When Ax comes and finds me well after the sun has gone down and offers me a ride home, I can’t possibly decline. He gets me through the door and makes sure I’m doing alright before leaving me in the peaceful quietness of my home.
I make myself a cup of chamomile tea before sitting down on my couch and hoping that everything is going to be alright. I haven’t heard from Bull since he left the fundraiser, but I’m sure he has things under control.
The door opens, not a second later, and all my worries ease as Bull comes striding through. He looks exhausted and tortured, but the fact that he’s here tells me the danger has passed. “Are you alright?” I question as he drops down onto the couch beside me and pulls me into his warm arms.
“Yeah, I think so,” he murmurs, staring off out the living room window. “I took her down to the hospital where they can monitor her and the baby. There was a lot of alcohol in her system, so I wouldn’t be surprised if social services are called about child endangerment. I’m not going to pretend to know anything about how any of that works, but I know after this, Jessa will be on their radar.”
“Shit,” I sigh, snuggling into his side a little more while making a plan to do a little research tomorrow on social services standard practices. Maybe after that, I could do a little something for Bull to try and lighten his spirits. All this Jessa crap must be weighing on him. He puts on a brave face, but I know he must be terrified for the wellbeing of his baby. “How long will she remain in the hospital?”
“Seventy-two hours maybe. Enough to get the alcohol out of her system and make sure the baby is doing alright, but nowhere near enough to ensure my child’s safety for the rest of her pregnancy.”
“Your baby is going to be alright,” I tell him. “Jessa is 36 weeks, so before you know it, your baby is going to be safe in your arms. We just have to make it through the next few weeks.”
“Yeah,” he says, letting out a deep breath as his arms curl tighter around me. “I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you.”
I raise my chin and press my lips to his, hoping that tomorrow, we receive some good news about the baby and can have a much better day.CHAPTER 23BULLPulling into the driveway, I throw my truck into park. What a day, what a fucking day.
Now that I have finally made it home, I feel like I can actually take a breath. Today will go down as one of the worst days that I’ve ever endured. I honestly don’t think it can possibly get any worse than this.
Fucking Jessa.
I feel like kicking my own ass when it comes to her, and I have nobody to blame but myself. I couldn’t tell you how many times I was told that she was going to be trouble. I didn’t see it. I was fucking blind. She was either a marvelous manipulator or I was just simply thinking with my dick.
Who am I kidding? It was definitely my dick.
Thinking back, there were times where we didn’t actually talk to one another. It was a wham, bam, thank you ma’am kind of deal. All she was to me was a warm body to sink into. Quick and easy. I can’t even fathom how she got pregnant. Most of the time, I didn’t even care to make it inside her house, she’d just pull my cock out as I sat in the driver’s seat of my truck. She seemed desperate enough to get whatever I gave her. I just didn’t give a fuck.
Taking a few deep breaths my mind goes over the last couple of hours. My chest has felt like a tight vice has had a firm grip on it all day long. But now, in the short time I’ve been sitting in our driveway, I can slowly feel myself starting to relax, and I’m finally able to take a breath.
I have a long way to go and a lot of years left dealing with the tsunami of trouble that girl creates, and something tells me this is only the tip of the iceberg. I need to learn how to leave my mess at the front door. I won’t allow her to cause problems for me at home.
I woke up this morning to my phone blaring through Amelia’s bedroom, too fucking early to be anything good. Thinking back on it now, I should have known the day was going to go downhill from there.
Chief was calling, telling me I needed to get my ass out of bed and down to the station right away for a meeting. My instincts were telling me this was not going to go well.