She nodded, and my heart soared. How could one person make such a huge impact in only a couple of hours?
I showed her in, and she made herself at home on my couch. I got myself a beer, and she asked for water. I’d never seen someone so easy to talk to. I wanted to know everything about her. She chatted away in the most beautiful bubbly voice. I could listen to her for hours, and I did. We slowly slid closer and closer to each other as we talked until I finally had her where I wanted her, in my lap with my arms wrapped securely around her.
The talking naturally faded into kissing, and when I’d finally undressed her and joined her body with mine, I knew that this was it for me.
We never went to bed. We spent the whole night making love and cuddling on the couch, baring our souls to one another. I told her things that no other living soul knew about me, and I wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. There was nothing that I could keep from her. My only fear was that this fog around us would break and she would suddenly realize that this whole night had been a crazy experience.
Chapter 24: Nightmares and Break-ins
Jackson
Alissa was screaming.
My first thought was that Nick had somehow broken in, but I knew that was unlikely. I bolted from my bed and into the guestroom flipping light switches as I went. By the time I reached her she was curled into a ball and sobbing into a pillow.
“Alissa?” I questioned. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?” She turned her tear filled eyes to me, and I crossed the room to join her.
“It was awful,” she sobbed. I was beginning to put two and two together as my sleep fogged brain cleared. She had a nightmare. Why hadn’t I anticipated that? That was perfectly natural after such a traumatic event.
I lay down on the bed and pulled her into my arms. “Shhh,” I soothed, “it was just a dream, baby. I’m here now.”
She quieted as I rocked her gently. “Please don’t leave,” she begged. The desperation in her tone broke my heart.
“Of course not,” I said. “Just let me turn out the lights. I’ll be right back.” I walked back towards my bedroom to catch the light switches that I had hastily flipped on. I suddenly realized that I had been sleeping in only my boxers. Should I put clothes on before I went back to her? She had fallen asleep hours ago, in my arms as the storm died down.
Acknowledging the fact that she needed to rest, I had carried her to bed, and then gone to sleep in my own room. She was still wearing the outfit that she wore to dinner. I hadn’t wanted to put her in bed like that, but I wasn’t comfortable changing her either.
I ran my hands through my hair. What a mess.
“Alissa?” I said, “would you like to change out of those clothes before you go back to bed?”
She considered the situation for a moment and then blushed furiously. “Um,” she started,
“do you think I could borrow a t-shirt to sleep in? See Lexy...” I chuckled. We were back to that.
“Sure, why don’t you just come to my room? I am sure we can figure something out.” She got out of bed and followed me. I pulled a t-shirt and pair of my boxers out of my dresser and took them to her. Her eyes were still red from the combination of sleep and tears, but she looked calmer. I closed the bathroom door so that she could change and then nervously paced my bedroom.
She looked adorable in my clothes. Her hair was wild from sleep, and I wanted to bury my nose in it. I pushed those thoughts aside and settled her into my bed. I turned out the light, and then crawled in behind her. I spooned up against her body and listened to her heartbeat as she fell back to sleep.
The phone woke me not three hours later, and I nearly threw it across the room. Alissa had shifted in the night and our limbs were tangled together in the most wonderful way. Her body was warm and soft. Her head rested on my bare chest, her hair fanned out around me. It was a perfect fit.
I checked the caller ID. Jason. This had better be important. I tried to untangle myself without waking Alissa, but she opened her eyes beside me anyway.
“Jason,” I growled into the phone. “I hope this is an emergency.”
“I’m afraid it is,” he said. “Someone broke into Alissa’s place. Her restaurant has been vandalized.”
“What?!” I shouted. “How did this happen?”
Alissa was now alert next to me and trying to listen to the conversation. I flipped it on to speaker phone.
“Apparently, someone came in through the front door. There was no sign of forced entry so the police think that they had a key. They walked right in, made a mess, and walked right back out.”
“How bad is it, Jason?” Alissa asked.
“Alissa!” Jason laughed. “You got to the phone awful quick. Is there something you two want to tell me?”
Alissa blushed.
“Shut up, Jason. How bad is the damage?” I demanded.
“You need to come down and see. It’s pretty bad, but no one was hurt and I don’t think there was anything irreplaceable that was damaged. Whoever it was didn’t go upstairs, or couldn’t get through the door to the apartment, so Alissa’s stuff is safe, but the restaurant is trashed.”
Alissa looked at me, her eyes full of tears. “We’ll be down soon,” I said, and then I closed the phone. I held Alissa to my chest for a moment, and then asked if she was ready to go.
She pulled her hair into a messy ponytail and put on a pair of strappy sandals. She was still wearing my clothes, and I was enjoying seeing her in them far too much. Lexy really hadn’t packed her anything appropriate for this, and we were going to her place anyway, so it didn’t make much sense to change.
We took the elevator down to the garage. I had grabbed the keys for the Audi on the way out the door. I got Alissa settled in the passenger seat and then headed for her restaurant. I could tell she was trying to be brave. So far, she had succeeded in holding back her tears, but her posture was stiff, and she was incredibly quiet. I needed her to know that I would fix this.
