Chapter 7
Welcome To the Dark Side
They made arrangements and he gave directions to the Red Door Saloon. They agreed to meet there within 20 minutes. She hurried out of the office unnoticed. She didn't want anything to delay her quest for the ultimate. The full attention of Jason Morgan for maybe an hour would be heaven. She could feel herself become wet just thinking about his eyes. They were so intense.
She had noticed him last night at the bar. It also didn't go unnoticed that he stared at her the entire two hours he was there. He stayed for the rest of the show and she intended to go introduce herself but the band was leaving and they never left her alone. Since she knew she was coming back in two weeks, she hoped she would see him there again. As beautiful as Elizabeth was, she had never captured the attention of a man quite like Jason Morgan. Tough, rugged, quiet, brooding, intense and… "HOT!" she sighed. Running into a rock hard chest meant he must work out regularly. He kept his hair short on top except for his bangs which he kept slightly longer but styled them to stand straight and stiff away from his face. His face….his beautiful face. Full sensual lips, strong high cheekbones. Slightly small ears and clean shaven. A slight nose with a little crook or dimple on the end. One dimpled cheek and then there were his eyes. If you have ever seen the ocean in Pensacola Beach after a storm, that was the color blue.
As she drove to her destination, she focused in on all the heightened awareness she felt in Jason's presence. He wore a strong scent that wasn't so strong that it would choke you or even rub off on you. It was a combination of Grey Flannel or Drakkar and….and?...coffee? She giggled at the thought. It made sense because she knew from Jimmy that he was the Morgan in Corinthos-Morgan Coffee Imports.
As she pulled into the parking lot of the quaint little bar, she noticed quite a few motorcycles. Had he sent her to a biker bar? She knew through the Legion Riders association that bikers were generally everyday people that liked to ride. The biggest and scariest were usually the gentlest teddy bears you could know.
It didn't escape her thoughts that she wasn't sure how to take the fact that he had invited her to this type of establishment. What did he think of her? Did he think she was easy? Trashy? Unworthy of the more high end after work establishments? Well he didn't know her at all. Then again, he didn't look like the Applebee's type himself.
Back in her day, yes. She was easy and trashy and drawn to the seedier parts of town. However, she was raised upper middle class, had a good education and a respectable background and breeding. Being the daughter of a CPA and a business manager with one of the largest insurance firms in the country, she grew up wanting for nothing. She was spoiled but not rotten. She and her only sister Sarah, who was seven years older, had a wonderful childhood full of love.
Elizabeth sat in her car thinking of her family. They were all spread out now. Her sister and three children lived in Atlanta. Her mother had retired. She and her husband of 12 years, Bob, had moved to Pensacola to live out their golden years. Her father was still in town with his wife of nearly 20 years but she never saw him as much after her parents divorced 25 years ago.
"Daddy" she sighed as she let out a deep cleansing breath. At first she was a teenager and he simply didn't know what to do with a teenaged girl. Then Elizabeth went to college and started drinking, smoking and singing in a rock band. Although he would never say it to her face, he had hoped for more and was slightly disappointed and knowing him embarrassed at his youngest child, the one he felt had the most potential. She should have been a doctor or a lawyer. She scraped by in college with the basic business degree then set out to work her way up the corporate ladder. Just like her mom. A masters or a doctorate would have afforded her an easier life. That just wasn't Elizabeth style. She never did anything the easy way.
She always used to say she was the son he wished he had. She tagged along on the golf course, never actually picking up a club but being well versed in the game. On Saturdays and Sundays they took up residence in the family room watching the football or basketball games. The only thing she refused to do was to sit and watch golf or baseball with him. BORING. She was the apple of her father's eyes. Her older sister was noticeably jealous of the father daughter love Elizabeth and her father shared. They still held a certain bond that was unbreakable. Hell, he would still give her anything she asked for at the bat of her long beautiful lashes. But as she grew older, she quit asking. The most fun times in recent years she would have with her father were when his wife was out of town. Somehow, he loosened the collar and became the father she remembered when he was still married to her mother.
Pulling her from her thoughts, she heard a light rap on her window. Jason was sitting on his bike next to her car. He got off of the bike and opened her door for her and put out a hand. She noticed how long his fingers were. She grabbed her cell phone case and cigarette pack and keys and slid out from behind the wheel of her sensible but sporty car.
