From Rags(67)
Author: Suzanne Wright

“Richie,” she replied. “Louisa’s in hospital.”

“Louisa?”

“She’s one of the hairstylists. He was with her going over some things when she started vomiting, he said it was like something off the Exorcist.”

“But she’s alright?”

She nodded. “She stopped spewing about half an hour ago and the doctor in the hospital gave her something to settle her stomach. They’re keeping her in for the night.”

“Hey, don’t look so freaked out.” But then Jaxx held his gaze with such intensity he felt rooted to the spot.

“They think it was food poisoning. The thing is…she’s the one who took those chocolates someone sent me.”

CHAPTEEN SEVENTEEN

The next morning Connor’s apartment was packed with people. Ollie was cursing with frustration because he hadn’t been able to track down who sent the flowers and chocolates. Richie was exploring the theory that the sender may have been someone who was already in the studio building. Tony was relaying stories he had heard before about past fanatic fans in an attempt to pre-empt what might come next and decide how best to deal with things. Lily was making everyone coffee, constantly signalling to her husband to shut up when his stories became creepy. Anna was again insisting that the police be brought into the matter, especially after what had happened to Louisa. Warren was trying to calm Anna, reminding her that Louisa herself didn’t want anyone to know what had happened; she had seen enough obsessed fan situations to know that giving them attention was often counterproductive. Dane was offering his theory that maybe all this had been Anita’s doing and she either hadn’t left L.A. at all or had sent the flowers and chocolates before leaving.

Connor, however, was unusually mute as he witnessed the torment that an equally mute Jaxx was subjecting herself to as she sat on the sofa with her legs hugged to her chest, glaring at the floor. Nothing he or anyone else had said had made any difference. Not even the fact that Louisa – who was now home under the care of her sister – had phoned and spoke to Jaxx, assuring her she was fine, had helped. He sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her as he spoke softly into her ear. “Babe, don’t do this to yourself. It wasn’t your fault.”

Oh she knew that. Jaxxon wasn’t assuming all blame for Louisa having been ill; to do that would be to relieve the oddball poisoner of the blame they were due. The reason Jaxxon was feeling sick to her stomach was because she hadn’t listened to Connor and took this matter seriously enough. If she had, maybe she would have been as vigilant and alert as he had advised her to be and then she wouldn’t have ignored her instincts that something wasn’t quite right about those gifts appearing. Also, if she was now to assume that this oddball would happily see her severely ill, was it such a stretch to wonder if this crackpot was going to do something similar again once they realised their plan hadn’t worked?

It was horrible to think that there was someone out there who might actually hate her so deeply. She knew she was a moody cow but was she really hate-worthy? Or was she dealing with one of those bizarre people who thought along the lines of ‘I love you so much I have to kill you’? One thing she could deduce from all this was that, no matter the motive of the oddball in question, she couldn’t be sure that the people around her were safe.

Hearing Tony and Lily propose that she would be better moving back into their annexe, Jaxxon closed her eyes and braced herself for the bloke who had stiffened beside her to turn into a raging bull. Therefore, his reaction surprised her.

Gently Connor turned her face to his and softly asked, “Would you feel safer staying with them?” No one would ever convince him that they could protect her better than he could. Even though he had, without her knowledge or consent, had GPS trackers planted on her phone and car by his security-expert-mate he was still worried as hell about her and he wanted her to stay with him more than he wanted anything. But it was important to him that she felt safe. He had let her down once before when she needed him, though he still didn’t know what he hadn’t protected her from, whereas the three ‘uncles’ had more or less saved her from her old life.

The fact that Connor, a bloke who by nature didn’t accept an answer that didn’t cohere with his own, was actually putting what she wanted before his own wants almost put a lump in her throat, and Jaxxon wasn’t an emotional person. Connor being self-sacrificing…Well that’s new. Even if he hadn’t been, he was what she needed right now. She shook her head.

He rested his forehead against hers. “Good.” He kissed her gently then raised his head and announced, “She’s staying here with me and anyone who doesn’t like it can come talk to me in the other room, but note that I’ll just tell you to shove your opinion up your arse.” He felt her body shake with silent laughter and noticed that Dane and Warren also seemed amused.

“Fine then,” relented Tony begrudgingly, “but you make sure you keep watch over her. That means staying here with her, being -”

“Whoa there, Tone,” interrupted Jaxxon, “no one is putting me on lock-down.”

“It won’t be for long, you’re going to New York in a few days.”

“I don’t care, I’m not going to let some nutter turn me into a prisoner.”

Suspecting that, just for once, he and the overprotective McKenzie would be singing from the same hymn sheet, Tony appealed to him with a look. To his utter shock, the bloke shook his head.

“As much as I’d love to keep her here where no one can get to her, it won’t happen. She’ll crack up. When we were teenagers and she was confined to her room for the weekend she got so bad that, with a fractured wrist, she climbed down the drainpipe just to get out into the fresh air. That feeling of being trapped sends her over the edge.” He heard her giggle at the memory and looked back at her. “It wasn’t funny, Jaxx. I had a panic attack, thinking you were going to fall to your death.” She smiled unrepentantly.

Tony half-sighed half-growled, which made Lily elbow him in the ribcage. After scowling at her he turned back to Jaxxon. “Luv, you can’t deny that you’ll be a lot safer just lying low for a couple of days. Look what happened to Louisa -”

“Not the right thing to say, gobshite,” condemned Lily.

He scowled at his wife again. “Jaxxon, luv, I just want you to be safe.”