ACHE (Naked, Book 5) (8 page)

Elijah grabbed her hand and gave a reassuring squeeze. “Think I could beat that guy in a race?” he whispered in her ear, nodding to the man on the treadmill.

She smiled gratefully at him. “Probably not. He’s pretty speedy.”

Knox clapped his hands together, looking at Caelyn and Elijah with a serious but friendly expression on his large head. “Okay, let’s get into this thing. We’re here to do physical therapy, and it’s not always easy. I’ve spoken with Monroe, who worked with you over at Boston City. She gave me the rundown and we’ve drawn up a great plan for you.”

Caelyn nodded, sighing. “I’m ready to try it,” she said, hoping to sound more confident than she felt.

“We’re going to start out with some simple exercises to get a baseline, okay Caelyn?” Knox asked, grabbing a clipboard and walking with brisk, military efficiency over to a bench nearby.

Caelyn and Elijah walked over to the bench where he was waiting. Soon, Knox was putting Caelyn through a set of exercises, and each and every one of them were exhausting.

After just fifteen minutes, she felt like she was going to puke.

“I feel light headed,” she said, after he’d had her do some shoulder presses with three-pound dumb bells.

Knox came to her side and put a hand on her back and rubbed it lightly. “You’re doing great, kid. You really are.”

Caelyn looked up to see Elijah getting up from the chair he’d been sitting in and walking over to Knox. “I think you and me need to talk,” he said, his tone casual.

Knox glanced at him. “Not now,” he said, looking back at Caelyn. “Listen, Caelyn, you can do this. You’re just scared is all, which is natural.”

“Hey,” Elijah growled. “I said I want to talk to you.”

Knox straightened and stared at Elijah. “You see, this is why I said it wasn’t a good idea to have you in here.”

Caelyn was concerned about what Elijah was going to say to Knox. And she was also concerned, because Knox didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would understand that Elijah meant business. Elijah could be dangerous if he was provoked.

“Elijah,” she said, “it’s okay. I’m fine.”

“I just want to talk with your trainer—it’ll take two seconds.”

“I’m not a trainer, I’m a physical therapist.”

“Whatever. Come on,” Elijah said, and started walking out of the room.

Knox turned to Caelyn. “Does your boyfriend always act like this?”

“Sometimes,” she admitted. “Just don’t argue with him.

Knox rolled his eyes and then strutted after Elijah. Caelyn was worried that something bad was going to happen—a fight would be the worst. At the same time, she was so tired that she was glad to have a break from rehab.

She sat on the bench and slowly her pulse rate fell, and her breathing went back to normal. The sweat started to dry on her forehead.

And then Elijah came back inside the room, followed by Knox, who looked somewhat perplexed. There was something different in his attitude, and he wasn’t strutting quite as much. When he got back to where Caelyn was sitting, Knox gave a brief smile. “How you feeling? You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m better.”

Elijah walked over and sat down on a chair a few feet away and yawned, pulling out his phone.

“Okay, let’s do a few more exercises,” Knox said. He wasn’t looking at her, and he seemed subdued.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Yup, everything’s good.” He looked at his watch and started her on a new exercise. But Caelyn couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t push her quite as hard, and he never touched her for the rest of the time she was working with him that day.

When Knox let them go, Caelyn waved and Knox just turned his back and walked the other way.

Once they’d left the building, Caelyn looked at Elijah. “What did you say to him?”

“To who? Knox?”

“He was acting all weird after he came back inside after your talk.”

They got in Elijah’s truck. When Elijah shut his door, he grinned at her. “You didn’t even notice that you got in the truck and shut the door without my help.”

She stopped and thought about it. “You’re right, I did.” She smiled. “I guess rehab really does help, huh?”

Elijah started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, whistling softly as they left.

“I’m starving,” he said.

“You never answered my question.”

He glanced at her. “We just had a little man-to-man chat. No biggie.”

“Yeah, and what did you say to him?”

“I told him that if he ever rubs your back again, he’ll need rehab for five broken fingers.”

“Elijah, please tell me you’re joking.”

“I’m joking.”

“Are you?”

Elijah shook his head. “You told me to say I was joking, so I did.”

“Listen, you can’t threaten people like that. Knox didn’t do anything wrong.”

