Page 60 of Peak of Love
“Sonia,” Jaya ventured slowly. “I think this answers your question about what was true and what was false. And you can probably see why Chloe didn’t want to talk about it, right?”
Sonia nodded and pursed her lips.
Jaya continued. “Even if I don’t like how this came about, especially since it involved very disrespectful language between two good friends, I think, after all, it was important to air this out. So for that, I can see why you brought it up,” Jaya offered to Sonia who seemed vindicated. Jaya turned to Chloe. The young woman raised one shoulder, ever so slightly. A tiny gesture of agreement.
“Now I need to be alone with Chloe,” Jaya announced and both girls looked at her with wide eyes.
“It was nothing!” Chloe said. “I trusted you! I don’t want to report anything, Jaya! It was nothing!”
“OK, though we still need to talk, Chloe. Sonia, can you give us a minute? Please stay by the hallway if you want. I promise this won’t take long.”
Sonia did as she was asked but gave a hefty dose of pouting and stomping to lodge her discontent at being excluded from the conversation. Once alone, Jaya looked at Chloe intently.
“Chloe, you know my first, my absolute number one concern, is for your safety. So I need to ask you if you feared injury, or harm, or anything. Because it sounds like he touched you when you didn’t want him to,” Jaya ventured carefully. Pushing too hard or misrepresenting the situation wouldn’t be helpful. This was an important moment for Chloe to take the time and consider how she felt. She also had to realize, with absolute certainty, that Jaya was on her side. Ready to validate her feelings and fears.
She sighed as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. “Honestly, Jaya, guys call girls slu…I mean bad names like that, all the time.”
Bile rose to Jaya’s throat. She wasn’t naïve. She knew that hyper-sexualized and misogynistic language directed at young women often went unchecked. It had to be dealt with, but the problem shouldn’t be hefted on this girl’s slim shoulders.
“As long as you know it’s wrong. He has no right to call you that. And if you don’t want him to touch you, he shouldn’t. Remember, you can talk to me, or to an adult you trust, any time. I will intervene if you feel unsafe. I want to help.” Jaya comforted the girl while trying to make eye contact.
“Can I go now?” Chloe whined. And then, as if to lessen the edge of her teenage insolence, mumbled, “Please?”
“Will you talk to me if something changes or if anything, anything at all, gets worse?” Jaya pushed a little more. And then she copied Chloe’s tone and said, “Please?”
This earned her a snort and a nod. They stood and walked out to find Sonia on her phone. Chloe’s composure relaxed when she saw that her friend waited to walk out together.
“Take care, ladies,” Jaya said. “Watch out for each other, alright?”
They nodded and were already orchestrating the rest of the afternoon via their phones. “See you, Jaya,” they called on their way upstairs.
Jaya walked the hallway towards an office that was her headquarters as counselor, coordinator, and volunteer. It was after five in the afternoon and she would have to be back by eight tomorrow morning for her first meeting.
She was tired as well as excited. The tour went well, all things considered. The 1.2-million-dollar campaign could change lives for the better.
If only there was a campaign to ease her worry.
What the hell was her problem, Sebastian thought when he caught her scowling at him. Jaya Patel was such a snarky grump and for no good reason he could fathom.
He tried to be friendly when they crossed paths for the Hockey-For-All program. She coordinated the donation of old equipment and organized the free skating lessons offered to underserved communities in Cincinnati. You’d think she would appreciate Sebastian’s efforts at getting the Cincinnati Thrashers, a local farm team for the NHL, to donate equipment. But no. Still a snarky grump.
She was popular with the kids. It was also fairly obvious that some of those kids were half in love with her. Everyone else found her to be pleasant. Him, not so much.
Granted, when Sebastian and Jaya first met, she caught him checking out her shapely ass while she was bent over. It hadn’t been on purpose. He simply happened to walk into her office when she was grabbing something from under her desk. He momentarily lost the ability to announce his arrival. It was two seconds, at most. Well, maybe more like seven seconds. That wasn’t the point!
Maybe she was pissed about something Molly Eastwood said about their one-night stand. Granted, it was more like two- or three-night stands. He never lied to Molly, though. Never promised anything exclusive or long-term. Again, that wasn’t the point.
Jaya had a problem with him, no doubt about it. And though she was cute as could be, that snarky grumpiness was getting old.
She was walking in front of him, down the basement hallways of the Freedom Community Center, when he allowed himself a glance at the long, wavy hair that grazed the curve of her lower back.
Jaya was talking about counselors, and youth opportunities, and something, something, whatever. He cared about the fundraising campaign, but he didn’t lose sleep over how they would spend the money. He thought it would be fun to meet some kids while doing the community PR thing his agent told him to work on.
He was following along and smiling back at the eager face of Mr. Watson when Jaya lost her balance. Instinctively, Sebastian reached over and grabbed her before she toppled.
Now, as a professional hockey player with a reputation for being physically aggressive, Sebastian was used to getting hit. Having his breath knocked out and his eyes water by the sheer force of contact. Nothing new there.
Getting hit bysoftness, that was new. There was no other way to put it. The force of her softness knocked his breath out and made his eyes water. The soft texture of a sleek blouse. Soft, fragrant hair that swished by his face when he leaned forward. And the heavy, promising softness of a breast right at the edge of his fingers when his hand landed on Jaya’s upper ribcage.
