Chapter 6 #2
I hold Jess for another minute before taking her arms and setting her away from me. Tiny wrinkles crease her forehead, but she quickly smooths them away. “Sorry,” she starts, “I should have let you actually come in first, shouldn’t I? Since it’s freezing out.”
It is freezing out, and with the front door still open, the frigid air is gusting right in. But that’s the least of my worries right now. I want to know why Jess was crying and why she held onto me like I was a buoy keeping her afloat.
Shutting the door behind me, I slide the deadbolt and chain lock home. Then I take a quick look at the control panel beside the door, making sure that the security system is working properly.
“It’s been working perfectly,” Jess offers. She shifts the flowers and truffles in her arms. “One of the alarms went off this morning?—”
“What?” My voice sharpens. “It went off? Why didn’t you call me?”
She walks over to the coffee table and sets the bouquet and box of truffles on it. Turning back to me, she says, “Because it was a squirrel. He was climbing along the windowsill outside, and he must have set off the sensor. Which is a good thing, right? That way we know it’s working.”
I take a steadying breath before crossing the few feet between us and sliding my arm around her waist. “That’s true. Are you sure that’s all it was, though?”
A faint smile teases her lips. “I’m sure. I watched the video and everything. It was just the squirrel. No one lurking—” Her smile fades. “Anyway. It was fine.”
As I look down at her, I’m hit with a wave of indecision. Which is unusual for me; typically I’m quick to decide, but with Jess, I feel like I’m constantly worried I’ll do something wrong. That I’ll scare her off before I get a chance to win her over.
Do I ask her? Or do I let Jess take the lead?
“Kane?” Jess peers at me with a worried expression. “Is something wrong? Do I have something on my face?” Her hand twitches up to her neck, hiding the hash-marks of scars there.
Shit. Now I’m making her self conscious.
“No, sweetheart.” I catch her hand, gently pulling it away from her neck. “You look beautiful. Like you always do.”
She flushes. “Kane. I don’t?—”
“You do.” Still holding her hand, I lead her over to the couch. As I tug her down to sit beside me, I add, “I mean it, Jess. You look absolutely beautiful.”
Confusion pulls at her brows. “It looked like something was bothering you. Or was I imagining things?” She stops. Her lips twist into a rueful smile. “It’s been a day. So I could have read it all wrong.”
And there. The perfect opening.
Drawing in a deep breath, I let it out slowly. “Well. Something was bothering me. Is bothering me, really.”
“Oh, Kane. I’m sorry.” She squeezes my hand. “Was it something at work? Is tonight not a good night for you? If you’re not in the mood for dinner, I can wrap it up for you to take home. We can do this another time.”
“No, it’s not that.” I shift closer to Jess, so our legs are flush against each other. I cover both her hands with mine. “I’m worried about you .”
“Me? Why?” But before I can respond, she answers her own question. Gaze dipping, she says, “I guess I didn’t do a very good job hiding it. Did I?”
“You did. But I still noticed. Why were you crying?”
Her lips thin. “I had a rough day is all.”
“Jess.” My voice firms. “If something’s wrong, tell me. Maybe I can help.”
She raises her eyes to mine. “I don’t want all our dates to be about my crap, Kane. I want us to just be able to have a nice date. Dinner’s almost ready, and I got popcorn for the movie, and…” Her shoulders drop. “I don’t want you to get tired of dealing with all my issues.”
As I look at her sad face, it’s all I can do to stop from hauling her into my lap. From holding her and rubbing her back and kissing her and doing whatever it takes to see her smile again .
I’ve never felt this way before—like Jess is mine to take care of. I know she’s not. She’s a grown woman who can take care of herself. But knowing it doesn’t stop me from wanting to step in and take care of everything.
“I’m not going to get tired of it,” I tell her. “I want to help. Because I care about you. And if something made you cry, I’d really like to know. Maybe I can do something about it.”
Jess lets out a dry laugh. “Unless you can go back in time and stop the person who slashed my tires, I’m not sure there’s much you can do.”
“What?” My jaw clenches. The alarm bells that started clanging the instant Jess opened the door ratchet up another decibel. “Someone slashed your tires? When?”
“At work,” she replies. “Out in the parking lot. I came out after my shift and all four tires were flat. The tow truck driver was the one who noticed they’d all been slashed.
