My Mythical Best and My Mythical Worst

The Time Has Come

***Jaden***

     Michael left the living room and I entered. Link looked so confused and I sat down and leaned on him. He wrapped an arm around me and we sat back against the couch. I cuddled into him a little more and he said "who's Jack?" I was surprised but I didn't want to have another fight with Link after such an amazing night. 

     "Did Michael tell you anything about him?" I asked and Link shook his head. I sighed and said "I think we should talk about this somewhere else. Would you like to go get coffee? I know a great place in town." I siad and gave him a smile. He smiled back and got up. 

     I went to the kitchen and asked Michael "can I borrow your car? Link and I are going out for a bit today." He tossed the keys and I caught them, "mom said everyone has to be here by three for the lawyer to come by and do willing." He said. "Oh. Alright." I said and frowned a little. 

     I walked outside where Link, Eli, and Zeek were talking. I walked up behind Link and wrapped my scrawny arms around him. He jumped a little and placed his hands on mine around his waist. I put my head on his shoulder and he said "see you guys later." and kissed my cheek and we walked away. I turned to wave and Eli waved back teasingly. I rolled my eyes and started Michael's car. 

     I gave Link the tour of White Cloud pointing out little things here and there. I pointed out the place where I had my first car accident, and the creek where Michael pushed me in before we were supposed to be in the creek, and where I had my first kiss with my first boyfriend. He smiled the whole time and laughed about the creek and we pulled into the cafe. 

     I ordered a chai tea and he got a latte with a shot of espresso in it. We sat down at a table and I sighed. "Link, I don't want to fight again, and I know you don't want to either. I just want to warn you, what I'm about to tell you is scary for me to talk about and it makes me upset." He reached across the table and grabbed my hand and smiled sweetly. 

     "Jack is my ex-husband. We were married for about a year when he got back from Afghanistan. He was a marine and was deported on October sixteen, 2014. We had gotten married in November because we knew he was leaving. When he came back he had changed. He drank a lot and he hurt me in more ways than I can count." I started crying and Link rubbed my hand, "the night I left him, he tried to rape me and I ran home to my brother who wouldn't let him talk to me and the beat his ass when they found out what he did. That was when I decided to move to L.A. because I wanted to be far away from him. Somewhere he couldn't find me or hurt me ever again." I finished. Link was furious and I could tell. He was trying to be calm and was doing pretty well at it but I could see right through him. 

***Link***

     I was so angry. I wanted to go find this Jack guy and kick his ass. I was trying so hard to remain calm for Jaden but it was harder than I thought it would be. How could someone want to hurt her? It was unbelievable. I wish I had been there to protect her. I wanted to blame myself for what she went through but I knew it wasn't my fault. At least I knew why it was so hard for her to come back here. I wouldn't want to either. Not after I was hurt like that. 

     I just held her hand and tried to keep her calm. "Maybe we should leave." I said when she calmed down a little. An excited voice screamed from the door, "Jaden!" She looked behind me to the door and a huge smile spread across her face. She jumped up and ran toward the door where there was a girl with red hair standing with a tall brown, curly haired guy, and they had two children with them. The girls embraced each other and hugged for a few seconds and they all walked over to where I was sitting. "Link." Jaden said excitedly, "This is Katie. She is my best friend. That's Marcus, her husband and these are their kids, Auburn, and Alexander. They are twins." I smiled at the family and shook Marcus's hand and Katie's and the young boys hand. The little girl stood behind Marcus and was smiling shyly.

     We ate lunch with them and then left to talk some more. On the ride home it was pretty quite until I said, "I love you, Jade." She looked at me and smiled and took a hand off the steering wheel and placed it on my leg. I smiled and placed my hand on hers.