Chapter 3 #2
“But that wasn’t enough. He wanted the fight and the feeling of power it brought him when he made others feel small.
I wasn’t giving it to him anymore; purchased sex wasn’t doing it, and I would save anyone else he tried it on.
So he turned to the underground and found himself right in the middle of the skin trade. ”
I look up, chancing a glance around the room and find four sets of wide eyes watching me. Their expressions vary from shock to horror, but none of them speaks, no doubt waiting to hear what's next.
“In the middle of the night, about a week before I turned eighteen, there was a knock at the door. I'm sure he thought I was asleep, but with a monster like him in the house, I’d learned to sleep with one eye open. Even their whispered voices downstairs were enough to wake me. I crept from my room just enough to see what was happening. Something inside me knew. I rounded the last turn in the hallway upstairs, peeking around the wall that overlooked the stairs, giving me a bird's-eye view of the living room below. My father stood near the door with another man I’d never seen before, and between them stood a girl…” I trail off, taking a deep breath in an attempt to compose myself.
The memories of my father are bad enough, but this…
Remembering Jade like that is torture. She was so small, only a child, and yet she had already witnessed more horrors than even I could imagine.
“She couldn’t have been more than thirteen, if that, just a fucking child, but the look in her eyes as she stared up at my father. Fuck, she wasn’t the least bit afraid of him. I wasn’t sure if she was stupid or amazing, but either way, I was in awe of her.”
Little did I know that would never stop. Even years later, I’m still in awe of her.
“She was so small, clearly underfed. Her hair was long and blonde, her eyes a beautiful green but hard, guarded. All I wanted to do was scoop her up and save her from this terrible place that had been my own personal hell for so long. I remember thinking to myself, ‘She has no idea what kind of hell she just stepped into.’ Of course, I was wrong, but I didn’t know that then. ”
It’s not funny, not really, but I can’t help but chuckle looking back on it now. If someone had told me back, then that she would be my saving grace, my fucking reason for living… I never would have believed them.
Life's funny like that, I guess.
“The stranger told my father he would be back in one week, and my father handed him a briefcase before he left. I didn’t know till later that he was paying him.
He had paid that man for one week with Jade to do whatever he liked, so long as she came back in one piece.
For one week, he owned her the same way he’d owned me. ”
“But when we were done with him, he never owned anyone again.” Jade’s voice pulls me from the memory.
I look up to meet her gaze and for a moment, all I can see is that same small girl.
In many ways, she is still tiny and na?ve, but she's not a little girl anymore, and she never was as helpless as I’d thought that day.
Everyone turns to Jade as she swings the door closed behind her. She has a few bottles of water and beer in her arms.
Jade ignores the looks and walks around the room, letting each person decide what they want before setting the leftovers on the desk next to Spencer. It doesn’t escape my notice that she didn’t offer him anything, but he still reaches over to snag one of the beers.
Walking up behind me, she leans her hip against the back of my chair, dangling a water bottle in front of my face. I grab it and look up at her. She takes a sip of her water with a smirk on her face.
“I know you don't eat a lot, but I’m calling bullshit on you having ordered, got food, and finished it already,” I tell her before taking a sip of my own water.
“Dom helped me order on an app. It’ll be here in about twenty minutes.
He said he’d bring it up when it gets here,” she says, draping herself over my shoulder, her lips only inches from my ear.
“But let’s not pretend I don’t know you well enough to know exactly what you were doing by having me get it, either.
I don’t need you trying to protect me from this, Kratos.
It’s all in the past, and I don’t require coddling.
” I have to resist the urge to shiver as her warm breath fans over my skin, the sensation going right to my cock.
Not appropriate, especially not right now. Not to mention she’s my boss.
“Jade—” I start, but she cuts me off.
“Don’t you Jade me! I appreciate the thought, but don’t start with this shit.
We both know damn well I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.
” Her words are harsh, but I know it's from determination more than anger. She doesn’t want to be taken care of, thinks it makes her weak, but she’s wrong.
And I’m not going to stop, no matter what she says.
I push to my feet and turn to face her. Even with the chair between us, most people would back up, but not Jade. Instead, she squares her shoulders and lifts her chin in a blatant show of defiance that makes me want to smile and throw her over my knee at the same time.
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to! I refuse to put you through anything more just because you can handle it.” My voice booms around the otherwise quiet room, and I can feel every set of eyes on us. I ignore it all in favor of watching Jade.
She’s quiet for a moment as she stares up at me. I don’t know what she sees on my face, but she nods before her defensive posture softens just a fraction.
“Fine. But I still want to be here,” she says, crossing her arms, and I have to resist the urge to laugh.
Before I saw her at the club, it’d been years since we got to meet face to face, and while she had seen me periodically over the years when she could get away, she hadn’t seen me even close to as big as I am now.
Yet, she’s still not the least bit intimidated by me, not that I would want her to be.
I love that I’ve never looked into her eyes and seen them shine with fear.
But I also don’t think her lack of fear has anything to do with her having known me when I was still scrawny and everything to do with the fact that she’s just a badass.
“Fine.” I finally give in. “But let me tell them and get this shit over with.” She smiles up at me, and I collapse back into my chair.
“Sit down, Killer, and let's put this shit to rest,” I tell her, gesturing to her desk, which she’s never even used.
I assume she would want to sit in it after the interest she showed in mine when she visited my office earlier this week with Zander.
I hear her move behind me, but instead of going toward the desk like I thought she would, she rounds my chair and plops herself down in my lap with a smile.
“Okay, Daddy, get it over with.” She leans back into my chest and makes herself comfortable.
I can feel the guy's eyes on us, and I have to swallow down my smile because she’s just like she was when we were younger.
Even after all the shit she’s been through, she’s herself no matter who’s around, and it’s so refreshing to know I didn’t fail to save that sweet girl like I thought I had for so long.
I wrap my arm around her stomach and pull her back on my lap so I can prop my ankle on my knee, getting comfortable. The weight of her on my lap, the warmth of her against my chest… It’s enough to help me relax, even if the story is anything but happy.
So long as I have Jade, I can handle just about anything. It’s something I learned a long time ago.
“As I was saying.”