Filed to story: Breathe Story (Sadie White & Jax Stone)
I ran from the room and went straight to the bathroom. This time, I did get sick. After I emptied everything inside me, I splashed my face with water, and then sank down to the floor and laid my head on the tub. This wasn’t something I’d been expecting. I had been prepared for a lot, but this wasn’t something I ever feared. Now my life was being splattered all over the media. Either I sounded like a gold digging tramp, or Jax sounded like he was taking advantage of a stupid, naive southern girl. There was a knock on the bathroom door. I couldn’t face Jessica right now. I just needed to be alone.
“Throwing up isn’t going to make this better. You might as well come hear the other versions on other news channels. Some of them don’t paint us like white trash.”
I groaned. “No.”
I stayed on the floor of the bathroom until I heard someone at the front door, and I knew without a doubt it was Jax.
“Sadie, honey, you got company,” Jessica’s voice called from outside the door again.
I didn’t want to leave him out there with her, so I stood up and stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes were bloodshot, and there was nothing I could do about it. I opened the door and instead of Jessica stood a very upset Jax.
He grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. “I swear, I will kill whoever did this.”
I began to cry again. I didn’t want to do this to him because he was obviously beating himself up about it.
He pulled back just enough so I could see his face. “Will you come with me?”
I nodded.
Jax led me with his arm firmly around my waist. “Ms. White, I am just going to take Sadie for a little while. I will bring her back soon.”
Jessica snorted. “Just make sure you bring her back happier than she is right now.”
He frowned, and we walked out to his Hummer. Kane sat in the driver’s seat, and I was glad I didn’t have to give up Jax’s arms for him to drive. A flash went off, and Jax put himself in front of me. “Hurry, get into the car.” He slid in behind me, and we were in the protection of dark tinted windows.
“Sadie, I am so sorry,” he whispered again.
I sniffed and wiped my eyes. “It’s not your fault.”
He gave a hard laugh. “Yes, it is. I was careless. I wanted everyone to know you were mine, and I put you in the way of danger. The media are like hungry vultures. They pick you dry. This isn’t going to just disappear.”
I shuddered at the thought of more of my personal life being shared with the world. “How do you do this? How do you handle the invasion of privacy?” I whispered through my tear-clogged throat.
He sighed. “It’s all I have known for a very long time.”
“This is hard,” I admitted.
His eyes were haunted. I hated that I was the cause of all of this. Being with me seemed to only bring him trouble.
“I’m tough.” I forced a smile. “I can live through this.”
Jax didn’t say anything for a few minutes. He reached over and pulled me into his arms, and we sat in silence.
“I promised you I would never let anything hurt you again.” He closed his eyes tightly and whispered, as if the images in his head were too much, “And instead I’ve not only hurt you, but your mom.”
I touched his arm hating to see him so torn up inside. “I told you I was tough. It isn’t your fault.”
He dropped his hold and pulled away from me and leaned forward on his knees. “No, Sadie, no! This is all my fault. I am the world’s favorite teenage rock star. I live in the media. But to hear them,” he stopped and his jaw clinched, “to hear them talk about you that way. I need… I want to hurt someone.”
I scooted up on my seat to get closer to him. “Jax, please, I should have known something like this would happen. Yes, it hurts, but I can live through this. I can live through anything as long as I have you.”