Chapter 31
JAMIE
The TV is on, but I couldn’t tell you anything about the plot of the movie. I know it’s some action flick. I picked it in the hope of getting out of my head, thinking something loud and dramatic would do the job. It isn’t working.
I’ve been living on autopilot for the past four days, anxiously waiting for a call from Nat. We agreed she would only call when she succeeded, otherwise no contact. It was my idea—I knew I would be tempted to spam her every hour of every day asking for updates.
Tyler has been my anchor through the whole ordeal, just as he’d promised.
He insisted I take time off work and not to worry about money because he’ll support me, but I refused.
What good would it do to sit at home and drive myself nuts by creating worst-case scenarios?
At least at the clinic I can slip into my work persona and focus on something other than my wreck of a life.
It got a bit weird when I had to tell Claire there’s been no date yet, since she was so excited to get the tea. Thankfully she didn’t push for details, likely picking up on my shitty mood.
The same can’t be said for Seth. He’s been spamming me, demanding to know when I’ll be back at the gym. He seems to have decided that the reason why I’m not showing up is because Tyler and I had a fight.
‘Your beefy boyfriend is being sus af. He’s not giving me anything. Let me know if he did something, I’ll kick his ass.’
That was the last message he sent. It actually made me smile. And made Tyler laugh.
If— When this whole thing blows over, I might even tell Seth everything. Might. Given how readily he throws out threats, there’s a very real risk he would actually commit murder if he found out about David. I should introduce him to Nat.
I don’t realize I’m smiling until Tyler points it out. He nuzzles my neck, the ticklish feeling of his beard pulling a giggle out of me.
“It’s nice to see you smile again,” he says. “I presume it’s not because of the movie?”
I turn my focus back to the TV, where someone just got shot in the head. “Yeah, no.”
“Hmm, I figured. What brought it up, then?”
“I was thinking about Seth. And Nat.”
Tyler lifts his head, an eyebrow arched high. “I don’t think that threesome would work. And how come I’m not there?”
“Ha ha.” I roll my eyes, then shudder at the imagery. God, no. “I was just thinking I should introduce them.”
“Again, I don’t think that…twosome will work.”
I slap his thigh. “Get your mind out of the gutter.” He can be such a dork. “I mean, they’d probably get along. Could take down the government if they joined forces.”
Tyler purses his lips. “Yup, very likely. But I’m afraid that introducing them would equal aiding and abetting.”
I let out a deep, disappointed sigh. “You’re right. I could be in big trouble.”
We share a laugh and a kiss. It’s tender, meant to comfort and soothe, but I feel a flicker of a fire coming to life within me.
We haven’t done anything in almost a week, since David barged into my life again, and I hate it.
I hate that the whole situation put a wedge between us, because I miss Tyler.
Yes, he’s here with me, and I still fall asleep wrapped in his embrace like a protective cocoon, then wake up like that too.
He’s here in the way that truly matters, so I shouldn’t be placing such an importance on something as basic as sex, but…
I can’t help it. I miss the feeling of him, on top of me.
Inside me. Fitting so perfectly within me that there’s no space for loneliness or fear.
I miss the taste of him, the sound of my name—or petname—in that wrecked voice of his whenever he’s close to falling apart, because I made him so.
I won’t let that be taken away from me.
I loop my arms around his neck to keep him in place, keep him kissing me. He obliges but doesn’t deepen the kiss, like he’s afraid to spook me. He doesn’t think of himself at all, doesn’t think of the fact that his body must be starving for this by now.
Seriously, how did I ever deserve someone so perfect?
I part his lips with mine and slip him my tongue, swallowing his sound of surprise. He opens up to me but stays slow and careful, letting me lead, letting me choose.
I choose him, always. I rise onto my knees and swing my leg over his, settling into his lap.
His hands grab my hips, squeezing tight, then releasing just as quickly. As if he managed to hold back at the last second despite everything telling him to take.
I don’t want him to hold back. I want him to take everything he wants.
I’m about to tell him as much when my phone rings, forcing us apart. We look at each other in frozen silence. I manage to move after the third ring, climbing off Tyler’s lap without grace as I scramble to pick up. I make sure it’s on speaker as I set it between us.
“Hello?”
“It’s me,” Nat’s voice comes through, sharp and curt. There’s noise in the background, like a door slamming, and she sounds furious. I brace myself for the worst, for her to say that David found out what she was trying to do and—
“It’s done,” she clips. “Every single one. I deleted everything I could find.”
