Page 68 of Steel & Jenna
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t…” Her voice trailed off and in the background Jack heard something that sounded like an intercom call.
His eyebrows drew down, and he amended his original question. “Jenna, whereareyou?”
In retrospect,the train station at Marine Thrift at nearly eleven at night was a lot scarier than it had been in her head when she’d made the split second decision to catch the last run of the day up north. The taxi had dropped her off at the station within twenty minutes of the train’s departure. She’d literally jumped onto the stairs as the train was disembarking.
When Mr. Zarin had heard that Jenna was at the train station, alone and at night, he’d ripped the phone away from Jack and demanded that she find the security office. She was to wait there until he and Jack arrived.
Her heart had sunk when he also informed her that he was going to have to call her parents. The phone had been disconnected, cutting off Jack’s pleas for Mr. Zarin to not make that call, but it sounded like Mr. Zarin was holding firm.
The security office was a small closet-like space that had a single lightbulb over a small desk, a black phone on the wall, and a single chair. The officer, an older, stout man, had offered Jenna the chair and informed her that he was leaving to do his rounds.
She knew it was a good forty-five minutes to the train station from her house, and the Zarins’ house was even further north.
It was close to an hour and ten minutes after she called Jack from the payphone on the platform that the door opened to reveal Jack. He was out of breath, as if he’d run through the station, but didn’t hesitate to sweep her up into his arms.
His bone-crushing hug was such a relief and Jenna sagged into him. He wasokay.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he demanded. His hug got tighter, but she didn’t mind in the slightest. She needed his touch like she needed air. “Taking the fucking train at this time of night? Jenna, you could have been mugged! Or hurt! Or killed! Fuck, I’ve never been so terrified in my life and I was virtually kidnapped by my own father today! What the fuck!”
Tears started to flow down her cheeks. Her grip on him was just as tight—or as tight as she could manage. He was a lot stronger than she was. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I had to get to you. I had to see you!”
“You call!” he argued, still not letting go. “You call and we figure something out! You don’t jump on a fucking night train out of the city to the middle of nowhere! God-fucking-damn-it, Jen!” Now his grip was starting to turn painful. His face turned to bury in her short hair. “I’m sorry for shouting, but fucking hell! Your phone call took years off my life!”
Sound caught her attention and Jenna looked up to see Mr. Zarin standing in the doorway. He looked just as relieved and furious as Jack. Jenna sniffled. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, looking at Mr. Zarin. Her apology was meant for both men. Then she winced. “Jack, my ribs.”
“Fuck!” He stepped back, removing his arms from around her. “I’m sorry.” Jack looked her up and down thoroughly. “You’re not hurt? Nothing happened on the train?”
“I’m fine. I was alone except for a few people,” she assured him. “No one even talked to me.”
Jack shook his head. “Your purse alone screams ‘money’, Jen.You’re incredibly lucky some thug didn’t try to take it from you. This is not a good town to be in when the sun isup!”
“I know!” she cried, tears still flowing. She looked around for a tissue but found none. Jack brought the sleeve of his shirt around his fingers from inside his jacket sleeve to start wiping her cheeks and eyes. “I’m sorry. Really, I am. I couldn’t… Mrs. Zarin told me what happened. She said you were fine, but I had to see for myself. My driver wouldn’t take me. He had orders from my parents not to bring me back to Port Townsend midweek and I couldn’t get ahold of Carolyn?—”
“She’s at your house. I talked to her.” Jack’s voice was stiff with anger, but his touch was gentle.
Jenna made a face. “I didn’t even try her there. I knew what her answer would be if I asked her to drive four hours to come get me and bring me home.”
“Same as mine would have been, but for an entirely different reason,” Jack snapped. His gunmetal-gray eyes had turned a dark, stormy gray.
“You don’t understand?—”
“You think I don’t understand?” His voice rang out in the small office. “You think I didn’t want to jump into my truck and break every speed limit known to man to get to your dorm to ensure you were safe when I couldn’t reach you on the phone? You think I was just planning on going to bed and then school in the morning without knowing where you were and what had happened to you?” He paced away from her. “Goddamn it, Jenna. Do you have any idea what you mean to me? How scared I was when I learned you were here? Alone!”
“How do you think I felt?” she shouted back, her own anger rising now. “I had to learn your father held you at knifepoint today from Mrs. Zarin! I love that woman, but do you have any idea how it felt to learn about itfrom her? To not be able to come to you and see you and make sure you were okay? To know that I was in fuckingSeattlewhile you were in danger and I didn’t evenknow about it!”
Silence filled the office.
Jack blew a sharp breath out of his nose. Then he closed his eyesand breathed in a long gust of air through his mouth. One…two…and blew it back out. He ran his hand down his face. When he approached her again, his face was much calmer, though there was still a spark of residual panic in his gray eyes. He ran the back of his fingers down her damp cheek.
“I’m sorry.” Sincerity made his voice smoother.
She took a step forward, leaning into his hand. He turned his wrist to cup the side of her face. “Me too.”
“It’s late and we’ve both had an afternoon. Let’s get you to the truck.”
She nodded. He brought his hand down her arm to take her hand. When he turned to head towards the door, Jenna squeezed his hand. “Jack?”
He turned back. “Yeah, baby?”