"You play pool?" Jason asked still holding onto her hand much longer than necessary but also not wanting to lose the connection to her.
"Not really, I used to when I bartended back in college but I haven't played in years."
"Darts?"
"Only when I have to."
Starting to get a bit nervous and wondering if the gentle old mechanic had set him up, "Well, do you drink beer?" he asked with a pitch to his voice a little higher than he wished it to be.
"Like a sailor! Especially on a day like today!" she laughed noticing he was starting to run out of options that this bar might afford.
He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Tugging on her hand he said, "Good, come on" and led her into the small establishment.
"Oh good, the games on." Elizabeth chimed as she started walking in the opposite direction that Jason was pulling her and toward the TV above the bar.
"You like hockey?" Jason asked intrigued by the woman as he followed her to the bar and held her seat while she bounded into it.
They sat and enjoyed small talk, a couple of beers and the hockey game. He noticed the more beer she had, the more she talked and the more cigarettes she smoked. He didn't like the habit but with her it was slightly sexy. Besides, he knew she was in good health after hearing her belt out the tunes and swing on that pole last night.
She noticed him watching her cigarette. "Bad habit. I can't break it. I only smoke when I drink or the rare occasion here and there. Usually, it will take me a week to get through a whole pack but put a beer in my hand and the cigarette just seems to instinctively appear in the other one."
She noticed that no one seemed to sit next to them. "Do you own this bar?"
"No, I just come here from time to time."
"It seems as if people in here are avoiding us"
"Yeah, that happens a lot with me"
"Really, do you have some disease or something?"
"No" he laughed while pulling a swill from his beer.
"Well good, I would hope you would warn a girl." She giggled.
Suddenly feeling the dread of the day hit her, she stared down into her beer glass.
"What's wrong?" he asked sensing her mood change.
"Ron has a pregnant wife and two small kids."
"Who's Ron?"
"The guy I fired today"
"Oh, but if he has all of that why drugs?"
"I don't know. I have tried and tried with him. I even convinced the company to pay for a program for he AND his wife"
"Well then you have done all you can. He has to want to quit. At least that has been my experience."
"Did you have a problem with drugs?"
"Oh, no but my father did. He was a doctor up in Port Charles. He had hand surgery and got hooked on the pain killers. My little sister Emily had a problem for a little while too but the family rallied and she snapped back in no time."
"Do you have just the one sister?"
"Yes, I had a brother but he died a few years ago. Actually, he and I were fighting and he fell over the balcony."
Elizabeth noticed a strange change to his eyes. They grew cold and tightened like slits.
"I don't want to talk about the Quartermaines."
"Who are the Quartermaines?"
"My biological family. In 1996 my brother, AJ, was drunk and crashed one of our cars. It threw me head first into a rock and when I woke up in the hospital I didn't remember anything from my life before. My family and I never seemed to see eye to eye from then on. They wanted the Jason that I didn't remember. Only my cousin Ned my sister Emily and my Grandmother Lila could accept the change in me. The rest of the family made me feel like damaged goods." He chuckled slightly "I guess I am with the brain damage and all"
"Oh" Elizabeth whispered with her mouth remaining in the perfect o
"Sonny, Carly and the kids are more of a family to me now."
"Who's Carly, is that Sonny's wife?"
"No, not anymore but they were married. She's my best friend. She's a pain and gets into way more trouble than she can handle and always thinks she knows what's best for me but when I need her, she's always there."
"Is she the Carly that owns The Cellar?"
"Yes, Sonny and I gave her that club and attached it to our café and offices at our warehouse so that she would move down here from New York with us."
"You look like you love her." Then panic set in "ARE you in love with her?"
"No, no, no. There are ten million reasons why Carly and I could NEVER be an item. The first being her husband Jasper Jacks."
"Oh, good" she spurted with a long held breath. Then she blushed at the admission.
He placed a hand on top of hers then with the free hand spun her chair around so that she had to face him. "Hey, you wanna go for a ride?"
"I doubt it is a good idea for us to be riding around on a motorcycle after drinking."
"I only had one and then I switched to O'Doul's. You have only had three and don't seem a bit tipsy. Come on, we'll be fine."
"Wait what about my car?" she said as he grabbed her hand and starting pulling her into a standing position.
"Hmm, do you trust me?"
"Well, I don't know, can I?"
"Yes" he breathed as he looked her straight in the eyes.
