Fallen

Chapter Twenty Seven

Jackson was up bright and early the next morning. I woke up to an empty bed and the smell of bacon downstairs. An uneasy feeling churned my gut at the thought of Jackson alone with anyone else in the house. Hastily, I grabbed a cardigan from my bedroom floor and wrapped myself up in it before stumbling down the stairs. Jackson was stood alone over my stove cooking enough full English breakfasts to feed an army.

He noticed me stood half asleep in the doorway and grinned. "Morning, baby girl. You hungry?"

I couldn't exactly say no. "Sure."

"Great. Do you think your sister and your friend would want any? I haven't seen them yet."

Just on cue, the living room door flew open. Nick stood there in his boxer shorts and a top, stretching and yawning dramatically. I met up with him in the hallway.

"Is that bacon I can smell?" he asked.

I crossed my arms. "Good morning, Nick. I slept well thank you."

He laughed. "I was getting to that bit."

I grinned.

"Is that him?" he murmured, gesturing to the kitchen.

I nodded and beckoned him to follow me. We stood by the kitchen door. Nick flung his arm around my shoulders and took a long sniff until his chest was puffed right out when Jackson turned around. He glanced at Nick's arm around me and suddenly I felt uncomfortable being so close to Nick. Quickly, I moved away from his touch and sat at the kitchen table.

"This smells great, man. I'm Nick by the way." He offered his hand to Jackson. Jackson put on his flash smile and took his hand firmly.

"It's nice to meet you, Nick. I hope you don't mind I went out this morning and bought some food for everyone. Come in and sit down."

Nick sat beside me. I quickly noticed that he kept glancing at Jackson and scratching his head. I leaned into him.

"What are you staring at him for?" I asked.

Nick narrowed his eyes. "I recognise him from somewhere," he whispered, the sound of bacon sizzling and Jackson rummaging about for plates drowning out our conversation.

"Yeah, from the club we met at."

"I didn't really see him that night, but I've definitely seen him before."

"Really?"

Nick nodded and bit the inside of his cheek before turning to Jackson again. "It's nice of you to do this for us, mate. You didn't have to."

Jackson spun around. "It's the least I can do to say thanks for letting me stay overnight."

I gave Nick a look. "You've never made us breakfast to say thanks."

"I give you the sweet gift of being your friend."

"For some reason, that's not enough."

He sighed dramatically. "Fine, tomorrow I'll make you some cheese on toast. How's that?"

"I'll hold you to that."

Nick grinned. "I'm sure you will."

"There you go," Jackson said, putting down plates of sausages, bacon, mushrooms, baked beans and eggs on the table in front of us. Nick didn't hesitate to dive in and enjoy the food given to him. Jackson sat beside me and leaned over to kiss my cheek.

"You always look so radiant in the mornings. I love it," he whispered.

I just smiled and picked up a piece of bacon. Nick had inhaled two sausages and half a fried egg by this point. Jackson sat back in his seat and grinned as we ate his food. It wasn't long before we heard Ellie shuffle down the stairs. I had to hold in my laughter at the state of her hair and last night's makeup still on her face.

"I feel like death," she croaked, rubbing her eyes but when her gaze fell upon Jackson, she gasped. "Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't know we had company." She tried fixing her hair. "It would have been great if Anna had told me," she said through gritted teeth.

"It's fine," Jackson reassured. "Aren't you going to introduce us, Anna?"

I swallowed my food quickly. "Of course. Ellie, this is Jackson. Jackson, this is my sister Ellie."

Jackson stood up to take Ellie's hand in his. With a grin on his lips, he brought my sister's hand to his mouth to kiss it. "Well, I've heard a lot about you, Ellie."

"Good things I hope," she replied, cautiously taking her hand away from his.

"Of course. Only good things."

Ellie started to look a little uncomfortable. "I think I'm going to go back to bed for a bit. I can't stomach any food right now. It was nice meeting you anyway."

I gave her a quizzical look as she scarpered out of the room and back upstairs. When I met Nick's gaze, he just shrugged and shoved as much bacon into his mouth as he could. We all finished our breakfasts in silence, but I couldn't let go of Ellie's strange behaviour. As soon as I put my empty plate in the sink, I excused myself and followed my sister into her room.

I knocked the door, but didn't wait for her to answer before opening it up and poking my head into the room. She was rummaging through her wardrobe and murmuring to herself.

"You alright, El?"

She didn't say anything, pulling a pair of jeans off of their hanger and throwing them down on her bed.

"What's going on?"

Ellie finally looked at me and, with a long sigh, collapsed onto her mattress. "There's something I need to tell you."

I sat down beside her. "What's up?"

There was a long pause. "I, umm...I've actually met Jackson before."

"I know, at the club..."

"No, not then. I was with Mitch for most of that night. I'd met Jackson before, on a night out with Nick and Leah, long before you met him. He bought me a drink a while back."

"Oh." I wasn't quite sure how to feel. "Did you..."

"God, no. It was just one drink." She chewed on her lip. "I was pretty drunk and we were talking, but when I tried to leave, he..." Ellie's words drifted off. She looked anxious. "He told me I owed him for the drink. I argued back, but he held onto me and started to threaten me. Thankfully, Leah noticed and came over to rescue me."

My chest was tight. All I could do was think back to the night we met. I'd said no to him too, but he'd charmed me enough to get me to change my mind. If I had said no again, would he have hurt me too? Just like he did yesterday. I'd given myself to a man I barely knew for a bit of fun. Suddenly, I was in a relationship with him, seeing him every day and having him cook me breakfast. It was meant to be a simple rebound. I couldn't remember how we'd gotten this far so quickly.

"Has he done anything to hurt you?" she asked.

I met her concerned gaze, but I couldn't form the words in my head. Only a few days ago, I couldn't get enough of his skin on mine. Now every time he touched me, I wanted to get away.

"No, he's not hurt me," I lied.

Ellie let out a relieved sigh. "Good. These people are charming at first, but they can become nasty really fast. Keep an eye on him and the second he hurts you, if he does, you get the hell out of there. I mean it, alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Ellie pulled me into a tight hug. I was stiff in her arms. It felt wrong to lie to her. The thing was I'd made excuses for Jackson. He was drunk. He didn't know what he was doing, but now I'd told myself these reasons so often I had started to believe them.