Chapter 26
Cassidy wasn't the only one who had an unexpected visit from Jon that day.
Joe had just gotten home after a long shift at the fire station and barely cracked open a beer when a knock sounded at his door. He lived in a 2 bedroom apartment that was in walking distance to the fire station, wanting to be close to work. It wasn't Trista because they'd been together for a couple weeks and she knew better than to knock. The woman would walk right in and make herself comfortable.
"I'll be damned, he finally returns!" Joe crowed at the sight of Jon, extending his hand and smiled when Jon took it, grey eyes twinkling. "About time man, come on in!"
He would never admit this to anyone, but Joe missed Jon, hating when he took impromptu trips. Jon rarely visited Joe at his place, but after what happened with Cassidy, he had to talk about it with someone. The apartment looked like it always did, clean for the most part with a little clutter, some things still in boxes and clothes scattered on the floor. Jon cleared his throat and bent down, picking up a pair of purple lace panties arching a brow at Joe.
"Been busy, Anoa'i?" Jon smirked, tossing them at his friend and accepted the beer Joe pitched him in return. "Trista, I'm guessing?"
Joe grinned, not mad at Jon for touching Trista's panties because, honestly, he'd forgotten she left them. "Yeah, I'm done with the sleeping around. She's the one I want." He wasn't ashamed to admit that, always telling Jon the truth even if he didn't like it or agree.
Not sure how to feel about that, Jon cracked open his beer taking a long swig of it. "Well good luck with that, she's a firecracker. I'd hate to be in your shoes." His tone was friendly, not condescending like normal.
"I know it, but I love a fiery woman."
Jon noticed how close Joe and Trista were, wondering how he did it without resisting temptation. "You know this isn't a social visit, right?"
"Yeah, just waiting for you to tell me why you're here." Joe settled down at the small kitchen table across from Jon, seeing something was on the man's mind.
What the hell was Jon doing? Granted, Joe told him everything about his life, but that didn't mean Jon had to do the same thing. What happened with Cassidy was a onetime deal, so why couldn't he get the wench out of his mind? He had her, felt her, touched her, done everything his dreams of her practically screamed at him to do. She should've been out of his system, but she wasn't. If anything, Jon's onetime with Cassidy had only made him want more and that did not set well.
"I did something I shouldn't have." Jon finally came clean in his own way, rubbing his temples. "God I sound like a fucking chick right now. Look, I went to Cassidy Irons after I got back into town and I fucked her." He crushed the beer can in his hand, not caring that the liquid spilled out. "But it wasn't - it was different, man. She took control and knew exactly what she wanted." He sighed almost wistfully. "When we were done, she threw me out! She said we both got it out of our systems and told me to leave. That's NEVER happened to me before and now I have no idea what to do about it. Just fucking shoot me. I need something stronger than beer, got any whiskey?"
Amusement shined in Joe's greys while listening to Jon talk about Cassidy Irons, the woman he saved from the Tampa Bay Times building, and couldn't believe what he was hearing. Jonathan Good liked a woman? Jonathan Good was talking about a specific woman? Joe had to wonder where the hell his blood brother was because this wasn't him. This was a man who was unsure, fidgety and looked confused about a woman.
"Sounds like she rocked your world." Joe joked, sounding simplistic and laughed when Jon shot him a dark look. "What do you want me to say, bro? This isn't you. In all the years I've known you, never once have you come to me talking about a woman. Sure, you've talked about your conquests, but not one particular woman. Look at you! You just crushed your beer all over yourself because of how pissed you are."
"I'm not pissed." Jon grumbled, wiping some beer off of his jean covered thigh and sighed, tossing the can in the nearby trash, missing. "Son of a bitch!"
"Sit down before you hurt yourself." Joe ordered, standing up and walked over to clean up Jon's mess. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face though. "And yes you are pissed. You're so pissed off you can't think straight. This woman has you all wound up in knots, bro!"
