Page 28 of Jake's Angel

“This is not … I wouldn’t wear this Jayde. It’d be a waste of money.” I try to convince her.

“Just go try it on. Humor me.” She fusses. A pit forms in my stomach. I haven’t checked my legs since we left the estate. I have no idea if the arnica cream I put on after my shower did anything to reduce the bruising. It’s why I wore jeans in the first place despite this God-forsaken heat.

“If you don’t come out, I’ll come in there after you.”

“Fine.” The sooner I try it on, the sooner we can leave. I’ll just have to stand with my back to the wall and hope she doesn’t ask me to turn around.

I try on the little black leather dress and spin around in the mirror. It’s a perfect fit. My waist and hips look amazing in this particular cut. My legs look long and lean, despite the welts and bruises. They’ve faded but are still noticeable. Give it a day or two and they'll be gone.

“The perfect pair of heels would probably make this dress look even more killer, but I’ll probably wear my black converse for comfort.” I murmur to myself in the mirror.

Jayde must’ve heard me talking to myself and decided I was taking too long because her head pops around the curtain and I scream at the intrusion.

“Sorry! Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you. I just want to see,” Jayde apologizes, smiling sheepishly.

She takes in the sight of me in the dress, a wide smile spreading across her face. I know the moment she sees them, because her smile fades and her eyes narrow to slits. “Who did this to you?” Her voice is low, full of fury. “I need a name.” I watch as she slowly takes her purse off her shoulder, pulling out her phone, readying to text someone. Who? I have no idea.

I throw my hands out, grabbing for her phone to stop her.

“Jayde. Please.” I beg. “It’s nothing. It’s done. It’s over. I’m here now. I’m safe.” saying all the things I have been repeatingto myself since the moment I sat my ass in the seat of the old pickup truck Sadie rescued me in. “Please. If you tell anyone, and they try to intervene, it will only make things worse. The people I ran away from … they’ll find me and take me back there. I’m begging you. Please, just let it go.”

“Let it go?” She snarls at me. “I could call my brother, then he and Hawk could find the fucker and make him pay. Remind him why he shouldn’t treat women like his own personal punching bag.” She takes a deep breath. “My daddy will kill …”

“NO!No Jayde.” I try to reason with her. “Mackcannotknow about this! He would take me back. He would have to. Please.Please.Don’t tell anyone. I can’t go back.” Tears fill the corners of my eyes. I feel the first one slide down my cheek. Everything me and Sadie have done to get this far floods my mind.

The months of planning.

Her, causing the security system to glitch for weeks on end, making the guards think there’s a system failure so they wouldn’t think twice about a hacker when she cut the power, allowing me to escape.

Finding the perfect time for her to leave town and not having to worry about her family spying on her every move.

“Hey. Hey!” Jayde’s hand lightly slaps my cheek. She lets out an exasperated sigh, looking me in my eyes, searching them. “Calm down. Daddy would never hand you over to anyone if he thought they’d hurt you. I won’t tell them … for now.Butif the asshole who did this ever comes near you again, all bets are off. I’ll send the Kings of Fury to light his ass on fire and the three of us will roast marshmallows and make s’mores with the flames. Do we have a deal?”

My forehead drops to her shoulder, and a long-held breath escapes my lungs. “Thank you.” My words are whispered. Her hand grabs the back of my head as she hugs me gently.

“You don’t have to thank me. Just promise me you’ll tell one of us if you ever see the bastard again.”

“I promise.” I say, knowing I’ll never see my grandmother’s henchman again. She wouldn’t send Chuck to find me. He’s her precious ‘yes man.’ She’ll send far worse after me than him. I don’t want to think about the punishment I would receive if she finds me.

You won’t survive it.

At the sound of Sadie’s voice calling for us, Jayde lets me go and steps back through the curtain. “She’s getting dressed. Two minutes.” Jayde hollers in response.

I quickly change back into my own clothes. Although I like the dress, I don’t see the point of getting it. Apparently, Jayde doesn’t agree with my thinking, because she snatches the scrap of leather from my hands and walks out without another word to me.

“Jayde, I don’t?—”

“Get a say in any of this. Yep, you’re right.” She slams the clothes we’ve chosen down on the counter in front of Sadie, grinning widely. The salesclerk rings everything up on Sadie’s credit card.

“You need to let me pay you for this stuff. You know I have cash,” I whisper, imploring her.

“Nope,” she says simply. “My treat.”

“But you’ve paid for everything today. It’s too much.”

Sadie spins toward me, her hand firmly planted on her right hip. “I have the money and you need a friend. Don’t worry about the cost of this shit. It’s fine. I promise. I’ll pay everything off at the end of next week anyway.”

“How?” I ask suspiciously. Sadie doesn’t have a day job I’m aware of. She uses an allowance given to her by Mack for as long as I’ve known her, and I’m certain it wasn’t enough to cover the damage we’ve done to her credit card today.

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