Page 75 of Saved By My Buyers

Tears run down my face as I recount that day. The high points, the lowest points, and everything in between. Bronwyn and I end up in Jack’s lap, sobbing by the end, his strong arms around us as he holds us both.

“Strongest women I know,” he rasps, kissing our heads. “You’ll never be alone again, either of you. I think a day trip tomorrow is what we all need, but first, we have to run down to my office.”

“Office?” I ask, gulping in air as I struggle to come down from reliving some of the darkest parts of my teens. “Why?”

“I need to make sure your fake identity is air tight, baby girl,” he murmurs. “Gareth doesn’t know where Bronwyn is. In public, I call her Bowen, and that’s what she goes by. My team changed everything over, and I have a very skilled legal document forger. The security is very tight here and at my work.”

“Jack is a little anxious about me walking to my car after my shifts,” Bronwyn says. Tears are heavy in her voice, but there’s also a note of teasing there too.

“It’s not safe,” he groans. “I take her to school and work when I know she’ll have a late night. If it means I have to adjust my schedule, I do because it’s my goddamn company. My business partners also don’t care. Anyone I’m personally working with understands that you protect what’s yours.”

“You do,” Bronwyn says softly. It sounds like an argument they’ve had before, but there’s no bite to it. “Even when I feel like I’m being a pain in the ass for being a passenger princess.”

My lips curve as I laugh, enjoying their banter. “I don’t think you’ve ever been a pain in the ass,” I say. “Even when you do deserve this spanking that Jack keeps talking about.”

“Hmm, that’s true,” Jack says as Bronwyn loudly protests. “Okay, let’s go. This will take a little time, and we have to make a side trip first. How attached are you to your hair, Dahlia?”

“Oh no, really, Jack?” Bronwyn groans.

It’s down to my ass at this point. Touching the edge of the braid, I think about it as I stand up. They say there’s trauma that’s stored in your hair, and if that’s true, I want to shed some of it.

I’ve worked hard to at least attempt to keep my hair healthy, but outside of that…

“Not at all,” I answer Jack, turning to face him. “Don’t make me look like a chia pet, please.”

“Never,” he says, barking out a laugh as he pulls me into his arms. My head drops back to look up at him, soaking in his laughter. God, he has such a great fucking laugh.

“Then I guess it’s time for a hair chop,” I say with a shrug, even though I’m nervous. I’ve done a lot of fucked up things to stay free, I’m not going to let this trip me up.

I still hold Bronwyn’s hand tightly as we leave the apartment, the whole ride down the elevator. I notice more than I did last night, though, since I was half asleep when Jack walked me up to the apartment.

You need a key to be able to get to your floor, otherwise the elevator won’t move. It makes me feel better, knowing how secure the building is. When we step off the elevator, there are guards on the main floor looking around, and I can see a room where another guard is monitoring each floor.

“Maybe it’s overkill, but I like to be able to sleep at night,” Jack grunts under his breath. “I wanted to make sure you saw this, but we’re actually taking the elevator down to the garage. Do you have any questions about security?”

A little part of my bruised soul heals as I see he’s deadly serious about safety. After the hell that’s my own apartment, I don’t think it’s overkill at all.

“What kind of security is there outside?” I ask.

A guard walks over to us, and I gaze up at him wide eyed.

“Ma’am,” he says carefully, understanding that his size is overwhelming. “The building spans most of this block, so we have cameras covering the entire expanse of it. There are also men who walk the perimeter as well. This building is as safe as we can possibly make it.”

All of the guards are also armed, I notice, and I nod as I thank him.

“Welcome to the building, ma’am,” the guard says before going back to his post.

“You’re unofficially added to the apartment for purposes of getting in and out of the building,” Jack says, hustling us back to the elevators. Waiting until the doors close once we’re inside, he continues with his voice pitched low.

“The apartment is underneath a fake name, with a decent paper trail to show that it’s rented out to me. It’s all bullshit, but I’ve learned that after a certain point, if it looks legitimate, people stop digging.”

“You’re a little scary,” I say, beginning to see Jack with new eyes.

“I’ve always been scary, just not with you,” he says with a shrug. As the doors open, he hustles us to his truck. “There are cameras down here as well, and a guard walks the garage at all times. I would usually still meet Bronwyn down here when she was getting home late though.”

“When he’d let me go to work alone late,” Bronwyn snarks, squeezing my hand to show she’s kidding.

“We came to a perfectly suitable agreement,” Jack says, opening the doors for us. He waits until he’s come around the front and climbs into his seat before he continues.

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