“So good,” I lied. “I miss your hands on me.”
That seemed to ignite a spark within Stella, because one minute she was touching me, and the next her mouth was on mine.
Make it believable, I told myself. If I could do that I would be able to distract Stella enough to disarm her.
I brought my hands to her hips, and lowered my head to deepen the kiss. It felt wrong, so wrong, but I had no choice. Stella moaned when my hands slid up, and shuddered when my thumbs brushed the underside of her breasts. I was aware of Jade, of how she was quietly crying as the scene in front of her unfolded, but I silently pleaded that she would understand. I was doing this for her, and for the safety of our unborn child.
I pressed Stella against me, kissing her with as much enthusiasm necessary to make her believe I was into it, and when her extended arm lowered, I saw my chance and took it.
Jade
I felt sick, and it took everything I possessed not to throw up on the bed. I watched in horror and despair as Reid continued to kiss Stella. Somewhere in my mind I knew what he was doing, but I was too unraveled by seeing them together that reasoning with myself wasn’t possible.
Stella moaned, and I cupped my hand over my mouth to quiet the sob threatening to tear me in half.
It was excruciating.
Painful.
Unbearable.
Seeing them together brought back a tempest of emotions I thought I’d buried, and I was having a hard time keeping it together. The sight of Stella’s hands on him, in his hair, her mouth locked on his was an image I wouldn’t soon forget, and even though Reid was pretending, I couldn’t get past the way his mouth moved over hers.
I felt a flutter in my belly, and that made it even harder to quell the need to cry hysterically, and beg them to stop. I couldn’t take much more.
I diverted my eyes long enough to search for my phone, but deflated when I realized I’d left it in the kitchen. It was all in Reid’s hands now.
I watched through blurry, tear-filled eyes as Reid pulled Stella flush against his body – a body that I’d always thought of as mine – and moved his hands up her body.
I hated it.
Every. Fucking. Second. Of. It.
And then in a flash everything changed.
Reid’s hand moved along Stella’s arm, and quickly moved to disarm her, snatching the firearm from her grasp, and shoving her backwards. She cried out, and hit the floor, and Reid lifted the firearm in her direction.
I inhaled sharply.
“That’s enough,” said Reid. “We’re done here, Stella.”
The bitch was brave, because she slowly rose to her feet, her smile manic.
“You won’t shoot me,” she said defiantly.
“Jade.” I jumped at the hardness in Reid’s voice. “You okay, baby?”
Stella sneered.
“Yeah,” I replied. My body trembled.
“And Daniela? She okay too?”
I clutched my stomach. “Yes.”
Before I could blink, Stella screamed and threw herself at Reid, and I watched as he struggled with her, the firearm between them.
Then it happened.
A gunshot went off and I was the one screaming.
“Reid! NO!”
They both stopped, and fell to the floor. I scrambled from the bed, and ran to where they’d landed. Stella was lying across Reid’s chest, and I saw the blood starting to stain the white uniform she had on. I stood immobile.
Time stopped.
My heart stopped.
Everything.
Just.
Stopped.
Reid grunted and my eyes flew to him as he slowly pushed Stella off his chest. I waited with bated breath to see if she would move, but she didn’t. Reid jumped up, his hands bloody, and looked down at himself searching for a bullet wound. When he didn’t find it, he spun in my direction, and caught me before I collapsed.
Stella remained unmoving, her blood seeping into our carpet, but all I could think about was Reid.
I looked up at him, and burst into a fresh round of sobs.
“Ssshhh,” he cooed, pressing kisses on my head. “It’s okay. I’m fine, baby. I’m not hurt.”
Just then we heard footsteps storming down the hallway, and in the next breath our room was filled with cops, followed by Reid’s father, and Dane. They took in the scene, and rushed to our sides as the cops went to Stella’s lifeless body. Reid continued to rock me, sooth me, and although I was so immensely grateful that he wasn’t hurt, I was having a hard time shaking the image of him kissing Stella. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him yet, so when I felt two strong hands wrap around my arms, I was relieved to see it was Dane.
He bent down, slid his arms under my legs and around my back, and lifted me. I didn’t object. I didn’t have the strength to. So I tucked my head into his neck, and cried as he walked me out of the bedroom.
To my surprise, Dane took me to the living room, and gently placed me on the sofa. He noticed my shiver, despite the hot temperature in the house, and wrapped a quilt around my shoulders. He left me for a few brief seconds, and then came back with a glass of water, and a wet dishtowel.
He crouched in front of me. “You okay?” He asked quietly. He lifted the dishtowel, and started wiping my face.
I shook my head. How could I be okay? I watched the love of my life, the father of my child, make out with his psycho ex, and now her body was lying in our bedroom. I didn’t miss the order in which those thoughts occurred. I should have been more upset about the dead body, but if I was honest with myself, I was more fixated on the image of Reid kissing Stella before the shit hit the fan.
It was messed up, I knew that, but I couldn’t change how I felt.
“We’ll have an EMT check you out,” said Dane. He rose to his feet, and I grabbed his wrist before he walked away.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
He nodded once, and then left just as an EMT walked in through our front door. Dane pointed at me, and then disappeared down the hallway.
The EMT checked me over, made sure the baby was okay, but I was absent the entire time. My mind was stuck on ‘replay’, and as hard as I tried to expel everything from my head, I just couldn’t.
When the EMT was satisfied that I didn’t need to go to the hospital, he joined the rest of his team. They brought the gurney out – when had they brought it in? – And my eyes followed as they wheeled Stella’s body out of the house. Reid came into the living room, his eyes wild, and his movements frantic, but when he tried to wrap his arms around me I pulled away.
“Don’t touch me,” I whispered, eyeing the dried blood on his chest. My throat started closing again but I shook the feeling away, and diverted my gaze.
“Jade?”
I heard the hurt in Reid’s voice because I felt it too. I was being grossly unfair, but before I could talk to him, I needed a few minutes to myself. I was wrong for pushing him away after what we’d just been through and yet I couldn’t stand the thought of him touching me after his mouth and his hands had been on her.
“Reid.”
We both looked up and Reid’s father was standing next to a detective. Reid sighed, and after giving me one last pleading look, he turned and started talking to the detective.
All the sounds, the talking, the people drifted away, and I found myself standing, and heading towards the nursery. Luckily Reid didn’t follow me, so I shut the door behind me, and curled into the rocking chair.
I STARTLED AWAKE when the door to the nursery opened. Reid stuck his head in, and I noticed that he was freshly showered.
I looked up, and found his sad, hesitant eyes regarding me carefully. His face, illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the window, was harrowed. Like me, he must’ve been exhausted. It was already three a.m., and our house had now just fallen silent. We were alone again, and I’d never felt further apart from him than I did at that moment.