Title: Paths of the Past: Chapter Four
Author: Stormhawk
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Word Count: 2859
Notes: Nope.
Please read and Review.
Smith looked at the open file on his desk. This was one of the things he had always feared.
He didn't want to lose her.
He shifted to the mansion and knocked on her bedroom door. "What?" an impatient voice asked from the other side of the door. He opened the door and found Stevie cutting holes into the jeans she was wearing.
"Stevie what are you doing?"
She glared up at him, "what do you want?"
"I wanted to see how you were."
"As good as an experiment can be."
"Are you feeling all right?"
"I just told you," she said as she went back to what she was doing.
"Stevie?"
She stood and looked out the window, "You're not even really my father."
The words cut through him like daggers and his heart felt ice cold. He never expected to hear words like those coming from her mouth.
He went to say something but she shook, she grabbed the windowsill to keep herself from falling her body convulsed. She let out a cry of pain and fell to the floor in a heap. Smith was at her side in a minute but took a step back and watched what was happening to her.
Her hair was changing of its own free will, becoming shorter and red, several scars appeared on her arms and she opened her eyes and her brown eyes looked up at him.
"Stevie?"
He felt the punch before he saw it, "Who the hell are you?" Stevie asked with a broad New York accent. She jumped to her feet and looked around, "Where the fuck am I?"
Smith pushed himself to his feet and looked down at his daughter who wasn't his daughter anymore. Except for the same height and facial structure she was nothing like Stevie.
"What's going on?"
"I should be asking you the same thing," the girl spat at him. "Now let me out of here before I call the cops."
"Who are you?"
"Jessica. Now tell me where I am and what's going on."
"I have to fix this."
"Fix what pal? Who are you anyway?"
"I'm your father Stevie."
"I really don't think so."
Someone knocked on the door and opened it, "Are you ok Stevie?" Cray asked as he pushed the door open. "I heard a weird noi." He looked from Jessica to Smith and back again and shook his head. "Stevie?"
"Why does everyone keep calling me that? My name is Jessica you blue-haired freak."
"What happened to her?" he asked Smith.
"I have no idea what's going on," Smith said honestly as Jessica pushed past him and ran for the door. Cray jumped back out of the way and she bounded down the stairs.
"Stevie stop!" he yelled as he shifted in front of her, between her and the front door. Jessica squealed and punched him.
"What the hell are you?"
He shook his head, "How can you not know?"
She shoved her way past him and opened the door. Backing into the street she looked around, having no idea where she was.
"Stevie..." Smith said gently as he walked down the front stairs. "Come back up here, we have to find a way to make you better."
"You come near me and I will call the cops." She threatened.
"I have a higher authority than any police force."
She shook her head and ran off down the street. Smith went to go after her.
"I don't think that's a good idea." He whirled around and looked down at Cray.
"Do not presume to tell me what to do."
"Forgive my brother, he's an idiot," Niq said as she walked down the stairs toward the kitchen.
"Niq, this is not the time for jokes," Cray snapped, "There's something wrong with Stevie."
"It's probably her programming," Niq said with a dismissive shrug, "A glitch or something."
"Stop it!"
"It's not my problem Cray."
Cray shook his head once Niq had left. His sister went from extreme to extreme, being nice one day and cold the next. Caring then being neutral. Worrying about her soul then going to rave parties.
"Your sister may be right."
"But Stevie is human," Cray said confused, running a hand through his blue hair.
"She was programmed into a human body..." he trailed off and muttered to himself. He looked down the street where his daughter had disappeared. "I'll give her a couple of hours, if she hasn't come back I'm going to go look for her."
"Could she just go back to normal?"
Smith looked down at the boy for the first time as if he were something more than a waste-of-time rebel-turned-collaborator. He was his daughter's friend. "I'm not sure Cray."
*****
Jessica ran down the street, everything was very fuzzy. She knew that she was very far from home...well the streets she crashed on anyway.
She was part of a gang of people who called themselves the Crashers. It meant they crashed wherever it was warm enough to sleep at night. All of them were street kids, abandoned or orphaned, or had simply left home. Some of them had jobs or varying legal shades, others lived off whatever they could get.
She had no clue as to why she had been in a mansion on a fancy street with some weird guy in a suit claiming to be her father.
Who the hell would want to be her father?
"Brooke?"
She jumped and spun to see a guy carrying a carton of beer up the street.
"No, it's Jessica." She smiled as her eyes roamed over him. Damn he was good looking.
Brad shrugged, "You look like you're in trouble."
"Some weird fed or something, I got no idea what's going on." She said helplessly.
