As Hope and Promise Fade

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Jax felt hopeless because there was nothing he could do to take that sadness from her beautiful face. Back at the cabin the first thing she wanted was to shower. After promising she wasn’t going to keel over he agreed to stay back and wait for her to finish.

He felt worthless waiting idly. He went quickly down to the kitchen to gather her some food for when she was done washing away all signs of the cave.

Marc and Andrew were in the kitchen, his uncle had opted for the opposite, to eat first and shower later. The dirt covering his clothes and arms didn’t seem like much of a bother but to him elements of the earth were a second skin.

“We’ve been trying to track down Hal but he’s well hidden.” Andrew was explaining.

Jax had been standing back listening to Andrew give the updates when Marc turned his intense blue eyes on to him. “He’s crossed too many lines.” He said about the hunter. “I can’t keep trying to protect her feelings if he insists on making attempts on our lives.”

Marc hadn’t said anything Jax hadn’t already thought over a hundred times in the last twenty four hours. He was ready to kill Hal with his bare hands after what he did to Ariana. “I know and I agree.”

The three men in the kitchen exchanged a look and silently agreed it’d be better to save this meeting for when they were in the office and no one could overhear their very private plans.

Ariana tried to wash away the memories of Marc touching her but that didn’t work. Try as she might the water couldn’t scrub her mind clean. She stayed in the shower until all she smelled was the spring fresh body wash Jax always used across her own body.

Every sign of the cave was erased from her body. It helped her breathe a little easier but it wasn’t much. If she thought for too long she kept bursting out with uncontrollable tears. It wasn’t just her epic error with Marc, it was the very real memory of her father’s eyes as they looked at her with betrayal and hate behind them.

 Her father had always been her hero, her idol, a very big influence every second she was in school. She credited him for her excellent grade average. Yet the whole time he was the one lying, every memory she had on the man was a lie. He didn’t work with numbers for some big corporation. He slayed innocent people for the simple fact they were different inside.

Her teeth were so clenched her jaw ached as she dried off and pulled on the spare clothes she had left years ago consisting of underwear, jeans, and a simple buttoned down long sleeved shirt. She was grateful for the more causal pair of jeans instead of her usual skirts and dresses.

When she went back to Jax’s room a short distance down the hall she found it empty. It wasn’t a hard guess to figure out where he might be; with Marc.

She in no way wanted to lay eyes on him again so maybe she could forget what he made her feel except that would never work. Their lives were very connected through the person they loved the most and betrayed equally.

She continued into Jax’s room and shut the door behind her. In his private area she did feel safe and that’s where she’d stay until it was time for her to leave. Sadly a whole day was wasted in that damn cave and come tomorrow evening she had to be at the airport headed back to California.

She lay across his bed and held his pillow tight so that every time she inhaled it was him breathing into her lunges. Her eyes were heavy and no amount of fighting worked, she fell asleep there comfortable and safe in Jax’s bed.

The things Marc had always prided himself in were now his downfall. His control kept him from making another foolish mistake and claiming a woman he had no right to. His power was a constant torture as he focused his hearing and listened to the soft beat of Ariana’s heart as she slept, a sound he should hear with a whole floor between them.