“Alissa,” I said, after a few minutes of awkward silence. “I am so sorry. I know this has to be related to everything else that happened, and it’s entirely my fault. I will pay to replace everything. We’ll just buy all new tables and chairs and whatever else is ruined. I’ll hire a company to come in and clean it up. We’ll remodel the whole thing. I promise you: I will make this better.”
After a minute she answered me and her tone was far more spiteful than I could have imaged.
“Is that what your parents did, Jackson?” she choked, half exasperation and half tears.
“When you broke your toys they just bought you new ones and you thought it fixed everything?
I’ve poured my whole fucking life into that restaurant. Lexy and I finished those tables by hand because they were cheaper unstained, and I couldn’t afford them any other way. My father and his friends laid that hardwood floor one foot at a time. I picked each and every part of that place.
My decisions, the sweat of my friends and family. Don’t you fucking tell me that you can fix this with a blank check.” She broke down into sobs, and it was all I could do to keep the car on the road.
She was right. I was an ass, a monumental ass. I bought and sold companies like she sold sandwiches. I didn’t build my business with blood and sweat the way she did. I didn’t understand at all. I couldn’t replace the hours that she spent picking china patterns or painting the walls just the right color. I wasn’t there when she opened the doors to her business. I didn’t get to see how proud her father was that day. If I knew her at all, I would have known that I was sticking my foot in my mouth. I was making mistake after mistake despite the fact that I would do anything to make her happy.
“You’re absolutely right, Alissa,” I whispered. “I’m sorry that I keep screwing up. I can’t make it better, but I will do anything you ask of me. I will be here for you whatever you need, and if you want me to get the hell out of your way, I will do that, too.”
“I just want to get there,” she mumbled. S
he looked exhausted.
I decided to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the day. This was her life, and I was still largely an outsider in it. I would wait until she needed me to do something. I would listen to her instead of jumping to conclusions.
We pulled onto her street, and I parked at the curb across from her building. There was yellow police tape across her door, and her father was standing out front. I took a deep breath.
Here we go.
I left her to her father. He was glaring at me. I was clearly making a wonderful impression on him.
At least she hadn’t been in her apartment last night when they broken in.
I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers. This was going to be a very long day.
Chapter 25: Phoenix from the Ashes
Alissa
My dad tried to stop me at the door, but even I could tell that it was a halfhearted attempt.
He knew as well as I did that I was going to have to go in there eventually. I wanted to get it out of the way. Once I got past the initial shock, I would be able to focus on the next steps. I wanted to be on my way to a solution, and the first step to that was facing the damage.
I felt bad for snapping at Jackson. Honestly, I didn’t mean it, but he had frustrated me with his quick dismissal of my concerns. Sometimes I just wanted someone to tell me that life sucks. I didn’t want his money, and I didn’t want him to feel guilty about all of this. I just wanted him to wallow in misery with me for a little while. Was that so hard?
I leaned back against the doorframe and surveyed the damage. Most of the walls were covered with red spray paint. It was clear that the goal was to paint as much of my restaurant as possible with profanities. Their vocabulary left something to be desired: cock-sucker, whore, and slut weren’t very original.
They had overturned most of the tables and chairs and there was splintered wood all over the floor. A huge stack of plates was shattered in the middle of the mess, which meant that they had been in the kitchen too. There were very few things that were untouched. I sighed and wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand.
After a minute, my father came to my side. He looked like he was having an internal debate on hugging me. We never really had a huggy-type of relationship. I stepped back, letting him off the hook.
“Do they know who did it?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “Someone with a key, they think. Who had keys?” I ran through the list in my head. “Um. Me, Tyler, Lexy, Matt. I don’t know. I don’t really think any of them would have done this.”
“We should call them all anyway, see if anyone is missing a set of keys.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll get their numbers.”
I walked awkwardly through the destruction to the kitchen. Fortunately, they had kept most of the damage in the dining room. According to my dad, a neighbor across the street had called the police when they heard the noise… probably the plates. It seemed like they only had time to smash one stack before the sirens had chased them off.
Truthfully, it could have been a lot worse. I could repaint the walls. I would need all new furniture - most of the tables and chairs were either broken or covered in paint - but that was really the worst of it. I could just order twenty-five new plates. I wouldn’t need all new china, and they hadn’t touched the glasses.
I pulled my employee records from the file that I kept in one of the kitchen drawers. I gave the appropriate numbers to my dad. He looked grateful that he had something productive to do.
I went back into the dining room and started picking up the overturned chairs, collecting the ruined table clothes, and surveying the damage in more detail. After a few minutes I noticed Jackson following my example, his arms full of red stained cloth.
“Just make a pile for them here,” I said, dropping my armful on the floor. We’ll burn them when the police are done with the pictures of everything. Jackson nodded and added his to my pile.
“’Lissa?” My dad called from the doorway. “We might have a lead.”
“Really?” I asked. I wondered if one of my employees knew something.
