A Christmas Affair: A Seaside Cove Romance (Seaside Cove Romance Series Book 1)

by Davies, Cora

  Jack hit the ground hard, his eyes snapped shut. He wanted to focus on standing up, but he also wanted to sleep. Everything was getting heavier. But then he heard Izzie cry out. "Please Chad, please let go of me!"

  The sound of Izzie crying pulled Jack to his feet, and he lunged at Chad stumbling through the drunk haze. He managed to get one blow in before Chad knocked him down again. He felt helpless to do anything as Chad began to kick him in the stomach repeatedly. He heard Izzie scream again, and through a silted eye he could see her grab Chad's arm. "Please Chad, please stop, you'll kill him."

  Chad stopped kicking, and Jack let his eyes close as he drifted off to sleep.

  ###

  Jack woke up in the backseat of Mike's truck. "What happened?"

  "Dude," Mike said looking over the headrest. "You're lucky we got you out of there before the principal saw you."

  "What happened?" Jack asked again sitting up quickly, then regretting it as he vomited on the floor in front of him.

  "You're cleaning that out." Mike sounded pissed, not like himself. "I was hoping if I let you sleep it off a few hours, you wouldn't do that again."

  They were driving down Main Street from the high school back to Jack's neighborhood. "Again?"

  "You got drunk man, really crazy drunk. Got into a fight with someone, vomited all down by the lockers, and passed out."

  "Oh goddamn, Molly's probably pissed." He leaned his head against the back of Mike's seat as the lights from the storefronts flashed over the floorboards.

  "Uh, you don't remember? I drove Molly home first; she's done with you man." Mike made a pitying sound. "Man, you kept telling her you had to see Izzie. Where was Izzie? You needed Izzie."

  "Izzie?" Jack muttered. Had he gotten into a fight with Chad? Had he gone after her again? "Give me your phone, I gotta call Izzie, make sure she's alright."

  "She's fine man. Molly said you gotta leave her alone." Mike stopped at a red light and grabbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "You're lucky she said she ain't going to press charges, but that is if her parents don't see what a mess she is and make her."

  "Press charges?"

  "You drunk ass, you attacked her, you ripped part of her dress. Molly yelled at you about all this, you really don't remember?" Mike shook his head and adjusted his rear view mirror to see Jack. "I thought Molly was going to punch you in the face. Man you better stay away from whiskey from now on."

  Jack's head swam from the alcohol and fuzzy memories. Izzie crying, he remembered that. He would not attack her though, it had to have been Chad. Right? Jack would never attack a girl. Would he?

  He remembered her bruised arms. Could whiskey really do that to a person? Her dress, the strap. He remembered it in his hand. He would not do that to Izzie, not to Mols. He'd never do that, would he? His head swam with disjointed memories of the night.

  ###

  Jack spent the next two weeks trying to talk to Izzie and Molly. Neither girl would talk to him. Mike seemed to be his only friend that knew what happened, and thankfully he did not tell anyone.

  Jack finally got Izzie to stop and talk to him outside of chemistry class one afternoon. "Leave me alone Jack, if you talk to me again, I will call the police. I swear I will."

  "Is it true then Iz? Did I really hurt you?" Jack's insides ripped when Izzie spoke again.

  "It's all true Jack."

  Jack stopped trying to talk to Molly and Izzie after that, and finished the last few months of high school a recluse.

  Chapter Eleven

  Molly walked to the back door, cursing whoever was there. "Of all the bad timing," she muttered.

  Bad timing for what though? It was not like anything was happening between her and Jack, just a conversation. But with the turn of seriousness, his willingness to stand there and listen to her, she thought they were about to have another conversation. A conversation that was ten years overdue.

  "Delivery, delivery," she said as she grabbed her clipboard off the back wall. Three women were scheduled this evening to drop boxes off. They generally just left them at the back door, it was a safe neighborhood. But sometimes they rang the buzzer to drop them off hand to hand if they saw her car out back. The door buzzed again. "Hold on!"

