AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He snorted. “Probably but Liam might get pissed. He doesn’t like her going anywhere without it. Are you talking about the wedding?” When I dipped my chin once, he nodded. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll get you what you need. Do you know how to use one?”
I shot him a dirty look and he laughed, putting his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright. You’re a badass, I get it. I had to ask.”
Fighting off a grin, I took a long pull of my drink. I put on a brave face but not one part of me wanted to go to this thing. It felt like a recipe for disaster and almost like I was handing myself to the enemy. He’s already threatened to kidnap me, walking straight into the situation seemed suicidal.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
His hand cupped my cheek and I leaned into it, giving myself a second to be weak. With Jaime, I felt like it was the only time it wouldn’t be used against me. He just turned off the burners and drew me into his arms, cuddling me close. One moment. That’s all I’ll give myself. Then I need to get my ass in gear. I’ve got two weeks to prepare and just like my job, I refuse to do anything half assed.
* * *
Jaime spentthe night but unlike when I did it, he didn’t sneak off in the morning. I woke up in his arms and had to actually convince myself to get out of bed. Even Samwise seemed unwilling to get up. Usually he was the one waking me up before my alarm to feed him. He was curled behind Jaime’s knees and couldn’t be bothered to follow me when I dragged myself out of bed. I was a little jealous that he got to stay with Jaime. Little jerk.
I was showered and dressed by the time Jaime woke up. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed a kiss to my neck, a sleepy smile on his face.
“Morning.”
Reaching back, I ran my fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes, resting his chin on my shoulder. I could get used to this.
“Good morning. You’d better get ready. We need to get going if we want to catch the early train.”
He nodded and kissed my cheek, heading back to the room, but before he could leave he spun back around with a frown.
“Bex, why are you afraid of cars?”
I grimaced. “It's not cars per say…”
He tipped his head, waiting. I wanted to deny him, I hated even thinking about it so talking about it wasn’t something I looked forward to, but he did everything in his power to make sure I was comfortable no matter how bad the weather or how crowded the trains. Most people would’ve tried to force the issue by now. I felt like I owed it to him.
“Two years ago I was in a really bad wreck. It was winter and snowing really bad but my boyfriend at the time was cocky and said driving in the winter was easy for him. I never thought to question him. I was angry about something and…” I swallowed hard. I did everything I could to avoid thinking about that day. Most people would probably not remember it given how traumatic it was. I remembered it vividly. The noises, the pain. Everything.
Like he knew it was hard for me, Jaime stepped back up to me, wrapping his arms around me. I soaked up his affection and pushed past the discomfort.
“The thing about my ex is even in the winter he’s an aggressive driver. Someone was driving too slow in front of him, probably being smart with the poor weather, so Gavin swerved to go around him. He was busy flipping the guy off, not paying attention. We hit a patch of black ice as we were going across a bridge and went right over the side of it.”
Jaime’s face went dark and his grip tightened around me as I continued.
“That was simultaneously the unluckiest and the luckiest day of my life. Since he was going around someone going so slow, we weren’t going so fast that the impact would’ve killed us and there was a decent amount of water under the bridge so we didn’t explode on impact. But the water was frigid and I was in shock. I couldn’t move. The water started flooding the car and Gavin was unconscious. I thought we were going to die.”
Turning me carefully, Jaime cupped my face. “How’d you get out?”
I forced a small smile. “A firetruck was behind us on the bridge. They had been training that day so they had everything they needed to get to us quickly. I told you, it was the luckiest day of my life. Had we had to wait for them to arrive or if there hadn’t been water under that bridge, we wouldn’t have survived. As it was, I went into shock and was in a coma for three days before I woke up.”
ChapterTwenty-Seven
I didn’t wantto mention that my heart actually stopped twice on the way to the hospital. I didn’t want to worry him. The whole night of that crash was entirely preventable. If I hadn’t been so angry, I would’ve paid more attention to the weather and known better than to let Gavin drive me home. If I hadn’t been giving him the silent treatment, I would’ve spoken up and told him to slow down when he started tailing people and swerving around traffic. And if my father hadn’t given the promotion I’d been working towards to Gavin, I wouldn’t have been so angry in the first place.
“Ever since that day I haven’t been able to get in a car when there’s snow on the ground. I can’t. It feels like I’m drowning all over again if I do.”
There was no judgment in Jaime’s eyes. No pity. Just sweetness and understanding and when I leaned into him he pressed his lips against my forehead and held me. It always left me reeling, telling that story, but in Jaime’s arms I felt okay. Safe. Maybe one day I’ll feel okay enough to get back in the car but not today. And Jaime didn’t mention trying. He got dressed and fed Samwise for me and when we left he took my hand and laced our fingers together, tucking it into his pocket to keep us warm as we headed for the station.
I hadn’t realized before how much Jaime protected me when we were out. He blocked people from touching me or shoving me on the train. He kept me tucked close against the wind when we were walking down the street. When we got close he stayed on high alert to make sure no one approached me again. We made it to work without incident and I fully believed it was because of him.
The fallout from yesterday seemed to be a one day type of deal. Since I came in with Jaime, Liam had nothing bad to say to me when I met with him that morning about the legalities of putting a helicopter pad on top of a skyscraper. What he needed that for I have no idea but I wasn’t about to start questioning him. I gave him the basic information I knew and promised to draw up a report on everything we’d need to set it up before heading downstairs with Jaime on my tail.
It wasn’t until lunch rolled around that Jaime spoke up. “Do you know the name of the place your sister is getting married at or should I send in Yuri?”
I frowned. “Send him in how?”
