Page 23 of A Love So Wrong
Gideon stood up. "There is no way in hell we can stay in this house all together with that piece-of-shit junkie."
"Gideon!" Sandra slapped her hand on the couch.
Gideon ignored her angry outburst and stepped closer. "And if you think I'm going to go and just leave Jade here with that creep, you're out of your damn mind."
Shaking her head, Sandra's upset face looked up to Gideon, trying to make him see her point. "I'm not saying—"
But Gideon was done hearing her, with long angry strides, he went to the door that led to the den and stopped. "So, you'll turn your back on us? You'll do the very thing we have always feared and get rid of us just because yourrealson has moved back? Thanks for that,mom," Gideon spat the word as if it was bitter on his tongue before stepping out of the room.
That night Gideon did not return to wherever he walked off to before bed. Everything felt broken, it felt as if Jade's entire world had been shattered in less than twenty-four hours. Sandra had tried to explain to Jade and reassure her that she thought them enacting Henry's plan would be the best thing, but Jade could barely listen. She just wanted them to leave, that's all Jade could understand from the woman's words. She wanted them gone so that she could have a second chance with her son, not caring if her other two kids were being kicked out from the only home they had ever known.
It was late when she heard the door to her room open with its usual creak. Jade didn’t bother turning in the bed to see who it was, she knew. The door clicked shut before she felt the spot next to her on the bed dip and the long warm body settle in behind her. Tears stung and welled in her eyes as she felt the heavy arm draped over her hip and pulled her back into the warmth of the big body behind her. She wanted to yell at him for this evening, a part of her was still so mad at him, but another part was so relieved by his presence all she wanted to do was cry. Allowing herself to relax and mold into his hold, Jade let her tears fall freely.
Eventually, Gideon's deep voice near her ear broke the silence of the room. "You know we can't stay right?" he whispered, but she said nothing in reply. "It would just be more of this, day in and out," he explained, and she could hear the urgent need for her to understand in his tone. "I can't do this to us, not to you. I can’t leave you here as I go to school and work each day just hoping he doesn’t fight with you or worse…try something else. I could see the way he looked at you, I could see the way he looked around the house with satisfaction like he won the goddamn lotto. I'll end up killing him, Jade, I know it."
Jade didn’t say anything, she couldn’t. Her throat felt tight from all the strain of her tears.
"Please, talk to me," he begged his arm around her waist, tightening a little as he nuzzled into her hair, covering the curve of her neck. "Don't shut me out, tell me I'm not crazy," his muffled words vibrated into the tender nerves of her neck and shoulder. "Tell me I'm not overreacting. I just thought…"
Finding his hand pressed against her stomach, she laced her fingers with his and pressed him tighter against her. "You're right," she assured him tearfully. "You're not crazy. I saw the same look…it made me feel…scared," she confessed, remembering the way Ron's beady dark eyes went from scanning the living room and stopped on her.
Turning her over until she was flat on her back, Gideon hovered part ways over her, his amber eyes shining with determination in the dark. "I would never let anyone hurt you, do you hear me? I love you, Jade. I promise I'll keep you safe."
Jade nodded and turned her face into his chest until they were now both facing each other. With his heavy arm over her waist, he held her firmly to him, and she prayed he would never leave.
Just when the grips of sleep nearly claimed her, she felt another wave of sadness hit her as the reality of their situation sank in further.
"I can’t believe she would choose him over us Gideon, I just can't believe it," her words dissolved into silent tears, and she let herself cry into the warmth of his chest until sleep finally claimed her.
~*~
It took them nearly two weeks to get everything in order. For the first few days, Jade naively hoped that maybe they wouldn't have to leave, but that thought was quickly dispelled. Ron and Marie were unlike anyone Jade had ever met. There was something toxic about their personalities, something eternally angry about them, as if they had both been wronged so much, they could only ever face life with grim faces and a readiness to fight. Staying there was not an option.
Making dozens of calls and filling out mountains of paperwork, she and Gideon arranged for the remainder of her senior year to be taken virtually, a point Gideon made sure to brutally remind tear-streaked Sandra of the day he realized Jade would not get a traditional graduation. Securing a few more long-haul trucking contracts, downsizing their clothes and things, they boxed up everything they couldn't take and sent it over to Ebony and Gavin's house. Her friends were beside themselves at the new turn of events. Gavin and Gideon argued on the front lawn for what seemed like two hours, Gavin threatening everything from killing Ron himself and worse, calling his dad and his team of lawyers to swoop in and resolve everything for them. The offer was tempting, and she could see Gideon consider it, but when she met those amber eyes across the lawn as they sought her silent council, Jade shook her head. It was Henry's plan, and this was Sandra's house now despite Gideon's name on the deed. It would be so much easier to have Mr. Rosebank come in and solve all of their problems, but they knew they couldn't.
So, after tearful goodbyes with all of their friends and the rig packed with everything she could squirrel away in the tight cab, Jade sat beside Gideon as he turned the truck around in the drive and headed down the driveway away from the house. She could see the pain lining the hard features of Gideon's face as fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. Everything he had worked so hard for was being left behind. The scholarship, his pick-up truck he had to sell, his friends, and the home they loved all gone, and Jade wondered if they made the right decision.
