The Corruption of Mila (5 page)

I nodded anyway. “I'll do what I can. Deal?”

Chapter Seven

After we were done in the “secret” laboratory, Jax locked up, signed us out, and brought me back out the side door.

“Sometime I can give you a full tour of the building. If you'd like, I mean.” He held the door open for me so I could walk out first.

“Could be interesting,” I said. I did want to encourage a friendship with him. It would be nice to hang out with him again sometime, and it would also be good to have more mutual friends with Morgan. We didn't get to spend a lot of time together anymore. She had her life and family, and I had mine – a life that is, not much on the family department outside of my parents and siblings. Not people I hung out with on a regular basis. Jax would make for a nice buffer between Morgan and I as well just in case she decided to get “preachy” on me. I was surprised he hadn't tried that yet because I'm pretty sure one of the reasons Morgan set us up was so that he could “save my soul”.

He glanced over at me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Don't see why I wouldn't be.”

“You're so quiet and withdrawn all of a sudden so I thought I would ask,” he said. “I didn't know if I had offended you in some way back in the studio. If so, that wasn't my intent. Sometimes I get passionate about things that aren't my business.”

I shook my head. “I'm not offended, so don't worry about that. I do find it interesting that you're so passionate about my love life.”

He shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips. “I don't like seeing anyone unnecessarily hurt, but part of it is also selfish motivations as well. One of my biggest pet peeves is people thinking things about me that aren't true, and not bothering to get to know the real me. Maybe that's asking a lot given my socialite status.”

“Nobody likes to be judged. It's not asking for too much,” I mumbled. Wow, did I ever feel like a hypocrite. I gave him grief for judging me and I did the same to him.

“Glad I have you on my side.”

“My opinion isn't worth a whole lot with the media.”

“I don't care about what the media thinks. They already write whatever they want about me. Some people think I'm mentally unstable and that's why I hide so much. Others think I have a secret mistress hiding in my basement.” He laughed, rich and hearty. “Real people on the other hand, their opinions are meaningful.”

I put my hands into my pockets, thinking about everything he was saying. How did he stay so grounded with everything going on around him? His siblings were kind of messed up. If my brothers did any of the things his brother and sister did, I'd be sick with worry. Not to mention his parents were divorced, and his dad was kind of a stone cold butthead from all of the reports I saw. The guy didn't come out in public often, but when he did he showed little emotion. I can't say I've ever seen anything about his mother. Money easily messed people up it seemed.

Frowning, I asked a question that surprised even me. “How is it that a guy like you has been single for so long? It doesn't make sense. Let's be honest, you're about as close to perfect as a guy could get.”

“I wouldn't go that far.” He gave a nervous sounding laugh and ran one of his hands through his hair before also putting both hands in his pockets. “You're not going to see my flaws on a first date. If you think I'm close to perfect, I must be doing something right.”

“You still didn't answer the question. Come on, I poured my guts out to you,” I teased. Not like I wanted to pressure him exactly, but it only seemed fair that I got at least a little bit of his dating history. Besides, I wanted to know more about this girl he was intimate with. The fact he'd even been with a woman baffled me because the goodie-goodie vibes were just that strong with him.

Jax chewed on his lower lip. “Fair enough. I'm single because it's hard for me to find a woman who's genuinely interested in me. Most of them just want the money and the fame. Before I was in the running for most eligible bachelor, I had my high school sweetheart. That didn't work out too well when we graduated because she wanted to move things to the next level and I was determined to keep waiting.”

“She wanted the bling on her finger, and you weren't ready for that?” How typical.

“No, that wasn't the problem. I was ready for that part of the relationship, but we were so young. I knew she would say no if I asked her to marry me. She'd said several times that she didn't want to get married until after college, and that she didn't want a long drawn out engagement. I respected her desires. She didn't respect mine.” He sighed. “My faith is important to me, and because of that, I wanted to wait until I got married. I wanted to be that good boy you seem to think I already am.”

I processed that information. “She dumped you because you weren't ready to have sex?” It seemed crazy to me.

