Jealous God 9

Elodie

I had 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.

“To the floor we are on would be my guess.”

I could feel his eyes on me, studying me, and it took everything I had not to turn to him and stare right back. “You want to tell me what all of that was about?” Jax's voice was low, but there was anger in it. More than one person was beginning to turn. A few whispers started as more and more people realised who he was. 

“What floor is that?”

“Top I would guess.” He looked around, almost like he had just become aware of the stares aimed in our direction. “Fuck, we need to go.”

I couldn’t agree with him more. There were phones in people’s hands now. Phones which were pointed in our direction. Without missing a beat, Jax's hand closed around my elbow. He led me forward. The two security guys brought up the rear. 

“You can take the next one.” He said the moment the elevator doors opened, and he had dragged me into it. It took me a second to realise he wasn’t talking to me. 

Chance frowned. “El?”

I smiled. He was worried about me, and that was sweet, but totally unnecessary. Jax had a bee in his bonnet about something, but he wasn’t an actual threat to me. No doubt he just wanted to rant at me for a little bit, and I could do without an audience for that. Especially an audience who would either try to get involved and potentially make things worse, or would go running back to my brother, who would definitely make it worse.

Bikers.

For assholes, they were a protective bunch. 

The door swished closed before anyone could say anything, locking me inside with Jax. Neither one of us moved.

“Want me to press the button for you?” I went to reach past him and froze when his hand closed around my wrist. His other hand pressed the door closed button and held it there. 

“Want to explain to me what the hell is going on between you and Chance, Elodie?” The venom in his voice was so thick, it was pretty much dripping from him.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Staring up into his dark eyes was dangerous, so I looked away, realising too late how guilty that made me look. Except I didn’t have anything to feel guilty about. 

“No?”

He still hadn’t let go of my wrist. “But he calls you El. I’ve not heard anyone else call you El.”

I blinked at him. I hadn’t even thought about it. “Caleb has always called me El.” Too late, I realised my second mistake. I needed to be more careful. I had been too preoccupied that he had picked up on the fact that Chance and the others called me by my old schoolgirl nickname when the rest of the band called me Eli, or in Jax’s case, Elodie. 

Jax's eyes flashed. 

“Caleb? Are you sleeping with him? Is that why you are as thick as thieves?”

I started to shake my head, and he growled out a warning. 

“You call him Caleb, his real name. No one calls him fucking anything but Chance, so tell me the truth, Elodie. Are you sleeping with him? Did he share that little snippet of information as pillow talk? Did he make you think you were special?” 

Suddenly, he was in my space. I backed up until my back hit the wall, but still he kept coming. The breath stuck in my lungs. 

“Jax,” I breathed out his name, unable to look anywhere but up into his eyes. 

“Whatever he has promised you, whatever…” One tattooed hand went to pull the cap from his head and muss up his head. 

“Chance is my friend.” God, was he going to kiss me? It looked as if he was. His dark eyes seemed to be glued to my mouth. It felt like he was going to as well. It was almost like we had our own private electrical storm brewing. 

“Erik is going to be pissed about your friendship, Elodie.” His head ducked down. “Can’t say I’m too happy about it, either.” Something passed across his face. “You deserve better than to be messed around by…” 

Jax’s lips were just inches from mine, and I sighed. A breathy little sound as my lips fell open, and his eyes narrowed in on them again. “I don’t like the thought of him having a special name for you, or the fact that you are obviously close enough to have one. Bikers aren’t—”

“I know.” God, I knew what bikers were. Probably better than he did. 

“You do.” The hand that wasn’t holding my wrist slid up to stroke down my cheek; his touch was gentle but possessive. And it took my breath away. “What else do you know, Elodie?”

“That—” I couldn’t finish as his thumb swiped across my bottom lip. I was about to say that I knew he was going to kiss me, and I wanted him to. At that moment I wanted nothing more than for his sinfully full lips to fall onto mine. 

The door slid open, exposing the carpeted hallways beyond. I hadn’t even felt us start to move upwards. I had been so mesmerised by him. By his whiskey eyes and sinfully kissable mouth. 

Jax stepped away, dropping my wrist. His eyes lingered for a second before travelling to my eyes. He smiled almost sadly. “Yeah, that.”

And then he was gone, leaving me standing there and panting. 

Panting and wondering what the hell had just happened.