"My house is just up the street, come on." She walked beside him.
"What's your name?"
"Brad."
He opened the door and called out to his friends. They came down and carried the beer to the fridge for him.
"Hey," one of them said to her.
"Hey."
Brad pointed to a seat and she sat down. "So you got amnesia or just smoke something a little off?"
"I don't smoke, I snort," she said matter-of-factly.
"Then you are among friends," he paused, "except for Phix who is almost solely a pill popper. But he does weird things as well."
She looked at the other guys as they were loading the beers into the fridge. "Which one of you guys is Phix?"
"Neither actually," the brown haired boy, Nelson, the shortest of the three said, "he's a...chemist."
"I know the type."
"So where are your people?"
"I'm a Crasher."
Camden, who had carrot-colored hair looked up as thoughtfully as possible. "Most of those guys died in a fire more than a year ago. The Crashers are no more, they all joined up with different gangs."
Jessica shook her head, "That's not possible."
"What's the last thing you remember Jess?"
"It's all jumbled, I feel like I just popped about half a dozen CBV's."
"That bad huh?"
"Maybe worse, I've never taken more than five."
Nelson shook his head, "six is comatose level unless you're adjusted to that level of dosage."
"I can't even remember the last time I had a fix of anything."
The three guys looked shocked, Brad looked up, "Nelson go get the supplies." He looked over at Jessica, "Maybe they caught you and were drying you out to 'readjust' you and it didn't work."
"I want to get back to normal. When's the next party?"
"Actually you just missed one, Brooke, the girl I mistook you for was there."
"Yeah? She much fun?"
"Drinks like a fish. Didn't do drugs though."
"I only started on drugs after a guy named Chris got me hooked." She smiled wickedly, "But my other vices kept me going."
"I'm sure they did," Brad said as he handed her a packet with some white powder in it. "That's good stuff."
"I'll repay you for it, don't worry."
*****
Stef shifted into the mansion and found Cray and Darth sitting on the stairs and Smith standing near the open door.
"Hey guys, what's going on?"
Smith didn't even move, she went to walk toward him but Darth grabbed her arm and nodded toward the kitchen, Cray followed.
"What happened?"
"Stevie's not Stevie anymore," Cray said, his voice wavering slightly. "She ran off."
"What do you mean?"
"She's someone named Jessica. She doesn't know who we are."
"So why is Smith just standing there?"
"He's been like that for the last hour, he's hoping that she comes back," Darth said softly.
"Where is she?"
"She ran off down the street."
"We have to go look for her."
"No," a voice said from the doorway, Smith was standing there.
"Why?"
"I'll handle this Stef," he said coldly looking down at her.
Her eyes widened, "What did you just say?"
"I said I'll handle this. I don't need or want your help. Stevie is my daughter."
Stef stayed still for about three seconds before exploding, "You think she's nothing to me? You can not keep me out of this! I care about her too!"
He glared at her; "There is nothing you can do." He shifted away from them.
*****
Smith walked down the corridor of the agency away from his office toward Jones' carrying a folder in his hand. He knocked curtly on the door.
"Come in," the tech Agent's soft voice said. "What can I do for you Agent Smith?"
Smith placed the folder on the desk, "Is this the only file on experiment 765-KCB?"
"I can check," he said typing it into his computer. "We were given surprisingly little information considering the strange nature of it."
"Yes," Smith said distractedly careful to keep the emotion out of his voice.
"It did have an interesting conclusion," Jones said as he tapped some more keys. "The glitches Brown's experiment suffered."
"Yes, it was interesting. Have you found the information?"
"Was there something in particular you were searching for?"
"No."
Jones put his hands beside the keyboard and took a deep steadying breath before taking out his earpiece. Curious, Smith followed the action.
Jones hesitated before saying anything then spoke, "Is there something wrong with Stevie?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about Agent Jones."
"Yes you do," Jones said bravely though he was very nervous. "Your experiment, your daughter."
"My experiment was terminated."
"A clever deception but a deception all the same."
"I will delete you before you can inform the mainframe," Smith said sharply preparing to delete him.
Jones shuddered, "Don't. I have known for a long time and have not said anything. I have no intention whatsoever of doing so."
"How?"
"Suspicions at first. Then you tried to kill yourself because you thought her dead."
"That was an error."
"That was what I put in my report. I have no wish for you to be deleted. Then she was plugged back in," he required two files, one for Stevie Smith and one for Brooke Tarker. "Flawless file work, I could not have done better. But the chance of her being a twin sister is non-existent."
"If you know, Brown must suspect."
"He does not."
