Page 25 of Saved by Him

I shook my head. “I’m appreciating not having anything fucking with my head.”

A dark shadow crossed Jenna’s face, and I knew I didn’t have to explain what I meant. She understood. Then her eyes darted from one arm to the other, and I realized that anyone could’ve guessed at my meaning, thanks to the marks Serge had left. She couldn’t see them now thanks to my sleeves, but she’d seen them in the hospital.

“I’m surprised Jalen walked out of there without killing those bastards.” She set a mug down in front of me, then put the other in front of where she sat. “I can’t imagine how hard it was for him.”

“Forhim?” I tried not to sound as annoyed as I felt. I was supposed to be here to talk to my friend about what I’d been through, not listen to how difficult it had been for my boyfriend… or whatever Jalen was now.

Her expression was serious. “I don’t doubt you went through hell, but you didn’t see him. When he realized you were gone…I’ve never seen anyone look so completely terrified and pissed off at the same time. In my defense, when I said it had to have been hard for him, I was actually talking about how much restraint it must’ve taken for him to walk out without beating the shit out of every one of those men.”

I supposed I could give him that. Still, it wasn’t the only thing about the series of events that I needed to talk about.

“How could you let him go undercover? He told you, right? What he was planning?”

“He didn’t have to,” she said easily. “I was the one who found where the auction was and told him about it. When no one would help us, we talked about what needed to happen, and we made a plan.”

“Shit, Jenna. What were the two of you thinking?”

She raised an eyebrow. “We were thinking that you were about to be sold to some pervert who was going to make you his sex slave, and we wanted you back.”

I sighed. “There were so many ways that could have gone wrong, you know.”

“But it didn’t.”

I ran my finger around the rim of my mug. “There were dozens of girls there. Guys too. Did Jalen tell you that?”

“He did.” Her voice was flat. “And it killed us both to leave them behind, but it was the only choice to make.” Her eyes met mine, and I was surprised by the affection that accompanied the steel. “I’d do it again.”

“Give me one more day, and I’ll be ready to help you find them,” I said.

Jenna nodded, pushing back ebony hair from her face. “I knew you would.” She took a long drink from her mug. “Now, how about you tell me what the hell is going on with Jalen and that psycho ex of his.”

* * *

After listeningto me talk for nearly ninety minutes, Jenna still seemed to be more stunned by the revelation about Jalen and Elise’s pregnancy-resulting tryst than she was about anything else. I supposed after everything in her past, hearing about a couple bastards drugging and holding a woman captive so they could sell her to the highest bidder wasn’t as shocking as it was to me.

“You’ve had a hell of a couple weeks,” she said finally. “But please tell me you’re going to work things out with Jalen.”

“I want to,” I admitted. “I love him, Jenna, but he’s going to be a father.”

“Maybe,” she reminded me. “From what I know about Elise, there’s no guarantee that the baby is his. Or if she’s even pregnant.”

“That’s true,” I said. “I don’t know for sure, but I can’t spend nine months waiting to find out, so I can know how to respond. I can’t spend all that time building something only to have it ripped out from underneath me.”

“You think Jalen is going to dump you if he finds out the baby’s his?”

I glared at her knowing smirk. “When you put it that way… no, I don’t.”

“I don’t either,” she said. “Look, I’ve known Jalen for a couple years, and I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

I flushed and looked down at my hands. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do,” she said quietly. “Trust me, Rona. If he loses you, it’ll destroy him.”

Before I could come up with a response to that startling statement, the doorbell rang, and Jenna excused herself.

Losing me woulddestroyhim? He risked his life going undercover to rescue me. He paid a lot of money – I hadn’t decided if I wanted to know how much – to get me out. He told me that he loved me, and I had no reason to doubt him.

But a child changed things, even if neither of us wanted to believe it.

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