Fallen Angel (The List #3) Read online

  Fallen Angel

  The List Series

  Book 3

  ___________________

  by N K Love

  Novel Kind of Love

  After reading Lost Angel (#1) and Dirty Angel (#2), you’re now ready to let Fallen Angel whisk you away in the penultimate part of Beth’s journey. What will become of our resident smoking hot Jax?

  All you need to delve back in, is some ‘me time’, a few fingernails for biting and some breath for hitching.

  This is the third instalment of The List Series and is followed by the fourth and final book; Always Angel.

  Fallen Angel, book three of The List Series, All Rights Reserved.

  Published by Novel Kind of Love – N K Love

  © 2016 Novel Kind of Love

  Cover design by Lauren Austin www.laustin.co

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews and teasers, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or part by any means existing without written permission from author.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  All rights reserved worldwide. This book is licensed for your personal use only. No part of this work may be sold, manipulated, or reproduced in any format without express written permission for the author, except for brief quotations embodied in or reviews.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for adult readers.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  What’s Next?

  The Author

  Acknowledgements

  The List

  Chapter One

  Friday 17th April 2015

  12:41am

  Beth

  The harsh knock on the door cracks the brief moment of silence in the kitchen, startling me even though it was totally expected. The doctor called my phone a minute ago to get the security code for the gates at the bottom of Jax’s driveway. Thank God, he’s here. Time to hand my patient over to a professional—well at least I hope he’s qualified.

  Not long ago, Jax’s morphine sufficiently laced his bloodstream, making him more comfortable. He is breathing much better and so am I… Although that certainly doesn’t detract from the fact, that this beautiful beast of a man is sitting before me, with the handle of a butterfly knife protruding out of his ribcage.

  He can see that I’m hesitant to leave him, but in a way I’m also worried about what will happen next. Until now, it’s always been just the two of us in this house. In the week that I’ve lived here there’s been no visitors, even the postman leaves the mail in the mailbox at the end of the driveway.

  It’s been our secret sanctuary.

  Jax tells me it’s okay and nods towards the front of the house. I take a deep breath. The handle of the knife shimmers under the spotlights and catches my eye. It’s like a slap in the face.

  Why am I stalling? I’ve been literally counting down the minutes for this doctor to arrive and take over. I dash out of the kitchen, run down the hallway and manhandle the front door. I clumsily fiddle with the locks, whilst cursing under my breath. I feel skittish and apprehensive about what’s to come.

  After wrestling the door open, I’m faced with the complete opposite to what I was expecting. I’m already flustered and now I’m thrown completely off guard.

  It’s a woman.

  Not just a woman, a beautiful woman. I could’ve sworn it was a man on the phone. So either she’s got a very deep voice or there’ll be somebody else with her.

  She has glossy ice blonde, shoulder length hair, framing an oval face with small blue eyes. She’s the same height as me but very slender. I’d pitch her in her early thirties. I’m kind of hoping now that she has got an incredibly deep man’s voice as I can’t seem to see anything else unattractive about her.

  “Oh—hello.”

  I manage a smile, even though I’m already catching pretty hostile vibrations from her frosty aura.

  The woman looks equally as taken aback by my presence. Although, where I was subtle with my internal appraisal, she’s pulling no punches. Blatantly dragging her eyes up and down my face and body not once but twice.

  I haven’t exactly had a spare minute to get changed—something I shall be rectifying shortly—so I’m still wearing my let’s-celebrate-my-last-night-with-a-night-full-of-sex seduction outfit; a champagne coloured night slip and black silk robe. I try to cover myself up, yanking my robe closed.

  This woman dons a bitter look of distaste that she’s not attempting to hide. Yes, she is quite the ice queen with her frosty aura, ice blonde hair and cold stare.

  “Mm-huh.”

  Oh. Is that her version of ‘hello’?

  She spreads her manicured talons across the front door and pushes it wider open, huffing loudly as she brushes past. Shit, she even smells lovely, which immediately has me thinking she’s keeping up appearances for Jax’s sake.

  Who in their right mind would take time to spray perfume and slip on killer heels at this time of night when attending somewhat of an emergency?

  “So—where is he?”

  God, this snooty stranger’s voice is as pompous as her look. Her stiff British accent sounds out of place. I think the silver spoon missed her mouth and got shoved straight up her ass.

  This woman’s fast tracking her way onto my shit list. Who the fuck is she talking to? Before I have chance to direct that question to Cruella herself, footsteps divert my attention back to the doorway.

