by C. A. Harms
This was my last night, and I was more than ready to be finished. The place was overly busy tonight, full of drunk and rowdy men who were excessively grabby.
I was pretty sure Corbin and Hank had already thrown out four guys, one of whom had grabbed my tit and wouldn’t let go. That bruise would be fun to explain to Jett later. I cringed at the thought of his reaction.
About an hour before closing, I heard a commotion at the end of the bar. Hank was holding back some big guy while Corbin tried to control the surrounding crowd. Just then I caught sight of Kasey in the center of the herd of men being shoved around from guy to guy. She looked terrified, and Corbin was trying to reach her. I saw a way around the group through the back of the bar. I hurried in the direction and opened the hatch at the end, motioning her to come toward me. I was going to get her behind the bar and out of harm’s way.
Never in a million years did I expect what happened next. Kasey slipped in, and just as I was about the shut the hatch someone grabbed my left arm. I was jerked forward and sandwiched between two big guys. The smell of whiskey pouring from them made me lightheaded.
They groped me, feeling me up. I tried to wiggle free, and my shirt was ripped from my chest. I screamed for help as one of the men grabbed at my skirt.
The heavier of the two pinned me against the wall at the edge of the bar and continued to touch me. Tears fought to escape as I glared at the piece of shit that was assaulting me. “You’re a disgusting pig,” I spit at him.
A big, sadistic smile spread out over his face. As he inched in closer and closer, I held my breath. I could feel the bile rise and nausea overtake me.
Suddenly there was a crack followed by a wetness running down my front. The man’s eyes grew wide as he slowly slid to the floor.
I looked up to find Kasey standing on the top of the bar, still holding what was left of a bottle of vodka. She had smashed it against the back of the man’s head. Looking around us, I saw men in uniform and the club’s security team getting things back in order. The reality of what could have happened hit me hard, and a sob escaped me as I sunk to the floor along the wall.
The next hour went by in a blur as I was hauled off to the hospital for observation. I’d been unaware that when Kasey smashed the bottle over the creep’s head, glass had cut me as well. I now had three stitches on my jaw near my ear and a pretty nasty cut on my shoulder.
After I talked to the police and filled them in on the events of the night, the nurse asked me if there was someone she could call.
Twenty minutes later, a very pissed off and raging Jett stormed in demanding answers. And from the look in his eyes, he was ready to kill someone. With his nostrils flaring and hands fisted, I was afraid he would get himself arrested if he didn’t calm down. The moment he found me, it only got worse.
He spun around on Daryl, the owner of the club, and got two inches from his face. “Is this the fucking shit you let happen in your club? Girls getting attacked and assaulted right under your fucking nose.”
I was about to get up from the bed to stop him, but my father entered the room and took control.
“Jett.” He grabbed his shoulder and backed him away from Daryl. “Not here, not like this.”
Jett looked back at my father and his shoulders sagged. His gaze locked with mine and he broke. He marched across the room and wrapped me in his arms, breathing me in.
“I’m okay,” I whispered against his chest. “It’s all right, I’m okay,” I assured him. Even though on the inside I wanted to fall apart, I couldn’t let him see that.
***
Jett had insisted that I take a couple days off from the restaurant and school. I didn’t argue with him, because I was just barely holding on and I could use the time to recover.
I was glad when I was able to convince him to go to work. I told him I just wanted to rest. It took a lot of pushing but he finally left.
I drew a bath and sunk down in the tub. I closed my eyes tightly, and when I couldn’t hold it back any longer, I let go. I cried hard, the heaving, snot-flowing cry that no girl looked good after.
A knock on the bathroom door made me jump in surprise.
“Quinn?” a soft voice filtered through the room.
“Hey, Quinny, can we come in?” That one I recognized.
I didn’t even get the chance to answer as the door slowly opened and Avery stuck her head inside.
The moment I saw her, I lost it once again. Her eyes were shining from the tears that were pulling at her as well. She turned around and spoke to someone behind her. “Give me a few minutes to help her get out of the tub.”
She closed the door behind her and walked toward me, holding out a towel. I stepped from the tub and dried off before wrapping myself in my robe. She then led me out to the bedroom, and I found Harper waiting, holding a bottle of wine and three glasses.
“Harper, it’s only ten in the morning,” I said.
She shrugged and smiled. “Then we better get a move on because we’ve already wasted a few good drinking hours. I have three bottles of this stuff. We got a whole day ahead of us.”
After the first hour and the first bottle, my guard slowly slipped away. I started talking and they both listened in silence.
“The entire time he was touching me, all I could think of was Jett. I was hoping he would come and rescue me. I was silently begging for him to show up and save me.” I paused and took another drink. “I closed my mind off when I realized he wasn’t coming. I closed it off and blocked out the feeling of his hands.”
Tears flowed down my cheeks, one dripping onto my hand that still held the glass securely. “Now I can’t close my eyes without seeing that guy’s face. I can’t clean myself enough. I know it could have been worse. I know that if Kasey hadn’t done what she did, I would have been worse off. It doesn’t take away the disgust I feel now, though.”
