Part Fifty-Nine

Samantha had fainted in my arms and I was now sitting on the couch watching her sleep after I had gotten us out of that building and safely through the portal. I still couldn’t believe that I was looking at her.

The sun would rise soon yet I wasn’t as tired as I should be. I guess the shock of finding her was enough to keep me wide awake. She lay there peacefully while an inner turmoil waged war inside me. Kane had returned an hour ago and so far he’d only been staring at her intently.

“Is this real?” Kane asked me after a moment.

“I don’t know,” I said to him.

She stirred slightly and I sat watching her wake up. It was like I knew every stretch of her muscles, every groan as her senses awakened, the way her eyelids flickered lightly before opening, the smile tugging on the sides of her lips.

“Griff…. Griffin?” she said questioningly as she sat up blinking a few times.

“All these years I thought you were dead,” I said to her.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered looking at me with glistening eyes. “I missed you so much.”

In an instant she was in my arms, her hand closing around my shirt, molding herself against me, like she always did. One moment pulling me closer and the next moment hitting me with her fists as she started to cry.

“Why didn’t you come for me?” she asked through her sobs.

“I thought you were dead,” I said to her.

“What?” she asked me looking confused.

“Your father sent me a video, you were shot in the head,” I said to her.

“I gave up hope, I saw the camera footage of that warehouse explosion in Detroit, you went in there and it exploded, you never came out,” she said to me accusingly.

“Is that why you stayed?” I asked her.

“I had nothing else, nowhere to go, he treated me so badly, I was a prisoner and when I realized you were dead, I wanted to die too,” she said still crying.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now,” I said as my arms went around her as well.

We stayed like that for a long time before Samantha raised her head and looked at me. She pulled me closer and kissed me and it took me back to when we were seventeen and I thought life was perfect. She shifted and straddled me as she pulled me closer, pressing our bodies together.

I stopped her hand as it reached for the button of my jeans and she broke the kiss off and stared at me intently. Instead I rested my forehead against hers and took deep breaths. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I did, but something deep inside was stopping me.

“You probably want to take a shower and eat something, it’s been a chaotic night,” I said as she stood up from my lap.

“Where are we?” she asked me.

“Maine,” I said and her eyes widened slightly.

I stood up and pushed past her as I walked a few feet away from her to clear my senses. I turned back towards her as she looked down, looking so vulnerable that it took everything in me not to pull her back into my arms.

“I’ll show you the bathroom,” I said and headed for the stairs.

Upstairs I pulled some clothes from the cupboard and placed them on the bathroom counter as I switched the light on for her. She gave me a small smile as I pulled the door closed behind me and headed back to my own room to shower.

I was in the kitchen getting started on breakfast when she joined me downstairs and Kane once again just sat there looking at her. She stared back at him but she didn’t say anything as she sat down at the counter.

“You seem so different,” she said.

“I need to know what happened that night,” I said to her.

“It was all chaotic, all the screaming and the blood, I had no idea what was going on until I was grabbed and someone was running with me,” she said.

“When I woke up I was in a room with my father and he told me about the family business,” she said her voice breaking slightly.

“I was pregnant Griffin,” she whispered and that made me freeze in my spot.

“You were what?” I asked her.

“My dad was so angry when he found out, he beat me so badly and then he brought in a doctor who performed an abortion, he killed my baby,” she said and started crying again.

This time I did go over to her and pulled her into my arms. I had never hated someone as much as I hated Phillip Cartwright in that moment. I wanted to hurt him for hurting her, for hurting me. I didn’t notice at first that the shivering was me and not her.

“I was watched all the time, ridiculed, he treated me like trash for loving you and when I thought you were dead, I just couldn’t anymore. I tried to kill myself,” she said.

“I’m here and you’re here, I’ll never let him hurt you again,” I said against her head.

“He’ll find me, I ran once before and he found me, he’ll always find me,” she said and I could hear the fear in her voice.

