Faithfully
Chapter 7
By Dottie
Copyright 2016
Once I'm settled in my room at the Costa Maya Inn, I open the door to AJ's knock. He comes in and says, "OK, we're here. Now what?"
I look up at him. "I don't know. I...thought we'd just go find him and..."
AJ shakes his head. "No...I don't think chasing him is a good idea. If he sees me...he'll disappear again."
I sniffle, wiping the tears from my face. "Then what am I supposed to do?"
He sits beside me and puts his arm around my shoulders. "I have an idea. I'm pretty sure I can get Nick to call me. I'll convince him he has to meet me...prove to me he's not suicidal, otherwise I'll call the other guys and we'll hunt him down and have him committed as a danger to himself."
My eyes widen. "What?!? AJ, you don't..."
He covers my mouth with his hand. "Hush. I'm just going to convince him to meet me at a restaurant close by...but he's actually going to meet you."
I look down at my swollen belly. "I don't...he'll run AJ. When he sees me he'll think this is Donnie's baby..."
His smile looks almost wicked. "He's not going to know you're pregnant at first. You're going to wear one of my old hoodies. One Nick got me with a skull on the back. You'll sit with your back to the door and he won't know it's you until he sits down. I'll follow him in and be at the door so he can't leave."
I throw my arms around his neck. "I'm glad you're sneaky AJ. Thank you."
He says, "Come on. I'll give you the hoodie and contact Nick. I think we need to do this as soon as possible."
I follow him with butterflies in my stomach. We can't be too late. Not when I finally know the truth about everything.
Nick's POV
My phone hasn't stopped ringing or beeping for almost 45 minutes. It's AJ. Has to be. Finally, I can't stand it anymore. When the phone rings again, I answer it gruffly. "What do you want AJ?"
He snaps, 'What do you think? You sent me a letter that sounded like you had a gun to your head."
I close my eyes. "AJ I'm not...I won't. I'm sorry I worried you, I was drunk off my ass."
He sounds relieved. "Good. But I'm not leaving Mexico until I see you with my own two eyes. So get off your ass and meet me at Señor Frogs in an hour."
Before I can say no, he disconnects the call. I stare at my phone thinking he's nuts. I'm not going to meet him anywhere. He can just forget about it. My phone beeps and I look at it. The four words I see make me weak. 'We heard from Jessi.'
I try calling him but he doesn't answer. He's determined to see me face to face. I should shower. I'm offensive even to myself. I take a quick shower and look around. I don't have any clean clothes. But it won't matter. Once I know Jessi is ok, I'll leave. Simple as that.
When I get to the restaurant, I almost leave again. But he said he heard from Jessi. I just have to know she's ok. Where she is, anything. God I miss that woman.
When I step into the bar, it's noisy. A few people give me a disgusted look. Maybe my clothes were worse than I thought. Then again, I've always looked shitty with a full beard and long hair, and right now, I probably look pretty scary.
I look around and I almost start laughing. It's easy to find AJ, even with his back to the door. When he first got into his 'goth' period, I bought him a lime green hoodie with a hot pink will on the back of it. Instead of getting mad at me, the dumbass wore it. I shake my head, allowing myself a small, sad smile. It will be good to see him. I've missed the dumbass.
I weave my way through the tables to AJ. I flop down in the chair across from him. "OK, so what..." My voice disappears when I look up and see Jessi looking back at me.
She tries to smile but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Hello Nick."
I want to drink in every detail of her face but shame makes me look away. "Jessi...why..." I can't form the words. My throat feels like it's closed off. I can feel her lean closer to me but I just can't look at her. Not after what I did.
Suddenly, someone sits down with us. I look up to see AJ grinning at me. "Surprise."
I give him a death glare. "Why didn't you warn me?"
From across the table, Jessi says, "Would you have come if you had known I was here?" When I don't answer, she says, "I need to talk to you Nick. And I need you to listen to me."
I keep my gaze averted from her. I can hear the pain in her voice and if I run now, I'll cause her even more pain. "Jessi, I...I'm so sorry."
I see her fingertips inch towards my arm. When she touches me I almost fall apart. With her hand on my forearm I shiver. I force myself to look up into her eyes. She's on the verge of tears when she whispers, "It's ok Nick. I finally understand why."
I close my eyes. "I didn't know what to do."
She lets go of my arm and I open my eyes to see her scooting her chair around the table closer to me. I glance at AJ to see he's crying. When I look at Jessi, she's crying too. When she's next to me she said, "Nick, it's ok." I try to look away but she reaches out and touches my face. When I look at her again, she whispers, "Nothing would have changed what happened."
I fold my arms on the table and start sobbing. I feel AJ put his hand on my shoulder to comfort me. Then I feel it. Jessi's arm slides over my back and she lays her head on my shoulder. I hear her say, "Nick, it was the only way to keep Hanna Jo and AJ and Denise safe."
I lift my head up and she sits up with me. I look at her and say, "But what he did..."
She shakes her head quickly. "He'll spend the rest of his life in prison. If I had known the truth, I would have given in to him and he would have won."
I close my eyes. My ribs still ache and my head is splitting. "So now what?"
She lays her head on my shoulder again. "There's a lot we need to talk about. Will you come back to Canada with us?"
I lay my head against hers, wishing I could turn back time. "I don't know Jessi. No matter what you say it's always going to be my fault that he hurt you."
Chapter End Notes:
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