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Jk
JK watched Tabitha leave, taking yet another piece of her heart with her. The look of devastation on Tabitha’s face when JK gave her terrible answer was nearly enough to have JK falling to her knees and begging Tabitha’s forgiveness, but she had to remain strong, for Tabitha’s sake.
As much as she wanted to dissolve into a puddle on the floor and cry, she couldn’t. She still needed to protect Tabitha. So, JK waited a few minutes before following Tabitha back to the mansion. She was becoming quite accomplished at sneaking around the outskirts of the property and avoiding the cameras by now—not that she thought Peter actually put in the effort to check the camera feed regularly.
She watched as Tabitha ran into the arms of her friend, the one who she had cried with earlier today. It made JK’s heart ache to see Tabitha in pain and not comfort her, but she was glad that Tabitha at least had a friend there who seemed to be taking up that role.
The friend embraced Tabitha, who was in tears again, then put an arm around her waist and led her inside. It was too risky for JK to get closer to Tabitha’s window to see what was going on in her room, but she knew that Tabitha would be safe in the house, at least physically.
Emotionally, it might be a different story. JK worried about how much she had hurt Tabitha, but she worried even more about how she could hurt Tabitha should she give in to what she wanted almost more than anything.
Almost.
Tabitha and her friend didn’t emerge from the house for the rest of the day, and JK went home to worry alone. Seeing Tabitha again made her heartsick. She didn’t know whether she wished Tabitha hadn’t come or not.
On the one hand, it hurt, but on the other, at least JK had been near her, something she had thought she would never get to experience again.
She supposed it didn’t matter. Tabitha would never forgive her after this rejection. JK had truly closed the door on any potential future with her. It was the right thing to do, but it still hurt so badly that Tabitha’s safety was the only thing stopping JK from crumpling to the floor and not getting up for weeks.
She fully expected Tabitha not to leave the house for at least a week, given her past patterns, but the very next day, she and her friend—Julie, JK heard Tabitha calling her—went out for a hike. Julie was practically dragging a protesting Tabitha along with her, but Tabitha went anyway, on the threat of “drastic measures,” whatever those were.
JK was just glad that Tabitha had someone looking out for her. She didn’t know if the tough love approach was the best one in this case, but it couldn’t be good for Tabitha to stay locked up in the house, stewing in her emotions. Maybe Julie had the right idea.
JK followed from a distance. She couldn’t see Julie and Tabitha, but she could hear them. Peter was walking with them, though from what glimpses she caught of him, he seemed to be spending more time checking his phone than actually paying attention to their surroundings.
Tabitha and Julie stopped at a clearing, talking about unpacking their picnic lunch. JK crept closer, hiding behind a tree and watching Tabitha. She looked pale and her eyes were puffy, as though she had been crying all night. JK felt like the shittiest person on the planet.
Tabitha and Julie unpacked their lunch and started eating. Julie carried most of the conversation, but Tabitha commented here and there. They offered Peter some food, but before he could accept, his phone started ringing.
“Forgive me, I’ll just be a minute.”
Then he walked off.
JK stared off at him in indignation. What the hell was he thinking? This was a popular hiking trail! Anyone could come across Tabitha and Julie, and that’s not to mention the possibility of someone having followed them here. JK hadn’t picked up signs of anyone following, but there were many trails that led parallel to this one and she wouldn’t necessarily be able to see an approaching group before they were right upon Tabitha and Julie.
Peter was no doubt taking a call from the Queen’s Chief of Staff. He seemed to deem that more important than Tabitha’s safety, and that made JK want nothing more than to punch him in his stupid face.
She took a few steps closer to the tree line, determine to be on hand if anything happened.
The crackling of twigs had her spinning to her left.
Before Tabitha or Julie could react, two men rushed into the clearing. One of them grabbed Tabitha and started dragging her away. The other one pushed Julie away aggressively as if warning her not to come any closer. JK could here the engine of a vehicle from behind the treeline.
It might be too fast for Tabitha and Julie to react, but it wasn’t too fast for JK.
JK moved fast and with her unarmed combat skills quickly grabbing and twisting the arm of Tabitha’s captor until he screamed in pain and let go of Tabitha.
JK reached into her backpack. She had a Stun Gun in there which would disable these men long enough that she could tie them up and then get the police there to deal with them. She moved swiftly and fired two shots taking both men to the ground.
She followed up quickly by taking cable ties from her bag and binding their wrists and ankles while they were incapacitated.
Tabitha’s and Julie’s screams trailed off as they realized what had happened.
“J?” Tabitha whispered, tears on her cheeks, her eyes flicking from the downed men to JK’s face.
“I’m here, Tab. It’s okay.”
Tabitha flew toward her and flung herself into JK’s arms. JK was there to catch her, embracing her fiercely. “I love you,” JK murmured into Tabitha’s hair. Her hair smelled of the tropical flowers of her favorite shampoo and JK just wanted to lose herself in it forever.
