Page 12 of Trial By Fire (Hope Runs Deep #11)

CHAPTER

TWELVE

“ T rish, how is the new guy a dick?” Jackson asked when he noticed Trish hesitant to answer his question.

“Because he doesn’t take no for an answer.”

Trish gritted out. She’d dealt with losers like this guy before, but he took it to a whole new leve.

“Come again?” Jackson leaned over towards Trish, his head touching hers.

“He doesn’t take no for an answer. He’s stalkerish. Thinks he’s God’s gift to women and that they are beneath him.”

“Please tell me he isn’t stalking you or harassing you?” Jackson closed his eyes and pleaded with the big man upstairs to help him keep his calm.

When Trish didn’t answer his question, he moved so that he could look down at her.

He knew the answer to his question when she wouldn’t look at him and continued to look at her hands.

Yep, he was going to have to contact Rover.

He’d done a few missions with Rover and knew the guy well.

They’d gone out for beers are few times before his discharge from the Army.

The Army lost a damn good operator when he left. Hell, they lost a damn good team.

Jackson reached over and pulled Trish into his lap, ignoring her struggle to not get comfortable. He wrapped his arms around her after placing her head on his shoulder, squeezing her.

“Stay. Now, tell me what has this asshat done that’s made you uncomfortable around him. Either you tell me, or I give Rover a call, personally, and let him know this fucker has done something but you won’t talk,” Jackson warned Trish, who froze in his lap.

“He’s asked me out a few times. I told him no. He grabbed my arm and then…”

“Finish the sentence,” Jackson growled deep in his throat.

When Trish moved to sit up straight to look at him, he allowed her the movement. He wanted to see her eyes. Her eyes always gave her away.

“Jackson, what the hell do you care? You broke up with me because of my job. You’ve been dating other women since we broke up. Hell, you had a new girlfriend the weekend after you shattered my fucking heart.”

Damn, the woman went for the jugular. But he knew he needed to be honest with her if he wanted her to trust him.

He had thought if he fucked her out of his system last night then he could officially be over her.

But all she did was worm her way into his heart, something that had been dark, dead and cold for years. That scared the living hell out of him.

“You’re right. I did fuck up. But, I’ve never stopped caring about you, wanting you…stop and listen. You want me to listen to what you have to say, so you’re going to listen to me,” Jackson ordered, gripping her nape, forcing her to look at him in the eyes.

“Yes, I fucked up when I ended things. I was a fucking coward. When you showed up at the apartment, bloodied and bruised with Bradley having to stitch one of your injuries, because you’d been in a shoot-out, all I could think about was what would have happened had I been on a mission.

Would I have gotten that call or would I have found out when I got home, and your funeral had already happened?

I got scared and I allowed that fear to guide my cowardice. ”

“Jackson!” Trish cried, her hands going to his face. “Delbert would have called you or someone in your command. He knew how much you meant to me. If he couldn’t have gotten a call to you, then he would have had his brother make sure to get a message to you through his contacts.”

“But there was nothing I could have done because we weren’t engaged or married.

Instead of making the logical decision of taking us to that next step, I ran.

Like a little bitch. Bradley will even confirm what I’m about to say.

When we weren’t on a mission, I hid my phone so I wouldn’t be tempted to call you.

I started drinking heavily. Bradley had to babysit me, as well as others on the team.

Valarie was never a girlfriend. She was a quick fuck in the alley behind the bar.

I used her and discarded her. Hell, I forgot who the fuck she was the second I zipped my damn pants back up.

She was meaningless. Yes, I’ve had sex since we broke up.

The thing was, they were empty fucks. Empty faces because I was trying to force my mind to forget about you.

I couldn’t. No matter what I did, your face was the one I saw when I closed my eyes. ”