Page 39 of Four Fiances & I

ChapterFourteen

JASON

The three of us stay by Jasmine's side as she sleeps. We don’t say a word at first because we fear waking her. But also, because there are no words for what we witnessed in the sparring room.

Jasmine has always been so unbelievably strong; we have seen breakdowns and what the effect of nightmares have done to her, but not once have I witnessed what we did today. That was a new level of pain, breaking us all to watch.

“You okay?”

I lift my head from where it's been buried in her hair and look at Sean to find both of them watching me.

“Better than she is,” I answer, forcing myself not to kiss her head in case I wake her.

“What happened?” Maximus asks.

“How much did you see?”

“We heard her yelling ‘I hate her, ’ and then the screaming started.”

I fill them in on what they missed, and we sit in silence again.

What I wouldn’t give to kill Carol for the abuse she caused our girl. Jasmine is an absolute sweetheart who wouldn’t say boo to a goose unless provoked. But Carol has caused all kinds of fucked up issues, and it's going to take years for the therapist to unravel it all.

“Have either of you contacted Christian?” I ask quietly, a while later. Both of them shake their head, but I don’t miss the way Maximus’s jaw clenches.

“If he wants to know what's going on, he should be here, not swanning off doing whatever he feels is more important than her,” Maximus mutters through gritted teeth.

“He has a right to know,” Sean starts but stops when Maximus glares at him.

“What right does he have? He should have been here or at least told us what was so important that he couldn’t be.”

“I know, and I will deal with him when he gets back.”

“Will you, though?” Maximus snaps.

“Of course I will.”

“You said that last time, but here we are, with Shorty suffering and him being AWOL again!” I know he’s right, but if I don’t stay in control of this, Maximus will deal with him, and that will be all kinds of fucked up, which is the last thing Jasmine needs, us all to be falling out. It’s the last thing any of us need.

“Look, I know things are crazy at the moment, and I’m not making excuses for him,” I glare at Maximus to stop him from arguing with me. “But something is going on, and he is hiding it from us, me included. He’s only ever done that a handful of times, and each has been because he needs to keep us safe.”

“That’s no excuse anymore; we are old enough to deal with shit,” Sean sighs, but I shake my head whilst turning my attention to him.

“Do you really think age matters to Christian? He took on the father role at fifteen, when Mum first started getting ill, for fuck’s sake. He has spent his whole life protecting us, if not from Tommy, then from the shit he had gotten us into. Now that Jaz is involved, he will take even more on to keep her protected, even if it means staying away and dealing with shit on his own.” I look to Maximus and know he will want to have his say, but I’m not finished. “I know our brother, and I know he is dealing with something that he wants to keep us safe from; all of us,” I nod down to the sleeping Jasmine to show it includes her.

“I will not attack him about today, but I will make it clear how fucked up it is that he doesn’t trust us to help or to know what's going on. He needs to stop trying to protect us all and include us so we can take some of the pressure off him.” Letting out a deep breath, I briefly close my eyes and try calming myself a little.

Looking down at Jasmine asleep against my side, holding her bear, I worry again about what Christian has gotten himself into. It’s got to be something terrible for him to let her down like he has. I’m just about to climb out of bed and call him when I feel Jasmine tighten her grip on me. Looking back at her, I can see she is starting to wake up. I’m surprised she has slept as much as she has. It just shows how draining her breakdown was.

As her eyes flutter, I run a hand over her head, letting her know she isn’t alone. Her bloodshot eyes open and look up at me.

“Hey, Angel. You okay?” I ask softly. Maximus leans in and kisses the top of her head as she nods slowly.

“Do you need anything, Shorty?” he asks softly. She opens her mouth to speak but has to clear her throat, which is no doubt sore from screaming earlier.

“Water,” she croaks. Sean leans towards the floor and grabs a bottle he placed there earlier.

“Here you go, Princess.” He hands it to Maximus, who helps Jaz to sit up. I don’t miss how she keeps her bear tightly in her arm. It’s a sign that she's hurting and feeling vulnerable. I’ve not seen her with it for a while and knew it was a good sign. But now, she’s back to clinging to it again, and it's hard to watch her take these steps backwards.

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