Chapter Four
ELLIOT
I’m furious that someone like him evaded us all so easily.
I pull at my hair as I pace outside the main house, waiting for notification of the arrival of the ambulance. Part of me wondered if we should have just driven, but without knowing the true extent of the injuries she’s suffered at the hands of that arsehole, it’s not a risk I was willing to take or even voice.
Furious, I pull up my tracking app and look at his location again, a ball of dread settling into the pit of my stomach. None of us said the words out loud, but I think we’re all thinking the same thing, what if he’s on his way to Mia’s school? It would be just like a cunt like him to use his daughter as some sort of human shield.
“Fuck,” I curse out into the darkness of the night, my breath a foggy cloud in the crisp air, Autumn making way for Winter.
The police aren’t going to be able to stop him, they don’t just go around hunting for someone. That is not how the justice system works. But fuck me, something will need to give because if any one of us gets our hands on him before they do, it won’t end well.
I saw it in River’s expression. He slipped into the darker parts of himself, and I worry this will be the tipping point, his way of unleashing all his anger and rage. And as much as it should concern me, and to an extent it does, I know that when all is said and done, it’s his demon to harness, not mine. He never once told me how to deal with my pain or my issues. He supported me, allowing me to do what I needed to do to heal. If push came to shove, though, would I let him walk that thin line, one that, if he crossed, there’d be no coming back from?
When you’re in the military, you try to disassociate in some fucked up way, but the truth is, you’re always walking a morally grey tightrope. One you’ll have to find redemption from when it’s your time to face what comes after this life. I’ve never been a religious man. I wonder if it had something to do with growing up with quite a religious family. I went to church and Sunday school, but deep down, I felt like there was more to it.
The distant sound of a whoop, whoop, whoop brings me out of my inner thoughts, and I pull up the CCTV for the main gate, already opening it, not wanting to delay them any more than they need to.
As soon as they arrive, two paramedics climb out of the vehicle and open the back to grab their bags.
“Hi,” I say in greeting, but it comes out clipped. “She’s this way.” I nod and turn on my heel for them to follow me.
“Sorry, I’m Elliot. Lily is this way.”
I lead them through the hallway and up the stairs, and they follow me into Lily’s bedroom.
“Thank fuck,” River says, springing to his feet when we enter and moving aside for the paramedics. Jax, however, remains on the other side of Lily.
“Okay, Lily, I’m Maggie,” says one of the paramedics as she drops her bag off her shoulder. “And this is Joel.”
“What can you tell us?” Joel asks, looking at us as Maggie begins to work on checking Lily over.
“We found her unconscious in the bathroom,” Jax immediately replies. “The assailant got away. She came to, but barely, her pulse is weak, and as you can see, she has multiple abrasions and lacerations, mostly from a belt.” The last word gets lodged in his throat.
It’s a hive of activity as they make quick work of accessing her before moving her to a pull-out stretcher, one that Tommy and River carry as we make our way back downstairs and to the waiting ambulance.
Once they have her inside and are attaching her to an ECG machine, she groans and whimpers but is otherwise still incoherent and unresponsive, which concerns us all the most.
“Only one of you can ride with us,” Maggie states, eyeing all of us crowding the back of the open doors.
“I’ll go,” Tommy says before any of us have even had a chance to reply.
Jax glances to me and then back to Tommy, nods his head, and asks which hospital.
After they confirm it’s Barnet, he asks me to let the police know that’s where we’ll be and tells Tommy we’ll meet him there, allowing them to close the doors and watch as they drive away.
“I’ll go get the car,” River says, jogging away from the main house.
“Let me lock up,” I say, walking towards the front door, setting the alarm, and pulling it closed.
Jax says nothing as River pulls up, the gravel beneath the tyres crunching beneath their weight.
He takes the front, and I take the back, as soon as the doors are closed, River pulls away, the wheels spin, kicking up loose gravel as he speeds out of the estate. The car is thick with unbridled tension, rolling off each of us in palpablewaves.
“What the hellhappenedwith you and Lily?” River demands, his eyes flicking to Jax before focusing back on the dark road ahead,his knucklestightening around thesteering wheel.
I lean closer to the middle of the back seat, my hand gripping the back of Jax’s headrest as he turns his face towards River.
“Need me to spell it out for you?”
I swear River lets out something akin to a growl in response. “Don’t be a cunt man.”
Jax rubs his palm over his face and lets out a heavy sigh.
