A Christmas Affair: A Seaside Cove Romance (Seaside Cove Romance Series Book 1) (6 page)

"I'll stay glued to this spot," he promised.

Prom 2005

Jack was going to throw up. Any second now, and he could not be in the middle of the gym when he did.

"Mols," he groaned as he swallowed back the dinner that was working its way up. She was going to be so mad at him. Girls wait all year for prom. Here he was drunk off a flask of- who knows what. "I'm gonna be sick."

She looked at him, concern flashed over her eyes for a second, then he heard that laugh. That laugh he had fallen for the first day at this school this past fall. "Jack, you are such a light weight. What am I going to do with you?"

"Its passed, want a kiss?" Jack said giving his half grin he knew she loved, trying not to fall off his chair at the same time.

"Gross! No." Molly put a gentle hand on his chest and shook her head.

"Do you want to dance?" He asked, still feeling a little queasy, but the majority of it had settled down. Maybe he just needed water.

"Do you remember?" Molly shook one of her crutches.

"I'll carry you while we dance, or you can use your crutches.” He smiled. Oh no, the feeling was coming back. "I gotta-"

Jack ran to the double doors that led to the hallway. He'd never make it to the bathroom, but he could make it to the trashcan right outside the gym without anyone seeing. He leaned over the large metal can just as the door slammed shut behind him.

Two minutes later, he felt empty, nothing else was going to come up. He walked to the bathroom to clean himself up.
Molly is going to kill me.

When he stepped back into the hall, a girl was standing there, hands buried in her face. Her shoulders were shaking. "Iz?"

Izzie looked up startled and threw herself back into the lockers. "Jack you scared me, I thought I was alone."

Jack closed the space between them and touched her arms gently as he surveyed the bruises forming on her pale skin. "What the hell? Chad? Is he hurting you again? I thought you broke up with him?"

Jack had found Izzie like this just a couple weeks ago, crying and hiding behind the building after school. When Jack hugged her she winced, and he talked to her until she confessed her boyfriend Chad had physically attacked her. Chad had gotten mad at her because he thought she was flirting with a guy in gym class.  Jack wanted to kill him, but Izzie made him promise not to tell anyone. She promised she broke up with Chad after he hit her. A few days later, Jack was driving to school and saw Izzie walking on a sidewalk, and Chad following alongside of her, yelling out the window.

Jack had pulled over and given Izzie a ride. He had driven her to and from school every day since then. He could tell Molly was getting jealous, and he wanted to tell her why, but Izzie begged him not to.

"I'm so embarrassed," she had pleaded with him. There would be no hiding what Chad this time. It looked like her bottom lip was swollen, one of her straps had been ripped, and the bruises on her arm were already purple.

Jack took his jacket off, wrapping it around her, flipping the dangling strap over her shoulder as he did. "Here, no one will notice it's ripped now."

There would be looks when he brought her back out there in his jacket, but fuck them all.

"Jack fucking Millings, I should have known I’d find you two together," Chad said as he walked into the small area, car keys twirling on his fingers. "Get your hands off her."

"Izzie, get out of here." Jack did not take his eyes off of Chad. "Go to Molly, have her take you home in my truck."

Jack was still feeling entirely too woozy and fuzzy from the alcohol, and he could feel vomit coming up again. He pushed the feeling away the best he could.

"Don't fucking move Izzie," Chad said. "She's mine, and the sooner you realize that Jack, the better."

"Izzie, get out of here." Jack turned to look at her, hoping to convince her if he could just make eye contact and snap her into reality. But at the same moment he looked at her, Chad's fist connected with the side of his head.

Jack hit the ground hard, his eyes snapped shut. He wanted to focus on standing up, but he also wanted to sleep. Everything was getting heavier. But then he heard Izzie cry out. "Please Chad, please let go of me!"

The sound of Izzie crying pulled Jack to his feet, and he lunged at Chad stumbling through the drunk haze. He managed to get one blow in before Chad knocked him down again. He felt helpless to do anything as Chad began to kick him in the stomach repeatedly. He heard Izzie scream again, and through a silted eye he could see her grab Chad's arm. "Please Chad, please stop, you'll kill him."

Chad stopped kicking, and Jack let his eyes close as he drifted off to sleep.

###

Jack woke up in the backseat of Mike's truck. "What happened?"

"Dude," Mike said looking over the headrest. "You're lucky we got you out of there before the principal saw you."

"What happened?" Jack asked again sitting up quickly, then regretting it as he vomited on the floor in front of him. 

"You're cleaning that out." Mike sounded pissed, not like himself. "I was hoping if I let you sleep it off a few hours, you wouldn't do that again."

They were driving down Main Street from the high school back to Jack's neighborhood. "Again?"

"You got drunk man, really crazy drunk. Got into a fight with someone, vomited all down by the lockers, and passed out."

"Oh goddamn, Molly's probably pissed." He leaned his head against the back of Mike's seat as the lights from the storefronts flashed over the floorboards.

