Several weeks had gone by. Everything had gone smoothly, no word from Shane, everyone had been getting along, and for once, everyone seemed happy. I knew how Jesse felt about me, and let me say, I've used that to my advantage. Several times, I made it a point during the day to sneak up behind Jesse and kiss him on the cheek. I had just gotten out of bed and my head was killing me. I walked to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, thinking maybe I just needed some caffeine. "Good morning J" said Andi, standing in the kitchen. "Hey Andi," I said. "You okay?" she said, touching my head. "I just have a killer headache this morning. Nothing a little coffee won't fix" I said, taking a sip.
"Good morning Jenny Avery" said Jesse, looking down from his newspaper, walking towards me. "Good morning Jesse Marinos" I laughed, not looking up. "Someone's too energetic this morning". "Put a shirt on you freak" said Andi, standing in the kitchen. I glanced up and saw Jesse standing there, shirtless. I could stare at those God-like abs for hours. "No one wants to see that" said Lacy, walking in. "Jenny does" said Becca, trailing behind her, laughing. I shook my head and laughed. "You okay, J?" Becca walking over to me. "Yeah, I'm fine" I said. "I just have a headache". "Chug some water girl" Becca said, throwing me a bottle of water.
"I'm going to go workout if you want to join me". "Actually, I might" I said. I walked with Andi downstairs to the gym. "It's kind of weird not seeing Claire at the bar". Andi grinned, "I guess you're right". I tightened my shoes and laid down on the bench. Above me, a bar full of weights hovered. "You got that J?" said Andi, spotting above me. "I think so" I laughed. I reached up and grasped the bar. I could feel the calluses build on my hands from the textured bar. I depressed the bar, only to overestimate my skills. Using all the strength I had, I pushed my arms up. "Impressive" said Andi. "Do you know how many pounds that was?". "No" I said. I didn't even bother to look at how many weights were set previously on the bar. "Girl that was four-hundred pounds" she said, pointing at the weights. I decided to get on the treadmill and run for a while.
Exasperated, I laid down on the floor. "I can't move my legs". "Tough it up buttercup" said Andi, pressing a barbell. I saw Andi rack her weight, then stand up. She walked over to me and extended her arm. "C'mon, let's go upstairs". I stood up and glanced down at the hard wooden floor. A layer of sweat coated the floor, outlining where I had laid. "That's disgusting" I laughed. "Just goes to show you were working hard" said Andi, patting me on the back.
As we walked upstairs I heard Jesse and Elena bickering in the living room. "I'm telling you Jesse, that's not how it works" said Elena, shaking her head. "Well, I'm going to make it work" Jesse said, storming out of the room. "What's his deal?" Andi asked. "Jesse thinks he's God" Elena laughed. "What now?" I said, rolling my eyes. "I—think it's best for him to tell you" Elena stammered. "Andi, a word?". Confused, I nodded and told them I was going to take a shower. I excused myself from the room, then suddenly I heard Andi cheer in excitement. I figured Andi and I were close enough if it were something serious, she would tell me.
I walked to my room and got undressed. Becca was sitting on the chair reading a book. "Since when do you read" I laughed. "This one looked interesting" she said, not looking up. "Whatever" I smiled, shutting the bathroom door. I felt disgusting, my body was caked in sweat and chilled. Quickly, I got into the hot shower. I could feel my tense, aching muscles relax as the hot water gently soothed them. This was exactly what I needed.
After roughly thirty minutes, I finally had put on a light brown tank top and a pair of black boxers and walked to the living room. I was met by Lacy, Elena, Becca, and Andi. "What's up?" I said, grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator. "The boys are out in the barn being idiots, and we are staying warm in here" laughed Lacy. "Want to watch a movie, J?" said Elena. "That sounds perfect to me" I said, jumping over the back of the couch. "What are we watching". "I don't care" shouted Andi from the other room. Lacy hit a button on the side of the wall, and a long shelf of movies extended out. "I didn't know that button did that" Becca said, staring at Lacy. "Well, what did you think would happen?" Lacy laughed. "I thought it would explode or something" Becca said. Andi burst into laughter, "You're joking right". "No, I'm serious!" said Becca. By now, all of us girls were laughing. Lacy grabbed a movie out of the rack and put it in the DVD player. "If you know anything about Lacy, you know she's a sucker for romantic movies" whispered Elena. Andi made a gagging noise, and Lacy hit her with a pillow. "Don't worry Lace, they're my favorite too" I said. "Not you too!" sighed Andi.
After several tissues and chocolate bars, we decided to call it a night. I looked at the clock and realized it was already eight o'clock. "We've been watching movies all day" I laughed. "There was nothing better to do" said Andi, winking at me. "You look tired J," said Elena. "I am" I yawned. "You should get to bed" said Lacy. "I probably am going to have to" I said as I stood up. "I think I'm going to call it too" said Becca. "I don't want to wake you up when I come in". "Goodnight you too" said Andi. "Night" I said, walking down the hallway.
~
"I hate lying to her" said Elena. "You don't think it kills me?" I said. "This is serious business. Jesse would kill me if I told her". "Where have they been all day?" asked Lacy. "Jesse took Luka and Conner to the warehouse, they had to make some deals" I said. I hated lying to Jenny, I really did. But I knew if I told her that Jesse was planning a heist, then she would try to intervein. Jesse would be livid with me. I figured it would be best to try to distract Jenny all day, that's why I assumed she would want to go workout with me. Then Elena almost blabbered when her and Jesse were fighting. Thankfully, Jenny had to take a shower, giving me plenty of time to explain to Lacy and Elena what Jesse was doing.