  Molly unlocked the three locks on the door leaving the chain clasped. She had not gotten the thought about the stranger out of her mind entirely yet, even though Brian told her this morning he had checked out of the Inn and was on his way out of town.

  She pulled the door open as the chain caught. She had two inches to peer outside, and as she pressed her face against the crack, a bouquet of roses smacked against her face.

  "Surprise!" Jeremy said pulling the flowers back so she could see him. He was wearing one of his black suits, her favorite one in fact. His top few buttons were undone and his tie hung loosely around his neck. His hazel eyes were bloodshot, as though he had not slept well in days, but not a single black hair was out of place. He grabbed the chain and tugged a little. "You going to let me in?"

  "Oh!" Molly slammed the door shut, unfastened the chain and threw the door wide open. She grabbed Jeremy by the shirt collar and dragged him in, closing out the cold as soon as he passed into the room. "I've missed you."

  Jeremy reached around to the back of her head and roughly tugged her hair, pulling her back so she was facing him. His mouth pressed hard against hers and immediately his tongue darted out and split her lips open. Molly struggled to breathe through her nose as he quickly covered her face with his own. Jeremy reached down, sliding his hands under her ass he picked her up and pressed her against the wall.

  "How much did you miss me?" he asked as he tugged at her earlobe between his teeth. Molly felt something split inside of her as one part of her wanted to enjoy this moment with her boyfriend, and the other wanted to go finish talking to Jack. She was saved from her decision as the door chimed sounded in the front room, and she heard the faint sound of voices and laughter.

  "Come upstairs with me." Jeremy dropped Molly back to standing and began to pull her towards the stairs. "Up to your apartment. Come on."

  "I can't." Molly shook her head. "I have customers, and no one else is on shift."

  "Tell them to leave. Hell, I'll tell them to leave." Jeremy said walking to the door that separated the storeroom from the rest of the shop. She ran in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

  "Please, just wait," she pleaded. "Rachel will be back from dinner break in a half hour."

  Jeremy squinted his eyes at Molly, and she could see his anger boiling up. He opened his mouth to speak, but then there was a knock on the door.

  "Hey Mols, I have to get back and you have shoppers," Jack said slowly opening the door and peering around the corner. The smile on his face dropped the moment he saw Molly pressed against Jeremy. Molly could not escape the feeling that she should feel guilty for being found with Jeremy, even though he was her boyfriend.

  "Barkeep?" Jeremy said laughing. Molly cringed. She always heard that Jeremy and his friends were rude to Jack, even though they frequented his bar to get away from the scrutinizing eye at the bars on the other side of town. "What are you doing in the crap store?" Jeremy laughed at his own joke and pinched Molly’s butt. Jack looked at Molly raising his eyebrows.

  "Craft store," Jack said with a steeled edge in his voice. "Gift store to be technical."

  "He's just joking," Molly said, but even she knew that Jeremy had no respect for anything that had to do with her business. "Jeremy be quiet."

  "Right," Jack said. "Well I'm gonna go and leave you two. I just wanted to come by to tell you good job on Bridget's show today."

  "Thank you Jack," Molly said sarcastically, face reddening as she thought about the report again.

  "No, really," Jack said. "No way I'd even go on TV, so who knows how I'd act?"

  He smiled at her one more time with his lopsided grin, and her stomach did a flip. Get a hold of yourself! Then he was gone. Jeremy dropped Molly's
arm.

  "Since when does the barkeep call you Mols?" Jeremy asked, jealousy in his voice.

  "I have to get out there," Molly walked into her store, hurrying to catch a glimpse of the back of Jack before he was gone. Jeremy followed.

  "You were on Bridget's news spot today?" he asked loudly. Molly ignored him instead and walked over to the two women who were flipping through postcards next to the counter.

  "Just let me know if I can help you find anything," Molly said with a smile. She motioned for Jeremy to follow her to the other side of the room.

  Molly took a deep breath and quickly explained about the Boughmans moving, what that meant for the Dickens Village, and how she had volunteered to be Mrs. Claus.

