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Chapter 38
Jason was sitting on the couch when she came out. She had been in the shower for over an hour, he spent that time crying for her pain. She was in one of his shirts and a pair of sleep pants when she walked into the living room. He could see that her skin was bright pink from a combination of the hot water and her scrubbing. Damn, he thought to himself, it was a wonder she hadn't hurt herself. Not sure of what to do for her now he just waited while Ella approached. He would take his cues from her. He badly wanted her back in his arms but now that she felt clean she might not want to be touched.
Just the sight of her standing there was enough to make him angry all over again. Sitting here he had been coming up with how to make the man who hurt her pay and he would put his plan into effect later tonight; right now he needed to keep his focus on the woman in front of him. Jason rose as Elizabeth stopped just out of arms reach.
She studied her boyfriend. He was tense, most likely from anger. "I guess things between us will be different now that you know." She wanted him to say that nothing would change so his next words really hurt.
"Yeah, they will." Jason told her. He watched as she flinched. Like his words were physical blows.
"I understand." Elizabeth said crossing her arm across her chest as if giving herself a hug. Kiefer was right, Jason didn't want her anymore.
Unable to bear the distance between them any longer Jason walked over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders. When she jumped he rubbed her skin with his thumbs to soothe her "Actually I don't think you do." He could feel her pulling away from him in shame. He slid his hands up until they were once again cupping her face. "Things will be better." He watched as her blue eyes widened. "Now that I know, I can give you what you need. I'll know why those shadows cross your eyes. I'll have a better understanding of why certain things frighten you. I won't have to worry that I'm doing something to upset you, because you'll be able to tell me if I do. But what won't change is how much I need you in my life or how much I want you." Jason explained. "How much I love you."
Elizabeth was so happy that she couldn't even form words right away. She brought her hands up to rest on his wrists. "I was so worried that you wouldn't want me anymore. That you wouldn't want to be with me, in bed. Kiefer said that it left a mark on me." Elizabeth's eyes filled with tears that ran over.
"Kiefer was a worthless piece of shit. He used what had been done to you to hurt you even more. Can I ask why you told him?" Jason was curious why she would tell Kiefer, but not want him to know.
"I had a bad dream." Elizabeth closed her eyes as she remembered. "I was screaming and when I woke up Kiefer was there. I didn't want to tell him, but he made it clear there would be no secrets between us. When I said no again, he started hitting and then choking me." Elizabeth shivered hard. "So I told him. I was too scared not to. He made me shower right away. When I came out he said he could still see the mark my stepfather left on me. That's why I had to shower whenever he wanted sex, because I was dirty." She was trembling harder now.
Jason wanted to go dig the dead boy up and stomp him into dust. He also wondered how many of the nightmares Ella had while they slept together were about Colorado, and not Kiefer. "I think you are so beautiful and so strong." Jason had to once again fight back tears of his own as he wiped hers from her cheeks. "I still want to make love with you, when you're ready."
"I want that too" Elizabeth was amazed that this man could make her feel so much. She did indeed still want to make love with him. For her it was something of a miracle. "But I need a little bit of time." She told him. She needed to deal with this.
"I'm not going anywhere and you can take all the time you need." Jason assured her as he gathered her to him and just held on. "You'll have a chance to tell me if I do something you don't like or that frightens you. And if I do something you don't like just tell me to stop and I will. I promise." Jason tipped her head up and slowly, softly brought his mouth down to cover hers.
It was a soft kiss, with no pressure to be anything else. Elizabeth leaned into Jason's body while putting her arms around his waist. This was what she needed to heal. His unwavering love and support.
Jason was the one who broke the kiss. He could feel his body heating up. The last thing he wanted to do was make Ella feel pressured or guilty that she wasn't able to be with him right now. He shifted their bodies so that she wouldn't brush up against his erection. "Okay baby?" He asked and felt her nod as he ran his fingers through her hair.
