Page 16 of Jealous God
His laughter followed me to my bunk. It seemed to echo in my head as I dragged the curtain across. They could all fuck off.
NINE
Eliodie
Ihad never been to New York, and it must have shown because the band’s laughter filled my ears as I stood on the pavement (or was it sidewalk?) and stared upward with my mouth open. I had to crane my neck and peer around against the glare of the sunlight filtering down between the skyscrapers, but I still couldn’t see all of it. And I wanted to see all of it.
“El?”
Shaking away the daydream, I turned my attention to the man at my side and smiled, letting my hand drop to his arm for a second. He smiled back, a dimple in his cheek popping. It made him look more approachable to others, but I already knew that the rough exterior and foul mouth hid a true sweetheart. People might cross the street to avoid Chance, which was one of the reasons he was employed to take care of Dionysus Rising, but I knew him. I had known him my entire life. Hell, I think at one point or another I’d even had some girly teenage crush on the older man, back before he had left the London chapter and gone Nomad. Back before he had been recruited to deal with Dionysus Rising’s security.
That had been after I had left. After my whole world had crumbled around me.
“Hey, Chance.” I squeezed his forearm. “It feels like it’s been forever since we got to chat.”
His dark green eyes met mine and then flickered towards the band's retreating backs. There was only one person loitering in the doorway, his own biker security scanning the street for any threats.
“Yeah, well, they have monopolised all of your time… We even got a warning that…”
I turned to him, my hand still on his arm and scowled. “Who warned you of doing what?”
But of course they had. It shouldn’t have even come as a surprise. Erik had given me his word that no one would try it on. I had presumed it was just the band and crew, but obviously he had extended the warning to the Sons in charge of the band’s security.
“Erik?”
Chance didn’t speak at first, but his eyes lingered intentionally on the figure in the door. His baseball cap was pulled down over his face, and his sunglasses hid him from casual observation, but he couldn’t hide from me. And I was going to kill him. I was going to kill him dead. Dionysus Rising would need to find a new guitarist because…
“It was after I took you shopping that day.” Chance cracked another smile and this one was indulgent. “Think our lad Jax has a crush, because he was pretty adamant that I wasn’t to go anywhere near you. Threatened to have me fired.”
I continued to stare at Jax. I couldn’t read his expression because I couldn’t see his eyes, but it was clear he was staring straight back at me. And it was clear that he wasn’t happy about what he was seeing.
“Did you tell him?”
Chance shook his head. “Of course not. Your brother was pretty adamant that you didn’t want anyone to know. So, I think it’s just Erik… Maybe Dion…?”
God, I hoped Dion didn’t know. As much as I already loved the dude like a brother, if he knew my connection to the Savage Sons’ London chapter, then so would the rest of them. And it would colour the way they treated me. They would say it wouldn’t, but it always did. Always. Which was one of the reasons I hadn’t told anyone.
“Thanks, Chance.” I took a step away from him. I did it because I wanted to get off the street and find my hotel room. An actual hotel room for a few nights instead of sleeping on a bus sounded like absolute heaven. I wanted a very, very long soak in a bubble bath and my own space where I wasn’t surrounded by stinky boys twenty-four-seven.
“El.” This time it was his hand that came down on my arm, drawing me to a stop. Glancing behind me, I saw Jax tear his glasses from his face. He took a step forward. And it was clear that he was going to come over and make a scene.
“I have to go, Chance, before Jax gets recognised and mobbed by big-boobied fans.” I rolled my eyes.
“El, your brother is here. And he wants to see you.”
I froze. “He’s here? Why is he here?”
But I knew why Legacy was there. Chance’s smile slipped. But his eyes didn’t leave mine even as Jax marched over. “You know why he is here, El. You going to let him have a few minutes of your time?”
I thought about it for a second and then nodded. “Yeah, yeah, of course.” I chewed on my lip. “Can you arrange it, Chance?”
I didn’t get a chance to say anything else as Jax came to a stop beside me. “Something going on here that I should know about?”
Chance stayed silent, and I knew what kind of control that must have taken for him. He wasn’t exactly known for being level-headed in the heat of the moment, and especially not when someone was shooting daggers at him like Jax was.
“Nope, nothing at all.” I swept past him, heading into the shadowy confines of the lobby. I couldn’t see Erik or the others anywhere. Fuck. Had they been whisked off before they could give me my key or…?
“Any idea where the others are?” I asked without looking to see if it was Jax who had sidled up to my shoulder.
