Page 46 of Jealous God
“Hey guys, it’s great to see you all again.” I hugged each one in turn, my back ramrod straight because I could feel Jax’s eyes on me. He didn’t have to ask what the hell was going on out loud, his unasked question heated the air around us. “I’m going to let you guys talk shop because I need to freshen up before tonight.” Stepping back, I pressed my lips to Jax’s cheek. Partly because I wanted to show my brother that I didn’t care what he thought of my choice in bed partners, and partly because I wanted to reassure Jax himself. “See you upstairs?”
“As quickly as I can.” He grinned down at me, slapping my ass as I walked away. He did it for the biker’s sake, more than mine. His way of claiming territory.
“Elodie.” My brother's loud voice boomed out my full name, making me freeze in place.
Slowly, I turned to look over my shoulder at him. “Me and you need to talk later. No excuses this time.”
I waved in response. That particular chat would not be happening. Not if I had anything to do with it. When it came to talking to my big biker brother, I was the queen of excuses. It was like he didn’t know me at all.
* * *
“You wantto tell me what the hell it is you're doing, El?”
I jumped out of my skin, my heels physically leaving the floor. Whirling, I clutched at my throat. “The fuck Legacy, you scared me.” I eyed him warily. All day and most of the evening, I had managed to avoid him. It was pretty easy seeing as he was there to do a job. The fact he had been waiting for me outside my hotel room, lurking in the shadows like some kind of creeper, was out of character for him. Legacy was a right in your face kind of guy. “What are you doing here?”
He ignored me and answered my question with one of his own. “What the fuck are you doing, Elodie?” he asked again.
I sighed loudly. The sound carried in the hushed hallway. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going to meet the band.”
His full lips curled into a sneer. “You mean you’re going to meethim, Jax.”
“Fuck off, Legacy. I don’t even know why you are here.”
“Doing my job,” he growled back. Neither one of us moved, but the atmosphere crackled with anger. It was always that way between us. Bitterness and anger. I could barely remember a time when we had been close, even when I knew it used to be that way. He was my brother; I had loved him fiercely forever.
“So, go do it and leave me to do mine.” I tried to shoulder barge him only for his hand to curl vice-like around my bicep, stopping me in my tracks.
“Is your job to fuck around with an asshole who will never respect you?”
I bristled, and then laughter bubbled out. It was almost hysterical in its volume. I couldn’t help myself. Throwing back my head, tears ran down my face. It was all so absurd. He was acting like I was a naïve teenage girl. The girl he used to have to protect. I wasn’t that girl any longer. I was a grown ass woman, and I hadn’t needed his protection for a long time.
“Fuck off, Legacy.”
He frowned, his face almost regretful.
“We miss you at home, El. Dad misses you. You should check in every once in a while.”
“Dad can fuck off as well. Why can’t you see it, Legacy?” Dropping my voice to a poisonous, hushed whisper, I stepped into his space. “I don’t need you, or dad, or the damn club you all love so much. I did once, and none of you were there for me. Because I was a dumb kid who had to get through it all alone since nothing else mattered but the damn Savage Sons. Now I’m grown, I have my own life and my own mind, and you try to come in here and act like my brother? Where were you when I needed my brother? Where the fuck were you then?”
Legacy sucked in a breath. “I know I fucked up. We all did, but that doesn’t mean you drop family. We were all suffering.”
“Suffering? Dad had the club. You were away God knows where and didn’t even come home for the funeral. Who did I have? Who was there for me, Legacy?” Angrily, I swiped at my eyes because I was crying properly now. Big, fat tears streaked my makeup down my face. “Fuck, see what you have done!” I shoved at his chest, trying to push him away from the closed door so I could go in and fix my makeup.
His arms closed around me the second I had the door open. He crushed me against his chest in a bear hug that cracked my ribs and made them ache. “I’m sorry, El. I really am. I should have… I didn’t know how to deal with any of it.”
I let him hug me for a while before I hugged him back. It had been so many years since I had been honest with him. I locked that part of me away because the old Elodie was weak. She had been a child who had lost the one person in her life that she could count on. The one person who was always there. My brother had died, but his twin hadn’t. So why had it always felt like I lost both my brothers that day?
“I needed you, Legacy.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Jax
“Eli said she would meet us there and...”
Ignoring Tate’s insistence, I stepped out of the elevator onto our floor. I didn’t much care what Elodie had said. I needed to see her. And it had nothing to do with the distant way she had been returning my kisses all day. No, not at all. Well, maybe if I was honest with myself, it had a big part. Something had distracted Elodie all day, ever since she had greeted the bikers like old friends. And that Legacy? He had greeted her right back. And it wasn’t friendship that had made him hug her a little too long.
I knew men like him because I was a man like him. A womanising jerk. His familiarity with her made me uncomfortable. And the fact she was distant and distracted just cemented in my mind that something had happened between them in the past. The real question was, was it still happening?
