Chapter 5
Little Horror Story
Alex
Ifelt like I was free-falling. As soon as Jade sank her teeth into my skin last night, it all went to shit. My sanity, my control, my plan.
Did I even still have a plan? Because if I did, I wouldn't have been pulling into the no-parking zone on the side of the road. This place was basically a trailer, but it had my favorite Jamaican food, and here I was, sharing my coveted spot with the heathen.
While I ordered, I watched her sit at the picnic table. She was as still as a statue. The white pajamas were almost blinding in the sun, so she withdrew the sunglasses from the little purse adorned with seashells and slowly placed them on her face.
All her fire was extinguished as soon as she saw what she thought was her phone, and she finally closed her mouth, no more insults leaving her lips. But it was for all the wrong reasons.
I placed the tray of food in front of her and she looked down, assessing it for a long time. I was waiting for her to tell me that she didn’t like jerk chicken or that this place was a shithole, or maybe even that she didn’t eat rice or human food, that she only dined on bats, but instead—
“Thank you.”
Wow.
It was foreign—to hear a pleasantry leave her lips. She stuck the plastic fork into the rice and placed a small amount on her tongue, chewing slowly. Then, she nodded. Hesitantly at first, but then she took another bite, confirming that she liked it. “This is really good. Thanks for buying lunch.”
I was speechless. She’d thanked me twice in the span of a minute, and I wondered where that girl went—the one who bit me and spat in my face last night.
The one who dared me to shoot her today and then told me to get on my knees.
The one who taunted me with Gianna. The heathen who had an answer to anything and everything—what happened to that Jade?
A truck rushed by behind me, lifting up a cloud of dust, but I got right into it. “What’s going on with Knox? Why are you so scared of him?”
Jade shrugged, never meeting my gaze. “I told you. He’s stalking me.”
“No. You said you think he’s stalking you. But that’s not the whole picture, is it?” Jade kept her head down, her long hair swaying lightly in the warm wind. “What happened with him?”
She smiled, chewing slowly and playing with her fork. “Why are you so interested in my love life, misogynist? I’m obviously here because of my father, so what’s it to you what happened between me and Xavier?”
Finally, she looked up over her sunglasses, her beautiful eyes defiant and challenging. A jolt of excitement ran through me, but I refused to acknowledge it.
“You’re in my custody, so I have to know the level of risk.” I presented her with a bullshit reason. NASA wouldn’t be able to locate the beach house, let alone dumb-fuck Knox.
“How about you tell me your name first? Or do you like it when I call you misogynist?”
No. I didn’t like it. Mostly because it was so far from the truth, the insinuation alone offended me. I pondered what to tell her. We didn’t want to give her our names, so I decided to throw out a name I knew she’d never recognize. “Sasha.”
But Jade chuckled, shaking her head and sipping on her mango drink. “No. Your name starts with an A."
My jaw almost dropped. Holy fucking shit, how did she find that out?
"What's your actual name?"
"How the hell do you know that?” Astounded, I sat there calculating if she had already figured out who we were.
"I'm observant.” She shrugged between bites of her jerk chicken, momentarily trailing her tongue over the length of her thumb.
My gaze flicked to the action involuntarily.
Her tongue was pink, gliding so effortlessly on her skin, licking up the spice.
It was wrong, and bad, and absolutely un-fucking-necessary to want to see that again.
“Is Sasha a nickname for your actual name or something? "
The more she ate, the more she relaxed.
And so did I. "My name’s Alex."
Maybe that was a mistake—telling her my real name—but really…what was she going to do about it?
"Alex,” she said slowly, letting it roll off her tongue. “And you also said Sasha. Why are there two names?" Oh, no, no, it didn't work like that.
"I gave you my name, that's all. Now tell me.”
"What do you want to know, exactly?"
"What the fuck happened? Why did you cry at the mention of his name?" I rushed the words, her delay tactics getting on my nerves. Even when she wasn’t talking shit, she still managed to have the upper hand.
Jade put her fork down and looked around the table, searching for the right words.
“Xavier…” she paused, slowly removing her sunglasses.
“Xavier was abusive.” She nodded just as the information seeped into me.
“He wasn’t always like that. Only the last six months or so and, um…
” She looked to me as if I could complete her sentence, but I could barely remain sitting after that little detail.
