Chapter 15 #2
Tears started to flow down her cheeks. Her grip on him was just as tight—or as tight as she could manage. He was a lot stronger than she was. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I had to get to you. I had to see you!”
“You call!” he argued, still not letting go.
“You call and we figure something out! You don’t jump on a fucking night train out of the city to the middle of nowhere!
God-fucking-damn-it, Jen!” Now his grip was starting to turn painful.
His face turned to bury in her short hair.
“I’m sorry for shouting, but fucking hell!
Your phone call took years off my life!”
Sound caught her attention and Jenna looked up to see Mr. Zarin standing in the doorway. He looked just as relieved and furious as Jack. Jenna sniffled. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, looking at Mr. Zarin. Her apology was meant for both men. Then she winced. “Jack, my ribs.”
“Fuck!” He stepped back, removing his arms from around her. “I’m sorry.” Jack looked her up and down thoroughly. “You’re not hurt? Nothing happened on the train?”
“I’m fine. I was alone except for a few people,” she assured him. “No one even talked to me.”
Jack shook his head. “Your purse alone screams ‘money’, Jen. You’re incredibly lucky some thug didn’t try to take it from you. This is not a good town to be in when the sun is up!”
“I know!” she cried, tears still flowing.
She looked around for a tissue but found none.
Jack brought the sleeve of his shirt around his fingers from inside his jacket sleeve to start wiping her cheeks and eyes.
“I’m sorry. Really, I am. I couldn’t… Mrs. Zarin told me what happened.
She said you were fine, but I had to see for myself.
My driver wouldn’t take me. He had orders from my parents not to bring me back to Port Townsend midweek and I couldn’t get ahold of Carolyn—”
“She’s at your house. I talked to her.” Jack’s voice was stiff with anger, but his touch was gentle.
Jenna made a face. “I didn’t even try her there. I knew what her answer would be if I asked her to drive four hours to come get me and bring me home.”
“Same as mine would have been, but for an entirely different reason,” Jack snapped. His gunmetal-gray eyes had turned a dark, stormy gray.
“You don’t understand—”
“You think I don’t understand?” His voice rang out in the small office.
“You think I didn’t want to jump into my truck and break every speed limit known to man to get to your dorm to ensure you were safe when I couldn’t reach you on the phone?
You think I was just planning on going to bed and then school in the morning without knowing where you were and what had happened to you?
” He paced away from her. “Goddamn it, Jenna. Do you have any idea what you mean to me? How scared I was when I learned you were here? Alone!”
“How do you think I felt?” she shouted back, her own anger rising now.
“I had to learn your father held you at knifepoint today from Mrs. Zarin! I love that woman, but do you have any idea how it felt to learn about it from her? To not be able to come to you and see you and make sure you were okay? To know that I was in fucking Seattle while you were in danger and I didn’t even know about it! ”
Silence filled the office.
Jack blew a sharp breath out of his nose.
Then he closed his eyes and breathed in a long gust of air through his mouth.
One…two…and blew it back out. He ran his hand down his face.
When he approached her again, his face was much calmer, though there was still a spark of residual panic in his gray eyes.
He ran the back of his fingers down her damp cheek.
“I’m sorry.” Sincerity made his voice smoother.
She took a step forward, leaning into his hand. He turned his wrist to cup the side of her face. “Me too.”
“It’s late and we’ve both had an afternoon. Let’s get you to the truck.”
She nodded. He brought his hand down her arm to take her hand. When he turned to head towards the door, Jenna squeezed his hand. “Jack?”
He turned back. “Yeah, baby?”
“Will you at least kiss me even if you’re still mad at me?”
“Fuck, Jen.” Using the hand he held, he dragged her to his chest and crushed her lips with his. It was quick and powerful. Most of all, it was possessive and passionate. “No matter what else I’m feeling, I will always still kiss you.”
Her heart swelled. Jack let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her waist. She leaned her head against his shoulder as he led her from the office. He even put her purse strap over his other shoulder to carry it for her.
Mr. Zarin gave her a tentative smile. “Hi, Jenna. I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Hi, Mr. Zarin. Thank you for coming to get me.”
His raised eyebrow questioned her sanity, like there had been another other option for him. “I had to call your parents, Jenna. They needed to know where you are.”