"Maybe. Possibly. I don't fucking know." Jon hated this, banging his fist against the table, though he made sure to hold back his strength. "Damn it! It was survivor sex for Christ sakes! I fucked so many women while I was gone, I lost track after 20. None of them compared to her. And I even tried finding replicas. Maybe I hit my head too hard in my accident and I'm in a coma, so this is all a dream."
"Sure, if this is all a dream, do you feel this?" Joe popped Jon upside the head, something Jon did to him a lot and smirked when Jon growled at him. "Nope you felt that, not a dream."
"I'll kill you if you do that again." Jon threatened, glaring at his friend and rubbed the back of his head.
Joe finished cleaning up the beer off the kitchen floor and then took his seat at the table again, this time carrying two fresh beers sliding one over to Jon. "Let me ask you something. Are you pissed off that you went to her or are you pissed off she tossed you out on your ass after you two were done?"
"What kind of fucked up question is that?" Jon shot back angrily, cracking open his beer and drained half of it, trying to do something to cool his boiling blood.
"A legitimate one, now answer."
Jon honestly didn't know. He never went to a woman. They always flocked to him and fell at his feet. But not Cassidy. What was so different about her compared to the others? He knew the answer as soon as the question popped into his head and scowled. Cassidy had taken control and dominated him, told him exactly what she wanted and Jon did it. He submitted to a woman and loved every second of it.
"She beat me at my own game." Jon sighed heavily, taking his bandana off and tossed it on the table. "She turned everything around on me and I let her. I fucking let her do it. I've never done that before." He sounded in awe, the anger gone for now. "I didn't try turning it around on her either, Joe. I would've forced any other woman to submit and make them do things my way, but not her. For the first time in my life…"
"She made you feel." Joe finished for him, his voice low and even, staring at his can thoughtfully. "Just like Trista did to me."
"Now hold on a goddamn minute! This is nothing like you and Trista. You're WITH Trista, fucker. I'm not with Cassidy." Jon amended coldly, blue eyes flaring at the thought of being in an actual relationship.
"Yet." Joe smirked, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Jon, let me tell you something about a woman. When she's in your head like Cassidy is, there's no getting rid of her. You can fuck countless women, every other woman in Tampa besides a select few if need-be, but Cassidy will always be there. And eventually, she'll take over that." He pointed directly at Jon's heart. "And there's not a damn thing you can do about it. It's inevitable."
Jon felt sick and looked green around the gills, hating all this mushy talk Joe was spewing. "No, no! I won't let it happen. All I have to do is track her down again and make her submit like the others. I have to fuck her on MY terms and then she'll be history." He drained the rest of his beer, crushing the empty can and tossed it over his shoulder, this time making it in the garbage.
"She already has, Jon…"
"That little bitch is nothing more than another sex hungry slut that wants my dick. She doesn't want me. What woman would? I'm good for a one night stand or someone to cheat with, that's it." Jon's voice grew colder with every word spoken, gritting his teeth at the memory of what Cassidy said to him. "She's a reporter, someone who will do whatever it takes to get her story, even if it means using her body. She knows about…them." He looked away from Joe, trying to reign his temper in. "She told me it wasn't my fault. That means she's already done her digging or somebody told her." Now his eyes were locked on Joe. "You didn't tell her, did you?"
"Do I look like a man who is ready to die?" Joe retorted with a snort, though he frowned at the mention of Jon's past. He knew what 'them' stood for – his dead parents. "You're right. She's a reporter, so she could've gotten her information from anywhere."
Jon thought it over for a few seconds, curling his upper lip in a snarl. "Did you tell Trista about it?" He saw Joe's face pale considerably and had his answer. "That cunt…"
"Hey! That's my woman, Jon." Joe couldn't deny telling Trista even if he wanted to, swallowing hard. "She asked me while we were in bed the other night about my past. Said she wanted to know more about me. So I told her about my parents dying and then mentioned meeting you in the foster system." Then Joe remembered Trista asking him about Jon and felt like slapping his face for being so gullible. "Fuck."
