Four: Saved again

“You have to come home, James,” His uncle’s heavy British accent sailed into his ears.

Jamie had been about to retire to bed when he got a call from his adopted father’s younger brother, Arthur Henderson. It was to inform him that his adopted father, Edward Henderson had just taken his last breath. The news had left him devastated, opening a deep gash of wound in his heart. While he was still trying to take it on, Arthur began to pressure him to return home for the funeral and that was something he wasn’t going to do.

The only man that would welcome him if he ever returned home after the six years he’d spent abroad since the incident that caused a major rift between him and the rest of the Henderson family was dead. Returning to London to be in their midst would be a death wish and that was exactly what Arthur was requesting.

“I’m sorry, uncle but you know I can’t,” the words slipped through his lips, despite the lump that had formed in his throat from the news of the death of the only man that has ever meant anything to him. He’d always stood as a father figure to him even when the truth finally came out that he was an adopted son of the family.

“Are you telling me you wouldn’t return home to pay your last respect to your father?” Arthur’s words were spiked with an undertone of annoyance and disappointment but even that wasn’t enough to convince Jamie otherwise.

“You know London is no longer my home, uncle unless you’re planning to throw me to the sharks,”

Silence ensued for a while and Jamie had to take off the phone from his ear just to be sure the call was still on. When he returned the gadget to his ear, the man continued speaking.

“I’d take it you do not understand the gravity of the words you’re saying. Maybe the reality of Edward’s demise hasn’t sunk into you yet. Thus, I’ll leave you for now but you better have your head out of your arse by the time I call back,”

Jamie didn’t have the time to respond before the call ended. The phone beeped in his ears, signifying the end of the call and he tossed the device aside, a deep sigh of frustration slipping from his lips as his shoulders sagged from the distress.

His father was dead. The truth behind those words hit him hard just like Arthur had predicted. His heart squeezed so painfully that for a moment he couldn’t breathe as he recalled the last time he’d seen the man on a video call. He was in a hospital bed and they’d been joking about his recovery while planning to meet after six years of Jamie’s disappearance from home.

Over the years, Edward had tried his best to get him to return home, to mend the gash in the family, and to set things straight. Still, Jamie was simply too proud to return to a place where he wasn’t welcomed, especially after the ugly way he’d been publicly humiliated. 

Six years ago, the Henderson family had torn his life apart, stripping him of everything he’d ever thought he owned and even the family he thought he had, only to inform him that he was an adopted son of a wretched woman, who had sold him for money, and hence, couldn't be allowed to be an heir to their empire. The news had made waves all over England and for months, it had been headlines. Jamie realized he couldn’t survive there, not after the humiliation. Hence, he’d moved to Texas to start a new life with an entirely new identity, known as James Halliday. Only a few close friends and some of his most trusted employees knew of his true background and his real name. 

His identity wasn’t even linked to the different businesses he’d established in the US since his arrival. His best friend, Adrian was in charge of all of his businesses, and was also his manager. He led a low profile as the CFO of a growing financial company, with his fake name, only visiting his businesses once in a while. 

After the incident in London, he’d realized that keeping one's life private was the best way to go.

Thoughts of his past with Edward kept assailing his mind as he sat on the sofa, quietly mourning his father’s death while mulling over his uncle’s request for him to return home for the funeral. Deep down, he knew he had to attend the funeral as it was the last thing he owed to the man that brought him up. But then, was he ready to face the same people who cast him out six years ago with remorse?

This question plowed his mind, unanswered.

With time, Jamie decided to keep himself busy and ignore his pain until he could deal with the situation on ground. He was meant to be at one of his new clubs in Texas, just thirty minutes drive from his home but he’d been procrastinating. Pushing his grief to a dark corner of his heart, he rose to his feet and quickly got dressed in a dark suit, and an equally dark dress shirt before exiting the house for his destination.

Jamie got into the club through the back entrance to avoid passing through the jam-packed entrance. And again, he didn’t want to distract the bouncers by the door as they’d want to personally escort him through before returning to their duties.

The club, Euphoria, was the latest one he’d purchased from its owner, one of his friends. It was the first public club he was owning, except those attached to the hotels he owned. The rest were exclusive clubs that required exclusive invites and were only affordable to the wealthy elites of society. 

