The Corruption of Mila (3 page)

“Where you going sweetheart?” Eli sneered at me.

I tried to pull away from him. “I was just about to leave.”

“Not because of me I hope.”

“Actually…”

Jax placed a gentle hand on my arm, slightly above where Eli was holding me. His other hand hovered over Eli's forearm. “I would let go of her. I'm pretty sure that's a form of assault. I'd hate to have to call the police and ruin everyone's night.”

Eli relaxed his grip on me.

“Thank you. Clearly, you two know one another. Do you want me to leave you alone so you can talk?”

“Yes,” Eli snapped.

At the same time I cried out, “No!”

Pulling me behind him, Jax kept a hand on my waist protectively. “Whatever is going on between the two of you needs to wait for another night, then.”

Eli stepped forward, his fists clenched. He dared to raise one as if he were going to hit Jax, but then stopped. I took a good look around the room. Clearly, there was no way he'd be able to get away with any kind of physical assault. Bouncers were littered throughout the crowd all over the club.

Leaning in toward me, Eli growled. “You got lucky this time, but I'm going to tell Donovan you were here. We'll find you again.” And then he left.

My knees became weak and started to buckle. I stumbled into Jax, who stabilized me with his strong, firm hands. Unlike Eli, his skin was soft against my own. Not girlie soft, but the kind that came from not beating up other people, or doing unmentionable evils against society. Okay, Eli wasn't evil per se. There was a time when I used to enjoy his company, but the guy was a thug and probably always would be one.

“Sit down and I'll call us a cab,” Jax said and led me over to the couches. He found a seat on one of them away from the majority of the crowd and helped me sit.

I sighed and placed my head between my knees for a moment, hoping it would clear away the dizzy sensation in my head. “I can walk, I promise.”

“We'll need a cab for where I want to take you. It's on the other side of downtown and I don't want to walk that far in the cold.” He gave me a smile, and I gave a tiny one back in an attempt to be polite. My mood to enjoy a date was kind of smashed into a million pieces, however.

Chapter Five

I hugged myself as I rode in the cab to wherever it was Jax wanted to take me. Crazy, I know, getting into a car with a guy I barely knew, to go to a place that could have been where he took all of his victims. At the same time, I trusted him. Jax didn't give me any reason not to, and you know how some people give off super good vibes? The people who don't kill their spiders, but set them free? Jax was one of those. Good vibes, perhaps too good, but I felt safe. Of course, I probably would have left with just about anyone to get away from Eli, he scared me that much. I also knew, however, that Jax would go out of his way to make sure I stayed safe. He didn't come across as the type to abandon anyone who was in need, and I needed a solid sense of security like that.

“So am I supposed to pry, or not ask?” Jax asked quietly. He pressed himself to the opposite side of the car and gazed out the window. His face rested on his hand, clear signs that he was in deep thinking mode.

I sighed. “You don't need to do much of either. There isn't much to tell.”

“You were scared of him. There's a lot to tell. Should I call the police?”

“No.” I shook my head. “That would probably make things worse.”

“Or better.”

“No,” I repeated firmly. “Eli… I don't think he would have actually hurt me if I had gone to talk to him. It was just one of those conversations I'd rather save until later. He's not the scary one.”

Jax glanced over at me. “There's more than one guy I'm dealing with here?”

“Yes.”

“Ex-boyfriends? Am I going to have to fight them all?”

I snorted at the thought. There was no doubt in my mind that Jax would
try
to fight and defend my honor. Something told me, though, that he'd be cowering on the ground after ten seconds. I also hated how he said ex-boy
friends
like I was some kind of a hussy.

Pursing my lips together, I pulled a knee up to my chest. “I only have one ex-boyfriend, and his name is Donovan.”

“So what's the story with Eli?”

“He's Donovan's best friend. Granted, he did once try to make a pass at me while Donovan was in jail, but–”

“Wait, your ex-boyfriend was in jail?” Jax blinked.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, he was in jail for two years. Okay? Not everyone can be Mr. Perfect like you.”

