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A photo comes through and it’s Jenna curled into a sitting ball position in the sand with her head down, her arms hugging her knees.
Chase: I will let her calm down before approaching her and walking her home. Give us another thirty minutes.
“Ah, thank God!” Robert exclaims in relief, but I don’t respond. The mixture of emotions has made me numb and I walk toward the window and stare out at the water of Lake Michigan. While I should’ve felt relief and happiness that she’s okay, instead I’m back to being furious. I’m angry at her for recklessly putting her life in danger. I start to become a ticking time bomb and when I finally hear the door open announcing her arrival, I’m about to explode.
“I want everyone except for Jenna out of this apartment,” I growl in a low voice and turn to look at her. My gaze drinks in her red, swollen eyes, puffy cheeks, disheveled hair and her clothes sticking to her body with sweat. The room is silent, and no one makes a move to leave.
She looks at me with wide eyes and swallows the lump of fear that’s caught in her throat. “Cal, I—” she starts but I immediately cut her off. In three long strides I’m in front of her, my hands balled into fists from preventing myself from grabbing her and giving her a good shake.
“You little fool! Do you know what could have happened to you out there?” I yell, needing her to understand what she just put us through. Needing her to understand that what she did was anything but acceptable.
She winces and a tiny voice inside my head is telling me I need to calm down, but my emotions are like lava pouring out of an erupting volcano. Fast and furious.
“I’m sorry, really I am,” she pleads and turns her gaze toward Mason. “Mason, I’m so sorry!” He nods his head in acknowledgment but doesn’t say a word.
“What were you hoping to prove, Jenna? Did you know you caused a three-car pile-up with your little stunt?” She looks even more surprised, and her naivety enrages me. “Tell me, Jenna, what were you hoping to prove?” I shout and I watch her flinch at my harshness.
“C’mon Cal, she apologized. Jenna, you won’t do that ever again, right?” Robert intervenes, but I’m past the point of no return, needing to get my point across.
“I promise, I won’t ever do that again,” she confirms with a nod of her head, but I’m not satisfied. Jenna needs to be shocked into understanding and I know the one thing that will do it.
“You’re bloody right you’ll never do that again because this is why you need a bodyguard, Jenna!” I back up to the table because I took out the envelope of her death threat earlier, trying to see if we could recognize any part of the city in the background in hopes we might find her in the same location, but their faces were too much of the focal point. I grab it off the table and walk to her.
“No, Cal! She’s had enough for today!” Robert yells at me and tries to grab it from my hand, but I’m quicker. I shove it into her face and when her eyes focus on what she’s seeing, she gasps.
She looks up and gazes between me and Robert, horrified at the image she sees.
“This,” I growl in a menacing voice, shaking the photo in front of her. “This is why Mason is here! You could have gotten yourself killed today!”
“Stop, Cal! You’ve made your point!” Robert shouts out in frustration.
She stares at the photo and all color starts to drain from her face. She covers her mouth and runs for her bedroom. She slams the door and within two seconds, we hear another door slam. We can hear her throwing up and it’s when she starts screaming and crying that I realized I’ve gone too far.
“Are you fucking happy now, asshole?” Robert looks at me with disgust. Mason just sits there in silence, his eyes averted downward.
My stomach drops and shame slams through me, vibrating from my head to my toes. Even though I made my point, I never should’ve handled it the way I did.
“Fuck,” I mutter and walk slowly to her bedroom. I open the door and see she’s still in the bathroom. I close it behind me and walk to the bathroom door. I stop and force myself to listen to her cry, each wail piercing my heart and making me throb with pain. It’s pure torture hearing her like this, and I deserve to be tortured.
Because if it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t be going through this.
If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t be receiving death threats.
If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t be chased by the paparazzi.
If it wasn’t for me, she would have a normal life.
I slide down the side of her bed and sit in front of the door, accepting my punishment.I don’t deserve this woman. The thought of leaving her and Avery alone briefly crosses my mind, but I know there’s no way I can ever be without them again. That might be selfish on my part, but I know I’m the right man for her. I just have to prove that to her and include her in decisions that affect her and our daughter.
She eventually stops crying and I hear the water turn on from the sink. A few minutes later she comes out with her hair down, face puffy and eyes swollen from crying. She looks down at me and I stare up at her with remorse.
She slowly approaches and I hold out my hand for her, my gaze begging for her to take it. She reaches out to grasp it and in one swift move, I pull her down into my lap and hug her tightly. I was expecting her to fight me, but instead she balls the fabric of my shirt in her hand and begins to sob into my chest. I close my eyes and let her tears soak through my shirt and stain my heart. I lift my hand and rub her back, encouraging her to let it all out. I hold onto her as tightly as I can and vow to myself that I will never let this happen again. I will never make Jenna cry and suffer like this because no one does this to the people they love.
And I fucking love Jenna Pruitt.
She’s challenging and infuriating with her stubbornness, but I wouldn’t change anything about her. I love her fiery spirit, her independence, and seeing her love for our child fills my chest with so much pride that it hurts. She’s the woman of my dreams and I’ll be the luckiest bastard in the world if at the end of all of this I can still get her to fall in love with me.
Her tears start to subside, and I gently rock her. She’s so quiet that I look down to see if she’s fallen asleep and my gaze is met with those beautiful brown eyes.