Jenna made a face but didn’t take her head off of Jack’s shoulder. “I understand. I’m sorry I put you in that position. Are they on their way too?”
It was Mr. Zarin’s turn to make a face. His face darkened with obvious disapproval. “No. They felt it wasn’t necessary since we already stated we were coming to get you. However, I have been…” He cleared his throat, “Instructed,” he bit out, “to bring you back to their house.”
Jenna turned her face into Jack’s neck in despair. The last place she wanted to go was her parents’ house. She wanted to go home…with Jack.
Jack’s arm tightened around her waist. She felt his lips against her forehead. “Come on. Let’s get you to the truck. Mr. Zarin can drive slowly on the way back.”
1 YEAR, 6 MONTHS, 12 DAYS
No matter how slow Mr. Zarin drove, eventually he was pulling Jack’s truck into the Scanlons’ driveway. Jenna was asleep in Jack’s arms. She’d passed out about twenty minutes back, even though she’d claimed she wasn’t tired.
The outside lights of the colonial-style mansion were bright as they pulled up the long drive. Despite the cold and the snow, everything was pristine. Like a picture or a movie set. As if every flake of snow had been placed on the ground by hand.
Every time Jack saw this house—if one could even call it that—it was a harsh reminder of the differences in their circumstances.
But, in a way, it was also a reality check.
Jack didn’t need riches. He didn’t need fame or fortune.
He needed the woman in his arms to be his.
That was his key to happiness, to fulfillment.
Jenna had expressed on many occasions how much she hated how her family lived.
They had millions at their disposal and yet they used it to show off their wealth rather than to help those less fortunate.
The only philanthropy they did was the kind that got her father’s businesses standing in the press.
Jack knew he needed a career that would allow Jenna and him to live comfortably, meaning without counting pennies at every paycheck.
He wanted a decent house that fit him, Jenna, and their future kids.
Maybe an in-law suite above the garage for when the Zarins and Lilly visited.
But they didn’t need a monstrosity that could be seen from outer space or had enough wings it could fly away.
Mr. Zarin put the truck into Park. No one exited or opened the front door to greet them. Jack and Mr. Zarin exchanged a look.
“I don’t want to wake her,” Jack whispered.
“You might have to,” Mr. Zarin said with a displeased expression. “I doubt they’re going to let you carry her to her bedroom, son.”
Jack had never even stepped foot on their property before.
He wasn’t allowed to, which meant he’d never walked her to her door before, either.
It always felt wrong, but the Scanlons had made it very clear that if he got out of whatever vehicle was dropping Jenna off that they would have him arrested for trespassing.
Jack dipped his head low. He pressed his mouth gently to hers as he rubbed her arm. She moaned, turning into him without opening her eyes. Her tongue swept along his bottom lip.
“Jack?” His name was barely a whisper on her lips.
He chuckled. “Damn well better be.”
Jenna blinked, as if just realizing the kiss wasn’t part of her dream. She picked up her head slightly. Looking around, he saw recognition and realization dawn on her.
She made a sad face. “I fell asleep.”
“It’s after midnight,” he reminded her. “You need to sleep.”
Jenna lowered her forehead to his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her. “I hate this,” she whined against his jacket. “I feel like I’m always saying ‘goodbye’ to you.”
He knew the feeling. He touched his lips to her short hair. He missed being able to run his fingers through the long locks. “It’s never ‘goodbye’, Jen. Just ‘goodbye for now’.”
“It doesn’t matter, Jack. My heart feels like it’s breaking every time.”
He held her tightly to his chest. Staring out the window at the Roman columns outside the front doors of her house, he wished yet again for time to move faster.
He wanted to make Jenna his, of course, but more than that, he wanted to stop her pain.
He hated to see her tears all because her parents wanted to keep them apart.
But unless he won the lottery, he doubted their low opinion of him was going to change any time soon.
“We can’t do anything to change our circumstances right now,” he said gently, reminding himself as much as her.
“We just have to endure and just remember that it’s not forever.
May 5, 1987, isn’t as far away as it seems. One day, you’ll be mine and I’ll be yours.
There won’t be a damn thing that’ll be able to keep us apart. ”
Slowly, she sat up. He carefully wiped the tears from her cheeks. “You know, I never used to be so impatient. You’re a bad influence on me.”