She turned back to Jack. "I—"
He held up a hand. "Don't. Unless you're going to tell me you want something from room service, I don't want to hear it."
"Jack."
"Alyssa." He moved in on her, his gaze boring into hers. "I know you want to deal with this on your own. And I know you're capable. But I can't sit back and let you. Not anymore. Whether you want it or not, I've got your back and you need to let me have it."
She couldn't work out what emotions flashed in his eyes, but she knew Jack, knew he wouldn't back down on this. She'd never had anyone at her back. Hell, when she was Penny's age, she'd just about spun in circles trying to cover her own back. Her gaze flicked to her sister.
Penny had lived through the same things she had, and Alyssa hated that she hadn't known about her sister before now, hated that she hadn't been there for her, and if Jack hadherback then he had Penny's too, right?
And it seemed, with Jack, came the people in this room. She had no idea who any of them were, except if Jack trusted them, she could trust them.
With a deep breath she tried to relax her muscles. "Okay."
Before she'd finished saying the word, Jack pulled her into his arms and, holding her tightly against his chest, spoke into her ear, "It's going to be fine. We'll get Penny placed with you permanently and we'll deal with Gina. You're not in this alone, Lys, not one person in this room will let anything happen to your sister."
She hated relying on anyone. The only person she’d ever leaned on had let her down repeatedly. It was one of the reasons she'd never gotten herself tangled up in a serious relationship.
Until Jack.
It didn't matter how much she'd pushed him away, how much she tried to spare him the ugliness of her life before she'd escaped her mother or the drama Gina continued to bring now that Penny had found her, he'd stuck around.
He'd married her to help keep her sister safe, for fuck's sake.
How could she continue to keep him at arm's length when they would be living under the same roof as of next weekend?
And how the hell did they explain they were married to everyone in Sunnyville?
It seemed a simple thing to do, to help gain permanent guardianship of Penny, but it wasn't. Nothing about marrying Jack was simple.
For one, he might have said it was a convenience, but three months ago they'd been fucking like bunnies every chance they got. Before that they'd been friends, work colleagues. They still were. And while they worked at the same place, they didn't have the same schedule and in spite of her pushing him away, he'd hung out with Penny a lot since she'd turned up in Sunnyville. He'd even stayed at her house to keep an eye on her sister when she had been at work and he hadn't.
And Jack was the one who found Mrs. Alverez for her.
And the new house.
God, he'd done so much in the last few months and never once did he ask for anything in return. He hadn't even asked her what she needed help with, he'd always offered or just been there when something had come up.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized Jack had had her back from the minute he'd found Penny at her front door. Not once had he complained about her decision to dial back their physical relationship. Sure, he'd argued against it at the time, but he'd accepted her decision…and yet he had stayed close. Never let her down.
"You've already done so much," she whispered into his shirt.
"Nothing I haven't wanted to do."
His answer shouldn't surprise her. Jack had always been the first to help out when someone he knew was in need. Although she didn't think he'd offered to marry anyone before now. "You get married a lot then?" she asked, the little smile curling her lips lacing her words.
He chuckled. "No. You're the first."
A throat cleared behind her.
"Let's get you something to eat and we can talk about the plan to make you Penny's permanent guardian."
"We need to talk about other stuff too."
"Like?"
"Living arrangements."