Elizabeth stood in the circle of Jason's arms just enjoying the closeness they were sharing. She was thrilled that he still wanted her in his life and in his bed. Her lips were still warm where he had kissed her. She wanted him to kiss her again. However they needed to back up for a bit. She knew that they still needed to talk, he probably had questions but she was just so tired that she needed to rest. "Could we sit down for a minute?"
When Jason looked down he could clearly see the exhaustion on her face. With the emotional highs and lows of the last couple of hours she had to be ready to drop. He gently rubbed his thumbs across the purple smudges under each eye. "I have a better idea." He bent down and once again picked her up. He took her back to their bedroom this time gently depositing her on the bed. "You need to get some sleep. I'd like for you to lie down for a little while and have a nap. He felt her tense up. "I'll be right out in the living room."
"I'm afraid I'll have a nightmare." Elizabeth told him reaching her hand out for his. "You look tired too. Maybe we could lie down together? You could hold me while we sleep."
Jason had planned on making some calls while she slept. He wanted to see if he could get things moving on his plan. But if she needed him to be here with her then everything else would wait. He waited for his girl to get comfortable and then crawled up onto the bed next to her. The house was warm so they didn't bother to get under the blankets. He pulled Ella into his arms encouraging her to snuggle into him. She always felt so damned good lying next to him. He couldn't resist running his hand up and down her back. Letting out a soft sigh Elizabeth moved even closer as she drifted off to sleep.
When he was sure that she was sleeping deeply Jason gently got off the bed and headed into the living room. He dialed one of the international numbers that Audrey had given him and waited impatiently for the phone to be answered.
"Webber." Came a male voice.
"Steven, its Jason." He was pacing trying to burn off some energy.
"Is something wrong?" Steven asked thinking there was no other reason for Liz's boyfriend to be calling him.
"I need the name of your stepfather." Jason got right to the point.
"She told you." Steven replied.
"Yeah." Jason stopped pacing and just closed his eyes against the flood of rage. "I need his name and any other information you have on him."
"If I give you that it makes me a party to whatever you do." Steven said to the other man.
"Do you care what I do?" Jason would lose all respect for her brother if he said yes.
"No." A part of Steven had hoped it would come to this. It was not a part he wanted to examine too closely. "His name is Tom Baker. He and my mother live in Arvada which is roughly twenty miles outside of Boulder. Tom's studio is in the city. Are you planning on hurting my mother?"
"No. Although I think she should pay for her part in this I don't hurt women. I just want him." Jason cleared up. "Do you know where your biological father is?" Jason wanted to know if he had hurt Ella too. If so then he'd pay as well.
"Last I heard he was in Bosnia saving the world. If you are wondering why he wasn't around it's because our mother left him because he was a mean alcoholic, with a short temper. He didn't hit us, but he said a lot of really awful things. Mom left him when Liz was two. We haven't heard from him since. Our mother was raised in an abusive home, something I didn't know until I was an adult." Steven's maternal uncle had told him that a few years back."I thought my mom had married a better man when she got together with Tom, but I was wrong and Liz paid for it. I had no clue anything was wrong until Liz showed up in Port Charles." All these years later and he still felt guilty. "I've tried to get my mother to leave Tom, but she won't."
"How old were you?" Jason knew a little about Steven. He knew that he had left for college at a very young age. Since the biological father didn't seem to be anything but a deadbeat dad Jason would let that go. But if he showed up and hurt Ella, that decision would be adjusted.
"Fifteen, I left for school before they married, but I should have been checking on her. She's my little sister." Steven should have done better. "I never liked Tom, but I had some trust issues of my own. I chalked the dislike up to that. How is she?"
Jason wanted to agree that Steven should have been checking in. He tried to talk with Emily every other week and he had guys watching out for her. If her boyfriend dared to raise a hand to her then it would be the last thing he ever did. "She's hurting. I will take care of her, and she'll call you if she feels its necessary. Respect her need for space if she doesn't. We will be in France in the near future." Ella didn't know that but before he took her to Siena he was taking her to see her family. Now that they were relocating visits would happen more frequently. "Thank you for the information."
