I sat and stared at the wall for a long time. I couldn’t bring myself to eat or drink. A part of me screamed for Jax, for the strength and warmth he was filled with, for the strength and warmth he filled me with. Another part of me hated the pain he was going to put me through tonight. I knew it was selfish of me, Mercy’s was above anything Jax and I might have represented. I had no idea if Selena had been telling the truth about the post ball celebrations she claimed her and Jax had planned. A small part of me saw the lie for what it was, but another part of me, the insecure woman inside of me wondered if there were any truth to her words. Perhaps Jax had realized after spending some time with me that the road to be travelled was just going to be too hard, filled with too many bumps. I wasn’t attractive like Selena, I wasn’t perfect like her. Perhaps in the week we had been apart it reminded him how easy it was to be with Selena, no strings, just plenty of back scratching. The thought of Jax with Selena intimately made my stomach roll. I glanced at the red digital numbers on the clock beside the bed. It was already after 4pm. I had spent the entire day alone, in bed, staring at a wall feeling sorry for myself. It was time to clear the grief and funk from my head, starting with a scorching shower.
Before I left for Annie and Eli’s I turned on my phone to check my messages. There was one text from Jax, I deleted it before I crumbled and read it. There were several missed calls from him too along with one from Rebecca. I tucked the phone into my back pocket and left the motel. The sky was dark gray, snow fell in a light flurry around me. Pulling my scarf tightly around my neck I made my way to Annie’s.
“Are you okay?” Were the first words out of her mouth and I put on my best forced smile. I didn’t want her to worry about leaving Eli with me.
“I’m fine Annie, I stayed at a motel. Where’s Eli?” She shut the door behind me.
“He’s having a bath. Have you seen Jax?” I shook my head and threw my bag down on the couch. “No, I haven’t.”
“He’s desperate to get a hold of you. I promised I would ring him as soon as I spoke to you.” I shook my head at that.
“Please Annie, not tonight. I’ll call him tomorrow, okay?” She grabbed her coat and shouldered her way into it.
“Let’s talk about this later. I need to get to work. Thanks for watching him tonight, I know its Thanksgiving and all but the pay for working tonight was just too good to refuse.”
“It’s not a problem Annie. I love hanging out with Eli, and I didn’t have any plans anyway.” Annie pulled me into a hug.
“There’s some leftover turkey in the fridge, Eli and I had a small party for lunch. You would have been here for it if I could have gotten a hold of you. What did you do, throw out your phone?” I pulled it out and waved it before her.
“Sorry, it’s been turned off. It’s on now, so if you need anything just holler.” Satisfied, Annie left for work and I dragged Eli’s thoroughly wrinkled body from the warmth of his bath. As we sat reading in the lounge room, Christmas Carols played from the small stereo in the background. It was quiet and cozy, reminding me of the many peaceful nights I got to spend with my dad, reading tales of princes and princesses and long lost kingdoms. A loud thumping at the door made both Eli and I jump, interrupting the reverent moment.
“Annie, let me the fuck in, I know you’re in there!” An unfamiliar voice roared. I was frozen in place as Eli’s little hands gripped my arm.
“Daddy?” He whimpered his eyes wide with fear, his quiet cry little more than a breath off his lips.
Bang Bang Bang. The door shook with the force of his pounding.
“Open this fucking door or I swear to god I will break it down!”
“Fuck,” I breathed heavily, panic threatening to consume me. More banging broke my immobile state and I turned to look at Eli, he was terrified, his eyes wide and in shock. I had to hold myself together for Eli. With a long deep calming breath I stood and dragged Eli by his hand down the hallway and into his room. I hesitated a moment and turned back to face the bathroom. If Phillip got into the apartment and went looking for Eli, his bedroom would be the first place he checked. The banging on the door grew more forceful and Eli cried quietly behind me as I pulled him into the bathroom. I swung open the cabinet under the sink and pulled out the clean towels, throwing them into the tub beside me.
“Get in,” I whispered. Eli hesitated. It was a small space and once I closed the door it would be dark.
