At Year's End (The 12 Olympians) (19 page)

“Yes, I did.”

“Well, we have to find out who the other leaders are now. Then, maybe, we can all go on with our lives.”

Jaxon looked out the window of the plane. “Maybe.”

~*~

Jaxon stood on the doorstep and rang the bell. Justice opened the door and gave him a slight smile. It had been two weeks since they’d been back, and Elijah refused to be anywhere near him. It hurt like hell.

The media frenzy surrounding Elijah’s return had been handled by Caden Fournier. Jaxon couldn’t handle the news crews
, whereas Caden was used to it. After a week and a half, the craziness had died down and Jaxon wanted to see Elijah. He’d held back as long as he could, never trying to get any closer than the front yard. Now he stood on the front steps with a sandwich.

Yeah, he knew it was kind of cheesy, but he still had hope Elijah would
somehow remember. Jaxon handed the bag to Justice and tried to smile.

“How is he?”

“The same.” Justice opened the door further. “Do you want to come in?”

“No, I think it’s best if I just leave.”

“He
will
remember, Jaxon. Just give it time.”

“That’s all I have now.”

Justice watched as his brother turned and made his way down the walk to his bike. He closed the door and went up the stairs to Elijah’s room. Knocking softly, he got a ‘come in’ from the other side of the door. Justice cracked it open and found Elijah by the window.

“He was here again
,” Elijah said softly.

“Yes, he was. He brought you a sandwich.”

“I don’t want it. It’s probably poisoned.”

Justice took the sandwich out and
breathed in the scent of bacon. The smell filled the whole room as he unwrapped it.

“Oh wow, a
Baconalia.” Justice licked his lips.

“A what?” Elijah watched as Jaxon looked at the window
where he was standing. They locked eyes for a brief moment before Elijah turned away from it.

“A
Baconalia. It’s one of the best sandwiches at the shop we go to.” Justice sniffed the sandwich.

“
Let me see it.” Elijah put his hand out.

Justice held the sandwich to his chest. “Why? You said you didn’t want it.”

“I changed my mind.”

Justice scowled. “Fine. Don’t you dare waste it
, though!”

Justice placed the sandwich in Elijah’s hand. He frowned as Elijah lifted the bread to peek inside.

“Can I just have a piece of bacon?” he asked.

“No.” Elijah took the sandwich to the desk in the corner and sat down. It really did smell good and if the brother was willing to eat it
— well, it couldn’t be poisoned, right? Elijah took a large bite and chewed. The flavors exploded on his taste buds and he almost moaned. It
was
really good.

“Wow
,” he mumbled through a mouthful.

“I told you.” Justice crossed his arms over his chest. “My brother would never hurt you, Elijah. You need to give him a chance to show you that. He searched for you for months
; he never gave up. He nearly killed himself with grief.”

“I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

The door shut and Elijah peeked over his shoulder. He took another bite of sandwich and smiled. It was one of the best things he’d ever tasted. Being locked up and tortured for months, he hadn’t had real food in what seemed like years. Maybe he would give Jaxon a chance. He hadn’t tried
to talk to him, or see him, and Elijah had to respect that.

Maybe it was time to give Jaxon
Salvatore a chance.

~*~

Jaxon slumped down further into the couch cushions as yet another sappy romance started on TV. He didn’t have the energy to change the channel. The remote was too far away. Okay, so the remote was on the coffee table
, but that meant he’d have to move.

Jaxon exhaled a large, frustrated sigh and closed his eyes. It’d been two days since he delivered the sand
wich. He
had
to see Elijah, to make sure he was truly home and okay. The doorbell rang and Jaxon grunted. He pulled himself off the couch and trudged to the front door, yanking it open.

“This better be import
— ”

All
ability to speak left him when he saw Elijah standing on his front steps.

“Um, hi?” Elijah stuffed his hands in his jean
s pockets. “Skylar kinda dropped me off so I can’t really just leave.”

“Oh! Um, no, that’s cool. U
m, come on in.” Jaxon backed up and held the door open.

Elijah peeked past him into the house.

“Or not.” Jaxon moved further away from the door. “I guess I shouldn’t presume — ”

“No, it’s cool. I came to talk to you
, so I better come in, huh? It’s kinda of hot out anyway.”

Elijah walked into the foyer and looked around the spacious living room. Cartons of Chinese food, sandwich wrappers and pizza boxes littered the tables and couches.

