Chapter five

                                    

                                          
Elliott 
I was sitting with Jessie and her family at her Aunt's funeral. I was dressed in a black suit and tie and she was in a black, knee length dress. Her honey brown curls tumbled down her shoulders. I left Macy in her daycare for the day. I didn't want her around this and Jessie agreed with me.
Her family were eyeing us, questioning each other who I was. A toddler made her way over to me, climbing in my lap. She curls up in my lap with her head on my chest and goes to sleep. A woman across the aisle motions to the child, wondering if she was a bother and I shake my head. 
I look around the church and could easily spot undercover cops that I requested to be here. I was informed last night while everyone was asleep that Reese's father had an accomplice to her Aunt's murder. Reese's mother. I scan the people in the crowd and spot her, standing to the far left side.
Her eyes meet with mine and a sinister smirk spreads her lips. I lean forward to whisper to the cop sitting in front of me. "She's here, standing to the far left. I think she's planning to do something."
"I'm on it Elliott," he says quietly keeping his face forward. "You have your vest and gun?"
"Absolutely," I say quietly and sit back, cradling the child closer to Jessie in case I needed to shield them both. I lean in her ear and ask in a whisper, "Do you trust me?"
She nods without hesitation and doesn't question me. I kiss her temple and she rests her head on my shoulder, playing with the girl's hair. Facing forward and I look to the side as Reese's mother raises a gun in our direction. "She's got a gun," a woman sitting next to her screams.
I turn in my seat, shielding both the toddler and Jessie with my broad build. Two shots are fired. One hits me in the back and the second is followed by a body falling to the ground. "Oh my God, Anna," the woman from across the aisle screams, running over to feel my back. "Are you okay? You were shot.
"Jessie, your friend is bleeding," she chokes as I feel Jessie push me off her.
Anna is taken by her mother as I struggle out of my suit jacket. "I'm okay," I say in a soothing whisper, holding Jessie's face in my hands. "It barely went through the vest."
She slaps my shoulder and chokes in a broken sob, "Don't scare me like that, damn you Elliott."
"I'm sorry, I knew if I told you, you'd freak out like you are now. Guys, stand up," I call out and thirty officers stand up throughout the church. "I brought backup."
"I have a first aid kit," an older woman behind us says in sympathy. 
"Thank you Nana," Jessie chokes quietly. 
She slaps my hands away from undressing myself. I reach up and wipe her tears and ask quietly, "Are you experiencing any signs of..."
"No, even though I was scared, I still trusted you," she chokes quietly, meeting my eyes before returning to undo the buttons of my shirt.
She slips off my shirt and I turn around for her to dig out the bullet before removing the vest. I wince as she pulls the bullet out. The church was mostly cleared out by now as she turns me back to face her to remove my vest.
Once it was off, I found it easier to breathe. I turn to give her my back and she asks in a choked whisper, "Are you ready?"
I nod lightly and moments later I feel the burning as she cleans the small wound on my back between my shoulders. "You're like my mother," the woman holding the child from before states in a choked whisper.
"Yes," I grunt as Jessie continues to clean around the wound. "I'm Elliott, Jessie's girlfriend."
"Emma, this is Anna," she says motioning to the child in her arms.