Chapter Twelve
Janie sat on the floor between Archer’s legs, leaning her back against the couch. He gently massaged her shoulders and neck, even though she knew the position must be killing his chest.
No matter how much she’d argued with him that she didn’t need a massage, he’d given her a sad puppy dog look while he begged her to let him take care of her. His kindness was too much to resist. The feel of his warm hands somehow steadied her, reminding her that he would be there for her no matter what Matt and Brad said.
“I thought we decided to be friends,” she said, letting a teasing lilt creep into her voice. “Do friends generally give each other backrubs?”
Archer snorted, sounding amused. “Your best friend is a massage therapist. Hasn’t she ever given you a massage before?”
“Well, sure. When I get hurt at work, Larissa’s always the one who helps me with the pain.”
“See then?” He continued massaging, his touch gentle. “Nothing weird about this.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “When a man puts his hands on me, I expect something different than when Larissa does it.”
She swallowed quickly, wondering what the heck was wrong with her. Was she actually trying to flirt with him? After everything that happened, he must think she was crazy. How could she consider flirting with anyone right now?
“I might expect something different myself, if we were doing this under better circumstances.” Archer didn’t sound disgusted by her lapse back into ‘normal’ Janie. If anything, he sounded thoughtful. “Perhaps in a few months, once we’re better friends, we could think about a different kind of massage.”
She twisted around until she could see his face, pleased by the smile he flashed her. “A few months? But you’ll be healed in six weeks.”
“Ah, that’s true,” he agreed. “But a storybook romance isn’t all about sex, right?”
She giggled, unable to stop the happy flutters that erupted in her chest. How could he put her at ease like this when she’d been so nervous and upset just minutes earlier?
“I hate to break it to you, Archer, but Larissa has infected you with her optimism.”
He laughed along with her. “It’s not too bad of an infection to have, to tell you the truth. If it’s contagious, maybe you’ll catch it too.”
“Ugh, I’ve avoided it for so-o-o long!” she protested, pouting. “You don’t know how long she’s tried to pass this along. Now, you’re telling me you want to give it to me too?”
“Even if you look so cute when you pout, that won’t stop me from giving it to you,” he said.
She arched an eyebrow, feeling more daring now that she was at ease with him. “Is that really the only thing you want to give me?”
His eyes widened momentarily, and she swore she saw heat behind his gaze before his expression shuttered and he shook his head. “Let’s deal with one thing at a time, friend.”
She laughed again and faced forward, leaning back so he could continue his massage. Somehow, even though he’d casually rejected her, basically saying he didn’t want to have sex, it made her feel good inside. It wasn’t anything to do with her desirability. She’d seen that hungry look, however momentarily he’d displayed it. He desired her, but he wanted something different than all the other men she’d been with.
It was weird, but Janie could almost believe that was a good thing.
A knock on the door shot her stress back to its previous high levels.
Climbing to her feet, she then went to the front door, letting Brad and Matt into the house and leading them back to the living room.
Brad had a look of obvious concern, as he reached out for her shoulder. “Janie? What’s happened?”
Flinching when he touched her, Janie realized she might be more traumatized than she’d imagined. While Archer’s hands felt soothing and safe, it seemed another man’s touch, even someone she trusted like Brad, wasn’t okay with her body.
Realizing something was wrong, he jerked his hand back. “Are you angry with me about something?”
She shook her head, a sudden lump in her throat making her unable to verbally reply. Her stomach twisted with knots of fear. She didn’t know if she could do this. Telling them and having them confirm that it was all her fault was more than she thought she could deal with today.
Larissa appeared from the other room, Lilly walking unsteadily behind her while Larissa carried a tray of drinks for everyone. She set them on the mantle of the fireplace, rather than the coffee table, well out of reach of little hands. “Have a seat, gentleman,” she said, passing drinks to everyone.
Matt’s kind eyes darted between Janie, Larissa, and Archer. “Are we sure this is something we should talk about with Lilly in the room?”
Larissa shrugged, scooping Lilly up and placing her in the corner where all her toys were. “She’s too young to understand and once she gets playing, this girl has a lot of focus for a baby. She’ll be fine.” She took a place on the couch next to Janie and Archer, taking one of Janie’s hands in her own and staring across to the island’s managers. “Janie had a problem last night with another employee, and you guys need to take care of it.”
