JENNIE
"Sheriff Camps, she doesn't deserve to be behind bars," I bellowed, blasting into the police station. The moment I heard about the fight breaking out and Lisa's arrest, I headed straight to the station.
Sheriff Camps was dressed in his suit and tie from the gala as he sat behind his desk. "Yeah, well, I don't deserve to be sitting here filling out this paperwork because it seems your two men cannot keep themselves from acting like damn monkeys in public," he grumbled.
"Yes, but it wasn't her fault! She did nothing wrong. And I think—"
"Time out. Which one are you here to save?" he asked.
"Lisa," I stated matter-of-factly. "I'm here for her."
"Good call. It seemed that Taehyung was the one who started the fight, which is a bit shocking."
That wasn't shocking to me at all. Not in the least.
"Can I go back to see them with you?"
He shook his head a bit. "I don't know, Jennie. We don't really let people back there."
"Sheriff Camps…it's me. Lil' Miss Jennie Ruby Jane. I just want to talk to them both, that's all. I swear."
He sighed. "I guess it wouldn't hurt any. Come on back, but don't tell anybody I let you, all right? I don't need people thinking I'm going soft."
I agreed to the secret, and as he walked us to the back, I felt my heart racing. When my eyes fell upon Lisa, I gasped a bit. She was cut up and black and blue all across her face. Her tie hung around her neck, and she looked so defeated.
Jesus, Taehyung. What were you thinking?
"Hey," she muttered.
"Hey," I replied.
"It seems you got yourself a get-out-of-jail-free card, buddy, thanks to this little ole lady. Be thankful, too—I would've kept you sit overnight." Sherriff Camps remarked as he fumbled with his keys before unlocking Lisa's cell.
The moment it opened, I wrapped my arms around her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm sorry."
"Sorry? For what? You didn't do anything wrong."
"Yeah, but still, I shouldn't have engaged with Taehyung." Her voice was so low, almost a whisper. I could tell her mind was spinning, and I hoped she wasn't slipping too far away from me.
Stay here now, Lisa…
"I'll meet you up front in a second, okay?" I told her, rubbing her arm. She nodded and made her way up front. I walked over to Taehyung's cell. He looked up at me, his face just as beat up as Lisa's.
"I'm guessing you're not here to bail me out, too, huh?" he joked.
I could hardly look at him. He felt so much like a stranger to me. "You're still drunk."
"A little."
"You don't get drunk, Taehyung."
"Well, maybe you aren't the only one who's changed a bit." He stood and walked over to me. His hands wrapped around the bars. "What are you doing, Jennie? Running around with an addict?"
Wow, he was shooting low.
"She's clean," I told him. "She's been clean for years."
"For now. I mean, look what she did to my face. I told you she was dangerous."
"You did the same thing to her, too, Taehyung."
"Yeah but…" He sighed and turned away before looking back at me. "I love you."
"Stop saying that."
"No, I won't because I do. We have fifteen years of history together, and I cannot stand by and watch you run into the arms of that asshole. I love you too much for that."
"I prayed for you to say those words to me again," I whispered, shaking my head. "I prayed for you to want me back, to come back to me, but that's not what you wanted."
"Yes, it is. I'm telling you right now, you're who I want. I know things are messy but—"
"You only showed interest in me when another person did, Taehyung—that's not love, that's jealousy, and I don't want to play that game. I don't want to play any games. I just want you to let me go."
"I'm not going to quit," he warned. "I'm not going to give up on us, on this."
"There is no us, Taehyung."
"Because of that lowlife?"
"No." I shook my head. "Because of you."
"It's fine," Lisa grumbled as I pressed the warm cloth to her eye as she sat on her couch. "It's not the first time I've gotten a black eye for sleeping with another man's woman."
"I'm not his woman," I stated sharply, watching her wince as I pressed the cloth to ber eye. "And he is not my man."
She tilted her head up. "If you're not his, then whose are you?"
"My own," I said breathlessly, feeling my heart began to beat faster. "Before I am anyone else's, I will always be my own."
"Geez," she whispered, shaking her head as she bit her bottom lip. "You have no clue how good it feels to hear you say that."
I smiled at her and went back to tending to her eye.
"You're doing it," she whispered, placing her hand against mine to stop me from patting her cheek.
"Doing what?"
"Finding yourself."
I grinned and wrung out the cloth. "I think you'll live to see another day."
"That's good to hear," she mumbled, looking down and fiddling with her fingers.
"What is it?" I asked. "What's wrong?"
"What do you see when you look at him? What do you see when you see Taehyung?" she asked, her voice filled with uncertainty.
I paused for a moment, lowering myself to the floor, and then I looked up at her. "I see my past. I see everything I was, and everything I was not."
"And what do you see when you look at me?"
I swore there was a small spark in her eyes that healed parts of me that I hadn't even known were broken. I ran my hand through my hair, bit my lip, and gave a slight shrug. "Possibilities."