Disclaimer: I do not own anything Red Eye, nor do I own Damion Riesert. He is an OC of Maya Beebop
Stand in the Rain
"…She doesn't know why..."
Soft jazz music floated through the air as Mr. Carston twirled his finger in the air to the beat. He took a long, much needed, sip of his wine before he spoke to the man sitting across from him.
"So, Mr. Rippner, I hear you have had close dealing with Miss Reisert since I've been away?"
The man shrugged and leaned back into the leather couch, "That could be said."
"Then I assume you know why I'm here?"
"I figure you want the bitch back," Joseph nodded, "Then go get her, you don't need me to kidnap her for you."
"No, but I could use your help in tracking her down."
xXx
"The winds of night so softly are sighing; soon they will fly your troubles to see…"
Bethany smiled to herself as she rocked the little girl back and forth in her lap, lulling her to sleep.
"So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain, wave good bye to cares of the day… and watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain sail far away from lullaby bay…" Bethany slowly set the infant back inside her crib and backed from the room.
"I just got your niece to go to sleep, Ace, so please try and not snore to loud tonight," she teased as she made her way down the stairs.
"Don't worry, Benny, I'll try my hardest to make sure she stays asleep." Bethany smiled at the nickname,
"Good." She laughed, "I'm going to go take a shower, if Jadee calls, can you tell her I'll call her in the morning?" Ace nodded and Bethany smiled again as she turned and made her way back up the stairs.
xXx
Damion ran through his small apartment, turning over pillows, dumping out trashcans, and turning socks inside out, looking for the one thing that people usually keep out in plain site.
His phone.
To his great astonishment, it was in the last place anyone would have ever looked. It was inside his fridge behind the milk. Taking a few deep breaths to try to calm himself down, he frantically dialed the number he had committed to memory.
"Hello?"
"Hello? Hello, Ace, it's me, Damion."
"Shoot, dude, I told you not to call my home phone, what if my girl picks up?" Damion felt a surge of anger run through him,
"She is not your girl, she is my sister, and this is an emergency," the man on the other side of the phone sighed and Damion continued. "That guy, Joseph, he's loose,"
"Awe, c'mon man, you and I both know he won't be able to find her. She's dyed her hair black, changed her name," Ace said sounding a little under worried to Damion.
"This guy was obsessed with her; he would do anything to have her back. Somehow, he got it stuck in his head that Lisa could not survive without him, if he cannot track her down, he'll find someone who will."
"Look, I'll see what I can, who knows, I might even be able to agitate her much that she come running back to you begging to be free of me,"
"I'm not asking you to do that, I'm just asking you to up the security around her. Maybe check the caller ID on her phone every now and then, make sure that no one's tailing her to work in the morning. Or from work in the after noon," Damion said slowly.
"That's called stalking, Dame, and that would put me on the same level as Rippner and Joseph. I would merely be ruling over her with an iron fist and eventually she would snap, just as she did when you were nearly beaten to death." The man thought for a moment, C'mon, Damion, think of something to snap back at him!
"It's not the same as that idiot Rippner; I'm giving you permission to stalk her."
"Damion, you need to seriously rethink that statement. I am not going to stalk my fiancé even if you give me permission to do so." Damion nodded slowly, knowing that the person would never actually see it.
"I know, I understand, I do. Just please make sure that. Nothing. Happens. To her."
"Do you really think I'm about to let some thug come take Lisa away? What would make you even begin to think that I would out your sister in the kind of danger? Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Damion smiled, he was glad Lisa had found someone who was just as protective of her as he was.
"I'm sorry, Ace. Just please don't tell her about Joseph,"
"Why? Wouldn't she find out eventually?"
"Yeah, but you might want it to be later rather then sooner, no matter how good of an actress she is, that will give her nightmares. And you don't want a freaked out Lisa on your hands."
"You guys are one strange family," Ace mumbled. "But I guess I don't have to tell her, besides, what would I do? She doesn't know I know who she is."
"Okay," Damion finally said after having a moment to think this over, "I'll let you go, see ya, Ace." Damion slowly hung up the phone and set it on the counter as if it was his lifeline to his sister. In reality it was, the only time he heard about his sister was when Ace called him from a pay phone every now and then. It was about a year ago that he had first received the call from Ace. He had not talked about details such as, where they were or what name Lisa was going by.
It was then that Ace had given him his phone,
"Don't call me unless it's a real emergency, she would kill me if she found out that I was in contact with you."
Damion took a deep breath before he slowly began to make his way towards his room.
xXx
"Who was that, Ace?"
Ace looked up to see Lisa peeking around the corner of their living room. Her black hair was now wet and in a messy ponytail.
"No one, just someone from work." She did not seem to believe this though and made her way towards him.
"You're hiding something, what is it?" she said placing a hand on his cheek.
He looked down at her; he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her everything; he wanted to tell her about the phone call he made a year ago. He wanted to tell her about the phone call he had just gotten, but most of, he wanted hold her close and not let anyone touch her again.
"It's nothing sweetie, I'm just tired, okay?"
Her eyes filled up with worry and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You're still hiding something, but I won't push it," she said breaking her embrace to look into his eyes. "Just, please, if it's important, just tell me?" she asked, Ace nodded and tried to avoid her concerned gaze.
"I promise I will, but, really, there's nothing going on here, okay?" Lisa gave him a half smile and shrugged.
"I don't believe you," she said quietly, "But as I said, I'm not going to push it." She turned and made her way back up the stairs, "Don't stay up to late, Ace," she called over her shoulder.
He nodded, this is going to be harder then I thought.
xXx
Jackson slowly finished reading the paper that sat in his lap over the top rim of his coffee cup. Sitting around him, in his dark corner of his bar, was various pictures of Lisa at her father's funeral five years ago. In many of them, Lisa was merely staring straight ahead or at the casket/Gravestone. He felt an odd sense of anger wash over him when he came across a picture of Damion sitting in his wheel chair next to her. Damion Reisert had shown some emotion, though it was very little, in some of the pictures, he was trying to coax Lisa to show some true emotions.
However, she would merely look away and ignore her younger brother.
Jackson set down his coffee cup and collected his pictures, sliding them into a yellow envelope, he stood from the booth; he walked to the counter and paid, winking at the waitress as he left.
"You mean you wish it were neither of us, right? You don't mean-…"
Rippner smirked as he recalled the certain conversation between the two siblings. He had been right outside of the room and heard everything that happened, from Lisa's crying, to Damion's accusation of Stockholm syndrome.
"I would not wish my own problems or their consequences on anyone, least of all my own family. I love you, Damion, and I would never want you hurt, especially this badly."
Jackson climbed into his black hummer and gunned the engine, deep in thought. Lisa had done a very good job of falling from the face of the earth after her father's funeral, but no matter how good she was, Rippner was better. Then again, that was true with everyone; Jackson Rippner was just the best at what he did. Moreover, he knew it. His old boss had even told him that he seemed to be cocky. He had a right to be though, no mater what, or whom; he always got what he wanted. Even though sometimes it took a little while for him to receive, he always did.
This time would be no different.
Even if he had to beat the crud out of her brother before he found Lisa Reisert, he would.
I know this seems a little bumpy, but in the next chapter, everything settles out as the story starts getting underway.
With All Due Respect
-Nina Rippner-
