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FINDING JARED

CHAPTER TWENTY

Three days later, Jared and Skyla boarded a flight back to New York.

"So Shannon never left?" she asked him.

"Nope. We've only been gone six days," he told her.

Skyla sighed and looked out of the window of the plane. She felt like a game piece in a game of chess: she was useless until absolutely needed. She looked and saw Jared's hand clasped securely around hers, and she sighed deeply. Shannon, it seemed, might have seemed more possessive but it was in a protective manner. She stayed in deep thought for the rest of the flight.

"What are you thinking about?" Jared asked her.

"Nothing... just thinking about my family," she told him.

Jared looked at her curiously. She just continued looking outside and crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry, I forgot all about your family," Jared began.

She turned and looked at him. Her jade-green eyes, which had once held so much warmth and comfort, were now blank and cold. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"You were supposed to turn that off," he told her.

"So?" she said flatly. "We're off the plane now." She read the text she had received; it was from Shannon: "Back in New York yet?"

"Who was the message from?" Jared asked her.

"Your brother. He wants to know if we're back in New York yet. I suggest you text him and tell him yes, we are back," she told him. Jared didn't hesitate to do so. They were on their way back to the hotel where they were before they left; they had been pretty hostile toward each other since they got married earlier in the week.

"I wanted you to text me, not him!" his next message said angrily. "I'm not too fond of you and Jared together, and I'm positive I'm not the only one."

"Congratulations. Now find out who these other people are," Skyla texted him.

"I will. So what did you guys do the past six days?" he asked her tentatively.

"Oh, nothing much... we just eloped and stuff." Skyla had a small smile on her lips.

"I figured as much. Try and get an annulment," Shannon's message urged her.

"Why?" she asked him. "It's not like I didn't want to get married."

"Because Jared will do it if you don't," Shannon's text warned her.

Skyla put her phone down with a sigh. She watched as rain started coming down outside the window in sheets. Jared came over and stood beside her.

"What are you thinking of?" he said softly. He put his arm around her shoulders.

"Just... stuff," she said. "Us. This marriage."

"Yeah." Jared looked out the window into the streets. "Do you really think it'll work out?" he asked her.

Skyla looked at him. "I don't know, for sure." They walked over to a seat in the airport and sat down.

"Are you willing to at least try?" Jared asked her.

"Honestly, I don't know!" she said harshly. She grabbed her bags and ran out into the pouring rain.

"Skyla!" Jared yelled after her. He started running after her.

Skyla was already four blocks away by the time Jared began running after her. She continued to run until she took a wrong turn and had to backtrack. She finally bumped into someone's backside; that someone turned out to be Shannon.

"Skyla! W-What's wrong?!" he asked her as he held her at arm's length. He noticed that she was breathing hard. He escorted her back to his hotel room.

"Did you run all the way here?" he asked her. She nodded, gasping for breath.

He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big hug; she leaned into him and cried softly.

"I told you," he whispered in her ear. "I don't think this marriage is going to work out well."

"Jared asked me if I think it will," she said, "and I didn't know what to say. And he even asked me if I was willing to try, and I still didn't know what to say!"

Shannon thought for a moment. "Tell him you are willing to try for three months. If it doesn't work out, then you'll annul the marriage. You will; not him."

Skyla thought over what Shannon said. He had a point. "You're right; I'll see if he'll agree to it."

"That's my girl," Shannon smiled. "You can stay in here tonight, if you want to," he offered. She nodded.

As she walked away toward the bathroom, Shannon received a text message from Jared: "Is Skyla with you?"

"Yeah, why? What's wrong?" he texted him back. He had noticed that Jared's message was full of angst.

"I couldn't find her, and I was getting worried," he simply said.

Shannon sighed. He laid back on the bed, and waited for Skyla to come out of the bathroom. Five minutes later, she came out in a pair of his old pajama pants and an old t-shirt.

"Jared just texted me," he told her. "He's worried."

"Let him worry," she said quietly. "I've had to spend the last few weeks worrying over him; now it's his turn." She flopped face first onto one of the beds.

Shannon sat down next to her and rubbed her back, comforting her. "You still going to wait a few months for an annulment?" he asked her, suddenly laying next to her. She nodded.

"I think I'll wait about two months," she told him.

"Why two months? Why not do it sooner?" he asked her. Shannon has seen the look of sadness in her eyes she got from being so worried about Jared; being married to him will just cause her more pain and sadness, right?

Throughout the night, Shannon watched and made sure Skyla was okay and had no problems sleeping. When she woke up, he made them both some breakfast and they sat down to eat. As they were sitting down, someone knocked on the door. Shannon hopped up to see who it was; he grimaced as he saw Jared standing outside his hotel room door.

"What do you want?" Shannon asked him.

"I want to talk to Skyla, privately. May I?" Jared walked into his hotel room.

"I don't know. It depends on what she wants," Shannon told him coolly.

Jared sighed. "Leave, please?" he asked Shannon.

Shannon left his hotel room and sat just outside the door. He listened in on their conversation.

"Do you think this marriage is going to work out?" Jared pressed Skyla for an answer. Shannon held his breath.

Skyla's voice was small when she answered him. "No."

Shannon exhaled deeply; she knew all along and he did too. He clenched his fists and listened to their muffled conversation.

"Skyla, what do you think you're going to do, annul a four-day-old marriage? You simply can't do that!" Jared told her furiously.

"I was going to ask you to wait a few weeks and then we get the annulment," Skyla snapped at him. "Seeing how we never really consummated the marriage, we can just wait a few weeks and get the annulment then."

Shannon looked at the opposing wall. He waited for someone to come out of the room. Suddenly, Jared stormed out and Shannon then seized his chance to run in and check on Skyla.

"Stupidity. Pure stupidity!" Skyla was storming around the room, throwing objects around. The remote control to the tv barely missed Shannon's head as he sat down near her.

"You going to be okay?" he asked her tentatively.

"I don't know... maybe. I guess I'll see in a few weeks," she said. Shannon noticed her face was tear-stained.

"So you're really going to get an annulment?" he asked her.

"Yeah. Maybe in a few weeks, things might be a bit more decent between us, and we'll be more 'friendly' toward one another." Skyla sat down beside him.

"Yeah. Do you think we can still be friends if you and Jared get the marriage annulled?" Shannon asked her.

"Of course we can still be friends!" Skyla said. "I might lose your brother, but I would never want to lose you."

Shannon smiled and gave her a hug. "I don't want to lose you, either."