Page 105 of Affliction

Chapter Forty-Two

Mia

I entered my apartment with a lovely purple cast and crutches, hobbling along with the assistance of Terry. The doctor said it was only a break. It could have been worse. I knew that. But this break felt like it broke something inside of me, something bigger than he had before. He took away my ability to be me. He made it so I couldn’t walk down the hallway of my building, wearing my heels. When a new pair came in, I wouldn’t be able to try them on and feel that elation, knowing it was something I had created. He took that from me. That was his plan, after all, and he succeeded.

There are a lot of men in my apartment now. Jackson was easy to pick out in the crowd. I’d never actually met him before, but I couldn’t mistake him if I tried. He was standing right beside Catherine. He had strong, broad shoulders, dark hair, and eyes that scanned the room all while listening to Catherine talk. She did say that he missed nothing. There was an air of authority about him. The men that were in the room were setting up computer equipment and looking to him for direction.

When Jackson’s eyes finally landed on me, he made his way over, Catherine in tow.

“You must be Mia,” he said with a kind smile. He was a large man, one that commanded your respect and displayed his power. But in that moment, I could tell he was someone who was going to work to keep me safe. Someone who had worked tirelessly to take care of Catherine, his clients, his friends. And now, he would do the same for me.

Jackson’s hand came out as his eyes searched mine. I stopped on my crutches and extended a hand. He smiled widely at me and introduced himself.

“I’m Jackson Cole. Catherine has told me so much about you and your situation.”

“My situation.” I allowed my eyes to drop to the floor. A wave of embarrassment hit me—the same way it always did when I had to explain Chad to the men Ally promised would help. And they did, for a while. But now he was back and angrier than ever.

“Yes, but don’t worry. We’re going to take care of this. I will make sure he doesn’t hurt you again—or, anyone you love.” His eyes glanced over to Terry.

“Hi, I’m Terry,” Terry said from beside me, his hand coming out to firmly clasp Jackson’s. “Thanks so much for helping us out.”

“Hi, Terry. Jackson,” Jackson said by way of introduction. “It’s my pleasure. There isn’t anything I hate more than a man who puts his hands on a woman. And I promise you,”—his eyes found mine again—“he will not be given the chance to do this again.”

“How are you going to keep him from doing it again? Especially if we aren’t involving the police, and going lawless?” I asked. That was the burning question in my mind. I knew in the past, with Chad’s connections, it made going to the police a moot point. When he lived in LA, Chad had many people in his back pocket, and a part of me wondered if he still did. So I wasn’t sure exactly how all of this was going to work. I’d gone lawless once and that hadn’t worked. Now, maybe the right answer was to go to the police.

“We’re not exactly going lawless here,” Jackson informed us. “Here, why don’t you all sit down and get comfortable? We can talk this all through.”

I nodded and hobbled toward the couch. Ally and Catherine came over to help me get situated. Pillows were carefully propped around my ankle and behind my back.

“Are you comfortable?” Catherine asked me.

“Yeah, I am. Thank you.”

“Let me get you some tea,” Ally said, chiming in.

“Thanks,” I called after her. I flashed Catherine a grateful smile, and she squeezed my shoulder in return. “They certainly have quite the setup going here. It’s kind of amazing how fast this all came together.” I felt a touch of anxiety about all the men in my apartment. I knew they were all here to protect me, and I wouldn’t dare throw any of them out. But it was a lot. All these people here in my space—invading it. Not in the same way that Chad had, but it felt like relaxing wouldn’t come easy.

I searched the room and found Terry’s eyes. He was talking quietly with Jackson. Always my protector. No matter what happened between us, he always slipped into the role so easily. And here he was, doing it again. I could tell he was beating himself up about what happened. It wasn’t his fault, and we were going to have that conversation. I just had to get him alone.

The blame he was placing on himself was more than this morning. He blamed himself for Chad being in my life. So many things may have changed about him since we parted, but I could tell when he was blaming himself unnecessarily. It was in the way his shoulders sagged when we talked about Chad. The look of guilt that crossed his brown eyes. And the biggest tell that Terry had was that he was overly pleasing. He would do whatever I needed of him to help me get comfortable, cook me whatever I wanted, and make love to me even if he thought it wasn’t a good idea. That was probably why I got him to agree to go on the run. We would have to talk about that too.

It took a while for his eyes to meet mine due to the intense conversation he was having with Jackson, but when he did, he smiled at me. A warm reassuring smile that I had seen more times that day than I cared to. Terry made his way over to me and did his best to sit beside me on the couch.

“Need me to move over some more?” I asked him.

“Yeah, that would be great. Scoot your injured butt over so my perfectly healthy self can sit down,” he replied, teasing me. “Relax, I’m fine. You’re fine. And Jackson is going to see to it.”

Terry’s statement gave Jackson the perfect segue. He made his way across the room and began talking.

“Terry is right. Everything is going to be okay. I know you’ve heard this several times today, but I want you to know this isn’t going to be like the last time. Not that Ally and her friends didn’t do their best with what they had.” He shot Ally a wide smile, and I swear I saw her blush. “But this time, we’re going to involve the law. Just not right away.”

I nodded. Stealing a glance over at Catherine, I watched her take in her husband, a look of respect and admiration on her face. She caught me watching her and shot me a reassuring smile. I tried to return it, but I wanted to know what the plan was and how long all these men would be here. I imagined he was going to explain it all, but I wished he would hurry up.

As if he could read my mind, Jackson came over and knelt down beside me. He was such a large man that I imagined this position wasn’t the most comfortable for him; with broad shoulders and a tall build, crouching down next to a sofa probably wasn’t that easy for him.

“This is all a lot, isn’t it?” he asked me.

“I just didn’t expect to come home and find all these men here. What exactly are they doing?”

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