The Awards Show Ch. 15

"Hi." Rhett spoke first, and he glanced downward after with a hand running through his hair.

"You're back early." She said the only thing she could. Jet felt the emotions she had bubbling beneath the surface and she was afraid too many of the wrong words would let them out. They were carefully bottled, but she knew the top of that bottle was just a flimsy cork waiting to pop.

"I...I had to see you, know you were okay." He stuttered a little and took a step forward in her direction. Jet felt her chest start to rise and fall as her breathing grew heavier. The cork was slipping.

"Okay? I'm pretty fucking far from okay Rhett." She said the words and his eyes met hers as she felt the sting of tears waiting to bubble to the surface in her eyes. She took a step backwards into the entrance to the living room and waited.

"You know I practiced about a dozen different speeches in the last few days, but none of them made any sense." His eyes were a little red and Jet wondered if he had cried. For an instant, it made her want to hold him, make him feel better. She never wanted to see Rhett upset, she loved him too much.

"Fuck your speeches Rhett." The words came out calm, but Jet felt a tremble in her body. It was all on the verge of coming out. Her brain was overloaded, and it had barely been able to contain any of it, but with Rhett here...it was entirely too much.

"That's pretty much what I got to. I guess all I can tell you is I was hurting because you wouldn't come with me and Jesse and I could always talk, so I got stupid drunk and I talked to her. The rest, well, we have history and it just kind of happened. And, I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry. I got a new phone the day after the wedding and I heard your messages and I realized that I was just a piece of shit. I had no right to be hurt or upset with you. I promised you we would move at whatever pace you needed and I... I fucked up. I fucked up and..." Rhett stepped towards her more until he was looking directly down into her eyes. Then, he knelt down in front of her. "I'm sorry baby. I'm so sorry. Please, please forgive me, please."

Tears came out of Rhett's eyes and Jet felt like she couldn't breathe suddenly. Jet needed him, and having him this close activated that primal craving she always had with Rhett. He made her feel safe and he had become her home somehow. She loved him more than she had ever loved anyone and he was on his knees now begging for forgiveness. Her stomach knotted and the tears left her eyes. All the pain, all the hurt from the last few days came bursting through with a shriek as Jet sank down in front of him.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARD! I NEEDED YOU! I LOVE YOU!" She screamed out as her hands went to his chest.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU MAKE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU? HOW COULD YOU MAKE IT SO MUCH BETTER AND THEN DO THAT?" Sobs wracked through her frame as she started to slam her palms on his chest as she spoke. Jet sobbed and gasped for air between. There was nothing in her mind, just blackness, a hole where she had been filled not even a week before.

"I don't know why. I'm a fucking idiot and I messed up. I messed up so bad, and I would give anything to take it back. I love you so much Jet. I think I've loved you since the first night we met. You make all this make sense, and I just don't know why I fucked it up."

"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T GET TO FEEL BAD! YOU DID THIS! YOU HEALED ME AND THEN YOU FUCKING BROKE ME WORSE THAN EVER!" She screamed at him and then her hands gathered in his button down shirt and she ripped it open. She needed to destroy something. She needed something to take away the ache that was tormenting her soul right now.

"That's the last thing I ever wanted to do, the last baby. I only ever wanted to love you and be with you. I don't know why I did this. Hurt me, please do whatever you need. Just please, please forgive me, please."

"Forgive you? How do I forgive you? When I needed you the most you were fucking someone else." She had calmed a little as her fingers slid through his chest hair. The familiar calm that came with touching Rhett's skin seeped into her bones and Jet wanted to melt into him. She wanted Rhett to take away Mitchell and make the world better, but how could he now?

"Come here, please, please, let me make it better." He grabbed her face in his hands and tilted it up. His eyes searched hers and his lips softly descended. When they touched hers she felt love wash through her. Jet melted into him for a moment, and then she remembered. His lips weren't just hers anymore. That beard that had brushed over her skin a thousand times was on another woman.

"No. DID YOU EVEN WASH YOUR FUCKING FACE SINCE YOU KISSED HER?" Her hand came back and she slapped him. Rhett's face went to the side and then he tumbled backward falling on the ground.