“A problem?” Brad arched an eyebrow, face then twisting into a frown. “What sort of trouble was it.”
Janie tried to open her mouth to speak, but hot tears welled in her eyes and she knew as soon as she talked they would start to fall. Why was this so much harder than telling Archer had been?
Larissa squeezed her hand in encouragement, and on the other side of her, Archer rubbed her arm softly.
“Do you want me to tell them,” he asked in a quiet voice that Matt and Brad wouldn’t hear.
“N-no,” she finally managed. “I have to do this.” She took in a deep breath, deciding to just let the tears fall if they had to. She hated being vulnerable in front of others, but the other women on the island deserved protection. If it was just her involved, she’d never say anything, but Archer had been right. She couldn’t leave that douchebag free to do whatever he wanted.
***
Archer felt twitchy in the uncomfortable silence that followed Janie’s recounting of her night with Jaden. Matt and Brad both simply stared at her, seeming unable to formulate the right words. After several long heartbeats, Janie’s tears increased, and she twisted on the couch, burying her head against Archer’s shoulder.
“I told you they wouldn’t believe me!” she cried.
Archer gathered her into his arms, hissing with pain as he pushed her head against his chest, but not caring. “She’s not lying,” he said, keeping his voice ice cold as he glared at his bosses.
Brad blinked and shook his head. “No, of course not. I know that better than anyone! Janie doesn’t lie.”
Well, Brad sounded angry, but Archer suspected that anger was for Jaden, not because Archer had accused him of not believing Janie’s recounting of events.
“Janie,” Brad continued, more gently although the tinge of anger was still present, “we believe you one-hundred percent. You wouldn’t lie about something like this. We were just stunned for a moment. Even with all the people working here, nothing like this has ever happened on the island before, at least not that anyone reported.”
The careful way Brad worded that made Archer wonder just how many women had been assaulted but chose not to report it, perhaps fearing, like Janie, that no one would believe them. Unfortunately, it was much more likely they’d been too scared to come forward rather than believing nothing had ever happened like this before.
Matt cleared his throat, drawing their attention. Janie had finally settled down enough to look at him without sobbing. “I actually received a call from Dr. Peterson this morning. Seems Jaden went to his clinic late last night because his nose had been broken and he couldn’t get the bleeding to stop. He also has a fractured wrist.”
“You broke his nose and his wrist?” Larissa asked, a wide smile on her face. “Way to go!”
This made everyone chuckle, if a bit uneasily.
“I was desperate,” Janie finally responded. “I knew I was taking a risk by headbutting him. If I did it wrong, it might have hurt me much worse than it hurt him, but I had no other choice. I couldn’t get a submission hold on him with the way he had me held down. I guess I did the hold a bit too well. I can’t say a part of me didn’t want to hurt him at that point, but I never imagined I’d break his wrist. No matter what, I knew I had to make sure he wouldn’t chase me and do something worse...”
Her voice quavered with renewed fear, and Archer clenched his teeth so hard his jaw ached. He stroked her face and forced himself to smile. “You did good, Angel. You were so brave.”
Matt nodded his agreement. “Plus, him having those injuries corroborate your story. You’ve been on the island for three years with no record of issues. We can prove you wouldn’t have attacked him unprovoked if he tries to claim otherwise.”
Brad finished off his drink and then leaned forward in his chair, dangling the glass between his knees. “What do you want to do, Janie? A rape would be hard enough to prove, even with evidence. Since he didn’t get that far and only held you down and threatened you before you got away, I’m not sure what our legal recourse is. I’d like to call the Hawaii State Police over and throw his ass in jail, but I’m not sure we can do that. We could likely get him on assault and maybe attempted rape, but he’s the one who ended up hurt so I’m not sure whether that would be easy to prove either.”
