Black and Blue (Black and Blue Series) (17 page)

“
Jamie your father is on his way down here,” Cynthia said from the other side of the door, and she wanted to scream.

“
You should lie back down,” Henry said and helped her to the bed; her legs had gone weak from his wicked kiss. She lay back down, and he gently kissed her lips. “I’ll see you later, sweetheart,” Henry said going to the door.

S
he closed her eyes hoping her father would think she was sleeping. She heard the door open, and she turned away from the door. She knew her father was in the room with her, because the air changed, becoming thicker.

“
Jamie, are you awake?” he asked in a low voice, and she turned around to face her father.

“
Yeah,” she said.

He came
to her and gently ran his fingers down her cheek. It had always been her and her father. She thought the world of him and thought he could never do any harm. He sat on the bed next to her, and stared down at her with a worried expression. “How are you feeling?” he asked, and she felt bad. Jamie knew she could have died, that she was all he had left and she thought she was the reason why he hadn’t gone crazy.

“
I’m okay, I still hurt a little.” She smiled up at him to show him she was okay. She was alive that was all that mattered.

She watched him close his ey
es, and put his head in his hands. “Jamie I have never been so scared in my life. I was talking to Ryan and when I heard the explosion he wouldn’t let me out of the damn office. When I saw your face and hands, I didn’t believe what happened. You are my whole world, and my enemies now know that too. I know you aren’t going to be too happy with me, but know I am only doi SI aJamie kneng this for your protection. You
will
have a bodyguard with you at all times. The only time you will be alone is when you are naked. He will sleep outside your door.”

Jamie narrowed her eyes, he knew she was never okay with someone following her, and now that she had Henry in her life she would have to set some ground rules.
“Fine, but if I stay at Emily’s I don’t need a bodyguard. You know her father would never let anything happen to me.” Emily’s father, Robert, was in the Black’s army and just recently retired. He wanted to spend more time with his family. Jamie’s father trusted Robert more than any other person in the world.

Her father
lifted his head and nodded. “Fine, but I want you to stay home for the next few days. You hit the wall pretty hard.” She smiled at her father. She could always get what she wanted from him. She
would
leave the house later that night, she wanted to see Henry again, but most of all, she wanted to fall asleep in his arms.

Jamie slowly sat herself up, and p
ain shot through her whole body. She groaned in agony. “Yeah you don’t have to worry about me going anywhere. I hurt too much to move,” she said, and gently lay back on Cynthia’s bed.

“
Do you want me to get someone to bring you upstairs to your bedroom?” he asked her, and she shook her head. If she wanted to sneak out of the house she needed to be downstairs without her guards lurking around.

“
No, I’m good down here, thanks, dad,” she said and smiled.

H
er father nodded and stood up. He slowly walked to the door and he glanced over his shoulder at her. “Jamie, I love you, and you make me proud every day to call you my daughter,” he said and walked out of the door.

S
he sighed. She felt like utter crap for keeping what was going on between her and Henry from the man that had been there for her, her whole life. Jamie groaned when she stood up, her burns were gone, but her body still hurt. Sneaking out of the house might be impossible considering how she was feeling.

Cynthia opened the door to her be
droom and walked in. She narrowed her eyes, and Jamie smiled, knowing she was in trouble. “Why are you out of bed?”

Jamie laughed, the woman had
been her mother and sometimes father when she needed it. “I was looking for my phone,” Jamie replied.

Cynthia put her arm around her and led her back to the bed.
“I had Henry grab your phone and put it in your purse,” she said and gently pushed Jamie into bed. “I’ll get it for you. You just lay there and I’ll get it.”

Jamie gently laid back and
smiled. She wondered if he’d grabbed the phone he’d given her.

Cynthia came back with Jamie’s
black and pink purse and handed it to her, her eyebrows arched. “You know why you and Henry are a bad idea don’t you?” Jamie removed her eyes from the other woman and Sherded i looked in her purse. Two phones were there and she smiled and blushed when she thought of where the phone had been and what he’d seen.

Jamie lo
oked up at Cynthia and she knew that the older woman was waiting for an answer. “I know why it’s a bad idea, but I can’t stay away now. He is the one, and I know it’s too early to say that, but he makes me feel things I never thought I would feel,” Jamie said and reached in her purse for the phone he’d given her.

Cynthia sat on t
he bed, and pulled Jamie’s hand into her own. “Jamie you know what your father would do to him if he found out, and if he found out that he was one of the leaders to the rebels he would be killed instantly. That should be enough reason to leave him alone.” Cynthia squeezed Jamie’s hand.

Jamie closed her eyes and tightened her hand around the phone
. “I know you are right, I do, but I don’t think I’m strong enough to leave him alone.” She pushed a button and glanced down at the phone. She had one new text message from him.

Cynthia nodded, and stood up.
“Emily is on her way over. She called a little while ago, after seeing the bombing on the news.”

