Page 55 of Jacked and Jaded

He watched both women disappear inside the house and the porch light to go off. He knew they were in for the night and decided to take the time to grab something to eat and use the bathroom. Once he was finished, he’d return here and watch for his opportunity to grab Calliope. Finally, things were going his way.

“I’m goingto put Ryker to bed, then hit the sack. Have fun catching up with your friend.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on Calliope’s lips. “Nice you meeting you, Bellamy.” He dipped his head toward her friend.

“Okay. Night.”

After Jackson disappeared from sight, Bellamy said, “Wow. So, that’s Jackson.” She said it more as a statement than a question.

“Yes, that’s Jackson.” Calliope couldn’t contain her smile. She was happy that her friend had a chance to see the Jackson she’d fallen in love with and not the badass biker he could sometimes be. Sometimes being in a biker club got a bad wrap. People automatically thought all bikers were killers and drug dealers, that they were incapable of monogamy or being a great dad. “You want something to drink?” She led her into the kitchen. “We’ve got wine, beer, water, soda.”

“A glass of wine would be nice.” Bellamy followed behind her, not bothering to hide the fact she was checking out Jackson’s house.

Calliope poured both of them a glass of wine and motioned for her to follow her to the living room. She turned the television on for background noise and took a seat on the couch. They both sat facing each other, knees bent.

“Now that we’re somewhere we can talk without the noise of a carnival around us, tell me how it came about that you left Clint and ended up with Jackson?” Bellamy pulled a throw pillow onto her lap and settled in.

“Uhh. It’s a long story.”

“Good thing for you I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. Spill,” she commanded.

“Well, as you know, things between me and Clint haven’t been good for a while. Things escalated to a point I couldn’t take anymore.” She explained what happened the morning she left to see her mom for her birthday and then what happened when she deliberately went against Clint’s wishes, and came home late the next day. Now that there was some distance from the incident that landed her in the hospital, it was easier to talk about. It wasn’t any less embarrassing to talk about how stupid she’d been for waiting so long to get out.

“So, you had already made up your mind that you were going back to move back to Redemption for good?” Bellamy asked then sipped from her wine.

“Yes.”

“Even though you knew moving back could mean running into Jackson at any time and reopen old wounds?” Bellamy studied her close.

“Yes. I was willing to take the chance to get away from Clint.”

“Damn. It must’ve really been getting bad for you to move home and risk getting your heart hurt all over again.” She reached out and squeezed Calliope’s hand, tears pooling in her eyes. “I wish you would have told me. You could have moved back in with me at any time.”

“I know, but you were dating Dallas, and I thought things might be getting serious between you two and I didn’t want to bring my trouble to your door.” Calliope turned and set her glass on the coffee table. “Although it looks like my trouble ended up at your door anyway. I’m so sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. It worked out for the best that I didn’t know where you went.” She paused for a moment, then went on. “Now, what happened after you got home late to Clint’s?”

“I went immediately upstairs to pack a few things and when I came downstairs he was standing there. Scared the hell out of me. I was expecting him to stay at his company party for another few hours, but there he stood in the middle of the living room.” She remembered feeling her stomach roll, knowing things were going to get bad. If she’d only known how bad, she would have never gone back for her stuff. And she still didn’t have her car back.

“I tried to get past him. He could see by my suitcase I was leaving, but he asked me about it. I told him I was moving home and he didn’t take that very well. Long story short, he beat me bad enough I ended up in the hospital.” Bellamy gasped at that news. The tears she’d been trying to hold back slipped silently down her cheeks.

“Oh my God, Calliope. You should’ve called me. I would have went with you to get your things.”

“It didn’t even cross my mind at the time. I honestly thought he’d be gone. He’d never hurt me that bad before.” She handed Bellamy a couple tissues.

“So, in your mind, raping you isn’t that bad?” Bellamy was pissed, thinking Calliope was blowing the sexual assault off. She wasn’t, she just didn’t feel she needed to go into detail about it.

“Okay, that explains how you left Clint. How did you end up with Jackson?”

“Mom and Tom had left town to go on a cruise. The hospital contacted her since she’s my emergency contact. She was already in New Orleans, so she called Jackson to come to the hospital to check me out and find out what was going on. He did. I woke up and he was there. He was also there when Clint had this stupid idea that he would come visit me in the hospital like I was there with the flu or recovering from elective surgery or something. It was the craziest and scariest thing ever.” She took a deep breath before telling her more. “Jackson and his dad were gone at the time and it was just me, Mom and Tom in the room and they couldn’t get him to leave. Luckily, Jackson and Maverick showed up just in time. He grabbed Clint by the throat and slammed him into the wall.” She smiled at the memory and leaned in conspiratorially. “Honestly, despite being half scared out of my head, it was really hot seeing Jackson throw him around.” She cleared her throat and straightened up. “Anyway, he and Maverick drug him out of my room and the police came to arrest him again.”

“Again?”

“Yeah. He was initially arrested for the rape and beating that sent me to the hospital in the first place and then again for violating the restraining order stating he can’t come anywhere near me.”

“Holy shit.” Bellamy was silent for a moment, processing everything Calliope had told her. “How did you end up in the hospital? I can’t imagine Clint called an ambulance.”

“No. He did not. When I came to I didn’t see him anywhere. All I could think about was getting out of his house as fast as I could before he came back and did something else. I found my purse, but I didn’t see my keys anywhere. I somehow got the door opened and started walking. It was raining, but it didn’t matter. Ihadto leave before he tried to stop me. I found my phone and called an Uber. They say I was passed out on the side of the road when the driver found me. He was the one to call an ambulance.”

Bellamy leaned over and swatted Calliope’s shoulder. “I am so mad at you. Why didn’t you tell me any of this? Why didn’t you call me to go with you to Clint’s house?”

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