Jack And Jill: Dawn Of Forever Part 9

Jackson chuckled. "That would be correct."

"Well I'm home already." She plopped down in her favorite chair and threw her feet up on the ottoman. "Did Gunner growl and bark at you the whole time?"

"I brought treats."

"I see. So you thought of everything. My neighbor, Drew, saw you. Did Woody break down? He said you made a few trips on foot with the ice melt."

"Of course. No one should be driving in this weather."

She giggled. "You act like you've never driven in snow. It's the first snow, it's not that cold, and all the main streets have been plowed. Don't try to tell me it didn't snow in New York."

"Well, yeah, of course it snowed in New York. I just ... I ..."

"Let me guess. You lived and worked in the city, therefore you didn't even own a car."

"Bingo."

"Pathetic. Well, I'd invite you over for dinner, but that would require you to drive."

"Or walk. I'll see you in thirty minutes."

Ryn laughed some more. "Don't slip on the side walk."

"I've got that covered. The guy at the hardware store sold me some sort of yak things for my shoes."

"Yaktrax?"

"That's it. See ya soon."

Gunner c.o.c.ked his head sideways as she tossed her phone on the ottoman. "So all it takes is a few treats to keep you quiet, huh? I fear you're going soft on me."

Gunner jumped to attention from the quick rap on the door.

"There's no way he's here already." Ryn grinned as she made her way to the door.

"Preston." Her smile dissolved as her body stiffened.

Gunner sat idle next to her, a mild growl vibrated in warning.

Preston glanced down. "Easy, mutt."

"What do want? You can't be-"

"Be where, sweetheart? Here? You dropped the restraining order. Remember?"

Ryn tried to swallow past the familiar fear. "Why are you here?"

"It's snowing. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"No."

Preston slipped off his black leather driving gloves and shoved them into the pockets of his long wool overcoat. "I need to talk to you about Maddie."

"Your phone stop working?"

Preston grinned the same grin that got her knocked up twenty-one years earlier. She loved it then, but not anymore. It made her want to knock out every single s.h.i.+ny, white tooth that peeked out from behind his lips.

"Come on. You have your guard dog to protect you. Besides, I come in peace."

She glared at him. Nothing about Preston Iverson was peaceful.

"Five minutes and then you can let him chase me out the door. Deal?"

The a.s.shole ex-husband needed to be gone before Jackson arrived. Preston didn't deserve a blink of her concern, but a tiny part of her feared for his life.

"Five minutes."

Gunner stayed glued to her side, ready to attack on command as she stepped back.

"I see you bought the smallest place on the block." His beady eyes appraised his surroundings. "Does it have indoor plumbing?"

"Four minutes."

He smirked. "You could have bought a place ten times the size of this one."

"I'd live on the street before I'd take a dime from you."

He nodded, still taking in her belongings. When she finally got the nerve to leave him, she did it with only the clothes on her back and even those ended up in the trash.

"Well you're not far off."

"Three minutes."

"I want you back, Ryn."

All she could do was laugh.

"I'm serious." He stepped toward her.

Gunner growled. Preston glared at her dog.

"I want a two-headed horse with magic wings. Maybe when that happens, I'll come back to you."

"We were young. We both made some mistakes-"

"What did you just say? We? Are you serious?"

"We both had our whole lives ahead of us, then you went and got pregnant."

"Oh. My. G.o.d." She shook her head. "Time's up."

"Think about it ... for Maddie."

"Go to h.e.l.l. Now ... out."

Preston backed up as Gunner bared his teeth, moving slowly toward him.

"That tattooed a.s.shole is trouble. I don't trust him, and I sure as f.u.c.k don't like that he's trying to take something that's mine."

"You beat the living c.r.a.p out of me because I overcooked your steak. You threw me down the stairs because I wore a dress you deemed too short to a holiday party and some a.s.shole friend of yours commented on my legs."

"I'm not that guy anymore."

"You're exactly that guy. After all these years you still think you own me."

