Jack wasn't sure at first. He kept staring down the back of Iris's dress as she slept next to him. There was something on Iris's back, when she had shifted slightly as he cuddled into her upon waking, her dress had gapped away from her body briefly and he was sure he'd seen scratches. Deep ones. Jack brought a finger up to the neck of Iris's dress and carefully pulled the fabric away from her body. He slowly leaned into her to get a better look in the morning light filtering into the room.
Jack's stomach turned immediately when he recognized that there were indeed four long scratches down her back, the perfect span of fingers. The image of the kind of position Iris would have been in relationship to the person administering them to her flashed in Jack's mind and his heart sank in his chest. Jack rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.
Iris stirred next to him, rolling onto her back as well. Jack turned to look at her as she let out a whimper and grimaced briefly in her dreams. Jack rolled over again slowly, and this time lifted the front collar of Iris's dress and winced himself as he took in the dark mottled imprints of teeth across her freckled flesh, and even more scratches. Normally Jack would have found his behavior perverse and in this moment he laughed to himself at the utter irony of how defeated he felt.
The image of Iris's knees flashed in him mind again, then the image of Iris naked underneath him in the dark of the hotel, her eyes wide with bewilderment as he hovered over her asking her why she'd bit him. Jack reached over to wake Iris up, but stopped himself just before he grabbed hold of her arm. He watched her eyes moving under their closed lids, he took in the spread of her red hair fanned out across his pillows, and his stomach turned again.
Jack slipped out of the bed quietly and crept downstairs to the bathroom. He shut the door and looked it, and stood in the quiet for a moment, listening for the sounds of Iris moving on the bed just over his head. It was quiet. Jack splashed some water on his face and took in his reflection dried his skin. This was his ritual. He looked at himself ruefully.
"She's cheating on you man." He said to his reflection. "No, worse yet. She's fucking leaving you buddy." Jack lifted his eyebrows. "That's why she didn't want to fuck you last night; she came to give you the kiss off." Jack looked down at the sink trying to see down into the drain. A new thought came to him and he snapped up to regard his reflection again.
"She came up here so you wouldn't go down there."
"No, no, no." Jack began pacing in the small room. He looked at his reflection again. "Did you see what he did to her? She doesn't like that shit man. She told me, I saw it in her eyes." New thoughts swirled into Jack's thinking. He heard a little girl laughing outside and the sound of a father admonishing her. "Didn't I?" he asked himself as he looked back in the mirror.
Jack sat down on the edge of his tub and ran his hand through his hair. "Maybe she lied. She didn't want to scare you off." Jack dropped his head down; imagining again Iris in the various naked positions of the kind of fucking it would require to leave those kinds of marks behind.
Jack stood up again. "So she went and found someone who could give her what she wanted." He said to himself as he turned away from the mirror to face the back wall. He brought up a hand to smack it, but stopped short. "No, no. She's not like that, you've seen that before." Jack turned again to face himself in the mirror. "Something's going on Jack. You have to find out what it is. She's not gonna tell you." He said as he moved closer to the mirror so he was staring right at himself, getting in his own face.
"She loves you man. You saw that shit in her eyes. She needs you." Jack pulled away from his reflection and looked up at the ceiling again. As if on cue he heard the faint squeak of bed springs following by the dull percussion of Iris's feet as she climbed out of bed. Jack looked back at his reflection again. "Fuck being a gentleman man." He scolded himself. "She wants you to find out." He cast another look at himself.
"Are you gonna let some one do that to her? Are you gonna let her do that to herself?" Jack began pacing again. "It's just sex right?" he muttered under his breath as he listened to the sound of Iris descending the stairs. "You love this woman." He said looking up at his reflection again. He looked himself right in the eye, trying to see into his own soul. "I'm gonna fucking kill him."
"Jack."
Jack quickly opened the door smiling. Iris turned to him and smiled. Her feet were bare and her hair was flying off in three different directions. "Morning Angel." He said, stepping into the hall and pulling her to him with one hand. He placed a kiss on the top of her head, and held her to him for a moment. Iris slid her hands around his waist, but didn't try to pull away. Jack let his hand fall down around her waist.
"I'm sorry about last night." Iris said trying to look up at him.
"Don't be. You didn't do anything wrong." Jack said smiling down at her. "Why don't I go down to the corner coffee shop and get us some breakfast and bring it back here and you can get dressed."
"Why don't I just make you something?" Iris said pulling away from him. "I'm told I'm a pretty good cook."
"I don't want you to lift a finger while you're here Iris." Jack said. "This is how we do things in the City." He said leaning down and kissing her on the cheek. "There are fresh towels in the bathroom already; I just did the laundry, so you're in luck."
"Okay." Iris said moving toward the bathroom. Jack sprinted up the stairs and grabbed his sweater off of the floor. He threw it on quickly and hurried back down the stairs.
"Hey." Iris said as he was reaching for the door knob.
"What?" Jack said, turning around.
"You're coming right back right?" she said, holding a fresh towel to her like a little girl cradling a doll.
"Of course Angel, right back." Jack said before turning around and heading out the door.
Jack bounded the two blocks down to the diner, rushed through the front doors and a few face looked up from their plates to regard him. Jack craned his neck to get a view of the entire restaurant until he saw the man he was looking for. Jack smiled and walked briskly to the booth in the far corner of the coffee shop.
An overweight man with a bright pink complexion, emphasized by his stark white hair was tucked neatly into the booth. His flatware and coffee mug were arranged symmetrically in front of him as he worked at a crossword puzzle. The rest of the newspaper was stacked neatly on the inside of the table. Jack slid into seat across from him and set his hands down on the table.
"I need your help." He said.
The man looked up and his face immediately beamed. "Jack."
"Remember that situation I told you about?" Jack said, already laughing.
"You took her to bed anyway?" the man said without betraying much surprise in his features.
"You're a good friend Bruce." Jack smiled. "It was good advice you gave me, but now I need a favor."
"Didn't turn out the way you thought it would huh?" Bruce said smiling and taking a sip of his coffee.
"She's the toughest nut I've ever tried to crack, but I know you've cracked tougher." Jack said smiling.
"You don't have to blow smoke up my ass Jack." Bruce said setting his cup of coffee down. "It's no secret I'm a better detective than you."
"I need your kind of expertise right now." Jack said. "Give me that pen." Jack said. Bruce handed it over and Jack scribbled something out on the napkin in front of him. "Here." He said, handing the napkin over to the older man. "This is all you need to know." Jack slipped back out of the booth. "I gotta go, she's at my place right now. I'm supposed to be getting us breakfast."
Bruce laughed. "Oh, Jack. I thought you like her for being the mom?"
Jack stared out the plate glass window in front of them. "I did like her for being the mom, then I just liked her." Jack looked down at Bruce again, "Funny how that happens. Never thought it would."
"I never thought it would either, always thought you were too detached." Bruce said before returning to his crossword. "Go on." Bruce waved at Jack without looking up. "I'll have something for you in the next few days. Enjoy it while you can."
Jack turned and headed for the cash register, winking at the waitress already waiting with a ticket for him to order.