and removed the ankle bracelet. “Give this to Jake.” She walked back to him and held out the bracelet and the two of them locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity until finally Luke caved. He sighed and held out his hand, palm up. She dropped the bracelet in his hand, then walked away.
After walking a few blocks to clear her head, she decided to go back to the hospital to see Jake. She had to see for herself that he was all right, even if it would be the last time she saw him.
She walked to his doorway and stood there a very short time before Jake felt her presence.
“Hi.” After his face lit up in a smile, he winced.
She didn’t say anything. She just watched him from the doorway, her heart breaking at seeing him so beat up.
“Gia?”
“Hi, Jake.”
He tilted his head to the side, hearing distance in her voice. “Mmm, I knew I smelled your delicious scent. Come here, baby.”
She didn’t move.
“I must look like Frankenstein’s monster.” He laughed nervously.
“How are you feeling, Jake?” she asked as she walked over to the bed.
At hearing her voice draw nearer, he held out a hand to her, noting the coolness in her voice.
She wouldn’t take it.
He blew out a breath and dropped it. “What’s wrong, Gia?”
She ignored his question.
“Will you be okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fi-”
“Tell me what happened.” She cut him off.
He paused as it hit him. She knew. He stuttered as he began. “I- I, uh, got a call from, uh… Jennie. She said she needed my help-”
He didn’t see the tears drop from Gia’s eyes. She quickly wiped them.
“-And when I got there, I realized I was set up. She set me up. Doug was waiting for me with a gun.”
She gasped, and he went to put his hand out again. This time she took it. He pulled her down, and she sat on the bed next to him, and he put his hand on her thigh and kept caressing and squeezing it lightly.
She got a good look at the stitches on his cheek and the black and blues under his eyes. “Your nose is broken?”
“Yeah. Courtesy of a wallop of a punch from Doug.”
“What happened to your cheek?”
“Knife wound.” He heard her intake of air and felt her hand on his as she squeezed it.
After a long uneasy pause, Jake went on to tell her the details, ending it with the gunshot he indistinctly heard just before passing out. “I spoke with Jimmy, but I can’t seem to remember if he said Doug was dead or not.” It was frustrating not being able to see her clearly. He couldn’t gauge her reaction.
She didn’t relay that she had already known Doug was dead.
After more silence, he said, “Gia, I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not wha-”
“How are you feeling, Mr. Warner?” His doctor said cheerily as he and his three interns came into the room and gathered around the bed. He picked up Jake’s chart and perused it quickly.
Gia jumped up and Jake tried to grab her hand as she pulled away. He reluctantly dropped his hand.
The doctor gave a quick smile to Gia as he asked a series of questions while the interns took turns reading his chart. He told Jake he would sign his release as soon as he leaves the room and to call if anything changes, adding that he should make an appointment that week to have his plaster bandage removed. Then he and his interns bid him farewell and walked out.
Jake sat in silence for a moment. He moved his head from side to side. “Gia?”
No answer.
“G?”
Nothing. He blew out a breath as he made a fist and punched the bed in frustration.
Chapter 29
Gia placed Cookie’s traveling case, with Cookie still inside, down on the carpet in her new bedroom. Cookie had been meowing, and she softly spoke to her to calm her down. She’d never traveled before and Gia could only imagine how scared she was. That cat would freak out if you crinkled a bag.
“Where do you want this box?” Her father asked her by the doorway.
Gia rose up and turned around. “Over by the closet, please.”
Luke set the box down and walked back to the U-haul, outside, to g
et another box. He had met her at the house to help her with the move, having flown in late that morning, right after a meeting he had in his office in California. He had been spending more and more time with Joan in Texas.
Her brother had taken the twenty hour drive with her over a two day period, then took off to a hotel in San Antonio to get some sleep before his next scheduled flight took off at that airport.
A few times that week Luke had called his daughter and tried to start a conversation with her and those few times she stopped him. At least with the move, he felt he was making some progress with her.
