Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

J umper was down the road from the animal clinic when he saw Jasmine get into a red Volkswagen Beetle. It was the classic, pre-2010 model, which Jumper had no idea why he knew that. However, he did know that it was Sophia's car. Seeing as Jumper was a half-hour earlier than when he'd said he'd be at the clinic, it was understandable that Jasmine might need to run out for a minute before meeting with him.

Except she was carrying a medical bag, like he'd seen Tessa use, and had a beanie cap over her blonde curls. Sophia was also in all black. What were those two up to?

Over the past two weeks, Jumper had heard a lot of Sophia-instigated stories, including the time in college when Jasmine's biology professor had hit on her, and Sophia had changed out the man's presentations with porno videos of professors fucking their students. Jasmine was the more timid one when it came to the two women. So it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities to assume that Sophia was up to something and dragging Jasmine along with her.

As much as he respected the two's close relationship, he did not want to see Jasmine getting into trouble for something Sophia had thought up but not thought through. He followed them.

His Indian Chief was not built for stealth, even more so with the sidecar attached to it. However, neither woman even noticed him tailing them until they were parked on the side of the road and looking around for something. He pulled up behind Sophia's Beetle.

Jasmine looked up and then her eyes went suspiciously wide. "Jumper!" She glanced around herself as if she could find a quick but completely believable reason for why she and Sophia were standing in a ditch. He waited, but she apparently couldn't come up with anything. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." He indicated for Aerial to stay with a hand signal.

"None of your business." Sophia crossed her arms. Both were dressed for stealth, but neither seemed to have contemplated that the black attire didn't work while it was still daylight out. They had a good hour before the sun set.

Jumper raised an eyebrow. "Is whatever you're doing or looking for going to get my girlfriend arrested?" he challenged. It did not pass his notice how Jasmine beamed when he said ‘girlfriend'. He must be losing his manhood, because he liked it too. Not as much as ‘ol' lady', but neither of them were ready for that title or the commitment it meant yet.

Sophia gave him a cocky smile. "Nope," and popped her p .

Jumper narrowed his eyes, not sure if he could believe her. So instead, he turned to Jasmine, who had no poker face or lying skills.

Jasmine's face immediately flamed red. "We're not doing anything wrong."

"Except being dressed like ninjas in the daylight?"

Sophia looked pleased by this observation. She punched Jasmine's arm excitedly. "I told you we looked like ninja detectives!"

Jasmine flinched and grabbed her arm. "Ow!"

Jumper stepped forward and lifted Jasmine out of the ditch. She looked equally surprised and impressed that he was able to lift her. Jasmine might be self-conscious about her weight, but she was nowhere near the amount that he could deadlift or weight trained with. Hell, he used to run for miles with a pack weighing seventy-five to a hundred pounds on his back. "Don't hit her," he scolded Sophia. Then he turned to Jasmine, "What are you detecting?"

"Who says we're detecting anything?" Sophia snapped back at him. She started up the side of the ditch and slipped. Jumper put a hand out to steady her and then pulled her the rest of the way up to the road.

"You did, dumbass," Jasmine told her. "You called us ‘ninja detectives' in front of him. The detecting is implied."

"Oh yeah," Sophia nodded to herself. "Well, this has been fun. Jazz, let's go."

But Jumper held onto Jasmine's shoulder. He didn't apply pressure; she could break the hold if she wanted to.

Finally, she sighed. "Another dog was brought into the clinic today. He was shot and left somewhere around here," she indicated to the side of the road where they were standing. "I came to look for clues."

"Clues?" Jumper repeated.

"Yes, clues! Carlos came to the clinic, but he said that there wasn't much he could do unless the bullet came back to a registered gun. Even if it does, the owner will get a fine . A fucking fine! And it's not fair!" she ranted. "Where's the justice for those two dogs? They were murdered and the cops don't care!"

Jumper brought her closer to him. "Baby, I know you love dogs, but?—"

"No," she snapped. Her eyes shined with unshed tears. "I am going to fix this. I have to. I am going to figure out who shot one dog and who ran over the other one with their car, and I am going to make them regret ever treating their dogs that way."

