Suzanne Wright - From Rags

“Alright Con. Mmm, what’s that smell?”

“Smells like junk food,” said Niki as she waltzed in behind Dane with Little Dane hanging off her neck. Quick as anything, he threw himself at Connor.

“Alright Little Man,” said Connor as he perched the toddler on his arm so he could cling to him like a chimp the way he always did. “You been a good boy for your mum and dad?”

Chewing on his thumb, he asked shyly, “Who’z that gwirl?”

Dane was already in the living room. “Hey Jaxx – Jaxxon, this is my wife, Niki, and my boy, Little Dane.” Although all she did in response was smile and offer a ‘hi’, it was so warmly delivered it was like an embrace.

Niki had expected to feel threatened as a woman while being around someone so gorgeous but strangely she didn’t; there was something reassuring about Jaxxon Carter. It should have seemed contradictory seeing someone so perfect to the eye munching so commonly on a slice of pizza. “Sorry we didn’t get a chance to meet ’til now but I didn’t want to risk seeing you when Anita might have found out.”

Waving away the unnecessary apology, Jaxxon smiled. “Thanks for keeping an eye on her for Connor. She’s a witch that one.”

After chasing a very put-out Bronty off the sofa, Connor plonked himself next to Jaxx while Dane and Niki each commandeered an armchair. “This is my very good friend, Jaxx,” he told Little Dane. “Jaxx, this is -”

“Let me guess,” she drawled. “Are you the Fat Controller who’s friends with Thomas the Tank Engine and all his mates?”

He giggled and shook his head while Connor, Niki and Dane all exchanged a look that said ‘How did she guess he loved that programme?’

“Really? You look so much like him,” continued Jaxxon. “Have you ever met Thomas?” Little Dane shook his head again. “I know a place where you can.” His eyes bulged. “Tell your mummy and daddy to take you to a place called Wales in August and he’ll be there. You can ride on him and Annie and Clarabel.”

“And Percy?”

“Oh yeah, definitely him.” Seeing the questioning look on Connor’s face she said, “All little boys love Thomas. I learnt about the Wales thing years ago when I was helping the local nursery teacher find excursions, she was a sister of a mate of mine.” She didn’t elaborate that this mate had been coming off drugs and both Jaxxon and the young teacher had been taking shifts helping her get through it. Filled with excitement, Little Dane hit her with one question after another about this August event until finally he’d crawled onto her lap while she gave him all the details.

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.