“He just…just didn’t treat me well. And it was very difficult to leave. ”
Well, fuck. I breathed through it—a blind rage that I didn’t remember experiencing before. The midday sun blasted on us, but it was like a bucket of ice was dropped over me.
“What does abusive mean?” I sat there with my arms crossed, looking at this delicate young woman, imagining all kinds of vile things in my head. “Did he hit you?”
Jade shrugged again, alarmingly composed with her next words. "Not all the time."
Not.
All.
The
Time.
So he did hit her.
“He didn't beat me to a pulp or anything, but..." My brain was hungrily trying to catch up with the words she’d used. "But there were incidents. Plus, he sucked in bed,” she added with a fake chuckle, as if humor would protect her from the bomb she just dropped.
I didn’t know what I’d expected to hear, but not that. All my thoughts were arrested, blurred into nothing, except one swirled on repeat—he hit her.
In a flash, the texts from last night emerged from the chaos inside me. Your dad agrees we should talk. The U.S. Attorney for the State of Florida agreed with his daughter’s abuser. He agreed with Knox—the man who beat his daughter.
Fuck. What the hell did we get ourselves into?
“Knox sent you a few texts last night.” I cleared my throat, deciding to ask her about it. “He said he won’t let you run away next time. He said he’ll make you his again. Just like he promised. What’s he referring to? What does that mean?”
Jade placed her elbows on the table and leaned in, staring straight into my battered soul. So innocently. So calmly. So…unbothered.
“What do you think it means, Alex?” she whispered curiously.
I gulped, knowing what it meant, and denying it in my head. “I don’t know. Tell me.”
She nodded, knowing that I knew. “It means he tried to rape me. He tried to rape me and I managed to escape. Barely.” She was turning red in the face, her chin trembling. “Satisfied? Want pointers on how he was going to do it?”
Jesus fuck, Jade.
I leaned closer, too, and she blinked fast, unsure of my next move, but I needed to make sure she heard me loud and clear.
“I don’t fucking do that shit and that thought hasn’t ever fucking crossed my mind.
I may have kidnapped you, but don’t pin all the felonies of the criminal code on me. I’m not that guy.”
Goddamn, she was testing me in every way possible.
Jade composed herself and brushed me off, swiping her mane of brown hair off her shoulders. “Okay, well…good for Gianna then."
I moved past that comment as quickly as possible, ignoring that name like it was just background noise.
"Did you report any of this to the police?"
The irony of this conversation wasn’t lost on me.
I'd never touched Gianna—or any woman for that matter—without her consent, never even laid a finger on her in a way she didn't like, and she was planning to go to the cops with utter bullshit to incriminate me, and I bet Jade stayed silent even when she had a real cause.
"No,” she confirmed my thoughts. “And tell them what? My boyfriend beat me up and tried to rape me? They don't give a shit. No matter who your dad is. Especially if your dad—"
Jade stopped talking abruptly and forced herself to close her mouth. But I knew what she was going to say. Especially if your dad is not on your side.
Jade fidgeted with her napkin and then her sunglasses.
It was clear she wanted to end this conversation, and it was painfully obvious now how angry and broken she was.
One minute she was filled with rage, ready to rip someone to shreds and the next she scrunched into herself, hurting from what must have happened.
“When did you break up?”
Jade threw the napkin down, looking right past me. “Two months ago.”
Two months—and Xavier still sent her walls of disturbing texts.
“Your dad knows?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“That’s a complicated question, Alex.” That was the second time she used my name in conversation. She was so careful with it, pronouncing every sound. “He knows some things and he knows it’s over between us, but…Xavier is conniving and manipulative. My father always liked him.”
I imagined Sebastian Moretti shaking hands with Knox and liking the guy. It didn’t align with my version of reality. Sebastian was the textbook attorney—meticulous, smart, and ruthless. Knox preferred flashy brands and big parties.
“Are you finished looking through my soul now?” Jade chuckled, the smile finally reaching her eyes. “I don’t know why I’m even telling you any of this, you pulled a gun on me this morning.”
And I smiled too.
She was a nightmare. A brat, a heathen, a pain in my ass, and a splinter in my brain. And I bit down on my lip instead of admitting to myself that I didn’t hate it. I didn’t hate her smart mouth and the way she didn’t back down.
“You need someone to talk to?” I offered, gentler than I would have liked. “And speaking to someone unknown can be easier than speaking to those close to you. Like talking to a stranger on a train."