“Please, Jackson,” I begged, “just wait for me.”
“Princess…” His thumb moved to my cheek, and he wiped away my falling tears. He tilted his head to the left and gave me a smile. It was small…tiny, really. Most people would’ve missed the expression, but I’d been so zoomed in on Jackson that I noticed every move his lips ever made. The comfort that swept over me as he softly spoke words my way. “How could I not wait for you?”
41
Jackson
Grace walked away for a minute to get some air, and I waited for her return. I stood in the room, feeling completely out of place. The suit was itchy. The people were rude, and the food was bite-sized.
I was officially in hell.
“Not your normal crowd, huh?” a woman remarked.
“Not in the least.”
She held her hand out toward me. “I’m Judy. Grace’s sister.”
Of course—they had the same eyes. I shook her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Same with you.” She smiled and shifted around in her heels.
I arched an eyebrow. “Is this the part where you tell me to stay away from Grace?”
“No. Why would you think that?”
“That’s what everyone seems to be telling me to do.”
“I see. That’s not why I’m here. I’m just here to ask you to be gentle with her, okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“Her heart…it’s fragile. She’s been through more than I think she even realizes, and I don’t think she can take much more. If you are going to allow her to fall for you, please be ready to catch her because I’m not certain she’ll be able to stand again after being dropped.”
She loved her sister, and it was apparent through her words. She wasn’t shouting at me to stay away from Grace, only requesting that I be easy with her heart and soul.
“I can do that,” I told her.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
She smiled, rubbing her left hand up and down her right arm. “You like her.”
“I do.”
“She likes you.”
I hope so…
“Have fun tonight, Jackson, and please ignore everyone at this party except for her. She’s all who matters tonight, okay?”
Judy thanked me before she walked off to go entertain others. I could see so much of Grace’s personality in her sister. It was nice to know other good people existed in the world besides Grace.
I wanted to go check on her since she’d been gone for a while, but I was working on being patient. She needed to breathe, and I’d be there when she came back to me.
“You must be real proud of yourself, huh?”
I turned to see Finn walking my way. He looked a bit wild in the eyes as he spoke to me.
He was drunk.
I’d seen the look in my father’s eyes enough times to know.
“Finn, let’s not get into it tonight,” I told him.
“Stay away f-from my wife,” he ordered, slurring his words a bit.
“Wife?” I huffed. “We’re using that term a little loosely, aren’t we?”
“Don’t get slick,” he warned, stumbling in my direction.
I groaned.
This is the last thing I want to deal with.
I took a breath and tried to calm my natural instinct of stepping up to him. Even though he was an asshole, he was still Grace’s ex, and I didn’t want to do anything stupid that might tick her off.
“Look, buddy, you’re drunk and not in your right frame of mind. Go find yourself some water.”
“Oh, fuck off,” he hissed. He obviously wasn’t going to make it easy for me. “You think you’re so amazing for banging my wife, huh?”
“Again, that word,” I remarked. “Using it rather loosely.”
“She’s been mine for fifteen years.”
“And then you let her go.”
He grimaced, running his hands over his face, and then he moved in closer and lightly shoved me in the chest. “I’m getting her back.”
“I need you to not touch me,” I warned, feeling my anger building with each second.
“I need you to not touch my girl,” he countered, annoying me more and more. Nothing about Grace belonged to that guy. He had walked away from her, and it was clear he was only coming back around because he felt threatened.
“Fine, go ahead. She’s all yours.” I turned and headed for the front door because I didn’t want to make a scene. I wasn’t going to feed into the conversation because that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted me to act out. He wanted me to unleash the monster he was sure lurked inside me. He wanted to prove that I was no good for Grace.
Especially in front of the whole town.
So, I walked.
I released a weighted sigh as I listened to drunk Finn follow me.
“I just want to make it clear to you that if you go anywhere near her, I’ll kick your ass!” he barked.
That actually made me laugh. Finn wasn’t a built guy, and I was certain I could take him out with one hit. “Okay, buddy, that’s fine. Now, just leave me alone.”
“Come on,” he said, racing over and shoving me from behind. “If you’re such a badass, fight me.”
I stopped my steps.
He’s not worth it.
He shoved me again.
I took a deep breath and snapped my band against my arm.
He’s not worth it.
The sooner he left me alone, the sooner Grace and I would be together, yet it was becoming more and more clear that he was really itching for a fight. He wanted to release the beast, and I didn’t want it to come out.
“You aren’t going to fight me back?” he asked, annoyance filling him up inside.
“No. I’m not.”
“Why, because you think Grace will be disappointed? You think she’d be disgusted by the monster you really are? I mean, hell, what do you think would happen? You think she’d choose you or something?” I looked at him, and for a split second, I felt my heart skip a beat. He must’ve seen the look in my eyes because he laughed out loud. “Holy shit, you actually thought she’d pick you.”
I kept quiet.
I snapped my band.
“You have nothing to offer her,” he bellowed, his words filled with hatred. “You’re the bottom of the barrel, and she’s never going to pick you, you know. You might be a summer fling for her, but you’ll never have her. She’s broken, not stupid. You’re nothing. You have nothing, you’ll never be anything. After some time passes, she’ll find her footing again without you, and you’ll still be nothing.”
“Okay. You’re right, Finn. Congratulations.”
He walked over to me and shoved me hard. “You’re nothing but scum, and we’d be better off if you were dead like your bitch of a mother.”
He spoke against my mother, and then I blacked out.
Next thing I knew, the two of us were rolling on the ballroom floor, fists flying. I slammed him into the floor, and he slugged me hard in the eye. As I rushed to get my bearings, Finn dived at me, sending me flying backward, straight into the table where the five-layer cake was sitting. It crashed to the ground, shooting frosting in all directions.
We kept hitting one another as a crowd formed and people tried to pull us apart.
He kept swinging, so I did the same, over and over again.
We were finally separated when Sheriff Camps arrived and yanked us off of each other.
Before I could even explain, he slammed us both behind bars.
Great.
That was exactly how the evening was not supposed to go.
*
Jackson
Ten Years Old
“Get out of here, freak!” Tim barked at me the first day I was back at school after Ma’s funeral. He and his friends shoved me back and forth. “Nobody wants you here!”
He kept mocking me and making fun of me, but I didn’t care.
I didn’t care about anything.
Ma was gone, and life didn’t matter anymore.
I let them push me.
I allowed them to shove.
I couldn’t feel anything anymore, anyway.
“You’re such a loser! You’re never going to have friends, you freak,” one of the guys said, tripping me as I tried to walk away.
My body slammed hard against the floor, and I groaned. As I tried to stand up, one of them kicked me down again.
I didn’t say a word.
We went to class, and Tim kept kicking the back of my chair.
“Freak, freak, freak,” he’d whispered.
I kept ignoring.
I tried to repeat what Ma would’ve told me.