Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 63842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Haven was quiet at this hour. Most of the women and children were in their rooms. The low security lighting along the baseboards cast everything in a dim amber strip that ran the length of the hallway without fully illuminating it.
I headed straight to Jade’s room at the end of the short corridor. The carpet muffled my boots to a dull thud. The light underneath her door was on. I stopped outside it and raised my hand and knocked three times. “Jade. Honey, it’s me.”
A few seconds later, Violet opened the door and stepped back. “I’m glad you came, Rip. This is really bad.”
“Yeah.” What else could I say? Bad didn’t even begin to cover the problem.
Mia, surprisingly, sat just outside Jade’s bedroom on the floor next to the closed door. Silent tears tracked down Mia’s face, and I could see she genuinely hurt for Jade.
I leveled a look at Mia. “I know Eric hurt you too. But I need to know that you’re here to support her.” Mia opened her mouth, but I held up a hand. “And, no. I don’t think you’d hurt Jade intentionally. I just need to hear the words from you so there’s no mistake.”
Mia nodded. “I understand. And no. I realize Jade’s the victim here. I only want to help her.”
I gave her a nod, then stepped to the door and pecked softly with the knuckle of one finger. “Jade, honey. It’s Rip.” When she didn’t respond, I knocked again. “I’m comin’ in, but I’ll keep my distance, OK?” I opened the door, stepped inside, then shut it again. I’d let Mia in after I assessed Jade’s state of mind, but not yet.
Jade sat on the bed. Phone in both hands, the screen still lit against her face. Her gaze was fixed on the screen. Her hands shook so badly the phone trembled visibly, the light from it shifting and moving against her skin.
She still wore the navy dress from this morning. She’d taken her shoes off at some point. That was her only concession to the lateness of the hour. If I’d had to guess, she’d come in from our ride, sat down, and hadn’t moved since. Had I made a bad decision leaving her alone?
I crossed the room, reaching for her phone. She didn’t resist when I took it from her. I turned the screen face-down in my palm and then hit the button on the side until it went dark. Put it on the nightstand face-down and left it there.
Jade looked up at me.
She looked pale, her eyes wide in shock. The trembling in her hands soon spread through the rest of her. Her shoulders shook and she wrapped her arms around herself.
“He posted it.” Her voice cracked. “Everyone can see it.” She looked at me and then looked away fast, her gaze dropping to the floor. “I clicked the link. He texted me and I -- I didn’t know what it was, I just opened it and --”
“Jade.”
Her gaze came back to mine, wet and panicked. I lowered myself to one knee on the floor in front of her so I didn’t loom over her. I truly didn’t know how much more the woman could take without falling completely apart. I wanted to take her in my arms so badly I ached with the need but didn’t dare. Not after that fucking video.
“We’re already working on it, baby,” I said. I kept my voice soft. “Knight’s been running takedowns since before I got to your door. Ethan and Lana are doing legal shit. It’s not stopped. But people are moving on it right now.”
She pressed her lips together, and her chin did a thing where it went rigid as she fought tears. “I shouldn’t have clicked it.”
“Jade, you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I opened it.” Her voice dropped to almost nothing. “I saw --” She stopped. Covered her face with both hands and stayed there.
I waited silently, not wanting to hurry her or manage her. I knew she needed to work through her feelings. I also thought she needed me, but would be too embarrassed to ask me to hold her and I couldn’t make this decision for her. She had to ask me to touch her. Her hands came down slowly from her face. She still didn’t look at me, her eyes focused somewhere at the floor to my left.
“Jade.” I waited until she moved her gaze to my face. “You opened a text message. That’s it. That’s all you did.” I held her gaze when I said the next part so there was no chance of her not hearing it clearly. “What’s in that video is not your fault. Not what he did. Not the fact that he posted it. Not the fact that you saw it. None of this is on you.” She swallowed hard. The trembling in her body hadn’t slowed. “Can I sit with you?” I asked.