Lisa crossed her legs underneath her as Jackson returned.
"Who was that, Jackson?"
He eyed her suspiciously. "Curiosity killed the cat, Leese."
She shrank back. "Geez."
"Sorry. It was just an associate I work with."
"Thus defining 'associate'."
Jackson rolled his eyes and sat back down. "Where were we?"
"I think you were about to tell me what has you so moody all of a sudden."
Jackson was forced to think quick. He obviously couldn't tell Lisa about how her friends were fast approaching, he needed to make something up, something that would….
Suddenly it hit him. It would be hard, but…she was so openminded and heck, vulnerable right now.
"I have something I really, really need to tell you."
She frowned. "Okay. Shoot."
"You're not going to take it well."
"Got it."
"And you may get mad at me."
"Jackson, just say it already."
"I think I love you." There. He got it out. Maybe it was a lie, maybe he did feel something. All he knew was that, sure as he was sitting there, that he was not going to let Medena take Lisa away from him.
Her jaw fell open ever so slightly, in a way that was cute but definitely not intended. She quickly began sputtering, and then fell silent. It was all Jackson could do not to laugh. Finally she slapped him, which left him breathless with shock.
"What was that for?"
"For being a jerk!" she cried. "How can you say that to me?"
"I'm sorry, Lisa, forgive me, but that's what I feel," he pounded his chest. "In here. I can't keep that in. I know I'm going all preachy, but I do. I love you. I've loved you since I first met you, way back then. I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings, but its way too big a feeling for me to keep in."
"How can you expect me to love you," she whispered sadly. "when you're holding me captive in exchange for the life of my child? And when I'm engaged to be married to a wonderful man, a man with morals, with humanity?"
"I don't know, Leese," he threw up his hands. "I really don't. And this is crazy, I know. I shouldn't love you. You're the bitch who stabbed me in the neck. And you have no reason to feel something for me. But you do. I can see it in your eyes. Its there, clear as day. It's the reason that you told me about your scar. It's the reason that you didn't shoot me again to make sure I was dead back in your house. It's the reason you're listening to me now."
Her lip trembled as Jackson leaned closer to her. "And it's the reason…"
He wouldn't remember who made the first move. He wouldn't remember who it was that first stood, moving the other to the bedroom.
But he would remember the taste of her lips, the feel of the soft cotton linens on his skin. He would remember the look of passion, the look of certain uncertainty in her eyes. And he would remember her words the most.
"I can't do this. Jackson, I can't."
And his. "You want to. Lisa, you know it. Just be human for once…."
And the thing that stung him the most, that was most vivid in his mind…was that she listened.