Sidewalk Flower
Page 27
“To see Gramma, right?”
“And to Duketown.”
“Can it wait? Maybe in a few weeks things will be better and I can meet you there.”
“No, it can’t wait. And in a few weeks, we’ll be getting ready for the tour. I have to do this now.”
“Maybe I can send Benny with you. I don’t want you on this trip alone.”
“Ben doesn’t know anything about this. You’re the only one who does, and Gramma. I’d prefer to keep it that way. Look, I’m a big girl. I’ll be fine.”
“No, dammit, I should be going with you.”
“But you’re not. That leaves me.”
“Trissy…”
“Don’t worry about it, Jaxon. I’ll be fine.”
When would her voice come back so she could tell him that now?
* * * *
Silence filled the moist, cold ground. It had been a couple minutes and Jaxon slowly began to accept that Sam and his band of devils were gone. He didn’t care why they’d left. They were gone and aside from a terribly pain filled beating, he and Trissy had survived and narrowly escaped something that would have ruined them forever.
He’d just been studying the numerous injuries to her face when he noticed a stream of light flash and then disappear. But the small hills in the lot made it difficult to make out much from his position. He made like a cloak and hovered predatorily over her. Taking in a breath for strength, he prepared to tuck her under him then slide beneath the carriage of the car.
* * * *
Meeting Stefan in the hallway had been a blessing in disguise. The locust storm in his eyes had to have told Stefan they were needed and the where’s or why’s didn’t matter. Stefan had quickly dismissed the two inebriated girls who’d come up the elevator with him, allowing them into his room to sleep off their alcohol haze and followed him out to his truck.
On the ride, he had no idea of what to say, especially when Stefan nearly flipped on him.
“Well fuck, you’re absolutely sure we want to be here? If they came here together, Lucky… Look, I like you but if you’re dicking around with Jaxon where Trista’s concerned, I should warn you I’m gonna have his back.”
“Screw you, Stefan.” He was over this entire ordeal and all these people. Let them hear what was really on his mind.
“Hey, you wanna go—we’ll go. Right here, right now,” Stefan said as they parked. His tattooed hands looked like they’d smashed a few faces in but the darks of his eyes as he glared made it clear he’d fight dirty.
“The only place I wanna go is to find Trista.”
“Good. Kill the lights.” In the distance, he could see a lone car. “Lucky, way, way over there, far side closest to the tree line, that’s my Saab.”
“You’re sure?” But, it was familiar, even at this distance. They were roughly a few football fields away. But that definitely looked like the car Trista had taken off in earlier.
“Yeah, man. Jaxon asked if he could borrow it tonight. Said he needed to go clear his head, hit the road for a while.”
“Yeah, Trista said the same.” Why had that come out of his mouth? He should lock up his thoughts.
Stefan’s raised brow made him wonder if he was about to flip again.
“Look man, all I care about is making sure Trista’s okay.”
“This place is too freaking quiet. Who knows what could be out here. I might have to kick Jaxon’s ass myself.” Just then, realization dawned on Stefan’s face. His eyes popped. “Fuck, this probably isn’t a good sign.”
“Come on, Stefan, hurry.”
They were up and over the chain link fence in a matter of seconds, sprinting over the paved asphalt and the weathered, white-painted lines marking spaces.
The black sky hedged along by the never ending tree line made it difficult to get their bearings but nature and the woods didn’t intimidate him. Together they raced through the hilly overflow lots to get to Stefan’s car in the farthest, most secluded backwoods area. He’d bet money that’s where Jaxon had taken Trista to “clear their heads”.
“What do you think happened? What exactly did Trista say?” Stefan asked, surprisingly not out of breath.
Feeling his lungs burn not just from the running but from the fierce fireball of worry erupting inside him, he did his best to keep up with Stefan. “I just know she’s in trouble. She sounded pissed but very scared. The only thing she got out was that she needed help. Then the phone must have fallen because after that, she never came back on the line.” He winced at the unknown.
“Could you hear anything else in the background?”
