by T. K. Chapin
Chapter 19 - Jax
MARTIN FROM THE BASKETBALL COURT had come down to the shelter. When we first made eye contact, I noticed him turn to leave right back out those doors he had come through. Luckily, I was able to catch him, stopping his escape. Once we started talking, he opened up like a flower blossoming in the spring.
“I used to live in America. I had to come back down here because my parents were illegal and we were kicked out. This place is no America, that’s for sure. My dad can’t even buy me a pair of decent basketball shoes. That’s why I was going to leave when I saw you. I don’t really need shoes, just want them.”
“Wait here,” I said.
Hurrying over to the table, I went past it and to the wall where the boxes of shoes were. There, in the midst of all the shoes, I saw the Air Jordans I was surprised to see earlier in the evening. Scooping them up, I hurried back over to Martin. “You’re lucky, only one pair. They’re lightly used, but they should work if you’re near a size 9.”
“Wow, I am that size exactly! But I can’t take these from you, Jax.” He handed them back to me. “I don’t need handouts.”
I knew it was only pride he was speaking from, for he had come down here specifically for a pair of basketball shoes. I didn’t call him out on it though. I went for a softer approach. “It’s a gift, not a handout. Take them, please.” I gave the shoes back to him once more.
His eyes wide, Martin looked over that pair of shoes like it was a gold bar in his hands. “Thank you so much.”
“Don’t thank me. Thank God. He’s the reason all these people are here and giving this stuff away right now. Hey, are you coming to the park tomorrow?” I didn’t let my worry over Antonio dictate my decisions. I felt the insatiable need to invite him.
He squinted as he shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Free food, candy, and a bunch of fun stuff. I’m going. I think it’ll be cool. You should come.”
Glancing down at the shoes, he nodded and looked at me. “All right, I’ll think about it.”
“Cool, man.” We fist bumped and I headed back toward the table. Seeing that Chelsea had left, my pulse shot through the roof. I couldn’t have her out of my sight while on duty. I was a fool to have taken my eyes off her as long as I had already done. Approaching Erin, one of the youth handing stuff out at a table, I asked, “Where’d she go? Chelsea?”
Turning her head, she shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe the bathroom?”
I headed down a hallway to the ladies’ restroom. I knocked on the door and pushed it open a fraction. “Chelsea? You in here?”
Silence.
Going back out to the tables, I tried to see if I had somehow missed her in the rec room. There was a sea of people, but no Chelsea. My pulse beat faster as worry took flight. Not having eyes on her wasn’t okay with me. Heading back down the hallway again, I found Sister Lopez and stopped her.
“Have you seen Chelsea?”
She pointed down the hall. “She’s outside with the others, feeding people chili.”
I began to relax some, but not entirely. “Thank you.”
Getting out to the chili line, I spotted her standing with Jonathan and throwing her head back in laughter. My anger boiled to the surface as I marched over to her.
“What are you doing?” I asked through my teeth.
“Talking with Jonathan … wait, is that not okay because you and I kissed?”
Shaking my head in disbelief, I raised a hand. “It has nothing to do with that. You’re my client.”
“Are you sure?” Jonathan asked, coming up to her side. “She told me all about you two kissing in the van. That seems a little unprofessional for a bodyguard.”
I ignored him as best as I could, but I felt embarrassed, exposed. How could she do this to me? I turned to Chelsea and looked straight at her. “You need to stay where I can see you. That’s the only reason I’m here in Guadalajara. Don’t leave my sight again.”
Taking a step back, I planted my back against the cement wall outside and stood guard of my client. I felt betrayed.
Chapter 20 - Chelsea
THE DECISION TO REVEAL THE kiss I’d shared with Jax was not well thought out. I had no idea how bad it’d hurt him until it was too late. In my immature thinking, I felt that by sharing it with Jonathan, I could somehow push Jax out of my heart, but it did just the opposite. It revealed that he did have feelings for me, but he was just hiding them. Now I felt like a horrible person.
That evening after we all got back to the church, some of the kids of the members of Church of God decided to go outside and play in the field. Some of the members went out to the field and laid out blankets. I hung back near the church doors to speak with Jax. I had hopes of repairing some of the damage that was a result of my own stupidity.
“Earlier was—”
He held up a hand. “No need to explain.”
He was cold, unavailable, and shut down. I was an idiot for what I had done, and this wasn’t going to be easy to fix between us.
Grabbing his hand, I shook my head as I pleaded. “Please, Jax.”
He shook my grasp away and looked at me straight. “Listen, I’m your bodyguard and that’s all it is between us.”
He might as well have pulled out his gun and shot me in the heart. That’s what it felt like. “Well, for whatever it’s worth, and I know that’s not much right now … I’m sorry.”
With that, I left and went and joined the others in the field.
I sat down on the blanket next to Valorie, and she glanced over at me.
“Tonight was great,” Valorie said. “I felt Jesus using all of us.”
“It was.” As the words fell from my lips, I realized Valorie was the one with the right mindset in the moment. My being wrapped up in what had happened with Jax wasn’t what this trip was supposed to be about. I felt guilty. “You’re absolutely right, Valorie.”
