Page 16 of From Hell

Mum catches me on the shoulder. “Wait, we haven’t finished talking. Come back and see me after you meet your friend. Who is it, by the way?”

“No one you know,” I mutter.

Pierre runs a hand through his thick, black hair before disappearing with my mum in tow, looking harassed.

8

LAINE

Ibegrudgingly agreed to meet Jaxon for lunch at the Ten Bells near the hospital. As I arrive, it’s early enough for fog and rain as it gently serenades the old town, so you wouldn’t think it was summer at all.

Its soft melody contrasts with the tension building inside me as each drop tinkles softly on rooftops and dances over the leadlight windows, a chill in the air mirroring the unease I feel in the pit of my stomach.

Jaxon is already inside, standing out like a sore thumb in his meticulously tailored navy blue suit, a symbol of privilege that probably cost more to have made than my monthly rent.

I trudge over in my worn Doc Martens and a homemade summer dress, depositing my soaking wet umbrella in a corner.

When our eyes meet, Jaxon raises a brow in surprise as though he didn’t expect me to turn up. I almost didn’t. There’s a pint of lager and a glass of white wine on the table in front of him. “I hope you don’t mind. I took the liberty,” he says, gesturing to the wine. “I’ve just finished an overnight shift.”

Suppressing my annoyance at him doing just that, I respond, “Not at all,” and settle into the chair across from him. I grasp the pint glass and take a sip.

It’s warm.Ale.

I resist the urge to make a funny face.

Jaxon’s eyes narrow slightly, a hint of challenge in his gaze. He lifts the glass of wine and teases, “You didn’t strike me as—”

“A girl who enjoys beer?” I retort, a spark of defiance in my tone.

“I was going to say, someone who drinks in the middle of the day.” He lifts his glass of wine. “I ordered you a sparkling elderflower. You never used to drink?”

“Oh. Well, it’s my day off,” I shrug, taking an even bigger mouthful of the warm ale. Jaxon can have the elderflower while I get drunk on one pint. He shouldn’t assume I’m the same girl I was before.

Jaxon’s eyes seem to glint with amusement as he leans back in his chair and considers me, although that could be a reflection of the bar’s brass fittings we’re sitting next to.

The smell of hops and stale beer wraps around me like an old coat. Even though I work in a different, busier pub, The Flower and Dean, I come to the Ten Bells to sit and read. I like the big, comfy armchairs beside the roaring fire, surrounded by the patrons’ murmurs and the safety of everyone around me. That’s why I suggested it instead of the newly minted, fancy wine bar a few doors down. That and I expected Jaxon to be out of his element.

But he’s nothing of the sort. He looks quite at home with one ankle resting on the knee of the other leg, a glass of elderflower in his hands as though it’s an expensive vintage. As he looks over his shoulder, he catches the eye of the younger barman with the waistcoat and shirt.

“Miles, the usual, please.”

Miles nods as he finishes cleaning a glass, putting it away. “No problem, Jax. Be right over.”

I narrow my gaze. “You know him?”

“I come here a lot.”

“To the dingy local on the corner?”

Jaxon smirks, finishing the elderflower in one go. “I like the ambiance. I came here a lot as a student.”

Jaxon slumming with the locals was never something I ever imagined. Ever.

I chew my lower lip and sip my pint, wincing at the forgotten taste. I’m a gin girl, really.

“So. You disapprove of me donating my time for medical humanitarian action?” His voice is whiskey-smooth. “Elaine?”

Fuck my heart.In response, the organ responsible for my life lurches in my chest. “You—you heard me?”