The Years Between Signing and Seeing novel Chapter 48

Jamie, standing outside, heard the noise and leaned down, his eyes meeting her furious glare for a few seconds before he opened the door to get in.

The moment the door opened, Suzie unleashed a flurry of kicks and punches. Jamie froze, a look of pure disbelief on his face. The gentle, demure woman he knew was lashing out like a cornered animal.

He frowned, and a second later, he caught her legs, lifted her up, and slid into the car, pulling her onto his lap.

Finding her attack thwarted and now trapped on his lap, Suzie raised her arm to strike again, but Jamie caught her wrist in time. He loosened his tie, his eyes half-closed as he glanced out the window. “So this is your taste in men? The kind who can’t even throw a punch?”

“Let me go!” Suzie screamed. “Jamie, you know Aaron is practically a professional bodyguard, yet you sicced him on Oliver! Don’t you think you’ve gone too far?”

At her words, a contemptuous smirk played on his lips. “Weren’t you there? Didn’t he throw the first punch?”

Suzie’s anger boiled over. “Are you a child?! If he’s a weakling, then you’re a… a wimp!”

Jamie’s face went blank.

Suzie swallowed hard. What… what was she saying…

A moment later, Jamie’s hand cupped the back of her neck. “Explain what you mean by ‘wimp’,” he murmured, his playful yet menacing tone sending a shiver down her spine. Her fingers fumbled for the door lock, but the car was already sealed shut.

Trapped with no escape, Suzie struggled free from his grasp and scrambled over to the other side of the backseat, pressing herself tightly against the door and turning her face to the window.

Just then, Aaron opened the driver’s door and slid in. With a simple gesture from Jamie, he started the engine and pulled away from the curb.

As the car began to move, Suzie’s eyes searched for Oliver outside. Sure enough, he was standing at the diner’s entrance, wiping blood from his mouth as he watched them drive away.

From before the divorce until now, Suzie had been convinced Jamie had some sort of personality disorder. Richard was unwell, fine. He could have sent anyone to tell her. Why did he have to get so entangled with her?

“I’m asking you a question,” Jamie said again. His index finger tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him.

Between the motion of the car and the emotional turmoil of the past hour, a wave of nausea washed over her. Without warning, a torrent of what she’d just eaten erupted from her mouth.

Jamie’s collarbone, down to his lap, was completely covered.

Suzie froze. There was a time for arguing and a time for anger, but this… this probably called for an apology.

“I… I’m so sorry,” she stammered. “I couldn’t stop it.”