old habits, wrap myself around him and ask him to make everything all right. And for a second, I allowed myself to think about what would happen if I gave into the temptation. If I allowed myself to feel the warmth of his hug, to bask in his laughter, to look at him like he was the sun.
“Thank you for saving me,” I told him, trying to hold onto that feeling that I knew so well, just for a minute longer. And I was grateful. If Landry had gone one step further, it might have been the end of me, the straw that broke my proverbial back. Who would have thought that Caiden would be the one to do that for me?
And so when he put his arm around me, I didn’t lean away, even though my head was begging me to get out of the bed and run away as fast as I could. I allowed my heart to have a second to savor the feeling of someone whose embrace was almost as familiar as my own.
But then I pulled away and I saw the hunger in his eyes, and I was reminded once again how important it was for me to stay away, to keep up the walls that I’d spent the last two years building.
Because I’d once been the girl who’d believed in him, and there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t curse myself for being so blind with my trust.
A knock sounded on the door, and I cringed, because Jackson was standing at the door, a fierce and distrustful look on his face as he looked at his brother, who was still leaning towards me with a hand on my shoulder.
“Jackson,” I sighed, his name like a prayer from my lips.
And then I burst into a fresh wave of tears. Jackson rushed over to me and pulled me into his embrace, and I buried my head in that spot between Jackson’s neck and shoulder that I loved so much.
He let me cry for a long minute, softly stroking my hair like I was something fragile and breakable. I finally pulled away and realized that I was sitting in between Caiden and Jackson, something that hadn’t happened for a really long time.
Another sob tore out of my mouth because I realized that it had once been my favorite place, and now I wanted to be out of the situation as fast as possible.
“So you guys are together?” Caiden asked at the same time that Jackson asked, “What did you do, fucker?”
“Let me remind you that I was the one who texted you,” Caiden snarled, his upper lip curling with hate.
“He saved me,” I said softly before things could escalate any more. “Landry…” The words got stuck in my throat. I still hadn’t been able to wrap my mind around it. That Landry would do that, my mind just couldn’t comprehend.
“The hockey player drugged her and then tried to rape her. I saw the end of it and drove after them. Luckily, he’d pulled onto a side road to make it happen and I was able to catch up to them.”
“Landry?” Jackson snarled, his eyes widening.
And I realized that this was the kind of event that could set him into another episode.
I couldn’t handle another episode right now. I couldn’t take care of Jackson again right now, not when I needed someone to care for me.
Jackson must have seen the stricken, worried look on my face, and he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down and stay with me.
“You can go now,” Jackson said to Caiden in a much calmer voice, not bothering to look at him as he said it.
I could feel the fury rolling off Caiden in waves. And a little bit of guilt snuck in that he was being so casually dismissed when he’d just done this huge, life changing thing for me.
“Jackson, can you step outside for one moment?” I whispered, resigned to the fact that I was going to have to say thank you to Caiden at least one more time. I could examine closer what this meant a little later when I wasn’t so emotionally…and physically shattered.
Jackson opened his mouth to argue.
“Please,” I asked.
He shot Caiden a look of warning and stood up. “I’ll be just outside,” he threatened, before strolling out of the room. I could see his shadow coming in from the doorway, and it made me feel immeasurably safer.
When did that happen? I