Losing Light

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jackie strokes my hair as I sob into one of my pillows. I cling to the sheets, until she move me closer to her so I'm laying on her chest. I wrap my fingers around the cotton of her shirt. I feel like such a...a shitbag. A traitor.

"I'm a horrible person." I sob. The look on her face. The shock. The last words she told me before she was dragged away. I remember collapsing into Jackie's arms and telling her to take me home.

"No, you're not." She immediately replies. "You couldn't handle it, Reyna. It had to be done sooner or later."

"I broke her heart." I whisper and curl closer to Jackie. "And she loved me. She said so herself. I fucking love you."

"I'm sorry." She mumbles and gives me a quick squeeze. "Maybe when she gets out, you two will be ready for each other again. But don't hate yourself for it, you overestimated your strength. It's difficult waiting for someone who's incarcerated. She'll understand eventually."

I sigh, and nestle closer. I hope she's right.

____________

I return to work with my eyes red and my skin feeling like it wasn't even mine. It really wasn't. It was hers. She was the one that made it come to life.

The coffee cup in my hand reminds me to put it back on the table. Shaking off the burning sensation, I pick up a pen and deal with the paperwork that needs to be done.

One of the lawyers taps my desk to get my attention. It's Jeffrey McCoy. Broad shoulders and oddly thin legs. A scowl that would make you laugh until he punches you for it. That happened once, in a bar. Linda, the other secretary, had told me about it. Then again, she was a notorious gossip that changed every other word in everything she heard. So, probably not.

But Jeffrey's scowl is still hilariously sad.

"Reyna, is it?" He asks gruffly.

I mentally roll my eyes. I've been working here for months, and you'd think he'd remember my name. "Yes, it is."

"I was walking inside, and there's a reporter asking for you. Told her she couldn't come in, but she asked for me to ask you to talk to her."

Probably for a chance to get his tiny penis wet. Shit, I'm even thinking like her. "What about?"

"About your jailbird fiancé."

I mull quietly. "Ex-fiancé." I correct. "And no, I'll have to refuse that offer. I've got things to do. Paperwork to fill. Calls to take."

"Talk to her," he says, a bit threateningly. "Or there'll be a cut in your salary."

His father was a partner. An all-around nice guy. I have no idea how Jeffrey happened. His mother must have been a b-a really mean person.

"You have no control over those sort of things." I retaliate. "Besides, your father and I are friends, and he wouldn't be very happy to know that you've been threatening a secretary rather than working on a case."

He shuts his mouth quick after that, and glares at me as he walks away. I smile weakly to myself. One battle's been won today, but I really don't see how I can manage to do this if it might happen everyday.