"Well ok then." She said softly, wishing he would pull her into an embrace. Suddenly she felt the urge to take the upper hand. She leaned in and stood on her toes, grabbed the lapels of his worn leather jacket and pulled her lips to his.
He was shocked and then enticed by the feel of her lips on his. He stood there with his lips lightly gazing hers and decided to let her control this moment. She placed her petal soft hand on the side of his face tickling him with her nails at the hairline. She then grabbed both of his arms and wrapped them tightly around her waist. Pulling back from the kiss she cooed "Where do you want to take me?"
'FUCKING HELL!' He thought. One simple question and he cannot answer truthfully. Were he truthful he would have told her he wanted to take her to his penthouse, a motel, hell the bathroom of the seedy joint they were in. That one simple kiss and that innocent little question had him immediately stiffen in his jeans. She was pressed up against his body, her hands twined with his behind her back and staring up at him like an angel. Her hair fell over their hands and he laced a curl around his finger. He wanted to ravage the angel before him. He wanted to touch every millimeter of her skin with his mouth. He wanted to hear her scream his name in ecstasy and he pounded his cock inside her. He wanted to taste the intimate juices of her body. He wanted to know what it was like to look into those beautiful blue eyes while she fell over the edge into the bliss of orgasm.
His cell phone rang and the moment was lost.
"Morgan! Ok, yeah, I'll be there in a minute. Hey, send someone over to the Red Door to make sure Miss Webber gets home safely. DON'T SEND JOHNNY!" Then he hung up the phone.
She let go of his hands and stepped back. He quickly turned to the bar so his now completely hardened dick didn't stand out. Looking over his shoulder at her he said, "We'll have to skip the ride, I have some business to take care of."
"That's ok, I understand. You don't have to have someone drive me home though. I am fine."
"No, I would rather one of my guards make sure you get home safely so that I don't worry about you."
"Guards? Why does a coffee importer need guards"
His head dropped slightly and he quietly let out a sigh. This is the part of the date that always sends the girls running. He finds someone he wants to spend time with. They have a nice time and sometimes it works its way into two dates or three. Then she finds out what he REALLY does for a living. Like a flash of lightening in the sky, she is gone. Very few women could tough it out. The ones who could, he didn't want. Even the ones that tried ended up running before too long. Carly was the only one that stuck around longer than a year.
"Elizabeth, I lead a very dangerous life. Sonny and I own more than just the coffee business."
With a twinkle in her eye she put her finger to her nose and made it bend to the side. With her best Jersey voice she said, "You in da bizness Shugah?"
When he didn't laugh at her attempt at humor she felt a cold chill run down her spine.
"Oh" was all she could muster and she grabbed her keys and cigarettes from the bar catching a glimpse of the hurt and loneliness on his face. 'Why is he so sad?' She thought but decided not to push.
"Well then your guard will just have to make sure me and my car get home by way of another bar 'cause I am not done drinking. If you are so worried about me, then you finish whatever it is you need to go do and join me on my side of town. I'll show you a few of my haunts and we can talk about these OTHER businesses then. K?" She said and she turned on her heel and grabbed his hand to pull him toward the door.
He snapped his hand back and she turned, surprised at the abruptness of his movement. She thought they had been having a wonderful time. Maybe she was too forward. Just then he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her back into his chest.
"I won't be able to meet you tonight and my guard won't stay with you. You aren't in any danger; I just wanted to make sure you get home ok. If you feel you are fine to drive, I'll cancel the guard and if you'll give me your phone number I can call to ease my conscience later."
"Fine with me." She purred as she untangled herself from his grasp, leaned in to plant a light kiss to his cheek and took off for the door. "Have a good night." She called back and out the door she went.
When Jason paid the tab, leaving a generous tip as always, he headed out of the Red Door and to his motorcycle. He walked with his head down. He asked for her number and she blatantly left without giving it to him. She didn't want him to have her number. As he thought about her he could not help but smile. She sure is something else. He had never met a woman quite like Elizabeth Webber. She intrigued him with so many varied layers of herself. She was coy and shy, bold and brazen, smart as a whip and sexy as hell.
As he started his bike and kicked it in gear, he noticed a small white card hooked into the handlebars. He pulled it loose and noticed a bright red puckered kiss print. He flipped it over and there it was. Elizabeth's business card…..with her cell phone number boldly printed on it.
