Chapter 1
***One Year Ago***
Sitting at the bar after a very long and bad day, the bartender puts a Jack and Coke in front of me. "Thanks." I say and he nods before moving to wait on another patron. Enjoying the burn of the drink, I see someone sit in the barstool next to me. "Hey pretty lady. You here alone?" he says, putting his hand on the back of my stool. "Not interested." I say. "Oh come on pretty girl. What's your name?" he asks. "Still not interested." I say. Before anything else could be said, another man walks up and says "You really fucking with my Old Lady?" The first man's eyes go wide. "Sorry man. I didn't know." he says. "Well you do now." my savior says. The first guy rushes off and I look at the one that saved me and see he's tall and broad and wearing a Mayan's kutte. "You okay?" he asks. "Yeah. Thanks for that." I say. "No problem. Name's Gilly." he says, holding out his hand. "Jenna. Can I buy you a beer?" I ask. "Sure." he says and takes the barstool next to me. "So, tell me something about you Gilly." I say. "What do you want to know?" he asks. "You got a girl?" I ask. "Nah. You got a man?" he asks. "Nope." I say. I finish my drink and he orders me another. "I thought I was supposed to by buying you a drink?" I ask. "What kind of Old Man would I be if I made my Old Lady pay?" he asks and we both laugh. We go on talking and getting to know each other and before we know it, it's closing time. He walks me out to my car and I say "Thanks again for saving me." I say. "No problem babe." he says and I start laughing. "Alright boo." I say and he starts laughing. "Give me your phone." I say. He hands me his phone and I put my phone number in and then send a text to my phone. "Hit me up sometime. I really like hanging out with you." I tell him. "Hell yeah." he says before we go our separate ways.
***Present Day***
Pulling up to the clubhouse, I walk inside and see Taza sitting at the bar. "Hey Taza." I say. "Hey Mija. How was your day?" he asks. "It was a day. Gilly around?" I ask. "No but should be here any time." he tells me. The bartender places a Jack and Coke in front of me and I take a big drink of it. "You okay?" Taza asks and I shake my head no. "Why don't you go on to Gilly's dorm. I'll let him know you're here." he tells me. Kissing his cheek, I do as he suggests. I go into Gilly's dorm. I keep my leggings on and change from my sweater into one of Gilly's t-shirts. I climb into bed and pull the covers over me and wait for him to come back.
A little later, Gilly walks into the clubhouse. Taza walks up and says "Jenna is in your dorm." Gilly looks towards the dorms and before he can say anything, Taza says "She looked upset." Gilly nods and heads down the hall and into his dorm. He strips down to his boxers and climbs into bed. Pulling me close to him, I turn to face him and he says "Tell me what you need." I snuggle against him and say "Snuggle me Boo." He pulls me closer and says "I got you Babe." He rubs his hand up and down my back and I start to sob. "It's okay. I got you." he says softly as I sob into his chest. I finally cry myself to sleep and Gilly lays there a while longer just watching me. He's been my best friend for a year now and he knows me as well as I know myself.
Waking up the next morning, he still has his arms around me, holding me close. I feel him start to stir and he pulls me closer. "Morning babe." he says. "Morning." I say and snuggle closer to him. He rubs my back and asks "What happened last night?" I shake my head. Tilting my chin up to look at him, he says "Talk to me. What happened?" he asks again. "Josh broke up with me." I tell him. "He say why?" Gilly asks. "Told me that he fell for someone else." I tell him. "I'm sorry babe." he says. "I hate this shit Gil. I really liked him." I tell him. "I know you did. What do you need?" he asks. "My teddy bear to snuggle me." I say softly. "I'm not going anywhere." he whispers to me and I start to cry again.
After a little bit, we get up and head to the main room. Walking up to the bar, Chucky puts a cup of coffee in front me and Gilly. Gilly sits on one of the barstools and pulls me between his legs and I just lean against him. I take a sip of coffee and feel Gilly kiss my temple. "You wanna stay here today?" he asks. I nod my head yes. "Okay babe. Your go bag in the trunk?" he asks and I nod my head yes again. He kisses my temple again and says "I'll stay close." he tells me and I put the coffee cup down onto the bar and snuggle into him. "Prospect, can you get her bag out of her trunk and take it to my room?" he asks EZ and the prospect does as he's asked. Gilly stands up and leads me over to one of the couches and sits down, pulling me into his lap and that's how I spend most of the day, snuggled up in Gilly's lap waiting on this episode of depression to pass.
"Babe, why don't you go shower and I'll get you something to eat." he says and I nod. I hate having depression and this episode is bad. But he's been through enough of them over the past year that he knows how to get me through it. I head to the dorm and Gilly heads to the kitchen. "She okay?" Taza asks. "She will be. Fuckboy boyfriend broke up with her and it triggered her depression. This episode is a bad one." Gilly says. "How bad has it gotten?" he asks. "Last time it was this bad, was the first episode I saw her through. I didn't hear from her for a couple of days and went to check on her and she drank so much she was barely breathing. If she'd laid there any longer, she would have died." Gilly says. "Shit." Taza says. "Yeah. I need to stay close for the next couple of days." Gilly tells Taza and he says "I'll let Bishop know."
I get out of the shower and walk into the bedroom of the dorm and see Gilly sitting there with a bottled water and a sandwich for me. "Come eat babe." he says. I walk over to the bed and sit down. I eat and then we lay back down. I snuggle into his chest and say "I'm sorry." He kisses the top of my head and says "Look at me." I look up at him and he says "You got nothing to be sorry for. Bishop knows I'm staying close until this passes. I got you." he tells me. "I love you boo." I tell him. "I love you too babe." he says as he holds me closer. I feel the tears fall again and I finally doze off in Gilly's arms and the last thing I hear is Gilly whisper "I'll always be here baby." before falling asleep in my best friend's arms.