Jaxon panicked. Now what? I can’t let her know I was awake the whole time. She’ll kill me. Maybe I can just pretend I actually passed out. He kept his face unresponsive, hoping they couldn’t hear his heart beating like a bass drum.
“Hmmm…” Dr. Evans murmured. “He hasn’t responded at all? You’ve been talking to him the whole time?”
“Yes, I practically bared my soul to him, and he hasn’t so much as grunted. Do you think something’s wrong?”
“I certainly do. This is quite serious. I need to give him a shot of adrenaline.” He heard Dr. Evans rustling around in the drawer behind him. “It’s a good thing he’s asleep because this stuff hurts.” He felt a sharp pinch on his arm.
“Stop!” Jaxon jumped up, scrambling out of the chair away from Dr. Evans and the gigantic needle she must have plunged into his arm. He heard Elyssa scream as he backed against the wall, panting with terror. Her eyes were wide, and her hands covered her mouth. Dr. Evans stared back with furrowed brows, her arms crossed. He couldn’t see the syringe. What had she done with it? Had it broken off in his arm? His fingers groped his skin without finding the offending needle.
Dr. Evans reached her empty hand out and patted Elyssa on the arm, speaking in a soothing voice. “It’s okay, Elyssa. It seems your friend was
playing possum.”
“What?” Elyssa’s voice squeaked.
“He was pretending to be asleep. Right, Jaxon?”
Elyssa’s hands balled into fists, and her eyes narrowed to slits, the lower lid twitching on one side—the dreaded evil-eye.
Jaxon’s life passed before his eyes.
Part 31: Chick Flick Escape
“NO, SCOTTY, I HAVEN’T talked to Jaxon. And the subject is closed.” Elyssa’s phone vibrated as a new text came in. Another message from Jaxon. She ignored it like she had all the others for the past two weeks since their fateful encounter at Aunt Lauren’s office.
“But Sis, I think you should give him a chance. At least talk to him.”
“I’m going to hang up if you keep going.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little unreasonable?”
“I can’t believe this is coming from you. I thought you were glad when I dumped him.”
“Well… yes… but that was before he called to beg for my help. He made a pretty good case. And I think he could be good for you—I’d really feel better if someone was there to look after you.”
“I don’t need a man to look after me. I’m doing just fine on my own. Anyway, he did something really bad—humiliating, really. And I can’t ever trust him again.”
“Are you talking about what happened at the dental office with the laughing gas? Because he explained all that, and it wasn’t what you think.”
“He told you about that?” Elyssa wanted to crawl into a hole and hide there. It was bad enough she’d confessed her feelings to him when he was pretending to be sleeping. But now he’d told her brother about it. Who else had he told?
“I think he’s a pretty good guy, Elyssa. You should give him an opportunity to explain. When we were hanging out this weekend—”
“Hanging out? You were hanging out with Jaxon?” She could feel steam coming out her ears.
“Yeah, we went mountain biking a few times. It was no big deal really. He’s got a really nice bike—a Trek Fuel EX 9 with twenty-nine-inch wheels.”
“I don’t care about his bike, Scotty. I can’t believe you were spending time with the enemy.”
“Come on, Elyssa. You're so over-dramatic. He’s not your enemy; the guy really likes you. I don’t see any other guys lining up at your door, unless you want to count that creepy rich guy. What was his name? Darrin?”
“Baron. His name was Baron. And what are you saying? That I should settle for Jaxon because no one else is interested?”
“You’re putting words in my mouth.”
“I’m ready to stuff a sock in your mouth. Anyway, Jaxon’s just using you to get to me.”
“I’m sure he’d rather have been with you instead of me, but you refuse to answer your phone when he calls. And he told me you go upstairs every time he comes into the shop.”