One Simple Memory (16 page)

He looked into her eyes and licked his lips. “I think you’re hot, too.” He smiled, leaning into her and gave her kiss on the lips. “I want you to be able to tell me everything you are thinking, feeling, or even wonder, Jenn. We are in this together.”

“I know.”

“My biggest regrets in life are letting my father control me and leaving you.” He kissed her forehead and looked back into her eyes. “These are two things I want to make up for. I am not going to let my father control me anymore, and you are my life now. You were mine when we were kids, but I was stupid then, ruining things. I will do everything in my power to make up for that mistake.”

“I never knew why you ran from me, you didn’t really explained it to me. You just said it was too dangerous. Why didn’t you just trust me, Sean?” She wanted answers for the past, even a little bit of one would help her move on from it.

Sean adjusted Jenn in his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “I did trust you, Jenn. I didn’t trust my father. The night I left you…that night I knew you were going to tell me your feelings. I noticed all the little things between us, especially your feelings. I felt them too. But that was the night I let my father’s control go too far.” He swallowed hard. “I killed my first hit that night, right before I met with you. And if my father had that much control over me, I knew it was too dangerous to have you around. I had to break ties with you, no matter how much it hurt us both.” He blew out a breath.

Tears began to run down her cheeks, and she swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “You killed a man?” She whispered.

“I did. I’m not proud to say that, and I am not proud to say he wasn’t my last either. But I will say, I am not planning to kill again, unless it is to protect you.” He brought his arms around and wiped the tears from her face with his fingers.

She nodded her head in understanding. She knew, or at least understood that Sean was not the kind of man to do something for nothing. He was being controlled by his father, the rat bastard that he was. So if his father was that bad, did that mean her father was just as bad?

“I am not proud of the man I was, Jenn. But I’m not that man anymore.  And if you let me, I promise to be the man you deserve.” He tipped her head up and looked into her eyes and gave a small smile.

She reached her arms up and wrapped them around his neck. She pressed her lips to his and gave him a quick kiss. Leaning back, she smiled. “I understand. I just needed that little bit of closure. I believe you did it to protect me, and I know you will protect me now. But what I need to do now is call my dad and find out what the hell he did that put my life on the line.” She let go of him, wiggled her butt back on his lap and stood up. She reached her hand out to him and he took it, standing up and walked with her into the room.

Jenn sat on the side of the bed and picked up the hotel phone. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Sean and hoped she was making the right decision. She dialed her father’s number and waited. The phone rang three times before she heard his deep voice.

“Hello?” James Samos spoke.

“Daddy.” Jenn spoke softly. Here was the man she had loved and thought was innocent her whole life, but now knew differently. She cleared her throat.

“Jennifer. Baby girl, is that you?” James’ voice stuttered, it sounded as if he was going to cry.

Jenn knew that voice, she had heard it once before when her mother had died.

“Yes, daddy, it’s me.”

“Where are you, baby girl?” He asked.

“I’m safe, daddy.”

“But where?” His voice got louder, sounding concerned.

“What did you do, daddy?” Jenn wanted answers. She knew her father was probably upset and concerned, but she didn’t really trust him anymore.

“What do you mean, Jennifer?”

She could hear the suspicion in his voice. Knowing her father just went from her pet name to her full name, she knew that he knew exactly what she was talking about. She wasn’t his naïve little girl any more. She gripped the phone tightly. “I think you know, dad.” She spit out. “Tell me why there’s a hired hit on me.”

There was silence on the other end. She knew she struck a nerve; she had him. If he didn’t answer her honestly, she would never speak to him again. She would wipe her hands of him. She would never forgive him for everything that had come to past.

“Well…I am waiting.” She gritted out.

She heard him sigh. “I’m sorry baby girl, I fucked up.”

“You fucked up?” She screeched. “You more than fucked up, daddy. I don’t know exactly what you did or why, but whatever it was I will never forgive you for it. I now know that your shit cost mom her life, and now it’s costing me mine.” She growled. “You need to fucking fix this, how could you do this to us? Don’t you love me? Didn’t you love mom?”

She heard a crash on the other end of the phone. It was as if he was breaking things while talking to her. “Yes, I fucking loved your mother, and I love you, too.” He was breathing heavy. “I made a big mistake back then, and I’ve paid for it ever since. Fuck.” She heard another crash.

“Well, what the fuck happened now? Why are there men after me? For fuck sakes, dad, did you not learn the first time?” Her body began to shake in anger, her emotions were getting the best of her. The fear, anger, hate, everything was building up while talking to the man she once looked up to, only to find out it was all lies.

“I was trying to fucking protect you, to protect my business.” His voice seemed defeated. All his anger seemed to be gone, the fight in his voice, vanished. “Connor always tried to ruin things for me, so I tried to ruin him back.” He sighed.

She looked up at Sean. “So, you are trying to say this is Mr. Green’s fault?”