Jax glanced at me. “Basically, but it was a little more complicated than that. We weren't on the same page with everything, is what it boiled down to. She wanted our relationship to progress and she believed that meant we should be more physical. My views were different. She changed, I did too, and so we broke up shortly after college started. Naturally, I was pretty heartbroken over the whole thing. I mean, I thought I was going to marry this girl. In my sad state of mind, I got mixed up with the not so great crowd at school and dove into the drinking scene.”

And that explained why he didn't get any alcohol at dinner or at the club. It all clicked together, but I was still curious as to where his story would end. I was on the edge of my proverbial seat.

“There was a girl I met,” he continued. “She was a senior, and I'm pretty sure she was only dating me for my money. I was honestly too drunk to care. She was the woman I was intimate with. My faith didn't matter much anymore. The reasons for my celibacy weren't right. Not to say that wanting to wait to please God is a bad thing, but it's so much easier and important when you understand why. Does that make sense?”

I nodded. “It's good to know why you're putting any kind of tradition into practice.”

“Exactly, and to me, at that time, it didn't make sense. I didn't see the point. For most of my freshman year I was drunk and didn't care about anything but feeling good. I broke up with the older woman pretty quick, did the booty call thing for a little while, and then once I got my head on straight everything ended.” He closed his eyes. “I never would have been able to do any of that, to get back to being me again without Morgan's help. It's why I owe her so much, because she basically saved my life. I still feel embarrassed and ashamed by everything that happened sometimes. It took a long time for me to forgive myself for being so stupid. I may be a guy, and I may have needs, but I have a heart too. Love is important, and same with being needed and wanted by someone. It's all basic human nature. I shouldn't have settled for less.”

With some hesitation, I looped my arm in his, wanting to offer some kind of comfort. “You were trying to fill a hole. No one can fault you for that.”

“No, I suppose not. Once I saw what kind of destruction I was doing to myself, I got back in touch with my faith. In doing so, I learned a lot about myself and why I needed to do certain things to take care of myself. I rededicated myself to my God. It's hard, the celibacy thing, but I understand it now. Being one with someone, even if you don't love them, changes you. A piece of you gets taken by that person. I don't want to keep handing parts of myself away and be a broken puzzle.”

Once more, I had to soak up his words. They were wise, beautiful, and painful all at once. “It's your way of protecting yourself. You're putting up a guard.”

He gave a slight wave of his hand. “I told myself a long time ago that I wasn't going to make the same mistakes twice. I respect myself a lot more than that. It's insulting that women think men are only interested in carnal needs.”

I gazed up at him. The whole story shocked me. I never would have thought him capable of such a thing, but it just goes to show that any person, no matter how good, can fall a long way. He was just as broken and afraid as I was. Needless to say, I felt like a ding-dong.

“So you're really going to wait until you’re married next time? That's kind of crazy and sweet at the same time. I mean, now that you've explained why you want to,” I said at last.

“Yeah, I'm not just a brainwashed Bible beater.” He winked. “Promise. Granted, my faith has influenced me. I would be lying if I said it hadn’t, but I'm one of those people who likes to understand why they're doing things instead of following a bunch of rules blindly. It's part of the stage I'm at in what I believe. Maybe someday I'll learn to trust my gut wholeheartedly. I was kind of hoping tonight would be a good test run of those instincts.”

Before I could ask him if his intuitive skills were up to par or not, I noticed Eli approaching us – and fast.

Chapter Eight

At first, I thought Eli was going to punch Jax. He didn't. Instead he was gunning for me, and right behind him was Donovan. Neither was all too happy to see me, but it would have been stupid of me to expect a happy reunion. I wouldn't have put it past either of them to follow me around after we left the club. Donovan was crazy and creepy like that, and whatever he wanted to do, Eli followed.

I groaned. “Jax, do you want to get a cab so we can get out here?”

Jax eyed Eli and my ex as they approached. He nodded and got his phone out to dial. “Sure thing.”

“So this is why you dumped me?” Donovan yelled. The next thing I know, he's up in my face, chewing me out and calling me a whole slew of names I won't repeat here. Most of them were far too shocking for me to even believe they'd come out of his mouth. What was even more surprising however, was how Jax stepped in and pushed Donovan away from me.

