Page 20 of Beaten

Chapter 11

Jamie

Jack and I helped Chris, Emily, and their dad unload the boxes, then stuck around for a bit to put her parents at ease. They had a lot of questions, which was to be expected. We did our best to answer them without violating our confidentiality contract, leaving it to Chris and/or Emily to tell them the rest. It felt a little awkward having to address Christopher and Annette Taylor in a professional capacity, they were friends with our parents and we’d known them most of our lives.

Afterwards, they thanked us repeatedly for being there to help Emily, and her dad offered to help cover our expenses. Her mom, who we'd both been addressing as Mrs. Taylor, said, “Please boys, I think you’re adult enough to call me Anne.”

“Thank you Mrs. Taylor but Ma’d kill us if she ever heard us doing that.” Jack said with a grin. He might be exaggerating, but not by much.

She hugged us both and thanked us again as she handed us a tin of homemade cookies.What is it with women thanking us in cookies? Meg loved to thank us with baked goods too. We’d get fat if the trend continued. Of course, that didn’t stop us from accepting the tin. I thanked her, knowing there were plenty of people in the office to share them with. Jack took the tin, opened it, then thanked Mrs. Taylor around a mouthful of cookie. I made sure AJ was in place before we left for the night.

We stopped for a beer after leaving the Taylor’s.

“If people keep thanking us with cookies, we’re going to get fat.” Jack said around a bite of chocolate chip cookie.

“And yet that’s your third one.” I said as I reached for my second cookie. When Jack raised his eyebrow at me, I shrugged and said, “What? They’re good.”

When I thanked him for offering Emily the chance to hang out with Meg, he said, “I think they’ll get along, and Meg really does need more female friends.” Her only real female friends were Beth and Ma, and she was quite a bit younger then either of them. And while she and Beth were close, they didn’t hang out, not only was Beth fifteen years older but she had a five-year-old son, so she didn’t have a lot of free time. She was more like a close aunt to Meg than a friend.

“You’re acting like my helping Emily is a personal favor to you.” He studied me over the rim of his tipped beer. “Care to explain that big brother?”

“It kind of is. Chris is my best friend, he was the best man at my wedding. A favor to him, is a favor to me.” I didn’t want to admit that I was taking this case more personally than I should be. When I saw Craig in Emily’s room, I had to fight the urge to shoot him on sight. I’d also had a hard time respecting her wishes when she asked us not to call the police, I wanted that asshole behind bars where he couldn’t hurt her ever again.Or six feet under.

“I think she’ll be happy to get out, she said she hasn’t done anything besides work and hang out at home since she came back.” Though I was sure part of the reason was because she didn’t want anyone seeing her bruises. Weatherford was a small town and it was unlikely she could go out and not run into someone she knew.

“Makes sense, she’s been through a lot and needs some time to adjust. I wasn’t lying when I said I think they’ll get along.” Jack finished his beer and laughed. “If for no other reason than they both love to read.”

“Yeah, I had flashbacks of helping Meg move as Emily pointed out which books were hers.” Not wanting to add to her stress, neither of us had said anything to her, but good lord she had a lot of books. A lot more than Meg. We had thought Meg would have a lot more than she did, since she always had a book with her, but she couldn’t afford to support her habit so she borrowed a lot of them from the local library.

“I felt bad that asshole ruined so many of them, but at least we didn’t have to carry them.” Jack said.

“We? If I recall, you were holding up a wall while Chris and I did all the heavy lifting.” I teased him. His job had been farmore important than carrying a few boxes, but he’d refused to take the bait.

He shrugged. “Somebody had to do it.”

Before going to bed, I checked in with AJ. I didn't doubt his ability to do his job, but I couldn’t ignore the impulse to make sure everything was quiet.

Andrew Janerek, AJ, came with a glowing recommendation from Jack. They’d met while serving together in the Army and had been best friends ever since. He joined SSI as a bodyguard after his enlisted ended, and would soon have his private investigators license. And the pay raise that came with it. I often wondered if it bothered him that Doug started with us a PI, but knew there was nothing I could do about it. Doug had the college degree and field experience required for his PI license when he applied, AJ hadn’t.

AJ would do his job, and do it well, and I told him as much when he asked why I was checking up on him when he’d updated me less than two hours ago. I exaggerated the truth and said I was still antsy after the situation with Craig earlier. That was part of it, but not all. I wanted to be there, making sure everything was secure at the Taylor house.Fuck.I’m taking Emily’s safety far too personally.

I couldn’t help thinking about how scared she’d looked when Craig had her cornered. Knowing how violent he’d been in the past I’d almost called 9-1-1 after she and Chrishad left, but she’d made me promise I wouldn’t, and I couldn’t go back on it. Even if the bastard deserved to go back to jail. Hell, he deserved to have his ass kicked and I’d be happy to be the one to do it. Guys like that thought they were tough when they were beating on a woman, but could rarely hold their own if challenged by a man.

Which was what happened when Jack and I confronted him. He tried to talk a tough game, protect his tough guy image, but he hadn’t tried to physically challenge us.

I looked down at my hands, I’d been twisting my wedding band off and on while I paced across my bedroom floor.What the fuck is wrong with me? I rarely ever played with my wedding band.

I stopped pacing and stared down at my hand, thinking back to what my parents, and Isabelle’s, had suggested. Was it time to take my ring off? Was I ready to move forward and find happiness? I knew Isabelle wouldn’t want me to be lonely, but it was so damn hard trying to imagine being with anyone else.

I took my ring off and placed it on the dresser in front of our wedding picture. God she was so beautiful. She’d worn her long, thick, black hair down that day, instead of the traditional wedding up-do. She did it for me, because I always told her how much I loved it when she wore it down. Her naturally dark skin glowed against the white of her dress making her look like a Mexican Goddess. I’d worshipped her, and our wedding day was the happiest of my life.

I looked in the mirror. I’d always considered myself to be a decent looking guy, but grief had aged me. Isabelle wouldn’twant this for me. She’d want me to live my life to the fullest, and to find someone to share it with.

I looked back at our wedding picture. “I miss you.”

For the first time since I’d said I do, I left my ring on the dresser. Then changed into my running clothes. I needed to clear my head, and nothing worked like a good long run.

Meg was in the hallway when I came out of my room, she looked me up and down, a concerned look on her face. “You okay?”

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