Chapter 26
Jackson
I looked at my watch. Pete had been gone for eight hours. Eight hours of no response to my many calls and texts. Was he that mad at me? Or had something bad happened?
I couldn’t live like this!
Harold and his men had left for the day, leaving me alone in the mansion for the first time ever. Would I sleep alone too? Where would he sleep? In a hotel room in some far away town? In his car out in the open?
I was saved from my thoughts by the doorbell ringing; I practically ran to answer it. If Pete had died, was this how I would find out? Would they come by and tell me how sorry they were and then leave me broken on my doorstep?
I shook my head, berating myself for going to such horrible places in my mind. Then I opened the door and felt my heart quiver with fear. A tall man stood with a grim expression, then he showed me his card and I felt my legs weaken.
“Hello, Jackson. I’m Pete’s boss, Rino. Do you mind if I come in?”
This was it. My Pete was dead. Why else would he be here?
Ignoring his question, I blurted, “He’s dead, right? That’s why you’re here? To tell me the man I love is gone forever.”
He held up both hands with a small smile. “Pete’s alive.”
I felt my entire being relax, but then it hit me. “Oh, God! He’s been hurt?!”
“For god’s sake, Jackson. Let me in so I can tell you.” His tone was firm and his eyes showed me he wasn’t in the mood to drag this out any further.
I moved to the side and together we sat in the living room, me on the couch and him on one of the chairs.
“Pete is okay. He’s not hurt.”
I melted into the couch; my poor heart couldn’t take another scare like this. I would have to tie Pete up so could never leave me again. “Then why are you here?”
“Because Pete won’t be coming home for a few days, maybe more, maybe less.”
“What? Just where is he? Is he even still in the country?”
“He’s working on a secret case, but he’s not far. He’ll contact you himself when he can. I had to give him a new phone since his broke.”
“How did it break? Is he in danger?”
Rino gave an exasperated sigh. “You need to calm yourself before you speak to Pete, he’s working and doesn’t deserve to carry your worries with him.
He needs to focus on his assignment, not on your feelings about it.
” Well, that felt like a slap to the face.
How could words hit so perfectly? I could almost feel the sting lingering as he watched and waited for me to argue with him, but I didn’t, instead I nodded and agreed to wait until Pete contacted me.
Not that I could do anything but wait—I didn’t have his new number.
“Good boy,” Rino said, ignoring my wide-eyed look before he left the house without saying another word to me.
Had Pete told him about my dislike of his work? I didn’t feel like I was that unsupportive of it. Not until today, at least. Maybe I truly wasn’t as good a boyfriend as I’d thought, or hoped to be. If Pete was out there doing good, then I could learn to deal. Maybe.
I sighed and looked around the empty living room. It was so cold here without Pete warming up the place with his beaming smile and joy. He radiated heat and I was freezing without him.
I stood, walked towards the front door, and locked it.
Alone once again.
I hadn’t slept alone in weeks, and I hated it.
I woke up grumpy and decided a hot shower would be the best medicine for my mood.
It hadn’t helped that Pete still hadn’t called or messaged me.
I’d checked my phone several times as I woke from the tiniest creak.
I’d slept holding my phone like it was a teddy bear and I was a scared child without it to soothe me.
What was his reasoning to ignore me? Had I really messed up that badly?
I didn’t have time to wonder just how badly I’d treated him.
Today, Harold and his men would empty the pool and repair it.
I wanted it to be bigger, so they’d start digging next to it, removing the existing tiles and everything, starting over with all new tiles and much more room to swim in.
I also wanted a shallow end. Maybe add a bar outside for the summer months.
We had so many fun plans on what to do with the place, and if things stayed on schedule, the pool would be ready before the start of summer.
I’d found some tiles I liked to go around the pool area, but Harold had rejected them on sight, saying they were too slippery.
I still hadn’t seen the ones he’d picked out, but I would today so I could approve and place the order.
Getting dressed took longer than usual since I kept looking at my stupid phone. Then by some miracle, it rang. But instead of it saying ‘My man’ on it, it said, ‘Mike’. I groaned loudly, then answered.
“Hey man,” Mike greeted, cheerily. This was the second time I’d spoken with him since he’d left, and he didn’t deserve to feel my sour mood through the phone, so I mustered up a fake smile and greeted him back. “Where’s Petey? I’ve called him several times already; he never picks up.”
Hello sour mood, welcome back.
“He broke his phone on his current assignment,” I explained. “I still haven’t heard from him either.”
There was a beat of silence before he asked. “When did he leave?”
“Yesterday just before lunch,” I replied, feeling my mood sour further as I realized it was almost a full day since I saw him last.
