Hack 11
Jason scowled at Spinelli's head all the way back to Penthouse II, but it was no use: the boy was too stuffed up on linguini and bread to give a damn. And when they got back to the dim, musty-smelling apartment suite, he kicked off his shoes and flopped comfortably down on the couch, ready to sleep away his full stomach.
Jason eyed him warily as he took off his muddy shoes. "So…you and Elizabeth had dinner together."
Spinelli smiled dreamily. "Yup. It was sooo good, Stone Cold, you have no idea."
The enforcer grimaced and moved over to where the boy sat, taking the opportunity to kick his legs off the coffee table. "Yeah."
He nodded. "A perfect evening…and I mean that in every way."
There was a smugness to his tone that Jason sure as hell didn't appreciate. What did Spinelli have to be so smug about? He couldn't honestly think that tonight had been a turning point in his antagonistic relationship with Sonny's ward.
Oh, God – what if Spinelli thought he was falling for Elizabeth? God damn, Jason would never get any peace then. It'd be like a really bad after-school drama for months. No one sustained a crush like Spinelli did.
"So the food was good."
Spinelli nodded even though it wasn't a direct question. "Oh, yeah. Dragon is every bit as good a cook as Mister Corinthos Sir. Everything was amazing. And so simple, too! She actually told me how to make it in case I'm ever hungry again. All you had to do to make the sauce was sauté a bunch of tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and a little oregano. And then you just put it over pasta – what could be easier? I ask you, Stone Cold."
"No idea."
"Exactly," the boy nodded. "From now on, whenever I'm hungry, that's what I'm eating. She showed me how to make everything. And you know, I was kind of surprised. She said before that she only cooked for someone special. The Jackal assumed she was talking about Mister Corinthos Sir or the Prince of Transylvania, because those are the only two guys she's ever mentioned in any sort of affectionate way, you know?"
Jason glared at a point on the wall. "Yeah, don't read too much into it."
"I don't know why the Dragon doesn't have a solid love interest," Spinelli continued obliviously. "Well, no, I do know – it's because she's a total Dragon. But she's pretty enough, right? She didn't look too tragic tonight – something about her hair and her sparse garments made her look…I don't know, softer. Less psycho-dangerous, which, let's face it, can only help matters. Don't you think so, Stone Cold?"
Oh, he thought so, all right. Those gentle, bouncy curls and that rumpled white tank that molded so close to her petite frame…She did look softer, as Spinelli said. Damn touchable, at that.
Not that Jason would ever admit it out loud, much less in a bugged room.
"Whatever."
"So, yeah, I don't know why she doesn't have a boyfriend." His voice was slower now, sleepier, as Spinelli rested his head against the back of the couch. "I mean, sure, she's scary, but with a body like that, you've gotta figure that there'd be enough guys out there that would be able to overlook that tragic personality flaw, right?"
Yeah, there was no way he was having this conversation with the little nerd. So he just grunted.
"Careful. She's listening."
Spinelli lifted his head. "Oh, that's okay, Stone Cold. The Jackal is not worried. See, the Dragon and I had a most candid conversation today about all this competitive business."
Now this was mildly interesting. "Yeah?"
He nodded proudly. "Yup. We agreed that we wouldn't be offended by all the mean remarks and dirty tricks pulled during the duration of this challenge. It's not personal – it's business. We both agreed, and now we're on velvet."
That wasn't as good as he hoped. "So you didn't find out where the bug is?"
Spinelli smiled and reached for his beanie and pulled a pen and an old, folded up Post-It note out from under it. Jason watched curiously as he scribbled something on the paper and handed it to him.
Better. I bugged her cell phone.
Unable to help himself, Jason grinned and tucked the scrap into his pocket. "Sounds like you two had a good night together. Good job."
Spinelli smiled to himself and rested his head on the back of the couch. "You didn't train no fool, Stone Cold."
By the time Elizabeth's new penthouse was finally ready, Jason was beginning to think he couldn't take it much longer. He ran into her every single time he went over to Sonny's, and the encounters were getting to be seriously trying.
She'd always come down the stairs, looking ridiculously prim in her usual slacks and collared little summer shirts with her hair carefully coifed, and it seemed as if he was always waiting for her downstairs. They'd exchange barbs and mild innuendo (that was usually her doing; she never missed such an opportunity) until Sonny broke it up by changing the subject.
The stop and go, restrain and release was getting to be really…hot.