“Do you want to sit down?” Jaxon asked from behind him.

“Sure.” Elijah picked up a pizza box and set it on top of
another one on the coffee table, then sat down.

“I wasn’t expecting company.” Jaxon grabbed at the boxes and wrappers. “Let me just clean this up.”

“Look, I came over here because I spent the last two days poring over pictures of my life and you are in a hell of a lot of them.”

Jaxon
sat on the loveseat across from Elijah and nodded.

“Just looking at them, it became pretty clear I had a thing for you
. In one of the pictures, we’re at some party and your back is to me and my hands are out like I’m going to grab your ass.”

Jaxon chuckled softly.

“Do you…um, have any pictures?” Elijah asked.

Jaxon stood up and walked to the bookshelf across the room. He took
out a photo album and handed it to Elijah. He sat back down as Elijah began to flip through the pages.

“Where was this one
taken?” Elijah turned the book so Jaxon could see.

“Halloween party. You were a gladiator.”

“What is this thing?” Elijah tilted his head to the side.

“Oh
, that was our trip to the aquarium. Those are sixgill sharks. Funny, you looked just like that when I took the picture.”

“
Is that an octopus?” Elijah laughed.

“Yeah, they have
a fake one you can take pictures with and you begged me to pretend we were both being attacked.”

“These are so cool.” Elijah flipped through more of them. “What is this?”

“The underwater dome.” Jaxon moved to the couch Elijah was on, but sat at the far end.

“This is awesome. You took me here?” Elijah glanced over at Jaxon.

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Why?”

“Because you’d never been there and you’d always wanted to go.”

Elijah smiled and continued to flip through the album.
There was picture after picture of him and Jaxon smiling and laughing. One looked like something you’d find from a photo booth. In them, they were both squinting at the camera, and then the next five were of them laughing hysterically.

Jaxon laughed softly.

He turned the page and sucked in a breath.

“Are those dolphins?”

“They are,” Jaxon nodded with a grin. “I took you to New Zealand because you always wanted to get up close and personal with them.”

Elijah flipped the page and stopped. There was a picture of him and Jaxon on the beach, the sun setting behind them and they were kissing. Elijah’s body began to heat the more he looked at the picture.

“Are you okay?” Jaxon stood. “I’ll get you some water.”

“I’
m actually kind of hungry. Do you think we could go get one of those Baconalias?”

Jaxon
almost sighed in relief. He pulled himself together. “Sure.”

So Elijah would feel safer, Jaxon took the Jeep instead of his bike. He just hoped it hadn’t been
used
lately by Noah and Jesse. The two of them seemed to love having sex in cars. Jaxon mumbled under his breath about the smell and Elijah leaned towards him.

“Were you saying something?” he asked.

“Nothing important.”

They parked at the piers and ordered their sandwiches. Jaxon took
them on the trail of Myrtle Edwards Park. What the hell? Maybe Elijah would remember their night there. Both of them sat on the rock formation as they chewed, watching people playing on the beach and in the water.

“This is really good.”
Elijah wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Best sandwiches on the pier.”

“You’ve taken me here before.”

“You remember?” Jaxon sat up quickly.

“No, I just…well, you have that hopeful look in your eye.”

Jaxon slumped back down and took another bite of his sandwich. Elijah turned to face him and tilted his head.

“We were together, weren’t we?”

“Yes.”

“Look, I know this is hard for you, but it’s hard for me, too. I don’t remember you — or anyone else for that matter. All I know of my life is what I see in pictures.”

“I know that,” Jaxon nodded. “I’m doing my best to be patient.”

“I appreciate it.” Elijah studied Jaxon Salvatore’s face. “I could see why I’d want you. You’re very good-looking.”

Jaxon grinned. “Thanks.”

“You said something about sex in the Jeep.”

Jaxon coughed and covered his mouth. “What?”

“I heard something about it. Your brother has sex in the Jeep?”

“Oh God,” Jaxon covered his face. “Sorry about that.”

“I wouldn’t know about sex.” Elijah lifted a brow as Jaxon coughed again. “Or would I? Did we…?”

Jaxon put his sandwich down and regarded Elijah. “You made love to me. I was your first.”

“Was I any good?” Elijah chuckled.

“Yeah, God
, yeah.” Jaxon turned his face away and sipped his drink.

