Chapter Fifteen

 

Sinead was a nervous wreck, she had never been threatened before and suddenly she felt extremely unsafe. It was a foreign feeling to constantly look over her shoulder and stare at every person that looked at her for more than a couple of seconds wondering if they were the person torturing her.

When she left Jaxson’s apartment she was on cloud nine. Everything was brighter, smelled better and she had the energy to spare.

All of that came crashing down when she walked around to the driver’s side of her car and found the word whore keyed into the door and all four of her tires punctured.

Her lungs felt like they had collapsed, she was drowning in fear. She didn’t think she had ever had an enemy in her life but suddenly she had someone very upset with her.

Her legs felt like jello as she made her way to Jaxson’s office. She was a strong independent woman but even she had to draw the line at being mostly naked in a parking lot with a disabled car.

Carla had been a comfort, she didn’t ask too many questions and let her sit in Jaxson’s office while they waited for a break in his appointment schedule.

For a while she was able to calm herself, it helped to have puppies being paraded back and forth. The nurse had let her cuddle with a few who were being kenneled in the back. She was thinking how wonderful his job was when she heard a panicked woman rush into the lobby.

Sinead peaked around the corner and saw a very sick dog in the woman’s arms. She wasn’t even sure if the dog was still alive, it wasn’t moving. The woman was in tears saying the dog had gotten worse in the last hour and she didn’t know what to do.

Carla jumped into action and brought her back to an exam room. The family who had been waiting in the lobby for their appointment readily agreed to reschedule so the woman could have their spot.

It only took a couple of minutes for the office to fill with movement. She heard the nurses mention emergency surgery. That poor woman might lose her dog and Sinead didn’t know how much pain the animal must be in. Suddenly her problems didn’t seem to big of a deal. She called a tow truck from her cell phone and much to Carla’s objections she left when it arrived.

Sinead didn’t know how long those kinds of surgeries took and she wasn’t about to spend any more time in lingerie waiting for him when all she wanted was a bath and a bottle of wine.

All of the fear and anxiety rushed back when she saw her car again. The tow truck driver was sympathetic, besides giving her a look of understanding he stayed quiet on the ride to her townhouse.

She’d never felt the need to look around before entering her house or to even check every room before she settled in but now she felt it was a necessity.

Her cell phone had rung repeatedly on the drive over but Sinead didn’t want to take that particular call in the cab of the truck. As she hung her coat up the phone lit up again. With a resigned sigh she picked it up, “Hi Bonnie,” She listened for a minute, “I know I’m late but something came up and I’m not going to make it back in this afternoon.”

Bonnie wasn’t an idiot, she heard the emotion in Sinead’s voice and knew it wasn’t happiness. “You don’t need to castrate Jaxson, he was perfect. Something happened to my car,” she paused and shook her head, “no I didn’t get into an accident.” It was clear Bonnie wasn’t going to give up till she had all of the information.

“Someone slashed my tires and keyed the word whore into my car.” Sinead pulled the phone away, Bonnie’s curses could be heard loud and clear. She listened as her protective secretary railed against their over-eager client, swearing it was him. Sinead wasn’t going to accuse him when he had done nothing to prove he wasn’t completely harmless. “Asking me out and bringing me flowers does not make him a dirt bag. If that were the case than Jaxson was that and more.” Her head fell back as she listened to Bonnie’s arguments. “If I agree to report it to the police will you drop it for now? I need to decompress for a while.”

After promising two more times that she was okay and didn’t need Bonnie to come sit with her she finally got the worried woman off the phone.

Without ceremony, Sinead grabbed a bottle of wine and took a deep gulp straight from the bottle. This was not a sipping kind of day. She took the bottle with her and went to soak her worries away in the tub.

After the last few drops of wine were gone Sinead was feeling good and nodding off in the water.

Loud banging on her front door had her jolting upright. Fear gripped her anew, was the person back for more? Determined to face the asshole she stomped to the door and swung it open, the empty wine bottle already coming down to hit the intruder.

Jaxson’s fast reflexes allowed him to grab the bottle out of her hand at the same time as wrapping her in his arms and kick the door closed. For a long minute, they held each other without needing to say a word. Finally, a thought penetrated her drunken mind. “That poor dog didn’t die did he?”

Jaxson pulled back and stared at her incredulously. “You answer the door buck naked, ready to attack and you ask me about my patient a minute later?” He stared into her eyes and saw her glassy unfocused stare.

She saw him look down at the empty bottle in his hand then held it up, “How full was this when you started?”

Sinead shrugged, she had no intention of answering if he was going to judge her. He waited patiently for an answer. “Fine, it was brand new, okay.” She huffed and spun on her heel. She didn’t have a plan but felt like that was the right move to make after declaring you just drank almost an entire liter of wine on your own. She didn’t want to admit it but she felt almost as woozy as she did the night of Koira’s bachelorette party.

Her head spun as she was lifted into his arms and carried to bed. Jaxson kicked off his shoes and laid down, pulling her against him. He spooned her, lightly running his fingers up and down her arm.

This is what love feels like was the last thought before she dozed off and dreamt about lying in a field watching a white cougar run around her playfully. The peacefulness of her dream had her sighing in her sleep.