He held up his hands. “I wasn't judging, necessarily, but it isn't helping me feel better about your safety right now.”

“I'm fine,” I mumbled.

“You don't look fine. You look a little shaken up, actually.”

Sighing, I leaned my head against the window and gazed out at the lights passing by. The skyscrapers of downtown shimmered in their glow. “Donovan and I met in college. He was nice enough to let me sit with him in the cafeteria one day when it was crazy busy. You know, one of those people who take up an entire table for four with all of their homework. He made a space, and we got to talking, one thing led to another, blah, blah, blah.”

“You fell in love and everything was right in your world,” Jax said quietly, and I hated the sadness in his tone. He didn't ask me to continue, but I knew I had to. The can of worms had been opened.

“Things were good for a little while. After about four or five months, he started to get a little more aggressive with me. Not necessarily physically, but definitely verbally, and he did still try to pressure me into things.” I glanced at Jax, trying to get a read on just how much I should tell him. We were on a first date. Pouring out your life story isn't usually a smart thing to do. At the same time, I trusted him, and the relationship probably wasn't going to go beyond friendship status anyway. There wasn't much I could do or say to make us even more incompatible with one another.

I took in a deep breath and continued. “One night I finally gave in, but I changed my mind. He didn't care and… blah, blah, blah, insert sob story here.”

Jax's gaze hardened and his jaw went tense. I might have even seen anger flash in his eyes. “So he raped you, basically.”

“Date rape, I guess is the technical term. I didn't fight him tooth and nail once he made his decision.”

“It still counts as rape.”

“I know, and I've come to terms with what happened a long time ago. And I wasn't the only one he did that too because while we were together, he decided to force himself onto another girl at a party. Only she wasn't a chicken, and she pressed charges,” I explained in a low voice.

Jax never stopped looking at me, and it was kind of weird. “Which explains the jail part.”

“Right on.” I gave him a rather sarcastic thumbs up. “Donovan was pretty ticked off that I dumped his sorry butt too. Eli felt like I should have stuck things out and made it work. That's what real love does, right? And Donovan thinks he really loves me.”

“Enough to hurt you, humiliate you, and cheat on you? I wasn't aware those were things you did for someone you loved.”

“It was shocking to me too.” And I didn’t know how I could communicate to Jax that I didn't want to talk about it anymore without coming off as rude. I'd already done my time in therapy, and yeah, he was a nice guy, but I didn't want to spend my time focusing on the horrors of my past. We were on a date, and I didn't need him to jump in and play hero for me.

He must have been determined to do that anyway because he reached over and placed a hand gently on
my arm. “Is he going to come after you, Mila? Do you need some where safer to stay tonight?”

I couldn't help but laugh. “Kissing me on the first date is trashy, but inviting me to stay over at your place isn't?”

Snorting, Jax let go of me as if I were made of fire and he'd just been burned. “Actually, no. I was more thinking I could get you a room someplace off the radar so you wouldn't have to worry about sleeping with one eye open. Or, at the very least, I could call Morgan and see if she has any ideas.”

“Right, of course. What was I thinking?” I rolled my eyes. “Mr. Pristine wouldn't dream of having me in such a scandalous manner.” And for some reason, I felt my chest ache at the idea of Jax not being interested in me enough to want to sleep with me. Was I gross or something? Why wouldn't he want to be with my fine self for a night? I must have been frowning, because he shook his head with a rather disgusted grimace on his face.

“Mila, it has nothing to do with you. You're gorgeous; I just don't like to let myself wander down that path – especially on the first date.”

“I'm surprised you would let yourself wander down that path period.” The words just flew out of my mouth before I could even think about what I was saying.

Pretty sure that made him angry, because his jaw went tight again and so did his fists in his lap. “Don't talk down to me because I have morale standards above that of most of the men on the planet.”

“I'm not talking down to you. I just can't say I've ever met a virgin over the age of eighteen that's a guy, let alone over twenty-five.”

He snorted. “Keep looking and tell me when you do.”