“He was getting touchy feely with you.”

“He’s a physical therapist. That’s his job.”

Elijah grinned. “It’s all good. We aired shit out and now everything’s clear as can be.”

Caelyn sighed, putting her fingers to her temple and rubbing. She was getting a headache. “Promise me you won’t do anything like that again. You need to calm down.”

“I can’t promise that. If some guy gets out of line with you, he’s going to answer to me.”

She didn’t say anything else. Of course he was being totally crazy about Knox, but then again, the physical therapist had perhaps crossed a line, even if just barely. And Caelyn couldn’t help but feel protected with someone like Elijah watching over her.

After what had happened with Jayson, she kind of liked Elijah’s overprotective attitude.

They were just about to pull into their driveway when Elijah let out a whispered burst of anger. “What the fuck…”

The truck slowed to a halt.

Sitting in their driveway was a dark sedan with tinted windows.

“Who’s that?” Caelyn asked nervously.

“It’s my dad.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” He stared for a long moment.

Just then, the sedan’s driver side door opened, and Elijah’s father got out of the car. He was wearing what looked like an Irish cap on his head, but still wore the same old leather jacket and cowboy boots. He nodded in their direction.

“Fuck it,” Elijah said, and turned into the driveway.

“Are we safe?” she asked.

“I think so.”

They parked the car and then Elijah got out first, approaching his dad and having words before Caelyn could even put one foot outside the truck.

She tried to hurry because she wanted to know what was going on. She was afraid Elijah would lose his temper, or maybe Elijah’s father would lose his—either way, she didn’t like it one bit.

Caelyn hobbled over to where the two men were standing.

“I think we should talk inside,” Gabe was saying as she approached. Then he turned to Caelyn. “I’m glad to see you up and about.”

“No thanks to you,” Elijah replied stiffly.

His father’s eyes narrowed as he looked at his son once more. “I wasn’t the one who crashed your car.”

“But you were the one who took the gun and the money out of the car instead of trying to help us.”

“Inside,” Gabe replied, his chin jutting out as he looked around. “You’ve got neighbors on all sides. I don’t think they need to hear our private business.”

“I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

“Maybe not, but I’ve got something to say and you will listen.”

As angry as she’d seen Elijah get, Gabe had a dark, intense energy to him that seemed far more sinister and threatening. She wanted him to leave their house, but she knew that if Elijah refused to talk to him, things were only going to get worse.

Before Elijah could refuse, Caelyn smiled. “Why don’t you come inside?” she said. “Have a cup of coffee or something.”

“That would be lovely. Thank you.”

Elijah glanced at her. “This is a bad idea,” he whispered.

“It’s your dad. We have to.”

He shook his head. “Whatever.” And then he led them up the walkway.

“I just need to grab something from the car, I’ll be right in,” Gabe told them.

Elijah shot him a look, rolled his eyes. “It’s okay. We’ve got nothing better to do than wait for you.”

Gabe turned and went back to his car while Elijah helped Caelyn the rest of the way up the steps and into the house.

Once inside, he peered out the front window. “What the hell is he getting from his car?”

“You don’t think he’s getting a gun, do you?” Caelyn asked.

“No, if he was planning on doing something like that, he’d have done it by now.”

“But he wouldn’t hurt you.”

Elijah laughed bitterly. “That’s a nice assumption.”

“You think he’d hurt you?”

“That depends,” Elijah replied, still watching out the window. His eyes widened as his father emerged from the car carrying a brown bag.

“What’s that?” Caelyn said. Her first thought was a bomb.

“That’s called a peace offering.”

“What’s in it?”

“Blood money. Literally.” Elijah’s mouth was drawn into a straight line as his father knocked on the door and immediately came in without waiting for an answer.

He held the brown bag in the crook of his arm and brushed his feet off on the welcome mat.

“What, no coffee?” Gabe asked, his eyes flitting to Caelyn.

“I’ll go make some,” she said, but Elijah held up a hand to her.

“Hold on.” He folded his arms and turned to Gabe. “What do you want?”

“I think we have to end this madness,” Gabe said. “And here’s a gesture to show that I’m serious.” He bent down and put the bag on the floor, then used the tip of his cowboy boot to push it a few feet towards Elijah.

