But I was determined to have a talk with her regardless of the situation. "I'll still have that talk, anyway," I gave him a tight smile.
Marks grumbled about being the better person to confront the girl as he walked to the wine bar anyway. As I watched him leave, I wiped every expression from my face and headed out of the house.
JASAMINA
Jaimie lay on the bed, giggling happily as I ruffled his belly slightly. "Someone's happy... Someone's happy for momma!" I said with a smile.
He giggled again and made a grab for my hair. "Ouch!" I raised my hand and gently untangled my hair from his little hand.
"You'll yank off mother's hair." I admonished playfully. But unbiddenly, my mind went back to the last time my hair was yanked off.
Dale was thrusting into me from behind, being so rough! Oh, the way it had hurt! I was heavily pregnant with Jaimie....not that it mattered to Dale. He was so rough, and he kept pulling on my hair as he bruised my body. I shuddered as I remembered the pain that slashed through me when strands of my hair pulled off from the root, coupled with the pain from my lower body, I was half-mad from the agony.
I'd begged, screamed, pleaded for him to stop.
A large hand suddenly touched my arm and I shrieked in terror. It took me long seconds to realize that it was Tanner touching me and not Dale.
"Take deep breaths, Jasamina," Tanner instructed softly.
When I did what he said, I started feeling better. That was when it dawned on me that my whole body was shaking and I was also having a panic attack.
"Better?" He asked gently.
I nodded, unable to talk, taking a last deep breath into my lungs. I felt better, but I couldn't shake off the memory.
I looked at Jaimie who was still grinning, playing with Tanner's shirt, blissfully unaware of the memory his playful adore had triggered.
"Bad thoughts?" Tanner asked, his eyes searching my face carefully.
"Bad thoughts," I confirmed shakily.
He nodded and pulled away from me. "I know the feeling. But you have to try not to have those thoughts, especially while holding Jaimie. If you had picked him up and your arms were trembling that way, you would have dropped him without knowing," he chastised, his voice gentle.
I grimaced, getting the picture he was painting. "You're right. Thanks, Tanner..."
"It's nothing," he shrugged, his eyes holding the knowledge that he knows the battle going through my body. "Don't forget that we're taking him to the doctor."
"I won't forget," I promised, reaching out to pick up Jaimie. I barely stifled a wince from the pain in my arm.
Tanner faced the door. "I'll check those traps I set in the woods early this morning."
"Alright." A smile touched my lips. He's hoping to catch some wild meat like he had done before since we came here. Tanner seems to know a thing or two about hunting, just like his brother.
A wild man that catches wild dangerous animals that run in the woods. He sure looks like it too.
I glanced at Jaimie as Tanner walked away. But when he reached the door, he turned and stared at me. "He was a scumbag," he stated vehemently.
The anger and depth of his words shocked me. I stared up at him in bewilderment.
"Billionaire Baron," he clarified. "Any man that can inspire such fear and reaction in a woman just at the thought of him is not worthy to be called human. He is the lowest scumbag of the earth."
That said, he turned and strode out of the door, leaving silence in his wake.
I stared at the door he walked out from, for a long time. Tears welled up in my eyes.
I woke up two hours later to prepare Jaimie for our visit to the doctor's office. As I tiptoed around the house, trying to keep quiet, I noticed that Tanner was also asleep. I took advantage of the moment to tidy up the house and then run a bath for myself. The steam of the warm water was a welcome distraction from my thoughts.
As I sat there soaking in the tub, my mind drifted to Tanner. He had become my refuge, my safe haven. I had never felt comfortable with another man the way I did with him. He had been my rock during the difficult months of running and evading Dale.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a thought entered my mind - what would it be like to kiss him? The thought took me by surprise because I had never thought of it before, not even before I married Dale, and certainly not during our marriage. I closed my eyes and tried to push the thought to the back of my mind.
Tanner was my friend, my savior, and everything in between. However, I didn't know if I could handle him as a lover. In fact, the thought of being that way with any man made me feel sick to my stomach.