Chapter 49
JACK
Jessi
Call me.
Jessi
Pick up.
Jessi
Please, I’m worried.
Two hours later, my bike rumbles up the drive. I see Jessi wearing a path in the floors from the front window.
I walk in and head straight to the kitchen sink to scrub my hands. The sink fills with red the moment the water hits my fingers.
“Is Austin okay?” Jessi mutters as she joins me.
“Your brother is fine. David, on the other hand, has seen better days.” I reply as I peel off my sticky shirt. I toss the ruined material into the trash and grab a dish towel to dry my hands. “I need to shower.”
Jessi trails behind me and into my bedroom.
“How are you?” she says, her eyes as big as saucers.
I knew once she saw this side of me it would shock her, and she wouldn’t look at me the same way. “I’m fine.”
She tries taking my hands in hers. “Let me look at these. You need them bandaged.”
I pluck my hands away. “I need to shower, then we can bandage them. They aren’t that bad. I’ve busted these hands up too many times to count.” I force my lips to upturn, savoring her gold-flecked eyes and perfectly pouty lips, before she runs for the hills.
I go upstairs, turn on the shower, and shed the rest of my stained clothing.
I welcome the scalding water rushing over me, washing my exhaustion away.
Resting the palms of my hands against the cool tile wall, I try to convince myself that it’s best Jessi sees this side of me before we got in too deep.
Now she knows she deserves someone better.
My body sags against the cold tile. Maybe in another life where I wasn’t an outlaw and she wasn’t my teenage neighbor, it could have been her and me. But now that she knows who I really am, there’s no way she still wants me.
I shut off the water, wrap myself in a towel, and head into my room to get dressed.
My eyes land on Jessi’s tiny frame perched on my bed. “I didn’t expect you to be in here,” I say.
She pops up. “Sorry. This is your personal space. I shouldn’t have.” She sets what looks like bandages and ointment down.
I quickly take two strides toward her and snake my arms around her waist. “I thought you would be repulsed by me, after seeing me like that and knowing what I’d done.”
She rests her cheek on my bare chest and hums. “There’s nothing that could make me repulsed by you.
I can’t lie. I’m not sure what to think of all of this.
No one has ever stood up for me or protected me like you have.
I understand why you think having complete transparency is so important in a relationship.
I can’t imagine someone coming home and having to hide this—who they are.
” She sucks on her bottom lip, peppering kisses over my chest. My body tingles at the sight and warmth of her soft lips.
I’m stunned that she’s accepting my bloodstained body so well, but I won’t complain.
I glide the hands I used to defend her down her back, and say, “I don’t know what I’m doing here.
I’m used to being alone and only thinking about myself, but I can’t fight my need to be near you.
I don’t want to wake up alone anymore. I know that makes me a sick bastard.
But I don’t care.” I release her and run a hand through my wet hair.
“Look at me,” she instructs. “I’m not a child. I’m an adult. There is nothing wrong with two consenting adults choosing to be together.”
I let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Your dad is going to want to beat my ass, and rightfully so.”
Her small hands flit over my stomach. “I won’t let him. I’ll talk to him. Don’t let that be the thing that stops you from choosing me.”
I puff out a breath and attempt to draw out a beautiful smile from her. “I said your dad would want to, not that he’d succeed. I don’t have it in me to keep denying the pull I feel toward you. Jessi, what have you done to me?”
Her smile almost brings me to my knees. “The same thing you’ve done to me. Made you fall in—”
The sound of shattering glass and splintering wood bellows from downstairs, followed by loud banging. I grab a pair of jeans and tug them on. I snatch my gun from my bedside drawer and tuck it into my waistband.
“Wait here,” I order.
I barrel down the stairs two at a time, with Jessi hot on my heels. Shit.
I spy Austin in the doorway. The doorframe is splintered, and glass covers the foyer. “You assholes broke my door? Get the fuck out of my house!” I yell.
Austin swings a bat at me. It hits a lamp, shattering it like confetti.
“Austin, stop!” Jessi screams. Two more guys follow behind Austin. I’m going to fucking kill these pieces of shit who think they can break into my house.
I try to tell Jessi that it’ll be okay, even though I don’t know if it will. They’re madder than hornets. “Stay inside and block this door, or better yet, go to my bathroom. Do not come out until I get you. If you hear them upstairs, call the police. For God’s sake, woman. Listen to me. Please?”