"How do you plan to do that?" Jumper wasn't placating her. With Sophia on her side, there was no telling what plan these two were concocting.

She blinked, looking abashed. "I hadn't gotten that far yet."

Jumper lifted his hands from her shoulders to cup her face. "Probably a smart decision. What exactly were you expecting to find out here anyway? A signed confession left in the mud?"

Jasmine's eyes narrowed as Sophia piped in, "Hey! You don't know. It's possible."

Jumper turned his unimpressed look on her. "And what was your two's plan if the culprit with a gun happened to drive by and see you detecting around where he shot and dumped his dog?"

Sophia opened her mouth and then closed it again. A glance down at Jasmine showed her cheeks were flaming again.

Jumper let out a long sigh. "How about the two of you wait to see what Carlos gets back from the bullet before you go all Sherlock Holmes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the asshole who did this?"

"I call Michelangelo!" Sophia announced, raising her hand. "That turtle's hot."

Both Jumper and Jasmine stared at her. Clearly, she'd missed the point.

Jasmine rode back to the clinic on the back of Jumper's bike. If given the choice between Jumper's bike and Sophia's cramped Beetle, she was choosing the bike every time. The Beetle's air conditioner was on the fritz, but Sophia refused to trade the car in for a newer model. Jasmine was grateful her helmet now had a permanent home in one of his saddlebags.

Once at the clinic, Jumper and Aerial walked her inside so she could change. Sophia honked as she passed and yelled out her window, "Love you, bitch!" Jasmine waved in return.

After changing, Jasmine walked out to find Jumper in the exam room with the body of the male Pit. He was just staring at it. There was no emotion on his face. He wasn't twitching or aiming to pet it. If Aerial hadn't changed position, Jasmine wasn't sure she would have caught the slight change in his breathing pattern.

Aerial moved, pressing her harnessed back against Jumper's legs hard enough to make him jolt. Somehow she expertly got the large man from a very stiff standing position to sitting on the exam room floor. She laid her body over his legs and pressed her nose into his neck.

Jasmine had never seen a dog actively alert before. When people brought their service dogs in to see her, they were either ‘off-duty' at the time and on a simple leash or nothing happened with their person for them to need to alert. It was amazing to see Aerial in action.

Knowing the Pit's body was what had caused Jumper's panic to rise, she quickly wheeled it to the back room where the lab equipment and storage fridge were. The same company that had cremated the other Pit would be coming in the morning to get this one too.

As no one had claimed the other Pit's ashes, and it was highly doubtful anyone would claim this one's, Jasmine had plans to ride up to the mountain with Sophia to dispose of the ashes.

Rejoining Jumper in the exam room, she now found him more alert and petting Aerial.

Jasmine wasn't particularly graceful, but she did have a lot of experience getting herself up and down from this floor. Any vet who didn't get on the floor to play with a litter of puppies or kittens wasn't a very good vet in Jasmine's opinion.

She sat in front of Jumper so he could easily see her, but she didn't reach for him. Jumper had warned her that when he spaced, it could be dangerous to touch him. Talking was best until she was sure he had come back to himself.

For all his warnings and precautions, this was the first time she'd seen Jumper have a reaction. She wasn't entirely sure if she could call this a ‘trigger', but something had definitely happened for Aerial to alert as she did.

She waited for him to look at her before she asked, "Are you okay?"

He nodded, but there was a glumness to his mood now. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"I'm not entirely sure what I saw, but I am grateful Aerial was here to help you. Do you want some water or anything?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Thanks though."

She reached her hand out and waited for him to take the offering. There was an obvious moment of hesitation before he took her hand. She squeezed his hand. "Can you tell me what happened? The dog triggered you. Why?"

"It wasn't the dog itself," he said, still petting Aerial. "It was the smell."

Death had a very pungent smell. She could understand that. "It was careless of me to leave him out here like that. I should have put him in the fridge earlier. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. You shouldn't have to make accommodations for me."

Jasmine cocked her head to the side. "Who says? You make accommodations for me. What's wrong with me doing the same for you?"

"What accommodations do I make for you?"

