Chapter 53

When I woke up a few hours later, the first thing I noticed was that Jess was not in bed. I haven’t woken up without her beside me since her accident and of course I immediately felt panic. I jumped out of bed and walked quickly into the living room area of the hotel room where I found Jess sitting at the table typing away on her laptop.

“Erm, good morning?” I said, wondering how the hell she got in here and what was even going on. There was a handful of boxes apparently full of our things in the corner of the room as well.

“Morning baby,” Jess greeted me, barely looking up from the screen of her laptop. I rolled my eyes even though I knew she wasn’t looking and strode over to the table to sit beside her, discovering that she had a plate of half eaten cookies next to her. I mean they were literally half eaten. All of them.

“What the hell, were you checking these for poison?” I laughed as I sat down. She glanced over and smiled sheepishly at me.

“I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

“How did you even get in here and where did all our things come from?” I continued with the questions. “How long was I even asleep?”

“I called Holly and asked her to bring some of our things. She helped me out here before she left about an hour ago. And umm it’s about one in the afternoon, so awhile,” she explained.

“Okay… So what are you doing now then?”

“I am literally about to send the final version of the book to my management and assuming they think it’s okay it should be published within the next few weeks,” she said, smiling at the end.

“Oh, so that’s why you’re ignoring me,” I pouted. I saw her smile before turning to look at me and kissing me briefly on the lips before going back to what she was doing.

“I promise I’m almost done,” she said.

“Right, well I’m ordering room service while you do that,” I said as I stood up and walked toward the phone.

As I looked through the menu I realized that this hotel literally served everything you could possibly think of. Even things you wouldn’t expect. Like, who the hell orders hotdogs from hotel room service? I shook my head and instead ordered a few different kinds on entrees, assuming Jess probably hasn’t eaten yet either. When I finished my order, I turned back toward Jess to see her still concentrating on that screen.

Quietly, I made my way over to her so that I was standing behind her, and ever so slowly crouched down so that I could attach my lips to her neck. I felt her jump at my touch but she never said anything and continued typing away. Challenge accepted.

I moved my lips up toward her ear and lingered there before moving across her jaw and eventually back down to her neck. She tried to shake me off once but I persisted. My hand went around the back of the chair to squeeze her waist. I could see the slightly glazed over look in Jess’s eyes through the reflection in the laptop screen as my hand slowly eased under her shirt.

“Elena, what are you doing?” she said almost breathlessly, trying desperately to concentrate on what she was doing. I smirked against her neck as it became clear that I was really getting to her.

“I just want some attention,” I stated playfully as I started kissing her across her cheek, working my way toward the corner of her mouth. She sighed and shut her laptop, finally turning to me and kissing me back.

“You act like such a child sometimes,” she told me. “You’re lucky I was finished.”

“Oh, am I?” I challenged. She rolled her eyes at my retaliation but I assume she was trying to be the bigger person here as she changed the subject.

“So, I found a house I think we should go look at.”

“Oh really? Where is it?” I asked her curiously. I could see the excitement light up her eyes as she pulled me down to sit on her lap.

“It’s out in the country and secluded. The house looked amazing from the photos I saw. I set up an appointment to go see it tomorrow morning,” she said excitedly.

“How secluded are we talking?” I laughed.

“Far enough away to where we won’t have to worry about unwanted guests. But close enough so that we’ll be in civilization in less than an hour. And I was told the schools are great over there,” she winked.

I was about to make a comment when I heard a knock at the door followed by the announcement of room service. I kissed Jess once more before legging it across the room to get the door, realizing how hungry I actually was.

“So what did the police say this morning?” I asked while Jess and I sat together at the table eating the food I’d ordered.

“They fixed the door and said they’d be watching the house for a while. They didn’t find anything other than some of our things broken and that note,” Jess answered.

“I see,” I nodded thoughtfully. “What are your plans for today then?”

“My plans haven’t changed since yesterday. I’ve finished my book so…” she trailed off, looking at me expectantly.

“So, what?” I said, faking ignorance. I full well remembered what she said last night.

“If you’re gonna be mean I’ll just find someone else to cuddle,” she pouted.

“I’m not mean,” I stated as I cleared our empty plates from the table. Jess was just too easy to mess with sometimes. Maybe I was mean. “Why don’t we go watch a movie or something then?”

“Sounds perfect,” she smiled. Once I was done clearing up I helped Jess back to the bedroom. She was having a much easier time now since she could bear at least some weight on her leg. I’d say it wouldn’t be long before she could start walking on her own again.

Once Jess was on the bed I stacked a shit load of pillows up against the headboard and threw Jess the remote as I sat down beside her. I draped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into me as she scrolled through the seemingly hundreds of movie choices we had. That was when one of the titles caught my eye.

“Wait, Jess stop. Let’s watch Selena,” I suggested.

“Selena?” she questioned, giving me a confused look.

“Yeah, you know. About that singer that was really popular in the 90s,” I explained.

“No, I don’t know actually. I’ve never seen it.”

I was taken aback by this to be honest. Selena was one of my favorite movies and I thought Jess of all people would have seen it at least once or twice. I, myself, have probably seen it a million times.

“Okay, well you’re going to see it today,” I said as I clicked play for her.

“All right then,” she laughed as she snuggled into me.

We sat there for the entirety of the movie holding onto each other. Despite all the bad that’s happened the last two days, this was probably one of my favorite moments. I knew that as long as I was holding onto Jess she’d be safe. In no way was I concerned about myself in all this. All the threats were toward Jess and I knew that I’d need to protect her until the police could satisfy things on their end. I just wish I could do more. I hated knowing that Jess was in danger and there was nothing I could really do.

As we got to the end of the movie, I felt Jess stiffen as she’d realized what became of Selena in the end. I probably cried at least the first ten times I saw the movie and it seems Jess was no different. In no time at all I felt tears soaking the front of my shirt and neck. Gently, I ran my fingers up and down Jess’s spine as her shoulders shook with quiet sobs. The credits started to roll and so I turned the TV off, assuming we wouldn’t be watching anything else for a bit.

“You bitch, why would you make me watch that?” Jess said through the tears as she tightened her hold on me even more. I couldn’t help but laugh which probably didn’t help matters.

“It’s one of my favorite movies,” I told her.

“You just wanted to see me cry,” she accused. “And all that actually happened?”

“Yep, that’s exactly what happened.”

“I hate you,” she mumbled into my shoulder.

“Well, I love you,” I told her as I kissed her forehead. Suddenly, she jumped out of my grasp and reached over to grab the remote, turning the TV back on.

“We’re watching The Notebook now.”

A/N  There's only two more chapters left. Just so everyone is prepared.