Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Jade
Axel carries me into the lobby of the medical centre as though I weigh nothing at all.
My head hurts, my buzz dissipating, and my leg feels as though it’s on fire.
The soft colours of the lobby are soothing, though, and tiredness rolls over me in waves, so much so that I stop protesting about him carrying me.
It’s kind of nice, anyway. Axel’s chest is firm and muscular, and he smells like cinnamon and cloves and something sharper, like a sexy warm bonfire kind of scent.
I wrench my mind away from that thought.
He might be hot, but he was still kind of a dick to me earlier.
I suppose I was kind of a dick to him, too.
But I’m not here to hook up with someone. I’ve literally travelled halfway around the world to get over my last romance. What I’m here for is some Jade time, to figure out what I want next.
Right now, though, what I want is to get my leg sorted out. The reception desk is empty, and Axel carries me round to the corridor leading to the consulting rooms. I frown at him.
“Only one doctor on at night.” He glances down at me. “Better than nothing.”
He pushes through a set of swinging doors, finally depositing me in a chair at the end of a short row. There’s one other person waiting there, a young woman clutching a small child, swathed in a light blanket. She nods at us, her eyes red-rimmed and weary.
Axel takes the seat next to mine.
“You don’t have to wait with me,” I snap.
“Oh, okay. And how are you going to get back?” He folds his arms, a line between his brows. “I’m not leaving you to fall over in the street just because you’re too damn stubborn to accept my help.”
Shit. We really haven’t started on the right foot. I hold out my right hand.
He looks at it, then at me, his frown deepening.
“Hi, I’m Jade.” My voice rasps. “Uh, thank you for letting me stay at your gorgeous place. I really appreciate it.”
His lips start to curve. Dimples appear in his cheeks, his jawline even more sculpted. Damn. He is gorgeous. He takes my hand, wrapping his long fingers around mine.
“Jade. I’m Axel. Nice to meet you. And it’s a pleasure. Let me know if there’s anything you need.”
“Thank you, I will.”
He laughs, then. “I guess we didn’t get off to the best start, did we?”
“I’m sorry,” I say, almost at the same time. “I didn’t mean to be so pushy about the boards.”
“You weren’t. I was being hard on you.”
We stare at each other. He still has my hand, his storm-grey eyes darkening.
I pull my hand free before I get sucked in. Not here for this. Not at all.
“Next patient.”
Oh, thank god. Perfect timing. The doctor, a young man in a white lab coat over blue scrubs, is standing nearby. I glance at the mother with the child, but she waves a weary hand at me. “Go ahead. We’re just waiting on some test results,” she says.
The doctor is still waiting. I try to stand, wincing as pain lances through my leg. Axel is on his feet in a moment, supporting me.
“Come on.” The doctor turns, heading back into the consulting room.
Axel and I follow, his arm around my waist, his body strong and hard against mine.
I fight against the pulse between my legs, stamping on it, thinking of cold water and ice baths and snowstorms to try and control my reaction.
It’s physical, that’s all. Some weird combination of alcohol and pain and breaking up with Zach all rolled into one.
I do not need a rebound. Nor does Axel Black deserve to be one.
He helps me into a chair and sits next to me, and I’m glad he’s here. Which is its own brand of messed up. I had someone with me wherever I went for so long that it still feels strange to be on this island alone.
“So, what’s going on?”
I tell the doctor what happened, explaining about the stitches. When he peels the dressing off my leg, I suck in a sharp breath.
“Hmm. Yes, looks as though those stitches have burst. I’ll have to take them out and redo them.”
Fuck. “Does that mean more time out of the water?”
“Come back in a week, though I’d recommend two weeks out of the water. And then you’ll be back to it. No trouble at all.”
I stare at him. It is trouble for me. I need to stay in shape. I have a competition in a few weeks’ time.
“What about walking? Does she need to rest it?”
I frown at Axel. What does it matter to him whether or not I can walk?
“Walking is fine,” the doctor says. “Just don’t push it for a day or so.”
A short while later we’re out of there. My leg is stitched and rebandaged, painkillers starting to cut through the sting.
Axel isn’t carrying me, thank god. I protested as soon as he tried to pick me up again.
We make our way along the lamplit road together, towards the timber archway that marks the edge of his property.
“Sorry.” I’m conscious of how slowly I’m going. With his long legs, he’d be home by now if it wasn’t for me.
“For what? You’re my guest. I need to make sure you’re taken care of.”
Again my mind goes to filthy places. I can’t stop it, the painkillers and exhaustion making everything feel like an effort. I need to fall into bed and sleep for twenty-four hours. Alone.
We take the pathway to my cabin, fairy lights like little stars lighting the way. The ocean whispers nearby, a shifting presence in the darkness, as the moon shines a silver path along the waves. Despite my pain, I’m enchanted.
“This place is so beautiful,” I breathe.
“I try and keep it in good order.”
I glance at him. His hands are behind his back, clasped together.
