Cherish Me (The Protected Love Series)

by Culbreth, Jennifer

  “You dickbags!” Abbi and Judy both stared at her not quite comprehending the reason for the harsh nickname. “You didn’t tell me Gabe was out there!” She panted as she held the door closed behind her.

  Judy and Abbi looked at each other before bursting into laughter. “I swear, Ashley. I totally forgot.” Judy could barely get the words out as she fell over onto the bed clutching her stomach.

  “I despise you both!” Ashley marched out of the door.

  “Oh come on! Where are you going?” Judy tried to contain her laughter.

  “To put on some damn pants!” Ashley shouted back down the hallway. “I hope you enjoyed the show Gabe!”

  Judy and Abbi laughed harder as Gabe shouted back down the hallway towards them. “I did!”

  Chapter Six

  Two weeks had gone by and the closest thing they had come to as a lead was that the call to Judy’s phone had been placed from a payphone one block from the boutique the girls had been shopping at. Jace was beginning to lose his mind. He had been slipping on his work; Ryan could tell but never said anything. For the past few weeks he had been haunted, constantly worrying throughout the day and at night the haunting came in his dreams. The first nightmare was of the night Judy had been shot. The searing pain rang out through his body at the sound of the Captain’s words…

  “One girl has already been shot tonight. Let’s try and keep that number from going up. I only have so many rounds in my gun and I would hate to use two bullets just to shut you two up.”

  “Shot? Who was shot?” Jace looked at the Captain.

  “A young lady by the name of Judith Adams. Chest wound. She was taken to Cedars-Sinai approximately fifteen minutes ago. Alive, but in critical condition.”

  “Oh my God.” Jace bent over clutching at his chest.

  The dreams that followed were filled with buried IED’s, flashbacks of their Humvee taking fire outside of a small village called Lewar Jel Jay in Afghanistan. He had seen many of his fellow brothers fall at the hands of the enemy there, and had also been responsible for taking the lives of many others as well. It had been years since he had experienced anything like this.

  He was suddenly feeling as though his world was slipping through his hands. He was a man who took charge and had things under control. But this was out of his hands, out of his control completely, and he didn’t quite know how to deal with that. In his frustration he’s been distant towards Judy also. None of this was her fault and she deserved a man who wouldn’t pull away when shit got tough but honestly he felt that his distance from her would only help her in the long run. They were after him and Ryan, not her. His phone rang loudly pulling him out of his thoughts.

  “This is Jace.” His voice was short.

  “Hey boss man. You remember that detail you gave me a few weeks back?” Gabe’s voice came through the phone.

  “Yeah, with Alexis. What’s up? Did you find something?”

  “Well, I don’t know if it has anything to do with our current situation or not. But I have been doing some checking around and it looks as though she may have been living here in Los Angeles for more than a few months. I found an old address that links her here a few years ago.”

  “Really?” Jace thought about the conversation Alexis and Judy had in the back of the car. He was positive she’d said she had only been here for a few weeks.

  “That’s not all. I followed up on the address and it’s the same apartment building that Trent once lived in. It’s not the best neighborhood and notorious for gang activity. It might be coincidence, but this is not sitting right with me.”

  Jace tried swallowing but his throat felt like sandpaper. He knew from the beginning that this girl had been up to no good and he had let her into his home. “Ok, send me the address and then call and see if it’s vacant. If it is, see if you can get in there. Ask the management company if they have any belonging’s left from when it was vacated. Anything.”

  “On it boss, I will call over and see what I can find out.”

  “Ok, you’re with the girls now?” Jace asked.

  “I am here at Abbi’s right now. I will get word to Aaron and head over there if you’d like me to.”

  “No. I will be home shortly. Thanks Gabe.” Jace hung up the phone and dialed Judy.

  It rang. Then rang again. Worry began settling into his stomach. It wasn’t like her to not answer on the first two or three rings.

