by Rowena Dawn
“Bad habits?” Jay inquired with bewilderment. “What bad habits?”
“You know very well that I’m talking about your gambling,” Ellen pointed out. “That’s addictive and unhealthy, as you found out tonight,” she lectured.
“Thanks, mother,” Jay said through his teeth. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You’d better do,” Ellen didn’t yield. “Next time, I might not be there to get you out of trouble.”
“Until then, will you open that damn door?” Jay asked in a sarcastic tone of voice. “I feel like I’m collapsing, and believe me, I’ve never felt this way before,” he warned her.
Ellen shook her head, and her ponytail jumped and touched Jay’s chin. A faint smell of wildflowers teased the man’s nose, and Jay inhaled deeply.
CHAPTER TWO
After a strenuous walk through the lobby of the building under the front desk attendant’s stunned expression, they shared a somewhat relaxed trip with the elevator to the 27th floor. Ellen merely propped Jay on the side wall of the cabin, and she took the opportunity to catch her breath. She just held the man upright with one hand.
The sixty-five feet distance from the elevator to Jay’s apartment took them a little longer. Once inside, Ellen led the man to the large sofa in the living room and helped him sit down.
Jay sagged on the couch and leaned his head on the backrest, his hands on his thighs. He sighed with relief, and his fingers twitched on his legs, drawing Ellen’s attention.
Her eyes lingered over the man’s muscular thighs for a few moments, and then she shook her head to clear it. She needed to focus on other things. Ellen observed his chest to make sure that his breathing wasn’t obstructed. However, to her dismay, the man seemed unable to draw deep breaths into his lungs.
“Jay, don’t fall asleep,” she ordered to him in an authoritative tone of voice, and leaning over him, she shook his shoulder.
The man opened his only good eye and looked at the woman with annoyance. Jay was tired and ached everywhere. Unconsciousness seemed very attractive to him right then. He imagined that he wouldn’t have felt anything if he had fallen asleep.
“What now?” he asked in a huff, staring at Ellen because he couldn’t see her properly. Besides, the woman might have been willowy but proved extremely bossy, and he didn’t like that too much right then. On the one hand, he wanted her there with him, and on the other, he felt that he would have liked to see the back of her.
“I’m sorry, big boy, but you need to take your clothes off,” Ellen replied with regret in her voice, the tips of her fingers brushing fleetingly off the side of his face.
Jay’s lips twitched with repressed amusement. Then, he schooled his features not to show anything and replied to her, “I’m sorry, too, sweetie. I won’t say that you aren’t tempting, because that would be a lie. You’re tempting like hell, but I’m afraid that I’m not able to do anything right now,” he explained in a tone of voice filled with sorrow.
“Do you want to make me forget that you’re already battered and kick you?” Ellen asked with annoyance, drawing back, and one of her eyebrows hiked up her forehead.
“You wouldn’t be so mean,” he shook his head gingerly. The man’s dizziness didn’t allow him to make sudden gestures.
“Huh! Don’t count on that,” she barked at him, and her hazel eyes thundered at the man with anger. “Take your clothes off. I need to see what happened to you. Then, if it is necessary, I don't care about what you’re saying, but we’ll call an ambulance,” Ellen warned him.
“I don’t need an ambulance,” Jay protested as firm as he could. “You’ll see that I’m fine,” he assured Ellen and tried to take his jacket off.
But then, his fingers refused to listen to him, and he couldn’t unfasten the two buttons which he still had on his jacket. The others had been torn off during the fight.
Ellen sighed and leaned over him. She did short work of unbuttoning his jacket. When she finished with that, the woman pulled Jay toward her and removed the coat, turning a deaf ear to his groans with obstinacy. ‘I can’t think that he hurts. I have to see in what state he is.’
Ellen had already seen the outward results of the savage beating inflicted on him. She knew that the goons had broken the man’s nose and cracked his lips. She was interested in his rib cage now.
The woman cajoled him to remain in the same position with his head on her shoulder until she took off his shirt as well. She checked his back first and grimaced when her eyes fell on some huge angry bruises.