He knew she hadn’t spoken to Jake that past week because he had just come from Joan’s B & B and the kid had been there asking about her, and with a wounded look, Jake put his head down when Luke gave him the ankle bracelet.
With her hair in a loose ponytail and wearing tan shorts with a neon pink tank top and high top sneakers, Gia stepped out of her front door to help her father. As she walked down to the truck, she wiped the sweat beading up on her forehead with her arm and took a look around. Her office found her what looked to be a nice spacious townhouse in a nice new neighborhood twenty minutes away from work.
She looked into the U-haul and sighed. There were still quite a few boxes, including her big screen TV and stereo, along with a kitchen table and two chairs that needed to be unpacked. The rest of her stuff was coming the next Saturday. She even bought a queen size blow up bed to sleep on for the week, while waiting.
Resigned to the fact they still had a lot of work ahead of them, she picked up a box that wasn’t marked and walked back into the house. After placing it down in the living room, she bent down to open it and rummaged through it.
“Where does this one go?”
She quickly picked up her head, knowing it wasn’t her father’s voice, to see Cord standing there with a box. With a slight look of confusion, she rose up and walked over to him and took a peek inside the flap. “My bedroom. Thank you.” She pointed the way. No sooner did the words come out she saw Rory then Calista and then Annie walk in with a box too. She looked from them, to the door, and was disappointed to see no one else come through. Okay, not just no one else, but, Jake.
She’d thought of nothing else but him for the past week, beginning to have doubts that she did the right thing by walking away. Many times she reached for the phone to call him, only to stop, saying to herself it was just withdrawals.
He didn’t get in touch with her, either. She had thought he would try and it hurt that he didn’t. Maybe he didn’t care for her as much as he’d said, and was just stringing her along until Doug was out of the picture and he could have Jennie back, or maybe it was the fact that she didn’t stay by his side while recovering from a near death experience. Many times since then she had hung her head, her childhood friend, Matthew, coming to mind.
She went back to the box she was checking, squatting in front of it.
“Where in the kitchen do you want the table, sweetheart?” Her father asked.
She looked up. “Over b-” She took in a breath when she saw who was helping him carry in the table. Locking eyes with Jake, she said, “Over by the back wall.”
She felt so stupid. She couldn’t move, glued to the spot, watching Jake’s every move. The muscles on his arms bulged as he and her father set down the table. He turned away from her to give the table a little shove and her eyes feasted upon his broad back, picturing her hands caressing it under his T-shirt.
When he turned around, he locked eyes with hers again and briefly paused before he turned back to the front door and walked out.
She quickly ran to the front door, panicky that he was leaving, but she saw he went to the U-haul and grabbed a chair and came back in the house. They paused and stared at each other for a moment when they passed each other as she made her way down to the truck.
Gia grabbed another box and she and Annie walked into the house together.
“Bedroom closet?” She asked Gia.
“Oh, yes, please.”
“Show me?”
“Of course.” And she led the way.
“How are you, Gia?” Annie asked
“I’m okay.” She genuinely smiled as she got to see the little bump in Annie’s belly.” How are you, you look fantastic.”
“Thank you, I feel good.” Annie rubbed her belly. “You were right; the morning sickness has finally passed.”
They both laughed as they walked into the bedroom. Gia felt another presence in the room. She looked up to see Jake leaning by the window, his cowboy hat in hand and his brilliant blues piercing her. Her smile faded and she sucked in a breath.
Annie felt the tension and excused herself as Gia tried to assess his mood. She had a hard time reading him. Was he angry? Was he sad? She had noticed the circles under his eyes before, but now noticed how prominent they were. She took a step closer to him and realized they were the black and blues she had seen at the hospital almost a week ago, only faded. She studied his face and saw a raised curved bruise on his cheek and walked to him while keeping her eyes on the bruise. She picked a hand up and cupped his chin to get a better look. Not even thinking if he’d pull away, and it surprised her that he actually leaned into her hand and her eyes shot up to his. There was no doubt she saw desire in them. She’d seen it many times before to be mistaken.