It was almost eleven when I finally heard the car door slam shut. Elena had fallen asleep on the couch next to Lacy, who was silently reading. Elena shot her head up when we heard the car door shut. "Is that Luka?". "Let's go" I said, standing up. I opened the door and rushed outside. Lacy pressed the button on the kitchen table, allowing it to extend an extra four feet. Conner walked in and powered his computer on. He made the curtains go up so no one could see in or out of the house. I helped Jesse carry giant (and not to mention heavy) boxes into the kitchen and sat them on the table.
"You did good Marinos" I laughed, unloading the boxes. "I thought so too. Is Jenny in bed?" said Jesse. "She crashed around eight. We watched movies all day and let me tell you, that girl can bench" I laughed. "That's my girl" Jesse laughed. There was no denying it, Jesse really loved Jenny. I don't believe in love, but those two were certainly something else. Elena's eyes glowed as she unloaded a box. "Jesse, if I didn't know any better, I would kiss you" she said, cheering like a child on Christmas. "Hey!" shouted Conner, annoyed. Elena laughed and blew a kiss at him. "Did Mitch give you any trouble?" I asked Jesse. "Not one bit. He wants Lincoln dead as much as I do" he responded. "We all want Lincoln dead Jesse," I said. Suddenly, I heard a gasp, and saw Jesse whip his head around.
~
I slept for what felt like forever, when I was suddenly awoken by what sounded like a car door. "What the hell?" I whispered, shooting my head up. Startled, I walked over to the window. I couldn't see through the window; it was all black. Worried, I figured it would be smart to check what was going on. I could hear voices coming from the kitchen. Glancing at the wall clock, I noticed it was past eleven. Not wanting to wake up Becca, I snuck out of the room as quietly as I could. Once I got to the kitchen, my heart sank. There were what looked like hundreds of boxes stacked on the table. Everyone stood around the boxes unloading them onto the kitchen table. Guns, knives, bombs, any kind of weapon imaginable were sitting on the table. I felt myself let out a gasp, afraid to be caught staring. My legs were glued to the floor. I couldn't stop staring at the table, when finally, Jesse's eyes met mine.
"Jenny—" he said. "Don't" I said, staring at the table. "What the hell is all of that". "Well technically—" started Luka. Jesse spun around and glared. "Not now" Jesse sneered. "C'mon, let's go in here". "No, whatever you need to say you can say in front of everyone else. Because clearly, Becca and I are out of the loop AGAIN. Jesse, I thought you trusted me" I said, eyes welling. "I can't believe you". "J, we didn't want you to get hurt" Andi intervened. "Get hurt? Seriously Andi. As I recall you were the one who said I can figure out how to fire a gun. I was the one who shot your psychotic brother TWICE" I screamed. I was fuming, scared, and most of all confused. Why on Earth would they hide this from me.
"Okay. I'm going to go to bed… because I… am exhausted. We are going to talk about this is the morning" I demanded. I was so livid I could barely get my words out. I turned my back and didn't say another word. As if it were instinct, I went to Jesse's room. I pulled back the silk covers and laid down. Before I knew it, I was asleep. Maybe an hour later, I could feel Jesse's weight join the bed. He wrapped his arms around me and inhaled deep. I could feel him kiss the back of my head before he fell asleep. "I'm sorry baby" he whispered. Pretending to be asleep, I just laid there with my eyes shut. I could feel soft tears rolling down my eyes. The sound of Jesse's rhythmic breathing slowly made me fall back to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up next to Jesse. He hadn't left the room, which I appreciated. I rolled over and faced him. To my surprise, he was still asleep. Dry tears were crusted along my cheeks. Glancing at the clock, I realized it was only six. Jesse was laying on his back, still sound asleep. I watched as his chest slowly rose and fell. "Watching me sleep is kind of creepy Jenny Avery" said Jesse, his eyes still shut. I put my head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "You know I'm still mad" I whispered. "Don't do that… it's too early" groaned Jesse. "You're an ass" I laughed. Jesse leaned over and kissed my head.
I knew since Jesse was still tired, I'd be able to get some answers out of him. "Jesse, why did you bring home all of those guns". "Because I want to protect you" he said. Needless to say, I wasn't expecting that as an answer. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. "I knew you would tell me no" Jesse laughed. "I can take care of myself Jesse" I whispered. "I know you can. But I'd never live with myself if something happened to you, so I need to be more prepared than I already was" he said, bossily.
I knew Jesse was genuine. We laid in bed for a while before we finally decided to get up. Jesse walked to the bathroom, and I stayed in bed and stretched. I pulled the giant curtain back and glanced out the window. "Jesse, look" I pointed as he walked out of the bathroom. He walked to the window and pulled the black curtain back to reveal a gorgeous sunrise. "It's beautiful" he said in awe. I stood up and wrapped my arms around Jesse's back. "It sure is". "Can we enjoy the fact that nothing has gone wrong since we've been home?" said Jesse. I laughed as Jesse spun me around a kissed me. "What was that for?" I smiled. "I—" started Jesse.
Suddenly, Jesse's bedroom door swung open. "Jesse!" shouted Luka. "I need you!!". "You always come in at the worst times" laughed Jesse. "Can we go to the barn?" said Luka, clearly bothered. "Sure man," said Jesse. Jesse grabbed his flannel coat, kissed me, and walked out of the room. "Huh" I said to myself. I decided to get dressed, so I walked to my room. I figured Becca was already awake, so I opened the door. As I looked in my room, I couldn't see Becca. "B?" I said, looking around. I realized the bathroom door was shut. Concerned, I knocked on the door. "Becca? Are you okay?". I opened the door and saw her crying on the floor. "Oh my God Becca! What's wrong?" I said, scrambling to the floor. "Jenny" she sobbed. I knew something was seriously wrong because she never called me by my first name. "What's wrong?" I said, frantically grabbing her arms. Becca continued to sob. "I'm pregnant".