Page 26 of Jealous God
As much as she drove me absolutely insane, I was obsessively protective over her.
I stayed with her, refusing to leave the small room as her face was cleaned up. I didn’t touch her, but I didn’t take my eyes off her grimacing face either. Of course, the others were there as well, hovering around like bodyguards, but I paid them no mind at all. There was no one but Elodie. Tomorrow, I would have to deal with the guilt Dion was no doubt feeling, but not tonight. All of my attention had to be on Elodie.
She wasn’t mine; I couldn’t even be sure she liked me as a person, but I wanted her to. Dion was right about that. My animosity towards her was just my defence mechanism kicking in.
IlikedElodie. Like,likedliked her.
It was scary, no, terrifying, but I couldn’t deny it anymore.
“Here, let me...” The moment the doctor had given her the all clear, I was on my feet, pushing past the others to reach for her. My intention was clear. I was going to carry her from the hospital like I had carried her in.
“Jax, I can walk.” She waved my reaching hands away with a smile that quickly turned into a grimace as her patched up lip stretched tight. “I’m fine.”
She didn’t look fine. She looked in pain, and I hated it.
Catching my look, she put her hand on my arm. “Really, Jax, it’s just a few stitches. He said it probably won’t even scar.”
Scar? I hadn’t even thought about that. Her beautiful face scarred up because one of Isla’s psychotic friends had thought bottling Dion was the way to go? I loved Isla like a sister, but I would be having words with her about it, even when I knew it wasn’t directly her fault. She was, in part, responsible. She knew what the press was reporting regarding Dion and her being pregnant wasn’t true, and she hadn’t gone on the record to say otherwise.
Isla hadn’t told the truth. She had torn the band apart and was continuing to do so. And I was starting to hate her for that.
“Eli… I…” Dion’s voice was tortured, and I moved reluctantly out of the way so he could come and talk to her face to face. “I am so sorry, if I—”
“Dion, you have nothing to apologise for, absolutely nothing.” She reached out and squeezed his bicep. “It was just one of those things. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She sounded so normal and not at all like she had just had jagged shards of glass smashed into her face.
“That may be,” Erik butted in. “But we have security so this kind of thing doesn’t happen. Security who blatantly aren’t doing their job right.”
Something that looked strangely like anger flickered to life in her eyes. “Not their fault, either. She looked normal. There was no reason they would think she was a threat.”
I frowned at her, but it was Tate who asked the question that was on all of our minds. “Then how…?”
Elodie shrugged. “I’ve seen that look before. When women get that look, they are about to do something dumb.”
She had seen that look before? I didn’t know how to take that. I had always presumed that Elodie had some apple pie upbringing, and that’s why she walked around being so straight laced and stuff. But what kind of good girl was around psychos bottling people? It just made me realise again how little I really knew about her.
“You’ve seen people get glassed before?” Tate’s eyebrows shot up.
“Yeah, it’s not even the second or third time, where I grew up...” She trailed off, her eyes darting towards Erik almost like she realised what she was saying. “Anyway, I’m fine. No apologies needed, no one needs to be fired. I would prefer just to forget it, and…” she plucked at her clothes which were splattered with blood, “to go back and wash up. I could do with some sleep and—”
Shouldering passed Dion; I took her elbow. She might not need or want me to carry her, but I at least could be an arm to lean on. Her eyes widened slightly and, for a second, I thought she was going to argue back, but then she nodded slightly.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
* * *
“Are you sure you’re ok?”Dion was the last one to leave Elodie’s hotel room, well, the last one apart from me. Because I wasn’t going anywhere. I’d sleep on the couch that looked more for show than comfort before I left her alone. Dion hesitated at the door, his eyes darting to me and then to her as she pulled things out of her suitcase.
“I’m fine, Dion. I promise you. Go and get some sleep.” She didn’t even look up as she continued to rummage around.
Dion didn’t argue with her, but his eyes met mine. “You will look after her?”
That made Elodie’s head snap up.
“Yeah, I’ll look after her, brother.”
“Neither of you need to stay with me. I’m fine.”
I cut her off. “I’m staying, no arguments.” My tone was final and she must have heard it, because all the fight left her face. Her shoulders slumped. And it was only then that I noticed how exhausted she looked. As Dion let the door click behind him, I kept my eyes on her. The plan had been to stay with her and make sure she was ok, but now we were alone I didn’t know what to say or do. It was craze inducing.
