No Escape | Book 2 of Possessive

THREE

I woke up to Jack's annoying alarm clock as he continued to peacefully sleep.

I slightly nudged him with my hand and let out a groan, causing him to wake up and turn it off.

He shifted under the sheets, stretching and groaning then finally found a comfortable position with his head resting on the pillow, behind mine as well as his arm wrapped around my body.

"Jack, you need to get up. We have work." I pointed out.

"I know, but I just want ten more minutes."

"No, cause ten minutes turns into 30, then you're running late for work. Get up." I said sternly.

He let out a sigh in exasperation and got up from his spot, then dragged himself to the bathroom.

I exhaled then made myself comfortable again since I had 30 minutes until I need to get up.

I heard the light flicker on in the bathroom and Jack closed the door.

I listened as the shower turned on and soon found myself struggling to fall back asleep.

I sat up in the bed and rubbed my eyes then got up and walked to the bathroom.

I opened the door and it was all steamy because of Jack's hot shower.

I closed the door behind me then stripped down and put my hair up in a bun.

I slid the glass door open and stepped in behind Jack. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at me.

"Good morning." He said as I slid the door closed "Good morning" I wrapped my arms around him and I felt him chuckle.

"Jack, you've just been using up all the hot water." Closed my eyes and rested my cheek against his back.

"I haven't been in here for that long." He chuckled.

"But you always use up all of the hot water anyways." I groaned.

He let out a sigh then started to turn around so the water was hitting my back.

"Better?" He asked.

"Now my hair is wet." I groaned.

He pried my hands off of him and turned around so he was facing me

"I'd just get it all wet then." He put his hands on my waist and kissed my forehead.

"But it's not a wash day." I pouted.

He just chuckled and shook his head.

"Then just put it up in a bun." He suggested.

"But that's so much work." He turned me around so the water was hitting my chest now.

He started to take my hair down from its bun as I stood there, embracing the hot water.

I felt a loose feeling in my scalp as all my hair fell in front of my face and down my back.

"Can I do it this time?" He asked.

"Jack, I have to go to work, and I don't need to go looking fucked up." I chuckled

"You won't. I've gotten so good at it." He said as he played with it.

"I'll let you put conditioner in it but that's it." I said then put my hair under the water.

-

I was looking through my case files, searching for the client I'm meeting today, when I finally came across it.

It turns out, I'm meeting with a woman who wanted to sue her ex-husband for emotional distress.

I know that depending on the circumstances, some courts are reluctant to deal with personal marriage disputes, but I know a thing or two about harassment from an ex-partner.

When I met with her in my office, I saw that she was a small, blond woman with short hair. Her demeanor seemed very shy and timid.

"Hi, it's so nice to meet you. My name is Gabby Gilinsky." I reached my hand across my desk to shake her's

"Stacy Neil." She said quietly while shaking my hand.

"So, I read up on your case records, and I would love to help you, but I do have to put out the fact that a lot of courts don't like to deal with personal marriage matters such as emotional distress." She let out a sigh and her shoulders slumped.

"You don't understand. He's been harassing me, whenever he comes to pick up my kids for their time with him, he always has unkind words for me, I think he ruins all of my relationships, and I'm pretty sure he only wants to go through with a prenup because he knows how much more money he makes than me anyways. I don't know what I'm supposed to do?"

This whole situation felt all too familiar.

"Since, nothing in this file told me anything about what you just explained, this makes it more of a case about harassment than just emotional distress. That gives us a lot more leverage, but I need you to do a little more for me to help me build some momentum on this case... Try to get any evidence of this, whether it be recording conversations while in your own home or public settings, asking for witness testimony, phone records, text messages, anything to help build up evidence of harassment. That will help you more than anything" She slowly nodded her head, but still seemed nervous.

-

I pulled into my driveway and once I got out, grabbed the mail from the mailbox and walked to the front door.

Today was so mentally tiring. The case I talked about with Ms. Neil brought back a lot of old stuff I didn't want to resurface, but at the same time, I wanted to help her so bad.

As I was trying to get my keys onto the keyhole, the mail slipped from between my body and forearm and fell to the ground.

I let out a sigh in exasperation as I bent down to pick it all up, but was suddenly stopped by the sight of another letter from the California State Prison.

I tried to take a deep breath and regroup myself because this was the last thing I really needed.

I got inside, turned the house alarm off and walked towards the stairs, leaving all of the mail but the one from the prison on the small table in the foyer.

When I got upstairs, I entered Jack and I's bedroom then went straight to the bed. I lifted up the mattress on my side and stuck the envelope in between the bottom mattress and the bed frame with the others.

I dropped the mattress back down on top of the letters then sat back on the bed, exhaling deeply.

And so it begins.