  A mid-forties handsome silver fox, strides with purpose up the steps towards me. He’s wearing thin rimmed glasses and a lovely warm smile. He looks smart and friendly, completely unlike his bitchy companion. Thank goodness he doesn’t seem to share the same animosity towards me as Cruella does.

  It looks as though he’s the doctor. Carrying a case with another large leather bag slung over his shoulder. When he reaches me in the doorway, I still have my arms protectively folded across my chest. He disregards my wary body language and leans in, taking hold of my elbow to kiss me on the cheek. The warmth of his face matches his smile.

  “Don’t mind Carmel.” There’s the deep voice I recognise from the phone calls. Guiding me by my elbow he turns us into the house. “She’s just worried about him. Don’t take it personal sweetheart. I’m Jack by the way, and you are—”

  “Hi Jack.” I close and lock the front door behind us. When I turn to face the room, I realise Cruella is nowhere to be seen. I guess she would’ve just followed the blood to the kitchen. “I’m Bethany and right now, being offended by a stranger is the least of my worries. Come on. As you can see, he’s through here. Thank you so much for coming.”

  I just want to get Jax seen to. I’m in no mood to pussyfoot around anybody. But I’m also fully aware that under normal circumstanc
es this bitch in here would totally intimidate me. Tonight though, if I need to call on her, Miss Fierce is lurking nearby finger snapping her way into a frenzy already.

  Jack and I walk briskly through to the kitchen and find Carmel practically straddling Jax—okay, slight exaggeration—she’s embracing him as best she can. I wish I’d bandaged his whole chest up now, and his face.

  Jax is keeping his hands resting on his knees and makes no effort to reciprocate her obvious attempt at affection. Glancing over her shoulder as Jack and I enter the room, she bends to crouch down in-between his legs with her hands purposely spread over the tops of his knees.

  This move alone is enough to stop me in my tracks and she knows it.

  Is she fucking kidding me? She whispers to him about something and I notice Jax tense up. It doesn’t look as though she even picks up on that—but I do. I notice everything about his remarkable body, no matter how micro the movement may be.

  They’re talking discreetly and as Jack walks over, I feel as though I’m hovering in the doorway—like I’m the odd one out.

  Nevermind the green-eyed monster, I feel like a red-eyed bitch. My blood is boiling. I want her to get her dainty little, perfectly manicured hands off him. He needs the doctor not a blowjob, which she looks like she’d be eager to perform should the doctor suggest it.

  This is ridiculous. I’m being ridiculous. He is not my man!

  Jack chats to him whilst setting out his things on the work surface nearby. He ushers Carmel out of the way so he can set to work assessing the damage. I hear him ask Jax how big the blade was and smile inside recollecting asking him the same thing—albeit in a much less controlled tone. Okay, I was practically screaming at him by that point but I managed to get my shit together in the end.

  The men exchange pleasantries whilst Jack checks him over thoroughly. It’s actually interesting to observe. I can sense a familiarity between them in the way they interact with each other. Jax’s eyes are no longer guarded. I detect a bromance of sorts.

  All this time I can feel the cold stares coming from Carmel as she studies me from across the room. She stands beside Jax, holding onto the back of his chair as though she’s somehow claiming him. Metaphorically digging her claws into him whilst throwing daggers at me. I’m very aware of her but I avoid making eye contact. I don’t want to let her know how much her presence is bothering me.

  Jack is now rifling around in his bag and case muttering to himself. I’m not sure whether Jax senses the tension in the air or maybe he’s just remembered I exist, but he glances over to me and introduces us.

  “Beth, this is Jack and Carmel, friends of mine.”

  Whatever Jax. Something’s telling me you’ve clearly fucked her and probably will again thanks to this little impromptu reunion. God, I feel nauseous. Since when did I become the jealous type?

  Since you found out your husband cheated on you… Since you tripped over and accidentally fell in love with Jax…

  Hmm, yes. I guess there’s always that.

  Jack said Carmel’s concerned about Jax. I shouldn’t be so irrational. It’s nice to know he has people that care about him.

  Liar.

  “Yes, Jack had the manners to introduce himself to me already thanks.”

  Whoops, looks like that nausea has evolved into verbal diarrhoea. .

  I smile sweetly at Jack, who winks at me before turning his attention back to Jax. I don’t look at Jax directly but I see his chiselled jawline clench. I quickly beat feisty Miss Fierce away with a stick and choose to ignore Carmel altogether to avoid any more of my uncharacteristically catty comments.

  “Did you administer the morphine?” Jax shakes his head and nods over towards me. I see his stern face relax into a smile, making my knees inappropriately respond. “And did you do all of this as well Bethany?”