‘Those guys knew where to kick him,’ Ellen thought, shaking her head with annoyance. ‘Poor guy will pee with blood for a couple of days,’ the young woman reflected, and afterward, she pushed Jay with care toward the backrest. Then, she straightened and brushed the tips of her fingers over his bruised chest and ribs.
“I like that,” the man mumbled. “If you don’t press too hard, it’s quite enjoyable. Don’t stop,” he pleaded.
Ellen’s eyes lifted swiftly at the man’s face. Furious words climbed up her tongue, and the woman was ready to scold him. But then, she noticed the mixture of pleasure and pain on his lips, and she kept quiet. Still, she pursed her lips and shook her head.
Ellen stepped back and said gently, “You need a doctor, Jay. No matter what you say,” she continued, but he interrupted her.
“No doctor, Ellen, please. We’ll call my sister. I trust her more than any other doctor.”
“Is she a doctor?” Ellen inquired in a doubtful tone of voice.
“In a way,” Jay replied with a quizzical smile on his lips. “My cell phone should be in the pocket of my jacket. Let’s hope it survived,” he added morosely.
Ellen picked up the jacket from where she had thrown it and patted the pockets. She found the cell phone, which seemed to still function, although the screen had fissured, and handed it to Jay. But then, he didn’t look like paying any attention to her gestures. She sighed and asked, “What’s your sister’s name?”
“Maggie,” Jay replied. “You will find her under Maggie.”
“Good to know,” Ellen retorted. “But before that, I would need your PIN to get into the phone menu,” she observed with frustration.
“Oh, I forgot,” he said softly, without bothering to open his eyes. “Just type 2611.”
Ellen introduced the PIN, and the cell phone flashed to life.
“You’ve got quite a few missed calls and messages,” she observed.
“Not important right now,” Jay groused and waved his fingers.
Ellen looked at him and shook her head. Then, she opened the contacts and found Maggie’s number in no time. She put the call through and handed the phone to Jay.
“Maybe you should talk to her,” she observed with blatant sarcasm in her voice.
Jay just waved his hand negligently and said, “You can do it just fine.” Gesticulating with his fingers was the only gesture he could do without feeling sharp pains anywhere.
The woman narrowed her eyes but didn’t comment anymore. She waited patiently for someone to pick up the phone at the other end of the line. When the voicemail message entered, she covered the phone and asked, “Do you want to leave her a message?”
“Not really,” he mumbled, sign that he hadn’t fallen asleep yet.
Ellen disconnected the call and braced her free hand on her hip. “So, we’ll call the ambulance now,” she decided, and her words stirred Jay into life.
He cracked the one eye that still opened a little and pierced her with a disgruntled look. “We could as well call Matt,” he countered her proposition in a sulky voice.
“Is he a doctor?” Ellen inquired in a strained tone of voice. The worry for the man’s physical state filled her with anxiety, and she had already lost her patience.
“Matt? No, he’s a lawyer,” Jay replied with another negligent wave of his hand. He had already shut his eye, and a smile fleeted on his lips.
“And how would a lawyer help you right now?” the
woman snapped at him. “You can talk to him in the morning if you want to sue your attackers. Although I don’t think you’d get anywhere with that. Tonight, you need medical care,” she pointed out and stomped her foot onto the floor to drive her opinion home.
“I have gathered that,” Jay replied peevishly. “Matt is a lawyer, but his wife used to be an EMT,” he cracked his eye again to look at her.
Ellen concluded that she had had enough of feeling Cyclops’s look on her and grimaced.
“If she was an EMT and isn’t anymore, it means that she must not have been a good one, to begin with,” she snorted, tilting her head meaningfully.
“That’s not nice,” Jay replied upset, and his eyebrows bunched on his forehead.
“What? Telling the truth?” she inquired sweetly.
“That’s not telling the truth. That’s passing judgment without knowing the people involved. Nora isn’t an EMT because she was put on medical leave. A smart ass shot her when she was on the line of duty,” he explained to her in a hard tone of voice.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Ellen replied and blushed, embarrassed to have spoken without having all the information. “And can she have a look at you?”
“Of course, she can,” he replied, and his tone of voice showed that the man was already sick of that fruitless conversation. “Just call Matt,” he said through his locked teeth.
Ellen didn’t comment. She knew that the man must have been in pain, and that was why he reacted like a wounded wolf. She looked through the contacts in Jay’s cell phone and found Matt’s name immediately after Maggie’s.
The woman said a little prayer in her mind that Matt would answer her call before putting the call through. She knew she would call the ambulance otherwise, and Jay would blow a gasket. ‘Eh, I’ll deal with that when the time comes,’ she reflected.
“Hey, Jay. What’s up?” a masculine grave voice came on the line. “I called you earlier, but you didn’t pick up.”
“I apologize for bothering you, sir,” Ellen began to say. “I...”
“What the heck? Where did you find this cell phone?” the man’s voice thundered on the line, interrupting her reply.
Ellen sighed profoundly and grimaced. She recognized the voice of a man used to giving orders. Her eyes flew to Jay as if she had looked for support from him, but the man had already leaned his head on the backrest of the sofa and didn’t seem to pay attention to anything.
“I didn’t find the phone, sir,” she replied in a hard tone of voice as well. She dealt with men like him on any given day, after all. “I am with your brother in his apartment, but he’s a bit... under the weather, let’s say, and that’s why I’m calling you.”
“What have you done to him?” Matt’s voice thundered a bit louder.
“I’ve saved his ungrateful hide,” she huffed.
“And you need money?” Matt asked with derision.
“Listen here, mister, and listen good,” Ellen’s voice raised a notch. “I haven’t called you to take potshots at me. Your brother needs medical help. He refused to go to a hospital, and now, he refuses that I called an ambulance. Jay says that your wife is an EMT. That’s why I called you,” she ended her angry tirade.
“I apologize,” Matt answered in a calmer tone of voice. “We’ll be there in about ten minutes. Is it all right?” he inquired.
“Yes, that’s okay,” Ellen replied, relieved that she wouldn’t be alone with the wounded man anymore, and someone who knew what to do to him would come.
“You’ll stay there until we come,” Matt ordered to her, and she grimaced again.
“Not because you’ve ordered me to stay,” she pointed out. “I would have stayed anyway. I haven’t finished my business with your brother yet.”
“And what business would that be?” Matt asked with suspicion.
“That’s between the two of us, Jay and me. It’s none of your business,” she replied grumpily and disconnected the call rudely.
“Yeah, Ellen, what business would that be?” Jay’s voice reached her ears, and she turned his eyes to him.
“So you haven’t been sleeping,” she concluded.
“Nah, I can’t. To be honest, everything hurts. I’d welcome a good fainting right now, but it seems that it’s not in the cards for me,” Jay waved his hand.
Ellen shook her head and placed the cell phone on the coffee table. “What’s with you and the cards? Why are you so obsessed with them?”
Jay shrugged and hissed immediately. “Damn, that hurts. To answer your question, cards are the only things I see with clarity,” he replied in a tone filled with pain.
“What do you mean?” Ellen tilted her head in confusion.
“That is an answer for another time,” he replied with a sigh.
CHAPTER THREE
Matt kept his promise and rang at Jay’s intercom ten minutes later. Recognizing the man’s voice, Ellen pressed the key to let him come upstairs, and in a few minutes, he knocked on Jay’s door.
Ellen opened the apartment door for him, and to her surprise, she found herself before a group of four people. Her eyebrows shot up on her forehead, and her eyes shifted from one person to the other.
The two guys and two women looked back at her with curiosity. The woman held the door open with one hand, but she didn’t step back to allow them to come inside. She took her time to peruse every one of them at length, which brought various expressions on the visitors’ features.
First, Ellen’s eyes swept over a dark-haired man, whose mouth had pursed, showing his discontent because she kept him at the door. ‘So what?’ she reflected and shrugged inwardly.