He bit the inside of his lips, recalling the unreal sounds. “Some slamming and I think breaking glass. There was some shouting.”
Stefan became wide-eyed. “Was it Trista?”
“Maybe once but then it was a man.”
“Was it Jaxon?”
“I assumed it was. But I could be wrong.”
“Well you were obviously right about them coming back to this venue.”
“That’s where she said she was going when she’d called me earlier.”
“Fuck, I wonder what the hell’s going on. Have you tried calling Jaxon?”
He had but with no luck. They continued their sprint.
Stefan brought out his phone and cursed it. “Shit.”
“What?”
“I have a fucking missed call from her. It was almost an hour ago. Run fucking faster, Lucky. She wouldn’t have called both of us like this if it wasn’t really bad.”
When they finally made it to Stefan’s Saab, it was to a scene neither had expected. There, lying on top of Trista was Jaxon. If it hadn’t been for his cousin’s beaten face, he would have gone straight to kicking Jaxon’s ass for what he’d apparently done. As it was, nothing was clear.
* * * *
His facial swelling had sealed his left eye shut but Jaxon looked up as two men approached. He didn’t trust the newcomers and would probably die but he’d pounce if he had to. Trissy stayed lying beneath him, her body shivering but protected, while thick, tense air settled around them. He blinked his right eye tightly, trying to focus on the slow moving pairs of legs and their possible intentions. His thoughts and reactions felt gummy but then he vaguely recognized the black leather pants on the one who had moved to within inches of him now.
“Jaxon, hey, it’s all right, man. It’s okay. Hey, you hear me?”
“Stefan?” He could kiss mercy’s feet if they were amongst friends right now because he was close to blacking out.
“Yeah, man. We’re here. You okay, bud?” Slowly, Stefan’s hand rested on his shoulder but he flinched and Stefan pulled it back.
“We have to get out of here. I don’t know where they went,” he said, his eyes darting to the surrounding woods.
“Where who went, buddy?” Stefan asked but the next thing that struck through was Lucky’s loud, insistent voice.
“Trista? Oh my God. What’s wrong with her? What happened, Jaxon?”
He couldn’t answer his cousin. He was going to need more than fifteen minutes to sort through the hell that had taken place tonight. As for what was currently wrong with Trissy, he was sure she was in shock. Physically she would heal, but mentally, he had no idea where she’d gone hiding.
With no other choice, he ignored Lucky’s question, which pushed his cousin to lose his cool. “No, you tell me what the hell is wrong with her, Jaxon. Do we need to get her to the hospital? What in God’s name happened to her clothes?”
He made it to his feet, but wasn’t able to stand straight for the throbbing pain suffusing through his spine and surrounding muscles. As it was, he toed up to Lucky’s face as closely and sternly as he could.
“Lucky, not now. Okay?”
“I want some answers, Jaxon.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Lucky’s glare was full of hurt and anger, his face fixed so tightly he looked like his skull co
uld crack through a cement block.
“Guys, guys, calm down. Jaxon, you look like shit. Trista shouldn’t be out here. Let’s get her back to the hotel and then we’ll figure out what comes next. All right?” Stefan was playing his hand at reason. Luckily, it worked.
Although it wasn’t in his nature, he shied away from Lucky’s hostility. He could only imagine what it must look like. The kid deserved to know what had happened but it would have to wait. They needed to get out of there and more importantly, to make sure Trissy came out of her hiding spot. He tried to bend over to scoop her up at the same time that Stefan and Lucky also lowered in to assist. But he was hurt and had to back off.
“We’ve got her, Jaxon. It’s okay, man, we’ve got her,” Stefan said calmly.
He hated it but this time accepted the pat on his shoulder from his band mate without flinching. Stefan would be able to sense his immense distrust where Trissy was concerned right now. That he favored being the only one to be this close to her and the shame that he was too beat up to follow through.
