Under His Protection
Chapter 17

Zane woke first so he went and started breakfast, putting on a pot of coffee. Not getting much sleep he needed it to wake up. He heard the shower running and knew Jade was up and he pictured her naked as the water ran down her body. God, he knew he had it bad for her, so shaking his head got to the task of cooking.

He was putting the food onto plates when she came into the kitchen wearing his shirt.

“Smells good,” she said, taking in the sweet smell of pancakes and bacon and her stomach growled. There was something different about him this morning. He seemed intense and looked anxious. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m good, and you?” he asked, giving her a smile.

“Except for a few bruises, I’m ok.”

His head snapped towards her. “What bruises?”

She went over to him when he sat down, she stood before him and lifted the shirt up to reveal the love bites he left on her inner thigh. “You were quite beastly last night.”

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry.” Seeing the marks he felt horrible, he had never lost control like that before. Pulling her close he kissed her bruises and felt his desire rising so he stopped, pulling her shirt back down.

“It’s ok, it doesn’t hurt. Now, how about some of those pancakes? I’m starving.”

He pushed her plate towards her.

“I can tell something is bothering you, Zane. Are you getting bored locked up here with me?”

“I could never get bored being with you. But I do think we need to get out of here for a while. Let’s go to the gym, I need to work out.”

Her eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea. Since all this happened I haven’t been to the gym either but will it be safe?”

“Where we’re going it will be.”

“What do you mean?”

The force has its own gym where I always go, it’s for cops only but I’m sure they won’t mind you being there. So why don’t you pack some workout clothes and we’ll go? I might even teach you some defensive moves.”

“I do know one,” she answered.

“Yeah, what’s that?”

She had him stand up in front of her and went to raise her knee to his crotch but he sidestepped, avoiding what might have come.

“That is a good one but won’t help if you get attacked from behind. I’ll show you a few moves later. Now go get dressed,” he said, giving her ass a light slap.

Arriving at the gym they got some strange looks from everyone but Zane said to ignore them. After changing he showed her some moves she could try if attacked. “There are three places that can bring your attacker to his knees, one you already know. Try going for his eyes, dig your nails into his eye socket, go for the throat, one hard blow can drop him. Later they worked out on the treadmill and the bikes.

Three hours later she sat on the bench and watched as he got into the ring and boxed with another officer. “Don’t hurt his face,” she yelled out to the officer who was Zane’s boxing partner, getting a smile from both of them. As good as Zane was his sparring partner was better and had him down after a few rounds.

As he lay there flat on his stomach she went over and touched his face, examining it. “Not a mark. That’s good, I want my man to look pretty for the party tomorrow night.”

He smiled. She called me her man, he said to himself. He pulled himself up. “Let’s hit the shower, women are on the right, men on the left.”

Coming out of the shower, a towel around his waist he grabbed his clean clothes from his locker and started dressing. He heard two other officers talking and laughing and heard Jade’s name being mentioned.

“Man, she’s hot. I wouldn’t mind guarding her body. I’d guard the fuck out of it. I bet she’s one good fuck, lucky Zane,” the one man said.

Coming from around the other side he went up to the loudmouth and shoved him up against the lockers, his forearm going over his neck. “You keep that dirty mouth of yours shut and show the lady some respect.” His eyes narrowed, his anger raging and he raised his fist. But before he could connect it to the man’s face the other guy took hold of his arm to stop him.

“Don’t do it, Zane, he’s only kidding around.”

Backing away from the man he had pinned glared at him. “If I ever hear you talking that way about Miss Edwards again I promise no one will stop me from punching your lights out.”

The guy walked out, leaving Zane and the other officer, Tom alone.

“Why are you so touchy Zane? You can usually handle all the jokes around here?”

“I didn’t like what he said about her, she’s a really nice lady that’s all.”

“It’s more than that, isn’t it? I can tell you have feelings for her.”

He wasn’t about to let on what was going on between them, not for him but for her sake. He didn’t want the other men making jokes at her expense. “No, I don’t have any feelings for the lady at all. She is just a job to me, nothing more,” he answered.

"That's not what you said to me before."

Without replying Zane walked away.

Jade was standing outside the entrance to the men’s changing room, her heart sank when she heard what Zane had said. It hurt and she felt as though she had been used. He had said she was special and meant something more to him than a piece of ass. But apparently, he lied only to get her to keep sleeping with him. She honestly thought he was different from all the other men she knew. The only difference was he had her believing him. Had her believing he had changed from being a player into one who could be with one woman and treat her with respect.

