Suzanne Wright - From Rags

As Connor watched Jaxx win shy Little Dane over so effortlessly he was overcome with a contradictory mixture of awe and anxiety. Awe at her naturalness with children, and anxiety at the idea that she would be a great mum and he wouldn’t be around to see it. There was no way he could watch her being a mum to a kid that belonged to another bloke.

“You’ll be pleased to know that Anita’s gone,” announced Dane before biting into the slice of pizza that he had helped himself to. “Left for L.A. this morning, fully admitting that the baby she’s having isn’t yours, Con.”

Thank God for that. Then something occurred to him; if Anita was gone but Jaxx was still being tailed, it had to be someone else. But then maybe Jaxx was right and she wasn’t being followed. Maybe he was just being paranoid as she said. Stuck in his thoughts, he didn’t realise Jaxx’s phone was ringing until she gently placed Little Dane on his lap before skipping to their room to take the call. A few minutes later she reappeared, her olive skin pale. Immediately he was on his feet. “Jaxx, what is it?” She said nothing, just stared at him. “What’s wrong? Who was it on the phone?”

“Richie,” she replied. “Louisa’s in hospital.”

“Louisa?”

“She’s one of the hairstylists. He was with her going over some things when she started vomiting, he said it was like something off the Exorcist.”

“But she’s alright?”

She nodded. “She stopped spewing about half an hour ago and the doctor in the hospital gave her something to settle her stomach. They’re keeping her in for the night.”

“Hey, don’t look so freaked out.” But then Jaxx held his gaze with such intensity he felt rooted to the spot.

“They think it was food poisoning. The thing is…she’s the one who took those chocolates someone sent me.”

The next morning Connor’s apartment was packed with people. Ollie was cursing with frustration because he hadn’t been able to track down who sent the flowers and chocolates. Richie was exploring the theory that the sender may have been someone who was already in the studio building. Tony was relaying stories he had heard before about past fanatic fans in an attempt to pre-empt what might come next and decide how best to deal with things. Lily was making everyone coffee, constantly signalling to her husband to shut up when his stories became creepy. Anna was again insisting that the police be brought into the matter, especially after what had happened to Louisa. Warren was trying to calm Anna, reminding her that Louisa herself didn’t want anyone to know what had happened; she had seen enough obsessed fan situations to know that giving them attention was often counterproductive. Dane was offering his theory that maybe all this had been Anita’s doing and she either hadn’t left L.A. at all or had sent the flowers and chocolates before leaving.

Connor, however, was unusually mute as he witnessed the torment that an equally mute Jaxx was subjecting herself to as she sat on the sofa with her legs hugged to her chest, glaring at the floor. Nothing he or anyone else had said had made any difference. Not even the fact that Louisa – who was now home under the care of her sister – had phoned and spoke to Jaxx, assuring her she was fine, had helped. He sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her as he spoke softly into her ear. “Babe, don’t do this to yourself. It wasn’t your fault.”

Oh she knew that. Jaxxon wasn’t assuming all blame for Louisa having been ill; to do that would be to relieve the oddball poisoner of the blame they were due. The reason Jaxxon was feeling sick to her stomach was because she hadn’t listened to Connor and took this matter seriously enough. If she had, maybe she would have been as vigilant and alert as he had advised her to be and then she wouldn’t have ignored her instincts that something wasn’t quite right about those gifts appearing. Also, if she was now to assume that this oddball would happily see her severely ill, was it such a stretch to wonder if this crackpot was going to do something similar again once they realised their plan hadn’t worked?

It was horrible to think that there was someone out there who might actually hate her so deeply. She knew she was a moody cow but was she really hate-worthy? Or was she dealing with one of those bizarre people who thought along the lines of ‘I love you so much I have to kill you’? One thing she could deduce from all this was that, no matter the motive of the oddball in question, she couldn’t be sure that the people around her were safe.

Hearing Tony and Lily propose that she would be better moving back into their annexe, Jaxxon closed her eyes and braced herself for the bloke who had stiffened beside her to turn into a raging bull. Therefore, his reaction surprised her.

