My Thorns (Jenna Ortega X Emma Myers)

Chapter eight

Jenna

Jenna woke up with a loud groan as she tried to open her eyes, only to shut them close a second later as she found her room, although her curtains were closed, was too bright for her. Her head was throbbing, and she felt like the whole world was spinning.

She really needed to stop drinking. As often as these kinds of mornings occurred, especially in the past month, she couldn't get used to it, nor to the way her stomach was twisting painfully. She felt too sick to move. She had to, though, as it was a little past seven in the morning and she was already late for work, and the brunette wasn't going to give her boss one more reason to hate her.

What had even happened the evening before?

The detective slowly sat up, massaging her temple to ease the pain as she tried to recall the event that had led to her drinking so much.

She didn't have to think for too long, she perfectly remembered going to the bar to investigate her serial killer, yet not finding out much. She then remembered how that woman had tried seducing her... had lied to her to get her way with her.

Jenna felt disgusted by this, even... even quite mad at herself. How could she fall for such a silly trap? Maybe that woman didn't want to hurt her, but it didn't make the fact that she had manipulated her to get her home better, at all.

Hell, Jenna was a detective and had been for years, she was supposed to be smarter than that. Especially when there was a serial killer on the loose who kept on trying to outsmart her.

...and succeeded in doing so, too.

The brunette then felt a wave of dread hit her as a frown made its way to her face.

There had been another woman that evening, who had tried to protect her...?

Jenna wasn't even sure anymore. She did remember her using her name, even though she was sure she didn't know who that person was. And... was that a warning? She told her to be careful, right? Or was that just Jenna's mind playing tricks on her?

God, she didn't even know, her mind felt foggy, and as hard as she tried, she couldn't remember what happened exactly, only some flashes remained. This was so unprofessional of her, she might have seen -or even met- the criminal she was looking for, yet she had drunk too much to remember it.

Jenna knew she needed to get herself together, she couldn't let something like that happen again, couldn't let people play with her so easily. She had to regain control over the situation and over herself before she got in trouble.

Finally finding the strength to get up, the brunette made a promise to herself.

This was a new day and a new time for her. She'd never let anyone abuse her so easily again, she'd take control, will act confidently, and catch that murderer.

***

It was eight and two minutes when Jenna arrived at work, and she prayed that her captain hadn't noticed her absence during this short time. Fortunately, he wasn't at her desk waiting for her with his usual sly smile, so she figured she had gotten there just in time. Perfect. She was way too exhausted and hungover to deal with him.

Everyone seemed pretty busy already, and she quickly spotted Georgie in the corner of her eyes talking with their Lieutenant, probably about their case.

It had gotten much more serious, and everyone was aware of that. She knew many people talked about them, probably not in the best of ways as Jenna knew she didn't have that many friends there, she wouldn't be surprised if they doubted her abilities to catch the killer.