Grabbing her bag went and sat down on the bench and waited for him to come out. Deep in thought, she hadn’t realized he was standing before her till he spoke.

“Ready to go?”

She looked up at him. “Yes,” she answered. Standing up she walked ahead of him. She let him open the car door for her and slid into the seat, waiting for him to go around and get in. She looked out the side window, not wanting to look at him.

“You’re quiet, are you ok?” he asked, looking over at her. She didn’t turn her head to look at him when she answered.

“I’m fine.”

Something must have happened, her happy mood changed to that of being moody. She was so quiet on the ride back to her place and once there he asked her what was bothering her.

“It’s nothing, now if you don’t mind I’m going to take a nice long bubble bath and I don’t want to be disturbed.” She left him standing there with this confused look on his face. But she was hurt by what he told that man at the gym and didn’t want to look at him for another minute.

Grabbing a beer from the fridge he sat down in the living room, resting his chin in his hand. He kept mulling over what all took place after they went to shower. Before that she was in a good mood, joking about not marking up his face. There was no way she could have heard what was said in the men’s locker room, or had she? He wiped his forehead, God he hoped she hadn’t heard what he said about her. He didn’t see any other way but to ask her.

Coming from the bathroom she avoided looking at him and went into the kitchen. He followed her and going up behind her put his arms around her waist. She removed his arms and stepped away from him.

“I can’t take this anymore. What is wrong with you?” he snapped.

“Why? It’s not like I mean anything to you, I’m just a job.”

He hung his head. “You heard me, didn’t you? Back at the gym talking to one of the officers.”

“Yes, and it hurt. I know you don’t love me but I thought we had something special. But to hear that I mean nothing at all to you really hurt me,” she said, tears filled her eyes. “No, don’t touch me,” she said when he tried to hold her.

“We do have something special and I do care about you. I only said that so the others wouldn’t know how involved we are. They were making some crude jokes and I didn’t want them talking about you in that way. I’m so damn sorry you heard what I said, I didn’t mean any of it.” He grabbed her arms, pulling her closer. “You mean the world to me. I hate that I hurt you.” Wiping her tears away leaned down and kissed her.

She stopped him from kissing her. “I know getting involved with me is frowned upon by your superiors. I expect honesty from the people I’m around and I don’t like being used for sex, so if that’s all I am to you then we better stop now.”

“As good as the sex is between us that’s not all it is to me. I like you. We have a good time together, we talk and listen to each other. You’re not only beautiful but smart, funny and have a great sense of humour. What I really like is that you are down to earth, you haven’t let your fame turn you into a spoiled brat. You wear these baggy sweatpants and tops when you’re at home instead of some fancy glamour gowns tells me a lot about your character.”

“I like being comfortable,” she said, giving him a smile.

“There it is, a smile. So I take it you have forgiven me.”

“Oh alright, you’re forgiven. Let’s eat the leftover pizza, I’m starving.”

They were sitting on the sofa, Zane was watching some sports game on TV and Jade was painting her toenails. She glanced over at him. “You know I still haven’t forgiven you completely.”

His head turned towards her. “What do I have to do for you to forgive me? I’ll do anything.” He was thinking along the lines of something to do with sex.

“Anything?” she asked.

Five minutes later Zane, regretting that he said he’d do anything found himself painting her toenails a light pink shade. “You have beautiful feet,” he said, and she laughed.

“Yeah right,” she scoffed. “Hey, watch what you’re doing, you missed one,” she pointed to her baby toe.

“Jade, about the party tomorrow night. Is there any way I can persuade you not to go?”

“No. Isn’t it better if I show myself in public? It just might drive Kenny out of hiding and he’ll get caught.”

“Wait one God-Damn minute. Are you only going to use yourself as bait? If that’s the case I won’t allow it. That’s it, we’re not going,” he barked, Standing up he folded his arms, his chest puffed out.

“You don’t have to go but I am. And stop ordering me around like I’m some kind of kid. Besides,” she said moving closer and running her hands over his hard chest. “You’ll be there to protect me and won’t it be fun to go out, have a few drinks and dance?”

“If you think you can win me over by touching me this way well you can forget it.” He sighed, grabbed her and crushed her against him. “Oh, who the hell am I trying to kid? Of course, you can you little vixen,” he said as he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. God, I’m so whipped, he said to himself as he removed their clothes.