"Why didn't you tell me you knew?"
"I had no reason. You would not have trusted me. I doubt you do now."
Smith stood, conflicted about what to do. For one, he was still having trouble accepting that Jones knew one of his best-kept secrets when he thought the deception to be flawless.
Jones saw his conflict, "What has happened?"
Smith nodded to himself then opened his eyes and spoke. "She has reverted to who she was before the experiment. The host memories have resurfaced and taken over."
"That is very bad news."
"Well?" Smith asked expectantly, "Can you help?"
"The experiment wasn't intended to last more than a month. Thus provisions for an event like this were never made. The human mind is a very complex thing. It doesn't function in the way that we do. No matter how much we study it, some elements still escape us. The subconscious can trap things there that no technology can remove. It may be impossible for her to return."
"I don't want to hear that. After all of this I do not want to hear that I have lost her."
"I will research into the matter, I may just not be able to do anything."
"Thank you Jones."
"You are welcome Smith."
*****
Jessica and the boys were sitting around telling stories of parties they had been and the varying amounts of narcotics and alcohol they had consumed when there was a knock on the door.
"Answer it Camden," Brad said as he reached for some small white pills. Camden got up and pulled the door open.
"Hey the circus is in town," he said with a slurred voice, having chosen to get drunk instead of high.
Cray stood strong, "my friend is missing. I think she might be here."
"Don't think so."
"She doesn't remember who she is."
"I know that voice," Jessica said as she stood. "What are you doing here freak?"
"Stevie...you don't belong here. It's time to come home."
Brad looked down at her, "How many names do you have?"
She shrugged and replied sardonically, "One, as far as I'm aware of."
"I'm going to call the cops if you don't let her go."
"She doesn't want to go anywhere," Brad said as he pushed him down the stairs before slamming the door.
Cray looked up at the door then ran home. He burst in the door, "I know where she is!"
Darth's eyes almost fell out of his head, "Where?"
"Brad's house, where the party was. She still thinks she is Jessica though."
"She is Jessica," Stef said from the stairs. "She's not Stevie anymore," she threw a photo at him, "Look familiar?" Cray nodded, "That is Jessica before her memories were wiped and Stevie was born. She has gone back to that. And we might not get her back."
"I don't want to believe that," Cray said definitely.
"Believe it or not Smurf, that is the truth."
*****
After having left Jones' office Smith paced for a while before requiring her location. He shifted to the front door and knocked.
"Oh I don't believe this," a voice said as it opened up. Camden's eyes went wide with shock. "Oh shit." He calmed down a little, "Can I help you?"
"Let me in."
"Do you have a warrant?" Nelson asked and found a gun in his face.
"Yes," Smith said coldly. "Let me in." The boys shrunk to the side and Smith walked in.
"Don't go in there!" Camden yelled as a warning as he walked toward the living room.
Smith stopped dead as he saw what was going on. Brad was lying shirtless on the couch with Jessica sitting on top of him, leaning down and kissing the tattoo on his chest. Smith was across the room in less than a second and pulled her off him.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she screamed at him and promptly stopped when she saw the gun.
"How much to get you out of my house?" Brad asked as he sat up.
"If you say one more word I'll put a bullet in your skull," Smith said and Brad shrugged. Smith pulled Jessica into the next room.
"You're hurting me!" Jessica yelled as she yanked her arm from his grip.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I thought it was pretty damn obvious," she said as she reached for a beer from the fridge.
"You don't even know him."
"He looks and tastes good, he's letting me stay here and he's given me a fix. What more can a street girl ask for?"
"You are not a street girl."
"I have no fucking idea who you are, or why you are following me around. Stop it or I'll get a restraining order. I don't care who you work for but you don't have the right to keep harassing me."
"You really don't know who I am?" he asked in a softer tone. "No idea, clue or hint whatsoever?"
"A creepy guy in a suit with a gun."
"What about you?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"What did you do yesterday?"
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"Humor me."
Jessica thought hard for a moment, and was surprised when her mind came up empty. "I must have taken some bad shit yesterday. But with the people I hang with that isn't surprising." She stopped and looked up at him, "Unless you are going to arrest us...stay away." She turned on her heel and walked back into the living room.
He felt sickened when he heard her say, "Want to continue from where we left off?"
"Stevie," he said to no one in particular. "I swear that I will get you back. And until then I will look after you and make sure that no harm comes to you." He shifted from the house.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
No footnotes, *sigh*
Author: Stormhawk
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Word Count: 2859
Notes: Nope.
Please read and Review.
Smith looked at the open file on his desk. This was one of the things he had always feared.