“Here,” I pulled out my phone and handed it to him. “You can use it as a light. Get in.” Eli pulled his knees up to his chest and tucked down his head as he sat in the small space. “Look at me little man,” his frightened eyes found mine. “I need you to be a big brave boy and call the police. You know the numbers right?” He nodded. “Good boy, tell them the address, tell them to come quickly. You stay right here and don’t make a sound till I come get you, got it?” His nod was hesitant. “Promise me Eli, not a sound. You stay put and you stay still and quiet, no matter what.” He nodded and I quickly kissed his brow before closing the door and racing back into the living room. The door splintered apart as an enormous brute of a man stood panting, his eyes dilated and simmering in complete rage.
“Who the fuck are you?” I demanded of him, the strength in my words a lie.
“Where’s Annie, where’s Eli, where the fuck is my boy?” He roared moving towards me. I stood my ground. I learnt with Marcus that cowering only seemed to excite him, standing tall and proud pissed him off but also turned him off.
“Annie is at work, Eli is with a friend. I’m Annie’s roommate Ella.” I couldn’t lie about the apartment not being Annie’s place the photos of Eli on the fridge gave it away instantly.
“Call him, I want him here with me in the next five minutes or I swear to god I will fucking knock you into next week.” I slowly nodded.
“I don’t have a phone. If you have a phone I will call him right now.” He slid the phone from his pocket and handed it to me.
“Let me see the number you’re dialing, I want to make sure you’re not calling the police.” I held the phone out with trembling fingers and dialed the only number I could think of, Jax. The phone rang once, twice, three times. Please answer Jax, I quietly prayed. I knew he would be at the ball and this would likely ruin his night, but right now, in this moment, I really didn’t give a shit.
“Hello?” I almost whimpered at the sound of his deep strong voice.
“Hey, it’s me Ella, can you bring Eli home? There is someone here to see him.” Jax was quiet for a moment.
“Angel, what’s going on, whose number is this?”
“I know it’s late and he’s probably supposed to be in bed, but it’s kind of important.”
“Put it on speaker,” growled Phillip in front of me.
“Fuck angel, who is that?” I pulled the phone away and put it on speaker.
“Hey, yeah, so could you get Mary to wake him up and bring him home? Annie’s not home yet, but she won’t be far away.” There was a short pause.
“Sure Ella, I’ll have Mary bring him round now. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, all good.” Phillips eyes drilled into mine with unforgiving anger.
“I have to go. Thanks for that, just be sure to bring him straight here.”
“Mary’s on her way now.” Phillip grabbed his phone and disconnected the call. His eyes suddenly appraised me, looking me up and down, then searching my eyes as if looking for something more.
“He’s on his way, but I can assure you when he sees that door and you all freaked out he’s gonna’ be scared shitless.” Without warning Phillip backhanded me and I hit the wall, my cheek screaming with pain. I touched the spot where his hand had connected with me and turned to face him, no tears, no terror, just pure hatred and rage.
“And that’s not going to fucking help you either,” I spat. When he moved to hit me again I ducked and his fist connected with the plaster wall. I moved behind the couch, putting both distance and an object between us. He stalked me acr
oss the room and I kept moving, keeping distance between us, but always keeping my body between him and Eli. “You need to settle down,” I suggested.
“She took my fucking son away from me,” he growled. Then he lunged. His movements were faster than I had expected as he jumped over a chair and backed me into the wall, his hand reaching for me and wrapping around my neck. His eyes regarded mine as he began to squeeze.
For a moment my brain scrambled, then something clicked and I remembered Jax showing me how easily I could take down an attacker. I raised my knee and found Phillips groin. He grunted and his grip loosened but he continued to push his body hard against mine, not giving me room to kick. As dark spots began to swim in my vision I reached up and pressed my fingers into his eye sockets. With a scream he finally let me go. The roar from the doorway behind us registered as I slid down the wall into a wilted heap.