“Well, that’s good to know.” Elijah peeked at Jaxon. His face was red.
“So, what else have we done?”

Jaxon spit out his drink.

“Excuse me?”

“
Like places we went,” Elijah clarified.

“Oh, I can take you to the mall tomorrow? Would that be okay?”

“Sure.”

The silence was deafening in the Jeep. Jaxon concentrated on the road, but his body was screaming at him to touch Elijah. Having his mate so close and not being able to touch him was torture. Jaxon pulled up in front of Skylar’s house and put the Jeep in park. He turned to Elijah.

“So, um, what time tomorrow?”

“Noon maybe? I haven’t been sleeping well.”

Yeah. Jaxon knew the feeling. His best night’s sleep had come from
having Elijah in his arms all night.

“That sounds good. Do you have my number?”

“I think so.”

“Well, let me see your phone.” Jaxon put his hand out.

Elijah’s brows furrowed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know; it feels like déjà vu or something.”

“Oh, that’s because we’ve had this conversation.” Jaxon smiled as Elijah put the phone in his hand. “How did it go with James Jacobs?”

James had gone through Carl’s phone and found the tone he’d used on Elijah to brainwash him. They’d spent most of the day reversing it.

“Weird? I mean, I thought that stuff only happened in movies.”

Jaxon searched Elijah’s phone and smiled at his number. “You have me in here as ‘hot stuff’.”

“I do?” Elijah took the phone back and grinned.

“Okay, so tomorrow?”

“Yes. Thanks for today, Jaxon.”

“Thank you for coming over.”

Jaxon waited for Elijah
to get inside before banging his head on the steering wheel. He was going to have to go very slowly.

Again.

“Great.”

The trip to the mall proved interesting.
Jaxon took Elijah to the same leather store they had visited before. Elijah was standing in the middle of the store with his eyes closed. Jaxon smiled and made his way over to him.

“Hey
,” he said softly.

Elijah opened his eyes. “It smells good in here.”

“I’ve always loved the smell of leather. It’s probably why I have a jacket, belt and pants made from it.”

“You have leather pants?” Elijah’s eyes widened.

“Well, yeah. I ride a motorcycle a lot so I have to protect myself.” Jaxon cocked his be head to the side. “Hey, are you hungry?”

“I kinda am. What’s to eat here?”

“Let’s head to the food court. You pick.”

Jaxon kept his smile in check as Elijah headed for the Chinese food. They both ordered garlic chicken, which got him a raised eyebrow from Elijah. They took
their seats and Jaxon relaxed, keeping an eye on the people milling around. Since Elijah didn’t remember anyone, the word had been put out for acquaintances to keep their distance. Jaxon nodded at a few people who recognized them.

“Who are they?”
Elijah fumbled with his chopsticks.

“People who know you.” Jaxon reached across the table and took Elijah’s hand.
Elijah jerked back in surprise and Jaxon dropped his own hand. “Sorry, I was just going to show you how to use those.”

Elijah blew out a breath of frustration.

“No, I’m sorry. I just…it’s hard to stop thinking about you as a person who wants me dead.”

Jaxon’s heart sank. “I’m sorry. If you don’t want to spend time with me
— ”

“No, I do
! It’s just…it’s going to take time, I guess. I can see how much it hurts whenever I back away from you.”

“I’ll be okay; I just want you to feel safe.”

Elijah frowned at his chopsticks. “Maybe you could help me?”

Jaxon smiled and reached out slowly for Elijah’s hand. Their skin touched and Jaxon pushed back the feeling of euphoria
that wrapped around him just touching his mate again. He helped Elijah to hold them, and then went about eating his own food.

Elijah tried to get the sticks to work, but the damn things were intent on sliding apart and dropping his food before it ever got close to his lips.

“I’ll get you a fork.” Jaxon stood up with a laugh.

“It’s not funny!” Elijah called out after him.

“It
so
is!”

While they ate, t
hey talked about Elijah’s brief stay with Caden and Kellan. He seemed to like the billionaire and his EMT husband very well. Jaxon explained that Caden and Kellan had become parents to him, even showing up at the school for parent/college days. Elijah was like a sponge, soaking in information and asking a million questions.

“So, are you a werewolf like Justice?”

Jaxon choked on his garlic chicken and stole a look around to see if anyone had heard them. The mall was busy and a bit loud, so he seemed safe.

“Yes, I am.”

“That is so cool,” Elijah mused.