Elijah just stared down at it. “That’s the money, isn’t it? The money you took from my car after the accident?”

“The money you stole from Jake.”

“Which he stole from my apartment.”

Gabe smiled. “Let’s not nitpick. There’s something extra on top of what Jake took from your apartment—as a good faith token.”

“I guess Jake feels bad for getting me shot,” Elijah said. “Tell him to go fuck himself.”

“Jake didn’t get you shot,” his father said.

Caelyn got a shiver of fear up her spine, as if she already knew what was coming.

She just hoped that Gabe would decide not to actually spell it out.

“Then who did?”

“It doesn’t matter. Take the bag. Use it however you want. And then, maybe in a month or two, we can talk again—the three of us.”

Elijah knelt down, quickly opened the bag and peered inside. “You even gave me back my gun.”

“It’s yours. We want you to have what’s yours, Elijah.”

“Thanks,” Elijah said, standing up. “I’ll take the money and the gun. But I don’t want to see you or Jake again. It’s over between us.”

Caelyn looked at Elijah now. “You can’t take that money,” she said.

Elijah turned his attention to her. “Why not?”

“Because, it’s dirty money. I don’t want any of that stuff around us anymore, and you promised you’d stop.”

“I wouldn’t be stealing—he’s giving me back what’s mine.”

“Elijah’s right,” Gabe said, as his beady eyes bored into Caelyn. “Besides, this is a family matter. You shouldn’t speak about things that don’t concern you.”

“It does concern her,” Elijah told him. He used his foot to kick the bag back towards his father. “And if Caelyn doesn’t want me to take it, then I’m not going to take it.”

Gabe snorted. “You’re a couple of kids playing at being adults.”

“How adult is it to steal a bunch of money out of my car when me and my girlfriend are bleeding to death inside?”

“The cops and ambulance were on their way. If we’d left that stuff you’d be in jail right now,” his father growled. His face had grown blotchy with anger. “You don’t think about the bigger picture Elijah. And it seems that neither does your lady friend.”

“You should go,” Elijah said. “Thanks but no thanks.”

“I’m leaving that bag. If you don’t want what’s inside of it, then throw it out.”

“Fine, we’ll throw it out,” Caelyn told him. And she meant it. She was sick of listening to Elijah’s father try and bully him.

Gabe smiled coldly at her. His voice was calm as he spoke directly to her, not looking or seeming to care that Elijah was standing right there. “You can throw the money out, but if you think for even a second that you can come between me and my son, you’re very mistaken.”

“It’s Elijah’s decision, not mine,” she said.

“You know who shot Elijah?” his father asked her. “I did.” He smiled at her reaction of horror. “I shot him because he was doing the wrong thing. We have a code of honor in this family, and Elijah’s not above it.”

Elijah was stiff and unmoving next to her.

“You could have killed him,” Caelyn said, her voice shaking. She felt faint. The man she was talking to was worse than an animal.

“Understand that I didn’t take any pleasure in shooting my own son. I did what I had to do for the greater good. But think about this.” His gaze intensified even more. “If I’m willing to put a bullet in my own son’s stomach, what would I do to a girl I hardly even know?”

There was a long, drawn out silence after he said it.

Caelyn was stunned. Elijah’s father had just made a threat to her safety right to her face, and right in front of Elijah.

And the thing was—she knew he was completely serious. He was basically saying that he would hurt her if he thought she was poisoning Elijah’s relationship with his family.

Hurt me? He more or less said he would kill me.

She couldn’t even look at him, couldn’t speak. His eyes had the same dead look to them that Jayson’s eyes had. A predator who would do whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted, as long as it served his needs.

“I guess maybe I will take the…the gift…” Elijah said softly.

Caelyn was surprised and frightened. She’d never seen him look so intimidated before. His body language was like that of a child who’d been chastised into submission.

“You should take it,” Gabe said, watching him, glowering still. “Take it and take the offer of peace that comes with it.”

Elijah nodded, bending down and picking up the bag. He looked apologetically at Caelyn, as he slowly opened it. “Dad gave us a lot of money here, Caelyn.” There were stacks and stacks of bills held together by rubber bands inside. There was also a gun—