Page 74 of Four Fiances & I

There is always the possibility that someone shared information by mistake. Phones can be hacked, software infiltrated, and rooms bugged. Pulling out my phone, I fire off a quick text to Terry.

Christian: I want the whole house and all the cars checked for bugs. I will gather our laptops and phones for you to check as well.

Less than a minute after I click send, there is a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I call, picking up the glass of wine I’ve just poured for Jasmine. Terry enters as I walk over to the sofas and pass her the glass while Jason passes the twins theirs.

“I’m one step ahead of you,” Terry announces as he closes the door behind Layton. Both look like they mean business. “I did the dining room before the meeting and also had signal blockers in each corner to ensure that if a phone had been hacked, they wouldn’t be able to listen into the meeting.” I thank him as I take my seat. “Can you all put your phones on the table?” All five of us immediately oblige and watch as Terry and Layton run something over them, checking for bugs.

“I want an in-depth check done on them all, too,” Jason says as he sits in his usual spot.

“I will need to do that in my office. Are you okay with me taking them?” All five of us nod before Terry collects them all up. “I have already run a check on the landlines, and all are safe. We will check each room to ensure they are on the safe side, but I can’t imagine how they would have been bugged.”

I sip my drink, nodding, thinking the same thing. We are cautious about who we allow in our personal space, especially with Jasmine now living with us. We want our home to be her safe place. The one place she can always come to feel safe.

We all sit quietly as Terry and Layton work together to check the room quickly. Jasmine leans against Sean as she chews on the skin around her thumb, indicating she’s anxious. Sean picks up on it as he pulls her hand from her mouth and whispers something in her ear. I’m not sure what he says, but she leans into him further as he presses a kiss to the top of her head.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Jason announces as he stands and walks from the room. I’m not the only one that watches him leave. Maximus pays attention to our brother as well.

I sit back for a moment and close my eyes. I’m exhausted and stressed and just want today to be over and done with. We did consider if now was the best time to ask Jasmine about the abuse she suffered, especially with everything else going on, but we came to the conclusion she is probably waiting for us to mention it, which will add extra stress. At least if we ask and she says she isn’t ready, she knows we are letting her take the lead with it all.

“Room’s clear,” Layton announces. Reluctantly, I open my eyes and look at Terry and Layton. “I’m going to check the rest of the house while Terry goes for a lie-down. We will both be sleeping on site for the time being, so we are close if anything happens.”

“Thank you. We appreciate it,” I say, giving them both a nod.

“Try and get some rest tonight, all of you,” Terry orders. I don’t miss the fact that he’s mainly focusing on me.

“Which one of us is the boss?” I ask, smirking.

“When you are being a stubborn bastard, I am,” he replies.

“I’ll second that,” Jason announces as he walks back into the room with Jasmine's blanket. He drops something behind the sofa as he walks over to her. “Here, Jazzy, you looked cold,” he smiles at her as he shakes it out and puts it over her legs.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she smiles, pulls it up to her chin, and makes herself comfortable. Jason looks at me and gives me a nod, signalling for us to proceed with the other reason we are here.

“If anything important comes up, let me know; otherwise, we will regroup tomorrow at ten.” Both Layton and Terry nod before wishing us a good night and leaving.

Looking over at Jasmine, I see her staring into space while worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. She looks up at me, and I can see she knows why we are here.

“You want to talk about what I remembered, don’t you?” Her voice is small and sounds so vulnerable that it breaks my heart. Standing from my seat, I move to sit on the edge of the coffee table so I can take her hand. Jason moves beside me so all four of us are close to our amazing woman.

“We want you to know that we are here to talk when you are ready,” I answer, running a thumb over the back of her hand. “You revealed a lot last night, and the last thing we want is for you to think we are sweeping that under the carpet because we aren’t. We want to understand so we can help you, but if you’re not ready for that yet, all you have to do is say.”

Jasmine looks down at our hands as Jason takes her other one.

“We love you so much, Jazzy, you know that. We would never forgive ourselves if we hurt you unintentionally.” My brother’s words stab me in the chest, because that’s exactly what I’ve been beating myself up about since I grabbed her last night.

Jason moving brings me out of my dark place. I glance as he returns to where he dropped something a moment ago and pulls out her white teddy. The one she clings to when she starts digressing into her younger self. The place she goes when she is feeling vulnerable. She takes it from him and clings, burying her face into the top of its head as Sean's arm tightens around her shoulders. I look to Maximus, who is running his hand up and down her legs. All four of us are giving our woman all the attention she needs.

“I didn’t lie to you,” she whispers, not lifting her head. “When I said it was only that one time, I thought it was.”

Jasmine had told me previously that a man entered her room one night when she was ten. He had inserted his fingers into her, and she had screamed so loud that the neighbours called the police. Jasmine was given to her grandparents, and Carol had to prove she was off the drugs before she could go home.

“Were the memories repressed?” Jason asks softly. Jasmine nods into her teddy, still not looking at any of us. Usually, I would tell her, “eyes on me,” but this will go however she needs it to. There’s a time we are her daddies to guide her; others we are here to give her the love and comfort she needs.

“I have never really remembered much between when my dad left and turning sixteen. After my grandparent’s deaths, the only things I remember focusing on were dancing or my friends. I figured it was because nothing much had happened at home as Mum was too out of it to make memories with me. But for a while, the therapist has thought that I may be repressing the memories.”

I nod, as he has said as much in a few reports, but he wasn’t sure if it was related to abuse from her mother or seeing her in the states she would get into. He believed that one day, they would come back. He expected there to be some sort of trigger.

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