“That doesn’t seem like Pete,” he stated, sounding a tad accusing. “What happened?”
“Well, he told me others had been hurt and were in the hospital so he had to take over the case. I, um, didn’t react well to that.
” Mike cursed at me and I sighed, admitting defeat.
Right now, I wasn’t Mike’s friend, I was his little brother’s boyfriend, and I was about to hear just how badly I’d fucked up.
“I get it,” he said, sounding resigned to the whole thing.
“Wait, what?” I had to have misheard him.
“I said, I get it. I hate that he and Mom work such dangerous jobs, but they’re stubborn about it.
But just because they like their jobs, doesn’t mean you have to, too.
You’re allowed to not like it, or hell, to argue with him about it.
He wouldn’t have liked it either if it were you in danger.
” I sucked in a deep breath and did some calm breathing exercises. “Hello? You still there?”
“Yeah,” I quickly answered. “I just hadn’t expected you to understand. Sorry that I doubted you.”
He snorted, “Doubted me? I understand why you’d think I was on their side, but truth be told, I was the one who was most against Pete working with Mom.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh, yes. I remember Mom coming home battered and bruised from assignments gone wrong, and even though they are mostly safe and boring ones, the dangerous ones can show up at any time. The one Pete had to take over likely started out sounding like a boring one, and that’s how people got hurt.”
“I really don’t want to talk about how much danger he could be in, Mike. Please talk to me about something else.”
And so, he did, and when we hung up twenty minutes later, I felt my mood lifting, and when Harold and his men showed up, I was distracted enough to push through and hope that Pete was okay.
Wherever he was.
“These look amazing,” I said, praising the tiles Harold had picked out.
“I know, right?” he chuckled. “Then we’ll do these in the pool.
” He showed me a smaller tile that had little specks of silver in it.
“They’ll reflect some sunlight, so only a few of them will be with the silver in them, the rest is this light blue shade.
” He showed me another tile, similar to the other but without the flecks in them.
“I can’t wait to show Pete,” I said, my excitement growing. I’d decided to busy myself with work so when Pete came home more would be done. It also helped that my focus was elsewhere. It truly did no good if I kept worrying about him.
“What about the lights?” Harold asked, taking out his phone to show me the options.
“This one is motion censored, which will help if animals get too close at night. If you turn them on manually the animals don’t always see the pool and fall in.
It does help with the shallow pool and the steps leading up, but you never know with wildlife. ”
“I hadn’t thought about that,” I admitted. “Whatever you think is best. I trust your decision on it.”
Harold simply nodded and went to give his men their next order for the day.
I had my own stuff to do now, and it involved online shopping.
I went back inside and walked into my office.
I left the door open and sat down in front of my computer.
Pete had told me how much he adored his cat mug collection, so I figured some open shelves to display them would please him.
After adding the shelves to the basket, I also found two cat mugs on the site and added them.
I didn’t think he had those, so it would be another added surprise for him.
When I went to check out, I saw they had things listed that others had bought too and a white fluffy cat bed caught my attention.
Would Pete want pets some day? He seemed to love everything that involved cats, he even had one shirt with cats on it.
They were small and you had to stand close enough to see the black dots were cats, but still.
Cats. Would he want a real one? With me?
My phone rang, stopping my thoughts of cats and their fluffy bellies. An unknown number was calling me.
“Baby?” I answered, almost breathless with emotion.
“Hi Jackson,” he greeted. I swallowed a whimper down hearing his voice. He sounded okay, and it wasn’t until now that I could finally breathe with ease.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. I couldn’t bear it if he was still angry with me.
He sighed. “I’m sorry too. I was about to text you that yesterday, but then my phone broke.”
“How did it break? Rino stopped by to tell me you would call me from another number, but he never told me how it happened. Were you hurt?”
I could hear the smile in his voice when he replied. “I wasn’t hurt; it was simply an accident.”
“I’m glad to hear it, baby. When will you be back?”
“Hopefully soon,” he replied with a sigh that told me he was over his assignment too.
“I don’t like sleeping alone,” I admitted. “This home truly feels like a mansion without you in it. So big and empty.”
He laughed softly. “I won’t be gone for long. And Jackson?”
“Yes?”
“This will be my last assignment.”
I think I stopped breathing. “Really?”
“Yes. I belong by your side. But I need to finish this one first, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed, forcing down my excitement of having him home forever after this. No more worrying. No more secrets between us.
“I need to go. Remember, I love you.”
“I love you too, baby.”
I was smiling wide as he hung up and I quickly added his new number to my phone. Then I added the cat bed to the check out and paid for next day delivery.