“Jett’s blaming himself too,” Harper replied. Her voice was shaking, and yes, that shocked me. She never showed negative emotion. “He said he should have been there. But he was working late and then stayed to have a drink with Jude before he left. He was going to stop by Spencer’s but came home to wait for you instead.”
Hearing he was blaming himself hurt. There was no way he could have known.
“Can you girls help me with something?” I asked.
They both nodded and waited for me to explain what I needed before all three of us got to work.
Chapter Forty-Five
Jett
“I can tell she’s hiding how much this is affecting her. I don’t know how to fix it,” I confessed, looking up into Beau’s eyes. I called him when I left the house this morning and asked if he could meet me at the restaurant. It was killing me that I hadn’t kept her safe.
“She is a strong girl, Jett. You of all people should know that. She’ll get through this, and all we can do is be there for her. No blame game, no easy fix. Just be there when she’s ready to let us help her,” Beau said as he sat on the other side of my desk, staring back at me.
“The hurt in her eyes, it’s almost too much. She’s had so much of it; I want to see her happy. I know she’ll get through this, I just hate that she even has to.”
***
I buried myself in work, and when I looked at my watch, panic took over. It was after five, and I had planned to be home long before now.
I grabbed my phone, dialed Quinn’s number, and waited for her to answer.
“Hi, handsome.” She sounded so much better than she did when I left this morning. I guess my decision to have Harper and Avery visit her was a good one.
“Hey, baby, I wasn’t planning on working this late,” I told her. “I was getting ready to head home and wondered what you wanted for dinner.”
“Already took care of that, just come home.”
“I’m on my way,” I told her. “I love you, babe.”
“Love you, be careful,” she said in return.
When I got home and walked through the front
door, the aroma filled the house. I walked around the corner to the dining area, and the table was set, and there stood my girl.
She looked so much better, even though the bandage on her jaw and neck pissed me off all over again. I did the best I could to rein my feelings in and hide it from her. “Smells good,” I said as I set my keys and wallet on the counter. “You should have been resting.”
“A day with Harper is anything but restful, you know that.” She pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed me gently. “Thank you for having Avery and Harper check on me. It was nice to have the company.”
“I would have stayed here with you. All you had to do was ask.” In fact I wanted to, but she insisted I work.
“A girls’ day was needed. It made things clearer.”
I looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Clearer?” I asked.
She led me to the couch, and once I sat down she crawled over me and placed one knee on each side of my thighs. I rested my hands on her hips and looked up into her big brown eyes, still reddened from what I assume was a recent cry. That thought made my chest ache once again.
“Nothing about last night was your fault.” I started to argue, but she pressed her finger against my lips.
“No,” she said. “It wasn’t my fault or yours. We had no idea any of that would happen. We need to both accept that. It happened, and yes it has me feeling off-kilter now, but you are the one who will level me back out. You, Jett, and I need you. I need you to know that you are not to blame.”
I stared back at her and wanted nothing more than to agree with her, but fuck, I should have gone there instead of coming home.
“I know what you’re doing in that head of yours, and you need to stop, Mr. Jameson. You will not blame yourself. I mean it. It’s over.” She pressed her forehead against mine. “You are my safety, Jett. Last night was a shock to all of us, but I’m okay. The only way I will get through this is if you accept that you had no control over what happened. I want to move past this. I need to move on from it. You can’t blame yourself for anything last night brought on.”
Pulling her head back from mine, she traced her thumb over my lower lip, opened her eyes, and focused solely on me. “Promise me you’ll let go of this guilt you feel.”
I wanted to tell her I couldn’t, that it was my fault, but looking at her now when she was so vulnerable, I couldn’t. She needed this from me, and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t give her. “Okay, I’ll try, baby.” I took her face in my hands and kissed her. “I’ll try,” I assured her once more before hugging her close.
Epilogue
Quinn
“Move in with me,” he whispered against my ear as the sun shone through the blinds as it began to rise. “You practically live here anyway. Let’s make it official.”
I smiled as he kissed my neck. It had been a month since I was attacked at Spencer’s, and I had slept in his arms almost every night since. He was my safety, and his arms were the only place I truly felt whole. I turned to face him and looked up into his sleepy gaze. His hair was tousled and standing up in all directions.
“You sure about that?” I asked and kissed his jaw. “You ready for all my stuff to litter your countertop in the bathroom? All my clothes and shoes to take over your closet? All my ‘girly shit,’ as you put it, to overtake your manly décor?”
He rolled over the top of me and looked down at me, smiling that oh so sexy grin. “I need your girly shit to take over. I need to be unable to find my cologne because your stuff is cluttering the bathroom, and I don’t care if I have just a small corner of the closet. As long as it means that every day and every night I find your beautiful body in our bed.” He kissed me and hovered over me, looking at me, waiting for my answer.
