It Was Only Ever Erin

Chapter 4 - Erin?

Jason’s P.O.V

My head was pounding, my shoulder felt like it had been kicked by a horse and I felt like I was gonna puke. The last things I remembered was the gun going off, Ollie bent over me and a woman running towards us before everything went black.

It took an unusual amount of force to pry my eyes open. Where the f**k was I? It was now daytime, the light pushing in through the curtains was illuminating a small neat bedroom. The double bed I was on was taking up pretty much all the floor space; a large, dark wood chest of drawers taking up most of the rest. Dark wood shelves were also scattered around the white walls, covered in thick, heavy looking books and green plants.

With an excruciating amount of effort, I pushed myself up in the crisp white linen sheets, so I was propped against the headboard. I looked down at my shoulder and realised I was shirtless with a clean bandage neatly wrapped around my wound. The sunlight felt like it was poking me hard in both eyes and my head was spinning. Where was I? Where was Ollie? Who patched me up? Whose room was this cause it sure as hell wasn’t any of the guys’? Too many damn questions.

Suddenly I heard footsteps coming towards the room – s**t, I had no weapon on me. Just as I was mentally readying myself for a fight, I saw a small woman coming round the corner, stopping dead when she saw me up and awake. I stared at her confused, still wincing a little from the light and the headache – then my heart stopped. Well either I was hallucinating, or Erin f*****g Blanchard was standing right in front of me. She looked different, more mature, more beautiful but thinner, cheeks a little hollow and dark circles around her eyes.

“Hey,” she said in her small soft voice. We were both frozen, just staring at each other. How was this possible? What the f**k was going on? Erin took a few tentative steps into the room. “How are you feeling?”

“Erin?” I didn’t know what else to do other than check if this was really real. She smiled and chuckled slightly, fiddling with her fingers.

“I didn’t think you’d remember me.” Was she serious? I laughed and winced as the movement jolted my head and my shoulder.

“How could I ever forget you, babe?” She sat on the edge of the bed looking down at me with concern, those eyebrows of hers knitting together. She was only wearing a pair of pyjama shorts and a grey tank top (no bra from what I could see). Her hair was loosely tied up in a messy bun and she wasn’t wearing any make up – yet she was still the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen.

“You didn’t answer the question, how are you feeling?”

“Like shit.”

“Specifics, Jason.” God, she hadn’t lost her sass.

“My head and my shoulder are aching like f**k and I feel like I may vomit all over your nice white sheets whenever I move.”

“Then you should probably stop moving” she said, smiling at me. Damn I’d missed that smile. “You’re a lucky son of a b***h you know that?” My, my, her vocabulary had improved! “Fortunately the bullet didn’t do too much damage, you stopped bleeding soon enough.”

“How the hell am I here?”

“I was in my car when I saw you get shot. I ran over and when Ollie told me your name I noticed it was you. He told me we couldn’t take you to a hospital,” she gave me a small nervous look at this, which made me wonder what exactly Ollie had told her, “so we brought you here and I bandaged you up.” At her words I thought for a few moments.

“… Dr Blanchard,” I smirked at her.

“Not quite yet,” she laughed back, “but apparently good enough to patch up a shot shoulder. I couldn’t see any fragments of bone or anything, but you can’t be sure there isn’t more damage without getting an x-ray”

“Like Ollie said, not an option.” She sighed, shaking her head and looking like she was trying incredibly hard not to roll her eyes at me.

“I'm guessing you’re not gonna tell me what happened?”

“The less you know the better. Probably whatever Ollie's already told you is too much.” I said, holding her gaze with as much authority as I could muster in her presence.

“He told me what he needed to, to make sure I brought you here and not the hospital.” I let her words sink in then a question popped into my head…

“…Why are you helping me?” She looked at me for a long moment, clearly thinking hard. Why was she helping me?

“I don't want you to get into trouble.”

“Why?” This seemed to take her aback. She shrugged and said a little louder,

“I dunno? 'Cause I'm not a b***h?”

“Erin.”

“What? Is that so hard to believe? Why would I want you in trouble?” Her volume was getting closer to a shout as she became more and more defensive – what was she not saying?

“It's not that, the question is do you wanna get yourself into trouble? 'Cause that's what's gonna happen if anyone finds out I'm here.”

“Do you want me to kick you out?”

“No, but you sho-“

“Then will you please just shut up, Jason?” she said conclusively, smacking her hands down on the bed and staring at me as though daring me to say another word. I held her gaze as a wide mile began to spread across my face “...What?”

“I've missed hearing you say my name.” I grinned. She breathed out a chuckle and shook her head as she tried and failed to stop her own smile.

At that moment Ollie walked in, half asleep and looking confused at the raised voices.

“What’s going on? You okay?” he mumbled sleepily.

“Yeah I’m good, we need to get back to the loft, we’ve got a whole load more s**t to sort out now” I sighed and pulled the covers off myself, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed as Ollie nodded and turned to leave. Erin however had other ideas, holding her hands out to stop me getting up.

“What? No! No, you can’t go, you need to rest, you’ve been shot!”

“Yes, thank you Erin, I had realised that, now move.” She did not move. She stood resolutely in front of me with her arms crossed.

“Cavanaugh, you get back in my bed right now.”

“Oof, what I would have given for you to say that to me in high school.” This time she very clearly rolled her eyes at me.

“I’m not kidding Jason, there’s a hole in your shoulder that could re-open at any minute and do way more damage than it did before, then you’re gonna have no choice but to go to a damned hospital. And I’m not gonna feel bad for you when they wheel your ass out in hand-cuffs for being an idiot.” I looked up at her, holding her defiant gaze and wanting nothing more than to grab her tiny little waist, roll myself on top of her and f**k her mercilessly. With that image in mind, I decided I could stick it out here for a few more hours.

“…Fine.”

“Jase?!”

“What do you want me to say Ollie, you heard the woman! Go back to the loft, I know you know what needs doing.”

“This isn’t the time to be acting out your high school fantasies Jase, we’ve got bigger problems now, what the hell am I gonna tell your dad when I come back with no car, no money, no merch and no you?”

“Just tell him what happened and that I’ll be back when the doctor clears me.” I said with a smirk and a wink. Probably not the best time to be testing Ollie’s resolve, but I just couldn’t help it. Ollie looked up at the ceiling and shook his head.

“f**k… fine. Keep your phone on you, I’ll call you with an update.” And with that he turned and stormed out of the room, throwing what I deemed to be an unnecessary glare at Erin and slamming the front door as he left. There was a long silence between us as we just looked at each other wondering what to do next.

“Things not going too well in the family business then, huh?” she said to me with a little coy smile. I laughed and shook my head. This girl, you really wouldn’t think it to look at her, but she has so much attitude. “You hungry?”

“I could eat.”

“I’ll look around for something you can eat with one hand, I’m sure as hell not feeding you,” she said as she turned and walked out of the room.

I sat there for a while completely still, sat on the edge of the bed and my mind reeling. Erin Blanchard – who’d have thought all it would take to see you again was for me to get shot. Well if that’s the case, load ‘em up boys!