Loving You- Chapter 21 (Patreon)

It's been a few weeks since Damien's rampage. After he took me, he brought me to his bedroom and dressed my new wounds, making me lie on my stomach. It was the same routine everyday. He would come to the room, apply medication, change my bandages, and feed me. Then he would leave. I would be so happy when sleep finally overcame me, the pain I was feeling in my backside finally dissipating when I closed my eyes.

"Angel." His silky voice awakened me from my deep slumber, and the peace I temporarily had was gone. I opened my eyes to see Damien standing over me dressed clad in a dark suit. His bright eyes piercing me to the center. I had to fight the urge to scurry away from him as he sat next to me on the bed.

"I'm leaving for a little while. I have some business to attend to and I'm afraid I cant bring you with me this time baby." I had to bite my cheek to keep from smiling. When Damien went on his trips he was gone for a long time. And this meant I had a mini vacation away from him. This also meant that I had time to actually rest and not have a fearful nagging at the back of my mind. Damien leaned in and kisses me on the cheek, my gaze meeting his.

"I love you." I open my mouth almost immediately in response in fear of what might happen if I didn't say anything fast enough. "I love you too." He smiles and gets up to walk out of the room. But stops at the door and turns to me.

"Jax will be you guard while I'm away. Just so I know you're completely under my jurisdiction still. Get better soon." He then walks out not giving me time to respond and slams the door behind him.

I wake up the next day eager to get up and walk around. The doctor finally released me. I was finally able to up and move around fully as the wounds were healing leaving nothing more than a faint scar. A forever reminder of how far I pushed him that day.

As soon as I was dressed in nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt I stepped out of the room. To my left was Jax. He stood over me, his powerful build more than enough to intimidate me. He had soft brown hair and deep green eyes that looked down at me. I immediately look down and begin to stutter.

"I-I just wanted to walk around today." I hear movement and realize that he's behind me waiting for me to walk. We spend the whole day walking around and sitting. I just want to enjoy my newfound freedom and don't want to let anyone ruin it. By lunchtime I'm starving. We walk back into the house and I see a stack of playing cards on one of the shelves on our way to the dining room.

Once we're seated I begin eating my soup.

"Do you play cards?" He looks taken aback.

"Yes."

I smile a little. "So do you want to play with me?" He's silent for a moment before responding to me.

"Fine." We end up playing a little game called speed. The atmosphere becoming more and more relaxed as I beat him several times. His flustered expression each time I shouted speed making me laugh harder each and every time. After a while he got tired of being beat and offered that we play goldfish.

"So, how long have you known Damien?" He looks up from his card stack with a raised eyebrow.

"All my life." I was a little shocked at that. Damien knew this man all his life yet I've never heard anything about him. But then again Damien never talks about his past except that one time he shared a small sliver of his past.

"Do you have any 5's?" Jax's voice pulled me out of deep thought process as I looked over the cards that were shuffled in my hands.

"Go fish." Jax's defeated expression made me smile as he reached for more cards in the stack. "So if you've known him all your life, how'd you end up working for someone like him?"

Jax sighed and put his cards facedown on the table.

"I'm guessing you wont stop asking questions until I tell you huh." I nod my head tentatively and he chuckles softly. "You know, that kind of stuff will get you killed in this industry." I flinch from his choice of words remembering how awfully Damien reacts to my asking questions. I opened my mouth to immediately apologize but am cut off when Jax begins speaking.

"I was the same age as Damien at the time. My family had been in his families debt for years. We pride ourselves in how well we can protect them and take out anyone that said anything about it. You see, my father and Damiens father were great friends. The best of friends. And he protected Dameins father with his life. Or at least he did. You see, it was my father who murdered Damiens family."

I gasped lightly at the revelation. According to Damien his family was cut down right in front of him. And it was due to this mans father no less.

"To this day I don't know why my father did it. But I know Damien believed in an eye for an eye. And when he hunted my father down he could have killed him, but he didn't. I believed he should have done away with him, but Damien wanted to keep him. He has him tied up somewhere ready to torture at his will for his sins. Damien could have killed me too when he found out who I was. But he didn't. He took me in and helped me get on my feet. So I pledged my life to him, and I will protect him with my life. I know I cannot atone for my fathers sins, but if I can keep him safe I will." Jax had his hand tightened in a fist, his face showing his determination.

"But do you realize what kind of person Damien is? He's not a good person."

Jax looks up. I expect to see anger of some sort because I insulted Damien but all I see in his green irises are pity.

"Damien had no choice. He wasn't born that way. His father made him into what you see today. If you ask me that's the reason he kept my father alive. Because he did him a favor and freed him from that monster. The only reason he's bitter is because he dragged his mother in it. Damien's father made him kill a stray cat he had found with his bare hands as a child. He used to give him unlucky bastards to teach him how to get a clean kill. His father raised him to be a killer. If it wasn't for his mom he would have no sense of humanity in him."

My heart ached for Damien. I may not have had the best childhood, but I had a brother who loved me and did everything he could for me. Damien had no one except his mother. And she was taken. I hated his father. He had turned a potentially good person into an evil monster. And at such a young age. Now Damien was a twisted person that didn't know the difference between right and wrong. Just what he wanted and took it.

I opened my mouth to speak when a sudden wave of nausea washed over me. I jumped up from my spot at the table and looked for the nearest trash can seeing none. I had to sprint to the window and throw it open, emptying the contents of my stomach onto the porch.

Jax was behind me in an instant keeping my hair out of my face.

"You ok?" He asks softly. I nod my head slightly.

"Must've just been the soup." I try and reason. Jax looked like he didn't believe me but didn't press me for anymore answers.

Later that night I had a salad for dinner not wanting anything heavy, and I finally grew tired and decided to turn in to sleep.

"Thanks for talking to me today. It's nice being able to talk to someone."

Jax smiled at me. "Of course."

I close the door behind me and head to the shower. I turned on the water and looked in the mirror at my face. My eyes were huge and my skin looked more firm and tone with a healthy glow to it. As I began to put my hair up another wave of nausea wracked its way through my body. I ran to the toilet and puked everything out once more. Once I was finished I finally flushed. Is there something in the food I've been eating?

~

3rd Person POV

Jax stood outside the door. He pulled out his phone and called Damien off speed dial. Damien picked up on the first ring.

"What." Jax took a deep breath. If his observation served him correctly, this would be big news indeed.

"Damien, we may have a problem."