Finding Abel

Chapter 33.

Author's Note: My sincerest apologies, I was one of the many that were affected by hurricane Ian. My power was off for days and I couldn't update.

Jax

When I pulled into Erin's apartment complex, I could hear her yelling from the parking lot. She was speaking to Roosevelt, and she was angrier than I'd ever seen her before. When I got close to them, I only caught the tail end of their conversation. "If you don't fix this, I'll call every damn contact I know until I find out who tried to kill my boy!" she turned on her heel and slammed the door in his face. Eli had his hands on his hips and a look of distress on his face. There was no doubt in my mind that he was worried about just whose number lived in the safety of Erin's phone.

"What's going on?" I said grabbing Eli's attention. He looked startled to see me but then he regained his previous demeanor. "We can't get a hold of the security cameras, the guy in charge can't seem to find them. I had cops and warrants crawling everywhere to get their hands on the evidence, and now it's gone!"

"What's the guy's name?" I said with anger laced in my voice. Eli made a face, "no, no I'm not going that route. I'll just have to keep looking and see the bigger picture."

"The bigger picture?" I questioned.

Eli looked gave me a look, "yes the bigger picture! You don't honestly think I believe that this was just a hit and run do you?"

I had no doubt in my mind that this was a deliberate hit, but if I admitted to it, that would mean opening up to Eli. And at the end of the day, Eli played the law's game, a game meant to turn in people like me.

"What does Erin think?" I said trying to change the subject. "She thinks that someone tried to kill her and ended up hitting Wendy by mistake. She doesn't want to wait and look around, she wants answers. She wants to bury the person who tried to kill her child and her friend." Roosevelt looked me in the eye, "I've been trying to get her to leave, put her in witness protection until I can get a handle on this. But she refuses to leave."

That piece of information shocked me because Erin always seemed like the type to run when things got bad. She wanted to protect the boys above all else, so why decide to keep them here? What was she playing at?

"Why?" I asked genuinely curious.

Roosevelt looked at me seriously, "she wants blood, Jax. She's acting off rage and rage alone." He shook his head, "do you know what happened to her husband?"

I shook my head slowly, "the guy was a good agent, clean and smart. They'd been hunting this monster down for years and finally, the SOB's file landed on her husband's desk. He was a sadist that got off on control, he stalked her husband, wrote to him, and killed people in his honor. Just so that he could control him like he did the last guy, but her husband wouldn't budge. Dennis Jackson was no coward and he definitely wasn't anyone's puppet." Roosevelt looked away suddenly, shuddering at a memory. "He tortured and killed that man on tape, and sent the damn thing to Erin the next morning."

I sucked in a breath at the thought of someone being so cruel. Erin didn't deserve that, for God's sake, she didn't deserve this! Just thinking about how she felt set my skin ablaze, no doubt that what she felt was much worse.

I proceeded to walk past Roosevelt and head for Erin's door, but then Eli stopped me. "Just keep her safe Jax," he put his sunglasses over his eyes and walked away after that. I watched him walk away for a bit before I stepped inside Erin's condo. She was on the phone when I walked in, her back to me. But next to her were two small duffle bags, clothes placed neatly next to them.

"It's just for a few days mom, I just need them to be safe," she said into the phone. There was a pause as her mother gave her an earful that made her groan. "I will be fine. I am not leaving until I look this guy in the eyes and bury him myself," her voice was full of anger and I could see her fist was balled at her side.

Her chest was moving up and down, trying to manage her shaky breaths. "I'll be fine to drive," she said shortly. She was visibly not fine to drive, being the one behind the wheel was the last thing she needed. "I'll drive you," I said alerting her of my presence. She whipped around to face me and that's when I noticed the redness of her eyes, she must have been crying for hours.

"I can drive Jax," she said ignoring my offer. I shook my head, "no, you won't. Pack up their bags and I'll drive you to wherever you need to go, okay?" She was hesitant for a moment before she finally gave in and nodded her head softly. She informed her mother of the new plan and said a quick 'I love you' before hanging up.

"Where are you taking them?" I asked as she started to stuff the bags.

"They're staying with Dennis's sister; she lives on a farm a few hours away from here. I was supposed to go take the boys a while ago but never got the chance. Abel loves the horses," she added the last part as a way to justify relocating Abel elsewhere. But considering the situation, there was no justification needed.

"That's nice, it'll be good for them to get out of here," I said in agreement. Erin's movements paused for a moment at what I said, probably in shock that I agreed with her.

"When will it stop Jax?" her back was still turned to me, but the quiver in her voice didn't go unnoticed. I moved from where I was standing and rubbed her shoulders from behind. She seemed to relax against me before I felt her body start to shake. I didn't need to see her face to know that she was crying. I simply just held her close as I nuzzled into the crook of her neck.

It was almost painful to be this close to her. Hers was a touch that I craved despite my best efforts to conceal it. I'd like to say that one taste was all I needed but like a heroin addict I knew that I would be back for more.

It felt wrong to want her this way, at this hour, while the only other person I declared my love to was waiting for me faithfully. But for some twisted reason, the thought of leaving Erin hurt worse somehow. Like I was leaving her in a tank full of sharks, waiting to be devoured. I know that this wasn't the case with her, she was more than capable of handling herself. But it helped my delusion to think that she needed me somehow, that she wanted me just as much as I wanted her.

But then just like air, she was gone. She pulled away from me and broke the curse she had on me, forcing me to bottle up my desire. It was probably for the best anyhow, best that we kept our distance from one another.

For now, I would have to survive on the memory of how her lips felt on mine. How her breasts felt in the palm of my hand, and how there was a thirst inside of me that I could no longer quench after touching her body.