  “Hello, you have reached Judy. Leave me a message and I will call you back. Bye!” He waited until the tone.

  “Hey, Babe. I need you to call me back as soon as you can. It’s important.” He took a deep breath before pressing end.

  Hanging up the phone he gathered his briefcase and coat. Making his way down the hallway he found Ryan’s door and pushed it open. No Ryan. Where the fuck is everybody? He made his way back into the lobby.

  “Tina, where is Ryan?” His voice was clipped.

  “Uh. I think he is in a client meeting right now. Do you want me to leave him a message?” She said leaning over the counter exposing every bit of legal cleavage she could and ran her hand down his arm. Irritation built inside of him as he watched her sashay around the counter and prop herself up in front of him. Her fingers bravely traveled up to the collar of his shirt tracing the buttons down his chest.

  He took her hand in his and placed it back onto the desk top holding it down. She smiled the grin of hunter who had just caught its prey; with every part of his body he tried to contain his anger. He plastered on a smile as he leaned in inches from her face.

  “Tina, I swear if you don’t stop throwing yourself at me every chance you get, you are going to be flipping burgers at the local cheeseburger joint faster than you can say upsize it. Got it?” He smiled showing his teeth.

  “Got it.” She winked as she ran her finger back up his arm and leaned in planting a bright red lipstick kiss against his cheek. “I will see you tomorrow Mr. Alexander.”

  What the hell is this chick’s problem? Jace wasn’t sure if he should fire her on the spot or just turn and walk away. As he looked up he followed Tina’s playful stare towards the opposite end of the lobby.

  Jace turned toward the elevators to see Judy standing just outside of them with Aaron and Mark to her side. Her mouth hung open in shock at the exchange she was taking in between him and Tina. As his eyes locked onto hers the world stopped spinning. Her golden eyes were filled with hurt; the pain rolled out of the corners of her eyes as the tears began to fall. Her face was covered in the look of disbelief, betrayal, just as she quickly turned back towards the elevator and got back on followed by Aaron and Mark. Jace was frozen in place. This cannot be happening! As the doors started to close he began to react, dropping everything in his hands and sprinting towards the elevator.

  “Judy wait!” His hand reached out to catch the door but he wasn’t quick enough. The doors shut and the elevator sped off back down towards the lobby. His balled fist slammed into the front of the elevator, as he let out a deep growl.

  He reached for the elevator button and pressed the down arrow once, twice… fifteen times. There was no way he could make it down the stairs fast enough. After what seemed like hours the elevator arrived back at the lobby. Jace waited, praying that she would be in it when the doors opened. As the familiar chime resounded through the lobby and his heart fell into his stomach when the doors opened revealing it to be empty.

  When he made it down to his car the world had pretty much blurred around him. He sped through traffic, ran red lights without so much as a thought to getting hit, anything he could to get to her faster. You’re a fucking dick. You don’t even deserve her. Through everything Judy had stood by him. She held him in the darkness when he woke from the nightmares. She did everything she could to try and help him relax when he came home from work.

  Yeah, maybe he didn’t do anything wrong from one point of view, but he knew he should have fired Tina months ago. But from the only point of view that actually mattered to him, J
udy, he might as well have had Tina splayed out, legs spread, fucking her brains out on the receptionist desk. Hello life, could you please lube it up before you shaft me this time. He raced off in the direction of their apartment, hoping only that she would still be there by the time he made it home.

  *****

  Stupid. Stupid girl. Judy didn’t know what to do as she jumped from the black SUV in the parking garage of their apartment building. It took everything in Mark and Aaron to keep up with her as she practically ran into the lobby and jumped on the first elevator she could grab.

  “Listen, Judy. Maybe you should talk to him before you do something…” Mark tried to console her.