So I was a little stressed, dealing with having it towed and getting home late and…
it was just a lot on top of an already crummy day. ”
My instinct is to fire questions at her, to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible, but I know that won’t help. Not when Jess’s chin is wobbling and her nails are digging into my palm. Not when she looks like she’s on the verge of tears again.
So I start with one. “Do you know who did it?”
She shakes her head. “No. I asked the security guard at my office, but they don’t have cameras in the parking lot. Only inside.”
Shit.
“Can you guess?” I ask gently. “Is there anyone I can look into? A coworker? An ex? ”
“At first, I thought it could have been Eliza,” she replies. “She’s one of the techs I supervise now. She’s not thrilled that I got the promotion, and today I had to write her up for insubordination. My boss warned her if it happened again, she’d be fired. She wasn’t happy about that, obviously.”
“Did she leave work before you?”
“I think so.” Jess sighs. “But, Kane. It could have as easily been someone else. Lots of people know where I work and the car I drive.”
But why would they want to slash her tires?
It all comes back to the question I’ve been hesitating to ask. But I think it’s far past time.
“Jess.” I turn towards her and rub her chilled hands between mine. “I haven’t wanted to ask. But?—”
“Of course you want to know.” Resignation tinges her voice. “I guess… I was hoping maybe you knew. And you didn’t care. That you liked me anyway. But I know that’s unrealistic. And you deserve?—”
“I do like you. Whatever this thing is that happened back in high school, it’s not going to change that.”
Jess pulls her hands away from mine. She plucks at the fabric of the couch, her attention wholly focused on it. “It might. When you hear.”
“I don’t think so.”
Her eyes meet mine, filled with defeat. “I’ll tell you. It’s only fair that you know. So you can decide if you still want to spend time with me.”
On a heavy sigh, she continues, “It was senior year in high school. Spring, just a month from graduation. I went to a party, and—” She stops. “No. I need to explain more. ”
I brush a tendril of hair away from her cheek. “You can tell me anything, Jess.”
“I was insecure in high school. Like a lot of people were. You wouldn’t have known it—I tried to come across as this confident girl.
Always dressed perfectly, my hair freshly done…
I used to save for months so I could afford to have my hair professionally colored.
And I’d scour through thrift shops trying to find brand name clothes.
Back then, I cared so much about what people thought. ”
After a beat, she adds, “I guess that hasn’t changed. Here I am, back in Sleepy Hollow, still worried about what everyone thinks of me. Just for a different reason this time.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to come across as confident.”
“Maybe not. But I just want you to understand. Not that it’s an excuse.
But that’s one of the reasons why…” Another sigh.
“I was jealous. Of Thea. It sounds so stupid now, but she was dating this guy, Liam, and I’d had the biggest crush on him for years.
But he never looked at me. Just her. And I know , it happens. But I… I made a mistake.”
With a trembling hand, she tugs her hair in front of her face.
“So I went to this party, and most of the seniors were there. Thea was there with Liam, but they didn’t seem to be getting along.
He was drinking too much, and I don’t think she liked it.
So she went off with Ari, and that’s—” Her jaw twitches. “That’s when I made my first mistake.”
Rather than interrupt her story, I just nod for her to continue.
“I kissed Liam,” Jess admits quietly. “I knew I shouldn’t have. I can’t excuse my behavior. But I did it. And… Thea sa w. Long story short, she and Liam got into a big fight. They broke up. Because of me.”
“Jess, that kind of thing happens in high school. You made a mistake, but it wasn’t the end of the world.”
“I know. But what happened after was the really bad part.” After a beat, she adds, “Liam wanted to leave the party, but Thea wouldn’t go with him.
She was angry with him, and thought he was too drunk to drive.
So I offered to go with Liam instead. Stupid me; I thought it was a chance to spend more time with him. To show him what he was missing.”
A chill worms its way into my stomach. “What happened then?”
“He was too drunk to drive.” She pushes her hair back and angles her jaw to expose the scars on her neck. “We—Liam—crashed his car at the curve on Sleepy Hollow Road. He… was killed immediately. I was wearing my seatbelt, so I wasn’t as badly injured. But the glass… that’s how I got these.”
“Jess.”
Tears well up in her eyes. “The scars were so much worse back then. When I first saw them in the hospital, all stitched up with that awful black thread, I was horrified. I felt like a monster. And then the plastic surgeon said I’d probably have them forever, and I was just…
I couldn’t stop seeing the accident. Liam lying there, all pale and covered in blood… ”
Shit.