Absolution (The Protectors 1)

With that, Mace pulled back a little and I felt something shimmer in my belly when his mouth fell to mine for the briefest of moments. And then he released me and stepped back. Jonas instantly took his place and grabbed my bruised hand. I let Jonas lead me back towards the house but when I gave Mace one final look, I saw him lean down, grab Jimmy by the collar and drag him to his feet. And just before I went into the house, I saw Mace murmur something to Jimmy that had him going even whiter than he already was, and then Mace escorted him from the property.

* * *

“Do you have anything to wrap this with?” Jonas asked me as he finished wiping the blood from my hand.

The first thing Jonas had done when he pulled me into the house was ask me where the kitchen was. After I’d told him, he snagged an ice pack out of the freezer and led me towards the kitchen sink. But one look at a few guests who were hovering near the entryway to the kitchen had him asking where my bathroom was. I’d followed him passively, my nerves still rattled from the fight with Jimmy and the strange encounter with Mace afterwards. Once he locked us away from prying eyes, he’d sat me down on the closed toilet and had placed the ice on my hand while he’d gotten a washcloth ready. Then he’d sat down on the rim of the tub and began the task of cleaning up the spattered blood.

“It’ll be fine,” I murmured. “Sorry you had to see that.”

Jonas withdrew the washcloth and gently placed the ice on my knuckles again as he supported my hand with his. I barely felt the cold from the ice but I sure as hell felt the heat from his skin touching mine. What the hell was going on with me?

“Did she tell you about him?” I asked. “About Jimmy?”

“Not specifically,” Jonas answered. “She mentioned she’d been in love with someone but it hadn’t ended well.”

“Love,” I huffed.

“Was he a friend of yours?” Jonas asked.

“Jimmy?”

Jonas nodded.

“Sort of. We hung out for a little while when we were freshmen but grew apart over time. His thing was drinking, drugs.”

“What was your thing?” Jonas suddenly asked, his eyes studying me. “Sorry,” he quickly said as if realizing the question was off topic.

“Athletics, mostly,” I answered just as quickly.

“You were a jock,” Jonas said with a smile.

I laughed and the feeling was so foreign that I was caught off guard by it. “I guess,” I said. “But I was focused on my grades too.”

“A jock and a nerd?” Jonas said softly. “You would have been my dream come true in school,” he said with a chuckle and then his eyes widened as color flooded his cheeks. Another apology fell from his mouth but I barely heard it because I was focused on the way his eyes kept shifting back to mine.

“Did you know Carrie went to Chicago for that guy?”

The reminder of Jimmy ripped me back to reality. “We figured she’d runaway to be with him but we didn’t know where to. After graduation, Jimmy left the state to go to college but got kicked out after a couple months. I don’t know how he and Carrie met but my parents were unhappy about their age difference. The guy was pretty bad news but the more my parents tried to stop her from seeing him, the more rebellious she became. Carrie had always been stubborn but I don’t think my parents ever thought she’d just take off like she did. Fucker showed up here last week when he heard her body had been identified – I guess he moved back to the area a couple of years ago, but was too much of a fucking coward to tell any of us Carrie had ended up in Chicago.”

“Was that your dad at the service?”

I nodded but couldn’t find the strength to say anything else. I knew Mace and Jonas had both seen my father’s condition and heard his words so they had probably already figured out what he was, but to have to say it out loud was a different story.

“Your mom?” Jonas asked gently.

“Died a couple years ago,” I managed to get out. “She had a heart condition and the doctors said the stress was just too much for her…”

I felt one of Jonas’s hands close gently around my wrist and I closed my eyes. How did this man know just when I needed his touch most? And why did I all of a sudden crave it more than I craved my next breath?

“How does this feel?” Jonas asked, as he shifted the ice pack to study my knuckles.

In truth, I hadn’t felt much since Jonas had first touched me so it was easy to say, “Feels okay.”