Ellen found the man quite tall and broad-shouldered. Still, she admitted that he didn’t have the bulk of the other one. When she shifted her eyes to the second guy, a massive blond-haired man, she noticed that he had fixed his icy blue eyes on her without even blinking. The scar running along the side of the man’s face spoke of a checkered past, and Ellen’s eyes widened slightly.
‘Hmm, I shouldn’t wonder at what kind of company Jay’s keeping,’ she reflected with sarcasm. ‘He’s a gambler after all.’
Still, the thought that she judged Jay without having all the facts nudged at her. Usually, she wouldn’t rush in passing judgment or making opinions before having the entire picture.
But then, when it came to Jay, Ellen wasn’t very clear headed. The man had touched a particular spot in her heart since she laid her eyes on him for the first time. However, the woman refused to analyze her reactions and feelings toward Jay too close, afraid of what she might discover.
Ellen noticed that the giant held a honey-blond woman’s hand in his, while the dark man’s arm was around a redhead’s shoulders. Their gestures stirred her envy, although she couldn’t say precisely why. Ellen’s eyes went from one to the other once more, and one of her eyebrows rose inquiringly.
“I’m Matt,” the dark-haired men informed her when a couple of minutes passed, and she hadn’t said or done anything. His dark blue eyes pierced her openly, and then, he stretched his hand to Ellen. “We talked over the phone,” he reminded to her, hoping that she would quit examining them as if they had been exhibits in a museum, and she would move aside so that they could enter the apartment. He didn’t feel like plowing through her to get to his brother.
“I’m Ellen,” she shook the man’s hand. “And yes, I remember that we talked on the phone. I see you’ve brought reinforcements,” she observed with malice, and the corners of her mouth lifted. “Were you afraid I’d subdue both you and your wife single-handed?”
Matt’s eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed even more when the woman’s words registered in his mind. The blond massive guy’s lips twitched, but he suppressed his amusement and intervened before Matt could have snapped at the woman.
“I’m sure that Matt’s intentions were different. Actually, we were spending time together tonight, so we decided to come with Nora and Matt.”
Ellen waved the man’s concerns a
way with a negligent gesture and invited them to come inside. She closed the door behind them and then said, “Jay is still on the sofa, as you can see,” she pointed to the living room. “I convinced him to lie down because I didn’t think that sitting up would help him too much. I also packed some ice in a couple of towels, and in spite of his grumbling, I placed them on his face,” she turned to Nora, guessing that she was the EMT. “You’ll see that one of his eyes is completely shut, and the other is almost there too. I haven’t found anything else but ice in his freezer. Probably, he doesn’t eat at home,” she shrugged.
“Yep, that’s Jay,” the woman with the honey-colored hair replied with a wide smile. “Matt seems to have forgotten to introduce us. I’m Becka, by the way. This one here is my husband, Bryan,” she put her small hand on the giant’s chest. “Matt, you’ve already talked to, and of course, this is Nora, his wife,” she pointed toward the redhead.
“I’m Ellen,” the woman replied and smiled back at Becka.
It was impossible for her not to like the small young woman, who gave her the impression that she had just finished high-school. The woman seemed open, and her chocolate eyes were filled with warmth. Ellen didn’t understand how Becka and Bryan had ended together, but she had seen stranger things in her lifetime.
Ellen shook everyone’s hand, and then, impatiently, she turned to Nora, bracing her hands on her hips. “Don’t you think you should check Jay up?” she asked her in a hard tone of voice, tilting her head toward Jay’s body lying on the sofa.
Matt’s eyebrows bunched on his forehead. The man didn’t know what to think of that slip of a woman, but he didn’t like her bossiness too much.
Nora laid her hand on his arm and stopped any comment he wanted to make. Matt turned his eyes to her, and his wife shook her head and whispered to him, “Don’t take it personally. She just worries about your brother.”
“His nose is broken,” Ellen informed them in an impatient tone of voice. “I think some of his ribs are cracked. His breathing is shallower than I would like,” she gesticulated.