“Yeah. We called Tyler. He says he doesn’t have his keys.”
“Oh. Did he lose them?” I hoped not. That would mean that the damage could have been done by anyone.
“No. He says he lent them to Ryan.”
Jackson dropped a chair behind me, and it clattered to the floor.
“Who’s Ryan?” I asked.
My dad looked at Jackson. I looked at Jackson. Jackson looked like he was going to pass out.
After a minute he answered me quietly. “Ryan is the chef that I hired to help run your business until you were well enough to return. I am such an idiot. He would have known Kayla from some of our previous functions. I should have seen that. I didn’t know that they were friends, but it makes sense for it to be related. I am so sorry. This is all my fault.” He looked utterly defeated. “I just can’t do anything right when it comes to you. I swear to you I’m just trying to help, and I just keep bringing more danger and destruction into your life. I never meant for any of this to happen. I should leave. I’ll just go.” He looked over his shoulder at my dad. “Please, Mr. Allen, if I can do anything to help the police, you have my number. I will do anything I can, please just ask. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”
I sat down in one of my ruined chairs and laid my head against the table. “Stay, Jackson,” I said.
“What?” he asked.
“I think he has the right idea, Alissa.” my dad chimed in, “I can help you clean this up.
We don’t need him here.”
“Dad,” I said, “a little privacy please?” I didn’t look up, but I heard his boots on the floor as he walked out.
“Jackson, come here.”
He hesitated, but eventually crossed the room to me and pulled out the chair next to mine.
He sat down beside me, and I lifted my head from the table.
“Jackson, I am going to say something to you, and I want you to not interrupt me okay?” He nodded to show his consent.
“It is not your fault that you are successful. It is not your fault that people want to take advantage of your success.” He looked like he wanted to interrupt, but I held up my hand to remind him that he just promised not to do that.
“You have been a victim of some terrible circumstances in the last few days, just like me.
You are not at fault. I appreciate your trying to help with my business while I couldn’t be here. It was very thoughtful of you to consider the things that are important to me. I appreciate your letting me stay with you. If not for you, I might have been here when they broke in, and I could have gotten hurt.”
I reached out and pulled his hand into my lap, lacing my fingers with his. “Thank you for everything that you have done, Jackson. I am sorry that I snapped at you earlier. I hope you can understand the fear that I was feeling. I wasn’t really angry with you, and I am not angry now.
We don’t even know what happened yet. The police will look into it, but it could be that Ryan had nothing to do with this. Either way, it doesn’t matter. It’s Kayla’s fault or whoever made this mess, not yours. You have been nothing but kind to me, and I don’t want you to leave. I need you to stay with me.”
He looked at me with tears in his beautiful blue eyes. “I really don’t deserve you, Alissa.”
“How about I get to be the judge of that?”
He gave me a weak smile. “What can I do to help?”
“Make a Home Depot run?” I asked. “I’ll make you a list.” I got my grocery list paper from the kitchen and started making a plan. We would need new paint for the walls, a cleaner to get the paint off of the floor, probably new floor wax after that, lots of garbage bags, and a spare industrial broom would be good. It was a lot to think about. I settled on painting and cleaning first. I would think about the furniture later.
I was a little surprised that Jackson didn’t argue with me when I told him th
at I was going to do the work myself. I was sure that he would have hired a team of professionals if I had left it up to him. Maybe my words in the car had affected him or maybe he was just tired of making mistakes. Either way, I was glad that we didn’t have to argue over it. A little manual labor would feel good right about now.
The police finished processing the scene, and my dad convinced them to let me continue cleaning. I wanted to be back in business as soon as possible. Bad publicity like this could be really damaging for me. I wanted to be back up in two or three days if I could manage it.
I was pulling the police tape away from the door when Lexy showed up. She had an arm full of restaurant supply catalogs. She could be a pain in the ass, but I was so very lucky to have her.
Ten minutes later, Mr. Jennings, the owner of my insurance company arrived to appraise the damage. He made a slow circle around the place and then stopped to study the door. “Where did they break in?” he asked.
“The police think they had a key,” I answered.
“Oh,” he said. He finished his walk, and then sat down at the table beside me and filled out a form.
Jackson joined us a few minutes later carrying paint cans, rollers, brushes, and a whole pile of other supplies. My dad went out to help him bring it all in.
“Miss Allen?” Mr. Jennings said looking up from his form. “I regret to inform you that your damages will not be covered by your policy. Please sign here.” He pushed the form to me.
“What? I pay that policy every quarter right on time. I have insurance for this business.
Why wouldn’t it be covered?”
Jackson sat down beside me and looked at the form.
“There was no forced entry, Miss Allen. The policy only covers you in the event of vandalism to the outside of your business or for breaking and entering. We are not responsible if you do not lock your doors or use poor judgment with regards to keys.”
“What?” I asked again. “How am I supposed to replace everything if it isn’t covered?” I was shocked. My insurance policy was not cheap; how could they do this? I didn’t remember anything like that from when I had purchased it. I should be covered for this.
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