Come One, Come All to This Tragic Affair

I was lying on the couch in the recording studio listening to Mikey track his bass parts when Gee’s phone started ringing right in my ear.
“Gee, your phone’s ringing.” I mumbled, holding it up.
“It’s Charlie.” He flipped it open. “Hey babe. Yeah, hold on. She wants to talk to you.” He handed me the phone.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.
“Have you seen Jaden? She left the gallery at nine and she hasn’t come back. She left her phone here and she’s not picking up her house phone.” Charlie sounded worried out of her mind.
“No, I haven’t seen her since last night.” I held onto the phone with one hand and pulled my jacket on with the other. “Any idea where she might be?”
“She likes going to the lake in Central Park. If you find her tell her she’s in big trouble.”
“Will do.” I hung up and threw the phone back to Gee before running out of the studio.
It’s starting to get dark, its Central Park and she’s a tiny woman.
I’m worried.
By the time I reached the lake, it was almost dark. I could see something white in front of me and a head of curls above it.
But she wasn’t alone.
“You’re gonna be fun.” A man hissed, circling around Jaden. He stroked her face and she slapped him. I sped up when he backhanded her to the floor.
“Don’t touch her!” I yelled, slamming into him from behind. I wasn’t much taller than Jaden but I sure as hell wasn’t gonna let him anywhere near her.
A scuffle ensued and I took some hits, although I’m proud to say that I gave as good as I got. He ran away and I turned to look for Jaden.
“Are you okay?” I asked, helping her up.
“A little shaken up, but physically okay.” Her bottom lip quivered before she flung herself at me, wrapping her arms around my waist. Her shoulders shook and I realized she was crying.
“Shh, its okay baby, its okay.” I murmured, running my hand through her hair.
“Baby?” She pulled away to look at me. I winced and realized that might be a term of endearment I wasn’t allowed to use. She read the look on my face. “No, no I like it.”
“We should get the hell out of here.” I said, looking around. It was almost completely pitch black now.
She smiled slightly and reached into her purse, pulling out a pocket sized flash light. With that in hand we made our way out of the park and onto the better lit street.
“How’d you find me?” Jaden still had one arm around my waist and I had mine around her shoulders.
“Charlie called Gerard and said that she hadn’t seen you for hours and she was worried. So I came to look for you.” I was dying to know why she’d run off. It wasn’t like Jaden to leave her gallery for the entire day, let alone leave her phone there as well.
“There’s a picture of us on the Internet.” She said finally. I bit my lip and waited to see if she’d say anything else. I knew how much her privacy meant to her.
“It just surprised me I guess, that it would get out so fast.”
“I’m sorry.” It was all I could think of to say.
“It’s not your fault.” She leaned her head against me.
She’s so small and so delicate and she has this amazing will.
I don’t know if I’d be half as strong as she is if I lost someone I loved, especially if I’d been with them for almost ten years.
Before I knew it, we were at our apartments. I almost wanted to reset time so we could walk forever.
“I’ll talk to you later. I gotta call Charlie and beg for forgiveness.” She gave me an all too quick kiss before disappearing into her apartment.
I unlocked my door and leaned against the inside of it for a long time, just thinking.
Mainly about Jaden and the fact that I may just be falling in love with her.