Sean cocked his eyebrows and tilted his head.

“Yes. Jennifer, my business is not all that legal.” He answered. “And neither is Connor’s. I won’t get into details. But to make a long story short, he turned a few of my men against me to go work for him. So, I disrupted one of his shipments and one of his men were killed by accident.” She heard him blow out a breath.

Jenn brought a hand to her head and closed her eyes to try and stop the tears. “You’re telling me I have some crazy people after me because of your fight with Mr. Green? Over drugs? It is drugs, right?” She opened her eyes and took a breath. She couldn’t believe the petty bullshit coming from him.

“I’m sorry, baby girl. I really am. But, yes.”

Jenn couldn’t believe her ears. He actually admitted it. He came clean to his sins of the past and present. He was a horrible man, a selfish, horrible man. “I can’t believe this. You were my world, daddy. The only parent I had left. But now, I am sorry to say, you’re nothing. You got mom killed. And the same man who killed her is after me. You obviously aren’t man enough to fix it, so goodbye, dad.” She hung up on him, setting the phone down in its cradle and let the tears fall.

Sean pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her.

“I hate him so much.” She cried out.

“Shh, it’s okay. I got you.” He held her head to his chest and rubbed her back.

She looked up at Sean and wiped her face. “We sure struck gold in the parent gene pool.” She laughed.

Sean grinned and shook his head. “Yeah, they sure are fucked up, aren’t they?”

“If or when I become a mom, I don’t ever want to be like our fathers.”

“You would make a wonderful mom, Jenn.” He leaned in and kissed the side of her mouth, then the other side, then pressed his lips to hers. “Your mom was amazing. I am sure you will take after her.” He smiled.

She playfully slapped his shoulder. “You are going to make me cry again, and I don’t think I have any more tears left in me.”

“I’m only being truthful.”

A few deep breaths, gaining composure, Jenn sat up straight. “Okay, so what now?”

Sean sat up, putting his hands in his lap and gave a teasing smirk. “Well, we could, you know…” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Jenn laughed. “You are becoming a fucking horn dog, Sean.”

“Only with you babe.”

“Well, no!”

Sean chuckled and shrug his shoulders. “Okay, well what would you like to do?”

“Hmm, well Simon knows we are here. He isn’t exactly ramming through the door for me, but I don’t want to hide in here all the time.” She pouted. “How about we go to the casino again, show ourselves out in the open, and have lunch in the diner again. We will see if Simon tries anything.”

Sean sighed and narrowed his eyes. “Okay, but you need to stay close. I don’t trust Simon, but for you, I would do anything. And, if I go to the bathroom, you come with me.” He grinned wickedly.

They had been at the casino for an hour, and no signs of Simon. Jenn was still upset, but was beginning to relax a little knowing that Sean was beside her and wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She kept her eyes peeled and her fear below the surface. Simon may be out for blood, but she wasn’t going down without a fight.

After an hour at the slots, she was breaking even. Her mind kept going back to her dream and to Simon and the whole situation as she played. She wasn’t having the fun she thought she would, but at least she was out of the room. The slots were such a mindless game, just having to insert the coins and pull the lever. She was in her own little world; she didn’t hear Sean calling her name.

“Jenn!” Sean called and lightly shook her shoulder.

Jenn was brought out of her daze when she felt her body being shaken. Suddenly all the noise and lights were apparent to her again. She heard Sean’s voice and looked at him. “Sorry, was thinking about things.”

“That was some deep thought.” He chuckled.

She grinned at him. “Yeah, sorry.” She finally noticed the alarms going off on his machine and looked at it, then him again. “You won?” A surprised look came to her.

“Yeah, babe, I did.”

“That’s awesome, how much?”

“Five thousand, I think.” He winked at her and smiled.

Jenn got excited. She jumped up off her stool and gave him a hug. “Holy shit, that rocks.”

People all around the area were beginning to look in their direction to see what the commotion was about. Members of the casino began to approach them to validate the win and to escort them to the cashier for their winnings.

After cashing in, they took a walk to the nearest pizza place and grabbed a large one to bring back to the room. Sean thought it was best to stay indoors. He wanted to try and plan out his next steps for keeping Jenn safe.

Back in the room, Sean set the food on the table, grabbed a few bottled waters from the mini fridge and turned some music on with the phone. He kicked his shoes off and sat in a chair across from Jenn at the table. He handed her a bottle of water and opened the delicious smelling pizza, taking a slice.

Sitting at the table in the room, enjoying a slice of hot pepperoni pizza, Jenn looked like she was in a world of her own again. Sean hoped she would fill him in on her thoughts soon.

She swallowed her bite of food and looked up at Sean. “Sean, I’ve been thinking.”

Thankful for the interruption and that she was finally going to open up, he finished his bite and set down his slice of pizza. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked up at her. “Okay, and what were you thinking?”