  “Shut up! Just shut the hell up! I have never once done anything to deserve that type of embarrassment.” She turned getting as close into Mark’s face as she could ignoring the other patrons on the elevator. “I go into his fucking work all the time. How do you think those people are going to look at me? ‘Oh, look at that poor girl. As soon as she leaves Jace will be banging the receptionist in the Janitor’s closet.’ Fuck that!”

  “Ok fine, just as long as you know you’re not going anywhere by yourself.” Mark said sternly matching her stare.

  “I will go wherever I damn well please and not you or any other man will tell me differently!” She cut her eyes at him before turning back to face the door.

  As soon as the elevator doors opened she took off down the hall. She’d almost made it in the door before Mark’s hand grabbed it blocking her from closing it.

  “Just go away, Mark. Both of you, just go away!” She yelled as the tears came running down her face.

  “We can’t do that, Judy. Now please stand here with Aaron while I do a scan of the apartment.” Mark said un-holstering his gun.

  Judy waited impatiently as Mark took off down the main hallway to their right, in the direction of the main bedroom. She watched as he opened one of the guest rooms and walked in. She knew he was purposely taking his time, and a part of her thanked him for that. But she really didn’t want to face Jace right now. She wasn’t strong enough for that. Not now. Mark re-emerged and walked down to the next room, the room Ashley had been taking up residence. He knocked waiting for a response. As the silence grew throughout the apartment Judy looked up catching Mark’s stare. There is nothing more frightening than seeing the fear spread in a grown man’s eyes.

  “Ashley, open up please. I just want to make sure everything is ok.” He said almost shouting.

  Judy tried to make her way down the hall as Aaron grabbed her arm, taking his place in front of her and un-holstering his gun. Judy’s heart was in her throat, beating so hard she was sure Aaron could hear it. She couldn’t see anything now as his large frame took up her view down the hallway, but listened to their exchange.

  “It’s locked.” Mark’s voice traveled from down the hall.

  “Boot it in.” Aaron replied.

  Judy closed her eyes. Please Lord, don’t let her be in there. Don’t let her be hurt. Her body tensed as she heard the loud crack of Mark’s boot against the door busting its frame wide open. She held her breath imagining what scene Mark was taking in, Ashley OD’ed on the floor or shot in a pool of blood?

  “All clear.” Judy let out the breath she’d been holding as Mark shouted down towards her and Aaron.

  Judy pushed out from behind Aaron and swiftly made her way down to Ashley’s room. Ignoring Aaron’s request to wait until the rest of the apartment had been checked. As she walked towards the door she peered inside, noticing the indention in the carpet from where Ashley’s suitcase had been. Her room was completely empty. Everything she’d brought with her, gone. Where did she go? She had been here just before Judy had left for Jace’s office. Sitting down onto the end of the bed, Judy noticed a small white piece of paper neatly folded at the corner of the comforter.

  She took the note but couldn’t open it. Holding it down in her lap, she saw Jace run into through the doorway. Pale, scared, and panting. Before she could protest his arrival he made his way in and knelt down at her feet, placing his head against her knees as he tried to catch his breath. She didn’t want to be angry. She didn’t want to fight or argue about right and wrong.

  “Judy, I am so sorry for what you saw at the office.” Jace panted out between winded breaths.

  “Jace, I don’t…” Judy tried to speak.

  “No. I owe you an apology and an explanation. Please, give me that much and if you still want to leave, well…” His voice sounded small. For such a strong man he looked almost broken. She studied his features, his eyes, his lips. Trying to find any reason that would make her think he was lying, but she didn’t find a trace.

  “Aaron can you shut the door please.” Judy said towards the empty doorframe. Aaron stepped from the other side and pulled it closed.

  “Judy, I know I should have fired Tina months ago. Ryan told me I had to keep her for a year. I think he was testing me to see if I would fuck up. To see if I was truly committed to you because let’s face it, I don’t have the best reputation and I am sorry that you have had to endure that. I am sorry that you have ever had to worry about my commitment to you.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I know you hate the way she looks at me and how she acts around me. I knew that and yet I still allowed it to continue and for that I am so sorry. This afternoon, though it looked completely different, I promise you I was telling her to back off and to leave me alone.”

