chapter 32
Scarlett
AND HOW DID THIS wound happen?” The nurse asks Demon. “I need to file a report, sir. I can’t just turn a blind eye to the fact that you have what looks like a hand-stitched knife wound in your arm.”
Demon simply turns to Jaxon. “As my lawyer, Mr. Bentley, what do you recommend I do here?”
Jaxon looks to the nurse and says something to her that I can’t quite hear. She shifts on her feet, then starts to tend to Demon’s wound. I don’t know what Jaxon said, but I’m not surprised he got her to do her work without any further questions. The man can talk his way out of anything. After Demon is all mended, and given antibiotics, we head back home.
The trip took a few hours altogether, and I’m pretty exhausted now. I’m glad Demon is okay, and even though I don’t know what to make of their friendship, their secret is safe with me. I’m surprised that they are friends, to be honest. Demon is a biker, and Jaxon seems to have an issue with them. But I trust Jaxon no matter what, and I’m not going to pry. I like Demon too—I did from the first moment I met him, even though he was only being so friendly to me because of Jaxon. I still can’t believe Jaxon did that. I don’t know whether to be grumpy over it or smile at his sneaky protection.
“Do you want to crash here?” Jaxon asks Demon as we walk inside. “Get some rest before you head back to the clubhouse?”
“Yeah, I might do that,” he replies. “If you don’t mind.”
“Make yourself at home, like you always do,” Jaxon says in a dry tone, but I can see how much he enjoys being around his friend. Demon heads to the guest room like he’s been here a million times before, and I slide back into Jaxon’s bed.
“Well, that was an eventful night,” I tell Jaxon, yawning. “And you have to get to work, don’t you?”
Lucky for me, I have the day off.
“Yeah, I’m going to jump in the shower and head there now,” he says, but sits down on the bed and kisses me instead. “Although you’re making the bed look like the best place to be right now.”
“It is the best place to be.” I grin.
“Can you keep an eye on Demon?” he asks, kissing my forehead and standing up. “He should be fine, but just in case.”
“Of course,” I tell him. “I’ll make him some breakfast when he wakes up, too.”
“Thanks,” he says, amusement lacing his tone. “He’ll love that. In fact he’ll probably randomly drop by even more after that.”
“And you’d love that, wouldn’t you?” I ask, already knowing the answer. Jaxon is just a big softy when it comes to his friend. I’m glad he has someone, even if it’s some weird, secret friendship, because his parents don’t live here and he doesn’t seem to have anyone else outside of his work colleagues.
“Perhaps,” he replies, flashing me a knowing smile. “I’d better hurry.”
“Okay,” I mumble, burying myself into the sheets.
What an eventful morning this has been.
I WAKE UP BEFORE Demon, who must have been tired after all the excitement of a bar brawl, breaking in, dealing with us, and then having to go to the hospital to get stitched up. I’m not sure what he likes to eat for breakfast, but I assume pancakes and bacon are a safe bet. I also scramble some eggs and bake some fresh bread to cover all bases.
“Good morning. How are you feeling?” I ask him, gaze going straight to his arm when he walks into the kitchen an hour later.
“Yeah, I feel okay,” he says, eyeing the spread I’ve laid out on the table. “Fuck, Scar, you cooking for an army, or what?”
“I didn’t know what you’d want, and I had heaps of spare time,” I say, shrugging. “Have a seat. Do you want some coffee?”
“Love some,” he murmurs, sitting down and starting to pile food on his plate. “Is this how you trapped Jaxon? With your cooking?”
“I didn’t trap him with anything.” I smirk, bringing a mug of coffee to him. “But I’m sure the food helped. You know what they say . . . the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
He takes a bite of his pancake and moans. “I can vouch for that statement being very true.”
I roll my eyes and sit down opposite him, grabbing a piece of bacon and taking a bite. “Are the men going to ask you where you went last night?”
“I’m not a prisoner there, Scar. I don’t have to explain my every move. We all have our own shit going on,” he says, glancing up at me after trying the bread. “Did you bake fresh bread this morning?”
I nod.
