Ellick "Painless"

Chapter 32- Background

Jake's POV:

I turn off the paved street onto a dirt road and drive for about a mile and a half.

Hearing Ellie's body shifting in the seat, I glance over at her. She's so beautiful. Her hair is the perfect shade of blonde and her eyes are full. She shouldn't have left me. I never even got the chance to tell her my side of the story. But none of that matters anymore.

Stopping the car, I get out and take hold of her right wrist. Dragging her across the grass and up the stairs, the door swings open and Melinda's skittish face pokes out.

"Were you followed?" Her annoying squeak of a voice splits the air.

"Of course I wasn't followed."

"Well get in! Quick! You don't know who might be watching!"

"Melinda!" I sigh annoyed. "There isn't another house around here for nearly 5 miles!"

"Just hurry!" She takes one of Ellie's legs and we thump her up the stairs and into the house.

"So. Is she single or not?" Melinda breathes out heavily. She's not the most fit person, rather overweight. Ellie isn't exactly a massive person.

"Not." My eyes travel to the woman of my heart, sprawled on the floor. Her mouth is closed and her head is tilted to the side. Blood trickles out of a few cuts on her arms and face, but I don't care.

"Oof. Sorry Jake." Melinda claps me on the back. "If only she and Jacobi had been single they'd still be alive. Oh well. So no antidote then?"

"No." I mutter and walk away. I hear her foot kick Ellie's limp body, then she thuds off to the bathroom.

In the kitchen, I sit and think about what my life has become. I never would have believed it if I told myself 10 years younger. If only I could go back those 10 years, El and I would still be together. None of this would have happened if El hadn't left me. It's all her fault. Everything. Every time something in my life goes wrong, it's her fault! If we were still together she would have stopped me from messing with the evidence in the hacking case. If she hadn't left me, she would have told me not to write to Melinda in jail.

Honestly, it's a good thing I wrote her, and an even better thing she wrote back. Both of us were so hurt and vulnerable, dumped by our soulmates. We had a common goal: get them back no matter what it took. As soon as Melinda got released we started our plan.

She still had her connections in the drug cartels, and I still had my job. We teamed up, working to get our lovers back. Jacobi was first, I tracked him down and drugged him. Once I brought him back here and administered the antidote to wake him up, we found out he had married. I left Melinda with the pleasure of determining how he died. I honestly don't even know how he was ended. All I know is that there was a lot of laughing and screaming.

After that, we worked on Ellie. I left Jacobi's body somewhere the cops would find it and would hand it over to NCIS. The job would be given to Ellie, and I would have a way in. Once I was positive they were on the case, I strode into the building cool and sure of myself, saying I was part of a joint investigation. Since Jacobi had been with the NSA, it seemed believable enough. The tricky part was figuring out how to slip her the drug, especially after seeing her personal bodyguard. Well, boyfriend, apparently. Anyway, I did it by kissing her, then wiped the poison off me. I still injected the antidote into me, just to be safe. Fortunately, Gibbs gave me my ticket out of there practically on a silver platter.

I'm really disappointed she has a boyfriend. I really don't want to kill her. Maybe I won't. I can just keep her here with me. She's practically be my girlfriend that way, having only me to talk to. Yes. That's what I'll do.

Smiling, I get up and go over to her body. Taking out the needle, I insert it into her arm and take a step back. There we go. She should be awake by the morning.

Stretching, I leave her body on the floor and head up to bed. I fall asleep, but wake up again. The clock say 1:38. I hear some rustling downstairs and the back door opens. Rolling over in bed, I hunker down. Just Melinda. She does it all the time. She goes on midnight walks, practicing her shadow sneaking for the escape into the woods she's convinced we'll have to execute. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous.