I didn’t move so much as a muscle as he got out of the Challenger and quietly shut the door. I watched him walk into the house through the back door and then slowly counted down the seconds in my head, trying not to think about what was really happening.
He was sending me back to the Armstrongs, to Emmie and Mia and Jagger. He wanted me to be happy and he thought that being with them was what I wanted.
Was it what I wanted? Would I be happy there?
The chaos in my head made it impossible for me to answer.
Jet was back in no time at all, definitely too soon for me to figure out what I wanted. He tossed the small case I’d brought with me into the back seat and then put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. His big hands were clenched so tight on the steering wheel that they were white, and his jaw was clenched so hard I worried he was going to chip a tooth.
Neither of us spoke as he drove toward the airport. Me because I couldn’t figure out how to make my vocal cords work, and him because…I didn’t know. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him as he drove so I knew when he lost the fight with his emotions and a few tears actually spilled from his eyes. I ached to touch him, to brush the tears away and tell him it was all going to be okay.
Tell him you love him. Tell him. Say it.
Say something, damn it. Anything.
“J-Jet…” His name wheezed out of my constricted throat, but it was too soft and he didn’t appear to have heard me. I tried again. “Jet.”
His head turned toward me at the same time his hand moved to hit the turn signal. We’d arrived at the airport without me even really noticing. “You’ll be home soon, Flick.”
The first tear spilled from my eyes at the sight of his pain-ravaged face. It was too much and I couldn’t seem to find the capacity to speak again. Jet pulled into the drop-off line at the airport and got out. I couldn’t move, didn’t dare try for fear I would shatter at his feet.
The passenger side door opened and he offered me his hand. I stared down at it for the longest time, not sure if I should take it or not. If I wanted to take it or not. “Time to go, love.”
Shaking my head, I finally gave him my hand and he tugged me out. Once I was standing on the sidewalk, he reached back inside for my case and my purse that I’d put in the back seat before going to the bar earlier. He handed both over to me and pulled out his wallet. Taking out all the cash he had, Jet placed the bills into my hand and closed my fist around them.
“Look at me,” he commanded. Slowly, as if in a dream, I lifted my head to meet his gaze. He sucked in a deep breath, as if he needed the courage to say what was about to come out of his mouth. “I love you, Felicity.”
Felicity. Not Flick, but Felicity. How often had he called me by my real name? I was sure I could count the occasions on one hand. It sounded foreign coming from him, almost forbidden. In truth, I loved it.
His eyes darkened, as if he was just then realizing how much I’d needed him to call me Felicity. Stupidly, I was realizing it too.
Jet’s throat worked as he swallowed hard and his eyes filled with tears once again. It killed me to see them, to know that my big, bad, alpha biker was hurting so bad. “I’ve always loved you, Felicity. I’m sorry I never told you in the past, when I had the chance to hear you repeat them back. I’m sorry I killed your love for me. Just know that I will always love you. No one else, baby. No one but you. I know that you probably don’t believe that, but it’s true.”
“Jet…” I started, but my voice gave out and I stood there, floundering to tell him—
What? What the hell would I tell him?
He wrapped his strong arms around me, pulling me hard against him. I felt the tremble in his arms seconds before his lips pressed against my temple, heard his harshly indrawn breath, and then he was pulling away all too soon. “If you ever need me, I’m just a phone call away. Do you hear me? Anything.”
I could only nod, because if nothing else I knew that Jet would always come if I needed him. He’d shown me that, repeatedly.
Jet turned and walked back to the Challenger. With one last look at me, he got in and drove away.
It was only as I watched the car’s taillights fading in the distance through tear-filled eyes that I realized what I had wanted to say to him. Sucking in a deep breath, I turned toward the airport’s entrance.
Chapter Seventeen
Gracie
“Uncle Jack wants you to stop by the garage on your way home, babe.”
I wondered if the sound of Hawk’s voice would ever not make my heart melt. Smiling to myself, I rearranged my briefcase, travel mug of coffee I’d just filled as I’d left the office, and my phone so I could unlock the door to the old Chevelle. “Did he say why?”
I wasn’t opposed to stopping by and seeing what the old man wanted. I’d actually gotten to know and sort of like the cagey old biker in the last few weeks. He and Trigger had stayed with me and Hawk at the hospital day and night until the doctors had finally said that I was out of danger from the sepsis that had tried to shut down my entire body. I had to admit that having him there for me—for Hawk, who had been about to lose his mind—had softened my heart toward my maternal grandfather, which I hadn’t thought was possible.
Don’t get me wrong, I still hadn’t completely forgiven him for abandoning my mother, but I had a lot more respect for Jack than I did for Charles Morgan—may his soul burn in the deepest parts of hell. So while I wouldn’t likely nominate Jack for grandfather of the year, I’d give him the time of day and stop by to see what he wanted.
“He didn’t say, but it sounded like it was important.” Hawk blew out a long sigh, making me wonder if he knew more than he was saying, but I let it go.