Always with You (WIth You Trilogy) (16 page)

“Whipped more like it,” Matt scoffed light-heartedly and Adam grinned.

“You can kip in my bed if you want, Jamie?” Adam offered.

“No fucking chance,” Matt’s customary scowl returned.

“I meant on her own,” Adam, laughed. “I’ve met Jason. I want my balls in tact.”

“It’s fine, Adam,” I smiled before Matt could make his own threats to Adam’s crown jewels. “I’ll go back up in a bit.”

“Alright, I’m off to bed then,” he smiled. “Night, Shorty.”

“Night, Adam,” I gave him a quick hug.

“Matt,” Adam nodded his head and gave Matt a fist bump and a look which I assumed summed up the conversation I shouldn’t have been listening to.

“He’s gonna be like that all night, Jelly,” Matt said, turning to me once we heard Adam reach the top of the stairs.

“I know,” I nodded. “Didn’t seem fair for Adam to give up his bed.”

“Come here,” he sighed, pulling me into his side and shifting so we could both have our feet up on the sofa.

“Thanks,” I smiled. “And thanks for… you know… today,” I stammered awkwardly.

“You did good,” he winked
.

“Could
have done better,” I muttered.

“You will next time,” he smirked. “Try and get some sleep, Jelly.”

Sunday, 1st September 2013

Karl woke up that morning and thundered down the stairs in a blind panic because he didn’t know where I was. I wasn’t sure if it was because he enjoyed being pissed off at me or because he felt like crap because he was meant to be here keeping me safe. Either way I wasn’t in the mood for it.

“You don’t just fucking sneak off in the middle of the night, Jelly! Do you think this is a joke?” He yelled at me, the vein in his neck practically bursting out.

“Karl, I-”

“Shut up!” He cut me off. “You need to start fucking taking this seriously!”

I forced my eyes up to meet Karl’s instead of studying his shoelaces which felt much more natural. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Matt smirking at his best friend’s anger.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said calmly, despite being anything but calm. My instinct was to duck away and hide but I held my ground.

“She was with me, mate,” Matt interrupted.

“With you?” Karl raised his eyebrow, turning his focus to Matt and still looking pissed.

“Yes, with him,” I drew his attention back to me. “You kept hitting me in your sleep and I didn’t fancy waking up with bruises everywhere so I came down here. Matt was still awake and I ended up falling asleep on the sofa.”

Karl frowned and looked between Matt and me before shrugging. “Alright then.”

I scowled at him as he turned his back on me and went into the kitchen.
An apology would have been nice
. I knew better than to expect one though. I just rolled my eyes knowing he couldn’t see me and followed him into the kitchen.

“I’mma take a shit,” Matt announced.

I groaned inwardly both from the gross mental images and the knowledge that I wouldn’t be able to go into my bathroom without a gas mask for a few hours.

“Sofa with Matt?” Karl asked me once Matt had disappeared.

“You’re a sleep fighter,” I shrugged cautiously, unsure about whether he was still annoyed with me or not.

“You usually avoid him like the plague,” he continued.

I shrugged again.

“What did you two talk about?”

“Nothing,” I shrugged. I felt like I was being interrogated.

“If you shrug one more time
, you’re gonna really piss me of, Jelly,” Karl snapped.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “We didn’t talk much,” I continued quietly. “Although he did sorta
grill me about Jason.”

“Did he now?” Karl smirked.

I nodded. “He only got half answers because I was so sleepy.”

“You talk
more
when you’re half asleep,” he grinned.

It was probably true, and I never remembered it either. It was a dangerous character flaw. My brothers seemed to think it was hilarious to try and get me to talk in my zombie-like half-awake stage. They sometimes recorded it. I’d on
ce held a somewhat mumbled five-minute conversation about the advantages of boiled eggs over fried. I lived in fear that I would say something outrageously untrue and piss them all off.

“Least I don’t beat people in my sleep,” I grumbled. “Don’t know how Elise puts up with you.”

