Storm Of Pain

chapter 28

"You ready to go?" I asked Jennifer as I walked into my room, seeing her finishing up her makeup. She had a beautiful black dress on with a slit that went up to her mid-thigh. It was a dress that had one-off shoulder and one strap that fitted her body like a glove. It had a glitter effect on her top half as she moved in the light. Her hair was curled and let down, letting her long hair bounce from her lower back.

Turning to me she grabbed her bag and smiled, showing off her pearly white teeth that the red lipstick had no problem making it more visible as well as her beautiful eyes that stood out more with the dark smoky effect she had done with her eyeshadow.

"Yep, let's go, they're all waiting on us probably,"

Calleb had invited my entire family to a function his family was hosting. He was inviting all his friends from high school and the area to this function just like he always did, I would need to keep Jennifer close to me tonight with how beautiful she looked. She's grown more confident with people seeing her arm. She realized she had nothing to hide, she should actually be proud because that was evidence that she saved people's lives. She may have lost an arm but that doesn't make her any less beautiful.

"You look gorgeous," I whispered in her ear as we got into the back of the car, making her blush with a small thank you being whispered back at me,

"You look stunning dear, so do you, Joshua," My mom gushed. My family instantly loved Jennifer. They wanted to know everything about her. At first, they were shocked I had brought a girl home with me, but that quickly went away when they started talking to her. She was nothing like the girls I used to hang around with in high school, and for that I was thankful.

After a ten-minute drive of Diana not sitting still, wanting to get out and play with one of her friends she'll be seeing at the function, we finally arrived. I sighed in relief as we got out. The little girl was my entire heart, but she can be a bit much sometimes. She instantly ran out and went to look for her friends while I helped Jennifer out of the car, careful with her heals, letting her reach about the same height as me.

"Joshua! Over here!" Calleb yelled and motioned us over to him and a group of people,

"Guys, this is Joshua as most of you remember and his girlfriend Jennifer. You two, meet guys," He laughed, obviously lazy with introductions. What shocked me though was seeing Missy coming over and giving Calleb a kiss on the lips. It was obvious it shocked Jennifer as well after I saw her mouth falling wide open,

"Missy?"

"Hey guys, nice seeing you here. How's it been being off for a bit?"

"Um, it's been good. Since when have you two... been you know...?" Missy laughed at Jennifer and wrapped her arm around Calleb, ignoring the other people subtly looking over at Jennifer,

"We've been on and off for a few months but we decided to make it official and public recently,"

"Oh, well I'm happy for you two," She said, getting over the initial shock before me,

"I always suspected it you know," I said chuckling,

"Oh I know," Calleb laughed with me,

"I'm Kaden, this is Peter and this here is his girlfriend Amanda, nice to meet you," Kaden introduced his small circle to Jennifer,

"Nice to meet you,

"So military?" he asked her, trying to flirt, obviously ignoring me standing right next to her,

"Yep, what gave it away? Was it the arm?" She raised her eyebrow, getting what he was doing. She pretended to be a little offended as she crossed her arms,

"I didn't-"

"It's rude to stare you know. Baby," She turned towards me with puppy eyes. If you didn't know her as I did you would think she was utterly serious, but it was obvious to me that she was playing, "Yes, love?"

"He's mocking me!"

"You're mocking my girl, buddy?"

"No! I wasn't- I didn't mean- I'm sorry!" He spluttered when I glared at him. Jennifer burst out laughing with the rest of us,

"I'm joking. Yes, military,"

"How'd it..."

"Happen?"

"Yeah,"

"Got bombed and shot from the air. My jet went crashing and I got kidnapped, let's just say the kidnapper and I had a bit of... issues." She said smiling at him, his mouth agape. That was a very basic version of what happened. Even though she was starting to open up to more people about it, she wasn't going to go into detail. Jennifer was still seeing her therapist and that was where she would talk in detail if she wanted to, not with some stranger.

"Ladies and gentlemen! If I can have your attention please!" Calleb's mother spoke into a mic at the front,

"Thank you all for being here tonight! It means a great deal to us all at the company that you could make it! I-" Misses Hemmings was cut off by a loud BANG from outside followed by a shout and then the kids running inside with tears down their cheeks. They dragged a small boy from the outside, blood following him in a trail as he was being dragged. In the distance, I could hear a mother screaming and running to her child as I walked around and shouted at everyone to keep calm. They listened to me and stayed at their places, the mom crying over her boy. I found Diana in the crowd and pointed for her to go to my mom just as Jennifer, Calleb, Missy, and I pulled our guns out.

"Us that-"

"Shut up and don't move," Jennifer snapped at Kaleb when he eyes the guns just like everyone else,

"Diana, was any of the other guests outside?" she shook her head with tear strained eyes, looking at us with wide eyes just like the rest of the kids,

"None of the guests, no. Although, I'm offended I wasn't invited to this party," A man with dark hair and a formal suit came walking in with a smirk, gun in hand.