Page 108 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

“Do not call me. I won’t put my wife in that position ever again.”

He turned and stormed out of the room, leaving us with just Hunter. He clapped his hands together with a grin. “So, now you’ve met Knight and worked with him. Good times,” he nodded.

“I see why Fox is so drawn to him.” They were two peas in a pod, though only Fox thought so.

“Yeah, let’s not bring that up to Knight ever again. He’s not comfortable with Fox.”

“None of us are,” I admitted. “Thank you for coming out here. I know it didn’t turn out as we hoped.”

He glanced back at the door and then to me. “Kate asked me to talk to you about Jade.”

Aside from the time I spent with Jade, Kate was with her every minute since our return. In fact, she insisted on it. “In what way?”

He hesitated, running his hand over his bald head in discomfort. “That panic attack was bad.”

“I realize that. She has nightmares, but they’ve been getting better.”

“Maybe think about getting her to see someone. Kate can’t do much, not without really talking to Jade—”

“What are you saying?” I bit out, not liking where he was going with this.

“Look, I get that you have a lot going on, but Jade really freaked out.”

“Understandably so,” I shot back. “She was locked in a cell by her father. His men whipped her, nearly raped her. If you saw her back—” I stopped myself from saying anything more. The guys knew about what happened, but it wasn’t my place to talk about her like this. She had a right to her privacy, and if she knew we were down here discussing her like this, she wouldn’t be too happy.

Hunter nodded in understanding. “I get the nightmares. My own wife had issues with that. They don’t just go away on their own.”

“I appreciate the concern,” I said, standing and walking around the desk to shake his hand. “Thank you for coming out here.”

As he left, I shut the door and turned to the guys. They were both staring at me, waiting to see what I would do. The truth was, I didn’t know what to do. I could tell Jade was struggling, but before this attack, she was coming around. I didn’t want to go up there and tell her she needed professional help. From my own experience with James, that hadn’t helped a whole lot, and probably pushed him closer to pulling the trigger.

“What are you going to do?”

“Keep an eye on her,” I said, staring at my desk.

It was silent as we sat there contemplating everything Hunter said.

“She’s not James,” Patrick said. “After spending time with her…She’s not him.”

“I missed the signs with him. Or maybe I didn’t want to admit what was happening.”

“Jade is strong,” Patrick admitted. “I know it doesn’t seem like that when she’s freaking out, but she’s fighting the demons in her head. James got drunk to kill those demons.”

We were sitting here debating her mental status as if we had any fucking experience on how to deal with it. As if we knew the warning signs and could decide whether or not she was at risk. But the truth was, I didn’t know what was going on in her head, if she was truly fighting back or if I was just lying to myself. I needed to talk to her.

“So, what are we doing about this asshole in holding?” Chase asked.

“Jade wants to meet him,” I told them.

“That doesn’t seem like a great idea,” Patrick spoke up.

“I don’t get it either. She said she needed to confront him.”

“Could be a valid point,” Chase spoke up. “Until she confronts her fears, how is she going to move on?”

I sighed, not liking this at all. “I don’t like the idea of her going down there.”

“We could bring him to the top,” Patrick suggested. “At least then she wouldn’t have to go downstairs.”

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