He chuckled and smiled but I could see a twinkle in his eyes that told me he missed her and Grace, even though they’d only been apart for one night. I hoped he wasn’t going on tour again soon. I couldn’t imagine missing out on so many months of a baby’s life. He’d come back and she’d have grown massively.

Karl’s phone rang and distracted me from worrying about him. He answered whoever was on the other end with curt
, clipped tones and a frown on his brow. It was either something unpleasant or he was pissed off with one of the others and talking to them.

He sighed heavily when he finished the call and shoved his phone back in his pocket. He looked irritated but I knew better than to stick my nose in his business.

“Xander’s office,” he explained.

I brought my head up to look at him.
Xander has an office?
I guess that made sense. It just hadn’t occurred to me. He’d mentioned talking to the office before but I hadn’t necessarily thought it was
his
office. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Xander must have had a job outside of babysitting me. It made me feel terrible that he was missing so much work because of me.

“Is he in trouble?” I asked guiltily.

“No?” Karl looked confused. “Why would he be in trouble?”

“I… hasn’t he… I mean… he’s always with me,” I stammered. “Doesn’t he have to work?”

Karl laughed. “Looking after you
is
his work, Jelly. You’re slow sometimes.”

“Oh,” I responded dumbly.

“Update on the car from yesterday. I’ll fill you in when Matt’s done turning your bathroom into a gas chamber.”

I shuddered just imagining the smell and Karl chuckled.

“So, Xander looks after other people when he’s not stuck here with me?”

“Sometimes,” he frowned at me. “Don’t you talk to him at all?”

“He doesn’t talk much,” I shrugged and then tried it play it off as a shift in position because he got annoyed at me for shrugging before.

“He’s in private security,” Karl explained. “You didn’t wonder why we picked him? Why he acts the way he does?”

I shrugged and then cursed myself for doing so. “Ian said he was going to keep an eye on me. I didn’t want to question him.”

Karl would understand that. He knew I didn’t like questioning Ian. We weren’t supposed to.

“How come they called you?” I asked, realising it would have made more sense for them to call Xander seeing as he would be back that evening.

“Xander’s day off,” he shrugged. “I know most of them anyway.”

“You do?” I said, surprised at this revelation.

“Of course,” he smirked. “Most of them are ex-military. Trained some of them and trained with the others.”

“So you’re friends with loads of kickass military bodyguards?” I teased.

“That surprises you?” He raised his eyebrow at me and folded his arms across his ridiculously broad chest. He almost looked a little pissed off.

I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. I knew Karl worked in military training.

“Sorry,” I smiled bashfully. “I know you’re kickass military too.”
Never a bad idea to stroke a Carter male’s ego when they’re in a bad mood
. “I just sort of thought it was Ian who knew all those people.”

“We run in similar circles,” he smirked, thankfully not pissed at me. He helped himself to another cup of coffee and started making some toast.

“Have you and Ian worked together?” I asked and then mentally kicked myself for being nosey.

“We used to,” he answered, looking over his shoulder at me as if trying to figure out whether he was annoyed at me for being nosey or impressed I’d dared to ask. “I’ve trained him a few times.” At this he grinned broadly looking extremely smug.

“No way!?” I blurted.

He nodded and took a slurp of his coffee.

“So you got to boss Ian around and he had to do whatever you said?” I grinned, already loving the mental images.

“Yup,” he chuckled. “Was pretty awesome.”

“I’m so jealous I might burst,” I sighed in awe.

“Dad and E taught me pretty much everything anyway,” he shrugged, his smugness dampening somewhat. “Was fucked up me trying to teach him something.” He was silent a while. “Didn’t mean I was gonna pass up on the opportunity though,” he laughed, his smirk returning.

“Bet that didn’t go down too well,” I breathed, still trying to imagine Ian taking orders from one of us. There was almost exactly a year between them, so they’d always been close, but Ian never let Karl forget who was oldest. If they disagreed about something, Ian always won.

“Nah, E took it in stride,” he smiled fondly.

“I miss him,” I whispered.

“Me too, Jellybean,” he sighed, coming over to give me a small hug.

