God, what he did to me.
“Everything okay after last night?” I asked, changing the subject as I focused on pouring cream into my mug. I didn’t want to bring up something negative, especially now that he was obviously in a much better frame of mind, but I did want to get the attention off of me.
He was quiet, so I glanced over at him. His eyes darkened. “It’s alright.”
“Want to talk about it?”
He shrugged. “Maybe later.”
“What time did you get home?”
“A little after two.”
Two? As in just a little over four hours earlier?
How did this man survive on so little sleep?
“Jesse, what’s going on?” I asked, placing the cream back in the refrigerator and walking to the other side of the counter. I leaned back on it and eyed Jesse. I was still mortified, but concern for him overtook my embarrassment.
He just shook his head and took a sip of his coffee. “Don’t worry about it, V.”
I sighed, resigned to the fact that I couldn’t make him talk. “I need to get going. I’ve got some copies to make this morning.”
“Want to carpool?”
“I’d love to, but I need to stop back at my… um, at my old house after school.”
“Why?” he asked, taking a sip of coffee.
“I need to drop off another copy of the papers.”
“Why?” he repeated, folding the newspaper in front of him.
“Richard shredded the first set.”
“Asshole.”
“You have no idea,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“Can I do anything?”
“You know anybody who can speed this along?”
“Sadly, I don’t. Want me to come with you to the house?”
I shook my head. “I’m just going to drop off the papers and then head out. He won’t be there. The first set I gave him was a copy since I don’t trust him, so I just need to make another copy.”
“Smart woman,” he said, tapping his temple with his finger to indicate that I had thought ahead.
I winked at him. “Damn right,” I said. Then I pointed to my head. “This isn’t just a hat rack, you know.”
He grinned. “Have an outstanding day, Ms. Freemont.”
“You too, Mr. Drake. Catch ya later.”
“That’s my line,” he grinned, and I headed out the door with a smile.
As I got into the car, my phone buzzed with a text.
Figured. Fucking Richard.
He always managed to find a way to piss me off right when I was riding a Jesse high.
Call me.
I replied right away. No.
My phone rang a second later. “What?” I answered snidely.
“You’ve got twenty-four hours to move out of that douche bag’s place before ‘no fault’ is out the window.”
“Fuck you, Richard.”
“Nice language, wife. If you don’t move out of there, I’ll not only sue you for everything, but I’ll find a way to take everything from him, too.”
“Don’t you dare drag Jesse into our shit. He’s just being a good friend.”
“A good friend who wants to fuck what’s mine, sweetheart. I’ve got people in the right places. I’ll figure something out.” Richard ran around with a nasty crowd made up of local lawyers, politicians, and school board members, most of which had slime dripping off of them.
“I’m not yours anymore.”
“You most certainly are, at least under the eyes of the law. So suck it up, sweets. Get the fuck out of his place or you’ll both live to regret it. You’ve got twenty-four hours.”
“You’re a real dickhead.”
“Still your dickhead, sweetheart.”
I cut off the call and threw my phone away from me.
Fuck.
The worst part of that call was the way my heart dropped into my stomach as I thought about moving out of Jesse’s. We were good for each other. I knew I was good for him; I physically saw the way that just my presence comforted him through whatever he was dealing with. I couldn’t even imagine leaving him now, not when I knew that he was getting closer to telling me what caused that haunted look in his eyes that somehow disappeared after holding me in his arms for the night.
And he was helping me, too. He was building my confidence back up after Richard had stripped me of it through his manipulation. He was helping me feel whole again. He made me feel sexy, and he was helping me through one of the most difficult, life-changing experiences a person can go through by talking me through it, protecting me, making me laugh, and comforting me.
I had to shield him from Richard.
It was my only choice, really.
I didn’t want to tell Jesse about Richard’s threat for a number of reasons, most importantly because I wanted to protect him. I had no doubt in my mind that Richard would deliver on his word, and the last thing I wanted was to drag Jesse into this drama, especially after he’d been so nice to me, offering for me to stay at his place with no questions asked, taking me home with him when he sensed that I didn’t want to go to my own home.