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11
Jason
The second the door closes Maximus curses under his breath.
“Calm down. Wait until she has time to go upstairs,” Christian warns quietly. He looks over at me and nods towards the empty glass on the table. “Want a top-up?”
I nod passing him the glass before sitting back down on the couch and running my hand over my head letting out a deep breath. Christian goes about pouring the four of us fresh drinks as I try to calm myself. I watch Maximus pace for a moment before he also returns to his seat.
“How bad was it?” Christian asks as he hands me my glass and sits.
“Her place or the bar?” I ask shaking my head, still unable to get around everything that has happened this evening.
“Both. I want to know everything,” Christian replies. I let out a sigh and take a sip of my drink whilst leaning back on the couch.
“The pub was a typically cheap, run-down bar. The owner was a dick and the people drinking there weren’t much better. I couldn’t tell if Jazzy enjoyed the job or if she was just faking it. The uniform was revealing, and every time she lifted her arms the top rode up her back and stomach. Left very little to the imagination. That was obviously by design as it was student night and I had to stop myself from punching nearly every male kid that went in there because all eyes were on Jazzy and the girl she was working with.”
“You should have dragged her out,” Sean growls as Christian hums in agreement.
“What good would that have done? She’d have just gotten her back up and refused to even talk to us. I had to give a little to get a little. But I’m surprised I didn’t crack a tooth as my jaw was clenched the whole time watching her, knowing she was a million times too good for that place.”
“What about the flat?” Christian asks. I look at him and shake my head in disbelief.
“Don’t even get me started on that dump. I’ll be finding the landlord of that place personally; it was a fucking shithole. Whoever lives downstairs obviously smokes a lot of weed as the smell’s overpowering as soon as you stand outside the building. How it’s not been raided yet I don’t know. But that will change as soon as we get the last of her things out of there. I don’t want her associated with that shit.”
“You sure she hasn’t been using anything?” Maximus asks, and all three of us protest instantly.
“No matter how things have gone for her I know our girl would never use drugs, she’s seen what it does to her mother,” Sean argues.
“Don’t get me started on Carol, that’ll be dealt with at another time,” Christian replies as he leans forward and looks at the three of us. “I want to concentrate on getting Jasmine safe and settled first. I’ll take her tomorrow to get the rest of her things,” he adds.
“Remember to wipe your feet on the way out,” I growl under my breath, still angry at the conditions Jasmine was living in.
“Was it that bad?”
I turn to look at Sean and nod. “There wasn’t a wall that didn’t have some form of mould or mildew. I could smell the damp and weed, even over all the air fresheners she had around the place. The shower and toilet might as well have been on top of each other, and the bedroom wasn’t much better,” I sigh before continuing. “There’s just a tiny single bed, with a broken wardrobe where she kept her things. Not that she has much, which showed in the rest of the place.
“In the lounge, there’s a small beanbag and the TV you got her for her small room when she was eighteen Christian. The kitchen was bare, with maybe two tiny pans and a couple of chipped plates. The cupboards were pretty much empty, as well as the fridge. I looked in the bin and doesn’t seem like there was much thrown away, which means she hasn’t been eating properly, if at all.”
“That explains why she demolished her ice cream and cake the other night as well as half of mine,” Maximus pipes in.
“Probably, she’s certainly lost weight, and I don’t think it was due to the dancing,” Christian sighs. “That’s another thing to sort tomorrow, I’m going to take the day off and spend it with her, I want her to feel like she is in a better place mentally by the evening at least,” Christian adds.
“I will stay here for the morning and then go to your meetings for you in the afternoon. I should be home by dinner time for us all to spend some quality time with her,” I suggest as Christian nods in agreement.
“You need to contact Tommy too, if I do it I’ll hunt the fucker down,” Maximus growls.
“He will be handled, mark my words,” Christian replies.
“I’ll go and check on her in a minute and see that she has everything she needs for tonight. I have a feeling she will sleep in tomorrow she looked exhausted a moment ago. She probably hasn’t slept well in that place, it wasn’t safe, anyone could have gotten in with minimal effort.”
“So is this it then? Are we keeping her here with us?” Sean asks as he looks from me to Christian. We both look at each other and nod.
“We always knew she would end up here, it’s just sooner than we thought,” Christian says looking at the twins.
“She needs us more than she’s willing to admit. She has been alone for as long as she can remember and now it’s time for us to step up and look after her the way we all know she needs,” I add.
“Do you think she will fight us?” Maximus asks, again Christian and I look at one another and shake our heads.