Did he truly not see it? "Jumper, we've been dating for almost two weeks. In our time together, we've mostly spent it on your motorcycle. You think I didn't notice you slowing down when I started to get scared about going too fast or how you changed the routes we take so there were bathrooms readily available after I had to pee in the woods? When I'm running behind, you wait for me without complaint." She scooted forward until she could lean against his arm. "Relationships are about the gives and takes. We both have to accommodate for the other when needed. How is me helping you to make your life easier or to try to watch out for certain triggers any different?"

Her studied her for a long moment. "You're truly amazing, you know that, Dr. Sharpe?"

She glared at him. "Don't call me that. You called me that for two years , and it sucked."

"Sorry," he muttered. "I needed to keep space between us. Calling you ‘Jasmine' or ‘Jazz' was too personal. It made me…fantasize."

"Oh yeah?" She curled herself against him now. "What kind of fantasies?"

"Well, this is a little awkward to admit with a dog on my lap, but the most frequent one was bending you over the exam table, eating out your pussy, and then fucking you until you screamed my name."

Jasmine's eyes flew to the exam table attached to the wall. Her nipples became tight pebbles in her bra as her panties dampened. She'd never look at one of her exam tables without hearing Jumper's deep voice echo in her head. "I…" She had to swallow to get her mouth to work. "It was always my office for me. You'd come over under the ruse that Aerial needed something but, when you got here, you'd left Aerial at home. Then you'd back me up against my closed door…" Her cheeks burned at her admission. "There may have been fantasies about you taking me on my desk too."

Jumper grinned down at her. "Yeah?" He looked around. "Probably a lot of areas we could make use of in this place."

"Just this place?"

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "You don't come into my apartment when I've invited you inside, and I've never been to yours either."

Jumper looked pained for a moment, turning his head away from her. "Sleep isn't easy for me. I warned you about my nightmares. As much as I would love to accept your invitation to go inside, I can't. If I fell asleep next to you…" His voice trailed off. "I can't risk that, Jazz."

"So even if we slept together, we wouldn't sleep together?" she clarified.

He nodded. "If we did decide to sleep next to each other, it would need to be at my apartment where Pirate could check in on us and you could call out to him for help if needed."

Jasmine scrunched her nose at that. She didn't like the idea of having a babysitter for a sleepover. "Have you talked to Dr. Rutenberg about this?"

She knew that he had appointments with his therapist twice a week and completely supported his commitment to go to therapy.

Jumper shook his head. "He'd say something optimistic like ‘it might be worth it to try' or ‘you'll never know unless you try'. But it isn't worth risking your life just so I get the pleasure of sleeping next to you."

Jasmine hated to ask this, but she needed to. They'd gone from sharing fantasies to down a rabbit hole of what Jumper believed he'd never be able to do with her.

"What… Where do you see this going?" Jasmine asked him. "I mean, if we can never sleep together, do you picture us moving in together with separate beds or, worse, separate bedrooms? What about kids? Endless motorcycle rides sound amazing, Jumper, please don't think otherwise, but eventually I'm going to want more. Not just sexy times, but commitment. Marriage, kids, a house, pets. I'd already have a menagerie if my apartment building was pet friendly."

Jumper didn't answer. He sat still, not even petting Aerial's fur anymore. When he spoke next, his voice was…empty. "I warned you I wasn't good enough for you. I told you about my baggage and you still pushed. ‘More' isn't an option for me, Jasmine."

He stood up so abruptly that Jasmine nearly lost her balance. He held down a hand to her and helped her to her feet. She thought he was going to say more, but he just leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek.

"Goodbye, Dr. Sharpe."

Before Jasmine could figure out what had happened, Jumper left the clinic with Aerial trailing after him.

The following Friday, Jumper sat in Church with the other officers. Steel, Lucky, Bulldog, Demo, Bear, Ghost, and himself were the seven officers of the VDMC. Ghost's presence was bittersweet. It had only been a month ago that Steel had to officially strip Scar's colors and proclaim he was no longer a VDMC member. Bulldog had chosen Ghost as his replacement Enforcer. However, it was common knowledge that he wasn't happy about it.