"Do it again. Slap me again, do anything that makes this better." He held his face for a second as he lay on the ground with tears rolling down the side of his face from his eyes.

"What? No, you don't get to act like the victim here." Jet crawled up his body and straddled his waist as she looked down at him. "You are not the victim here. YOU ARE THE CHEATING FUCKER WHO BROKE MY HEART!" Her hands slammed onto his chest and Rhett grabbed her elbows pulling her down to him.

"I know. I know exactly who I am and what I did and I can't take it back. That's why you have to forgive me because I can't lose you. That night with Jesse was nothing. It was nothing. It was the comfort of my ex-wife for one night while I was drunk. You are the woman I love, and you are the woman I will always love." He stared into her eyes and Jet was lost to it all. What could she say? What was there to say? She wanted to hurt him, make him feel what she did, but she also wanted to wish it all away and just love him.

"Tell me something."

"Anything, ask me anything."

"Did her pussy taste better? Did she scream better than I do? Did she suck your cock better?" The hurt flowed from her as questions meant to hurt him trailed from her heart straight out of her lips. His hands let go of her arms and they grabbed her face even as Rhett rolled her down and underneath him. He looked into her face evenly as the tears gathered on his eyelashes.

"No. No to all of it Jet. I don't even remember it, but it was just a drunken fuck. It meant nothing. Even if I remembered every minute of it, nothing she could ever do would be better than being with you, and nothing about her compares to you. You're my woman for now and forever." He reached down and pulled her skirt up, laying his warm hand over her panties covering her core completely. "And this, this is the only pussy that I will ever need again."

Jet gasped at his action, feeling her body respond despite her screaming mind. Her hands went around his neck and she pulled him down to her mouth roughly. Rhett responded with a whimper and then his fingers traced over her sex. Jet felt herself getting wet with his touch and she dug her fingers into his scalp. Rhett pressed his body to hers and she felt his cock on her thigh, hard and ready.

She pulled back from his mouth suddenly, and shoved him. Rhett plopped onto his back and she followed. Her mouth was rough with his, nipping at his lips and plunging her tongue between. Her fingers undid his belt and zipper quickly. Rhett engaged then, helping to shove his pants and briefs down. Jet mounted his hips again and pulled her panties to the side before sliding onto him completely. Her body froze, taking in the feeling of Rhett.

A heavy sigh left Rhett's lips as his head went backwards and his fingers gripped onto her hips. Jet's hips lifted up and then shifted back down on him harshly. Rhett gasped and then pulled himself up, leaning on one arm as his other went to her face. Jet moved a few more times, watching his teeth grit and his eyes shift closed with each thrust.

"That's it take what you need baby." He said the words gruffly and Jet hauled her hand back smacking him across the cheek again.

"No. You don't get to talk." She now rocked on Rhett who was grunting and huffing as she moved. This was nothing like what they had done before. This was Jet using him. She needed a release and she needed to be connected to Rhett no matter how much she wanted to hurt him right now. Her own fingers went to her clit as she rocked on him, feeling a release on the horizon.

"Slow down, please, going to cum." He panted the words out as his head rolled back. Jet again pulled her hand back and smacked him. Rhett growled and his hand seized on her ass roughly.

"I said quiet. Don't you dare cum before me...don't...oh fuck..." Jet rocked faster and she felt Rhett's fingers dig into her as he grunted and his teeth ground together.

"HOH...OH..." Her body started to tighten as Jet felt her bottom lip quivering. "HUH ...FUCK!! She screamed out and then her body jolted and shuddered as she came.

"AH YES!!" Rhett cried out and she felt him surge upward into her before his hips jolted in his release. When he finished, his fingers went to her face again and he pulled her mouth to his. They connected in a soft kiss and then Jet stared into his eyes.

After another moment, she stood up on shaky legs. Rhett just watched her as she stepped back away from him. Jet made her way down the hallway towards the bathroom. Once there, her stomach lurched and she heaved up her lunch into the toilet. When she was done, Jet went to the sink, rinsing her face and her mouth.

"Are you okay?" Rhett stood in the doorway as she finished drying her face. His hands were in his pockets. His shirt hung open, half the buttons missing, the rest barely hanging on. His pants were still undone and he looked completely worn out.