Very few women had ever gotten him as riled up as she did, and if their present interactions were simply verbal ones, well, Jason didn't think he could handle imagining what their more intense interactions would be like. Not that that stopped him from imagining, of course, but that was hardly the point.
She understood the game, too – he was sure of it. There was no mistaking the devilish twinkles in her sapphire eyes, or the way those plush lips curled just so as they sparred. The girl knew what she was doing; Jason just hoped to God he did, too.
He also hoped that Sonny hadn't noticed the underlying fire and attraction there. It was pretty reasonable to think that his best friend had no clue, but Jason couldn't be a hundred percent sure. Sonny was usually a little too self-preoccupied to notice all of what was going on around him, and Jason had been very careful to make sure that his partial dislike of the girl was wholly apparent. So he wasn't too worried about Sonny, but that would still be a problem he'd face eventually if things moved forward with Elizabeth.
And then, he'd hope that Sonny wouldn't be a total jackass about the whole thing. That was really all he could hope for.
He had been relieved to realize that Spinelli did not, in fact, have any grand crush on Elizabeth. It was good – the boy would only get his feelings stomped on. Elizabeth was way out of his league, and nothing was likely to come of it. It was good that Spinelli had been spared the eventual embarrassment of lusting after a girl that barely looked at him twice.
Still, Jason had to admit that he'd been a bit concerned after Elizabeth whipped up that home-cooked meal for the boy, but a casual conversation with Sonny had cleared things up. It turned out that the girl was physically incapable of slapping together a grilled cheese sandwich or warming up a cup of instant soup if she was hungry; every single meal, whether she shared it with Sonny or ate alone, was a full affair and each of the food groups were usually represented. That was how her mentor had trained her, apparently.
So that was good to know.
It was also good to know a number of other things that Jason and Spinelli became privy to due to the boy's ingenious tap on Elizabeth's cell phone. She and Stan sometimes had technically oriented conversations over the phone, and Spinelli would always pull out a notebook and a pen and jot down notes if the territory was new to him. The boy also got wind of Elizabeth putting together a secret database for Sonny's coffee empire and beat her to the punch by submitting one of his own making first. Sonny had been thrilled; the Dragon had been breathing fire.
Game, set, and match. An eye for an eye, and all that.
They really didn't beat themselves up about the ethical dilemmas of what they were doing.
Besides, Jason had no problem with the idea of the Dragon getting all feisty and fired up when she figured out that the tables had been turned. If anything, the prospect was enticing.
But even though it was enticing, it was still a prospect and not a reality, which meant that Jason had to seek similar prospects elsewhere. That was why he usually went to Jake's to do such scouting. It was a discreet little bar by the docks where a bunch of the Corinthos-Morgan men gathered sometimes to play pool and drink. There were several rooms for rent available upstairs, and he'd had one for several years now – one that he always put to good use, of course.
And that was what he was doing tonight as he entered the unusually busy bar. Jake's was rarely so full of laughter and conversation, and so Jason stopped over in the main room to see what was going on. Coleman was manning the counter as usual, keeping an eye on his patrons, and Jason immediately spotted a couple of his guards. Then he spotted more of them, standing around in a little group in their black pants and shirtsleeves and right at the center of that group…
Elizabeth.
She was perched on the edge of a pool table with three guards playing a round behind her, dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and layered t-shirts with her curly hair pulled back in a ponytail, and appeared to be telling some sort of story. Her elbow rested on Ritchie's shoulder and was gesturing with her other hand, her eyes twinkling as the guards laughed at whatever it was that she was relating.
Well, this was an interesting turn of events.
Jason took off his jacket and put it up on the coat rack by the door, then sauntered over to the bar without taking his eyes off of Elizabeth. Interesting, indeed. Coleman looked up when he saw the enforcer approached and immediately took a beer out of the cooler and slid it over. Jason caught it off the counter and easily twisted it open to take a pull. Maybe he'd end up putting the room upstairs to great use tonight instead of merely good.
The little group had gotten thinner as a few guards trickled over to the bar to get more drinks, and a few others drifted over to the dart board in the back. Elizabeth and Stan remained by the pool table, and the two of them talked quietly about something and exchanged laughs. As Jason drew near, they both looked up in surprise.
"Jason?" Elizabeth's brows pulled slightly together. "What are you doing here?"
"Jason," Stan nodded respectfully. "Good to see you. If you'll excuse me…" He wiggled his brows at Elizabeth and touched her elbow briefly. "I'm going to go get some tequila – meet you over there in a few minutes."