  "I don't believe it Molly," Jeremy shook his head and spoke loudly. "You know, you whine and bitch about how I moved to the city, and how I don't make the time to come see you. Then I get here, and you are putting something else on your plate. You know, it takes two to make a relationship work, and you aren't even coming close to doing your part."

  "I know it takes two," Molly hissed. "I'm doing my best, but I had to let two of my girls go in the fall when season slowed down. I started putting in many more hours, probably as many as you," she said quietly, hoping Jeremy would follow her lead and lower his voice. She saw her customers looking uncomfortably towards them.

  "Yeah," he laughed. "Your job here is just as intensive as mine. Sit on your ass all day and gab to your friends. You have no idea how to run a business, and it shows when you can barely keep this place afloat. Then, you go stretch yourself even thinner and go onto this stupid fucking Dickens board." The front door opened as the customers left. "Now you're going to pay someone to run your dead shop so you can go play Mrs. Claus for free?"

  Molly felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she refused to let them spill over. Jeremy was a little right, she was not making a huge effort to go see him. Her job was just as important to her as Jeremy's was to him. But if they were really in love, would they not make the effort?

  Molly let this thought wash over her just as she realized this was just another version of the same argument they had every time they saw each other anymore. "Dickens Village is a tourist boost for the entire town. I make enough in December alone to pay mortgage and utilities for almost the whole winter- and that is after paying my crafters their fees too."

  "And what about a Santa? Kids don't come to see Mrs. Claus, and I doubt anyone is dumb enough to volunteer to be Santa for all those hours. Especially not working next to someone as high strung as you!"

  Jeremy walked to the front door and turned the locks as he flipped her sign over to closed. "Come on," he said grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the storeroom. She dug her feet into the carpet.

  "What are you doing?" she asked feeling angry. How dare he close her shop up an hour early?

  "You don't have any customers now. We're going upstairs," he said, but the emotion in his voice from earlier was gone.

  "Are you kidding me? We're in the middle of an argument," she said stomping her foot. "I'm not going upstairs to have sex with you!"

  "Right here then?" he asked roughly gripping her arm and spinning her around. He pressed against the back of her body, and she could feel his stiffness against the small of her back. "If you want."

  "What the hell are you doing Jeremy?" she asked trying to mask her terror.

  "I'm taking what was promised to me for the past two months. What's mine," Jeremy said hotly against her neck as he reached around and squeezed her breast.

  "Let go of me," she said dropping the mask from her voice and letting her fear through. Jeremy was always rough when it came to sex, but he had never reacted to her like this before.

  "I didn't know you liked playing hard to get," he said kissing her neck. "It's fun when you're mad Mols." Jeremy emphasized the name Mols, and Molly knew he was not only mad at her, but a little jealous of Jack being here earlier.

  His grasp went from tight to painful, and Molly realized he was not going to stop. She picked her foot up and stomped with all of her strength on his toes. She was relieved to find he was still working work shoes, and not boots as her heel connected with his three center toes. He howled and let go of Molly, grasping his foot. "What the fuck was that for?"

  "I told you to let go," she said walking as fast as she could without running, to unlock the front door and flip the sign back over. She felt as though she was shaking to the very core of her body, but forced herself to stay completely still on the outside. She had been angry with Jeremy before, but she had never been terrified of him.

  She flung the door open. "Go."

  The winter air filled the room as the seconds went by and Jeremy did not move. She refused to make eye contact, even though she could feel his glare boring into her. Finally, he stepped out the door. "You are a bitch; you know that? A bitch and a tease. I'm going to have a drink, then I'll be at my parents until you cool off."

  He walked out the door and Molly slammed it shut behind him. Watching as he walked into Jack's bar, she dug her cell phone out of her pocket and called Rachel.

  "Can you come back from break right now? I need to talk to someone."

  Chapter Twelve

  Jack drummed his fingers on the counter as he watched Jeremy drink with his friends. He had come in alone earlier, obviously pissed off and looking to get drunk. Some of his buddies trickled in over the hours to drink with him. Jack wished there was a way to keep the rich assholes out of his bar. They had their own bars to drink in.