Janie shook her head. “Don’t call the cops. I don’t want to face him again. Even if he’d raped me, I wouldn’t press charges. With my reputation, I’m shocked that you guys all believe me. No one else will. Besides, it’s my own fault for going to his room and everyone knows that, so all I can do is—”
“It’s not your fault, Janie,” Brad roared in a more forceful voice than he’d been using to this point. “This is on him, and if there was any way to hold him legally responsible, you bet I would. If you want to try, we’ll back you up and go after him anyway.”
Relief flooded through Archer. Brad reaffirming that this wasn’t Janie’s fault was more than he’d hoped for, but it was good. The more people who reminded her of this, the more she might one day believe it.
Matt and Brad exchanged a long look that seemed to communicate something before Brad continued speaking. “It goes without saying that he’ll be fired and kicked off the island. Not only to protect you, but for all our other employees we can’t risk him getting another chance at someone.”
“You need to make a formal complaint, though,” Matt continued the thread of the conversation. “If we fire him, we need something to back up our reason. Even if you just report it to island security.”
Janie trembled in Archer’s arms. “I don’t want to tell everyone about this.”
Brad held up a hand. “I have a better idea. I want you to meet with Chelsea. Something like this calls for a therapist. If there are problems down the road, Chelsea can be our witness that we had cause to fire him.”
Archer remembered that Chelsea was Brad’s wife, one of a team of psychologists on the island there to help the McCallister Paradise Family of employees with issues they had.
Janie let out a long sigh but didn’t argue.
“It might be a good idea,” Archer murmured against her hair, hoping she wouldn’t mind him putting in his opinion. “You have a lot of issues to talk about, not just last night. Maybe you should meet with her more than just once.”
Larissa shot him a warning glare, as though to remind him that Janie didn’t trust other people with her past and he shouldn’t have mentioned anything. He knew she was right, but he had a feeling that, no matter how much he wanted to help Janie find her self-worth and heal from her past, he wasn’t professionally trained. He would be here for her, but she needed someone who knew what they were doing. Especially if her dad kept sniffing around, trying to get her to see him.
Janie finally nodded. “Fine. If Chelsea doesn’t mind, I’ll see her. Can you get rid of Jaden without me having to confront him about what happened?”
“Yes,” Brad answered. “He’ll be gone before the end of the day. Do you mind if I give Chelsea a head’s up about why you need to see her?”
“...If she’s the only one you tell,” Janie said after a brief pause. “I don’t want this getting around. No matter what you all say, there’s no one on this island besides you and the other McCallister siblings who will believe I didn’t deserve this or ask for it with my dating history.”
Archer met Larissa’s eyes over the top of Janie’s head, and she gave a small shrug. They were never going to convince Janie this wasn’t her fault. All they could do was hope Chelsea could convince her over time and help her come to terms with what happened. Well, that, and be there for her.
Archer held her a bit tighter, kissing her head even though he knew he probably shouldn’t do so with his bosses in the room. “I don’t want to piss you off by saying it so much, but you know this wasn’t your fault. We’re here for you, Angel, and I promise I won’t let something like this happen to you again.”
He needed to get better from his rib injury fast. As much as he didn’t want to think about Janie being with other men, if she was going to continue dating, he needed to be well enough to follow along and assess the men she chose before she went off alone with them.
Some might call that stalkerish, but Archer also figured it’s what a good friend would do. Especially one who wanted to be a boyfriend in the future, not just a friend.
“I thought I was safe from being hurt with what I was doing,” Janie said softly, almost as if she were talking to herself. “I protected my heart from pain and lived the life I thought I wanted.” She shook her head, snuggling closer into his embrace, although her body felt tense. “What the hell have I been doing? The only way to protect myself is to stay away from people entirely, not sleep with them. I’ve been so stupid.”
Larissa also overheard Janie’s mutterings and gave him another worried look. “Sweetie, you have to pick the right people to be around, that’s all. You don’t need to avoid everyone. Archer and I are here for you. Don’t forget that.”
“We are too,” Brad spoke up from across the room, though he likely hadn’t overheard what Janie said. “Maybe you and I didn’t work out as a couple, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you a whole lot. The entire family does. We’ll take care of this and be here for you. Let me call Chelsea and see if she can speak with you today, and then Matt and I will go pay a visit to the bastard who is soon to be an ex-employee.”