Always with You (WIth You Trilogy)

by Sable, R. J.

  When Ian didn’t answer, I continued. “That’s so messed up, Ian!” I raged. “You have no right to invade my privacy like that.”

  “Jamie,” Jason said gently in my ear. “Calm down, baby.”

  “Calm down!?” I screeched, becoming irate because I didn’t think Jason would take Ian’s side in this.

  “Yes, calm down,” he said more firmly. “I’m not saying it was right, Jamie,” he continued, cutting off the protests I was about to spew. “In fact, it’s a pretty despicable thing to do,” he shot Ian a glare. “But if he hadn’t done it then you might not be here right now.” Jason’s voice shook slightly with the last words and I reminded myself that I wasn’t the only one who’d been through hell and back the past few days.

  “It’s not like I’d been tracking you, Jelly,” Ian sighed softly. “You know you had my old phone. It was put in years ago, before you even got it.”

  I frowned at him. Putting a GPS tracker in his own phone seemed like a strange thing to do, but Ian didn’t lie and I figured he must have had his reasons.

  “Okay,” I mumbled, regretting my outburst because Jason was right; I might still have been with my captors if it hadn’t been for the tracker.

  “The prank calls you were getting were some pretty advanced and extremely illegal technology. Every time you answered, a small piece of tracking software was planted on your phone until the software was complete. Same thing with the house phone only they bugged it.”

  My eyes widened at this, I had no idea that such a thing was even possible. I immediately felt guilty for answering the calls but then mentally chastised myself because it was stupid to blame myself. The only people at fault were those behind my kidnapping.

  “I’ll pick you up a new phone on my way home,” Ian continued, thankfully ignoring my childish complaints and glossing over the phone bugging without placing blame. “One without a tracker,” he added his promise.

  I smiled back appreciatively, grateful that he wasn’t being unreasonable and invading my privacy.

  “No social media,” he warned. “Only give your number out to people you trust.” His instructions were to all of us and I hated that this was affecting everyone’s lives. I didn’t understand what Ian could be working with that could possibly make kidnapping me a possibility.

  Ian turned to address Jason. “It would be helpful if you could stay off social media as well.”

  I expected Jason to protest Ian’s bossiness but he just nodded and held me close to his chest.

  “Alright,” Ian nodded, seemingly satisfied. “I best head off. I’ll be back tomorrow night. Keep me updated,” he nodded. “Jelly, come with me a sec.”

  I climbed off Jason’s knee. He seemed reluctant to let me go but he did so after I pressed a warm kiss to his jaw. I understood his reluctance to let me go, and it was adorable, but unnecessary.

  I followed Ian up to his room. I didn’t go in Ian’s room often because he didn’t like us messing with his stuff. He was never the half-naked-women poster type. In fact, he never really had anything on his walls. He always kept his room neat and tidy with no clutter. He had a few family pictures around the room, and a few medals from various races and competitions but, other than that, his room was pretty bare.

  He shut the door behind us and immediately pulled me into a hug. I was caught off guard but gratefully returned it.

  “I’m so sorry, Jelly,” he said quietly.

  I very rarely heard Ian talk without the confidence in his voice. It almost hurt to hear.

  “It was never my intention that you get dragged into something like this. If I’d thought for one second that I’d put you at risk I never would have… I’d have done things differently.”

  “It’s not your fault, Ian,” I reassured him. “I don’t blame you.” I felt like I’d said the same words to Ian quite a lot over the past month and hoped they weren’t losing their meaning. I couldn’t imagine the burden he must have been shouldering feeling a sense of responsibility for me and my brothers. He was only thirty. He should have been settling down with a nice girl and giving me a few nieces and nephews but instead, he was still spending all his time worrying about us.

  “I couldn’t ask for a better big brother, Ian,” I smiled, squeezing him affectionately.

  He smirked slightly and let me go from the hug, chucking me on the chin and turning to pack an over night bag.