"Uh, you don't remember? I drove Molly home first; she's done with you man." Mike made a pitying sound. "Man, you kept telling her you had to see Izzie. Where was Izzie? You needed Izzie."

"Izzie?" Jack muttered. Had he gotten into a fight with Chad? Had he gone after her again? "Give me your phone, I gotta call Izzie, make sure she's alright."

"She's fine man. Molly said you gotta leave her alone." Mike stopped at a red light and grabbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "You're lucky she said she ain't going to press charges, but that is if her parents don't see what a mess she is and make her."

"Press charges?"

"You drunk ass, you attacked her, you ripped part of her dress. Molly yelled at you about all this, you really don't remember?" Mike shook his head and adjusted his rear view mirror to see Jack. "I thought Molly was going to punch you in the face. Man you better stay away from whiskey from now on."

Jack's head swam from the alcohol and fuzzy memories. Izzie crying, he remembered that. He would not attack her though, it had to have been Chad. Right? Jack would never attack a girl. Would he?

He remembered her bruised arms.
Could whiskey really do that to a person?
Her dress, the strap. He remembered it in his hand. He would not do that to Izzie, not to Mols. He'd never do that, would he? His head swam with disjointed memories of the night.

###

Jack spent the next two weeks trying to talk to Izzie and Molly. Neither girl would talk to him. Mike seemed to be his only friend that knew what happened, and thankfully he did not tell anyone.

Jack finally got Izzie to stop and talk to him outside of chemistry class one afternoon. "Leave me alone Jack, if you talk to me again, I will call the police. I swear I will."

"Is it true then Iz? Did I really hurt you?" Jack's insides ripped when Izzie spoke again.

"It's all true Jack."

Jack stopped trying to talk to Molly and Izzie after that, and finished the last few months of high school a recluse.

Molly walked to the back door, cursing whoever was there. "Of all the bad timing," she muttered.

Bad timing for what though? It was not like anything was happening between her and Jack, just a conversation. But with the turn of seriousness, his willingness to stand there and listen to her, she thought they were about to have another conversation. A conversation that was ten years overdue.

"Delivery, delivery," she said as she grabbed her clipboard off the back wall. Three women were scheduled this evening to drop boxes off. They generally just left them at the back door, it was a safe neighborhood. But sometimes they rang the buzzer to drop them off hand to hand if they saw her car out back. The door buzzed again. "Hold on!"

Molly unlocked the three locks on the door leaving the chain clasped. She had not gotten the thought about the stranger out of her mind entirely yet, even though Brian told her this morning he had checked out of the Inn and was on his way out of town.

She pulled the door open as the chain caught. She had two inches to peer outside, and as she pressed her face against the crack, a bouquet of roses smacked against her face.

"Surprise!" Jeremy said pulling the flowers back so she could see him. He was wearing one of his black suits, her favorite one in fact. His top few buttons were undone and his tie hung loosely around his neck. His hazel eyes were bloodshot, as though he had not slept well in days, but not a single black hair was out of place. He grabbed the chain and tugged a little. "You going to let me in?"

"Oh!" Molly slammed the door shut, unfastened the chain and threw the door wide open. She grabbed Jeremy by the shirt collar and dragged him in, closing out the cold as soon as he passed into the room. "I've missed you."

Jeremy reached around to the back of her head and roughly tugged her hair, pulling her back so she was facing him. His mouth pressed hard against hers and immediately his tongue darted out and split her lips open. Molly struggled to breathe through her nose as he quickly covered her face with his own. Jeremy reached down, sliding his hands under her ass he picked her up and pressed her against the wall.

"How much did you miss me?" he asked as he tugged at her earlobe between his teeth. Molly felt something split inside of her as one part of her wanted to enjoy this moment with her boyfriend, and the other wanted to go finish talking to Jack. She was saved from her decision as the door chimed sounded in the front room, and she heard the faint sound of voices and laughter.

"Come upstairs with me." Jeremy dropped Molly back to standing and began to pull her towards the stairs. "Up to your apartment. Come on."

"I can't." Molly shook her head. "I have customers, and no one else is on shift."

"Tell them to leave. Hell, I'll tell them to leave." Jeremy said walking to the door that separated the storeroom from the rest of the shop. She ran in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Please, just wait," she pleaded. "Rachel will be back from dinner break in a half hour."

Jeremy squinted his eyes at Molly, and she could see his anger boiling up. He opened his mouth to speak, but then there was a knock on the door. 

"Hey Mols, I have to get back and you have shoppers," Jack said slowly opening the door and peering around the corner. The smile on his face dropped the moment he saw Molly pressed against Jeremy. Molly could not escape the feeling that she should feel guilty for being found with Jeremy, even though he was her boyfriend.

"Barkeep?" Jeremy said laughing. Molly cringed. She always heard that Jeremy and his friends were rude to Jack, even though they frequented his bar to get away from the scrutinizing eye at the bars on the other side of town. "What are you doing in the crap store?" Jeremy laughed at his own joke and pinched Molly’s butt. Jack looked at Molly raising his eyebrows.