I wanted him to tell me Ian was okay and that he’d be back soon having gotten rid of all the bad guys but I knew Karl couldn’t make those promises and there was no point making him feel bad about it.

Instead
, I gripped onto him tightly and refused to let him end the hug until I felt a little better. He seemed to understand and he rubbed my back gently as he held me.

“You really didn’t realise I knew Xander’s team at the office?” He asked as he released me.

I shook my head.

“You didn’t wonder who they were reporting to? Or the taskforce for that matter?”

I frowned. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. “Blissful ignorance,” I mumbled, ashamed that I’d once again let my brothers control everything.
Old habits die hard, I guess.

Karl scoffed and shook his head somewhat exasperatedly. I knew that if he was in my position he’d want all the facts.

“Wait, the task force?” I frowned, latching onto that piece of information.

He nodded, his eyes narrowing at me as if he could tell I was about to bombard him with questions.

“They ones who were looking into my kidnapping?”

He nodded.

“You know what’s going on?”

He nodded again.

“Why haven’t you told me?” I demanded, somewhat irritated for being kept in the dark
again
.

“Nothing you needed to know,” he answered nonchalantly.

I scowled. “Karl, don’t you think I have a right to-”

“If there was something you needed to know, I would tell you, Jelly,” he cut me off and gave me a look that told me the discussion was very much over.

I shrank back in my seat because that look scared me a little. I contemplated pushing the issue but dismissed the idea. He wouldn’t lie. If there was something I needed to know, he really would tell me.

“I take it I’m still not safe,” I whispered, unsure of whether my question would go down well.

Karl sighed deeply and shook his head, giving my shoulder a quick squeeze. “We think somebody is still keeping tabs on you. The only good news is that it’s just you, not Jake or any of us. Makes it easier for us to keep you safe because we don’t have to spread ourselves too thin.”

“Okay,” I mumbled.

“We’ll keep you safe, Jellybean,” he reassured me.

“I know,” I replied because I did know. I knew they’d do their best. I never wanted to end up in that situation again. If anything happened to me I wouldn’t blame them though. I knew they’d always been there for
me. Each and every one of them.

I hated thinking how much it would hurt them if something happened to me. They’d lost Mum and Dad already. If they lost me, I knew they’d blame themselves. And
then there was Jason. If something happened to me, he’d hate himself. I hoped he’d be able to move on if something did happen.

The idea of him
with somebody else disgusted me but if I wasn’t around anymore, I wanted him to find happiness with someone else, not live in sorrow relenting a loss he couldn’t change.
I need to think about something else, this is too depressing.
Jason would probably be here in an hour or so. He’d left after rock climbing yesterday to give me some time with my brothers. He didn’t need to, nobody had asked him to, but I thought it was sweet of him to give us some time together.

Jason was such an amazing man and I loved every deliciously masculine inch of him. He exuded power, inside and out. He was thoughtful, considerate
, and fair, but also charming and mischievous. He was perfect. I still had a hard time believing he’d become who he was considering what he’d come from. I wished I could do something to help him come to terms with his past. The kidnapping had sort of put a stop on my search for his mother.

“Karl?” I prompted, waiting for
him to look up at me and away from his toast.

“What?” H
e mumbled around a mouthful of food.

“You talk to the taskforce?”

He frowned and gave me a warning look. “Jelly…”

“No, it’s just… I was wondering if I could get my old phone back.”

“Why?” He frowned. “What’s wrong with your new one?”

“Nothing,” I answered quickly. “I love my
new phone, it’s just I thought I might have missed messages on the other one.”

“So?” His frown deepened. “Anyone
you need to be in touch with has your new number.”

“But-”

“But what?” His voice moved towards soldier mode. “We changed your number and got you a new phone for a reason, Jelly. You’ve got a funny way of saying thank you.”

“No, Karl! I didn’t mean to be ungrateful!” I blurted.
Crap, how am I going to explain this?

“So what did you mean?” He
scowled.

“I was… I was trying to find somebody before everything happened,” I murmured.