  I considered myself dismissed and left him to get ready for work. Karl left shortly after to take a tired looking Elise home. That woman was made of strong stuff. She was eight months pregnant and still toughed out a six hour round trip just to make sure I was okay. I hadn’t heard her complain once and she’d even refrained from torturing Karl’s nipples in deference to the situation.

  I felt restless just sitting still so I ventured into the kitchen to bake. Of course, this meant Jason followed me. He seemed unwilling to leave me alone for more than a few seconds. I’d been half expecting him to follow me into the bathroom, although I’d been relieved when he didn’t. I liked him being near me, but not the reasons for his sudden need for constant proximity.

  “Are you okay, Jason?” I asked, turning to face him.

  “You’re asking me?” He asked incredulously.

  “Yes, I am,” I grinned. “So answer the question.”

  I saw his lips quirk up slightly. “Yes boss,” he mumbled. “I’m okay. Just a little overwhelmed.”

  “Overwhelmed?” I frowned, stroking his jaw gently. He had a little more stubble than usual and I could tell he hadn’t slept well.

  “I thought I’d lost you, baby. We all did,” Jason whispered, his eyes closed as if he was afraid to voice these thoughts.

  “But you didn’t,” I tried to smile but I knew I wasn’t convincing because I’d been terrified I’d lost them too. “I’m here now.”

  Jason held me tight and we remained in our silent embrace a while longer. Nothing needed to be said because neither of us could give the other any assurances. All we could do was be there for each other in the face of the unknown.

  Chapter 5

  Monday, June 24th 2013

  “Can I borrow your phone?” I asked Jason once I’d put a batch of cookies into the oven.

  “It’s dead, sorry,” he cringed. “I was in a bit of a rush to get to the hospital, I didn’t take my charger.”

  “Oh, okay,” I frowned. “Maybe you should call Ben then. Let him know where you’ve been.”

  Jason nodded and disappeared into the hallway to do just that. I busied myself with cleaning up the dishes from baking.

  “You can borrow mine, Jelly,” Jake offered from the island. “If you promise me first dibs on the biscuits.”

  “Yeah, ‘cause that’ll go down well with the others,” I scoffed, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

  “Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he sighed, sliding his phone across the island to me.

  I smiled at him appreciatively before typing in the number and dialling anxiously. I should have made this call as soon as I’d regained consciousness but I’d been so tired.

  “Jake?” He answered on the first ring.

  I couldn’t blame him for sounding confused. I doubted Jake rang him very often. “Hi, Alex. It’s me,” I smiled.

  There was an awkward silence on the line and I frowned. Alex was anything but silent. I thought he’d be delighted to hear from me considering what had happened the last time we saw each other.

  “Hello?” I asked when the silence stretched.

  “I’m here,” he replied quietly. “I just wasn’t expecting you to call.”

  “Well I am,” I said, trying to sound cheerful.

  He didn’t sound like himself at all and it worried me.

  “I was wondering if you wanted to come over. I figured you’d be off work soon.”

  “Eh,” he hedged. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure,” I laughed. “I’ve spent the last two days sleeping and being babied. I could do
with a bit of Alex-drama.”

  “I doubt your brothers will want me there, Jelly,” he said awkwardly.

  “Since when have you let them stop you?” I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” he answered quickly. “I’ll be there in a bit.” There was another awkward silence before he spoke again. “Jelly?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

  He hung up and I frowned. That had not gone at all as I’d been expecting. I couldn’t wait to see Alex. I was so relieved that they hadn’t taken him as well. I wouldn’t have wished that ordeal on anyone.

  “What’s wrong, Jamie?” Jason asked, strolling back into the kitchen with a look of concern on his face as he studied mine.

  “Alex was kind of off with me,” I pouted. “Not himself at all.”

  “Yeah…” Jake interjected shiftily. “You probably have the twins to thank for that.” He fidgeted in his chair and looked a little uncomfortable as I passed his phone back.

