Billionaire Unloved

“I can make it to the car,” I said shakily. I just wanted to get out of the general area of the club.

“Damn right you will,” Jett grumbled as he handed me the cell phone that provided light and hefted me into his arms before I could protest.

He limped heavily as he took on my weight, but his long strides had us both in his car within a short period of time.

I felt horrible because I knew Jett had to be hurting, but I hadn’t heard a single word of complaint come out of his mouth. And it would have caused him more grief if I’d struggled to get down.

I heaved a sigh as he got behind the wheel after wrapping my foot with his own T-shirt.

I didn’t see his scars until he was seated, the overhead lights illuminating his body and face.

Very little could have marred the masculine beauty of his face. He had one or two small scars at his temple that looked like they’d faded over time, but Jett was so in-your-face gorgeous that a few little marks didn’t matter. As my eyes took in his powerful chest and torso, I could see he’d been in a horrible accident at one time.

Somehow, it was comforting that we were both survivors. Not that I wished Jett pain of any kind, but I felt a kinship toward the man who was my rescuer.

Pain is personal. It really belongs to the one feeling it.

I’d read that somewhere, and at the time, I’d really believed it to be true. The words had stuck in my brain.

But now I could actually empathize with my rescuer.

Jett’s scars were external.

Mine were all over my soul.

We’d obviously both experienced our share of pain.

My gaze moved up again, and I met his gorgeous green-eyed stare as he turned his head to look at me. “I’m sorry you have to look at my scarred-up body. But you needed my shirt,” he said gruffly.

I shrugged. Jett was breathtaking, even with all his scars. “You look fine without it. But I’m sorry I ruined it.”

He looked taken aback, and then he scowled as he shut off the light and started the car.

He put the vehicle into motion, and I wondered, after the fact, if Jett thought he needed to hide his body just because he had a few imperfections.

I wanted to ask him, but I stayed mute. He’d been nice to me, but he was an intimidating guy because of his size and generally unhappy expression. He didn’t know me well enough to trust me, and he didn’t appear to be very trusting. Like me, he looked the type of man who didn’t trust anybody but himself.

I’d tried to trust the couple who had kidnapped me because I was desperate for food. And look how that had turned out.

I was grateful that Jett had rescued me, and I’d do everything in my power to pay him back one day, but I just wasn’t willing to put my faith in anybody.

It had always been safer that way.

Ruby

A few hours later, I listened as the emergency room doctor put a brace on Jett’s knee, trying to hear what the verdict would be on his injured leg. Unfortunately, the physician had pulled the curtain between our ER beds, so I couldn’t really see what was happening.

Thinking we were a couple when we’d come through the door, the nurse had put us into a room that had two beds. Jett had talked me through my x-rays and the extensive number of stitches I’d needed to repair the gash on my foot.

My wound would heal pretty quickly.

But I wasn’t sure about Jett’s knee.

I was riddled with guilt over the fact that he’d been injured, and I hadn’t even known there was anything wrong with Jett until the nurse had mentioned how badly his knee was swelling. I’d been mortified when I saw how the denim of his jeans was stretched because his knee was the size of a grapefruit. The nurse had insisted he get checked out, too, something I’d be eternally grateful for since I hadn’t seen the damage myself.

I’d been too busy worrying about my own injuries, and I hated hospitals, not because I’d spent much time in them, but due to the one horrifying experience I’d had with the institution.

I’d been so distracted with trying to keep myself calm that I’d failed to notice that Jett’s knee was injured.

He’d just gotten back from his MRI a few minutes ago, and he’d blown the whole thing off by saying he’d had much worse injuries in his life.