Cherish

Feels Like Home (25)

The air kiss was about to earn her another punch, however, Pirate successfully held Lucky back until she assured him that she wouldn't follow the woman. J.T. had wandered over, but he stood close to Jaden, too worried about the band manager's quick temper to get involved.

"Jaden, we're going home," Lucky said, sounding more like her parental figure than her partner. An incensed parental figure.

"Lucky, why don't you let me take her home?" Pirate asked, his worried gaze concealed behind his beloved aviator shades. He was afraid of what might happen if Lucky and Jaden left the nightclub alone. "You've been drinking and you could use some time to cool off before you guys talk. Diego went home already and J.T.'s not in any position to drive either, so I could call you both a taxi."

"This doesn't concern you, so keep your goddamned nose out of our business, Pirate. Jaden, let's go. Now." Pulling her keys from her pocket, Lucky impatiently slapped them against the side of her thigh. Solemnly meeting Pirate's eyes, Jaden slightly shook her head as if to say 'please just stay out of it'. She then turned to the bartender who was pretending to wipe down an already spotless counter. When she reached for her wallet, he informed her that the beer was on the house. Quietly thanking him and bidding Pirate and J.T. a good night, she followed Lucky out of the nightclub. No one but she heard the rapid beating of her heart.

Neither of them said a word during the fifteen-minute trip home and the silence did nothing to quell Jaden's fears. She almost would have preferred Lucky to scream at her while driving. As it was, she had no clue what thoughts were running through the older woman's mind and what she planned to do once they arrived at the apartment. Lips firmly pressed together, her jaw set and venomous charcoal eyes focusing on the road ahead, Lucky gripped the steering wheel tight enough for her knuckles to turn white. The only time she opened her mouth was to sigh once.

Walking inside the apartment, Lucky headed into their bedroom, no words having passed her lips since being inside the nightclub. Afraid to follow her and at the same time afraid not to, Jaden hesitantly trailed after her girlfriend.

Her mouth dropped open as she stopped in the doorway watching Lucky carelessly toss her clothes in the two suitcases she brought when she moved in. Lucky said nothing as she pulled drawers open, searching through neat stacks for any clothes that belonged to Jaden. Two pairs of jeans flew into one of the suitcases. Jaden decided that it was time and now absolutely necessary to break the silence.

"What are you doing?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Dropping a pack of unopened undershirts into a suitcase, Lucky refused to make eye contact. "What does it look like I'm doing, Jaden? I'm packing your shit so you can get outta here."

"But why?"

Snorting, Lucky slammed a filled suitcase closed and snapped the lock into place. "Don't act like you wanna be here. If you don't wanna be here then you don't have to be and I sure as hell don't want you here." Jaden flinched when she threw the suitcase in her direction. It landed about two feet in front of her, but the teenager made no move to pick it up.

"You really want me to go? Lucky, nothing happened with that woman. She kissed me but I didn't kiss her back. I swear!" She started to panic when her explanation didn't deter the lanky woman's packing. Of all the things she imagined Lucky might have done, she never expected that her lover would kick her out of their home. Jaden briefly tried to imagine her life without Lucky in it. The tears began to well. She would die without her. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that she would.

"Oh really? 'Cause I could swear that I saw her touching your knee and you did nothing about it. And then that bitch kissed you. Didn't look like nothing to me, Jaden!" Lucky hurriedly piled clothing along with shoes from the closet inside the second suitcase. "Is that the first time you messed around behind my back? You don't gotta do it anymore 'cause I'm letting you go." When she finally looked at Jaden, the younger woman was taken aback by the anguish she plainly read on Lucky's face. She couldn't recall her lover ever looking so troubled. "If you don't want me and only me then I don't want you. You were never a prisoner here--you could leave whenever you wanted. I won't stop you. If you were afraid of me stopping you, you don't gotta be."