He clenched his teeth. Ryn recognized the muscle twitch in his jaw and the vein on his forehead. Had Gunner not been a foot from castrating him, Ryn had no doubt Preston would have backhanded her for being "disrespectful." It was always his signature first strike.

"He's a speeding ticket away from being thrown in jail. Chances are they'd find drugs, illegal weapons, or whatever I'd want them to find in his trunk."

Ryn narrowed her eyes. Why couldn't he just let her go? Why did he have to destroy her entire life?

"Think about it." He opened the door and turned to a large man in a hoodie, jeans, black boots with Yaktrax, and murder on his face.

"Be easy on her. She'll need some recovery time after what I did to her." Preston wore his usual a.s.shole smirk as he rested a hand on Jackson's shoulder, attempting to side step him.

"f.u.c.k!" Preston squeaked out when Jackson grabbed his neck with one hand, shoving him into the siding. Preston's face turned crimson as he clutched at Jackson's iron hold with no success.

"I'm going to end you."

Preston maybe had twenty seconds before pa.s.sing out, but even then he was too stupid to shut up.

"Is ... t-that a threat?"

Jackson's head turned side to side slowly as he leaned in and whispered in Preston's ear. Ryn heard every chilling word.

"It's a promise." He released him.

Preston fell like dead weight to his hands and knees, gasping and coughing.

Jackson stepped inside and shut the door without a single glance back at Preston.

"You let the man, who put you in the hospital, into your house?"

"It was the only way to get him to leave." She hugged herself to ward off the chill from the door being open so long and the icy wave of anger that radiated off Jackson.

"What the h.e.l.l do you have that dog for?"

She narrowed her eyes. "That dog has a name and you know it."

"That dog should be feasting on the corpse of your ex-husband right now."

"Stop calling him-"

"What?" Jackson shoved her against the wall and covered her mouth with his hand.

Gunner growled.

"That dog is growling at me, Ryn."

Her heart pumped so fast all she could hear was its pounding pulse.

"But he's not attacking me. Why is that?"

She blinked and struggled to get out of his hold.

"Do something, Ryn. Knee me in the groin. Bite my hand and tell Gunner to attack me. But stop being the f.u.c.king victim. Stop inviting the enemy into your house."

Tears stung her eyes and when she blinked they spilled over.

"DO IT!"

Her body fell limp. Jackson removed his hand and grabbed her as she released her first sob. He just yelled at her. He scared her. He made her cry. Despite all of that ... she clung to him.

"I hate him ... I hate him so much for breaking me."

Jackson leaned against the wall and slid down it with Ryn hugged to his body.

"He ... he took everything."

"I'm going to give it back to you-all of it." He took her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "Baby, you have an attack dog that won't attack. What the h.e.l.l?"

Ryn sniffled. "Gunner doesn't do anything without my command, including that."

"But you didn't say it."

Anger remained in Jackson's voice. Ryn flinched. Old habits.

"I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

She blinked out more tears. "Everything. You don't understand. I lived like a prisoner in my own home for so many years. I couldn't get up from the table without permission. My hair, my weight, my clothes, my exercise routine, my friends ... they were all controlled by Preston. His verbal abuse did so much more damage than the physical abuse. I became anorexic, stopped having my periods, and eventually ended up in the hospital because I kept having fainting spells."

After all those years the pain felt as raw as the day it happened. "Preston had to come home from a business trip to adeal' with me. They discharged me two days later, and he bashed my head into the dash before we left the parking lot. He said that's what I deserved for ruining his trip." She shook her head. "He bled every ounce of self-esteem from me. I don't want to be this way. I hate that I don't have a shred of confidence. Inside ... I have so much anger, so much hatred, but the fear is so crippling I can't do anything with it, so it just festers and eats me alive."

Holding Ryn was like holding an egg with a dozen cracks. Jackson knew he could never completely mend her. He could give her the self-defense skills to fight off a small army, but he couldn't make her use them any more than she could give Gunner the go ahead to attack her enemy.