Jamie looked up in surprise. She’d been
hoping her father had kept the bombing out of the news. Cynthia left Jamie alone, and she looked at the message.

Jamie we still need to talk, I will try to sneak down to you tomorrow.

Her heart sank a little
, thinking of him telling her he couldn’t be with her, that it risked his life too much. She knew what she would do when her best friend got there.

* * *

Henry walked into the house, and pulled out his phone. He dialed Mike, and it rang twice.

“
Hey, man.”

“
Mike, did you tell anyone about Jamie?” He stepped into the kitchen and poured himself a drink.

“
Henry, I heard what happened at the Moore’s today, and it wasn’t us. I haven’t told anyone about your girlfriend.”

Henry sighed and
sank into the couch in the living room. He hadn’t thought his rebels had anything to do with what happened to Jamie, but that meant that someone else was out there and wanted to kill Jamie. He was happy that whoever had made the bomb hadn’t known what they were doing, but he feared that next time she wouldn’t be that lucky.

“
That is what I was afraid of. Someone tried to kill her and I need to find out who.” He leaned his head on the back of the couch, closing his eyes. He needed someone on the inside that could protect Jamie, and it had to be a Black.

“
Yeah, I talked to some of our people and they were shocked that it had gotten past the front guard as well as the explosive detector.”

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Henry
’s eyes flew open, and he thought,
An inside job? Who would want to hurt Jamie, she is the sweetest and most caring person I know!
He needed someone he could trust to protect her, and there was only one person that fit the qualities that William expected to guard his little girl. “Is your brother home from the Black Army?”

“
Ahhh…yes,” Mike replied and Henry smiled.

“
Good I need to talk to him, is he home?” Henry stood up and drank his drink in one swallow.

“
Hmm…do you think that’s a good idea? You two have had your differences and I am pretty sure he hasn’t forgiven you for punching him.”

Henry smiled, he and
Matthew haven’t seen eye to eye in a long time; but he did believe in the revolution. Matt hated the way the Blacks treated everyone including their army. “I need him to protect Jamie, and if I know Matt he will want to protect her.” Henry stood up and stretched before taking his glass to the kitchen and rinsing it out.

“
He’s home, come over.”

Henry hung up, slid the
phone into his back pocket and left.

Chapter Ten

Beautiful and Dysfunctional

Jamie smiled at her best friend as she walked into Cynthia’s bedroom. There were many nights when Jamie would come down here after she’d had a bad dream, or when she felt lonely. She and Emily would come down here and have “girl time” with Cynthia.

“
Oh…my…gosh!” Emily said and covered her mouth with her hands.

“
Em, I’m alive that is all that matters.” Jamie sat up a little and winced in pain.

Emily shook her head.
“On the news it said that a young girl was badly injured in a bombing at the Moore Mansion, I knew it was you and I called. Your father told me what happened and that Doctor Martin was fixing you.”

Jamie saw tears in her hazel eyes and she opened her arms for her best friend. Emily ran to her and wrapped her arms around Jamie.
She hissed because the pain from her back became too strong. “Not so tight, I did get blown up today,” Jamie said and Emily moved away from her; she glared at Jamie.

“
You know I don’t think you are funny.”

Jamie heard the anger in her best friend’s voice so she bit her bottom lip to hold back her laughter.
She loved when Emily got mad because it didn’t happen a lot. “It was a little funny, but I can’t be held that tight right now,” Jamie said and chuckled. She loved Van>o ecause the girl with everything she had. In school it was always them against the world.

“
Fine,” Emily said and arched a dark eyebrow at her. “So am I sneaking you out of his prison?”

Jamie laughed and groaned. S
he loved that Emily knew her so well. “Hell yes! Help me get dressed.”

Getting Jamie dress
ed took them fifteen minutes, and she had to bite her lip many times because the pain was getting to be a little too much.

Emily opene
d the bedroom door and Cynthia was standing there. “Where do you two think you’re going?” she asked and Jamie smiled.

“
Do you really want to know?” Jamie asked and leaned on her friend for more support.

Cynthia sighed and shook her head.
“No. I know where you are going, but I want you to take another pain killer.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pill bottle, handing it to Jamie. “I think you should take one now so you aren’t in pain,” she said and Jamie looked down at the bottle in her hands.

She opened the top a
nd took out one tiny white pill. She put it in her mouth and swallowed it down. Jamie smiled at her. “Thank you for taking care of me.” Something flashed on Cynthia’s face.

“
You two should leave now while the guard is changing.”

Jamie nodded. She and Emily slowly mounted
the stairs and she groaned with the pain she felt everywhere in her body. She glanced up the stairs still waiting to be climbed in front of her. It wasn’t going to be fun getting up them.

“
Crap, Jamie are you sure you want to go?” Emily said and Jamie looked at her.