"Craft store," Jack said with a steeled edge in his voice. "Gift store to be technical."

"He's just joking," Molly said, but even she knew that Jeremy had no respect for anything that had to do with her business. "Jeremy be quiet."

"Right," Jack said. "Well I'm gonna go and leave you two. I just wanted to come by to tell you good job on Bridget's show today."

"Thank you Jack," Molly said sarcastically, face reddening as she thought about the report again.

"No, really," Jack said. "No way I'd even go on TV, so who knows how I'd act?"

He smiled at her one more time with his lopsided grin, and her stomach did a flip.
Get a hold of yourself!
Then he was gone. Jeremy dropped Molly's arm.

"Since when does the barkeep call you Mols?" Jeremy asked, jealousy in his voice.

"I have to get out there," Molly walked into her store, hurrying to catch a glimpse of the back of Jack before he was gone. Jeremy followed.

"You were on Bridget's news spot today?" he asked loudly. Molly ignored him instead and walked over to the two women who were flipping through postcards next to the counter.

"Just let me know if I can help you find anything," Molly said with a smile. She motioned for Jeremy to follow her to the other side of the room.

Molly took a deep breath and quickly explained about the Boughmans moving, what that meant for the Dickens Village, and how she had volunteered to be Mrs. Claus.

"I don't believe it Molly," Jeremy shook his head and spoke loudly. "You know, you whine and bitch about how I moved to the city, and how I don't make the time to come see you. Then I get here, and you are putting something else on your plate. You know, it takes two to make a relationship work, and you aren't even coming close to doing your part."

"I know it takes two," Molly hissed. "I'm doing my best, but I had to let two of my girls go in the fall when season slowed down. I started putting in many more hours, probably as many as you," she said quietly, hoping Jeremy would follow her lead and lower his voice. She saw her customers looking uncomfortably towards them. 

"Yeah," he laughed. "Your job here is just as intensive as mine. Sit on your ass all day and gab to your friends. You have no idea how to run a business, and it shows when you can barely keep this place afloat. Then, you go stretch yourself even thinner and go onto this stupid fucking Dickens board." The front door opened as the customers left. "Now you're going to pay someone to run your dead shop so you can go play Mrs. Claus for free?"

Molly felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she refused to let them spill over. Jeremy was a little right, she was not making a huge effort to go see him. Her job was just as important to her as Jeremy's was to him. But if they were really in love, would they not make the effort?

Molly let this thought wash over her just as she realized this was just another version of the same argument they had every time they saw each other anymore. "Dickens Village is a tourist boost for the entire town. I make enough in December alone to pay mortgage and utilities for almost the whole winter- and that is after paying my crafters their fees too."

"And what about a Santa? Kids don't come to see Mrs. Claus, and I doubt anyone is dumb enough to volunteer to be Santa for all those hours. Especially not working next to someone as high strung as you!"

Jeremy walked to the front door and turned the locks as he flipped her sign over to closed. "Come on," he said grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the storeroom. She dug her feet into the carpet.

"What are you doing?" she asked feeling angry. How dare he close her shop up an hour early?

"You don't have any customers now. We're going upstairs," he said, but the emotion in his voice from earlier was gone.

"Are you kidding me? We're in the middle of an argument," she said stomping her foot. "I'm not going upstairs to have sex with you!"

"Right here then?" he asked roughly gripping her arm and spinning her around. He pressed against the back of her body, and she could feel his stiffness against the small of her back. "If you want."

"What the hell are you doing Jeremy?" she asked trying to mask her terror.

"I'm taking what was promised to me for the past two months. What's mine," Jeremy said hotly against her neck as he reached around and squeezed her breast.

"Let go of me," she said dropping the mask from her voice and letting her fear through. Jeremy was always rough when it came to sex, but he had never reacted to her like this before.

"I didn't know you liked playing hard to get," he said kissing her neck. "It's fun when you're mad
Mols
." Jeremy emphasized the name Mols, and Molly knew he was not only mad at her, but a little jealous of Jack being here earlier.

His grasp went from tight to painful, and Molly realized he was not going to stop. She picked her foot up and stomped with all of her strength on his toes. She was relieved to find he was still working work shoes, and not boots as her heel connected with his three center toes. He howled and let go of Molly, grasping his foot. "What the
fuck
was that for?"

"I told you to let go," she said walking as fast as she could without running, to unlock the front door and flip the sign back over. She felt as though she was shaking to the very core of her body, but forced herself to stay completely still on the outside. She had been angry with Jeremy before, but she had never been terrified of him.

She flung the door open. "Go."

The winter air filled the room as the seconds went by and Jeremy did not move. She refused to make eye contact, even though she could feel his glare boring into her. Finally, he stepped out the door. "You are a bitch; you know that? A bitch and a tease. I'm going to have a drink, then I'll be at my parents until you cool off."

He walked out the door and Molly slammed it shut behind him. Watching as he walked into Jack's bar, she dug her cell phone out of her pocket and called Rachel.

"Can you come back from break right now? I need to talk to someone."