Jumper didn't know a lot about Scar's history. He wasn't even sure which branch of the military he'd served in. What Jumper did know was that Scar, like him, had demons in his head. Scar had gotten his road name from the long, jagged scar that started at his left temple, ran down his cheek, under his nose, and over his lips. While he always wore long sleeves and pants, even in the heat of the summer, other scars were still visible on his hands. One could only assume he'd had more elsewhere too. That sort of pain and torment did something to a person's brain. Jumper wasn't all too surprised that Scar had snapped.

Abby, Bulldog's ol' lady, had been held captive for sixteen years in a cult her parents had joined when she was a teenager. The Heaven Haven Community was a religious cult that had very strict gender roles and believed in polygamous marriages—with grown men marrying twelve year old girls. Abby had been sold to multiple men who treated her like a possession rather than a person and had been raped repeatedly. When she'd finally escaped, she'd gotten free with a traumatized teenage girl, a six-year-old girl, her ten-month-old son, and she'd been heavily pregnant with her second child. To say Bulldog wanted vengeance was an understatement.

Jumper had wanted that vengeance for him. However, Bulldog's brother Carlos was a cop and the town's deputy sheriff. While Carlos had always supported the VDMC and was friends with many of the brothers besides his own, he'd known that Bulldog wasn't going to let Abby's captors go free. Even with the support of the VDMC, there was a high possibility that Bulldog would have gotten hurt going after a cult of religious zealots.

Scar and Bulldog had always been close. Jumper wasn't sure of their exact history but, if there was one person Jumper could call Scar's friend, it would be Bulldog. He remembered the day Bulldog had pulled up to the clubhouse with Scar to introduce him to Steel and the other officers. Scar hadn't said a word, yet Bulldog had somehow translated for him.

So, when the VDMC members had started voicing concerns about going after the Heaven Haven Community, it had been clear Bulldog was going to go regardless of if he had the club backing him or not. Scar had then gotten up, given Steel his cut and cellphone, and walked out of the clubhouse. That had been the middle of March. Two weeks later, the leader of the cult had been found crucified in their church with photographic evidence of the heinous activities being performed in the community.

No one had seen or heard from Scar again until May. The night of Lucky and Harper's wedding, Scar had appeared in Bulldog's house. He'd shown Bulldog evidence that he was going after the human traffickers who had sold Cassie, the teenage girl Abby had rescued when she'd escaped the community and who Bulldog and Abby had later adopted, as well as other women in the community.

Now it was the end of June. After Scar had come and gone in May without talking with Steel about his future in the VDMC, Steel had had no choice but to strip his colors. Everyone hated it, even Ghost who had gotten a promotion due to it. None of the brothers had really understood how very present Scar had been in their lives until he was gone. The man never spoke—some of the brothers doubted he even could, though Bulldog assured everyone that he could—and yet he'd been there.

When Harper had been kidnapped by her brother, it had been Scar who'd rescued her. When two kidnappers had tried to run Bear's new cage off the bridge with Bear and Tessa still inside, it had been Scar who'd saved Tessa. Scar had caught a pedophile looking for Bree, Angel's adopted daughter, in the hospital morgue after the club had faked her death during her kidney transplant surgery. And it had been Scar who'd caught and captured Abby's father when he'd come to Mount Grove to recapture his daughter.

Beyond that, Scar had always been there to help. When the roof of the bar the club owned caved in two winters ago, Scar had been right there to help with the cleanup. He never allowed a Honey or an ol' lady to carry anything in front of him. He was careful not to touch them, but he made sure to lend a hand all the same.

Looking around the table at his fellow officers, Jumper wondered if any of them knew that Scar used to visit him at the garage when Jumper was working in the middle of the night. Aerial always sensed him before Jumper would, but her assurance that a friend was approaching always eased Jumper prior to Scar showing up. The two wouldn't say a word, wouldn't even acknowledge the other. Scar would just sit and hand him the occasional tool. Until he'd stopped showing up, Jumper hadn't realized how much he'd looked forward to those quiet midnight visits in the garage.

Ghost was aware that he wasn't Bulldog's first choice for Enforcer, but he still took the job very seriously. Unlike the other officers at the table, Ghost did not have an Originals patch on the front of his cut by his name and title. Ghost wouldn't get that patch because he hadn't been present when the bylaws had been created as Scar had been. Ghost was the first replacement officer that they had.