“Sam, look at me, I won’t ever let him hurt you again,” I said as I looked into her eyes.

After a few minutes she stopped crying and I noticed that Kane had left. We ate breakfast and I put Kane’s food in the microwave for him while Samantha went to the living room. She was curled up on the couch, asleep and I left her while I went to look for Kane.

I was walking through the trees when I sensed that I wasn’t alone. I stopped walking but I didn’t turn around as something leapt from the trees towards me. I flattened myself to the ground and rolled slightly as the jaguar missed me by inches, growling fiercely and leaping on top of me.

“Get off me you fat cat,” I said as Jett shifted on top of me and pinned me to the ground.

“Did you just call me fat?” he asked looking hurt as I shoved him off of me.

“What the hell Jett?” I asked as he pulled shorts on.

“Miss me, brother?” he asked giving me a cocky grin.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“I was in the neighborhood, thought I’d pop in and see if you were still talking to yourself,” he said and chuckled softly.

“In the neighborhood my ass,” I said as I stood up from the ground.

“I forgot what your ass looks like in a good pair of jeans,” he said and ducked his head as I tried to smack him.

“Why are you really here?” I asked him.

“On assignment, I’m meeting up with a vampire later, thought I’d spend some time with you and Kane,” he mused as he followed me towards the house.

“Don’t freak out okay,” I said as I opened the front door.

“Why would I freak out?” he asked and stopped short as he walked into the living room.

“Uhm Griff not to sound weird or anything, but she really looks a lot like Samantha,” he said looking down at the sleeping form on the couch.

“I found her last night in New York,” I said as he leaned down, his face inches from hers.

He lifted her eyelid and then jumped away as she moved slightly and held his hand to his heart, his face had paled a little, “she’s alive.”

“Of course she’s alive, why would she be on my couch if she was dead?” I asked him.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe this, it’s really her!” he said loudly.

“Keep your voice down,” I said threateningly and moved to the kitchen.

“So now that you’ve found her when are you coming home?” he asked me.

“This doesn’t change anything Jett,” I said to him.

“The fuck it doesn’t,” he said.

“It’s complicated Jett, they’re still all dead and it’s still my fault,” I said.

“Your dad misses you man, it’s killing him,” he said.

“I miss him too,” I said lowering my head.

“Good thing I gave him your address then,” he said and my head snapped towards his.

“Damon’s coming here?” I asked him feeling my heart rate increase.

“The least you can do is say thank you for the shit I had to go through to get your address,” he said.

“How did you find me?” I asked him.

“Well you see, there’s this witch I know, and I let her have her wicked ways with me in return for your address,” he said and I burst out laughing.

“I’m sure it was terrible,” I said.

“Shit man, she bit me, I felt so used afterwards,” he said.

“Now you probably want dinner too,” I said as Jett laughed.

“I’ve missed you Griff,” he said and started rummaging through the fridge.

“Jett?” Samantha said as she looked at him.

“Sweet cheeks!” he said loudly as he bumped his head against the fridge and smiled as he picked her up and hugged her.

“When I heard weird sex with a witch I knew it was you,” she said and laughed.

“Hey, no mocking the abuse of my body,” he said but smiled as he looked at her.

“You’re still the same old Jett,” she said and ruffled his hair.

“I’m still hotter than him,” he said and turned to look at me.

“If you two start that shit again go do it in the living room,” I said as I took steaks from the fridge to defrost.

“Don’t hate the awesomeness that is me, Griff,” Jett said running his hands over his chest.

“I think I just puked in my mouth a little,” I said and Samantha burst out laughing.

“And to think I was going to kiss you to show Jett that in my eyes you would always win,” she said.

“Ouch Sam, that one really hurt,” Jett said.

“Aww I’ll rub it better Jett,” she said and I laughed as Jett’s eyes brightened mischievously.

“It hurts here,” he said pointing down towards his groin.

“You’re a pig,” I said.

“She did offer,” he said and shrugged.