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ChapterSixteen
“Where’s my mommy?”
I look up from my computer and see Avery standing in the doorway of her room, hair everywhere and sleepy eyed. It’s 7:00 a.m. and I barely slept more than a couple of hours, my mind busy thinking of how I could make things better for Jenna but coming up empty.
“Good morning, sweetheart. Your mommy is still sleeping, and I think we should let her rest longer and not wake her up. How about we go get some donuts on our way to school?” Her face lights up and she’s about to do her infamous squeal of delight when I hold up one finger and bring it to my mouth.
“If you stay quiet as a mouse, I will let you have two donuts. Let’s see if you can go get ready for school without saying a word,” I challenge and her eyes go wide, but she brings her fingers close to her mouth, pinches her index finger to her thumb and turns them as if she is locking her lips with a key. I bite the inside of my cheek from laughing and smile at her. She runs back in her room and shuts the door. I hear drawers being opened and closed and know she’s getting ready.
I fucking love my kid.
Which reminds me, Jenna and I have yet to come up with a plan on how we’re going to reveal I’m her father. It’s amazing the secret has been kept this long, but we just fell into a routine together that sometimes it doesn’t even feel like she doesn’t know yet, but the time is right. I’m hoping we can make it a priority after dealing with the incident from last night.
“Did I just hear Avery?” Robert comes out of the guest bedroom and looks around for her.
“Yes, she’s getting ready for school. I bribed her with donuts for breakfast if she can be quiet in order not to wake up Jenna.”
“She’s still asleep?” he asks in surprise. I nod while closing my laptop and rising off the couch.
“Did you get any sleep?” I inquire, noticing the dark circles under his eyes.
“Barely, you?”
“Same. Mason will be here after I drop off Avery and we’ll just wait for Jenna to wake up on her own. If she wakes up while I’m gone, please don’t let her leave.”
“Good luck with that. If that woman wants to leave, she’s going to do it and there’s nothing we can do to stop her. Unless you want to tie her to the bed.” He smirks at me, and I chuckle, appreciating his sense of humor, especially because that’s exactly what I would love to do.
“Future goals,” I tell him with a wink. “But for now, I’ll take her car instead to drop Avery at school.”
“Oh, that will for sure piss her off,” Robert comments with a laugh and proceeds to grab her keys for me off the wall hook.
Once Avery is ready to go, we head to the garage and get into Jenna’s car. I find the closest donut shop in the car’s navigation and head that way. Once we arrive there, it takes Avery only ten minutes to scarf down two donuts and a bottle of milk. She barely said one word while eating, completely consumed by the deliciousness of her sugary breakfast. I get her cleaned up and we leave to go to school.
I’m back in the condo within twenty minutes of dropping her off. Mason arrived for work while I was gone, and Robert was showing him around the condo when I walked in. I shake Mason’s hand in greeting and Robert hands him a printout of Jenna’s calendar for the month. We continue talking for another ten minutes when we hear Jenna’s door open and turn around.
She’s fully clothed in workout attire, her face unreadable. I wasn’t expecting hysterics from Jenna, but I can feel the anger rolling off of her in waves. She looks between us and her gaze stops on Mason, eyeing him in suspicion.
“How are you feeling today?” Robert asks, breaking the silence.
“Fine,” she tells him in a firm voice while walking over to Avery’s room. “Where’s Avery?”
“I took her to school already,” I respond, watching her intently. “Jenna, I want you to meet Mason, your new bodyguard. He’ll be with you at all times when you need to leave the house. We’re extremely fortunate that he was available on such short notice.” I nod at Mason with my gratitude. “I’ve reviewed his credentials and am 100 percent confident that he’ll be able to keep you and Avery safe when out in public.”
She stares at me, her eyes shooting daggers and if they were dipped in poison, I would be dead within seconds. She is furious and while I knew she was going to react this way, seeing it in person unnerves me.
She turns toward Mason with an extended hand and the fakest of smiles I’ve ever seen from her. “Nice to meet you. Do you have a last name, Mason?”
“You may call me Mason, ma’am,” he tells her while shaking her hand and I can tell she doesn’t like that he didn’t answer her question by the way her smile falters.
“Well, Mason, I do appreciate you being here for my well-being, but you see, there seems to be a slight miscommunication as I was never asked whether or not I wanted you here and no offense to you personally, but I don’t need a bodyguard. I’m sure Mr. Harrington is paying you generously to waste your pristine skills on babysitting me and my daughter. I apologize on his behalf and wish you the best of luck since I don’t need your services.” My blood boils at her words and I grab her forearm as she tries to turn away and leave.
“Mason, it seems Ms. Pruitt is ready for a morning run. Please feel free to get ready to join her by changing into your workout attire in the guest bathroom while I have a little chat with her,” I tell him in a cold voice while staring at Jenna, daring her to defy me. She knows I’m becoming angry, but I don’t give her a chance to respond as I pull her toward her bedroom to privately speak with her.
As soon as we walk in, she yanks her arm out of my grasp and walks straight to her window to look out. I shut the door behind me and start to pace, my frustration mounting at her stubbornness.
“Jenna, I know you’re not stupid enough to believe that you don’t need a bodyguard after last night’s incident.” The words are out of my mouth before I can even stop them. I don’t mean to be so harsh or insult her intelligence, but I’m irritated with the way she’s acting.
My words don’t go over well as she turns to look at me, her hands balled into fists and her eyes narrow in displeasure.“Well, Cal, I guess in your eyes I’m stupid because I don’t need a bodyguard! I feel that last night was an isolated incident and won’t happen again since people will hopefully be appalled when they see the images once published.”