She mumbles, likely too scared to answer, but she retreats. Her sobs fuel my anger and need to end them all. No one makes my girl cry. They are here because of the revenge I took out on David. I will not let that bleed onto her.
“Your sister had nothing to do with what happened,” I tell Austin. “Leave her out of it. You can have me if you want, but we do this outside. Leave Jessi out of this.”
I willingly lead them away from her, into the garage. Too bad I closed the door after working on my bike. They push me down the step.
As I catch my balance and whirl around to face them, I hold up my hands. I may take a beating now to protect Jessi, but they will regret it. I can be patient when needed.
“Jack, no!” Jessi calls. She hovers in the kitchen, barely out of reach of Austin’s goons.
“Jessi, go upstairs!” I cry, begging her to listen.
When Austin takes the first swing, I don’t even try to defend myself. I allow the pain to fuel my rage. I can’t tell if blood is pouring from my nose or my mouth, but I can taste it. I give them a smile and hope it horrifies them.
Jessi screams, collapsing on the floor. “Stop! Austin! Stop this!”
“Jessi.” I cringe. “Go. Now. Lock. The. Door.”
Austin glowers. Red splatters his face, along with a triumphant glare that makes my blood run cold.
I’ll be taking this beating for nothing if she doesn’t run.
The last thing I want to do is murder Austin in front of her, but if he goes for her, that’s exactly what I’ll do.
When he locks his eyes on me again, he swings a bat into my stomach.
I fall to the concrete, unable to hold myself up any longer.
The other men take turns kicking my back and sides.
Jessi clambers up and runs out, slamming into Austin. Austin pushes her to the ground and cackles, “You are fucking him, aren’t you? You cunt.”
I spit blood onto the concrete. “Don’t you dare touch her again.”
Jessi wears a pained expression as she ruefully gazes into my swollen face.
“Run,” I tell her. “Please, Jessi.”
Something catches Jessi’s attention. She grabs my gun. It skidded away from me at some point and lay near the step into the garage. Oh shit. No.
She points it right at her brother. “Leave Jack alone and get out of here before I shoot you.”
My girl is a fighter. Brave. But I can’t let her do something that could destroy her life. “Give the gun to me,” I tell Jessi.
Austin and his friends stop. All their hands are now up.
Austin sneers, his eyes locked on the gun in his sister’s hand. “Yeah, Jess. You are not going to use that thing. You don’t even know how.”
She smiles through her tears. “Do you want to find out? I will shoot all of you and call it self-defense if you don’t get out of here NOW!” Her voice cracks as the gun rattles in her hands.
They don’t move at all.
I climb to my feet and ease the gun out of Jessi’s grasp, keeping it trained on Austin while pushing his sister behind me.
“I do know how to use one and I’m not afraid to pull a trigger.
The fact that you’re Jessi’s brother is the only reason why you aren’t dead already, and my patience just ran out. Go before I change my mind.”
The bats hit the ground with a drumbeat of thuds. The offenders shuffle toward the garage door, their hands up. I push the button and the door rolls open.
Austin leers as he bolts to the car, glowering at Jessi like a starved bear. “If you knew what he did to David, you’d stay away from him, Jessi.”
I square my shoulders, staring him down. “She’s safer here than she ever was with you.”
This isn’t the end of it. I know it, but I will die before I let him or anyone else hurt her.
The car screeches down the road minutes later, leaving long tire tracks on the pavement.
Jessi drops to her knees, sobbing and shaking. I scoop her up and carry her into the house. I set her on the island, holding her to me. “Shh. It’s okay. I’m never going to let anyone hurt you.”
“Jack, I don’t care about me. They hurt you! And they destroyed your house. I’m so sorry. Why does my family have to be so messed up? I swear I had no idea how psychotic Austin is.” She cries into my chest.
“I’m fine. I’ve had many beatings, a lot worse than this.” I take in her face. Her eyes dance as she assesses the damage. “Everything they wrecked can be fixed too.”
She gulps down air and composes herself. “Okay, let’s get you cleaned up. You need ice. We can deal with the door later.”
Jessi continues to shock me. No one has ever protected me like she did tonight. I’m the one always watching and playing the hero.
There’s only one way things between us can end. Heartbreak.
Because after tonight, I can’t let her go. If she wants out, she’ll have to destroy me. Because as far as I’m concerned, she’s mine.