He didn't want to lose her.
He shifted to the mansion and knocked on her bedroom door. "What?" an impatient voice asked from the other side of the door. He opened the door and found Stevie cutting holes into the jeans she was wearing.
"Stevie what are you doing?"
She glared up at him, "what do you want?"
"I wanted to see how you were."
"As good as an experiment can be."
"Are you feeling all right?"
"I just told you," she said as she went back to what she was doing.
"Stevie?"
She stood and looked out the window, "You're not even really my father."
The words cut through him like daggers and his heart felt ice cold. He never expected to hear words like those coming from her mouth.
He went to say something but she shook, she grabbed the windowsill to keep herself from falling her body convulsed. She let out a cry of pain and fell to the floor in a heap. Smith was at her side in a minute but took a step back and watched what was happening to her.
Her hair was changing of its own free will, becoming shorter and red, several scars appeared on her arms and she opened her eyes and her brown eyes looked up at him.
"Stevie?"
He felt the punch before he saw it, "Who the hell are you?" Stevie asked with a broad New York accent. She jumped to her feet and looked around, "Where the fuck am I?"
Smith pushed himself to his feet and looked down at his daughter who wasn't his daughter anymore. Except for the same height and facial structure she was nothing like Stevie.
"What's going on?"
"I should be asking you the same thing," the girl spat at him. "Now let me out of here before I call the cops."
"Who are you?"
"Jessica. Now tell me where I am and what's going on."
"I have to fix this."
"Fix what pal? Who are you anyway?"
"I'm your father Stevie."
"I really don't think so."
Someone knocked on the door and opened it, "Are you ok Stevie?" Cray asked as he pushed the door open. "I heard a weird noi." He looked from Jessica to Smith and back again and shook his head. "Stevie?"
"Why does everyone keep calling me that? My name is Jessica you blue-haired freak."
"What happened to her?" he asked Smith.
"I have no idea what's going on," Smith said honestly as Jessica pushed past him and ran for the door. Cray jumped back out of the way and she bounded down the stairs.
"Stevie stop!" he yelled as he shifted in front of her, between her and the front door. Jessica squealed and punched him.
"What the hell are you?"
He shook his head, "How can you not know?"
She shoved her way past him and opened the door. Backing into the street she looked around, having no idea where she was.
"Stevie..." Smith said gently as he walked down the front stairs. "Come back up here, we have to find a way to make you better."
"You come near me and I will call the cops." She threatened.
"I have a higher authority than any police force."
She shook her head and ran off down the street. Smith went to go after her.
"I don't think that's a good idea." He whirled around and looked down at Cray.
"Do not presume to tell me what to do."
"Forgive my brother, he's an idiot," Niq said as she walked down the stairs toward the kitchen.
"Niq, this is not the time for jokes," Cray snapped, "There's something wrong with Stevie."
"It's probably her programming," Niq said with a dismissive shrug, "A glitch or something."
"Stop it!"
"It's not my problem Cray."
Cray shook his head once Niq had left. His sister went from extreme to extreme, being nice one day and cold the next. Caring then being neutral. Worrying about her soul then going to rave parties.
"Your sister may be right."
"But Stevie is human," Cray said confused, running a hand through his blue hair.
"She was programmed into a human body..." he trailed off and muttered to himself. He looked down the street where his daughter had disappeared. "I'll give her a couple of hours, if she hasn't come back I'm going to go look for her."
"Could she just go back to normal?"
Smith looked down at the boy for the first time as if he were something more than a waste-of-time rebel-turned-collaborator. He was his daughter's friend. "I'm not sure Cray."
*****
Jessica ran down the street, everything was very fuzzy. She knew that she was very far from home...well the streets she crashed on anyway.
She was part of a gang of people who called themselves the Crashers. It meant they crashed wherever it was warm enough to sleep at night. All of them were street kids, abandoned or orphaned, or had simply left home. Some of them had jobs or varying legal shades, others lived off whatever they could get.
She had no clue as to why she had been in a mansion on a fancy street with some weird guy in a suit claiming to be her father.
Who the hell would want to be her father?
"Brooke?"
She jumped and spun to see a guy carrying a carton of beer up the street.
"No, it's Jessica." She smiled as her eyes roamed over him. Damn he was good looking.
Brad shrugged, "You look like you're in trouble."
"Some weird fed or something, I got no idea what's going on." She said helplessly.
"My house is just up the street, come on." She walked beside him.
"What's your name?"
"Brad."
He opened the door and called out to his friends. They came down and carried the beer to the fridge for him.
