Page 44 of Crossed By the Stars
Your world would be just heavenly
With our words, we'd speak the truth.”
Performed by Imelda May
Written by May / Moak
Holding Jada’s battered and bruised bodyinmine was difficult, but trying to hold up her battered and bruised soul was unbearable. She’d suffered the weight of her father’s world on her shoulders for way too long.
I kissed her temple, a soothing touch. Her normal soft, feminine scent was hidden beneath antiseptic and sweat and fear. Instead of being unappealing, it yanked at the protective instincts inside me, pulling them up to the top of my chest and making it almost impossible to let her go.
She was crying silently, and if I hadn’t felt the sobs shuddering through her, I wouldn’t have known because that was what Jada wanted—to keep everyone away from her emotions. I just held her because I didn’t know what else to say. I had no words or ideas about how to fix the abyss that existed between our worlds.
I only knew that when I held her like this, I felt like I’d found my purpose. Screw Armaud Racing. ScrewÉclair. Being there for Jada Mori was my only real job.
A knock on my door was followed by a key in the lock, and Jada pushed away from me, wincing as she stood, wobbling in a way that had me reaching out to steady her.
Cara entered the apartment in a flurry of bags and boxes. She was followed by one of Cillian’s team members carrying even more. Cara stopped near the hallway to the bedroom, seeing us at the couch and hesitating, as if she should turn back and leave us in privacy. Jada pulled away from me farther, walking slowly toward her.
“Thank God! Clean clothes. I don’t even know how to thank you enough,” Jada said to Cara.
Cara smiled. “Shopping is one of my favorite things, and you just allowed me to spend a gob without putting a dent in my own pocketbook.”
“Give me all the receipts, and I’ll make sure the funds are transferred to you,” Jada said.
“Oh.” Cara looked from Jada to me and back. “I used Dax’s cards.”
Jada shot me a glance.
“Don’t even bother,” I told her gruffly. “It’s not like one shopping spree could break me.”
I watched as Jada debated cussing me out again for taking care of her. Her fingers clenched and unclenched before she just gave up. Cara moved toward my bedroom and the closet there. Jada followed, and I trailed behind them.
As Cara began to unpack the bags and boxes, Jada bent to do the same. She winced when she thought no one was looking, and I pulled her hands away.
“Stop,” I told her. “Just let us do it.”
I knew Jada was really hurting, because she didn’t even argue. She just let me take over helping Cara.
“If there’s anything you really hate, just leave it, and I can take it back later,” Cara told her.
“Or just give it to the women’s shelter on Howard Street,” Jada said.
It was said quickly and without thought, and I realized that Jada had probably already been donating to the place, sending clothes and money their way—typical of her to hide the good she did from the world.
“Yuriko and I were texting back and forth while I shopped,” Cara said. “But buying your more intimate things felt awkward. If there is something you really need, let me know, and I’ll go back.”
“Right now, I just want a clean pair of underwear and something loose to sleep in.”
Cara pulled out a pair of silky underwear in a blue I knew Jada loved and a nightgown that was more T-shirt than sexy lingerie. Still, the thought of Jada in them made heat swell through every part of me. The reaction was ridiculous, not only because of what she’d been through but because I’d denied those feelings for too many years.
Jada’s eyes lit up at the sight of the simple items. She took them from Cara and turned toward the bathroom. “I’m going to shower.”
“You’re not doing that on your own,” I said and then wanted to hit myself over the head when she glared at me. I knew better than to state it as a command. “I mean…please, don’t do that by yourself.”
“I can help,” Cara said, eyeing the dynamic between us and reading it like my assistant was so good at. I paid her to read people. To read me. To know what needed to be done. But I didn’t pay her to be a nursemaid.
I shook my head, and Jada saw. She smirked a little, which made my heart ease a little after the crying she’d done on the couch.
