Page 32 of The Fixer

There was nothing left in me. I was drained. Depleted. Lower than I had been since I walked away from Nathan.

My family was gone.

My security suspect.

The only light in the darkness was flickering on and off.

It barely registered when Jet dragged me by the hand to his apartment and into his spare room. I hardly noticed the too large t-shirt and sweatpants he handed me before he closed me in. I fell onto the Murphy bed he’d pulled from the wall of cupboards, lifting my legs to my chest to curl myself into a ball.

I needed Brooke, my best friend and confidant. I needed my dad, a man who had always had my back, no matter what.

I needed a redo at life. A chance to go back in time, change a single choice, so I could live the life I should have lived.

Not this.

I was a shell, empty inside, no hope left in me to continue on.

I must have dozed, though for how long I couldn’t be sure. There were voices in the other room, both quiet and not. Jet’s deep voice rumbled, this soothing sound I had grown to look forward to. Grown to know it often came before he snapped.

There were memories wrapped up there. Things I wasn’t sure about. Was I just imagining things, projecting my past onto this man I’d just met? Of course, I fancied him. Had daydreamed of something coming from the two of us. How couldn’t I? He was handsome. He could be sweet, gentle and caring. My heart raced and my head spun when he was close.

Yet, that had happened to me before, and look what became of it.

I gathered my hands against my chest but snagged on something. Blankets. I sat up and blinked into the darkness, finding only the light seeping under the door and a red light blinking from the smoke alarm on the ceiling. Struggling, I pushed the blankets from my body, smoothed my hands down my chest. I wasn’t dressed in the blouse and skirt I’d put on that morning. Instead, I swam in Jet’s t-shirt, and his sweats were tied snuggly around my waist. A smile tugged at my dry lips, then fell as I wondered why.

Had he changed me? Tucked me into bed? Or was I so far gone I couldn’t remember such a simple act? I debated rising, going to him. Asking him the questions rolling in my head. But then I wondered how he’d react. Me, dressed in his too-big clothes, coming out of my room while he had someone else in the house.

Nathan would have berated me. But Jet didn’t seem the type. I couldn’t imagine him reacting that way, just because his friend had seen me in unattractive clothes.

His friend, Santini, had seen me at my absolute worst. But the man, though nearly as handsome as Jet, hadn’t so much as looked at me in that kind of way. At least, not that I knew. I hadn’t exactly been in the best state of mind.

Rising from bed, I went to the door, opening it just a crack. It glided on well-oiled hinges, and I peeked out into the hall, then further when I found no one there. The apartment was as modern as they came, dark gray tile floors, the kitchen counter made of a pretty white granite that cascaded over the sides of the island like a waterfall. Silver pendant lamps hung over the island, the light illuminating just enough of the living room for me to see.

Jet sat on the white leather couch, head hanging from his shoulders as he rested his elbows on his knees. He wasn’t alone. Standing close to him, between the couch and the door, was a woman in nothing but a skimpy red dress. Her golden hair glistened in the light, her bun so tight it seemed to pull her eyebrows up. I would have thought her a hooker if it weren’t for the black combat boots on her feet.

“I don’t want to believe it, but I can’t deny it either.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman said, her hand landing lightly on his shoulder. “I wish you were wrong, but it’s true.”

He dragged his palm down his face. “What am I going to do?”

In the dim light shining from the kitchen, her face pinched. She knelt beside him and took his hand. “I think you know what you need to do.”

My stomach lurched, and I pulled my head back inside the door. I should have known I wasn’t enough. Nathan had reminded me every day, had proved it when I found him with someone else in our bed. A blonde, just like the one holding Jet’s hand.

I was nothing.

Just as Nathan always told me.

* * *

“Eliza.” The deep, rumbling voice called me from a heavy sleep. I’d tossed and turned after crawling back into bed, and the blankets around me were so snug it was hard to move. I lifted my face from the pillow it was shoved into, only to be covered in a curtain of my own hair. A quiet chuckle issued, a finger reached out and swept the curtain from my eyes. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

“Jet.” I blinked in the sunshine that streamed in the window I didn’t remember being in the room. Heavy black curtains were pulled open and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the light. “Why is it so bright in here?”

That chuckle again. A finger trailed down the back of my neck, a hand settling on my shoulder. “It’s nearly noon.”

Terror struck me. I scrambled up, falling to the mattress as I struggled against the tight hold of the blankets, then nearly fell to the floor as my hand slipped off the side of the bed.