Page 68 of Beaten

I understood but was still disappointed. “Okay, I’ll take you. Do you want me to stay while you talk to your parents?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Of course not.” I tucked a wayward hair behind her ear, then pulled my hand away and shoved it in my pocket.It’s going to take an ungodly amount of effort to keep myself from touching her.

Chapter 32

Emily

When Jamie dropped me off he told me he wanted to hold off on dating because he didn’t want to lose focus.

“Why?” I was confused, and hurt, and it showed.

“I’m worried I might not be able to do my job if I’m distracted.”

He thinks I’m a distraction? What the fuck?I felt my hurt shift to anger.

“It’s fine. I get it-”

He cut me off. “Emily, you’re not listening to me.”

“I heard you Jamie. You don’t want to get distracted. It’s fine.” Of course it wasn’t fine. I was pissed off, and hurt. After all his talk at the BBQ, and his eloquent apology earlier, he dumped me before we had our first date.Whatever, I should have known.

“Emily, please, I-”

“Don’t worry about it Jamie. I won’t distract you anymore.” I rushed out of the car and ran up the walkway.

I heard him call my name just before I slammed the door behind me, shutting him out.

All I wanted to do was eat a gallon of ice cream and cry. I felt like such an idiot. I’d gotten my hopes up when he’d apologized for hurting me, so I was totally unprepared for this.

My mom called out from the kitchen. “Em is that you?”

“Yeah.” I wiped the tears from my face.

“Dad and I are having ice cream, want some?”

“Love some! I’ll be right in.” I needed to tell them what happened, so they’d be prepared, but I didn’t want to.Fucking Jamie, he was supposed to help me. Whatever, I didn’t want his help anymore.

I could see the bags under my eyes when I looked in the mirror. Evidence of a sleepless night, and too many tears shed.Fucking Craig. And fucking Jamie.

I splashed cold water on my face. It wouldn’t help me look less tired, but at least it washed the tears away.

I put on my best fake smile and walked into the kitchen. Dad was half watching a baseball game on TV as he and Mom talked.

“Cookies and Cream okay?” Mom asked as I walked towards the fridge. I had half a bottle of rosé that I intended to finish with my ice cream.

“Yeah, sounds good. Anyone want a glass of wine?” I didn’t expect them to say yes, Dad was a beer guy and Mom had tea.

“No thanks.” My dad said at the same time my mom asked, “With ice cream?”

“It’s been a day. So yeah, with ice cream.” I thought about saying ‘so don’t judge me’ but it seemed rude.

Dad gave me his full attention and asked, “You want to talk about it?”

“What did Chris tell you?”That came out snarky.“I’m sorry Dad. I’m tired and stressed. Forgive me?” I gave him my best puppy dog eyes, the expression I reserved for those special occasions when I knew I was wrong.

“Of course.” He patted my hand. “And to answer your question, all he told us was that Craig contacted you, and SSI is assigning a bodyguard for you anytime you leave the house, as a precaution.”

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