Chapter 28
Jax
I had never driven my Dodge so fast over ice, I literally slid around the corners and as I approached Annie’s apartment I could hear the distant sirens. I had been searching for Ella all day. She had seemingly vanished without a trace. I didn’t know whose number she had called from, but I didn’t miss the ice in her voice. She masked her terror behind that frightening indifference she was a pro at. I knew that coldness meant she was one of two things; she was either upset or frightened. The confusing call confirmed the later and I quickly put two and two together. Annie’s husband, Phillip had come looking for her and Eli, and Ella was caught in the crossfire. I jumped from my truck not even bothering to shut the door. I simply ran taking the stairs two, three at a time. I slowed as I approached the obviously shattered door to Annie’s apartment and listened. I had to control myself, Ella and Eli’s lives depended on it. I could hear a man’s voice, his words low and threatening. I peered around the corner and saw a large man holding Ella by her throat, his body forcing her against the wall. Ella reached up and sunk her fingers into his face and in a fury he let her go and I just snapped.
Moving into the room I grabbed Phillip by the shoulder. He turned and swung blindly, his fist connecting with my jaw. The next punch I easily ducked around and my own fist connected with a sickening crack in Phillips face, blood spurting from his nose like a faucet. He stumbled backwards and Ella scrambled to get out of the firing line. I didn’t stop, I raised my fist and I hit him again, and again. Somewhere he found the energy to slip in another quick jab and it connect with my eye, but I barely felt it. I punched him once more, twice and he fell to the floor as the police yelled from the doorway for me to put my hands up.
“It’s me Frank,” I called over my shoulder, knowing very well that Frank Hollywell was back there with his gun trained on my back. I looked down at Phillip for a moment making sure he didn’t move, if the fucker did I would put him to sleep permanently. He was out cold, the slow ragged rising of his chest the only indication I hadn’t already killed him.
“Fuck Jax, what the hell is going on?” Frank demanded.
“This is Phillip Longergan he has schizophrenia and is currently off his meds. His wife Annie and son Eli have been in the shelter up until two weeks ago when they moved in here. I only just got here but I assume he came looking for them.”
“Is that Annie?” Frank asked as he approached the scene slowly. My eyes fell to Ella who looked up at me, fear bleached into her features. The way she looked at me would haunt me till my dying days. She was terrified, and after the violence she just witnessed it was most likely of me.
“Angel,” I whispered as I sunk to my knees in front of her. Her eyes wide with shock took me in, then as if in slow motion she moved forward and crawled into my lap, her arms wrapping tightly around my neck as I squeezed her body to mine.
“Don’t let me go,” she moaned. “Don’t let me go, don’t let me go,” her quiet mantra echoed in my ears.
“Never angel,” I murmured back, running my fingers through her hair.
“This is Ella, Annie is at work.” I said to Frank, my voice stiff as emotion choked my throat.
“Where’s the boy?” Frank finally asked. Ella suddenly scrambled from my lap and ran across the room. I followed her into the bathroom as she collapsed onto the floor in front of the vanity. She pulled the doors open and Eli, as white as a sheet stared up at her. She grabbed him out of the small space and hugged him close. I knelt beside them both and wrapped them in my arms.
“The call for help came through from the boy,” Frank spoke gently from behind me. “How do I get a hold of his mother?” Somehow I managed to disentangle myself from Ella and Eli long enough to reach for my phone. By the time I moved them into Eli’s bedroom Annie burst into the apartment, her face laced with tears.
“Eli!” She screamed. She raced through the bedroom door and saw Ella holding him protectively. Her face bruised, her neck red and sore, not a single tear has spilled. She moved forward to hand Eli to Annie.
“I’m so sorry,” Annie sobbed.
“No Annie, this isn’t on you, it’s on him. I’m fine, Eli’s fine.” Annie nodded as she clutched Eli to her chest. She pulled Ella forward and kissed her forehead.
“Thank you,” she murmured. “Thank you for protecting him.” Annie’s tears broke my heart, Ella’s lack of tears hurt more.
