Chapter Six
The men kept checking on her, and she hardly moved. They could tell she’d been tired before she took the pills.
Beau looked over at Diego as he poked the fire with a stick. “Hey, can you come here?”
Diego sat next to him on the sofa and took a drink of coffee. “What’s up?”
Shit. He didn’t want to lose her before they ever had her, but this guy was his best friend. He couldn’t keep his suspicions from him. “I think she’s a virgin.”
Diego cursed when coffee spilled over the side of his cup and burned the side of his hand. He set his cup down, sucked the tender skin, and looked at Beau. “Where the fuck did you get that? She’s twenty-four years old.”
“Yeah, I thought of that. But think about this, she’s had a security detail on her twenty-four-seven since she was really young. I doubt they would have let any guy close enough to date her, much less have sex.”
Diego leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees, and bowed his head. He stayed silent for a long moment and then raised his head. “I can’t. I can’t do it again.”
Beau’s heart broke. Both for his friend and not having a chance with Jayla. “It’s okay. I get it. I was there, remember?”
Diego stood suddenly. “I’m going to check on things outside.”
Three hours later, Beau lifted his head from the pillow next to Jayla’s and watched Diego come in. Any light this woman had brought his friend was gone now. Beau settled back and closed his eyes. If Diego needed him, he’d call out.
Diego poked at the embers in the fireplace, igniting the new logs he had just added. The rays of dawn were slowly creeping over the trees enough to light the cabin.
He sensed when Beau slipped out of bed.
“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?” Beau asked behind him.
Diego shook his head.
Beau sighed but turned to make a big pot of coffee. He had a feeling they were going to need it.
Both men turned in the kitchen when they heard the rustling of blankets. They watched as she slowly emerged, swung her legs over the side, pushed her hair behind her shoulder, and looked groggily around before standing and walking into the bathroom. She hadn’t realized she’d lost her blanket yet.
Beau swallowed and turned back to the eggs he was making.
“If you still want her, take her,” Diego said.
“We made a pact when we were sixteen, and I’m not going to break it. We’ll eventually find someone for us.”
Diego took one more look at the bed and turned, getting plates down from the cabinets. He hated that he was holding Beau back, but there was no way he was touching a virgin. They were too fucking delicate and emotional, and he didn’t want the responsibility.
The plates were on the table, and the men were eating when Jayla came around the corner with the blanket wrapped around herself again. She looked back and forth between the men. “Good morning.”
Beau nodded. “Morning.”
Diego didn’t acknowledge her at all. She took the empty chair at the table and started eating the warm eggs and soggy toast. The tension in the room was stifling, making it hard for her to swallow little bites of food.
She got up once to get a glass of juice.
Diego jerked to the side when she was opening a cabinet over his shoulder.
“Sorry,” she said, frowned at him, and took the glass and juice to the table. The men finished quickly and walked out of the kitchen.
Beau turned at the last moment. “Stay in the cabin at all times. Got it?”
Jayla’s chin went up. “I got it.”
Beau turned away, unable to take the pain she tried so hard to hide from him.
He knew they were being bastards, but it seemed like the only way to distance themselves from her.
They had to keep as much distance between them as they could because it was too damn hard to be around her and not touch her.
Beau followed Diego out of the cabin. “I’ll do a recon if you want to cut some wood.”
Diego nodded and walked off.
****
After the door closed, Jayla stood and dumped the rest of her breakfast down the drain. She washed the dishes and put them away, then grabbed a sponge to clean the counter and table.
She stood and looked for something else to do. She scavenged through what food they had, found a Crock-Pot, and put the frozen roast and vegetables in, then added spices. Since it would be in the pot all day, it would defrost and cook until it was tender.
Jayla went through the drawers and found a pair of men’s size sweatpants and a slightly smaller sweatshirt. She also found a small sewing kit. This little cabin had more than met the eye for sure.
She was in her chair by the fire when the men came inside a few hours later.
Beau looked her over. “Whose are those?” he said, curious, and pointed to the hemmed sweatpants.
Jayla shrugged. “In one of the drawers.”
Diego stepped forward and frowned. “You took something that didn’t belong to you?”
Jayla turned in the chair, trying hard to hide her pain. “Yes. I think if the owner of these sweats were here, they would gladly let me borrow them.”
Diego grunted. “Borrow. You ruined them.”