I sense that he’s holding back, as though he’s barricaded part of himself away.
I wonder again what caused him to drop out of the world the way he did.
It’s none of my business, though. And I don’t imagine he’ll appreciate me asking about it. Still…
“In good order?” My voice lilts upwards.
He grins. “Yeah. Sorry. It is gorgeous. And I do know how lucky I am. It’s just … I also work hard to keep it that way.” Something flickers across his face, a hint of disquiet.
“Do you own all the land between here and the town?”
He shakes his head. “Just these acres at the end of the peninsula. The jungle land between here and the village is owned by someone else.”
Again there’s tension, his jaw flexing. I file it away. Another layer of mystery to this man. We’ve reached my cabin. As we stop, turning to each other, it feels like a date. Like I might kiss him, ask him if he wants to come in for coffee or more. How ridiculous of me.
Still, he doesn’t seem in any hurry to leave. He chews his lip, looking out to sea for a moment. Then his gaze comes back to me. “Would you like a tour? Day after tomorrow? I can take you around the island, if you like.”
“Really?”
“Unless you have other plans?”
“No, I don’t.” Unless lying on my bed trying not to message Zach while eating everything in sight counts as a plan. “It’s not like I’ll be surfing anytime soon.”
He nods, once. “That was my thought. All right. I’ll see you then. 10 am.”
“See you then.”
But he’s already gone, striding back towards his house, which looms like a boat stranded on the shoreline. I watch him go, his broad shoulders, his long easy stride.
A mystery, indeed.
Axel
When I wake the next morning, I go through my usual routine; stretching, shower, coffee.
It’s something that usually eases my mind, an anchor point to start each day.
But, for some reason, I can’t seem to settle.
I give up on the stretches, taking a quick shower and towel down roughly before grabbing my coffee and heading into the workshop.
There’s no peace for me there, either. Jade’s board is in the rack, waiting to be repaired, her poster on the wall next to it.
I try not to look at her lush golden curves, try not to remember how she felt in my arms. But her jade-green gaze seems to follow me around the workshop, to the point that I end up taking the poster off the wall and throwing it out. Then I feel ridiculous.
She’s a guest. She’s also a pain in the ass.
Okay, maybe that’s unfair. She didn’t start the fight with Mish last night, and now she’s out of the water for a week at least through no fault of her own. That’s why I asked her out, I tell myself, as I set up to start work on her board. I’m just being a good host.
I’m good at lying to myself, too.
I take her board from the rack, putting it on the workbench.
It’s pretty badly dinged, but nothing I can’t repair.
The broken tip is probably the worst part, and the missing fin.
I can get a replacement for the latter, though; I still have contacts in the supply chain, though they don’t know who I am.
I start working, losing myself in the precision of shaping.
The weight, thickness and curve of each board is different, at least in my workshop, each one tailored specifically to the needs of the customer, and the waves they prefer to ride.
Jade’s board is a beauty; from the late 70s or early 80s if I’m right.
I wonder where she got it from. They do show up on the market from time to time, but this one seems perfect for her in terms of proportion.
If she didn’t buy it herself, it was obviously a gift from someone who knows her, and how she surfs, very well.
My mind goes to her boyfriend. An absolute gun of a surfer, one of the best in the world.
Like Jade. I know he has one of my boards; saw him boasting about it on social media a while back.
He was up-and-coming when I left the circuit, so I don’t really know him.
But something about him rubs me the wrong way.
I frown, bringing my mind back to the task at hand.
Who Jade chooses to sleep with, or accept gifts from, is none of my business.
I’m going to show her around the island tomorrow, so she at least knows where everything is, and then I’ll leave her in peace.
Even if the sound of her tears, the first night she was here, plays in my mind like the sigh of the ocean, and her frangipani scent seems to follow me around.
It’s just a physical reaction, that’s all.
I haven’t been close to a woman in a long time, and holding her in my arms must have awakened something. It’s nothing I can’t manage.
But my gaze goes to the smooth golden thigh still visible on the poster in the garbage can. There’s a flash of a moment where I imagine them wrapped around me. Shit. I really need to empty that. And sort my head out before I take her out for the day tomorrow.
Later I head home, bringing my laptop outside to sit on the veranda while I eat lunch.
I still feel unsettled, but a trip to the dumpster and some loud music playing while I was working seemed to help.
I open my emails, bracing myself. But there’s nothing, apart from a reminder of the upcoming council meeting.
The council did agree to give me more time. But only a couple of weeks. I’m not sure it’s going to be enough, but I need to do everything I can. My gaze wanders to the thick greenery on the land next to mine, the cliff rising from the golden beach. I swallow, hard, then refresh my emails.
Still nothing. I close the laptop and head back inside, pausing to scratch Nimue on the head. I should go back to the workshop, especially if I’m taking the day off tomorrow. But the blue water outside my window seems to beckon me. I turn away from its siren call.
And head back into town.