“How about some ice cream?”

“Okay.”

“What do you want?”

“Surprise me.”

Jaxon made his way to the ice cream shop and ordered his favorite and Elijah’s rocky road
on a waffle cone. As he walked back to their table, a thought occurred to him. He smiled and approached the table. Putting the giant banana split in front of Elijah, Jaxon reclined back in his chair with the waffle cone loaded with rocky road. Elijah licked his lips, and before Jaxon knew it, was devouring the banana split. Whipped cream, caramel and nuts disappeared at a rate even Jaxon couldn’t keep up with. Elijah looked up at that moment and must have seen the frown on his face.

“What? Did you want some?” Elijah smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I didn’t get much to eat while I was…” Elijah swallowed hard and averted his eyes. “You know.”

“Its fine, Elijah. Do you want another one?” Jaxon had to smile as Elijah eyed the cone in his hand. He handed it over and enjoyed the brightest smile he’d ever seen grace Elijah’s lips.

“Really? You don’t mind?”

Jaxon waved his hand. “Have at it.”

Watching Elijah’s eyes light up was well worth
any sacrifice. He devoured the cone just as he had the banana split. Jaxon couldn’t stop staring at Elijah’s lips. He knew what they tasted like, what they felt like.

God
, how he missed Elijah.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Jaxon was snapped out of his thoughts by Elijah’s concerned voice. He pasted a smile on and nodded.

“I’m just so happy you’re home.”

“It’s weird, but this
feels
like home.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

“So, where else did we go?”

“How about we save that for another day. If that’s okay?”

Elijah nodded. “If it involves food, I’m all for it.”

“We
ate a lot of sandwiches, and bacon.”

“I love bacon.” Elijah bounced in his chair.

“Well, at least some things haven’t changed,” Jaxon laughed and stood up. “You want an ice cream cone for the road?”

“Um, sure. Can I have one of those banana things again too?”

Jaxon shook his head with a smile. “No problem.”

~*~

Friday, Elijah sat in his room staring at the wall. Things looked familiar, but it wasn’t all there yet. He’d watched the show that Skylar had recorded from him,
and then ended up watching it from the first season. Skylar told him that while he was gone, Jaxon had bought all the seasons on DVD, up to the newest one.

He loved it! Vampires and werewolves?

Awesome.

There was a soft knock on his door and then Skylar peeked in.

“
Hey, there’s some mail for you and the guys and I are heading out to the club in about an hour or so if you want to come. I’ll understand if you don’t. That’s a lot of people crowded into one place.”

“
I’ll think about it,” Elijah smiled, taking the mail from Skylar. “What is it?” Elijah turned the small envelope in his hand.

“I think it might be the DVD of
the high school graduation. Caden ordered it for himself, as well as one for Jaxon and one for you.”

“Um, okay. Thanks. I’ll let you know about the club soon,
’k?”

“Sure.” Skylar shut the door.

Elijah opened the envelope. It
was
a DVD. He put it in the player and hit play. A football field appeared and then crowded bleachers. Elijah watched as kids he was supposed to know walked up and received their diplomas. Stone stood up amid boisterous clapping and cheering to receive his. Elijah’s name was called, and he leaned forward as a man stood up and walked to the podium.

Even with
the man’s back to the camera, Elijah knew it was Jaxon. Cheering and clapping thundered through the whole stadium as Jaxon shook the headmaster’s hand and headed back to his seat. Elijah hit pause and got closer to the TV. Trying to zoom in, he caught Jaxon’s face for a split second.

“He was crying
,” Elijah whispered to himself.

Elijah ran downstairs and caught Skylar in the kitchen. “I’ll go tonight.”

“Yeah?” Skylar smiled.

“Yeah. I gotta call Jaxon.”

~*~

For some reason, Elijah’s skin tingled the closer they got to the club. His body was filled with anticipation. The guys had told him he used to sing with them on Friday and Saturday nights and it had taken him by surprise. He sang? And well? Elijah
fairly snorted.

Jaxon seemed very happy when he picked up the phone
, and Elijah couldn’t help but think of the broken man he’d seen on the DVD.

Jaxon would
never hurt him in any way. Even after months of torture and being told Jaxon wanted him dead, those two seconds on the screen told him everything he needed to know.

“Um, so you told these guys I don’t remember anything, right?” Elijah said nervously.