Ella turned back to me and I took her into my arms, holding her close.
“Where’s your tux?” She said with a muffled voice into my chest. I bowed my head forward slightly closing the distance between us and kissed her forehead. She was so small, so fragile and I had almost lost her.
“If you had of answered your phone just once I could have explained.” She tried to pull away but I refused to let her go.
“David has taken Selena to the ball.” I wanted to tell her everything, how much she meant to me, how not seeing her for the last week had almost killed me, how I had found my peace with Sarah. Seeing her only a short time ago in the hands of Phillip had fired a rage in me, and holding Ella now was the only thing that would douse the fury. “Fuck, seeing his hands on you, I wanted to kill him angel.” She nodded, her arms holding me tight.
“Jax, we’ve taken Phillip to the hospital, he has guards on him. Would your girl there be able to answer a few questions tonight?” I glanced up.
“Tomorrow?” I suggested. Ella shook her head though.
“No, tonight is fine. I’d prefer to get it over with.” Annie sat rocking Eli whose sobs had softened. Ella leaned forward and ran her fingers through his soft brown curls.
“You did good little man, I’m very proud of you,” she said with a smile. Eli’s big blue eyes blinked up at her.
“He hurt you,” Eli gently cried.
“Not really Eli, it didn’t hurt much and now he’s going to be taken away and get the help he needs. He won’t be able to hurt you or your mom ever again.” Eli looked worried.
“What about you? Will he hurt you again?” Ella smiled and shook her head.
“She’s got me to protect her buddy,” I glanced over Ella’s shoulder. Eli smiled, apparently satisfied. “Might have to find that cape after all,” I joked and he managed another smile before I led Ella from the bedroom and down the short hallway.
In the living room Frank hovered awkwardly. He was fifty-five and ready to retire, but for some reason Frank couldn’t seem to part with active duty on the police force. He stayed fit, gray hairs dotted his dark brown hair, the only sign that this man actually had two grandchildren. He turned to face us with a kind smile taking in Ella who clung to my hand, her grip a tight vice that spoke volumes. She wasn’t about to let me go and I was more than happy with that.
“Do you mind telling me what happened here Ella?” Frank asked. I pulled Ella down beside me on the couch. She nervously tucked her hair behind her ears, she wasn’t hiding right now and she wanted Frank to know that, to know she was telling the truth and that she stood up to this bastard. As she recounted the evening, Frank listened intently, taking notes. My hand gripped hers in what was
no doubt a punishing grip as she explained how she hid Eli in the bathroom cupboard, how she confronted Phillip, how he hit her and held her against the wall, his large hands wrapped around her tiny throat. The marks of his fingers were evidence on her neck and Frank took some pictures. He also noted the bruise beginning to form on her cheek. When Ella was finished she glanced at the destruction around her, the door was splintered off its hinges and the room was a mess. From the doorway another uniform called to someone outside the room.
“Hey, Tom, come help me with this door, see if we can’t do something with it until morning.” Frank stood and I joined him, shaking his hand gratefully.
“I’ll call you tomorrow Jax. I’ll leave my boys here to secure the scene. Maybe you can do something about the door?” I nodded as Frank made his way out of the room, passing a tall, gangly looking cop with a scowl on his bird like face. Ella stood beside me and I glanced down at her.
“I’ll call Charlie, have him come over and fix that now. Annie and Eli will be safe here, but I want you to come home with me angel. I need it. Beth was organizing a volunteer to cover me as I left, so I’m not needed at the shelter. Tonight scared the crap out of me and I need you close by.” She simply nodded, her attention moving back to the officers who struggled with the smashed door. As I reached for the phone in my back pocket I felt Ella go tense beside me. Her nails dug into the skin on the back of my hand. I glanced at her and followed her gaze to the tall thin officer at the doorway. He stared back at her, his mouth agape.
“Ella?” He murmured. Ella was pale, her breathing quickly becoming labored as she descended into a full blown panic attack.
Saving Ella (Mercy's Angels) Page 20