“It’s done,” I repeat numbly. “It’s done.” Relief hits so hard it almost hurts.
“Yeah,” Nat says, way softer this time. “It’s over, Jamie. He has nothing on you.”
A sob bursts out of me before I can stop it. Tyler is there in an instant, drawing me in, holding me tight as everything crumbles, in a good way.
“Sorry for taking so long. I wanted to make sure I got everything, and it took a bit to go through all the folders. There were more than I expected,” Nat continues, her voice tight with disgust. “God, he’s revolting. I can’t believe I ever touched his willy.”
A sound trapped somewhere between a laugh and a sob escapes me. “Same.”
“Same,” Tyler joins in, making me smile for real.
“Thank you,” I say, voice cracking. “Seriously, Nat. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” she says quickly. “I was stupid for believing him in the first place.”
“People like him are good at lying because it’s all they do,” Tyler explains. “So stop blaming yourselves, both of you.”
“Your man is right. Fuck him,” Nat agrees after a short pause. “David, not your man.”
I let out a watery chuckle. “Yeah, fuck him.”
“One more thing…” There’s a rustling sound on the other side of the line. “You’ve been texting him, right?”
“Yeah.”
Since Sunday, I’ve pretended to plead with him to change his mind, specifically mentioning the pictures and his demands.
I worried he wouldn’t play along, but once he realized I'd unblocked him, he was all too eager to engage with me.
Mostly just to mock me and threaten me, but that was good. That was what we needed.
“And he’s been replying?”
“Yeah. The last text is from this morning.” In the text, he was smugly reminding there were only two days left. He also sent a picture. I wanted to delete it instantly, but held myself back. This is evidence, as much as I hate it.
Nat lets out a relieved breath. “Okay, good. Can you send me the screenshots?”
“Yeah, sure.” I’m glad I was able to do something for her in return. “What are you going to do with them?”
“The worst I can,” she announces proudly. “I’ll do reverse-fucking-Uno on him. I’ll write a very nice, very detailed email to his teachers, to the fucking principal. Hell, I’ll send that shit to his parents, so they know what a scumbag they raised.”
“I do love the sound of that,” Tyler chimes in. “Poetic justice.”
“Uh-huh. And perfectly legal. Encouraged, even.”
“That’s right.” Tyler strokes my cheek. “Are you happy with that? No one is putting themselves at risk here.”
I nod. This kind of revenge is something I can get behind. “Yeah, I’m okay with that.”
“Great! I can keep you updated, if you want,” Nat offers.
“Not really. I just… I want to forget about it. All of it.”
“Well, I wanna know what happens to that piece of shit,” Tyler says, raising a questioning eyebrow at me. “Unless you don’t want me to.”
“No, that’s fine. Do what you want to do.”
“Thank you.” He leans in and kisses my forehead. “Nat, I’ll send you my number.”
“And I’ll send you the screenshots,” I add.
“Perfect. I’ll get on with it right away. God, I can’t wait to ruin him.”
Tyler smirks. “Have fun.”
“Oh, I will. Talk to you later, guys.”
“Nat, wait!” I hurry before she hangs up. “Just…thank you. For everything.”
She huffs, frustrated. “Please, don’t. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be fucking clueless and dating that asshole.”
“Fair. We call it even?”
“Yup.”
“Okay.” I chuckle. “Talk soon.”
“Bye!”
When the call ends, silence falls over us like a heavy blanket. I don’t know how long I sit here, willing my brain to accept there’s no danger for me to brace up against.
When David showed up in front of my workplace and started spouting all those threats, it didn’t feel like a stumbling block that I just had to find a way around.
It felt monumental. Life-altering. A stain I’d never be able to wash off.
I don’t mean just the shame that came with it—I’ve spent most of my life ashamed of parts of myself, that’s nothing new.
It had the potential to rob me of every single thing I had left; my job, the peaceful life I’ve fought so hard to build and, most importantly, what I have with Tyler.
It was a miracle in and of itself that he never cared for my past and the baggage that comes with it.
But now that my past had caught up with me, I was terrified it would be the straw that broke the camel's back—that would break us.
But it didn’t. On the contrary—it brought us closer together. Tyler has been unwavering this whole time, really embracing his knightly side. Whenever I started spiraling, he’d be there to drag me back up.
I look at the amazing man next to me, feeling so many emotions my heart threatens to burst with them.
“What is it, little bunny?” Tyler asks, brows pulled together. He cups the back of my neck, and my body leans into it instantly. “Everything okay?”