“Shit, you’re right. I’m pissed with myself.” He glances at the windscreen and then back to River. “I couldn’t stay away, okay? There’s something about her that pulls you under. I went to confront her about whatever she’s been doing with all of you,” he admits solemnly.
“What the hell?” I pipe up, leaning forward. “For fuck’s sake, Jax. You should have spoken to us.”
He nods. “Yeah, well, I didn’t, and let’s just say she put me in my place. I only intended to scratch an itch—” His words cut off as River swerves before gaining control again. “Calm the fuck down, Riv, you asked me, I’m explaining.”
River grunts in response.
“But then... she took me up on my offer. How the fuck was I to know she was a virgin?”
I almost choke out my response as River swerves, pulling over to a small lay-by, bringing the car to a stop, and then his hands are around Jax’s throat.
Fuck!
“River,” I say, grabbing hold of his wrist.
Jax holds up his palms, showing no sign of retaliating, and River shoves him away as he releases his hold.
“It was consensual. I would never,” Jax says.
River covers his face with his hands and takes a deep breath before grabbing the steering wheel and facing Jax again. “I know that,” he grits out. “It’s just, this is so fucked up. I knew you had a hard-on. Hell, we all do, that much is obvious. ”
Riv looks back at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes holding mine for a beat.
“Hmm, ain’t that the fucking truth,” Jax says. “She has us all enamoured.”
River gives him a pointed look, raising a brow.
“Yeah, point taken…I was worried she’d become too much of a distraction and just needed some attention. So, I made her an offer to expel whatever was going on with her. But it backfired.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” River replies.
Jax sighs heavily. “If I had known she was still a virgin, though, I would have shown a little more self-restraint. I’m not saying Iregret what we did becauseI don’t. But right now, we need to make sure she’s okay and track down thatson of a bitch.”
Pangs of guilt flood me immediately. I should have found that feed weeks ago. “I’m going to scan the entire property again. That’s on me, Jax. I take full responsibility for missing it.” Amateur fucking mistake.
“There’s a lot of blame going around, El, this isn’t on you.”
“No, it’s on all of us,” River says. He slams his palm on the steering wheel, causing the horn to sound in the silence of the night and causing me to flinch. “Richard is a fucking snake,” he adds. “But why hire us all in the first place? That’s what I don’t understand.”
Jax scoffs at that. “To keep up appearances, most likely. It doesn’t matter now, though, because his days are seriously numbered. There is no way he’ll get away with this.”
“No, he fucking won’t,” River replies. “But we do still need to have a long conversation about what happened with you and Lily,” he says, pulling back onto the darkly lit road.
Jax doesn’t reply, not that I expected him to.
None of us speak any further, all caught up in our own thoughts as River breaks the speeding limit a few times too many in his haste to get to the hospital .
When we finally arrive and rush through to Accident and Emergency, I’m initially hit with the bitter smell of antiseptic. We spot Tommy almost immediately. He is sitting in the waiting area, his head in his hands, his leg bouncing with nervous energy.
“Tommy?” His head snaps up at Jax’s voice, and he pushes to his feet and meets us in the fluorescent lit hallway.
“They told me I had to wait here. They wouldn’t let me go through to triage,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
Jax grips his shoulder. “Don’t be. They’ll take care of her,” he replies, but I don’t miss the unease in his voice.He steers Tommy back to the seating area, and I collapse into one of the chairs, my adrenaline beginning to wear off. I rub my chest, trying to starve off the cold, hollow ache that’s resided there since we found her.
River places his hand on my thigh. “She’ll be okay,” he mutters, as if saying it out loud will make it true. I nod, but until I see her again, I’m not sure I truly believe it.
My mind keeps replaying the moment over and over again. Her covered in blood, the discarded belt. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the images, but they might as well be burnt into my retinas.
I don’t know how long we wait before a doctor finally emerges, the receptionist pointing her in our direction. She approaches, her face a mask of professional detachment.
After introducing herself, she finally utters words we’ve been anxiously waiting to hear. “She’s stable.” I feel a wave of relief so intense it borders on painful. There’s a collective sigh from the guys. “Most of her injuries are superficial, some worse than others. She’s going to need time to heal, physically and emotionally. But she’s a fighter.”
“Can we see her?” Jax asks, swallowing hard.
“Only one of you can see her now,” the doctor says. “Once she’s moved to a ward for observation, you all will be able to see her, but please keep it to one at a time.” Her eyes glance between the four of us.
We all look to Jax, knowing he’ll be the one to see her first, even though we’re all desperate to see her with our own eyes, Jax needs this more.