It was how he made his money_From the wealthy that were willing to throw a few millions away a night just to prove they had the money to spend and their accounts were loaded.

The loud music streaming from the club sailed into his ears as he headed towards the stairs that led to his private office on the topmost floor. He heard the noise. It was why his office was soundproofed and also why he rarely visited the clubs. But tonight, he needed this disturbance to get his mind off his father’s death.

Jamie took the stairs until he got to the top floor but then he decided to stay a bit to watch the rowdy club below. Thus, he stayed by the railings, staring down at the drunken people having the time of their lives. A few were still at the bar, slurping down one glass of shot after the other. From there, his eyes trailed to the different booths, from the less expensive ones to the most expensive and he was about to look away and return to his office when his eyes landed on a familiar blonde.

It was Cookie.

From where he stood, he could see her seated beside a brunette in one of the dimly lit booths. A guy he could recognize from anywhere was seated beside the brunette. Cookie was in the midst of a different oddly familiar girl and her supposed abusive ex-boyfriend. And to make matters worse, she seemed to be tipsy as she kept grinning and laughing hysterically, barely able to hold herself as the brunette kept supporting her.

Jamie’s eyes darted to the ex-boyfriend to see the predatory look in his eyes as he kept leering at Cookie like she was his next meal. Red-hot rage surged through him and he gritted his teeth with his jaw clenched hard and his palms balling into fists as he saw Dave reach out to touch Cookie.

Dave’s palm was splayed on the smooth skin of her exposed thighs and it had Jamie seeing red, his possessive and dominating instincts kicking. 

To make matters worse, Dave moved from his seat to join Cookie and the brunette pushed Cookie towards him until her head was on his shoulder and she was practically climbing him with her lips all over him. This had Jamie frowning.

If he heard correctly the last time he was with the woman, she wouldn’t be near her ex and wouldn’t even wish to touch him with a ten feet long pole. What was she doing with him, with her body practically plastered to his like she was itching to eat him alive? But he didn’t have to ponder on that question for long as he instantly noticed Dave reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a bundle of cash he threw at the brunette. She quickly blew Dave a kiss and rose to her feet, about to leave.

At this point, the entire situation became clear to Jamie. The brunette must have purposely gotten Cookie drunk just to trade her to Dave. And from experience, the goddamn woman couldn’t handle her alcohol.

Before he could put his thoughts together, he was already running down the stairs and calling on security to prevent the brunette from leaving the club.

Within an instant, he got to the booth where Dave was already feeling Cookie up with her body pressed flush against his. Anger flooded his bloodstream as he quickly yanked her from his hold, pulling her against him and protectively wrapping his arms around her.

“What the f…” Dave barely had the chance to finish his sentence before Jamie’s fist connected with his nose.

A curse slipped from his lips as blood dripped down his nostrils from the effect of the punch. He rained profanities on Jamie with the intention of returning the hit but before he could gather himself from the effect of Jamie’s blow, security had arrived.

The brunette who had been caught by the bouncers at the door was quickly handcuffed to Dave and led out after Jamie barked orders for them to be locked up until he decided what to do with them.

With his anger and fury still pouring through him and with Cooking dangling from his shoulder, he climbed up the stairs to his office. As soon as they were behind closed doors, he slid the scantily dressed woman down his body but as soon as her feet touched the ground, she was all over him, tearing and clawing at his suit jacket and dress shirt, with her lips attacking his neck.

“Please, I want it now,” she whimpered.

“W-what?” Jamie frowned in confusion but Cookie was having none of that. Her hands were already traveling to his belt but he quickly caught hold of her and a cry of protest escaped her lips.

“Please, just this once…” she cried, leaning in to kiss him but Jamie turned his head and her lips met with his jaw.

Hearing the words that came from her mouth had his brain racing for an answer. Coupled with the stench of alcohol from her breath, it didn’t take time to arrive at a rightful conclusion.

“Fuck!” he cursed when the realization dawned on him.

Cookie was under the influence of drugs. Her drink had been spiked by a drug that made her overly sexually active.

This realization only increased his anger as he thought of different ways to deal with Dave and the brunette. But first, he had to get Cookie some help.