There wasn’t much privacy on tour buses, but closing the door to the back bedroom, the one I slept in, the onewehad both slept in last night, gave us some semblance of it.
Whirling, he stared at me, bringing our entwined hands to his mouth. He kissed over my knuckles. “Elodie, why didn’t you say anything?”
I stared at him in shock. I had expected him to show anger, maybe disbelief. But not tenderness. And it just went to prove how little I knew about him. I always complained that Jax hadn’t bothered to really get to know me, but hadn’t I done the same? I had my own preconceived presumptions about him. A cocky, womanising rockstar without a brain cell in his head. The last few days had started to show me how wrong I was about him.
“I…don’t…” I stumbled over my own words. “I don’t talk about that time in my life. It was rough. There was a lot of drink, drugs…” I trailed off as understanding filled his eyes. Reaching up, he swiped his thumb under my eye and it was only then that I realised I was crying. Big, fat silent tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Don’t cry, baby. I kind of get it now. You had to go to rehab, and that’s why—?”
I didn’t let him finish. “No.” I shook my head with enough force that my neck cracked. “No, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t have any intervention. My brother died in a road accident.” Chewing on my lip, I tried to work out how much I could tell him. Whether I could trust him with everything. I didn’t think he would treat me differently. At least, I hoped he wouldn’t, but I had been wrong before. Hell, I had been wrong about men more often than I had been right. “I got into a small accident about two months afterward, and the copper who…” I swallowed hard. “Well, he was the same one who was there when they peeled my brother from the floor. It was a wake up call, what he said. I took it to heart, and from that night…” I sighed.
“You haven’t touched another drop?”
“No. I moved away. I left that life behind me. I couldn’t be around the memories or the temptation. It was hard, but I built a life for myself. I went to college, got a degree and threw myself into work.” I let out a sigh of relief when he pulled me into his chest. His muscled arms held me as close to him as he could. It felt good to get it off my chest. To finally tell him.
“And now you work as a babysitter for wayward troubled rockstars?” There was a gentle teasing note in his voice.
I laughed because that pretty much was my job description now. “No, Jax, I actually work in marketing.”
His brow furrowed. “Then how… Why….? Help me out here, Elodie. Erik said you were here to help Dion out. He said he had a professional—”
“Haven’t I been helping him, Jax?” I didn’t wait for him to reply. I knew it was confusing. It had been confusing to me as well when I had got the call. “Marketing is what I do whilst I finish my doctorate. I can’t practise without it. All I can do right now is donate my time to certain inner-city centres, and try to help as many people as possible. Hopefully, I’m helping Dion as well.”
Suddenly, I was acutely aware of him staring at me, his soft lips half parted. “You’re fucking incredible, you know that, right?”
I blushed. “No, I’m not.”
“A doctorate? That’s pretty fucking incredible. And volunteering and everything you have been through? Most people wouldn’t have got through it, they would have spiralled. But not you.” There was a note of newfound admiration in his voice. And I basked in it. Jax was proud of me. Something that I wasn’t even sure my family was. They might have been, it wasn’t like I had regular contact with them to find out.
“You are incredible.” Jax took a step forward, forcing me backwards until my legs hit the bed. “Awe inspiring. I can’t believe I’m about to fuck all the sadness out of an actual doctor and leave a smile on her face.”
A smile crept over my mouth before I could help myself. “I’m not a doctor of anything yet, Jax. Maybe never. It's expensive as shit.” I moaned as his lips brushed against my jaw.
With one small push and a knowing grin on his face, he sent me backwards onto the bed. “I’ll make it happen for you.” He fell on top of me with a groan, and my legs wrapped around his waist, drawing him into me closer. “I’ll make it all happen.”
I could tell by the tone of his voice that he meant it. At that moment he meant it. But I didn’t put much stock in his words. People said crazy things in the throes of passion, and Jax was definitely in the throes. I could feel him pushing against my stomach, hard and insistent. I reached for him, curling my hand around his wide cock. Our lips came together hard as I worked him up and down. His groans were pained, his eyes half crazed when he lifted himself up on one elbow to stare down at my face.
I smiled up at him sweetly. “Want to play doctor?”
His kiss was answer enough.
* * *
I wokeup alone a few hours later. The sheets were still warm from where Jax had been lying next to me and my body felt even warmer and slightly sweaty still, which meant I hadn’t been asleep long. Grabbing my clothes up from where they had been thrown on the floor, I dressed quickly. Taming the wayward curls on my head took longer, but soon I even had those under control. Opening the door, I expected to be greeted by the band, but the bus was empty.
There was no rambunctious laughter or cheerful jibes about what had obviously just happened. There was no one but Chance. And one look at his face told me there was going to be no good-natured teasing from him. His face was stony. I knew that look because I had seen it before. Maybe a thousand times growing up.
Plastering my own face with a smile, I made my way to him. “Hey, Chance, where is everyone?” I kept my voice light in the hopes it would diffuse the situation I could feel brewing.
Slowly, he lifted his head so his eyes could follow me. His big, tattooed hands were folded on the table in front of him. “They went to sort something out. Asked me to wait for you.” His eyes drifted to my creased clothes, and his lips curled into a sneer. “Why don’t you sit?”
I fought back the urge to roll my eyes. Here it came. The lecture. “Look,” I started, sitting, complying with what he had asked. Because even as a grown woman, when one of the Savage Sons asked you to do something with that look on their face you did it quickly and quietly. It was just easier that way, and dealing with whatever Chance wanted to get off his chest would be a damn sight easier than dealing with Legacy, or, heaven forbid, my damn father. “I know what you are going to say.”
“You do, huh?”
I nodded. “Yep. You’re going to give me a lecture. The one you think my father would give me.” I paused. “The one my brother has already given me. But I’ll tell you what I told him. This is my life, and—”
Chance threw back his head and laughed. “I don’t care who you are hooking up with, El. You’re a grown up now, and, to be honest, even Jax is better than anyone you would end up with in the club.”