“I love you,” I said. “You were unexpected. Our first encounter was completely unpredictable, and most people would look down on it. People think there’s no way someone could find the one they were meant to be with the way that we did.” He continued to stare back at me, still waiting. “But they’re wrong. If I would have left alone that night, I wouldn’t have found the one person that saved me. You came into my life when I needed it most. I needed someone to fight for me and for once make me feel like I was worth it. You did that.”
I pulled him to me and kissed him. “I love you so much, and I would love to clutter your house with all my girly shit.”
He smiled against my lips. “Our house,” he said. “This is our house.”
***
Jett
“Well, something ain’t right. You showing up late, that shit’s not normal,” Kade said as I casually strolled into my office. I was relaxed and feeling higher than life. “By the look on your face I would say it was well worth it.”
I chuckled as I took a seat at my desk. “Quinn agreed to move in with me,” I said. “I spent the entire morning showing her how happy her decision has made me. I thought it was the right thing to do.”
I knew I had one hell of a grin on my face. One of those that makes your cheeks hurt. Quinn and I were about to take that next step in our relationship. Knowing she would be there in our home daily when I returned made me one hell of a happy man.
All Kade could do was shake his head and laugh. “You’re different, good different. Just good seeing you so happy.”
“Maybe you should give it a shot. You never know what might happen,” I replied. His face fell, and I instantly regretted saying anything.
“I had it once. Man. Not sure I’ll ever be lucky enough to have it again. It looks good on you, though. You used to be all work and no play. Quinn’s good for you. She brings out the Jett I used to know.”
Kade was getting all serious on me, and I had to break the ice. “Since when did you get all girly and shit?” He grinned and slouched back in the chair.
The loud smack of my office door flying open, only to collide with the wall, made us both jump. Harper came barreling in, looking as if she was ready to kill someone. If it was possible to breathe fire, she would have been. Her face was red from anger, and her nostrils were flared. To anyone else she may have been intimidating. To me, she looked pretty damn funny.
She grabbed my door and slammed it shut, then turned back to face me. She had yet to notice Kade sitting on the couch.
“You,” she growled, pointing her finger directly at me as she marched forward with pure determination.
“Aw fuck, what now?” I mumbled.
To be continued…
*Sneak Peek*
Harper’s Story: Inevitable
Jett
“You are, without a doubt, the biggest ass.” Harper flared up as she placed her hands flat on my desk, leaning in toward me.
“Damn, girl, what the fuck crawled up your ass?” Kade chuckled, and she turned on him faster than he expected.
“You, Kade Russell Thomas, better back the fuck off. You don’t want to get on my bad side. Unless pissing blood sounds fun to you, I suggest you zip it up, smartass,” she growled.
Harper was a wild one. I had no doubt she would attack Kade in a heartbeat. Generally, she was pretty easygoing and just like one of the guys. But right now she was on the verge of losing it, and anyone in her line of fire was going down.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked.
She spun back around to face me and placed her hand on her hip, giving me a look that said that was the dumbest question I could have asked.
“Why are you snooping around in my business? Jett, who I date, or who I fuck, is none of your damn concern. You have no right to question him.” She slammed her hand down on my desk once again with a loud thud. “It is my life, my choice. Back the fuck off.”
I fought against the smile I wanted to share and stared back at her with a matching glare. My happiness from my morning needed to stay tucked away for now. This entire outburst should not be comical to me, but it was. Reining in my strong urge to laugh, I lounged back in my chair.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong, Harp. It is my
business. I don’t trust the guy. He’s hiding something. You’re just blinded by his lies, and you don’t see it for yourself.”
She had been seeing the same guy I saw her having lunch with here at the restaurant a while ago. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something off about him. He was a shady motherfucker, and I would find out what he was hiding.
“Fuck you, Jett. This is my life,” she snarled.
Easton entered at the wrong time and she turned on him. “And you.” She marched in his direction and jabbed her finger in the center of his chest. “Call off your dogs. The next time one of them follows me on a date, I will pepper spray their sorry ass.”
She looked back over her shoulder and locked eyes with me. “Does Quinn know about your recent obsession with who I’m dating? Maybe I need to go fill her in.”
She stormed out of the room, and panic set in. I let my head fall back against the chair, letting out a deep groan. “Fuck.” I sighed. I had a feeling I would be getting a call from Quinn very soon.
“I’m sorry, Jett, I know she is your sister, but that was fucking hot as hell. She is a wild one. I think I’m a little turned on.” Easton whistled and I locked eyes with him.
“Don’t.” It was all I could say. Right now I had enough on my plate without having to beat his ass for messing with my sister too.
My day had gone from epic to hell, real fast. I should have stayed home in bed, buried in Quinn. Life was perfect then. Now it was shit, and I had no idea how to get out of the storm I was sure I’d be facing once Harper talked to Quinn.
Acknowledgments
I want to give a shot out to the one and only, girl who makes me laugh hard. Lydia Quintana. HEA Book Tours, PA & More. Not only have you took care of me in the book promo department, you have become a great friend. Not a day goes by that we don’t have one of our crazy Voxer conversations that leave me breathless from laughter. You truly are a gem and I adore you.