She nodded and smiled as he left, then turned curious eyes up to Jason. "You come to Jake's?"
He was usually pretty discreet in his visits. "Yeah, sometimes."
"Huh, would not have guessed that," she murmured, toying with the chalk she held in her hands. "So…'sup?"
Jason wasn't too sure what that meant, much less that it was an actual word, but he forged on anyway. This was his scene; this was his element, and he was more than certain that with just a few carefully dropped remarks, he could get her to go from playing a friendly little game of pool down here to playing another friendly little game upstairs.
"Nothing much. You come here pretty often, don't you?"
She nodded happily. "Oh, yeah. Jake's is kind of my place. Sonny and I used to come here a lot. He's the one that taught me how to play pool and shoot darts accurately."
Okay, there was no way that was true. Jason had to damn near twist Sonny's arm to get him to come to Jake's with him and even then, his best friend usually sat in a booth and drank his beer and then asked if they could go home yet. He rarely socialized with the other patrons, barely glanced at the pool tables, and certainly never picked up women.
"You don't believe me," Elizabeth smiled smugly, her eyes twinkling at the skeptical look on his face. "It's true – ask Coleman. Or better yet, ask Sonny himself. He taught me everything I know about pool and I'm pretty good now, if I do say so myself."
Jason reached over and picked up a cue, hefting it before deciding that it would do. This was the time to turn on the endless Morgan charm. Taking a small step toward her, he cocked his head toward the table and gave her one of his best sly smiles. "Good enough to play me right now?"
To his great surprise, instead of gracing him with that familiar saucy little smile and reaching for a cue, the brunette tilted her head to the side and regarded him plainly.
"Actually, Jason, thanks, but I'd rather not."
It threw him a little but he was determined not to lose his rhythm. She was probably just playing hard to get, and it would have disappointed him a little if she didn't keep that restrain-and-release rhythm of theirs going.
"Why not?" His blue eyes twinkled and he made sure to smirk just a little. He had a feeling that she liked him when he smirked like that. Maybe. "Afraid of-"
"I'd just rather not," she repeated kindly but firmly. "Thanks for the offer, though. You know, Trevor over there is just a shark when it comes to this game – he'd probably be happy to take you up on it."
Well that was no good – he didn't know Trevor. He didn't like Trevor. He didn't want to sleep with Trevor.
"I-"
"It's just that I don't really see the point," Elizabeth told him gently. "I mean, I spend most of my day working on my computer or going to school, and this is the time that I get to kick back and have some fun with my friends, and I really just don't see the point of making small talk and playing a game with someone that can't stand me and that I can't stand in return."
In his shock at her candid explanation, Jason barely registered Stan's voice in the background.
"Hey, Liz, you coming or what? We've got it all set up over here!"
She looked over to where her best friend and some of the guards stood by the dartboard, armed with shot glasses and a full bottle of tequila, and quickly waved at them to take down the picture of Spinelli they had pinned to the bull's eye. When Jason turned to see what was going on, the picture had been torn down and was safely hidden behind Marco's back.
"Just a little drinking game we made up," Elizabeth smiled, glad that Jason hadn't seen their target. Damn nerd should have known better than to tap her phone; he deserved what he got now.
"We shoot darts at a picture of someone we dislike and drink based on the points we get. If you hit either of the eyes or dead center in the forehead, you get to make everyone else drink three shots. It's a real killer. I can't even think straight afterwards."
Jason's mind was still spinning with the lashing she had given him – which was not at all hot – and he looked down, slightly dazed, when she patted his bicep with her small hand.
"So thanks for the offer, but I think I'm going to go over there." With a bright smile, the brunette removed her hand and trotted over to where Stan and the guards were waiting for her to take a few practice shots before Jason left and it was safe to put that picture of Spinelli back up.
That had not gone at all the way he had planned.
This was different from trading barbs and insulting him. This was even different from playing hard to get. This was something else entirely, something that no other woman in his life had ever sprung on him.
This was plain and simple rejection.
He had been wrong about everything. She hadn't known that this was a game. She hadn't been playing according to their rules and the unique rhythm between them. And she honestly had no clue that he was terribly, almost painfully, attracted to her while still kind of disliking her.
Fuck.
All this time, he'd read her completely wrong. When she riled him up, he returned the favor and while he was thinking that she enjoyed the little sparring matches, she was actually just irritated with him. He thought that was what this whole thing between them was: the stop and go, the restrain and release, denying the peculiar attraction and playing with fire.
And all this time, he could not have been more wrong.