As Steel's gavel hit the table to start the meeting, Jumper tried to clear his mind. It had been two days since he'd walked out of Jasmine's clinic. Two days of ignoring her phone calls and text messages, of trying to eavesdrop on her conversations with Gus just so he could hear her voice, of knowing how much she hated him for breaking her heart…

A hand waving in front of his face made Jumper jump in his chair. Aerial whined at his feet, which he quickly quieted with a pat to her head. Jumper looked around the table to see that everyone was staring at him.

"Are you okay, man?" Bulldog asked from his right.

The long conference table in Church could seat twenty. Members could sit wherever, except for the seven seats on the right. As President, Steel had the seat at the head of the table. Lucky and Bulldog sat opposite of each other on his right and left sides. Next to Bulldog was Jumper and then Bear. Next to Lucky was Demo and now Ghost.

The club was at fifteen members, when they should have had seventeen. The two missing members were Conner, a prospect who had been murdered saving Harper's life last August, and Scar. At seventeen, the table would have been close to full. Jumper wondered what Steel's plan was once all the seats were taken. Would they order a larger table?

Jumper felt Aerial press against his thighs. His hand was still on her head. She'd been very clingy since they'd left the clinic. Jumper wondered if Aerial could sense his heart breaking inside his chest.

He'd been a fool to start something with Jasmine. Of course , she would want more. Of course, she would not be satisfied with endless motorcycle rides. Jasmine was a beautiful, vibrant woman. Of course, she would want a physical relationship with him.

Fool .

Jumper hadn't been lying when he'd told her about his violent nightmares. They were a real concern. Aerial slept on the floor at the foot of his bed and knew to alert when Jumper started thrashing. More than once, he'd struck out at Gus when he'd come into Jumper's bedroom to try to help.

But that wasn't the real reason he'd walked out of the clinic. No, that reason was much more selfish and embarrassing.

No man wanted to admit to the girl he was half in love with that he had trouble maintaining an erection.

Dr. Rutenberg was the only person who knew of Jumper's erectile disfunction. While there were prescriptions to help with maintaining his erection, those weren't an option for Jumper with his history of drug abuse. Who knew that ED pills could be as addictive as meth? Or could lead Jumper to relapse with additional drugs to stimulate his sexual experience.

Jumper could get hard. Hell, he generally was around Jasmine. The intent was there, but not the ability to finish. Some nights Jumper felt like he'd rub himself raw and still…nothing. Other times he'd lose his erection as soon as he touched himself. He wasn't sure he'd survive the humiliation if Jasmine reached for his hard cock and he deflated at her touch.

Stupid , he admonished himself. He should have never kissed her, never broken his restraint to get close to her. It was worse now, knowing the taste of her but to never have that sweet nectar again.

Because it wasn't a lack of desire. Oh, how he desired . He saw what his brothers had and craved that connection, that purpose. Four months ago, Bulldog had been a single bachelor; now he was a husband and father to four kids. Bear and Tessa had just had a baby. Harper had adopted Scotty and had just given birth to Lucky's son. Angel had fought for Bree while she was in the hospital and had adopted her. Hell, Jumper could look at Steel and Jenna, who had three grown children, one daughter-in-law, and one grandbaby, and be jealous of their family too.

He wanted a house with kids and a wife to come home to. He'd thought he'd had that with Molly. They were supposed to start trying to get pregnant as soon as he'd been home from that mission. Instead, four of his teammates had died and Jumper had discovered Molly had been sleeping with other sailors behind his back.

But, if he was being entirely honest with himself, his marriage to Molly had always seemed forced . Like they were reading lines from a script. There'd been a distance between the two of them that he hadn't realized had been there until he'd met Jasmine. Even with the demons in his head, his time with Jasmine had been easy, relaxed. He hadn't felt the need to put on a show with Jasmine as he had with Molly. Everything had to be perfect with Molly. "Appearances matter," she'd always say.

Jasmine had taken Jumper away from people, away from crowds. She'd been comfortable being alone with him in utter silence or could start the most random of conversations about absolutely nothing.