"Thank you for taking care of Elizabeth." Steven responded.
After hanging up Jason made another call. "Are you anywhere near Port Charles?"
"I got back this morning." Shawn told him. "Did you need something?"
"I need a job done." Jason couldn't do this himself. It really sucked that he wouldn't be able to watch the asshole's life drain from his eyes, but the rules were already in effect. He would not take this to Maximus, which meant he was bending the rules some, but there was no way Tom Baker could continue to breathe.
"I can be at your place in fifteen minutes." Shawn replied.
"Can you come to Sonny's for dinner, we can talk after. I'm not free at the moment." There was no way he was letting Ella wake up alone.
"See you then." Shawn said before hanging up.
After dinner Jason asked Shawn to join him in his former penthouse. "I need someone taken care of."
"Who and why?" Shawn never took a job without getting some background information. If he was going to be taking someone's life he wanted there to be a good reason. Not liking someone was not good enough. He was also aware that this job was going to need to be kept quiet. If Jason was telling him this there was a good chance Maximus didn't know, otherwise the older man would have called personally. Shawn had no problem with that. Jason had stuck his neck out for him a time or two.
"I don't want you to handle this. I want you find someone who will do it. I will pay you a handler's fee." Jason respected Shawn's personal code, but there was no way he was telling anyone else what Ella had shared.
Shawn gave his friend a long look. The only other time he'd ever heard that tone in Jason's voice was when he called about locating Kiefer Bauer. "Alright. Where?"
"Boulder. The man who is the target lives outside the city but I want the job done at his place of employment. No one else is to be hurt. Maybe it could look like a robbery gone really bad." Jason suggested.
"What does he have that someone might want to steal?" Shawn asked getting a feel for the job. The more he knew the easier it would be to know which one of his contacts to call.
"High end photography equipment." Jason supplied.
"Nice. When?" Shawn wanted the timeline.
"Before I leave. No one else should know about this." Jason knew that is could be bad for both of them if this got out.
"Understood." Shawn knew this had something to do with Elizabeth. Since abuse was often cyclic he figured this was where the problem started. He had no problem staying quiet. "What's his name?"
"Tom Baker." Jason said through gritted teeth.
"I will let you know when it's done. I'm also going to waive the handler's fee. You will still need to pay the hitter." Shawn watched as Jason nodded. "I have a meeting with Sonny now would you like to sit in?" Shawn asked Jason.
"Only if Sonny wants me to." Jason would understand if his friend didn't. "Thank you Shawn." It was hard to turn this over to someone else.
"Be good to her Jason." Shawn told his friend before heading back across the hall.
When they returned to the penthouse Sonny and Shawn stepped into the office. Jason looked around and saw that Elizabeth was sitting on the terrace with Brenda. They were probably talking about the Nurse's Ball. Elizabeth was excited about the dress she had chosen and was hoping he would like it. She had asked if she could not give him any details because she wanted it to be a surprise. He was fine with that no matter what she was in his girl was beautiful.
Since the ladies were busy he went over to talk with Francis. "How are things going?" He had meant to talk with his friend earlier.
"Good." Jason looked tired. They all knew that something bad had happened at the therapy session but no one knew what. Nor would anyone push for details. "I found some businesses that could work. A security firm with a good reputation and a garage. With our guys skill sets they should work out well. I also found a gallery for sale. It meets all the specs you mentioned."
"Thanks." Jason said smiling some. "She's going to love it." Having her own gallery was one of Ella's dreams. "We will need to get her an assistant that speaks Italian as well as English. With Deception moving over we should be able to employ everyone. Are you going over early?"
"In two weeks." Francis confirmed. "I will just stay and wait for you guys to arrive."
"I will call Diane and tell her to expect you." Jason was curious as to how the two would get along, they'd be working fairly close together for the first time since the company began operations. His friend didn't mind working for a woman because he never actually saw her. They only occasionally talked on the phone, mostly they sent emails back and forth. Diane Miller was a forceful personality just like Francis. It should be interesting watching them work in the same space.
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