Bleeding Edge: Elliot Security (Elliot Security Series Book 2) by Evie Mitchell (short story to read .txt) 📗

before sobering. “It’s fucked up, but after the incident… I thought I was on a countdown.”

I raised an eyebrow. The incident. Two words to describe the event that changed our lives. Two of our best friends ripped from this world. The trajectory of our life changed as Pax suffered a life changing injury, and we were both left to deal with memories that in war were all too familiar.

“PTSD?”

“I guess.” He rubbed his chest. “You ever think about it?”

“All the time.” I swallowed. “But I also think about Brick and Limo. I try to be and live the life they didn’t get. Do them proud and all that shit. You know?”

Pax sighed, slumping into the wall. “I was prepared to die. I’m not sure I know how to live.”

“We all gotta go sometime, bro.” I jerked my head towards the theatre. “You ask Jetta for help?”

“No. But I’m gonna get her to go to therapy with me.” He pushed off the wall. “Gotta get mine and her heads right if this thing is gonna last.”

I chuckled. “Bro, you’ve been hung up on her for ten years. If it wasn’t going to last you wouldn’t be here right now.”

He rolled his eyes. The doors behind us opened, a bed rolling out. Jetta smiled from under a pile of blankets.

“You good to look after them if I take off?” I asked.

“Yeah. Come over tomorrow. They’re gonna need the love.”

“Of course.” I clasped my forearm to his, squeezing tight. “One day at a time, Paxton. That’s how we get through this.”

He nodded, lips thinning.

I squeezed once more, dropping his hand to slap him on his back.

I turned, waving to Jetta as I headed for the exit. “No more adventures, Missy!”

She laughed, offering me a wave.

I walked out of the hospital, heading for my car. The adrenaline had worn off, leaving only guilt and anger in its wake.

“Fuck.” I glanced at my watch. Late.

As I started my car, I debated the merits of visiting Emmie. My stomach clenched as I remembered Pax’s face, his mutters as he positioned Jetta’s body.

“Fuck it.” I turned left, heading for Em’s respite centre.

Chapter Seventeen

Emmie

The bed dipped, ripping me from a deep sleep as I rolled into a hard body. I hit out, my hands automatically trying to fend off the intruder.

“Oof.” The body let out an expletive before hands came up to restrain my struggles. “Emmie! Stop! It’s me!”

I froze. My heart thumped uncontrollably in my chest. In the soft light of the bedside lamp, there he was.

Luc.

He looked horrible. Exhausted. A quick glance at the clock said it was close to 5:00 a.m.

“What are you…?” I choked out the words, my voice strangled, still tight with panic.

“We just got back.” He let my hands drop. “Everyone’s okay.”

“But if you just…?” I pushed to sitting.

He pulled me in, avoiding my hip as he tucked his face in my hair, shuddering.

“It all went south. We got Esso and his whole operation. Turns out the AFP were right, Esso was a puppet. The master was Paul White, Jetta’s uncle.”

I brushed hands over his back, frowning at the rigidity of his muscles. “Fuck. Just, fuck.” His arms flexed around me. I pulled him tighter.

“I’ve never seen Pax like that. Not since… he was… I couldn’t do anything.” He pulled back, shaking his head. “We nearly lost her, Em. Paul, he kidnapped Jetta while we were busy with Esso.”

“How?” They’d had people on her. We weren’t some half-bit operation.

“Her guard got caught in a distraction. It was like Paul was three steps ahead of us, pulling all our strings. It was…” He didn’t say anything for a long moment, letting me stroke his back.

“He took Courtney too. Wanted them dead.”

“I don’t understand. Why?”

“It’s fucked. The whole thing is fucked. A twisted, fucked-up revenge ploy. The guy’s deranged. Jetta’s mum left Paul for her dad. Paul and the dad were band mates. Paul stayed with the band but came up with this plan to get her back. It involved drugs and shit. I don’t fully understand. When they died, Paul had nothing. He transferred all those years of hate and loathing to Jetta and Courtney. None of it makes sense to anyone but Paul White. There’s no logic or reason or…” His voice trailed off.

“Sick people do evil things,” I whispered.

“Esso’s people talked. Paul organised the shooting. It was a warning for Jetta.”

I closed my eyes.

Safe.

That doesn’t mean you get to stay.

“He pulled a gun on her.”

“Jetta?”

“She’s fine. The bullet stalled in the chamber. Pax shot him. One in the shoulder, one in the arm. I got him in the chest. The bastard isn’t even dead. He’s in surgery. ICU. Fucker will probably live.”

His bloodshot eyes looked weary.

“I wanted to kill him. I was second down into the cellar, saw Pax freaking out over Jetta. Her covered in blood, seeing my best friend getting blood all over himself, crying, rocking. I–” He turned away, fists clenching.

“It’s okay, Luc, it’s okay.” I lifted a hand to cup his jaw. “Let it out.”

“I haven’t fucking seen him like that since Afghanistan. He lost it tonight. Fucking broke down. The shit he was saying. He thought he was going to die. PTSD. PT-fucking-SD. Jesus. Do you know how many friends I’ve lost from that? From the fucking voices in their heads? And here I am, my best fucking friend, and I didn’t know. I didn’t even fucking know. If Jetta–”

“She didn’t. They’re fine. You said they were. All of them. If White lives or if he dies, it doesn’t matter. What matters is it’s over and they’re good. Pax and Jetta will work it out. They will, because they deserve a beautiful life. We all do.” I tried to soothe him.

Luc’s eyes searched my face once, twice, three times. Like he was memorising it. Unable to bear the intensity I settled into the bed, pulling him down beside me.

“Sleep. We’ll see them when you’re rested.”

“Emmie…” He fell silent. His hands roamed my body, brushing