For the next several days, Kyle tried to call Jenna, but she wasn’t taking his calls. He spent most of his evenings sitting at the bar in the club talking to Craig. He hated what he had done, but had to keep Jenna safe.
“Man you are crazy about that girl, how can you give her up?” Craig asked one night.
“I have to. She won’t be safe with me,” Kyle said as he took another shot of whiskey.
“No one can guarantee that everyone around us is safe. You can’t live your life in fear. Sometimes you have to give in and take happiness with both hands and go for it,” Craig told him.
“I thought bartenders were just supposed to listen,” Kyle answered grouchily. He hadn’t been sleeping well and had been working a lot of hours, trying to keep his mind off of Jenna.
“And getting drunk and pissing off your friends won’t help.”
“Who have I pissed off?”
“Me, for one. You can’t see a good thing when it’s right in front of you.”
“I see it. I just know what’s right, and it’s not right to keep putting her in danger. I protect people for a living and twice while in my care, Jenna has been hurt. What does that say about me?”
“That you’re human. That you’re not perfect. That you’re worthy of the love that girl has for you. And that you have for her. Get your head out of your ass and go after what you want. We spend our whole lives looking for happiness, and you were lucky enough to find it. Don’t let it or her go.”
Kyle knew Craig was right, but he was so bullheaded that he wouldn’t admit it.
“Fuck you man, you’re doing the same thing with Rachel. Don’t deny it.”
“I admit that I was keeping distant with Rachel at first, afraid of hurting her or getting hurt myself, but since the incident here at the club, I realized that if I want something I have to go after it, it won’t come to me. I need Rachel and she needs me. You haven’t been around, but Rachel has been staying with me since that night and we are going to make it permanent, just like you and Jenna should.”
“Whatever!” Kyle grumped. Craig didn’t know shit. He was doing what he had to do and nothing was going to stop him. “I’m going to the suite now. I have whiskey in there and don’t have to listen to bullshit to get it.” He stomped off to his suite.
Chapter Sixteen
A couple weeks passed by and Connie and Dean came into town for another demonstration. The girls talked Jenna into coming to the club to watch. It was hard for Jenna because Connie and Dean had done the same demonstration the first night she was at the club, and she ended up sitting at the bar talking to Evan.
Evan was sweet and cute, but he wasn’t Kyle. They talked and Jenna enjoyed herself, but something was missing. When he asked her if she would be interested in doing a scene with him, she thought, what the hell? She hadn’t played with anyone but Kyle, but why not? Evan was tall, not as tall as Kyle, about six feet three inches and stockier, but still very attractive. He was blond where Kyle was dark and other than the fact that they had been in the Air Force together, they were both very different men.
While they were talking, Evan placed his hand on Jenna’s leg and had been steadily moving it up and down. Reaching up and putting his hand around her neck, he pulled her mouth to his. Gently pressing his lips to hers, he kissed her. She slowly opened for him, not sure how she felt about this. Evan was a good kisser, but didn’t compare to Kyle. Jenna tried to relax and enjoy it, but the feelings just weren’t there.
He kissed her for a minute, but could tell that she didn’t have feelings for him. “It’s Kyle, isn’t it?” he asked her.
“Yes. You are very attractive and any woman would be lucky to have you, but it’s just too soon. I still don’t know what is going to happen with Kyle and I don’t want anyone else to be hurt. If I got involved with you and then by some miracle Kyle and I got back together, it wouldn’t be fair to you. I can’t hurt you like that. There will be someone for you,” she explained as she cupped his face in her hand.
Sitting together at the bar, her knees between his legs, they looked very intimate. Their heads were bent low, almost touching. Which is what Kyle saw when he walked into the bar.
He stopped and stared a long minute. He wanted to go over and knock Evan out, when he thought a minute and decided that maybe it was a good thing Jenna was moving on. If he couldn’t be with her, she needed someone who could take care of her. Evan could be that person. Head down and moving fast, hoping they wouldn’t notice him, he headed toward his suite. He saw Jenna look up and her eyes met his. He quickly looked away and kept moving, but not before seeing a tear escape.
Evan also noticed the tear and saw Kyle moving fast toward his suite. “Oh, honey, I’ll talk to him. It will be all right. You two will work things out. Kyle just needs to get his head on straight. He’ll come around, you’ll see.”
Jenna smiled up at Evan. “Thanks. I’m sorry, but I think I need to leave now. I know I said I’d like to scene with you, but I’m just not into it right now. If I could just call a taxi, I’ll go home.” She rode with Sadie and didn’t have her car.
“I’ll take you home, no taxi,” Evan said. And when I get back, I’m going to talk some sense into Kyle if it takes me all night, he thought.
“Thanks, let me go tell Sadie I’m leaving,” was all Jenna said.
Chapter Seventeen
Kyle got back to his suite and went straight to the minibar. Whiskey time. Part of him still wanted to go and grab Jenna, bring her back to the suite, and turn her over his knee for just talking to Evan. How dare she talk to another man in his club? She was his baby and no one else could touch her. Another part of him knew that he had brought this on himself, and only had himself to blame. What a fucked-up mess. He wasn’t happy without her, but knew she wouldn’t be safe with him. What the hell was he supposed to do? Getting drunk wasn’t the solution, but he did it anyway.
After dropping Jenna off, Evan drove around for a while, thinking about what he was going to say to Kyle. Even though it wasn’t his business, he was going to talk to him. Somebody needed to do something. Anyone could see that Kyle and Jenna belonged together, even if Kyle was too stubborn to admit it. With his mind set, he dro
ve back to the club and went straight to Kyle’s suite.