Chapter 26 #2
My breath shook as I inhaled, watching the flare of fire and reaction in Jameson’s eyes. “Mia.” His voice was low, not full of empathy but rage. “Darling Mia, I want his name.”
One tear rolled down my face. “You believe me so easily,” I whispered with a laugh. This man had only known me for a month but took my word as gospel in the way my parents never had. “I wish I knew you back then.”
“You know me now. Tell me his name.” His voice was soft like he wanted to coax the answer out of me gently.
Wiping away the tear and sitting up straighter, I told him, “The name doesn’t matter.
The story does. My story.” I made sure to emphasize that.
“The first time he made a pass at me, I brushed it off and tried to tell myself it was a one-off. And truly he didn’t try for a while again.
But everything after, even his hand on the small of my back, felt wrong. ”
“All of his touches were wrong if they felt wrong, Mia.” He said it so confidently, and his words acted like a balm to a wound.
“I know that now, but back then, I was confused. I wanted to trust him. He’d groomed me from a young age.
When he tried again, touching me in places I knew I didn’t want, I was so distraught that I confided in my mother, but her disbelief sent me spiraling.
” I shoved my curls and the thought of my former dark headspace away.
“Looking back, I realize she did believe me. She bought me more conservative clothes and tried to stay by me more when he was around. I guess that was her way of protecting our reputation … and me.”
Jameson got up to pace the room, his energy almost palpable.
He was a man of action, and the past didn’t allow him to be that here with me now.
He sat down again, his blue eyes deep with rage as he looked at me.
“What your mother did wasn’t good enough,” he growled.
“She wasn’t protecting you; she was protecting her pride and reputation. I want a damn name.”
I patted his thigh, my heart cracking open and spilling more because I knew I could trust him to hear me, to believe me, to be there for me.
“You would want a name, Jameson. But I don’t need you to do anything, okay?
I probably needed it back then, but my parents weren’t people who rocked the boat, you know?
My mother’s pride and desire to not create waves was worth more than my sanity.
” I held up a hand to stop him from trying to comfort me, because I didn’t need it anymore.
“I got better and better, Jameson. Made it to our division conference … and then tore it again.”
His eyes widened. “No.”
I shrugged. “Bad luck, I guess. That time, he told me I wasn’t ready after months of rehab.
He said it over and over again. I wasn’t ready.
I wasn’t ready and shouldn’t listen to my gut.
He knew best.” I shuddered at the memory of his voice saying it.
“And the day I told him I didn’t care what he said, I was ready and I was going to listen to my gut, he tried to massage my thigh up, up, and up.
And … I fired him on the spot.” I winced at the thought of that memory.
“I got up and tried to hobble to the locker room door. It was locked.”
“The reason you hate being locked up …” He pinched the bridge of his nose as his jaw worked up and down like he was trying not to explode. “Jesus. I should have never cuffed you and—”
“Jameson …” I dragged a finger over his neck and to his chin to lift his face so he would meet my eyes. “You could tie me up as a hostage for days now and it wouldn’t scare me at all.”
I swear the blue in his eyes softened with my statement. “Your trust in me is devastating, Darling.”
“I think it’s warranted. I know you’d never hurt me.”
He pulled me into his lap and twisted one of my curls in his hand. “I’m going to try my damn hardest not to.”
I nodded. “And that’s all I want. People around me who will try, you know? I thought that’s who that coach was. He was a family friend. A pillar in our community … but he was a damn predator.”
“And he should get what he deserves because of it. Give me a name and—”
“Jameson, it’s not worth it. I was lucky that I stood my ground and screamed at him to let me out of the locker room. Another girl heard and banged on the door, and I got out before anything else happened.”
“Enough already had happened,” Jameson grumbled, and truly he was right. I was never the same after that.
“Maybe, but I found strength in walking away from him. Although, when I took on a lesser-known coach, it was like I spit in my parents’ faces.
” I took a deep breath and told him the rest. “They stopped coming to matches. My community walked away from me and didn’t watch me compete in the finals.
When I won, only my sister was in the crowd.
I quit after that. I was ready to win and then ready to be done.
To this day, my parents tell everyone I would’ve been better had I waited and continued with my first coach.
I’d be an Olympian. It’s not true. I was ready.
I am ready if I say I am, and I won’t ever not listen to my gut again. I know my worth, and I stand by it.”
“Darling Mia …” His tone slid over me like a security blanket and warmed my heart as he cupped my cheek softly in the palm of his hand. “Your worth is priceless, and so is the trust you have in yourself. Don’t ever let a fool tell you different.”
“You tried to when you hired me.” I poked his shoulder.
“And I was a fucking fool.” He leaned in, tilting his forehead against mine.
“I know.” I chuckled and then admitted to him what a boss probably never wants to hear out of an employee.
“People can be absolute fools in this world. It’s why I have a stupid complaint against me within the public school too.
That same coach was hired by another parent in my town to help out this girl, Maisy.
She confided in me about the coach, and I went off on her parents.
Her dad said she and I must be lying. So, I might have lunged for him. ”
“Violence from you, Darling? Yeah, I believe it.” He kissed down my neck and pulled me closer to his chest like he wanted to comfort me. “And I love to fucking see it.”
I sighed. “I think I might like violence from you too sometimes. The way you ran me through that club was …”
“Amazing?” He looked up at me with mischief sparkling in those ocean blues.
“Highly dangerous, but somewhat attractive.”
He hummed, and then he nodded once and then twice. “Are you ready to come to a Diamond gathering?” he murmured.
“Gut says I’m ready.” I held his gaze, not wavering at all in my decision.
A rumble of approval vibrated through his chest. “I like the confidence. I guess I can’t find out everything about you in a file,” he murmured, staring at me with a newfound emotion I couldn’t quite place.
“Nope. But I can tell you everything that’s not in the file … if you want.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to think I want a lot from you, Mia Darling.”
He kissed me then, slowly and softly at first, letting his lips move over mine as if he were learning and memorizing them.
I fell into it, holding onto his shirt as his tongue swept through my mouth and claimed every part of it.
I moaned at how my body lit up for him, how his muscles felt against my chest, how his lips were soft but still commanded my every movement.
He ripped himself away, breathing heavily. “Or I might want all of you, Mia, and if I take all of you, you’re not getting any of yourself back. So, we have to stop.”
“Do we?” I tilted my head, and he growled at my question.
“I’ll have dresses sent up for tonight. It’s somewhat formal, but you can wear what you want.”
“Plant pajamas?”
“If you want.” He shrugged. “You’ll still look better than the lot of them.”
“They’ll just accept my attending?”
“As my guest? Yes. And if you want in … Well, you know. Born in, marry in, or work for us in complete dedication.”
“What if I want to be more than your guest?”
He dragged his teeth over his bottom lip, and I saw what looked like concern and fear in his eyes. “You might be ready, Mia. But give me some time to come to terms with you being in constant danger.”
“If I’m a Diamond, you’d still be protecting me, Jameson.”
“In the syndicate or not, Mia, I’m always going to protect you.” He pecked my cheek and set me on the bed before he walked to the door. “We leave at seven. Be ready.” And then he pointed at the food and said, “Now eat. I didn’t make that for nothing.”
“You made it? Why?”
“Because I thought you would be hungry when you woke up.” So simple. So sweet. So not Jameson Knight.
I put a bite of food in my mouth and let him leave. Didn’t ask what we’d be doing or where we’d be going or who would be there. It didn’t matter.
I was ready.