What if… What if Jumper had acted too rashly? What if he'd let his fear and embarrassment overrule logic? Maybe he'd been too quick to leave. He'd seen her sorrow over not being able to sleep next to him and used it as an excuse to bolt. They'd been talking about their fantasies, and he'd gotten hard. He'd wanted to take Jasmine over the exam table as he'd told her he'd dreamed of doing… Then his dick had gone soft. He hadn't understood why, and he'd been grateful that Aerial's body across his lap had blocked his groin from Jasmine's notice. What if she'd seen his erection through his pants and then seen it vanish or, worse, what if she hadn't seen his reaction at all and thought he hadn't been affected by their shared fantasies?

Coward , he chastised himself. He was such a coward. The big, strong Navy SEAL—nope. Not anymore. Jumper hadn't been able to use that description for himself in nearly a decade.

He wasn't quite sure what made him come back to the present. He wasn't even sure how much time had passed while he'd been lost in his head. All of a sudden, he realized that he was alone in Church but for Bulldog and Pirate. When had his brother arrived?

Gus was playing on his phone. When he noticed Jumper staring at him, he put it down. He was sitting in Demo's seat across the table from Jumper. Bulldog was just as quiet, typing away on his laptop.

Jumper's mouth felt chalky. He tried to swirl some saliva around to get rid of the texture, but it didn't work. Realizing this, his brother slid a water bottle across the table at him. Jumper nodding in thanks before chugging half of it down.

"What happened?" he asked. He felt dazed, like he'd taken a nap, but he also knew he hadn't taken a nap.

"You spaced out," Bulldog answered softly. "We couldn't get your attention. I called Dr. Rutenberg and he said to let it run its course. The others cleared out and Pirate came about two hours ago."

Two hours? Jumper looked down at his watch. Church had started at ten that morning. It was now after three-thirty. He closed his eyes in shame.

"I'm sorry." Jumper leaned down, cupping the back of his head in his hands.

"Nothing to be sorry for," Bulldog assured him. He closed his laptop. Jumper wondered if he'd been writing a new military thriller.

"Jasmine called." Jumper's head snapped up so fast he nearly clipped the edge of the table. He looked at Gus, who was holding up Jumper's phone. "I answered for you." Gus slid the phone across the wood and Jumper scrambled to catch it. "You're an asshole, you know that, right? You had a wonderful, beautiful woman completely devoted to you and you just walked out on her."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bulldog's head turn in his direction. Other than Pirate, no one knew about his breakup with Jasmine.

Jumper stared down at the blank screen. "I'm not right for her," he forced himself to say.

"Bullshit," Pirate and Bulldog said at the same time. It was Pirate who continued, "The only person who thinks that is you, dickhead. Maybe you didn't notice, but I certainly did."

"Notice what?"

"You've been better , dumbass!" Gus stood up from his chair and leaned forward with both hands on the table. "Your nightmares have been less intense, your panic attacks have been less frequent, you even were smiling at the most random of things. You think you're not right for her? Marshall, brother, you're a fucking idiot. The two of you are perfect for each other. You balance each other." He indicated to the cellphone in Jumper's hand. "The fact that you just had an episode two days after you break up with her is proof enough in my eyes. Call her." Then he added, "Or I will. If you're too stupid to see what a great thing you have, then there's no reason why I can't ask her out myself."

Jumper leapt to his feet, nearly kicking Aerial as he did. "You wouldn't dare!"

Gus shrugged offhandedly. He rounded the table by Steel's chair. "Why not? She's a great girl. We've gotten close over the past two years. I just didn't make a move out of respect for you." At the double doors to Church, Gus added, "Make your move, Jumper, or I will."

More than she was hurt over Jumper's sudden departure from her life, Jasmine was pissed. He hadn't even given her the opportunity to process what had happened before he was simply gone. She'd run after him, but he was already driving away by the time she reached the clinic's doors. She'd tried calling him, texting him, even sent him a scathing email to the one on Aerial's file. Nothing. Since she had Pirate's number, she reached out to him. First, because she wanted to make sure Jumper was okay after being triggered by the dead Pit, but also to let him know what had happened and to see if something else may have happened that day to make Jumper walk out on her like that.

