Page 62 of Saved By My Buyers

The water is warm as it falls from the rainfall above me, and there’s the option to turn on another valve for the hand held shower head. This bathroom is one of the fanciest that I’ve stepped into in a long time.

Simply happy to be taking a warm shower, I wash my face of the makeup, and my hair of all the products. I just want to be me when I sit across the table from Bronwyn and Jack. I’m also not sure what I feel right now when it comes to Jack.

He was my protector, my person, but to really come face to face with him and notice how gorgeous he is…

It’s confusing.

Story of my life.

A light tap at the door alerts me that I’ve lost track of time, and I’m so clean, I may be pruney. The water felt really good though, I just let it wash over my face to relieve the throbbing from the headache.

“Almost done,” I call out, reminding myself I’m not in my apartment. No one is going to come barging in.

“Food and coffee is ready,” Jack says gruffly from the other side of the door. “Bee left clothes at the door, too. You need anything?”

“No,” I say, my lips twitching. What is he going to help with? “I’m getting out now.”

Turning off the water, I sigh as I open the door to grab a towel. “Goodbye shower,” I whisper wistfully.

I’m a realist. I may be here, talking to Bronwyn and Jack, but there’s been so much that’s happened. It’s also very evident that they’re together. They went shopping for “merchandise” together for a weekend.

I don’t think there’s room for me, other than maybe a long distance friend.

Drying myself off, I think about still taking the money at the end of the weekend and moving to Florida, getting out of here and beginning a new life. My heart cramps so hard I whimper, covering my chest with my hand.

Is it possible to feel emotion and pain so strong that it takes your breath away. Only, I feel as if I got punched in my side. I’m unfortunately quite familiar with the pain.

“Dahlia,” Jack barks, surprising me. “Did you hurt yourself?”

Gasping in a breath, I shake my head. Fuck, he can’t see me. “Stubbed my toe,” I lie, wrapping my towel around myself just in time to be covered up when he unlocks the door and pushes it open.

My eyes widen as his body seems to take up both mass and air as I gaze at him.

“One thing we’re not going to fucking do today is lie to each other, Dolly. Yeah?” he growls.

“Yeah,” I whisper, blinking as he shoves the small pile of clothing at me. “I didn’t hurt myself.”

“You’re so stubborn,” he says, watching as I hold the pajamas against my body. “My Dolly radar is kicking back on, baby. I’m prepared to crawl so far inside your body, you’ll never be able to get me to leave.”

“Baby?” I ask, my heart thumping hard in my chest. He can’t mean it in the romantic sense, right? I know how good it felt when his fingers brushed my skin, but that had to be one sided.

My mind is firing in a million directions. Jack and I haven’t been anything more than friends. That doesn’t just change, right?

“Is that so surprising?” he asks, stepping further into the room. “You’re fucking stunning, Dolly. You have to know that. I never thought of you as anything but my best friend’s daughter for all the years I was around you. I swear it. I’m not?—”

“I know that,” I yell, breathing hard, not wanting him to ever say that he’s anything like Gareth. “You’re nothing like him. I would never say you were. I’m just trying to understand.”

His eyes are intense and gorgeous, the one blue, one green a sight that has followed me over the years.

“Okay,” he murmurs. “We’ll talk in the kitchen.”

Jack retreats from the bathroom, closing the door behind him as I deflate. Dressing, I think about his words. I understand in a way that Bronwyn and Jack reached for each other when I ran away. We were all such a big part of each other’s lives, and trauma has a way of binding people together.

So does alcohol… My thoughts are snarky as they creep in, and I look down at the pretty purple pajamas I’m wearing. I don’t have panties or a bra, so my breasts bounce slightly as I walk. The pajama set Bronwyn gave me is buttery soft, without any kind of adornment.

The most important thing is that I’m covered and comfortable. There’s a spare, brand new toothbrush still in the package on the counter I didn’t notice earlier.

“Oh thank God,” I murmur, popping out the package and grabbing the mini toothpaste. Minutes later, I almost feel like a person as I step out of the bathroom and into the hallway. Bronwyn is leaning against the wall waiting for me, and I raise my brow.

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