Looking forward, we all watched as the children ran through the field attempting to catch fireflies in glass jars. Laughter filled the air as they ran in circles and swooped their jars in every which direction.
Resting my hands on the blanket, I turned to Jonathan and Valorie. “These people are why we’re here.”
“Yep, and tomorrow will be another day full of blessings,” Jonathan said, leaning forward to look past Valorie and directly at me. “I’m more worried about playing the part of magician after that guy canceled.”
Valorie and I laughed.
“Oh, hush. You’ll be fine,” Valorie said.
Glancing over my shoulder toward the church, I saw Jax still standing near the steps. My heart felt like it was in a vise. Our eyes met and the vise squeezed. He turned his gaze elsewhere. I had to get us on the same page again, but how?
I stood up and headed back to Jax.
Chapter 21 - Jax
“JAX.” HER WORDS WERE SOFT, and hearing my name on those pink lips was like hearing the voice of an angel. An angel who’d hurt me deeply, not even hours before. She’d spilled our secret like it was nothing.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“It’s Chelsea.”
I couldn’t help it. I grinned.
“Listen, we both know we have something between us.”
Raising an eyebrow, I tried to figure her out. “Oh, yeah? Then why would you humiliate me like that?”
“I wasn’t thinking clearly. I … I just wanted this trip to be about God, be about serving and giving my time and energy to these people, and it’s turned into everything but that!”
She began to cry. Seeing the tears softened the hard shell that had encapsulated my heart. I came closer to her. Touching her arms, I tilted my head and lifted her chin with a finger. “I’m sorry this trip isn’t what you planned on it being. I will not be in the way anymore. I’ll be an unseen shadow.”
“Jax that’s not what I want at all!”
“Then what do you want? Just tell me what you want and I’ll do it!”
Shaking her head
, she shrugged. Her eyes still glistening with tears, she said, “I don’t know.”
One of the youth came out the church door. “Chelsea, we need you.”
Wiping her eyes, she left me and the conversation, escaping to go inside.
Turning, I peered into the evening dusk that had settled across the horizon. I tried to take my mind off Chelsea. My eyes fell upon the children playing in the field. I marveled at their simple lives, their ignorance of the evils that existed in the world. They didn’t have to worry about danger, love, or about anything. In their ignorance, they were safe, or at the very least, they had the freedom to enjoy the most basic part of life. I could see the beauty in the simplicity of their lives.
Suddenly, a truck’s headlights shone in the distance down the dirt road. The vehicle was heading toward the church. My heart pounded at the sight. I hadn’t seen more than one or two vehicles on that lonely road since we had arrived. Something wasn’t right. I sprinted over to the field with the children and started to gather them.
“Entrar, entrar.” Which meant, ‘get inside.’ They all hurried to the church and inside. I approached the truck pulling into the parking lot.
Chapter 22 - Chelsea
ALL THE CHILDREN CAME BARRELING through the door and into the church. When I didn’t see Jax come in behind them, I knew something was wrong. I hurried over to the adults who were speaking with the kids to find out what was going on.
One of the women turned to me. “There was a truck pulling into the parking lot and Jax sent the kids inside.”
I headed for the door to investigate.
As I grabbed onto the door handle, one of Jonathan’s hands caught my wrist. Turning to him, I furrowed my eyebrows. I pulled my wrist away from him. “I’m going to see what’s going on out there!”
“Don’t go. You know you shouldn’t.”
“I need to see what’s going on! Jax is out there!” Turning away from Jonathan, I was about to go out, but Rick caught the door and slammed it shut.
I took a step back.
“The men out there have guns, Chelsea.” Rick’s words were firm. Glancing toward the hallway that led down to Pastor Jose’s office where the camera feeds were set up, he looked back at me again. “I saw it on the surveillance feeds.”
Worry slashed through my mind. Jax was in trouble. If I couldn’t go outside, I’d watch. I quickly made my way to Pastor Jose’s office. As I opened up the office door, Jonathan and Rick arrived behind me. We all walked in.
There on the upper left television screen, I could see Jax. He was standing there talking to a local in Spanish. The two of them conversed in front of a beaten up pickup truck while two other men in the bed of the truck had guns pointed at Jax. I prayed. Keep him safe, Lord, please!
My lips trembled as my fears were being played out on a five-by-five screen. Glancing around the office, I looked for a way out. I needed to help Jax. Rick’s voice brought my thoughts back to the group.
“The police should be on their way,” Rick said. Valorie walked into the room and we hugged, crying on one another’s shoulders. If anything happened to Jax, I’d never be able to forgive myself. We all gathered together in the pastor’s office and began to pray over Jax and his safety in the situation that was unfolding outside the church.
Chapter 23 - Jax
THIS GUY WAS A COWARD. That much I knew. He had to have his boys come along for the ride and disrespect me by pointing AK-47s right at my chest. A real criminal mind wouldn’t have made such a spectacle. They would have been discreet or killed me right on the spot. No, they were after something more.