Pirate had been as shocked as she felt—and equally angry on her behalf. He asked if she was safe and/or needed any assistance home. Jasmine had assured him she was safe and was fine to walk home on her own, but he had still shown up at the clinic to check on her.

Jasmine had been sleeping like shit. It wasn't as if he'd been sleeping next to her all the time they'd been dating, so it made no sense why it felt like she was missing him in bed beside her.

Sophia was probably more pissed off than Jazz was. She'd threatened to go to the clubhouse and follow through on her murder/mountain gravesite plan. Jasmine was currently holding her back, mainly because she wasn't convinced there wasn't something else going on. They couldn't go from sharing sexual fantasies to being broken up in the span of ten minutes.

Once Jasmine moved past her anger, she planned to fight for their relationship. She wasn't quite there yet.

To keep her mind occupied, Jasmine dove into investigating who murdered the two Pitbulls. She was pretty sure Carlos was going to block her number if she continued to call him so often for updates. Jasmine called around to all of the reputable Pitbull shelters and breeders in the area to see if they knew anything about the dead dogs. From there, she got numbers for the not- so-reputable shelters and breeders. One in the area turned her onto some backwoods breeders in Cottonville, which was only about forty-five minutes north of Mount Grove.

She didn't have phone numbers for those breeders, only addresses. Since the animal clinic was closed on Sunday, Sophia and Jazz were planning on taking the day to go visit them and find out if they knew anything.

Heading home Friday evening after locking up the clinic, Jasmine was shocked to find a man standing outside of her apartment door. At first, she thought it was Jumper but, when he turned, she saw it was Pirate.

"How did you get in my building?" she asked as she approached her door.

Pirate gave her a bit of a cocky grin. "Offered to help Mrs. Guthrie carry in her groceries." He pulled something green out of his pocket. "She even tipped me twenty bucks if you want to go halfsies."

Jasmine rolled her eyes and unlocked her apartment. He followed her inside, locking the door behind them. "I suppose it's a good thing you're not here to do harm. What's up?"

Jasmine's apartment was small. Immediately upon entering was a small kitchen inlet that was so narrow the refrigerator door touched the parallel wall when open. Her stovetop had two of its three coils working and a standard sixteen-inch pizza pan was too large to fit in the oven. The sink was a single basin with a garbage disposal that worked half the time and the other half puffed out smoke. There was absolutely no counter space and the cabinets were so high she needed a stepstool to reach anything in them.

Her living room housed a hand-me-down couch and chair from the apartment's previous tenants and her tv, which was starting to hang crooked. Jasmine feared one of her neighbors slamming their doors would soon cause its demise. Her bedroom had her queen mattress and frame, a nightstand, and dresser. The closet doors had jammed not long after she'd moved in; her landlord's way of fixing them was to remove them entirely, lean them up against her bedroom wall, and forget about them. Five years later, they were still there.

The bathroom was more of a wet bath. The shower leaked every time she used it, making her weekly towel load astronomical. The hot water at her sink caused the faucet to spurt uncontrollably, but at least the hot water worked in her shower. Her toilet was squeezed so tightly between her sink and shower that a second person would not be able to get into the shower if someone was sitting on the toilet.

Frankly, Jasmine hated her apartment. However, it was convenient, the building was secure, and she was rarely there with how much she worked. She also had a key to Sophia's place, which she'd used more than once in an emergency.

"Jumper had an episode today," Pirate said without beating around the bush.

Jasmine gasped, dropping her purse on the kitchen counter harder than she meant to. "Is he okay? What happened?"

"I don't know what specifically triggered it. He was at the clubhouse for a meeting and, according to Bulldog, just spaced out. He'd look at them when they talked to him, but it was like he wasn't processing what they were saying to him. Aerial wouldn't stop touching him. Bulldog called Dr. Rutenberg and me. I had to leave work early."

"That was it? He just…spaced?"

The look Pirate gave her was a bit admonishing. "For nearly six hours."

Her stomach sank. "Oh shit."

Pirate nodded sadly. "Dr. Rutenberg said to leave him and allow him to come out of it on his own. He did, eventually, but still… It was hard to watch him like that."