  "Hey barkeep, get us another round will ya?" Jeremy shouted across the room. Jack nodded, saying nothing. Jeremy's group was rowdy, and as always it bothered the regulars, but Jack did not worry about any of them causing a fight. After all, these assholes parents signed most of the paychecks for Jack's patrons.

  Jack stood with an empty pitcher below the tap, wondering if he should fill it or make them leave. He wanted to make them leave. He set the pitcher down and looked up at the obnoxious group.

  "Just give them what they want," Eli said. He got into a lot of fights in his early days in town, and probably noticed the look of anger in Jack's eyes. Eli was always good for cooling a situation down. "Ten seconds of happiness ain't gonna be worth the trouble they cause if you cut them off or kick them out."

  "Thanks Eli," Jack said as he allowed his friend's words to wash over him. He was right. Jack slid a beer towards Eli and then walked over to rambunctious men with the full pitcher.

  "Bent over, head smashed in the carpet, she's going nowhere." Jeremy was in the middle of a demonstration that made Jack's blood boil. The man took out his wallet and handed a twenty to Jack. "Keep the change barkeep." He turned back to his friends and continued with his story. "She starts yelling "Ouch! Ouch! My earring is stuck in the carpet" so I say, "you mean I need to pound faster?"

  His friends all started roaring with laughter and slapping their knees. Jack figured them all for a group of kiss asses. He forced himself to walk part way back to the counter, but found he could not keep quiet. He briefly made eye contact with Eli before turning around.

  "You shouldn't talk about your girlfriend like that." Jack wished he could take it back the minute it came out of his mouth. Molly picked a guy like this, she must not care what is said about her in public. "What I mean is, gentlemen don't kiss and tell."

  The group of men started laughing again, all except for Jeremy who took a step closer to Jack. Jack could smell the beer and liquor coming off his breath, and figured if Jeremy was drunk enough, he might be able to cut him off without causing a problem.

  Of course, that only would have been if Jack had not opened his mouth a moment before.

  Jeremy lowered his voice so only Jack could hear. "I might have a bigger house than you, a better car than you, and an infinite amount of money, but who said I'm a gentleman?" Jeremy snorted and turned around to his friends raising his voice so everyone could hear. "Besides, who said this was a story about my girlfrien
d? Although, slut that Molly is-"

  Jack's vision turned red and Jeremy never finished his sentence. Jack grabbed Jeremy's shoulder swinging the drunk man around to face him, and punched him squarely in the jaw. Jack expected to feel a wave of relief fall over him, but he was not done.

  "You asshole!" Jeremy cried and two of his friends jumped up from the table and flanked Jeremy's sides. Jack did not notice them though as he punched Jeremy again. Jeremy tried to deflect it, but his speed and strength were not anywhere near Jack's. Jeremy raised his own fist to strike at Jack, but Jack found himself laughing as he ducked, and Jeremy almost fell over from loss of balance.

  The laugh reduced the redness in his vision, and Jack could see Eli on the ground wrestling one of Jeremy's friends. Jeremy's other friend was sitting back down at the booth, his eyes on his beer. Jack threw Jeremy in a chokehold, and felt satisfied as Jeremy struggled to breathe. Jack barely noticed as a burst of icy air hit the room when the door opened.

  "What the fuck?" Brian yelled as he ran into the bar, and Jack felt hands on his shoulder. "Someone help me get these idiots separated!"

  More hands were on the men, pulling them apart at the policeman's order. Jack was sure they were probably grateful to have the law on their side instead of only their own convictions. The men were pulled to different corners of the room, and Brian walked back and forth as a mediator. By time Brian was done, he convinced Jeremy not to press charges on account of the holiday, and Jack was out two hundred dollars to buy a new shirt to replace the one ruined by Jeremy's nosebleed.

  "What the hell got into you?" Brian asked a few minutes after Jeremy and his friends pulled off in a cab. "You should know better than to be starting fights with those guys. You're just asking for more trouble."

  "He deserved it," Jack said touching the bandage over his fist. Jack's skin had broken when it made contact with Jeremy's teeth. "Ask Eli."