“I just hemmed them. The stitches come out very easily.”
“I just th...”
Jayla interrupted Diego by standing and walking silently past them.
She shocked them by dropping the sweats, folding them carefully, and setting them back in the drawer.
She raised the few bills she’d put there.
“I’ll leave these here for the damage I did to them.
He can buy several new ones with the money. ”
She walked to her bag, got a pair of jeans out, and slipped them on. Both men caught the flinches she did when the harsh fabric rubbed against her abrasions.
For some reason, her jeans looked really small, and she finally gave up the struggle and left the zipper and button undone. She was a little surprised she’d gained weight. She hadn’t had an appetite for a while.
She calmly walked back to the chair and sat with her back to the guys and read from one of the many books on the shelves on either side of the fireplace.
Beau and Diego looked at each other. Beau felt helpless. He felt Diego’s frustration, and it added it to his own. Fuck. She was now sitting in jeans he knew were extremely uncomfortable because of them.
The tension rose as the men looked at the back of her head and she ignored them. Fuck. Diego’s hands curled into fists. He had an overwhelming need to go outside and hit something until he bled. Because of his past, this little woman was paying the price, and he couldn’t seem to stop it.
He sniffed the air. “What is that smell?”
Jayla stiffened. The aroma of the roast had kept her hungry all day. “I put a roast and vegetables in the Crock-Pot I found.”
“You did that without asking?”
Beau grabbed onto his hand. “Why don’t you go outside and cool down? This is getting out of hand,” he whispered to him under his breath.
Diego jerked his arm from Beau’s grip. “No. She needs to learn she can’t just do what she wants when she wants.”
The men turned when they heard her sigh and stand.
They watched in fascination as she went to her bag and grabbed a few twenties.
She threw them at Diego when she walked past. “That’s for the roast and potatoes.
” She proceeded to unplug the Crock-Pot, took a few towels to lift it, and walked out the side door.
The men followed and watched as she threw the food into the weeds on the side of the house. Beau opened the door for her, still uncertain of what he had just seen.
She softly set the pot on the counter and started walking out of the kitchen, only to stop beside Diego. She looked straight ahead. “Is there anything else you’d like to hurt me with?”
When he didn’t say anything, she moved back to the chair and grabbed her book and blanket. The bathroom door closed quietly behind her, and then nothing.
Diego looked around. How could one little woman bring so much life into a room that it made it feel like an empty abyss when she moved to another place?
Beau stood across the kitchen, his eyes on him.
Diego wiped a hand down his face. “I know, I know.” Anger at himself pushed at him. He growled and slammed his hand through the wall. He wanted to do it again and again, hoping it would help with the guilt running through him. He flexed his fingers. Besides some abrasions, there were no breaks.
“Why don’t you cool off? What the hell is going through your head right now, because I’ve never seen you like this?”
Diego pinched the bridge of his nose, ignoring the trickle of blood that ran down his hand. “I want her. I want her so bad I feel like I’ll go crazy if I don’t have her.”
“You are. I would never have thought you’d treat a woman like you’re treating her.”
Diego slammed the flat of his hand against the wall with the hole he’d just made. “Don’t you think I fucking know that?”
“Then tell me how this is going to work. Every day, you’re going to try to make that sweet woman as miserable as possible. Think about this, Diego. We could be here a month, and it’s only the second day.”
He felt almost a panic take over. “What am I going to do? I won’t make it that long.”
“I suggest you go, cool down, and think about what’s got you so tied up. Then decide if it’s worth hurting that woman. Is your past worth not getting a chance with her and making her miserable as long as we’re here?”
Diego cursed under his breath, turned, and walked out the door.
Beau walked over to the bathroom and knocked. “Jayla?”
“Yes.”
“Diego is gone. Why don’t you come out?”
“No, thank you.”
“You can’t stay in that room for the rest of the day.”
Jayla laughed, but it broke his heart how sad it was. “You have no idea about me at all. Do you really think this is the worst that’s ever happened to me?” There was a pause. “Just go away. I’m happier in here.”
Beau wanted to slam his fist through the door. He couldn’t just blame Diego for this situation. He’d been cold to her, too. “Jayla, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“Okay.” That was it. She wasn’t going to be able to talk anymore without her misery showing in her tone. Please just go away, she pleaded silently. Let me get just a little peace.