“Trista? Trista, hun? You’re safe, okay. We’ve got you. Everything’s going to be okay.” Stefan’s words seemed to fall on hazy ears. Thank God his friend had the decency to fix what he could of her dress, ignoring her nakedness, and then cover her with his coat as she remained propped between his and Lucky’s shoulders.
He’d never been more thankful to have Stefan there but it wasn’t until Lucky spoke that Trissy started to stir.
* * * *
“Come back, darlin’. It’s too cold where you are, come back to the warmth, hold onto me.” Lucky whispered into her ear. He had an idea where she’d gone. The memory seared through his mind as he remembered meeting her for the first time not so long ago and the wild weekend that had turned his simple world upside down. He could cry at the sight of her right now. Had they been alone, he would have. He regretted ever having left her.
* * * *
Caught between the safe confines where her mind had hidden her and the delicate male voice taunting her return, Trista’s hand made one single sweep across the palm that held it now. She blinked her eyes and saw that she was surrounded by people she loved but it was still too muddled and unstable to come all the way back.
The eerie way in which her memories paralleled the present left her hovering in a fog—listening and seeing everything going on around her, but unable to participate. She was trying her best to keep up with Stefan, Jaxon and Lucky.
“I’m taking her back to the hotel, now.” Lucky’s declaration leaped from his pursed lips.
Jaxon didn’t look pleased with the brash statement, what with his gritted teeth and the bulging vein near his temple. She nearly willed herself to reach out and tell him it was okay now. They seemed safe…enough. But then Lucky squeezed her hand and the motion acted as a numbing agent, chilling her to everything else besides the warmth of his touch. She bowed her head, confused at the way it felt like she was abandoning Jaxon, and watched her feet as they walked her, one in front of the other, alongside Lucky.
She heard Stefan remind Jaxon that their goal right now was to get out of there. Had he been arguing otherwise? Stefan must have seen the same face she had, the one that would have scared her had she not already come up against real monsters tonight. Faintly, she heard Stefan say, “The Saab isn’t going anywhere until tomorrow when Jimmy unlocks the front entrance. So against your pride, Jaxon, we need to catch this ride with Lucky.” They walked a few feet further and then Stefan’s concern turned to her. “How are we gonna get her over the fence?”
Silently she watched them hatch a plan. Lucky let her hand loose and stood tall, appearing to measure himself against the locked chain link entrance. About twenty feet further down, the height of the fence dipped. He hiked down and compared his stature to that spot. The fence reached the middle of his chest rather than being even with the top of his head. He ran back over to them.
“I think we’ll be able to get Trista over without scraping her up too badly,” he said, taking her hand back in his.
Apparently to them, she wasn’t in any state to climb on her own. If she wasn’t so numb and could feel the pain that surely canvassed her back and limbs, she probably would have agreed.
“Down there, it’s low enough that you can raise her up and over and I’ll catch her on the other side.” Lucky ran his idea past Stefan, who at only a couple inches shorter, quickly agreed.
Once there, Lucky latched his fingers in through the diamond shaped openings and heaved himself up onto the fence. He leaned into it and then swung a leg over the top, then the other. He was on the ground on the other side in just a few short moves.
Stefan whispered to her as he carefully scooped her up into his arms. “It’s okay, sweetheart, Stefan’s got you. Just hold on tight and we’ll have you out of here.”
She still had some instincts about her and clung heavily to Stefan’s neck.
He complimented her bravery. “That’s a girl; hold on tight, just like that.”
It had to be difficult to climb the fence with a 130-pound package of bottled up nerves and distress clutching at you, but Stefan was able to make his way high enough up the fence that he managed to roll her over onto Lucky’s awaiting shoulders. It wasn’t graceful and had she been more lucid, she may have been embarrassed at the dogged way they’d strung her up and over. But modesty was the furthest thing from her fragile mind then and there. Once Lucky had her positioned over his shoulder, he harnessed her with his right arm and used only the left to guide his way down to the ground. He could have made a quick leap but the point had been to make this as smooth a transition as possible.
A flood of relief greeted her nerves to be on the other side. But clarity was hedging its way slowly through her mind and she wondered if Jaxon would need the same amount of help from the guys. She wanted him to be as cared for as she had been. So she watched and was warmed by what she saw.
