The One That Got Away.

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Jared had been dreading Kelly's short return to Florida. He knew she would come back, he wasn't worried about that anymore. Besides, he had just paid Josh 2 mil to join his band. Of course, they would be back. 

The thing he worried most about was Kelly's safety. He had gotten Josh to reveal the real name of the Dickhead and got his shady PI guy right on it. The PI uncovered Dickhead's life story and even tailed him for a month. Dickhead was a serious loser. He lived in a trailer park with his elderly Aunt. He had no job, no income of any kind, no car, no driver's license, and a restraining order against him from Kelly and another former girlfriend. His day consisted of waking up around 2 pm, smoking a cigarette on the porch, walking to the corner convenience store to purchase Pepsi, cigarettes, and a case of beer, and returning home never leaving the trailer again until 2 pm the next day. 

"As far as I can tell the guy has no money, no prospects, even if he wanted to stalk her, he has no real way to do it. The Aunt has an old beater car but she seems to only drive it to doctors' appointments and the grocery store. Plus, he's so far on the other side of town, I doubt he'd even have the gas money to drive to her house. The dude hasn't even held a job in over five years."

Jared felt a little better knowing that but it wasn't enough. He tells the PI to keep following Dickhead until Kelly is back in California.

"It's your dime," he shrugs.

"If he gets anywhere near her or her house, call the cops." Jared isn't playing around with this Dickhead character no matter what the PI says. 

Just as he predicted, Dickhead did not break out of his ordinary, loser rut. The dude smoked cigarettes, drank beer, let his old aunt wait on him hand and foot, and did literally nothing else. Still, Jared paces around restlessly during the time she's gone.

"You used to meditate," Shayla reminds him. He keeps walking laps around her and it's driving her nuts. 

He hadn't meditated in a dog's age. Sex with Kelly felt better and relaxed him far more than any meditation. "I'm gonna go, uh, meditate," he tells Shayla. He starts to leave then pauses. Normally, he would meditate in his room but he hadn't been able to enter the room since Kelly left. It was her favorite place in the house. He ordered the linens to be changed and the room deep cleaned immediately so he wouldn't even be tempted to go in there to smell her left on his pillows. But he still couldn't go in there. Instead, he starts walking in circles again.

Shayla physically stops him this time by grabbing his shoulders with both hands. She looks at him very seriously, but very compassionately. "You really miss her. I understand. She's going to be back before you know it. It's really hard to be away from someone you love so much but you're really strong, Jared. You can get through this without driving me and everyone else nuts. Otherwise, I'm sorry but I will have to kill you, slowly and painfully."

Jared laughs, "Ok, I'll try."  It means a lot to him for her to say that. Shayla has always been more a little sister than a cousin to him. She gives him a hard time in the way only close family can do to each other. She's dead honest with him in the way only family can be. She's never afraid to put him in his place and she's right to do so because she had known him her entire life. 

It also made him feel better to hear understanding from just one person right now. He didn't have a lot of people with whom he could share his feelings about Kelly. First of all, she was from so far in the past people would think it was nuts to have held a candle for her that long. Second of all, she was married. He hadn't discussed it with Shannon yet but just the fact that she was married meant it was not going to go over well with him. Especially since Shannon loves Josh so much. He'd practically adopted him as a brother. He kept referring to the three of them as the Leto Brothers.