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“It’s just a flesh wound,” Jayden assured me.
“It definitely needs stitches, Jay,” KJ said. “Are you okay, Sadie?” I nodded. I was okay. My shirt and bra were ruined, but I was physically fine, emotionally was a different story.
“Where’s Brandon?”
“He won’t be bothering you ever again,” Jayden said, pushing off the ground. “Get her a clean shirt, KJ."
KJ disappeared for a few seconds and returned with a fresh shirt for me as Jayden helped me off the ground.
"What happened?" KJ asked, his large frame filling the seemingly small doorway. "I thought he was your friend."
"I remembered." I sighed, pulling the shirt on over my shredded bloody shirt and bra. "I remembered everything. He'd been sleeping with my mom, and I caught them. It was the reason everything happened that day."
"What the fuck?" KJ scowled. "That's so fucked up." KJ twisted to look over his shoulder. "I think the police are here." He disappeared.
Jayden cupped my jaw as he examined my face.
"He hurt you," Jayden whispered, brushing his thumb across my bruised cheekbone, and I closed my eyes as I melted into his touch. His touch felt like home. How could something so wrong feel so right?
"I'm okay, Jayden," I assured him, and I was because of him.
Police and EMS showed up minutes after KJ. We spent the next several hours giving statements and another hour in the emergency room getting Jayden stitched up and my face examined. I told KJ and Jayden everything from the night of the murders to what led to the 9-1-1 emergency text.
It was early morning, just before sunrise, when everything was settled, and we were free to continue our lives. Except I couldn't go home because it was still a crime scene. They'd removed Brandon's body, but the house was still covered in blood and crime scene tape.
Neither KJ nor Jayden gave me the details of what exactly happened to Brandon, and I was fine with that. Jayden had taken extra measures to shield me from the mess formerly known as Brandon covering my living room. I'd seen enough death in my twenty-one years; I was okay not seeing anymore.
"We'll all crash at the team house this morning," Jayden said to KJ and me. "We'll, figure out tomorrow, tomorrow." I nodded as I yawned. I was physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.
The ride back to the team house was silent. The day's events weighed heavily on us, probably for various reasons. When we made it to the team house, KJ disappeared into his room, and I followed Jayden to his room.
"You can have my bed, and I'll sleep downstairs," he said, handing me a clean shirt to change into before twisting to leave. I didn't want him to go. He was my safe place, and I needed that tonight. Today's trauma outweighed any stupid humiliation I felt the day he pushed me away. Right then, I needed him.
"Jayden," I whispered. He stopped twisting to see me. "Will you stay with me, please?" I knew nothing had changed between us. He still had a fiancé back home, and eventually, he would return home to her. He wasn't mine and never would be, but even knowing that I still needed him tonight if he was willing to stay.
"Yes." I released a breath and realized I wanted him to stay more than I needed him to. I'd missed him.
I wasn't sure I'd forgiven what he'd done to me or how things would play out once I came down from this fear high I was riding, but it didn't matter now. Like he said earlier, we'd deal with it tomorrow.
forty-six
JAYDEN
With Sadie tuckedinto my side and her arm draped over my chest, emotions punched through me, and my stomach churned as my gaze trailed over her bruised and battered face. Guilt coiled so deeply in my gut that I thought I might be sick. This was my fault. I'd pushed her away when she needed me and sent her right into his arms. I thought what I did was best for everyone, but it wasn't. It wasn't even what was best for me. I brushed the pad of my thumb gently over her cheekbone, wishing I could take away her pain.
Releasing a heavy sigh, my gaze flicked to the bright light seeping through the blackout curtains. I was thankful Sadie had been able to fall asleep quickly, but I wasn't so lucky. I kept replaying the night in my head and how it could have ended if Sadie hadn't gotten a text out first, if I'd been gone, or if I couldn't have gotten to her in time. My chest tightened painfully tight with the thought that he would have killed her.
What happened next? Nothing had changed about my situation. I had to leave. I had to marry Bella because I had to protect Bri, and it felt like a dagger slicing through my heart that it came at the cost of leaving Sadie, especially if I had to leave before her mother was behind bars or dead. Know one really knew to what extent her mother would go knowing there was a chance she could end up arrested.
Sadie shifted, and my gaze blinked to her as her eyes eased open. Her gaze flicked around the room.
"What time is it?" she whispered, rolling to her back.
"It's almost 6:00 p.m." She sat up in the bed, putting some distance between us. The awkwardness that had disappeared between us last night was back. She stretched, wincing at what I assumed was pain. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just a little sore," she said, twisting to hang her feet off the bed.
"Why don't you go take a hot shower, and I'll put some food together," I said, pushing out of bed and grabbing my t-shirt.