She placed a kiss on the scar.
He, softly, said her name before he pulled her to him and brought his lips to hers.
His familiar scent, taste and feel brought a tear to her eye and comfort to her soul. She pushed into him, working to kiss him harder, longer, and deeper. And all too soon, she broke the kiss, realizing what she was doing. She couldn’t go forward with this. Things needed to be said.
He hugged her to him as he rested his chin on her head. “I’m sorry, Gia. I never meant to hurt you. I….” He sighed. “I never meant to hurt you.” He repeated. He looked up when he heard a soft knock at the door.
“Excuse me, Jake?” Rory said.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt. We’re, um, done, and we gotta get back. You ready to go?”
Gia felt his sigh.
He pulled them apart. “Can I stay and talk to you?” He quietly asked her.
She nodded her head.
He looked back to Rory. “I’m gonna hang around here.”
“How are you going to get back home?”
“I’ll catch a ride back with you,” her father said to Rory as he came walking up behind him. “And I’ll leave you my car, Jake.”
“Thank you, Luke.” Jake walked over to him and took her father’s keys and shoved them in his front pocket.
Gia walked out to the living room to thank everyone for their help and Jake followed. He dropped his hat on the counter, then leaned up against the wall while she walked them to the front door and said goodbye, practically ignoring her father, whom she was still upset with.
He watched her lock the door and turn. She looked around and he smiled when she settled her eyes on him.
They heard Cookie meow, and she asked Jake if he could take her out of her travel case, while she got a litter box ready for her. After showing the cat where it was, she began to feel awkward, so she went to the TV box and began opening it.
“I’ll do that,” Jake said as he met her by the box. “And I’ll hook up your stereo.”
“Thank you. I’ll go clean the master bathroom.” She paused. “Unless you want to switch?” She giggled.
“Ha! Nah, I do enough at the B&B. I’m real handy with a plunger, in case you need it.” They both laughed and he loved seeing the blush that appeared on her cheeks, that he gave her a wide eye reaching grin.
She shook her head, giggling as she walked toward the master bedroom.
“Gia?”
She turned around. “Yeah?”
“I’ll clean the bathroom if you want. I’ll do whatever you want me to do,” he humbly said.
Well, those words just
blew her away. She sighed, then lifted the corners of her mouth. “I got it, Jake. But, thank you.” And she walked into her bedroom. She needed to be strong, lest she throw herself at him without resolving things.
They didn’t say anything to each other. Jake just let her get settled as he worked on her TV mount. When she walked back into the living room, he was lifting the TV to mount it on the wall. She ran over and gave him a hand.
“You want to go grab something to eat after this?” Jake asked as he slid his side of the TV into its slot on the bracket.
“I don’t want to leave Cookie alone her first night here.” And the two of them looked to Cookie who was slowly, tentatively walking around the living room, sniffing everything.
“Yeah, probably better not.”
“Do you want to order something in?” She asked as they switched sides because she couldn’t get her side in the slot.
Jake didn’t hesitate to say yes.
He searched the web on his phone and found a pizzeria nearby. She gave him the key to the front door and he ran out to get a pie, stopping along the way when he saw a liquor store, to buy a bottle of wine, and another store to pick something else up, while she finished settling in and took a shower.
As they ate, they talked about anything but what they needed to talk about. Jake tried not to stare, but noticed she was braless now under a lavender tank that she had paired with white shorts and her nipples were distended, making it hard for him to focus. He felt his cock grow and he was glad it was hidden underneath the tabletop.
Her cell phone rang. She got up to get it from the counter and looked at the caller ID. She blew out a breath in frustration.
“What?” He asked her.
“The plant manager. He knew I was moving today,” she said as she placed the phone down on the table and sat back down.
There was another chime and she knew he left a voice mail. She picked it up and played it, her lips tightened into a straight line and she slowly shook her head.
“What’s the matter, babe?” Jake asked when she flung the phone down.
She looked to him, shook her head and took a sip of wine. “He wants to have dinner with me tonight.”