  “No, you’re right Jace. It didn’t look like that at all.” Judy’s eyes blurred as she fought to hold back the tears.

  “Baby, I will spend a thousand years trying to fix this if I have to. I promise that you are my morning, my daytime, and my night. I fucking love you so much Judy Adams. Never in my life have I ever been so consumed by someone. You are a raging fire and I am nothing but a moth that can’t stay away. Please baby, don’t let me lose that warmth of your fire.” Judy wiped at her face as the tears came down harder. Looking into Jace’s eyes and seeing the remorse and regret, she knew that he meant every word, they were coming from his heart. “Do you know how much I love you? I don’t know what I would do if I ever lost you. I felt that pain once; thinking you were gone and never coming back. It made me realize I can’t go through this life without you.”

  “I know Jace. I feel the same way. When I saw Tina leaning in to kiss you this afternoon a piece of my heart broke completely off.” She stuttered through her sobs. “I felt like my whole world was gone. You’ve been distant the past few weeks, and my first thought was that it was because of her.”

  Jace reached up and pulled Judy down into his lap cradling her with his arms as she lightly sobbed against his chest. Her black hair spilled down around them as he gently rocked her back and forth.

  “Judy, I love you more than anything in this lifetime or the next. I fucking cherish you and I will continue to do that every day for the rest of our lives. No one will ever come between that.” He whispered as his hand gently soothed her back. “I promise you I will never push you away. I promise.”

  After a moment her sobs slowed as she clenched the note in her hand. “She’s gone.” Judy said sucking in a ragged breath.

  “Who’s gone, Baby?”

  “Ashley.” Judy leaned back watching Jace finally notice the emptiness of the room they were sitting in. “She left a note but I haven’t read it. I am too scared.”

  “Let me see it I will read it, Baby.” Jace gently took the note from her hand as she scooted from his lap onto the floor and leaned her back against the edge of the bed.

  chapter seven

  Dear Judy,

  You have become more than a friend to me over the past few years. You have become my family, the one person I know I can always lean on. The one person who I know will always be there for me. I want you to always know that I love you more than you will ever know and because of that I have to leave. I am fighting a demon that you were able to overcome. I know you want to help but this is something that I must
do on my own.

  I am so sorry to disappoint you. All I ever wanted was for us to take on the world together, but now I need to take it on by myself. Knowing you have Jace and Abbi made me realize that you are ok. You’re going to be ok and they will keep you safe. You have people around you now that love and cherish you. I can’t promise you when you will hear from me again, but just imagine that I am on a beach somewhere in Mexico sipping on margaritas. That’s where we always said we would end up. Be safe and listen to Jace. He loves you more than I have ever seen any other man love a woman.

  Love always,

  Ashley

  Judy tried to smooth the wrinkles from the letter that she had read countless times over the past three weeks. Never had she thought that Ashley could have been so selfish. All Judy and Abbi had tried to do was to help her. She thought back to the nights they had sat in Ashley’s room chatting until the morning light came peeking in through the windows. In the back of her mind Judy had feared that Ashley had still been coping with her drug addiction, but every time they had brought it up Ashley had brushed it off.

  From the edge of the bed Judy stood and made her way back out of the empty guest room. Walking into the kitchen she saw Jace leaning over into the fridge.

  “So what’s for dinner tonight?” Judy asked taking a seat at the bar.

  “Oh, I figured I would whip up some mashed potatoes, fried chicken, and some green beans.” Jace leaned up smiling.

  “Seems very… southern.” Judy smirked as she hopped off of the stool. “I will grab the plates and get the table set.

  “Oh, no no. I will take care of that. Why don’t you go have a seat on the couch? I will bring you a glass of wine.” Jace nuzzled the hair at the back of her neck while walking her towards the great room.