Stefan reached down and offered Jaxon a hand. After a series of pain-ridden winces and heartbreaking grunts, the two cleared the fence and it seemed like finally this nightmare might be at an end.
Stefan and Lucky were situating her in the truck’s cab when Jaxon paused, his fists bleached white at the knuckles.
“Wait, I’m gonna be sick.”
She could hear the belches popping up from his throat. He stood a few feet from the open passenger side door and doubled over in heaves of vomit that caused his body to convulse in waves. His gagging sounds vibrated through the truck, and Stefan hurried out to check on his friend while Lucky finished securing her in the middle of the bench seat. All she could do was watch.
“Hey man, you okay?” Stefan asked Jaxon.
Jaxon’s head bobbed up and he rubbed at the saliva dripping down his chin. “Fuck no, man.”
“You wanna tell me about it?”
“No,” Jaxon said.
She understood more from that one word answer than anyone could ever know.
Stefan patted Jaxon on the back but Jaxon shrugged him off so he went and returned to the open door of the truck and waited. The vomiting eventually ran its course and Jaxon joined them, looking more trashed out than he ever had during his practicing days. He wiped at his mouth and took a seat beside her. She found his pinky finger and hooked it with hers low so the guys wouldn’t see. Stefan hopped in and closed the door and then the four of them rode in silence until they’d cleared the wooded surrounding area and reached the highway. She noticed Lucky kept both hands on the steering wheel. And as much as his shoulder called out to her aching head, she knew this wasn’t the place or time for that.
“I’m gonna call Mike and have him arrange for a discreet back entrance at the hotel and a doctor. Lucky, when we get there, pull behind to the deliveries entrance,” Stefan said, taking control of their logistics.
It was the wee hours of the morning. They were all four withered and spent. She doubted their ability to figure anything more than where to pull in when they got to the hotel ev
en if they’d have had the buildings plans.
She supposed they’d just play it by ear for the next few days, hashing out explanations to the very minimum of inside people who needed to know. As for the four of them, who knew? What answers could she make up when there wasn’t a single piece of her that didn’t feel absolutely lost and unsure? What had happened out at the venue that night? Hell, she supposed. The gate keeper maybe? Had he heard her thoughts about leaving her privileged life and decided to send in his muscle to make sure it didn’t happen? Ultimately, whatever answer would come in regards to her life at that very moment would have to wait. For now, the only thing she craved was to stay holed up long enough to regain her strength. She’d fight the devil later.
Chapter Thirty-One
Big Mike, a hefty and serious looking man, helped her, Lucky, Stefan and Jaxon in through a back entrance of the hotel. He secured a vacant elevator up to their twenty-first floor and clear hallways to their rooms. Mike’s ability to control the elements had become invaluable over the years. If only her call to him would have gone through…but it hadn’t.
Stefan crowed over and over that Jaxon see a doctor. But he refused. It would be dicey getting up on stage in enough camouflage to keep his black eyes and cut up skin hidden but it was possible. Sadly, they’d all seen Jaxon come back looking worse than this on occasion. They’d handle it and get him fixed up. But her mirror? It should have cracked. Her complexion resembled cement caked with patches of dried up junkie blood. Forget about her eyes, it was the tight skin stretched from cheekbone over nose to the other cheekbone that hurt too badly to allow for crying.
It was time to call an end to this nightmare. They all needed the rest Stefan kept insisting they get. So after a brief conversation with Mike, they broke up and went back to their rooms.
Jaxon had faltered at the split, the one where he and Stefan turned to head left and she and Lucky went right.
“We’ll take care of her, bud,” Stefan, Mike and Lucky promised Jaxon.
Of course that wouldn’t be good enough for him. The same way she wouldn’t have been satisfied being told Jaxon would be fine until the morning. They may never be fine again. But what could they do? Apparently the message was clear to everyone: Jaxon James and Trista Hart should never be left alone together. Period.