(Tuesday, October 04, 2011)
"Annie?"
A playful smile spread across her lips. "Brandy?" She offered seductively as she held the drink in her outstretched hand.
I'm dead! JR was sure of it.
He felt unsteady on his feet, and he was sure it was because his pounding heartbeat was shaking the plane. Setting his jaw, JR, looked at her cautiously before calling out, "Mark!" He managed to keep his voice even.
The pilot quickly appeared at the door of the cockpit, "Yes, Mr. Chandler?"
"What-" Barely biting back the profanity that threatened to roll off his tongue, "-is going on?"
"Excuse me, Sir?" The pilot's lack of an immediate answer was beginning to anger JR severely.
JR, intensifying his stare, hoping to bring gravity to his question, tipped his head, as to gesture towards Annie without her noticing.
A worried and confused expression came over the pilot, who feared he may have made a terrible mistake. "I'm sorry, Sir, but Mrs. Chandler was always your favorite passenger, so when she asked to come aboard, I assumed you were
expecting her?"
JR had to contemplate possible avenues away from this most immediate danger. But he was running out of time. "Right. Thank you for handling that for me. Just get us in the air now."
"Yes, Sir."
The blood pulsing through JR's skull, made his head throb. Closing his eyes and letting out a long, shaky sigh, he lifted the whiskey to his lips and let it coarse its way to his nerves.
Think, JR, think… Damn it! I blew it! I was so close! It's all over! Everything was working perfectly. Now it's gone! I'm dead!
Easy, easy, don't think like that… you can still do this; you just have to keep your head. Damn it, what does she know? I can't go to prison. I won't loose now! I'm come this far! I have to fix this. How?
I - I'll have to get rid of her! We can take off and I'll just get rid of her. But how? One more wouldn't be so bad, I've already taken down Erica, Marissa and Bianca. It'll be easy.
"Well, aren't you glad to see me?" Lowering the bottle, he turned to her voice. There was a look of intent in her eyes that only added to the burning hole developing in his gut.
Just keep it smooth, JR. You've played her before.
"Of course." JR insisted. "I just wasn't expecting you."
"I thought you liked it when I was spontaneous? It always lit your fire before?" She teased.
JR straightened his posture and let his signature playboy grin spread over his features. Making his way to the sofa, he slid himself tight against her, letting his hand slink around her waist.
She responded immediately, using her free hand to take hold of his shoulder and pull herself flush against him.
JR gave her a long and full kiss. Her hand pulling him into it by the back of his neck, her fingers with manicured nails - painted in bold red - gently fanned into his hair, both of them pulsing with the excitement of their forbidden affair, once put on hold, now awakened with deep passion and lust again.
"Wait a minute, Annie. How did you get out of Oak Haven? He waited a moment for her response and when none came he continued. "You didn't escape again? Another fire?"
"No, no, no, JR. No fire this time. I'm much, more clever than Janet. I just waited until opportunity knocked and then I answered."
"What is that suppose to mean?" Said JR, exhausted by the thought of her long story before she even started with her explanation.
"I was sitting in the sunroom with Marion, we were reading and chatting with each other, when all of the sudden Scott comes barreling through the front doors. At first he was babbling on about his dad being alive and my first thought was, 'keep up that kind of talk, Scott, and they'll find a place for you here too!' but, then he handed the Head Administrator a letter from the Governor. The Governor? It never ceases to amaze me, the powers of, "The Great Adam Chandler!"
"Can you give it a rest, Annie? Just get to the damn point!" JR raises his voice, "The last thing I want to hear from you, or anyone else, is how great my father is!" He then pulls another long drink from the whiskey bottle and tries to straighten the angry lines on his face.
"JR! What the hell is wrong with you?"
He took a deep breath as the whiskey soothed him, "I'm sorry. It has been a very long day! I am sorry, baby. Maybe I've just had too much, or maybe not enough, to drink tonight. Go on with your story."
"Okay." She jumps a quick kiss on his cheek and continues her story, "Well, once we figured out that Scott was on the level and that Stuart was really alive – can you believe that JR? Stuart -"
"—what? My uncle Stuart? You mean it is true? He really is alive?"