Jasmine could only imagine. "What… Where is he now? Is he okay?

"I brought him home. He's exhausted. I need to get back there to check on him, but I wanted to stop in and see how you were doing first." He leaned against the counter opposite of her.

She shrugged offhandedly. "Not really sure how to answer that question. I'm hurt, I'm pissed, I'm sad… I miss him. I hate that he's not answering my messages. It's like the last two weeks that we spent together never even happened for him." Jasmine hesitated but had to ask, "Is he even hurting? I know that's an awful thing to ask, especially after what happened today," she hastily added. "I just feel like my life has been turned upside down and I have to wonder if he's even, I don't know, noticed ."

Pirate stared at her for a long minute. "More than I think even he's willing to admit."

"I don't understand."

"Did he tell you about Molly?"

Jasmine blinked at the random question. "His ex-wife? Yeah. All he said was he came home from deployment and found her in bed with another man."

Pirate's eyebrows flew up. "Shit." He rubbed his hand down his face. "I don't want to step out of line. His past is his to tell you, but I think you need to understand this and I'm not sure he's even aware."

"Then don't tell me," she said. "No offense, Pirate, but I don't want to learn about him from you."

"I get that and, believe me, I don't want to be in the middle of you two." He looked at her pointedly, "But you need to hear this."

Jasmine hesitated and then nodded.

"I never liked Molly. Never thought she was good for my brother. Her cheating on him wasn't even the worst. When he was in the military hospital in Germany for three weeks, she couldn't even be bothered to go visit him. I never understood what he saw in her. I think he liked the idea of marriage more than being married to her, if that makes sense."

Jasmine could understand that. Frankly, she believed that was why divorce rates were so high. People were so eager to get married, because that's what society teaches young people to do, that they aren't paying much attention to who they are marrying until after saying "I do." She couldn't help but feel sorry for Jumper. He'd been out there risking his life for his country, and his wife had been back home, safe, and she couldn't even keep her legs closed.

Jasmine hadn't known that Jumper had been in a military hospital, but she supposed it made sense. Something had happened to his team that had caused Jumper to be medically discharged too. She couldn't help but wonder if she would ever learn what he'd been through.

"I don't want you thinking he's pining after her or views Molly as the one who got away. He doesn't. Molly's nothing to him."

"Then why bring her up?" Jasmine asked angrily. She hadn't been wondering if Jumper was still hung up on his ex-wife until Pirate had just said that.

"Because I thought you should know, in the two weeks that the two of you were together, he was happier than he ever was with Molly."

Jasmine's eyes narrowed. She was trying to piece the timeline of Jumper's marriage and the end of his military career in her head. Hadn't his marriage been over before he'd been diagnosed with PTSD? Meaning Molly had never been with him for the panic attacks, the nightmares, and his addiction.

She shook her head slightly. "That makes no sense."

"Doesn't it? He didn't have a single episode while the two of you were together."

"He did," Jasmine argued. "Two nights ago, in the clinic."

"Jazz, that wasn't an episode. It could have been but, from what you described, it hadn't gotten there yet."

"But Aerial alerted."

"Aerial's trained to alert before a panic attack, to try to prevent it. And, from what you said, he came out of it a lot faster than he ever had before." Pirate stood up straighter. "Took him nearly six hours today."

Jasmine wanted to feel joy at Pirate's words, at what he was hinting at, but she couldn't. "We're broken up," she reminded him. "He walked out on me."

"Yeah, my brother's a dick for that one. Can't argue with you there. All I'm asking is for you not to give up on him. Give him the time he needs to process whatever happened on Wednesday. Please."

Jasmine held Pirate's gaze before finally letting out a long sigh. "I already was going to. I'm planning on fighting for him." Then she shrugged, "I'm just not sure if I want to slap him or kiss him right now."

Pirate snorted. "I'll hold him down so you can get a couple of good punches in." He gave her a smile. "Oh, and I may have indicated I planned to ask you out if he didn't get his head out of his ass soon. I hope you can handle a bit of flirting coming your way in front of him."

Jasmine couldn't help but laugh. "I can handle that."

Pirate headed for the door. "Lock up behind me," he instructed.