“I’ve just got to throw this in the oven and then we have about half an hour before it’s ready. I did the heavy lifting earlier.”
“You really cooked that?” I questioned, pointing to the pan in his hands. I had no idea what it was, but I could smell cheese and bacon and cream. A combination you couldn’t go wrong with.
“I did. From scratch too. You impressed?”
“I am. Can I at least set the table or something?” It was weird. If I went to a restaurant, I wouldn’t have felt uncomfortable having someone cook my meal before serving me while I relaxed and drank my wine. But sitting here in Luca’s home, it was different. Maybe it was the silence surrounding us that had me anxious.
“Why don’t you tell me about Jax?”
“Jax?” I repeated, not sure I heard that correctly. Why would Luca want to talk about Jax when we were on a date? It was definitely odd.
“Yeah. What’s your relationship with him?”
“Ah.”
Chapter Nine – Luca
I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that, but it’d been playing on my mind and now it was out there, no matter how much I wanted to take it back. I couldn’t put the pin back in the grenade.
“I’m sorry, Elise. That came out wrong. I need you to help me understand your relationship with Jax,” I backtracked, trying to pull my foot out of my mouth.
“Why? We’re a package deal. If you can’t handle that, then I’ll call an Uber and get out of your hair. Your choice.”
“No! That’s not what I meant. Look, Elise, I like you but I’m a competitive guy. Just look at what I do for a living. I play to win. So, if Jax is going to be an issue and I don’t even have a shot, tell me now and I’ll take a seat on the bench.”
“You’d really do that?” Elise questioned, a bit stunned.
“There’s no point fighting a losing battle.”
“I need more wine.” Her comment did nothing to calm my fears. Instead of saying anything, I refilled her glass, checked the oven, and steeled myself. “Jaxson’s my best friend, but he’s more than that. He’s my family. He was my brother’s best friend when they were kids. Michael was three years older than me. I used to follow them around and get in their way. I drove them nuts. They complained and bitched to Mum about it, but they always kept their eye on me. When I fell off the monkey bars one day, while Michael ran home to get Mum, Jax sat with me and let me cry.”
Feeling like something painful was coming, I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “Where’s Michael now?” I was hoping he was living an incredible life in a penthouse in New York or a ski chalet in Switzerland. The sinking feeling in my stomach suggested reality was a different and much sadder story.
“When I was fourteen, Michael was diagnosed with leukemia…”
“Oh shit.” It was worse than I guessed.
“Eighteen months later I had to say goodbye to my big brother. He died on my sixteenth birthday.”
As Elise swiped a tear from her cheek, I rounded the bench and dragged her into my arms. Holding her against my chest, I felt her tears soak through my shirt but didn’t give a shit. When she shuddered, I felt how much this was taking out of her. I was an arsehole for pushing. Why I couldn’t just keep my big mouth shut, I’d never know. But now the flood gates were open, I wasn’t about to force them closed again.
It took a while, but when she pulled back, she looked tired. Drained even. Shifting back, I looked at her, seeing the pain in her eyes, before sinking into the stool next to her and dragging her into my lap. I needed to anchor her. Whether it was to hold me in place or her.
“Jaxson saved me. He pulled me out of hell and helped me put one foot in front of the other. For a long time I was messed up. I did some stupid shit and got myself in a whole bunch of trouble, and Jaxson was there to save me. He’s been there ever since.”
Jaxson and Elise were a package deal. I had absolutely no doubt in my mind about that. And now, knowing their story, I was even more captivated by her strength.
“I’m glad you’ve got him in your life,” I told her, meaning every word.
When she was ready, she climbed out of my lap, sucked in a deep breath, letting it out with a cute sigh before running her hands through her hair, tying it in a knot at the base of her neck. “How long til dinner’s ready?” she asked. Obviously, the gut-wrenching portion of the evening was over.
“We’ve got about ten minutes or so before it’s ready. Why’s that?”
“Perfect!”
“Perfect?”
“Yep, perfect. Just enough time for you to give me the grand tour of this amazing house.”
