One Wish Left

CHAPTER 29: APOCALYPSE

Jesse had just expended an ungodly amount of energy, but the adrenaline that surged through his body at the look on Laura's face sent him hurdling over the edge of the ring to her side with impressive speed.

She held out his phone numbly.

Seeing there was no active call, he flung the phone to the floor and searched her eyes. "Bean, what's wrong?"

A tear flowed over one of her wide, green eyes as she shook her head. "Jess. I'm so sorry."

Chad appeared at Laura's side. Though he had blood streaming down one side of his face, he was apparently—and perhaps unfortunately—not in as bad of shape as Jesse had thought.

"What's wrong, babe?" Chad asked as he tried to pull her in for a hug.

But to Jesse's shock, Laura gently pushed him away.

"I need a moment with Jesse. Please," she said with a soft, yet firm voice.

Chad looked crestfallen, but after a moment he said, "Okay," and walked away, graciously taking Kieran with him.

Jesse looked back at Laura, the concern in his heart for her threatening to break it. He needed to know that instant what was wrong. He felt flat-out murderous at the thought that someone might have said or done something to hurt her.

He placed his hands on her upper arms. "Tell me," he pleaded.

"Is there someplace we can talk?" she asked, her voice strained.

Jesse could tell she was barely holding it together. Without answering, he took her hand and led her back to Marco's office. He shot a look at Luke, hoping he'd get the message and grant them some privacy.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Laura turned and sobbed into his arms.

"Oh, Jesse. I'm so sorry," she repeated.

He wrapped his arms tightly around her, one hand bracing her back, the other smoothing over her hair. "It's okay, Laura Bean. I'm here. It's okay."

She let out another big sob. "But it's not okay!" Looking up at him, she added, "And it's not fair!"

Her childlike protest made him want to smile, but he resisted. "What's not fair?"

"You're always losing people." Jesse went still as she put her head back on his chest and went on. "Always losing family. It's so unfair." He silently begged for her to get to the punch line of this whole thing, but he waited as she sniffled. "And it's unfair to me, frankly. I'm always the one having to give you the bad news! You're going to hate me for it."

That did make him smile. He lifted her chin back up to look at her. "Laura, I can assure you that is impossible. Now would you please tell me what happened?"

She took a deep breath and held it for a moment. "It was your mom. She called about your granddad. He's... he's dead," she let out.

At first, he felt nothing. Not a damn thing. He just stood there.

Then, as his anger for the old man slowly began to bubble up, he stepped back from the embrace. He and Granddad had come to a sort of truce in recent years, mostly based on the arrangement of seeing one another as little as possible, but now all the old resentment flooded back in. And with it, came thoughts of Brodie.

As he began to pace the small office, he thought how strange it was, how grief layered upon grief. How a fresh loss could take one back to a feeling of loss from long ago. He suddenly felt as though he were losing Brodie all over again. As if his father were dying in front of him once more.