"No. I'm going to pack up and head out. I can't stay here."

"You can. You can stay as long as you need to, please, please don't go Jet."

"I have to. I can't pretend we're okay. I can't deal with all of this right now, and I think I'll hate myself if I fuck you again." Rhett hung his head, and she made her way past, heading into the spare room to pack up her things.

He left her alone for the next few minutes as she gathered her stuff from the bedroom and the bathroom. It wasn't until she was putting her bags by the door that she saw him, sitting on the couch, head in his hands. When he heard the suitcases, he looked up.

"You know, I can stay somewhere else. You don't have to leave. I never wanted to force you out by coming back." His eyes were red and he was worrying at his bottom lip even as his fingers picked in his beard.

"It's fine. The police are patrolling around my house for Mitchell. I'll be fine."

Rhett did not respond, just sitting there and watching as she gathered her bags and opened the door. She took the first two out to her car, and then came back, grabbing her purse and her computer from the living room. He just sat and watched her. It wasn't until she was walking to the door and about to leave that he spoke again.

"Jet." The word sounded so weak from him as she turned and paused.

"Yes?" She asked it fighting back her own tears.

"Is this goodbye?" He had a tear running down his cheek that he wiped before running his hand through his beard.

"I don't know Rhett. I don't know." With those words, Jet closed the door and went to her car. It was time to go home, and wait for news that Mitchell had been caught. She had to force herself to only deal with one problem at a time.

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That night, Jet lay in her own bed. She wasn't crying anymore, the tears had all left her as the fear and dread of being alone set in. There was something about being with Rhett that had calmed her too. Although, she hated to admit it, the fact that he had been with his ex-wife had not dulled her craving for him. There seemed to be nothing that could sever that connection between them. Jet lay there wondering if anything ever would. Was she doomed to be alone if she wasn't with him? Would she ever be able to trust Rhett again if they were together again? Her brain swam with the possibilities.

Just before 3am, it all caught up to her, though, and Jet passed out. She slept like death for the next 10 hours, only awoken by a phone that would not stop ringing. With a stretch, Jet reached to her nightstand.

"Hey Link, what's up?" She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock as she answered.

"Hey, I'm sorry did I wake you?"

"Yea. I had a rough time falling asleep so I slept in."

"Oh, well listen, I just wanted to call to see how you were doing. I talked to Rhett last night and again this morning, so I figured you might need to talk." Jet sat herself up in bed with a stretch.

"Thanks Link. I'm okay, I think. Ah hell, I don't know how I am. He was so apologetic yesterday and the moment I'm around him I feel better, but I was also so hurt and angry. It was kind of a whirlwind, and then I just left. I think I just need to not deal with Rhett for a little bit. I mean while the Mitchell thing is still going on, well, I just don't have the bandwidth you know." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair and trying to not scream as her frustrations flowed back in.

"Do you think you're safe at home?"

"I mean the police are doing heightened patrols and I guess I figure he won't come here. Although, I will probably move out soon, but I haven't decided."

"You know I do want you to know that Rhett didn't tell me he was coming back early. I would have told you, and made sure I was there. He wasn't supposed to just show up."

"I know you would have told me. I think I was as ready as I'll ever be."

"He said he'd never seen you in so much pain. I honestly think it was worse for him to see you like that than to imagine it while he was still back home."

"Is he okay Link?" She asked it weakly. Jet didn't want to hurt Rhett as much as she was upset with him, she didn't hate him.

"He's pretty bad. I'm actually going over there. I wanted to call you first though and check in."

"Well, thank you Link. I'll live. You know I don't know how this thing with Rhett is going to..."

"I don't think you need to figure that out right now Jet. I'm just going to tell Rhett you're okay for now if that's alright. Then, when this thing with Mitchell is over, you can do whatever you need to do next. You know I got your back, and don't worry about Rhett. I have his stupid back too."

"Thank you Link. Can you do me one favor?"

"What do you need girl?"

"Can you just call me later? I kind of want someone to check on me."

"Sure thing. Just relax today, alright?"

"Yep. Talk to you later."

"Later Jet." Link hung up and Jet forced herself out of the bed. She needed a hot shower and a solid meal before anything else.