Stone turned around in the front seat to look at him. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. As soon as Jaxon heard you were going, he told all the regulars to watch out for you.”

“That was nice of him.”

Ryder laughed. “Dude, you have no idea what Jaxon Salvatore would do for you!”

“And he’s so fucking sexy!” Dasan blurted.

Elijah’s head whipped around to Dasan. “Really? You think he’s hot?”

“He’s not as hot as Ruslan, but yeah, Jaxon’s smokin’
!”

“Ruslan is…?” Elijah fished.

“Oh! Ruslan Borkosky is the son of a Russian Mob boss. His whole family is dead now, courtesy of the Markovs and Panchenkos. They totally deserved it,” he added hastily.

“
The who and the what?” Elijah’s brows furrowed.

“Don’t
worry; you’ll meet them on July 4
th
,” Skylar interjected. “You’ll like Nikolai Markov. He’s impossible not to like. Seriously, it’s impossible. He’ll make you like him by force if he has to,” Skylar snickered.

Elijah’s eyebrows rose.
“I’ll take your word for it.” He looked out the window to see lights reaching for the heavens.

The club’s parking lot was full, but Skylar parked around back in the employee parking lot. The building was brick, and lights dangled from the rooftop in the
shape of handcuffs.

“We sing here?” Elijah’s mouth dropped open at the walls almost cracking with bass.

“Yep.” Skylar took Elijah by the hand as they walked in. He waved to PJ, who immediately grinned upon seeing Elijah.

“Hey, boys! Olivia is setting up. She’
s going to sing tonight.” PJ extended his hand to Elijah. “Hey, Elijah. I’m PJ, the owner. It’s good to see you back.”

Elijah shook the much bigger man’s hand and smiled. “It’s kinda weird, but I feel like I know this place.”

“Well, it sure knows you,” PJ winked. “Have a good time.”

Elijah held Skylar’s hand as they walked through the club. Jesse was behind the bar and Justice and Jaxon were sitting on stools surrounding it. Elijah waved at Jaxon as their eyes met.

“Hi!” he yelled when he got close enough.

Jaxon leaned into Elijah’s ear. “How are you feeling? Not to
o overwhelmed?”

Elijah surveyed the club. Barely clad dancers writhed on the floor as the music and lights
thumped and blazed. It was beautiful, and he felt a kind of peace flow through him the longer he stood there.

“I feel great.”

The lights came up and the crowd whistled as Olivia took the stage. Skylar leaned into Elijah.

“We’ll be up on stage if you need anything, okay?”

“Sure. I’ve got Jaxon, though, so I’m good.”

Skylar caught Jaxon’s astonished face at Elijah’s words and winked at him.

“Good evening gents and ladies! Welcome to Friday night!” Olivia yelled into the mic.

Elijah sat on the stool next to Jaxon as the singers began their karaoke portion of t
he night. Jaxon ordered him a Dr Pepper and he sipped it as people got up on stage and tried to sing. It was funny, yet horrifying for some of them. The lights lowered and Elijah recognized Ryder’s voice over the sound system.

“Well now!” Ryder shouted. “Who wants to see some nasty?”

Elijah chuckled as the crowd went crazy whistling, clapping and shouting. Ryder motioned to the men behind him and the lights went down. The music began and the lights focused on Skylar, Ryder, Stone, Dasan and Nate. All of them were undulating their hips. Ryder began singing and the crowd whistled loudly.

“Well, now that’s how it’s done! A brother singing
, and doing it right!”

Elijah swiveled on the stool
and came face to face with a huge man. His fingers tingled as two others walked over. Jaxon leaned into his ear.

“That’s Lance Walker,
Jordy Crain and Travis Rhoades; they’re football players at the college. They’re also children of gods, but they don’t know it yet.” Jaxon leaned against the bar and nodded to Lance. “Are you saying only black men can sing 50 Cent’s ‘Candy Shop’?”

Lance’s brows furrowed. “Did you just call Ryder black?”

Jaxon put his hands up. “Sorry, is there a PC way to say that? African-American?”

Lance doubled over laughing. “Oh my God! Your face was hilarious, Jaxon. I’m a black man
; Ryder is a black man. You can call us black.”

“
Can I call you an asshole,” Jaxon muttered, narrowing his eyes at Lance.

“Is it true what they say about black men?”

Jaxon moaned and covered his face. Only Killian would ask that kind of question.