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“One of them,” Jett says, nodding.
“It must’ve cost a fortune.”
He shrugs, his eyes still glimmering in that sharp way of his, the same way they’ve been glinting ever since Patricia revealed my secret history.
“My work pays well,” he says. “Money’s not a problem. It never will be, for us. I’ll always take care of you.”
Light flurries in my chest at his words.
I could tell all through Patricia’s speech that he wanted to roar, to pull the car over, to shout at Patricia for putting my life in danger.
But he held back the beast inside of him for me, the same way he did at the underground apartment when everything in him wanted to take me roughly, to ignore my wishes to wait.
He’s a beast, but there are parts of him that he tames for me.
I can’t believe I’ve only known this man for less than a day.
With everything that’s happened, it feels so much longer.
My womb quivers and goes tight inside of me, as though screaming at me that now’s the time to make children together.
Don’t wait any longer, it cries.
Because there might not be a tomorrow.
Jett drives us to the garage and reaches out of the window again, typing in another code. The garage door opens and he slides us into the darkness, the lights only flickering on when we’re parked inside.
“I need to make this clear, to both of you,” Jett says. “We can’t let anybody in this neighborhood know that this house is occupied. We need to stay indoors, keep the curtains drawn. I’ll do a recon of the backyard and see if there’s a place for Rebel to walk and do her business, and maybe we can go out there, too, as long as the sight-lines don’t screw us over. But for the most part, we need to be invisible. Do you both understand me?”
“Yes,” Patricia murmurs, arms wrapped around herself.
“I understand, Jett,” I say.
“Good.” He sighs darkly and then nods. “Let’s go inside. You need to get some sleep.”
He’s staring at me now, a subtle smirk touching his lips.
My womb gives another urgent twinge.
The unsaid message in his eyes is, We need you strong and healthy for when I put a baby in you.
Jett jumps from the car and then quickly opens my door, throwing me a smirk. I giggle in response, the sight of his smile is so welcome after all the mayhem.
I wonder if some women would find his beast-and-gentleman routine jarring, but I like it.
It’s good to know that I’ve got a beast and a caring man, that I don’t have to pick between the two.
When the world needs him to be, he’ll turn into the savage he was in the underground apartment, fierce, protective.
And when the world lets him, he’ll just be Jett.
I just wish nerves didn’t twist through me when I thought about going all the way with the beast he’ll become.
Is he as nervous as I am?
He didn’t seem nervous back at the apartment.
But then he hasn’t been a virgin all these years because of anxiety, or because nobody wanted him.
He chose to be, waiting until we met.
He places his hand on the small of my back, a tingle moving through me.
Patricia steps from the car with Rebel cradled to her chest.
“I can take care of her if you like,” she murmurs, looking over the top of Jett’s jet black sedan at me. Her eyes are still glimmering with tears. “It’s the least I can do, after everything.”
“You really don’t mind?”
She shakes her head slowly.
“I can’t believe you’d even ask me that after everything I just admitted to,” she sighs.
“I told you, Patricia. I don’t judge you. I don’t blame you.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever understand how that can be,” she murmurs. “But thank you. Thank you so much.”
Jett leads us into the house, locking the garage door behind him. The house seems bigger because of how empty it is. We pass a stylish kitchen – marble island, giant metal extractor fan – but every surface is so empty, it looks like a show home.
My mind fills it up automatically, imagining a baby’s bottle here, a glass cutting board there, every corner of the house flourishing to life all the possibilities of our future lives.
I see myself standing at the kitchen counter, soft music playing from somewhere in the room, the children laughing in the yard as Jett walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist.
If I can do it. If I’m not too nervous. If I don’t clam up.
I don’t know what it says about me, that after everything Patricia just revealed, this is what I’m concerned about.
Maybe it means there’s something wrong with me.
Or maybe it just shows how important Jett and our possible future already is to me.
Who knows, maybe I’m just plain crazy.
