Thank God I pulled the car over. I might have crashed it if I hadn’t.
I can’t stay with Jack for a week.
That, I know for sure.
“No.”
I’ve told Ashton no many times over the years, but not once did I mean it like I mean it now.
“Fuck.” The curse falls softly from his lips in a very un-Ashton-like way. He doesn’t do soft. “I don’t want to ask this of you, but I’m all out of options.” The anguish and regret and exhaustion I hear in him reaches me on a deep level. I want to give him this because I know he means every word he’s saying, but giving this will require a price I don’t think I can afford.
I stare through the windscreen of my BMW at the house on the corner of Will’s street. It’s a double storey house I’ve always struggled with. Old and dilapidated, it needs someone to come and apply some tender loving care. Every other house on this street has been renovated, but for some reason, no one wants this house. It bugs me. Every damn time I drive past it.
Why are some houses ignored and left unloved?
And why do I always notice them?
Because I do. That’s what I do. I notice houses that need attention. And I want to rush in and fix them.
In the exact same way I want to rush in and fix people.
I’m a fixer, even when I try not to be.
I can’t let something, or someone, be less than they could be.
Jack was different.
I never wanted to fix him.
Or change him.
He was exactly how he should have been, even when he annoyed me, frustrated me, or downright pissed me the hell off.
I loved him wild.
I loved everything about his wild.
And I had an overwhelming desire to protect his wild.
Still, to this day, I have that overwhelming desire.
The world wants their piece of Jack. All I want is to help him save all his pieces for himself.
But I’ll have to give so many of my own to do that, and the truth is that mine are still in a wreck after I shared them with him last time.
“Jessica?”
I blink my gaze away from that old house and re-join the conversation. “Tell me the plan.”
“I’ll get through all the meetings I can’t push next week while you stay with him. I’ll then take over from you. We’ll play it by ear after that.” He blows out a long breath. “He’s fighting me on this, but I refuse to take no for an answer. He didn’t drink tonight, but he came too fucking close.”
He didn’t drink tonight.
Relief floods me.
It’s a tidal wave that washes over me.
I feel it in my chest, in my limbs, in my soul.
Over every inch of my skin.
He didn’t drink tonight.
“I’ll go,” I say, unable to stop myself.
“Thank you,” he says, softly again. I don’t miss his gratitude.
“Shit,” I mutter, remembering what I’ve got on tomorrow. “I can’t get there until Sunday morning.”
“I know.”
Those two words are telling.
They remind me of just how much Ashton respects me. He knows I have an important family day tomorrow and refuses to ask me to give it up to do something for him.
Most importantly, though, they tell me he’s putting his faith in Jack. He’s choosing not to assume control in the way he prefers.
“I’ll fly out first thing Sunday morning,” I say.
We end the call and I sit staring at the house on the corner.
Maybe I’ll buy that damn house and fix it.
But first, Jack.
One week.
Seven days.
I can do this.
I can help Jack save his pieces.
I only hope I can keep all mine in the process.
4
Jack
I exit my LandCruiser and pull my sunglasses off as I stare at the woman resting her ass against the red convertible parked near my front door.
My eyes go to her legs first, starting at the heels that have no place out here in the bush. But Jessica has never given a fuck about what has a place in her life and what doesn’t. She’s always made up her own rules as she goes.
“This place is tiny,” she says as I run my gaze up her body.
I barely process her words because I’m too busy processing her beauty. All five foot three of it.
Long brown hair that’s cascading over her shoulders in waves.
Beautiful hazel eyes that have always had me spellbound.
Full lips painted in her signature red.
Sinful curves built for my ruin.
Physically, Jessica is perfection, but it’s not her physical beauty that draws me in. It’s the beauty I found in her heart eight years ago that does that. Jessica’s heart is exquisite. Rare. Unique. There isn’t another heart on this planet I want as much as hers.
“Jack.”
I meet her gaze and close the distance between us, smiling for the first time in days. Fuck, she’s a sight for sore eyes. “I should have known he’d send you.”
“I should have known he wouldn’t tell you he was sending me.” She narrows her eyes at me. “How are you?”
That’s a question with no good answer. Not one that I like, anyway.
“I’m sober,” I say. “Let’s not go any deeper than that for now.” I eye her rental car. “How many suitcases have you got in there?” Jessica isn’t usually a light traveller. Hell, the last trip we took together years ago involved three suitcases, far too many carry-on bags, and a fucker of an argument that ended with me sleeping on the couch for the first night.
Popping the boot, she says, “I made sure to pack enough for you to have to make multiple trips inside. Knock yourself out.”
I grin.
Fuck, I love this woman.
I hand her my house keys. “Go choose a room.”
She glances at my house and then arrows her brows at me. “You’ve got more than one for me to choose from? When I pulled up and saw how small this place is, I assumed I’d be in your bed while you were on the couch.”
“My bed is all yours if you want it.”
She turns on her heel and my eyes are instantly glued to her ass. “I stopped wanting your bed a long time ago, Jack.” She takes a few steps towards the front door. “And stop looking at my ass. You’ve got a boot to empty.”
I keep my eyes right where they are. “The boot can wait, gorgeous.”
The last thing I see as she enters my house is the shake of her head at what I’ve said.
Suddenly, my time here figuring out my shit is looking up. Jessica’s presence alone makes any day I have to get through a little easier.
I pull out my phone and call Ashton.
He answers on the second ring. “I take it she’s arrived.”
“She has, and I thank you, my friend. You sent the exact right person for the job.”
“I sent the only person I trust to get the job done.”
“She’s okay with this?”
“She is far from okay with this, but that woman will do anything for you. Don’t take advantage of that.”
“How long is she here for?”
“A week. She’ll work from there. I’ll be up next week.”
I turn silent for a moment, thinking about what he’s sacrificing here. Ashton and I have been friends for eighteen years and he would also do anything for me. The problem is, lately, he’s done far more for me than I would prefer. I fucking hate being a burden to those I love, and that’s what it feels like I am right now.