Chapter 3 Chapter 3
E L E N A
I knelt on the rough wooden floorboards beside Jax, my knees aching against the hard surface. My flashlight illuminated his torso, showing the bloody hole in his side.
The clubhouse usually had all the tools I needed to perform a surgery or at least the basics for a proper procedure. But here, we were in near darkness, no running water and very limited supplies, but I knew I couldn't wait for help to arrive.
Jax needed the bullet out. Now.
It was lodged deep. I could feel it with my forceps, every probe making him flinch, a low groan tearing from his throat.
"Stay back." His blood stained hand shot out to grab my thigh, his fingers digging into my jeans. "You're not... my hero."
"I'm not your hero, Jax." I said, my voice dangerously low. "I'm the woman holding a pair of forceps inside your body. You might want to be nicer to me."
I finally got a good grip on the bullet, the metal scraping against the instrument. One final pull and it came free with a sickening sound
I dropped it into a metal tray and immediately pressed a fresh gauze pad to the wound, my other hand reaching for a bottle of saline.
I threaded my needle and started to stitch him back together, a skill I'd perfected in this very same situation countless times before.
Using every ounce of strength left in my aching body, I dragged his heavy unconscious frame off the floorboards and onto the mattress positioned near the fireplace. I threw a thin quilt over him.
I let out a shaky breath, my body trembling from adrenaline and exhaustion. I slumped against the wall and drifted into an exhausted sleep.
The next morning, I was woken up by the sound of someone furiously cursing.
I opened my eyes to find Jax sitting up on the edge of the mattress, one hand clutching his freshly stitched side, breathing heavily as he spoke on the landline phone. He was completely stripped down to his boxers. My own blood soaked clothes had been unwearable forcing me to change into one of his oversized shirts that hung all the way down to my mid thighs with only my panties on.
"I don't give a damn about the road, Dad." Jax growled into the phone. "Send a chopper or a team on foot. I'm stuck in a damn box with Elena, and I need to be back at the clubhouse leading the counter strike against the Scorpions. They have crossed a line."
I stood up from my spot near the now cold fireplace, crossing my arms over my oversized shirt as I listened.
"You're not leaving that cabin, son," the President's voice boomed firmly. "Your side is ripped open, you can't even draw your weapon without tearing your guts out and stepping outside right now means a target on your head. The safehouse is completely dark. Stay put with the girl until the heat dies down. That is an order."
The line went dead with a loud click.
Jax slammed the phone down onto the receiver so hard the plastic cracked.
"Satisfied?" I asked quietly, walking over to grab a fresh bottle of water from the non functioning fridge. "You're trapped here with me, Vice President. Like it or not."
He swore, turning to face me. His gray eyes scanned me from head to toe.
His gaze paused on the way the shirt fit me. The fabric was far too large, swallowing my frame, slipping off one shoulder to expose the collarbone and the swell of my breast. A dark smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he tried to regain control the only way he knew how.
"Look at you," he sneered softly, his voice rough. "Parading around in my clothes. Does taking care of me like a helpless dog satisfy that pathetic little adolescent crush you used to have on me, Elena? Feeling like a real doctor playing house?"
A hot spike of anger flared in my chest. Ten years ago, his words would have made me shrink back into the shadows, crying in secret. But I wasn't that scared girl anymore.
I stepped right into his space, grabbing a glass of water and shoving it against his broad chest, forcing his fingers to take it. I leaned down until my face was inches from his sharp jaw, refusing to back away.
"You use that mean ugly mouth of yours because you're a coward, Jax," I said, willing myself not to shatter from his stare. "You hate that you're weak right now. You hate that the only person keeping your heart beating is the girl you spent a decade looking down on. So go ahead, keep barking. But you and I both know if it wasn't for me, you'd be rotting in a dark tunnel right next to two dead Scorpions."
Jax locked his gaze onto mine, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek. For a long moment, neither of us blinked. But his smirk was gone, replaced by something dark.
"Is that what you think this is?" he whispered, his breath hot against my face. His good arm snaked out, wrapping around my waist. He yanked me closer, our bodies flush against each other. He was burning up. "You think you saved me?"
His fingers dug into the fabric of the shirt at my hip. He pulled it taut against my body.
"You ever stop to think, little doctor," he continued, his lips brushing my earlobe, sending a shiver down my spine, "that I'm the one keeping you safe?"
He shifted, wincing slightly as he leaned into my neck, his stubble grazing my skin. "The Scorpions hit the clubhouse. They hit the garage. They hit my apartment. They're wiping us off the map, Elena. And the second order on their list, after my father and me... was the club's medic. The woman who patches up their men."
I froze. The anger in my veins turned to ice.
"They don't want you dead," he murmured, his lips so close to my neck I could feel the words as much as hear them. "They want you. They have a price on your head so high they'll be able to buy the cartel's entire supply for a year."
He leaned back slightly, just enough to look me in the eye.
"So yeah," he said, his voice dropping to a low growl. "Keep telling yourself you're the one in charge here. But this cabin isn't a prison for me, sweetheart. It's the only thing keeping you from being dragged into a room and flayed alive while they pump you full of drugs until you tell them every weakness we have."
He let me go, shoving me back slightly. The sudden loss of contact left me feeling disoriented. It had to be a lie, another cruel game of his to regain power.
But a sick feeling in my gut told me he wasn't lying. The Scorpions were ruthless. They saw me as a strategic asset.
By nightfall, the temperature in the cabin had dropped. It was so cold and Jax’s fever was worse.
He was now lying on the mattress, shivering violently. His body temperature was spiking too fast and without proper medication, hypothermia and the fever could kill him.
"Elena…" he groaned, his eyes squeezed shut.
My heart hammered against my ribs. The stubborn arrogant bastard was dying in front of me. I knew what I had to do, even though every instinct in my body screamed at me not to.
There were no extra blankets, no heat source and no medicine left. The only way to stabilize his wild temperature was direct skin to skin contact.
Gulping down my fear, I stripped off the oversized shirt, leaving me in just my panties and no bra. I walked over to the mattress and slipped under the thin quilt next to him.
The moment I slid under the cover, the heat radiating off his body hit me. The bed was small, forcing our bodies flush together.
Jax stirred instantly. Sensing my presence through the haze of his fever, his large heavily tattooed arm moved on instinct. He didn't push me away. Instead, he wrapped his thick arm firmly around my waist, his massive frame shifting until he rolled onto his side, completely engulfing me from behind.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat.
He pulled me into his chest as he buried his face into the crook of my neck. His breath was hot against my skin. I could feel every single hard angle of his body pressed against mine.
My heart pounded so loudly I was certain he could hear it. I lay completely motionless in the dark, not knowing what to do. This was a level of intimacy I had never experienced with any man, let alone with him.
Just as I thought he had drifted off into sleep, Jax shifted slightly. He pressed his feverish lips directly against the sensitive patch of skin right behind my ear. His hand tightened around my waist, pulling me even closer until there wasn't a single millimeter of space left between us.
I could feel his rock hard budge on my ass.
His voice dropped into a husky tone that sent shivers straight to my spine. "You spent ten years wishing I'd touch you like this, Elena..." he whispered dangerously into my skin. "...now don't you dare flinch when I don't let you go."