Gently Connor turned her face to his and softly asked, “Would you feel safer staying with them?” No one would ever convince him that they could protect her better than he could. Even though he had, without her knowledge or consent, had GPS trackers planted on her phone and car by his security-expert-mate he was still worried as hell about her and he wanted her to stay with him more than he wanted anything. But it was important to him that she felt safe. He had let her down once before when she needed him, though he still didn’t know what he hadn’t protected her from, whereas the three ‘uncles’ had more or less saved her from her old life.

The fact that Connor, a bloke who by nature didn’t accept an answer that didn’t cohere with his own, was actually putting what she wanted before his own wants almost put a lump in her throat, and Jaxxon wasn’t an emotional person. Connor being self-sacrificing…Well that’s new. Even if he hadn’t been, he was what she needed right now. She shook her head.

He rested his forehead against hers. “Good.” He kissed her gently then raised his head and announced, “She’s staying here with me and anyone who doesn’t like it can come talk to me in the other room, but note that I’ll just tell you to shove your opinion up your arse.” He felt her body shake with silent laughter and noticed that Dane and Warren also seemed amused.

“Fine then,” relented Tony begrudgingly, “but you make sure you keep watch over her. That means staying here with her, being -”

“Whoa there, Tone,” interrupted Jaxxon, “no one is putting me on lock-down.”

“It won’t be for long, you’re going to New York in a few days.”

“I don’t care, I’m not going to let some nutter turn me into a prisoner.”

Suspecting that, just for once, he and the overprotective McKenzie would be singing from the same hymn sheet, Tony appealed to him with a look. To his utter shock, the bloke shook his head.

“As much as I’d love to keep her here where no one can get to her, it won’t happen. She’ll crack up. When we were teenagers and she was confined to her room for the weekend she got so bad that, with a fractured wrist, she climbed down the drainpipe just to get out into the fresh air. That feeling of being trapped sends her over the edge.” He heard her giggle at the memory and looked back at her. “It wasn’t funny, Jaxx. I had a panic attack, thinking you were going to fall to your death.” She smiled unrepentantly.

Tony half-sighed half-growled, which made Lily elbow him in the ribcage. After scowling at her he turned back to Jaxxon. “Luv, you can’t deny that you’ll be a lot safer just lying low for a couple of days. Look what happened to Louisa -”

“Not the right thing to say, gobshite,” condemned Lily.

He scowled at his wife again. “Jaxxon, luv, I just want you to be safe.”

“And she will be,” stated Connor, cuddling her to him.

“No way am I hiding, Tony. Me and Anna are supposed to be going out tonight, we’ve had it planned for ages. I won’t see her for months once I go on that tour.”

When Tony switched his attention to her, Anna knew that he wanted her to support his argument and say that Jaxxon should hide. She couldn’t do that. As Connor said, it would drive Jaxxon mental, and she had to agree with Jaxxon that it wasn’t fair to her that she be made a prisoner. It would give the sicko a hard-on. Besides, she really had been looking forward to tonight; the invite from one of the models she worked with to come to her house party had come months ago.

“Where’re you both going?” Connor asked Jaxx as he played with her hair. He didn’t like the idea of just the girls out alone but if he tried to suffocate her she’d likely leave.

“It’s an Ann Summers Party.”

His eyebrows shot upwards. “Ann Summers?” Ann Summers as in the company specialising in kinky lingerie? he didn’t say aloud but knew would be in his expression.

With a wicked smile, she nodded. “It’s kind of like a social event that takes place in the living room where we all drink Champagne and look at a new line of lingerie. Oh and we get a goody-bag of funky toys to bring back.”

Suddenly swallowing was difficult for Connor. He considered that maybe she was just winding him up but, as if she’d read his mind, or he was completely transparent right now, she shook her head. Jesus Christ. He pointed a finger at her. “I get to drive you and pick you up.” Deal made, his mind relaxed. His body, however…it wasn’t going to relax until after he’d got to use those sex toys on that luscious body.

Anna, Warren, Dane and Lily all exchanged knowing smiles. Ollie, Richie and Tony shuddered, intending to expel the past fifteen seconds from their minds.

It wasn’t until forty minutes later that Ollie got the opportunity he’d been waiting for. While Connor was in his bedroom taking a call, Ollie took the newly vacated spot next to Jaxxon. His expression made it clear to her that he wanted this to be private between them. “I’ve been thinking…What if we leave for New York early? I know it’s not the ideal -”