A/N: Only a few more left! Thanks, reviewers!
Xx
January 18, 2007
6:30 PM
"…happy for you, Rach," Lisa said, smiling a bit miserably as she moved through the grocery store. She plucked a mango from the barrel in front of her and tossed it effortlessly into her basket, not really caring if it bruised or not. "I wish I could be there, but with the trial so soon, the state's not exactly keen, or willing at all, really, to let me out of Miami. Let alone all the way to Massachussetts."
"It's no problem," Rachel chirped. "My friend's grandmother's taping the whole thing. We were kind of annoyed with that entire concept before, but all of our parents said we couldn't go if our first major gig wasn't documented."
"Cambridge is really big, you know," Lisa encouraged. "Especially for a small-town band. You guys must be good."
"They are," Rachel replied modestly. It was then that Lisa noticed the small lilt in her young friend's voice.
"Are you okay?"
Rachel paused, and Lisa wondered for a moment if the connection had been lost. She dragged herself over by the dairy aisle, holding up her phone for better reception. "Rach?"
"I found a note."
Lisa frowned. "A note?"
"From Alex."
"Um," Lisa bit her lip, shocked to say the least, and not quite knowing how to continue. "Did—where did you find it? What did it say?"
"In my room. He's been watching me, Leese." Well, at least that rested her nerves about Jackson. Those two were inseparable, so if Alex was stalking Rachel, at least Jackson wasn't stalking Lisa. For a moment, she felt a bit of guilt for feeling relief, since after all, Rachel's well-being was a hell of a lot more important than her own. She forced herself to focus on what Rachel was saying now. "The note said that he was coming back. That it wasn't over. And Lou."
"What about Lou?" Lisa had heard snippets about the boy from their daily phone calls, but not enough to stir her interest.
"Threats. He doesn't like how Lou's become my friend," Rachel said, then hesitated. "I hate him. He's ruining my life."
"Alex?" Lisa was quickly becoming confused. "Rach, don't--"
"I can't relax anymore!" Rachel cried. "I get those few rare moments when I let my guard down, like last night, and then he does something again! I just want him to be gone. Forever. So I can move the hell on."
Lisa fought back her own tears, shocked yet relieved at the girl's blunt statement of the emotions that Lisa also so truly felt, but with Jackson. She was exactly right.
Rachel sighed. "Well, I have to go."
"Be careful," Lisa cautioned. "Stay with your group at all times, do you hear me? It's bad enough that you don't know the city, but you guys are young."
"I don't need to be reminded," Rachel moaned bitterly, then she cleared her throat, gluing a cheerful banter back over her gloomy voice once more. "I have to go, Leese. The guys are done unpacking and just came in. We're going down to the club where we're playing to set up. I'll call you after, okay?"
Lisa nodded to herself. "Okay."
Hanging up and pocketing her phone, she surveyed the row of melons. An hour ago, she'd had the most acute hankering for a fruit salad, but now, she wasn't so sure. Lisa moved swiftly to the frozen foods aisle and tapped her chin as she pondered over Ben and Jerry's or Haagen Daaz.
"Screw healthy eating," Lisa muttered. "Healthy eating is for happy people."
"And you don't fall under that category?"
Lisa spun around, her basket dropping to the floor and scattering its contents down the aisle. She watched, slightly dazed, as the mango rolled to the opposite end and came to a rest underneath Jackson Rippner's thick-soled boot.
"No," she said plainly, grabbing for her purse and backing swiftly down the aisle. "I don't."
She had broken into a run when he caught up to her, seizing her shoulder and gruffly spinning her around to face him.
"Let go of me," she hissed. "Get the fuck out of my life."
"Not yet," he replied, his voice thick and raspy, just the way that made Lisa want to kill him and kiss him at the same time. She pushed him away. "Our business isn't finished, Leese."
"I don't care!" she yelled. "Stay away! You left me once, why is it so hard to do it again?"
Jackson tightly grabbed hold of Lisa's arms, which sent her mind reeling in adrenaline-induced terror. She pulled herself free and managed to slap him harshly across the face. The collision left a bright red handprint that was a not-so-discreet reminder of her rebellion. Jackson seethed, and pulled her to the next aisle as cleanup crews approached the mess.
"You want to get arrested, Lisa, then by all means, continue your tantrum," he hissed quietly into her ear. "But if you value a life, I'd shut the hell up and come with me."
"I could just as easily get you into trouble," Lisa growled, feeling like a petulant fourth-grader as she jabbed a finger into his chest. "All I'd have to do is--"
"Is what? Who'll believe you? Some random guy in the grocery store is suddenly Keefe's murderer?" Jackson spat. "I knew your life had gone downhill, Leese, but I thought you had a fraction of sense left in you."
"You're supposed to be in Cambridge," she moaned abruptly, her infamous sense kicking in as her knees buckled. It was Jackson or prison, and he was making that choice extremely evident.
Lisa abhorred her indecisiveness. She'd been furious when Jackson had left her, but now that he was back, she wanted him out of her sight. It was the betrayal, she decided, that had suddenly turned into her anger and loathing. Lisa had trust issues as it was, and the fact that Jackson had built up what had remained of it before crushing it mercilessly was what was irking her now.
But if she had to choose—and she did—between jail and Jack, she'd definitely pick the latter. Because although his methods were certainly uncouth to say the least, at least she could hit him. Whereas if she slugged a prison guard, she'd probably be sent to a higher-security prison. So she surrendered, letting Jackson lead her to the car parked subtly down the street, letting him answer question after question that she tossed at him.
"I'm not in Cambridge because Rachel Redford is none of my business," he explained as he ushered her quickly from the store, ignoring the customers that flocked to the mysterious chaos on the dairy aisle floor. "What Alex does is his decision, and I'd advise you to stay out of it as well."
"He's my brother," Lisa snapped crankily as he took an iron hold on her elbow. "I have the right to--"
"Do yourself a favor and don't even finish that sentence," Jackson grouched.
"Where are we going, anyway?"
"The car."
"No shit."
"To the airport."
"On a plane to…?" Lisa prodded. "And Part B—am I allowed to call my dad?"
"A plane to a country," Jackson said, "of whose identity will remain hidden to you until we board such plane. And no, you are not allowed to call your father. Are you twelve?"
Lisa pouted as she opened her door. "Why not?"
"Think, Leese," Jackson sighed, running a hand through his neatly combed hair. "Even without your dad's meaning to, it could bring the cops swarming to our exact location. When we're secure, maybe. But at the moment, you're just damn lucky that I've found the grace to harbor a fugitive."
Lisa scowled. "Yeah, you're a friggin' Mother Teresa. Speaking of which, where are the cops? Sergeant Thaddeus is supposed to tail me a tall times, remember?"
Jackson flushed as he backed out of the lot. "He's otherwise occupied at the moment—and no, I didn't kill him, Leese."
"I wasn't going to ask," Lisa murmured as her eye fell upon the burning car adjacent to the grocery store. She paled. "Oh, my—Jackson, is that--"
He beamed proudly, speeding up. "Yup. Thaddeus was sleeping when I did it, and with the remains I put--"
"No, Jackson," Lisa felt sick. "No need to continue. I get the picture. So what you're saying is--"
"You're as good as dead, Leese."
Author's Note: Okay, before the fanfiction hordes come after me with their pitchforks and burning torches, I know that Jackson was in New York, like, a day ago. But that is the miracle of aviation, my friends. That's why he and Alex were in Albany. Now that that's established…let's….kay. :P
