She was an idiot, that's how.
She felt tears sting her eyes and bent forward, focusing on her food. She ate in silence for a few minutes, wishing the floor would open a large hole and swallow her up.
"Foster care."
She glanced up at him sharply.
"What?"
"You asked how I learned to cook. When I was six years old I got moved out of the orphanage into foster care."
Her mouth almost dropped open. Jack was talking to her. Jack was talking about himself.
"Mrs. McNealy. She was my first foster mother. I never understood why they called it that though. There was nothing nurturing about that woman. Unless she was nurturing a bottle.”
Her stupor vanished suddenly. She tried to imagine Jack as a boy but it was impossible. He was so strong and tough.
"She started training me on the first day. There were a couple other kids there. We each had a duty. The girl who'd done the cooking had just left for another foster home so Mrs. McNealy decided to teach me."
"She- made you cook for her?"
He nodded.
“I cooked for all of them. Well, whatever scraps she decided to feed her wards on any given day. She might have been a mean old drunk but she liked a clean house."
"Oh God, Jack... I didn't realize you were an orphan. How long were you with her?"
He shrugged.
"A couple of years. Until the next foster house. And the next one. In retrospect, Mrs. McNealy wasn't so bad."
She took a deep breath, realizing what he was saying.
They'd hurt him.
She wanted to kill them for that. She snuck a glance at him. He was looking out the window. She realized he was letting her in, telling her something no one knew.
"You got away though."
He nodded.
"When I was 14. I'd been tinkering with stuff for years. Garbage I'd find lying around. You have no idea how much junk poor people keep in their back yards. It's like they are afraid to throw anything away. I'd found an ancient broken down Indian bike and been slowly fixing it when Norm wasn't around to stop me.”
He looked at her and Janet’s breath caught at the raw pain in his eyes.
“He was a real cold bastard. He killed a kid once. In front of me. Made me lie to the social worker and say it was an accident."
"What would he do if you didn't?"
He rolled his shoulder and turned slightly, letting his shirt slide off enough so she could see part of his back.
She gasped.
He was covered in a blanket of scars. Huge welts. Thick ugly lines with a wide end that reminded her of something.
She felt her insides twist into a knot.
It was a belt buckle. Someone had beaten Jack with a belt buckle.
"As soon as that bike turned over the first time I left, and I never looked back. I couldn't help the other kids. I couldn't do anything but run. I went back later and beat the hell out of him, but that’s another story. Those kids though… I still don’t know what happened to them.”
She stared at the beautiful man sitting in front of her as he pulled his shirt back on. He went back to looking out the window.
"You helped me."
He grunted and stood.
“We got the other girls out too. Sent someone back Dev knows to shut it down for good. A fed.”
“Good.” She nodded to herself and said it again. “Good.”
“I didn’t…” He looked at her and then away, clearly struggling with what he was trying to say. His eyes met hers again as he continued. “Nothing happened with that girl. At the club.”
Janet’s mouth opened.
“Oh.”
That’s all he said about it. But she believed him. He ran his hands through his hair.
"Are you finished eating? I want to show you something."
He walked out of the kitchen door without waiting for an answer. Janet stood up and followed him onto the deck.
The house sat above a small mountain lake. There weren't any other houses out here. They were completely alone.
It was beautiful.
She felt Jack's hands on her shoulders and stared up at him as he slowly turned her around to face him. He was staring at her lips. He was going to kiss her!
He leaned down and whispered into her ear.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
She nodded.
He put his arms around her and smiled sweetly. His smile was gorgeous. He’d only ever smirked at her before, and his face had barely moved.
This was a bright, shining thing in the middle of his chiseled face. Jack wasn’t just sexy and hard. He was freaking beautiful.
"Good."
And then he chucked her into the lake.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Jack
Jack watched as Janet came up sputtering. He was ready to jump in at a moments notice if she needed help of course but she looked fine.
Pissed off, but fine.
He smiled to himself. He liked getting her riled up. And it meant that she was okay. Even if she’d been scared, even if her own family had treated her like an animal, she was okay.