“You woke up and baked bread, from scratch, just for my breakfast?” he clarifies, a bewildered look on his face.
“Well, for both of us, yes,” I reply, wondering where he’s going with this.
“If he doesn’t marry you soon, I will,” he mutters under his breath, then takes another giant bite of the bread. “You’d make a good old lady, Scar.”
“After having met Valentina, I’ll definitely take that as a compliment,” I tell him, feeling happy as he demolishes the meal.
“You should. And I haven’t seen Jaxon open up to anyone like he has you, especially after losing his sister. That really hit him hard. I didn’t think he’d recover from it, if I’m being honest.”
I stay quiet, and try to control my expression.
Because I didn’t know Jaxon had lost a sister.
Isn’t that something you tell someone you love? It sucks that I didn’t know about such a big part of who he is, and something that obviously affected him a great deal. Pain changes people. I wish he’d have shared this with me, opened up to me. I want him to be able to feel like he can tell me anything. I want him to tell me everything. At the same time, I don’t want to bring this up to him, shouldn’t he be the one to come to me with it? I don’t want to push him to talk about something he’s not ready to, but at the same time what if he never says anything? I don’t want to ask Demon about it, because this is something that has to come from Jaxon himself.
“Were you close with her?” I ask, not wanting him to know that I didn’t even know Jaxon had a sister. It makes sense now, though. The picture on the bookshelf, the one I assumed was an ex-girlfriend.
It was his sister.
Demon’s baby-blue eyes turn melancholy. “Yeah, we were close.” He smiles sadly, and takes a deep breath. “Jaxon adored Olivia, and so did I.”
I study him for a moment, and then ask, “Did you two . . . ummm . . . have a thing?”
“No,” he says, making a sound of pain. “I loved her, Scar. She was the one. The timing never seemed right, you know? So I waited. But I waited too long, because she found someone else. I thought she was happy, so I let her be so she could live her life. I should have been selfish and gone after her, because deep down inside I knew that no one could ever love her like I do.”
Do, not did.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, not knowing what else to say. “You didn’t know, Demon.”
“We never know,” he mumbles.
“You did what you thought was right to make her happy. I understand that. All I want is to make Jaxon happy,” I tell Demon. “Like he does to me.”
“Have you seen the way he looks at you, Scar?” He chuckles and adds, “Trust me, the man is happy. And when he’s happy, so am I. And so are you, apparently.” He chews slowly while watching me, then swallows before he speaks. “Irish is one of my brothers, but I’m glad it’s him in there and not you. And I’m glad Jaxon fought for you to win your case. I’m sorry I didn’t help him. It’s something I regret, but my loyalty is also to the club, so my hands were tied.”
I didn’t know anything about this, but I guess it makes sense. “You don’t have to apologize, Demon,” I say, my eyes gentle on him. “I understand. And after spending time with Valentina, I understand even more. You would never betray your family.”
He nods once. “Yeah, but Jaxon was my family first,” he says, then goes a little quiet.
After a few moments of silence, I decide to change the subject. “Do you want me to check your arm?”
“It’s fine,” he says, shrugging me off. “The nurse said I was lucky because it didn’t hit an artery, just the fleshy part. I just have to take the antibiotics and pain meds.”
I don’t think he has a fleshy part on his arm, or anywhere else on his body, but anyway. “Did you take them?”
“No.”
I purse my lips, stand up, and grab some water from the fridge, sliding the bottle over to him. “You might want to do that.”
“You trying to boss me around, Scar?” he asks, amusement etched all over his expression.
“Just trying to take care of you, Demon,” I reply, not taking the bait. “If you want me to drop you anywhere let me know, otherwise I’m going to be hanging out on the couch all day watching movies, so you’re welcome to join me.”
“That actually sounds good,” he admits, wincing as he lifts his arm up. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do much else today anyway. Don’t ask me how I rode here on my bike, because I have no idea.”
“Adrenaline, maybe?” I suggest. “I don’t think you should ride home though. Let me know what you want to do, I’m free all day, so I’m flexible.”
“Can I choose the first movie?” he asks, apparently having made his decision.
“If you take your pills first,” I counter.
“Deal.”