The Marvelous Elijah's Return novel Chapter 14

As the silence between them dragged on, Peach felt her anxiety growing inside her. Finally, she muttered, "You know what, forget it. I will find another way to get the money."

Her face hardened as tears settled in her eyes, and she tried walking past him, but Elijah suddenly grabbed her arms, gently pulling her to stand still in front of him.

"How?" Elijah asked, his gaze fixed on her teary eyes as she choked back her tears.

"It's none of your concern!" Peach yelled, pulling herself free from his grasp. "You have made it clear that you don't-"

"I have made nothing clear," Elijah interrupted her sharply, glaring at her heatedly. "I asked you a single damn question!"

"I don't know, okay!! I have absolutely no idea!" Peach shouted as she clenched both her fists tightly, feeling angry tears burn her cheeks and threaten to spill. "But whatever it is I need to do to help my mother, I will do it!"

"What's going on here?" James asked as he, Matt, Ryan, and Rookie walked towards them with a frown plastered on their faces.

Not saying a word, Elijah stared at Peach's wet face, and he slowly breathed, his face becoming serious as his eyebrows drew together.

Then he signed, turned to gaze at his men, and said, "We are staying here until indefinite!"

Those words shocked Matt along with the rest, and neither of them knew how to react. They just stayed there, waiting and watching Elijah's face as they tried to figure out what was going on in his mind and why he seemed so calm and collected all of a sudden.

But he suddenly pushed past them and headed for his room, leaving them looking behind him with wide eyes.

Slowly turning their focus back on Peach, they all stared in awe until James asked, "What happened between you and Elijah?"

Chewing on her lower lip, Peach closed her eyes for a few seconds as though she was struggling to find the right words to say, and eventually, she opened her eyes and said, "I offer him a deal, and I think he just agreed."

With a weak smile, she sighed in relief and walked away.

Once she reached her room, Peach closed the door, laid down in bed, and cried herself to sleep with a heavy heart.

As the door to his bedroom opened, Elijah's eyes darted towards James and he scowled, focusing back on the ceiling, annoyed and yet confused.

"You agreed to let us stay here?" James asked with uncertainty laced in his tone.

Then he sat on the bed, keeping his questions as thoughts and not saying a thing as he waited for a response, but all he heard was silence.

"Well...?" James prompted as he stared at Elijah, who kept looking up as he thought about something.

Finally, after a couple of minutes passed, Elijah finally answered, "I did. It's clear she can't afford the hospital bills, so she offered for us to stay here for twenty thousand dollars."

"We spent fifty dollars for each room in just one night, so we are spending two months-plus now?" James asked with a smile, trying to lighten the situation.

But his words were followed by a tense silence between them, and after a moment, James continued, "She and her mother are not Melina, Elijah."

"That doesn't change much, James, and honestly, I don't care if Peach is the same as Melina... But you were right... I have a mother, if the role was reversed, I would want someone to help. This is the only reason I agreed," Elijah said as he leaned back and closed his eyes.

James remained silent, staring at him with a sad expression as his eyes focused on every feature of Elijah's face, and then he said, "Even if that's the case, I am glad we stayed."

"You really like these strangers, don't you?" Elijah asked with a sigh, but his words didn't hold any anger or resentment.

"Well, they are nice folks and-"

"Don't learn to trust so easily, James. It will fuck you up and make you look like an idiot," Elijah warned. "They aren't worth our trust."

At this, James' eyes widened, but he simply stood from the bed and left the room without another word.

Tossing on her bed, Peach's fingers dug into the sheet as tears rolled from the corner of her eyes, and then she shouted, "Mama!!"

Sweat dripping down her forehead, Peach jumped from her sleep, panting heavily as her chest rose and fell rapidly.

immediately, her room door opened with Ryan and Matt rushing inside, only to stop when she stared at them.

"You screamed and we thought..." Ryan said but then trailed off, clearly concerned.

Swallowing hard, Peach took a deep breath and blurted, "Would you mind going to the hospital with me after we are done here?"

"Why?" Elijah asked in confusion, completely thrown off guard by the request.

"Because..." She hesitated, looking around nervously as she thought through how she could word what she wanted to say. "If I tell my mother that I got the money to pay for her hospital bill, she wouldn't believe me or worry that I did something illegal..."

Meeting his steady gaze, Peach weakly smiled and mumbled, "I just need you to assure her about our deal, so she wouldn't worry and stress over how I got such a huge sum of money."

From how unreadable Elijah's expression was his men didn't know what to expect from him, but he was silent for what seemed like forever as he held eye contact with Peach.

Finally, Elijah broke his gaze, picked up his glass of water, and then drained it in one gulp. Then he set his glass down and nodded his head.

"Fine," Elijah spoke softly, almost too quietly for them to hear him.

And yet, all of them let out a sigh of relief, relaxing their shoulders and exhaling deeply.

Confused, Elijah gazed around at them, wondering what all of them were thinking to have such an immediate response and reaction like that.

As time went by and they finished the rest of the food on their plate, the dining hall went quiet except for some soft chatter and clinking noises coming from utensils.

Standing up, Elijah grabbed his empty plate, but Jame quickly stood from his seat and said, "Forget about it. I will clean up here. You and Peach can go!"

With a look of reluctance on his face, Elijah hesitantly glanced at Peach and then asked, "Are you sure? If you want me to"

"Go, go," James insisted with a reassuring smile. "Go on, have fun."

A frown crossed Elijah's face, and he walked away from the table, his hands stuck in his pockets, but Peach was right behind him.

'We have never met until yesterday, so why are you so cold and angry towards me? Huh? Did I commit any sin against you in our past life?' Peach thought, pouting as she kept pace with Elijah.