  “Have us to thank for what?” The twins grinned, joining us in the kitchen and making a beeline for the bowl that I’d had the biscuit dough in.

  “Jelly just called Alex,” Jake explained, giving the twins a meaningful look.

  Their faces both fell immediately. I couldn’t decide if they looked contrite or mortified.

  “Shit,” Rick groaned.

  “We’re sorry, Jelly,” Danny winced. “We didn’t mean it. We were just worried about you.”

  “What did you do?” I asked, taking a cautious step back to where Jason was standing.

  “Jelly, honest, we didn’t-” Rick started but I cut him off with an angry wave of my hand.

  Danny sighed resolutely before talking. “We got there first,” he explained. “Ian sent round texts and explained what he’d heard. We were already in town answering a call. We didn’t know much.”

  I listened to him with my eyes narrowed because I suspected I wouldn’t like what he was going to say. Jason held on to my hand tightly, providing physical and emotional support.

  “We were worried about you, Jelly. All we knew was that they’d taken you and Alex had gotten away without a scratch. We were just scared for you,” Rick continued.

  “Tell me you didn’t have a go at him?” I accused, my temper already simmering.

  Their guilty looks told me all I needed to know and I felt myself pushing towards them. Jason reluctantly let go of my hand as I stood in front of them. For the first time in my life, I didn’t care that they were bigger, or stronger, or that there were two of them. I was carrying enough repressed anger to make me into a successful super villain.

  “You morons!” I screamed. “There were two of them and they had guns! What the hell did you expect him to do? He could have gotten killed and how would that have helped me? If he hadn’t gotten away then you might not have found out what had happened for hours. If it wasn’t for Alex, I might not be here right now!”

  The twins shrunk back looking suitably chastised but that wasn’t enough. I’d never ever wanted to hurt my brothers and I’d never wished anything bad upon them but they were testing my limits.

  I’d shouted too much and my head was throbbing again in response. I felt myself grow slightly dizzy as I glared at my idiot brothers.

  “Easy, baby,” Jason soothed, taking me gently by the shoulders and easing me away from the twins to sit on a stool. He handed me a glass of water and one of the pain tablets the doctors had given me because, as usual, he knew what I needed.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled, still shooting daggers at the twins.

  They hovered awkwardly and I sipped at my water whilst I contemplated just how mad at them I was. I figured denying them access to my baked goods would be a good punishment to begin with but it didn’t nearly feel like enough.

  They promised they’d apologise and make it up to him and when he arrived they did just that. Alex seemed a little uncertain and hovered on the threshold a while until I slid off my seat to give him a hug.

  “I’m so sorry, Jellybaby,” he whispered in my ear. “I should never have let them take you.” He trembled a little as I hugged him so I squeezed him tighter.

  I tried to reassure him that I didn’t blame him. I gave him the same speech I’d just given my brothers, but a little gentler. It hadn’t even occurred to me that Alex would feel guilty for not trying to help me.

  “You saved me by getting away, Alex,” I reassured him once he finally stopped shaking.

  As he pulled away, I could see how haunted he looked and it was obvious he hadn’t been handling the situation well which just made me angrier with the twins.

  “We’re really sorry, Alex,” Danny said genuinely. “We were just venting, we shouldn’t have said any of that shit.”

  Alex shrugged, obviously uncomfortable with the whole thing.

  “They’ll do anything they can to make it up to you,” I assured him. “Won’t you?” I nailed them with my angry glare again and they both nodded enthusiastically. Oh, how the tables have turned. I never thought I’d see my brothers taking orders from me, although the fact that they knew they’d messed up probably had a lot to do with it.

  “Fuck yeah we will!” Danny declared.

  “Anything,” Rick nodded. “You want to bathe in ice cream, you got it.”

  “Hell, we’ll even pose naked for your own private fireman calendar if that gets Jelly off our backs,” Danny wiggled his eyebrows.