"Yes, JR. Didn't you know that?" She sees at the shock and amazement on his face. "You really didn't know did you? Well, it is true. I saw him with my own eyes at Pine Valley Hospital, just this afternoon."
JR puts his head down for a moment, with remorse weighing on his thoughts. Oh, Mom, you were telling me the truth, weren't you?
"David?" he asks her.
"Yep. David. He did it again." she replies.
"Okay, Annie, so I'm getting the picture now. You snuck out with Scott and Marion?"
"Right. They were so busy clearing the paperwork from the Governor for, Mrs. Stuart Chandler, that I just found the opportunity – when Scott was hugging Marion and gushing about his dad – and reminded the staff that I too, am a, Mrs. Chandler.
The only guard that would know the whole story about me is sweet on Janet and she was so gracious to keep him busy – if you know what I mean – so I just got my papers stamped and headed out the door as fast as my legs could carry me, without raising any suspicions.
At first I didn't know how I was going to get off the grounds of Oak Haven, but when I saw that Scott had driven his old work van. I just slipped into the back under some paint cloths that he had back there and rode right to Pine Valley Hospital with him and Marion."
"You're a genius!" JR said, genuinely amazed.
"I know I am. I told you I'm much more clever then all of them. So, I'm out, but I'm not sure how free I am. I mean, a signed release from the Governor is great, but how long before someone on the outside – who knows I'm not supposed to really be out – gives me up. Then the Governor and the whole damned country will demand that I be locked back up?"
"Yes, you're right. It will only be a matter of time before they figure it out."
"Well, I'm thinking that nobody at Oak Haven will be the wiser, but just wait until that bitch Marissa, or green-with-envy Greenlee, or Pine Valley's very own white knight, Ryan, blows his damned whistle, draws his sword and back in the rubber room I'd go again!"
"So are you saying that nobody else, outside of Oak Haven, knows that you're free?" JR carefully question.
"Nope! Just You, Mark and Me. I was very careful not to be seen by anybody. Even at the hospital I pretended to be a doctor with one of those suffocating masks. When I heard Scott tell Marion that you were leaving town for good, I nearly panicked. Last time I escaped from Oak Haven, I realized that Emma is much better off with Ryan. It will always be my greatest regret, taking her with me last time." She hangs her head in shame and a lone tear raced down her cheek. "She has been seeing a good doctor and is doing very well with Ryan. In spite of Greenlee." Annie lifts her head, and that familiar gleam returns to her eyes as wipes her face with both hands and says, "And, it seems I'm not the only one, who's not playing by the rules?"
JR's breath hitches in his throat, "What do you mean?"
"I was afraid I shouldn't drink in front of you, but it seems," She glanced at the bottle in his hand, "that it's no longer a problem?"
"Yeah, well. I'm making my own rules now." he replies with relief as he takes another drink from the bottle.
"So, that's why I decided that I had to find you." Annie continues, "If you were leaving town, I sure wasn't going to let you go alone. You always said that we'd be together right, JR?
She pauses and waits for his answer, to which he quickly replies, "Well of course! I'm just so shocked to see you and its been a horrible day for me! I'm very glad you're here with me. I just need to get some rest and maybe we can process all of this better after some sleep. We are in for a long plane ride so, let's just rest and not talk anymore for now. Okay?"
"Anything you want, JR."
He let the now empty bottle fall to the plush, black, carpeted floor of the jet as her fingers begin to trail down his chest, pushing through the opening in his shirt. Her eyes beckoning him to pull her closer. He obliged. He laid his lips lightly against hers. Satisfied that they had found the right spot, lips parted and his tongue moistened her now slightly opened mouth. His tongue slips inside and explores the tenderness of her mouth as his hands tighten their grip on her body. The kiss seems to go on forever as they become lost in time, in one another and come together, isolated from the rest of the world.
She could smell his familiar cologne. A masculine, musky scent that had burnt itself into her mind, reigniting her memory. An unexpected whimper escapes her lips as the sensations make her pulse race. Both of them feeling the blood coursing just below the surface, as their hearts rush together like thunder.
As the jet starts to slowly taxi down the runway; rapidly gaining speed, rises with a thrust from the ground, bursts into the sky, penetrates through the clouds and rests gently sailing above the world. JR and Annie also, find themselves lost in another moment of passion.