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Jet ghosted through the rest of the day. She barely had energy for anything, but she had to keep moving. Anytime she stopped, the picture of Rhett's face covered in tears played through her mind. A part of her wanted to drive over to him, and hold him until he felt better. She had always been a nurturer, a giver, and seeing him like that had hurt her. Another part of her wanted to run away, move to another place and just never talk to him again. Rhett hurt her, and she just didn't know how to deal with that. Of course, Mitchell being in the area was only making it ten times worse. Jet was even having trouble compartmentalizing at this point, and that was not a good sign.

As she sat mindlessly watching TV that night, a knock came at the door. Jet's heart went from normal to jumping out of her chest. She wasn't expecting anyone, at least no one she wanted to talk to. She approached the door slowly and looked through the keyhole. Jet left the light off in the entryway and didn't turn on the porchlight. It was the only way to assure that she might get a look without tipping off anyone on the other side.

The porch was empty as she looked out, but her chest was still tight as she thought about what to do next. If it was the police, they would be on the other side. Of course, they were doing regular patrols, so if it was Mitchell surely they would have seen him. She fumbled then, pulling her phone from her pocket and backing away from the door enough so no one would hear her talk.

"Jet?" Link's voice came through and she felt a calm that someone was on the other end of the phone.

"Link?"

"Hey I was going to call you in a few minutes. What's up? Everything okay?"

"I don't know. Someone knocked at the door, but no one's out there."

"Okay, well the cops are still patrolling right? So, if it was Mitchell they probably would have seen him."

"Yea, right, then why am I still terrified of what's on the other side of the door?" She was shaking now as she spoke to him.

"Alright, well listen, maybe it's just a package. Were you expecting anything?"

"I don't know. Fuck. I can't even remember if I ordered anything right now."

"Okay, well listen, why don't you stay on the phone and just open the door a crack. Then, you can see what's there and you can just slam it if it's nothing."

"Is that safe? I mean what if it's Mitchell?"

"You know what, let's not chance it. Look, do you have a window where you can see the porch?'

"Yea."

"Okay, well the door's locked right?"

"Yea."

"Alright, look out the window and see what it is. If you see Mitchell just say his name and hang up and call the police. I'll know why."

Jet nodded at his suggestion and made her way to the window of her sunroom. It would overlook the whole porch. She pulled the blinds open, and saw only darkness. There were no figures nearby. Her eyes then fell to an object just on the other side of the door. It was a vase containing flowers. The shape was unmistakable.

"Link. I think it's flowers."

"Oh shit. Rhett asked me if he should send you flowers or something earlier. He probably did even though I told him not to. I warned him that it would probably just freak you out, but he was so crazy thinking he had to do something. I bet he just went ahead and did it."

"Oh, okay. Can you stay on the phone while I get them? I don't want Mitchell to see them if he's around and do something crazy."

"Yea, just be careful opening the door okay?"

"Alright. This is not making me feel better about Rhett for the record. You can tell him that and tell him what an idiot he is."

"I'm already texting him while we talk, so don't worry."

She heard typing on the line and she made her way towards the door. Jet took a deep breath and unlocked her door, slowly opening it and looking around as she did. Her hand reached out and seized on the vase pulling it into the house and sitting it on the floor. There was nothing else outside so she slammed the door shut and refastened her locks. She stood up then turning on the light in the entryway to look at the vase from her porch.

"I was right, just flowers in a vase, but they're...oh God..."

"Rhett says he didn't send flowers, so..."

"Mitchell. Mitchell sent them. Oh God...fuck...I can't breathe..."

"Jet, slow down, hey take a deep breath. Are you sure? Is there a card?"

"They're orchids Link, red orchids."

"I'm not following girl...what..."

"He bought me these all the time; he said they were my favorite. He...he was here. Oh God...he's watching me...fuck..."

"Slow down. Hey, you're safe in your house. Listen, why don't you call the detective you were talking to the other day and tell him. Call him right now."

"Link, he's here. Oh God..." She sat down, just staring at the vase and the dozen red orchids sitting inside.

"Jet, don't leave the house, stay on the phone. Listen, I...I'm coming over."

"No Link...no...it's not safe...don't come over. I'll call the detective and I'll just stay inside until he comes."