  “Gross!” I protested. I was still furious with them but Danny’s stupid cocky sense of humour had me fighting really hard not to smile. I turned around to get the biscuits out of the oven so my stupid, traitor mouth wouldn’t give me away.

  “There’d be no point both of you posing naked,” Alex grinned, sounding a lot more like himself with a sing song lilt in his voice. “You’re twins.”

  “So?” Danny frowned.

  “Identical twins,” Alex stressed.

  “Not in every way,” Danny wiggled his eyebrows again.

  “I’d bet anything his gonads are lacking,” Rick cut in. “He got kicked in the balls way more than I did when we were kids.”

  “That’s bullshit!” Danny shoved Rick. “Girls like me better and you know it.”

  “You’re talking out of your arse! Remember that lass at the gym last month?” Rick shoved him back.

  “Cut it out!” I sighed, throwing an oven glove at them. My head still hurt and they were making it worse.

  “Fine,” they sighed, hitting each other a final time for good measure.

  “Alex can sort this out once and for all. Drop trou,” Danny ordered Rick, already moving to pull his own jeans down.

  “Wait!” Alex protested, giggling madly. “Dammit, I would have happily measured a few months ago,” he pouted. “I doubt Rab would appreciate it though.”

  Danny grinned and pulled his jeans back up, winking at Alex.

  “There is one thing you could do though,” Alex said hopefully.

  “What’s that?” Rick asked looking encouraged at the prospect of setting things right.

  “Hook me up with gym membership.”

  “Consider it done,” Rick nodded enthusiastically.

  Alex beamed happily and I raised my eyebrow at him. Alex was not the gym-going kind; he hated exercise with a passion.

  “Don’t look at me like that!” He blushed. “I’m having a hard time keeping up with Rab. I had no idea muscle was directly proportionate to stamina.”

  I snorted with laughter and had to cling onto Jason for support so I didn’t fall off my chair. I agreed with him whole-heartedly but I doubted my brothers would want to know that and I wasn’t quite ready to let them go back to bossing me around and telling me off just yet.

  Alex was back to himself after that and I hoped he truly had forgiven himself. He didn’t ask for details about what had happened and I didn’t offer any information. He was treating me like normal and he was the only one. I didn’t want to change that.


  Alex’ normality helped me forget in a way only a true friend could and it was hard to focus on the negative when I was surrounded by so many people who meant so much to me.

  Chapter 6

  Tuesday, 25th June 2013

  As Karl and Ian came through the front door the following day, everyone relaxed to some degree. It wasn’t that we were worried about them, we just all wanted answers and Ian seemed to be the one who could provide them.

  Elise had spent the day at the house with us. Karl said it was because he thought it’d be nice for her to have some help and company but I suspected he didn’t want her to be alone with everything that was happening.

  I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and I poured them a cup of coffee each when I heard them come in because I suspected that it had been a long day.

  “Cheers, Jelly,” Karl smiled as I handed him his cup after he kissed both Elise and her swollen tummy. It seemed pregnancy had softened Karl somewhat. He usually avoided too much PDA in front of my brothers but the more Elise’s belly had grown, the less he seemed to care about what my brothers thought.

  “How was your day?” I asked Ian once he had his coffee and biscuits in hand.

  He shrugged and slouched onto a stool. I got the message and let him have some space. Everybody seemed to be hovering in the kitchen or adjoining dining room and I suspected they all wanted to know if there was any news as much as I did but we all knew better than to push Ian. Especially before he’d had his biscuit fix.

  Ian fished a phone out of his pocket and slid it across the island to me. It was much nicer looking than my old phone and I smiled appreciatively.

  “I’ve put you on contract this time,” he explained. “Unlimited calls and texts, so I expect to be able to reach you at all times.”

  “Thanks,” I nodded, not meeting his eyes because, although I was grateful, I still felt like a puppy on a leash. I appreciated it considering the circumstances but I wondered if he’d change his attitude once all the drama was over.