A growl left Jax's lips. “Don't talk to ladies like that. In fact, don't talk to human beings like that period. Who taught you your manners?”

Donovan pushed Jax out of the way. “This doesn't concern you, so I suggest getting lost.”

“Actually, it does concern me since she's my date for the night,” Jax snapped back. Not gonna lie, it was kind of hot to see his aggressive side. Maybe it was because he didn't hesitate to defend me, or it might have had something to do with the fact that he meant every word he said. Whatever the case, it gave me a whole new kind of respect for him.

The cold stare Donovan gave Jax frightened me. Sometimes I still have nightmares about it because it made me realize that my ex would do anything for revenge. Obviously, he had no qualms with taking what he wanted, but I never knew how deep it went until that night.

Eli was the next to speak. “I told you we had to talk, Mila. You should have come with me back at the club.”

I sucked in a breath. “This is not talking. Please, can this wait until another night?”

“No,” Donovan spat. “I can't believe you. I was in jail because of you. Didn't you promise me you'd wait for me?”

“You were in jail because of yourself. I had nothing to do with what you did to that other girl.” I closed my eyes. “I didn't love you, I was scared of you, so no, I couldn't keep my promise to wait for you. And you're scaring me now too.”

He reached around Jax to grab my forearm. “If you think this is scary, you haven't seen anything yet.”

Jax forcefully removed Donovan's hand from me, shoving him away. “Did you just threaten her?”

“So what if I did?”

Shaking his head, Jax moved me back a few steps. “This guy isn't all too bright is he? You just got out of jail. Are you looking to go back so soon?”

“Stay out of it!” Donovan lunged at Jax and pulled him away from me. No, not pulled, ripped. Jax just about fell over. He grabbed onto Donovan, so the two would have been rolling on the ground if they had fallen.

Jax grunted and didn't let go of Donovan, determination in his piercing gaze and clenched jaw. He and Donovan were about evenly sized. One on one, I'm not sure who would have won in a fight. In the end, it didn't matter much because Donovan had Eli, and I knew for a fact neither of them fought fair.

Everything happened so fast. First Donovan was taking a swing at Jax, who dodged it with a lot more grace and finesse than I would have imagined. My ex hit the air, but Eli joined the confrontation and hit Jax in the side of his rib cage. Wincing, Jax bent forward and shielded his face with his arms as the other two took turns pummeling him.

I didn't hesitate. I pulled out my phone to dial 9-1-1. Donovan caught me before I could hit send, however. He stopped his assault on Jax, tore the phone from my hands and tossed it into the street. I heard the crunch of the plastic breaking and my heart sank. Vomit rose up in my throat and I was pretty sure dinner would be coming up any second on Donovan's shoes as he leered over me.

“I loved you,” he snarled. He grabbed me by the shoulders roughly and crushed his mouth to mine. The jerk even tried to slip his tongue into his mouth, but I wouldn't have any of that. The moment it passed through my teeth I bit down hard. He howled and back handed me. Blood was in my mouth, and I couldn't tell if it was his or mine.

The ground rushed towards me as I fell onto the sidewalk. I had just enough time to turn my body so I landed on my arm instead of my face. It hurt, but not as badly as it would have, had I face-planted onto the concrete. Through teary eyes, I saw Jax hunched over. Eli taunted him, but all of the sounds were starting to blur together. The whole thing was too much for me to handle. Once more, I saw something fierce inside of Jax's gaze, and then he did something peculiar – he smirked.

In one swift move, he tripped Eli to the ground then bolted toward me just as Donovan was about to pick me up by the collar of my coat. I wiggled out of my jacket, and Jax shoved Donovan hard into the wall of a nearby building. The next thing I knew, there was a bright flash of red and blue lights surrounding us. Police leaped out of their cars and raced toward us. One of them pulled Jax off of Donovan. Jax was smart and put his hands up, surrendering himself to them immediately and stepping away. Donovan on the other hand still wanted to fight. It took two officers to take him down. They handcuffed him and pushed him up against the car, giving him his rights as they did. I laughed because one of them was a woman. It was a nice bit of karma.