  He gestures to the bandages and stitches whilst eyeing me with a curious suspicion, or maybe disbelief. I hope I haven’t messed up.

  “Yes, sorry. I tried. I mean, I really hope I did the right thing—”

  My feet finally become unstuck and I make a move towards the fridge not liking the spotlight on me.

  “You certainly did Bethany, and what a great job you’ve done, well done. I’m sure it must’ve been a very daunting experience for you sweetheart.”

  I’m glad my face is now in the fridge, hiding the immaturity of my blush. I swiftly dismiss his compliments whilst taking a bottle of water out and turn back to face them.

  Only one pair of eyes is boring into me and they belong to my wounded gladiator. The swelling on his left eye has given him a mere slither to look through. Carmel is searching through her bag for something whilst tapping away on the screen of her phone. Jack is taking Jax’s blood pressure and checking on the bandages.

  But Jax, Jax is virtually undressing me with his eyes—or rather, eye. I know his face so well. I must’ve studied every expression. That morphine is clearly still going strong. My cheeks are still flush from Jack’s comments. My robe has slipped open whilst I was in the fridge and the chill has rocketed my nipples, which are drastically pressing through the fabric of my night slip. With his back to me, Jack shuffles across to get a closer look at the wound, breaking our connection.

  It gives me a second to try and shake off the completely inappropriate Jax Effect.

  “Well Jax, you’re certainly a lucky man to have such a stunning and clearly capable woman waiting for you when you got home tonight.” He looks over his shoulder and smirks at me mischievously. I know he’s goading Jax. A favourite hobby of mine also. Jack is a man after my own heart. “Mmm. Yes, very beautiful indeed.”

  Feeling exposed I tug my robe together again, shaking my head at Jack chidingly but I’m also smirking. Jax’s gruff, firm voice comes from behind Jack.

  “Do you wanna take your eyes off my girl and concentrate on getting this fucker out of me huh Jack?”

  The teenager with a crush inside of me instantly melts on the spot. He said ‘my girl’.

  “I suppose so, if I have to.”

  We’re both still smirking but inside I’m squealing and skipping around the room like a lunatic. I hide my amusement and walk over to Jax with more confidence now. Unscrewing the top off the bottle, I hand him the water with the intention of retreating upstairs to get changed. But he takes hold of my hand to keep me here. I admit, I’m relieved. I don’t even need to look over at Carmel to know that the look on her face is priceless.

  Jack is deftly seeing to Jax. He makes notes on his tablet and looks to be setting up an intravenous drip. I’ll feel much better when he actually removes the knife and stitches him up. Perhaps I should clarify the situation with Jack for some reassurance.

  “I take it from your frivolous approach that he’s out of the danger-zone then? When you remove that thing, he’s not going to bleed to death or anything?”

  “Thanks for the positive vibes B.”

  Jax laces his fingers with mine and squeezes. I know he’s joking—he’s not worried. He knows that I’m asking for my peace of mind. I squeeze his hand back and shrug.

  “What? I’m just making sure—”

  “Bethany, he’s going to be absolutely fine and thanks to you, he’s sitting here pain-free. More importantly, you’ve kept him sterile, which is all I could’ve asked of you and more. Trust me, I’m anything but frivolous—”

  “B, he’s the best, don’t worry.”

  “It is well known that I’m very good with my hands—”

  Jack is relentless. He is brilliant.

  “Is it well known that you’re incorrigible too? If Jax says you’re the best, then that’s good enough for me. So unless you need me to do anything, I think it’s best I get out of your way and let your ‘very good’ hands do their thing.”

  “Ah yes Poppet, what a good idea.” Carmel pipes up, sneering at me from behind Jax, fluttering her spider-like, fake eyelashes. “I will see you out.”

  “No, thanks Carmel, she stays here.”

/>   Jax tightens his grip, frowns at me and takes a sip of his water. This girl’s something else.

  “Fine.”

  Waving her hand dismissing the subject, she says it as though she’s conceding, like she has a say in the matter. Surely Jax can feel the tension coursing through my rigid body. Why is she making things awkward, especially under these circumstances? She’s surely not threatened by me.

  Jax nods his chin upwards, silently asking if I’m okay. He can barely see out of his left eye but that doesn’t stop us from having our own private, silent conversation.

  Carmel is busying herself shaking pills out of a small brown bottle. She puts the bottle in her bag and throws her palm to her open glossy lips. Reaching over she takes the bottle of water from Jax and takes a swig from it, rinsing her pills down.

  “Thanks Sweetie.”