“I’ll say it one more time,” I said through my teeth in Spanish. The middle-aged Hispanic man shut his yapping jaws so I could speak. “Your cousin was getting a little too friendly with children. I was protecting the innocent.” My eyes peered over his shoulder at the men with the guns and then back at the man in front of me. “I’m sure a guy like you has children.”
“Yes, two daughters. Fourteen and nine.”
I nodded. “How would you feel if some twenty-year-old was sniffing around them?”
He was quiet, his jaw clenching as his eyes appeared to be filled with anger. He snapped his fingers and said, “Abajo,” which means ‘down’ in Spanish.
They lowered their guns. As the weapons lowered, my heartbeat headed toward a slower, more normal pace. The man took a step closer to me and right up into my face.
Click.
A butterfly knife came out from his side and up to my face. The cold steel of the blade pressed against my cheek, and he said, “No te metas con mi familia de nuevo.” In Spanish, it means, ‘don’t mess with my family again.’
Suddenly, Chelsea fell out the side door of the church and down the steps.
Seeing her caused a rippling wave of uneasiness to cascade across my entire being. She shouldn’t have come out.
Running over to her, I helped her up from the rocks. The man I had been talking to approached the two of us with a grin on his face as he did. He looked Chelsea over from head to toe as if she were some sort of commodity.
“This your girl?” he asked, raising his eyebrows as he did.
Shaking my head, I stepped forward between him and her. “She’s nobody.”
He licked his lips and then shook his pointer finger at me as he nodded. “You’re lying to me, Amigo. I will keep this in mind.”
My steps jolted forward at him out of impulse.
He brought the butterfly knife back up to my face, the blade an inch from my eye. “Stay back.”
He got into his truck and they left.
When they were far enough down the road, I turned to Chelsea.
Grabbing her arms forcefully, I shook my head. “What were you thinking? You could’ve been hurt.”
“I couldn’t let him kill you, Jax!”
Releasing her, I felt my heart in a weakened state as I knew they had something on me now. “He wasn’t going to kill me. Now, you’re in more danger than ever.”
Police sirens sounded in the distance. I couldn’t speak another word to her right now. She had willingly put herself in harm’s way and now the situation was more dangerous than ever.
Chapter 24 - Chelsea
SLEEP WAS A BATTLE THROUGHOUT the night. Flashes of Jax on that screen with those men came floating to the surface of my thoughts over and over again, torturing me. I rolled over and twisted myself up in my blankets several times. By one o’clock the next morning, I was giving serious consideration to the notion of not going to the park. Jax assured me we would still go, but we’d have to be careful. I think he was only letting me go because of his feelings for me. Maybe canceling it all wasn’t a bad idea. Everything was becoming a major concern.
Sitting up on my air mattress, I looked over at Jax. He insisted on sleeping closer to me after what had transpired outside. I saw he was asleep.
Getting up, I went to use the restroom.
Coming out of the bathroom a few minutes later, I was startled when Jax was standing in the hallway. He was resting his back against the wall. The moonlight shone in from the windows of the church and revealed only part of his figure.
“Hey,” he said, releasing himself from the wall as he came close. In a gentle voice, as he touched my side, he asked, “You okay?”
I sighed, my gaze trying to find his eyes in the low light of the hallway. “I just thought this mission trip was going to be nice. No issues. Now it’s turning into this crazy thing with guns, stress … among other things.”
Coming closer, he lifted my chin with his index finger, then kissed my lips ever so softly. My worries melted away into the backdrop of my mind. His lips finding mine brought a comforting protection within my whole body. The warmth started from his lips on mine and went all the way down to my toes. Placing his hands on my hips, he moved me over to the wall. My back found the hard wall as his body pinned me, and he kissed me deeply. Soon, one of his hands found a fistful of my hair, and his lips found my earlobe a
nd then my neck. His kisses sent jolts of pleasant waves out from each kiss.
Time ceased to exist, along with all the worries that had been plaguing my mind.
There were no thoughts, just passion. No worry, just us.
Stopping, he paused and gazed into my eyes, searching. Searching for something, but I didn’t know what. Breathless and my lips moist, my soul was warmed by his affections.
Then I saw something that looked like a glimmer of uncertainty in his eyes. It was a flash, instantly there, instantly gone.
I was abruptly pulled out of the moment we were sharing.
“What’s wrong, Jax?”
He hesitated. With a sigh, he let go of me and turned to the window.
“For the first time in my life, I’m scared.”
“You just said tomorrow will be fine.”
“No. It’s not that.” He peered over at me. “It’s you. How I feel about you. I haven’t felt this way about anyone. It doesn’t feel right.”
Coming close to him, I grabbed his face with my hands and pulled him to me, kissing him. “Try to tell me that doesn’t feel right! Doesn’t feel exactly where you belong!”
“You’re right.” We kissed again. Hearing someone get up from their cot, we pulled away from each other.
“We need to get back to bed.”
Erin walked past us without much concern. We went back to our air mattresses and lay down. Rolling over on my side, I looked at Jax as he looked at me. Staring into his eyes, I was able to drift to slumber without the struggle I’d had before. His eyes were a place of comfort, safety.