Page 54 of The Wife
It was the best I could come up with. Jake and the doctor were talking to each other, but I couldn’t follow what either was saying.
Then I felt the prick of the needle and winced while Jake held my hand. I thought it was over, but the worst part came when Dr. Jenkins quietly asked Jake if they needed to take a rape kit.
“No! It didn’t happen. He just…undid my jeans.”
Mary was rubbing my back, and again I started to bawl even though it still felt wrong.
“You’ll have that tested,” Jake told Dr. Jenkins. “That prick is going to jail for this.”
Then Jake was lifting and carrying me again until I was back in the truck.
I didn’t say anything for the ride home. Clear thoughts were still hard. But by the time we were home, I felt a little more normal. I was able to get out of the truck and up the stairs of the porch without Jake, even though he was right behind me.
I didn’t stop or say anything. I wasn’t sure what Jake’s mood was like. If he was mad at me because I hadn’t followed the rules about making sure I kept my eyes on my glass when I was at a bar.
But it was Bobby. He was… Bobby from high school. He’d been mean to me that one time and then he apologized. Beyond that, and knowing Jake didn’t like him, I didn’t think much about him at all.
Now I probably wouldn’t forget him, which just seemed wrong.
I went through the normal nightly ritual. Changed into my pajama bottoms and tank top. Pulled my hair back and washed my face. Brushed my teeth. Went back to my room and sat on the bed.
Jake knocked on my door and I told him to come in. He had the entire Brita water container in his hand along with a glass.
“Drink this,” he said, handing me the full glass. “The doc said it was probably Molly. The more water you drink, the more it will help to flush it out of your system. When you finish that glass, drink another.”
I nodded.
“You want me to stay with you? I can sleep on the floor.”
I nodded.
He left then and a few minutes later he came back wearing the pajama bottoms I got him for Christmas last year, which looked like he’d just taken them out of the package, and a T-shirt. He had a bunch of pillows and a blanket, which he spread out on the floor next to my bed.
I got under the covers and lay down, but I didn’t think I would sleep. I liked that Jake was close. I liked that I could hear him breathing. I wanted him on the bed with me. I still had this crazy urge to touch and be touched, and there was no one else I wanted to be touched by.
“Jake?”
“Yes, baby.”
Baby. That was new. That was him trying to be gentle with me.
“Can you hold me for a while?”
It felt like it took a thousand years before he finally said, “Okay.”
Thirteen
Jake
“Canyou hold me for a while?”
I sucked in a breath. I was so raw right now I didn’t know if it was a good idea. She’d feel the tension in me, and that wouldn’t relax her. But the idea of denying her anything right now seemed wrong.
“Okay.”
I got up and she was lifting the covers on her bed even as she scooted over to the left. I crawled in behind her and wrapped my arm around her waist. She sighed as she pressed her full body against me.
“That feels so good.” Her bottom wiggled against my crotch and I had to bite down on the urge to make a sound.
