Page 56 of Jealous God
“What was that all about?” I finally asked.
Domino laughed, the sound a low rumbling in his chest. “God, boy, there’s so much you don’t know about our El, isn’t there?”
Boy? I hadn’t been called a boy for many years, but I wasn’t about to argue with him.
“El was a bit of a hellcat in her younger days. She had to be to keep up in a house full of bikers.” The affection in his voice couldn’t be missed. “Most women who are connected to the Sons have heard about her for one reason or another. Almost all of them wouldn’t cross her.”
“But Elodie is...” I almost said a pussy cat. But that didn’t seem right. She wasn’t timid. She was aloof and held herself with poise, sure. But like a cat, she could use her claws when she wanted to.
“El is a one of a kind, kind of woman.” He settled his dark eyes on me and I nodded.
I couldn’t disagree with that. She was one of a kind.
“And she’s been through a lot,” Domino added.
“Her brother, yeah.”
“Her mum went first, then Emmett.”
I opened my mouth to say something, and then snapped my lips shut again. Her mother? She hadn’t mentioned anything about her mum in all of our conversations. And I didn’t have the good sense to ask.
“Every single person who she has ever counted on has left her. Every. Single. One.”
“Legacy?”
Dark eyebrows knitted together. “Legacy loves his sister, but he wasn’t there for her. No one was... They were all too busy wallowing in their own misery to worry about a teenage girl.”
“You didn’t leave her, though, did you?” I already knew the answer to that. What had Erik said? That Domino had pretty much raised her.
“Not until she was strong enough to deal with the world on her own, no, but then I let her go. I let her fly because being around the club was going to kill her. Question is, Jax Turner,” he dropped his voice an octave, “what are you going to do? Be here for her, or are you going to let her go?”
“I’m not good enough for her.”
One sharp nod of the head. “I won’t argue with that, but it doesn’t answer my question.”
“I can’t let her go. Not even if it means she can fly,” I whispered. Selfish as it was, it was the truth. I had no doubt that Elodie would indeed fly. She would accomplish every single thing she put her mind to. But I wanted to be there to watch her do it. I wanted to be the man standing by her side, being her biggest cheerleader.
Domino nodded his head once, and the smallest of self-satisfied smiles tilted up the corners of his mouth. “She’s not going to make it easy on you.”
“I know.”
Where the hell was she though? How was I meant to go about making things better when I couldn’t even find her in her own house?
“Your little hell cat is outside.” Domino pointed to the back door of the kitchen which was wedged open. “She’s talking to one of your boys.”
“Thanks.”
“Oh, and Jax…” he called out after me, “you put tears on that girl's cheeks again and—”
“I know.”
He didn’t need to finish the threat. I got it. And I wasn’t about to fuck up again.
THIRTY-THREE
Elodie
“Of course, Louis.” Leaning against the rough brick wall, I crossed my arms around myself. Outside was quieter, which was one of the reasons we had gone out there to talk. That and the fact that Louis didn’t want the band to know what we were talking about. Or, more specifically, he didn’t want Dion to know. I could understand that. After what had happened with Dion and his sister, I could understand that totally. I might not have had it as bad as she had, but I’d still been burned by a member of Dionysus Rising.