"What?"
"I can't believe she did that…" Joe stood up from the table, pacing back and forth. "What the fuck-"
At that moment, Trista decided to walk inside the apartment and froze at the sight of two thunderous looking men. "Umm…is this a bad time?" She asked, wondering when Jon rolled back into town and tossed her purse on the couch.
"You could say that." Joe had to keep his temper in check or else he would end up saying a lot of things to Trista he'd regret later. "We were just talking about a few things. Jon, I think it's time for you to go."
Trista didn't like the sound of that, frowning. "Uh oh, what did I do now?" She asked resignedly, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Don't bother leaving, Jon. Whatever Joseph has to say he can say in front of you."
Fine, she wanted to be humiliated in front of his best friend, then Joe wouldn't deny himself the satisfaction of watching her squirm. "The other night when you asked me about my past, why did you want to know?" He decided to start out friendly and see if she lied to him, grey eyes pure steel.
Trista raised a brow, glancing at Jon and knew she'd been caught, smiling. "I honestly wanted to know more about you, but I did have another motive as well. I'm not gonna lie to you about it, especially when you look ready to rip my head off. Both of you." She eyed Jon, walking over to sit at the table in front of him. "You had no right telling my brother about me and Joe, Good. You nearly destroyed my relationship with him and I wanted to get even. So I asked Joe about his childhood since I know you're a huge part of it and found out what happened to you." Her voice remained soft and low, actually reaching out to touch his hand.
Jon instantly recoiled, but Trista held onto his hand tighter and he had to fight back the urge to physically remove her touch. "Let go of my hand, cunt." He ordered gravely, wanting to rip her heart out of her chest for the things she just confessed.
Joe thought she was brave not only talking to Jon like this, but also touching him. "Why did you trick me to tell you?" He demanded, clenching his fists at his sides. "And who the hell did you tell?"
"Damnest thing really." Trista released Jon's hand, after patting it almost affectionately and leaned back in the chair. "Elissa ran into the woman you saved at Tampa Bay Times. The reporter, Cassidy Irons? Apparently, she went to the fire station the day you left for vacation to talk to Colby and yours truly." She directed that at Joe.
"SHE WHAT?!" Jon exploded, not able to hear anymore and glared at Joe. "I've been sitting here going on like an idiot and you didn't bother to TELL ME SHE VISITED YOU?"
"Are you done acting like a 5 year old yet?" Trista asked sweetly, ignoring the deadly glare Jon shot her. "Just cool your damn jets and listen for 5 seconds, okay? Colby scared her off when she asked about you. She ran out of there completely terrified. Then she ran into my sister-in-law, Elissa, at the super market, later that day. Elissa said she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Cassidy hasn't been doing well since the attack, but she somehow confided to Elissa about wanting to know about you. She said it wasn't for her job or anything, even promising. So Elissa called, asked if I could get some information out of Joe and I did. We all met Thursday at Jack's downtown and I told her what Joe told me."
"Son of a bitch, you met her that night I came to your place?" Joe felt like his head was spinning and had to sit down, setting his beer on the table. "What the fuck, Trista? She's a reporter! She'll post that story quicker than shit!"
Trista shrugged, standing up and held her hands up in the air. "It's been a few days since we had that meeting and I haven't seen anything in the paper. Not one word about you, Jon, besides the upcoming lawsuit Trish has filed against the Levesque's. There will be a trial on what happened to Madelyn." She chewed her bottom lip, sidling up to Jon with glittering hazel eyes. "I agreed to the meeting because, if Joe can flap his gums about our sex life to you, then I can damn sure flap mine about anything he tells me." Her eyes moved to Joe, narrowing them. "So be mad at me all you want, but Cassidy is a very nice woman and she's not gonna post that story in the paper all to get a story. That's not who she is."
The men could only watch Trista walk out of Joe's apartment and looked at each other, completely flabbergasted.