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“You make a lot of assumptions. Has anyone ever told you that?” Jax snapped. He was a lot angrier about it than I would have thought.

For a moment I stared at him, unblinking. “A few people may have mentioned it once or twice. I like to think of it as making an educated guess.”

He shook his head. “You're way off.” Sighing, his body relaxed. He moved his hands to his knees and tapped them. Watching his face scrunch up, I could almost see the gears churning inside of his head.

“Why do you think that about me, anyway?” he asked.

“You've blushed, you think kissing is trashy, and you go to the same church as Morgan. I've only visited it once, and I know for a fact that they're into that whole waiting for marriage thing,” I said with a small shrug. “Deductive reasoning. Plus, I know enough about you to know that you've been single for most of the new millennium.”

Nodding, he looked over at me and resumed talking once our gazes met. “First of all, I don't think kissing is trashy. It was a joke; I think I said that earlier. As for me and my religious beliefs, yeah, maybe I do want to wait until I'm married next time.” He paused. “Guys blush, that's not weird.”

“It's super weird.”

“No it's not.” He scowled.

“It is, but maybe not for nerds. Can't say I know a whole lot about them.”

Jax rolled his eyes. “You're stereotyping me again, but at least this time you're closer to being on the right track.”

I smirked. “The other thing that had me wondering is you don't seem to be the type to have ever had a girlfriend. Come to think of it, you also don't seem the type to do the one night stand thing either.”

“Deductive reasoning.” He shrugged. “Remember your comment about how I've been single for most of the new millennium? Notice how that doesn't mean
all
of it? Of course, when I did have a girlfriend, that was before I started working for my father. In the public eye, I should clarify, because I did work for my father behind the scenes just for fun and without pay. We developed a lot of things together when I was in high school, but he didn't want me to get caught up in the media until he thought I was old enough to make that decision myself. My older brother was already making waves with the press with his lavish parties.”

“Yes, every weekend there's a new tabloid about his party in another country.” I offered a small smile. Not like I'm a tabloid reader, in the slightest, but they're hard to not notice at the checkout of the super market.

He laughed. “Kevin has his own travel magazine out now, actually. That's part of why he documents all of his adventures so well on the social media sites. It's his thing. I like it a lot more than what my sister does in her spare time. Sure, he spends a lot of money, but I feel like he's getting some kind of cultural experience from it instead of only getting plastered.”

“If I had that kind of money, I'd want to see the world,” I admitted. “And not just see it, but experience it.”

“I like to do the same, but I'm a lot more discreet about it.”

“I noticed,” I said with a small smile. “You don't plague the magazine racks or the social media trending topics too often. The one I'd worry about the most is your sister.”

Jax smiled sadly and looked down at his hands. “She's a lot younger than I am. Hopefully she'll grow out of it before she gets into trouble.”

The cab stopped in front of a skyscraper. Jax paid the driver, then got out and opened the door on my side of the car. He offered me his hand, which I took, and carefully stood. I stared up at the building and noticed we were in front of the Gizmo Corp main office.

Chapter Six

“Showing off your work place?” I teased.

With a sheepish smile, he escorted me to the side of the building. On the outside, even at night, it was a sight to behold. It was the tallest of all the skyscrapers in downtown. The lights on it made it look as though it were a fountain. The top was a bright white, and gradually down the length of the building the color went from that white to a dark, deep, royal blue. Gorgeous. Outside of the heights factor, I wouldn't mind working in a building so amazing in the slightest.

Once inside of Gizmo Corp., I just about stopped in the doorway because I was that blown away. The first thing I noticed was the fine white marble on the floor and the support columns by the main door. Gold trimmed the windows and decorated just about every metal substance in the entry. It could have been fake, but knowing how much money Gizmo Corporation made every year, it wouldn't surprise me if it was all real. A group of mermaids made up the center piece of a large fountain that was turned off for the night. The lighting was dimmed outside of a few small lights at the front desk. A security officer sat there reading a book. Hopefully, Jax wasn't paying the guy too much money, because he seemed like kind of a slacker.