Chapter 60
Chapter Sixty
PATRICK
I’m going to kill that limp dick number pushing asshole.
Seeing another man touching Elle short circuited my brain. It was like my conscious brain turned off and I moved on auto-pilot. I don’t remember how but I managed to get myself away from the situation, into my car and back to my apartment before my brain turned itself back on.
While I do appreciate my body’s quick response, I wish it would have let me actually attempt to process what was happening. When I gave myself more than 30 seconds to think of the scene in front of me, I knew that scumbag forced himself on Elle.
My phone rings and it’s Paul, again. I don’t have the bandwidth to talk to anyone besides Elle right now and I need to calm myself down before I reach out to her.
I have no right to demand she stop holding meetings with other men alone, or that Loop be immediately taken off as the main accountant for the Farm.
No, doing that would imply that I don’t trust Elle and nothing could be further from the truth.
I know Elle will be able to handle this situation.
I know she doesn’t need me to tell her what to do, she already knows.
All she needs from me is my support and the knowledge that I never doubted her intentions for a minute.
My phone rings again, Lola this time, and I don’t hesitate to send it to voicemail. I need to talk to Elle. My hands are shaking as I pull up her contact and hit the call button.
It rings.
And rings.
And rings.
What feels like an eternity later, the ringing stops and Elle’s no nonsense voicemail plays.
I quickly ended the call and hit the redial button.
Ringing.
Ringing.
Ringing.
Voicemail.
I curse as I end the call.
Me: I’m so sorry I walked away.
I don’t add anything else, I don’t need to try and explain that my body went into panic mode.
I just need her to know I regret my actions.
I stare at our text thread, waiting for the read receipt to pop-up.
It shows delivered but it doesn’t change, there are no dots showing she is typing out a response.
My eyes are starting to go blurry as I refuse to even blink and possibly miss a chance at getting evidence she’s seen my message and is trying to respond.
A loud knock at my door finally pulls my attention away from my phone, my focus on it way longer than should be possible. Thank god. Of course Elle wouldn’t waste time texting. She dealt with that little creep and stormed over here, prepared to tear me a new one.
I eat up the distance to my door in three quick strides, pulling it open without checking the peep hole. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” I swing my arms out and attempt to pull Elle into a hug, needing to feel her pressed against me before we have this conversation.
Only, I can’t get my arms around her and where I can usually tuck her head into my neck and rest my chin on her, my face hits her chest?
I look up and my gaze clashes with Jude’s, not Elle’s, and I swear I can see amusement dancing in his eyes but his expression is one of pure murder.
“I’m so sorry.” I let my arms drop to my side and take a step back, my ears burning with embarrassment.
“Yeah, you already said that.” There’s no hint of humor in Lola’s voice as she steps out from behind Jude and walks into my apartment.
“I refuse to accept any apologies until you tell me why you won’t answer anyone’s calls?
Are you really that mad?” Lola’s hands are fisted at her waist, staring me down as Jude finally crosses the threshold and shuts the door behind him.
“I only want to talk to Elle right now.”
“Elle lost her phone when she fell, that’s why we’ve been trying to reach you.”
“What? Why didn’t you text me or leave me a message?”
“Would you have read it?”
She has a point there, I would have seen it wasn’t from Elle and disregarded it. Wait a minute, what did she say?
“She fell? Did that asshole hurt her?” The accusation is clear in my voice and though I don’t mean to point my anger at either of them, my vision is going red at the thought of the sleazeball using physical force on Elle.
“No, you donut. She fell into a gopher hole while trying to chase after your chicken shit ass.” I think that’s the longest sentence I’ve ever heard Jude speak and I’m momentarily speechless.
I probably look like a fish as my mouth gapes open and closes repeatedly, too many questions running through my mind.
Did she break anything?
She was chasing after me?
Where is she now?
“Where is she?” My heart starts doing double time as my gaze ping pongs between Lola and Jude.
“I need to go to her!” I tug at my hair, prepared to yank it out at the root if only to feel what has to be a fraction of the pain she must be feeling right now.
“Calm down, she’s at the hospital.” Lola places her hands on my shoulder and gives me a soft shake, slightly pulling me out of my panic.
“There’s nothing that you can do right now, Paul or Mabel will let me know when there is an update.
Right now, the best thing to do is let Elle get the care she needs. ”
No, I don’t accept that.
I can’t accept that.
How can she ask me to just sit here when Elle is hurting?
She’s hurting because of me! “I need you to let me go.” I don’t recognize my voice but the demand must have come from me because both Lola and Jude shake their heads.
“No, you need to sit down.” Jude’s voice is deep and commanding and leaves no room for argument.
“Come on. I can tell you what I know and hopefully we’ll have an update soon.” Lola steers my body to my couch, her touch is gentle but firm and suddenly, all the fight in me disappears. My nose burns with shame that I let Elle get hurt because I couldn’t face the situation in front of me.
“I know—I know Elle would never kiss that pig without being forced. I should have stayed and stopped him.” My vision blurs, I’m so angry with myself. I should have been there for her. Lola tries to calm me down with soft words but I refuse to hear it. “Please, tell me what happened.”