Page 9 of Unbreakable
Instead, I fall asleep.
Feeling my body become weightless I open my eyes, and my face is buried in Jake's chest. Gripping his bare chest, I mumble something along the lines of, "I didn’t mean to fall asleep."
Jake's chest ripples with a chuckle, "I was enjoying your soft snore too much to wake you," he tells me carrying me down the hall.
I moan, "You were too warm. Your body heat was soothing." I smile as he places me on the bed. "What time is it?" I ask.
"Past midnight."
Crap. I slept right through my scheduled time to call Glory. I'll hear it in the morning. It's weird sharing my bed again. Snuggling is even more foreign. Ronan didn’t like to be touched when he slept. Once he got what he wanted from me, he would roll over with his back to me and go to sleep. There was never any intimacy or physical connection between us before or after sex. Not one bit of foreplay. Sometimes I got off. Most times I didn’t. I started to think something was wrong with me. Back when I had girlfriends they talked about orgasms all the time. My friends boasted about their out of body experiences. It was never like that for me. I honest to God believed either my friends were stretching the truth and the movies and many books I've read glorified the whole thing. Jake changed my entire perception of sex last night. Over the past two years, I've craved Jake's touch. I imagined how his large calloused hands would feel on my body. I feel my face heat just thinking about it. I swear he knows my body better than I remember it myself.
"Jake, I want to tell you something," I yawn so hard my eyes water.
"I'm sure it can wait until later, beautiful," he pulls the blankets over us and pulls my body against his. Wiggling, I find the nook of his body I was tucked against before. As I quickly drift back off to sleep, I hear Jake softly say, "I love you."
* * *
Both of usnot in any hurry to leave the bed we watch the morning sunbeams creeping across my bedroom wall. Silence hangs between us. Not because there isn’t anything to say, but because so much can be said in a moment of silence. Before Jake leaves going back to Polson, I need to tell him what I planned on saying last night. Rolling to my side, I open my mouth ready to lay everything out in the open.
My cell phone ringing breaks the silence. Reaching my arm across Jake's chest, I grab my phone from the nightstand. Only two people have my number. Sweeping my finger across the screen, I talk into the phone, "Hello."
"Anna." Glory's panic filled voice vibrates in my ear.
"Glory, what wrong?" I ask her cutting my eyes to Jake whose face quickly morphs into concern.
"She's gone. Remi isn’t here. I've been all over the house, and even outside. I can't find her," her voice wails as she starts to cry.
My heart sinks like a brick to the bottom of my stomach. My first thought-Ronanfound her. Darting out of bed, I start gathering my discarded clothes from the floor. My worst fears keep repeating themselves in my mind as I frantically slip some shoes on my feet.
"Grace, what the…Tell me what's happening, baby." Jake begins yanking his jeans on and slips his feet into his boots.
I run down the short hallway and snatch my purse from the counter and fumble looking inside for my car key. Hot on my heels, Jake grabs my arm stopping my forward motion as I head towards the front door. The move causes my body to freeze, and I have to remind myself this is Jake grabbing a hold of me. I lift my head and look at him, tears pooling in my eyes.
"Slow down, Little Bird. Stop running, and tell me what's going on," he urges me never letting go.
"I don't have time..." a light knock at my door stops my words of explanation. Before I can reach for the handle, Jake has my body tucked behind him and flings the door open. Jake's demeanor changes and I feel his body relax.
"Kind of early to be out selling cookies?" Jake remarks keeping me in place.
"I'm not a cookie pusher. I'm here to see my mom," The young voice sarcastically answers back.
"You got the wrong address, sweetheart." he quickly responds, the same time I let out a gasp and cover my mouth in shock. Pushing Jake to the side, I brush past him.
"Oh my god! Remi, what the hell?" Relief washes over me as I embrace her.
She quickly wraps her arms around my waist and hugs me back, "I really wanted your homemade cinnamon rolls?" She jokingly replies. The girl can't take anything seriously. Most the time I look past her humor because that's how she deals with stress, but I can't ignore it this time. All joking aside I pull back and give her a stern look. "What the hell were you thinking? Your aunt just called frantic to the point of hyperventilating." Remi hangs her head for a moment to hide her face. Scolding her isn’t something I like to do, but I won't tolerate this type of behavior from her, and she knows it. Lifting her head, she opens her mouth with what I assume is an apology. Instead, she looks over my shoulder and smirks.
"Who's the guy, Mom?"
Oh, my God, I forgot about Jake.I plant my face in the palm of my hand.
"Wait," she pauses, "Is this Jake? You know the biker guy you and Aunt Glory talk about all the time." Remi continues to stare past me.
Heat spreads across my cheeks. Turning I face Jake, and pull Remi into my side, "Remi, this is Jake." Letting a brief pause hang in the air I release the next words on an exhale. "Jake, meet Remi; my daughter."
Sighing heavily, he runs his hand through his hair quickly trying to process the significant bombshell that landed in his lap. I was planning on telling him. This morning, as a matter of fact. I damn sure didn’t want him to find out like this. I grab my daughters hand, close the door and lead her to sit on the couch. Removing her backpack, she drops it to the floor and plops down. I wish Jake would say something. Anything. I sit next to my daughter and hold her hand. "Jake, I'm sorry. Let me explain." My voice trembles with fear that he will leave. Reading me like an open book he calms my nerves.
"I'm not going anywhere, and you and I can talk about this later. I know you have your reasons, Little Bird." Striding to the kitchen, Jake opens the fridge grabbing a soda from inside. Walking back, he hands it to Remi. She cranes her neck looking at him and gives him a small glare. Her attempt to intimidate him.
