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“Addison and Shelby are totally self-absorbed. They provided her with access to certain people, namely Jack, and parties. I bet it was easy for someone like Casey to stay quiet and hide what she was up to because none of her friends were really interested in getting to know her better,” Nikolai deduced.
“Yeah, but you have to give Addison credit for stepping up and calling her parents to help deal with Casey. I think having her hospitalized was the right call. She needs some serious help,” Hannah countered.
“Yeah, but it was messed up Jack had to lie to her to get her to go,” Nikolai said, eyeing Jack.
After getting the gun from her, Jack had to listen to Casey go on about their new relationship until Addison’s parents showed up. It was only about fifteen or twenty minutes, but it felt like we endured hours of her excited, rapid-fire monologue about how happy they were going to be now that they were finally together. It was brutal.
Jack shook his head. “It was necessary. The alternative was to knock her the fuck out, which I already wanted to do, but it didn’t seem particularly appropriate.” I rubbed the back of Jack’s tense shoulders, noting that he didn’t seem to have any problems holding Casey accountable.
“I don’t know, I still feel kind of bad for her,” I murmured.
Jack’s head swung around, his eyebrows pinched together in agitation. “Bad for her? Ava, you were the one with a fucking gun pointed at you.” He shook his head vehemently. “No, don’t feel sorry for her. She’s just lucky she didn’t pull the trigger, or I would have thrown her out the fucking window.”
Jack responded with such angry intensity, I finally understood the depth of his rage and panic at finding me on the wrong end of Casey’s gun.
Sensing the shift in the conversation, Nikolai lifted Hannah off his lap and stood up. “I think we’re going to take off. What a fucking night. Christ.”
Jack and I also stood. Jack and Nikolai did that handshake that guys do. “Thanks, bro.”
“No problem, man. I know you’d do the same.”
I hugged Hannah. “Thanks for taking my very important phone call,” I said.
“Oh my god, Ava, I can’t believe I almost hung up! I’m just glad it all turned out okay.”
“You did awesome, babe,” Nikolai assured her, kissing the side of her head as he led her out the door. “See you guys later.”
“Later,” Jack said as he walked to the fridge to get himself another beer. “You want another?”
I nodded my head. “I think this is going to be a ten-beer night,” I said, only half kidding.
“Fucking seriously,” he grunted, grabbing two beers and leading us back to the couch.
“Are you alright?” I asked. It had been a heavy night, obviously, but Jack had looked pole-axed with each revelation. Casey’s obsession, me being held at gun point, her intention to get me to kill myself. It was a lot.
He opened our beers, handed me mine, and took a heavy pull off of his. “I don’t know. This whole night was many times more fucked than I imagined it was going to be.”
I nodded my head and reached up to pull his face toward me and cradle his cheek, wanting to comfort him, provide him with the kind of care he’d never really received.
“Yeah, but we made it.”
Jack took my beer out of my hand and put both mine and his on the coffee table. Then he grabbed me by the hips and pulled me on top of him, straddling his lap. The look on his face was so serious, it bordered on grim. His green eyes looked dark and tormented, his boyishly attractive features looked older with the severity of his expression. He looked as if he’d aged.
“Ava, I am goddamned terrible at sharing my feelings. In fact, I hate it. But you have to know, if Casey had done anything to you, if she had hurt you, or god forbid, killed you, her life wouldn’t have been worth shit. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I nodded, my throat tightening at his impassioned declaration.
“Her life wouldn’t have been worth shit, and neither would mine.”
I shook my head at that. “No, Jack, that’s not–”
He put his hand over my mouth. “Ava, it’s fucking true. You’re the only person, except maybe Nikolai, that I’ve ever cared about. You’re definitely the only person I’ve ever loved.” Jack shook his head. “Fuck, I don’t even remember ever telling my parents I loved them, though I imagine I must have at some point.”
Tears started spilling over the lids of my eyes, pooling on the top of the hand still covering my mouth. He removed his hand and used his thumbs to swipe at my wet face. “Nothing is allowed to happen to you, and if I have to fucking handcuff you to my side in order to make sure of it, I will.”
I nodded again, understanding that this was as much as Jack could express of his fear, his terror, his devotion, his love. I leaned forward and kissed his mouth, then leaned back to look into his eyes, eyes that were skittish with vulnerability, but steadfast in his message. “I love you, too.”
Jack yanked me to him, his arms crushing me with nearly brutal strength as he tucked his face in my neck and reassured himself of my safety. He gently pushed me back and slid his hands into my hair, holding me still. “You’re probably going to get sick of me,” he murmured, his mouth kicking up on one side in a slight smile.
