Absolution(117)

Finally, she dried off her hands on the towel. “Can you pass me that bottle of pills?”

Obediently, he did as he was told, unable to hide the grimace as he reached for it.

Satisfied, she sat back. “Take one of those,” she said, nodding at the bottle in his hand as she handed him the bottled water to wash it down with.

“I don’t need –“

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

She could see him arguing the point in his head, but he relented and tipped a pill out into his palm, swallowing it with a gulp of water. About to hand the bottle of pills back to her, he looked at it closely, frowning. “These are prescription.”

“Yes, they are. They’re pretty good, too. It’ll take the edge off.”

She busied herself putting everything back into the first aid kit, folding the towel on her lap and putting it onto the coffee table, bloodied washcloth on top. Her shoulders ached but she daren’t let it show.

“What are these for?” he asked, indicating the bottle of pills still in his hand.

“I told you, sometimes I have back pain.”

She reached for the bottle but he held it away from her.

“Did he hurt you?” he murmured. “Let me see.”

“No, I’m fine, really.”

But he had already put the bottle of pills back on the table and turned towards her. “Show me.”

“Jack, I’m fine. You’re the one who –“

Ignoring her, he leaned forward and reached up to gently pull her sweatshirt aside. She realised it was a waste of time trying to distract him now, so she let him, a shiver running through her as his hand brushed against her neck. As he pulled the neck of her sweatshirt wider, the look on his face said it all.

“Jesus,” he whispered.

She pushed his hands away. “It’s fine.”

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered brokenly, reaching for her hands and enclosing them in his. “I don’t know what else to say. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

“What did happen? I don’t understand. What’s going on? Who were those guys?”

He blew out a long breath through his teeth and shook his head slowly. She waited patiently, taking comfort from his hands on hers and willing him to do the same.

“I made a mistake,” he said finally. “I did something stupid and then I took off. Sound familiar?”

“I still don’t understand. How can you owe ten thousand dollars?”

He tried to pull away but she held fast to his hands, begging him silently for more. He sighed heavily, his body sagging.

“Boxing.”

She stared at him, wide-eyed. “Boxing? Like, fighting?”

“Yeah.”

“But ten thousand dollars? I don’t get it.”

His eyes seemed flat suddenly, as if the light had gone out in them. “I was fighting for this guy Ben, for money. They were running a book on us, taking bets. I wasn’t supposed to win, but I did. I wasn’t thinking straight, it was the night that I found out about Dad, and Callum called… and I guess my mind wasn’t on the fight. I knew I was in trouble, but I figured I’d be safe if I left – no one knew how to find me.” He let go of her hand, grimacing. “Or so I thought, anyway.”

Her mind spun in circles, a million miles an hour. “Fighting? I don’t understand any of this. This is just… it’s not you.”

He shrugged miserably.

“But why? Why would you do that?”

“I don’t expect you to understand any of this because honestly, I don’t really understand it myself,” he admitted. “All I can say is that it happened and I’m sorry it did and I’m sorry you’re involved in this – I really am. I thought that staying at Callum’s would be safe. I thought they’d gone, but apparently I was wrong.”

“What do you mean? You thought who had gone? Those guys? I thought you were staying with him because of a gas leak?”

Jack took on the look of a deer caught in the headlights.

“What’s going on? How long have you known about this?”

“When Callum came over on Sunday, he said he’d been around to the house and found this guy snooping around over there. He said he was looking for me. Callum told him he didn’t know where I was. That’s why I went over to his place – it wasn’t a gas leak Ally, and I’m sorry we lied to you. I thought it’d be best, I didn’t want you to worry. I thought I was doing the right thing. I never meant for you to get involved in any of this.”