"Hey," one of them said to her.
"Hey."
Brad pointed to a seat and she sat down. "So you got amnesia or just smoke something a little off?"
"I don't smoke, I snort," she said matter-of-factly.
"Then you are among friends," he paused, "except for Phix who is almost solely a pill popper. But he does weird things as well."
She looked at the other guys as they were loading the beers into the fridge. "Which one of you guys is Phix?"
"Neither actually," the brown haired boy, Nelson, the shortest of the three said, "he's a...chemist."
"I know the type."
"So where are your people?"
"I'm a Crasher."
Camden, who had carrot-colored hair looked up as thoughtfully as possible. "Most of those guys died in a fire more than a year ago. The Crashers are no more, they all joined up with different gangs."
Jessica shook her head, "That's not possible."
"What's the last thing you remember Jess?"
"It's all jumbled, I feel like I just popped about half a dozen CBV's."
"That bad huh?"
"Maybe worse, I've never taken more than five."
Nelson shook his head, "six is comatose level unless you're adjusted to that level of dosage."
"I can't even remember the last time I had a fix of anything."
The three guys looked shocked, Brad looked up, "Nelson go get the supplies." He looked over at Jessica, "Maybe they caught you and were drying you out to 'readjust' you and it didn't work."
"I want to get back to normal. When's the next party?"
"Actually you just missed one, Brooke, the girl I mistook you for was there."
"Yeah? She much fun?"
"Drinks like a fish. Didn't do drugs though."
"I only started on drugs after a guy named Chris got me hooked." She smiled wickedly, "But my other vices kept me going."
"I'm sure they did," Brad said as he handed her a packet with some white powder in it. "That's good stuff."
"I'll repay you for it, don't worry."
*****
Stef shifted into the mansion and found Cray and Darth sitting on the stairs and Smith standing near the open door.
"Hey guys, what's going on?"
Smith didn't even move, she went to walk toward him but Darth grabbed her arm and nodded toward the kitchen, Cray followed.
"What happened?"
"Stevie's not Stevie anymore," Cray said, his voice wavering slightly. "She ran off."
"What do you mean?"
"She's someone named Jessica. She doesn't know who we are."
"So why is Smith just standing there?"
"He's been like that for the last hour, he's hoping that she comes back," Darth said softly.
"Where is she?"
"She ran off down the street."
"We have to go look for her."
"No," a voice said from the doorway, Smith was standing there.
"Why?"
"I'll handle this Stef," he said coldly looking down at her.
Her eyes widened, "What did you just say?"
"I said I'll handle this. I don't need or want your help. Stevie is my daughter."
Stef stayed still for about three seconds before exploding, "You think she's nothing to me? You can not keep me out of this! I care about her too!"
He glared at her; "There is nothing you can do." He shifted away from them.
*****
Smith walked down the corridor of the agency away from his office toward Jones' carrying a folder in his hand. He knocked curtly on the door.
"Come in," the tech Agent's soft voice said. "What can I do for you Agent Smith?"
Smith placed the folder on the desk, "Is this the only file on experiment 765-KCB?"
"I can check," he said typing it into his computer. "We were given surprisingly little information considering the strange nature of it."
"Yes," Smith said distractedly careful to keep the emotion out of his voice.
"It did have an interesting conclusion," Jones said as he tapped some more keys. "The glitches Brown's experiment suffered."
"Yes, it was interesting. Have you found the information?"
"Was there something in particular you were searching for?"
"No."
Jones put his hands beside the keyboard and took a deep steadying breath before taking out his earpiece. Curious, Smith followed the action.
Jones hesitated before saying anything then spoke, "Is there something wrong with Stevie?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about Agent Jones."
"Yes you do," Jones said bravely though he was very nervous. "Your experiment, your daughter."
"My experiment was terminated."
"A clever deception but a deception all the same."
"I will delete you before you can inform the mainframe," Smith said sharply preparing to delete him.
Jones shuddered, "Don't. I have known for a long time and have not said anything. I have no intention whatsoever of doing so."
"How?"
"Suspicions at first. Then you tried to kill yourself because you thought her dead."
"That was an error."
"That was what I put in my report. I have no wish for you to be deleted. Then she was plugged back in," he required two files, one for Stevie Smith and one for Brooke Tarker. "Flawless file work, I could not have done better. But the chance of her being a twin sister is non-existent."
"If you know, Brown must suspect."
"He does not."
"Why didn't you tell me you knew?"
"I had no reason. You would not have trusted me. I doubt you do now."
Smith stood, conflicted about what to do. For one, he was still having trouble accepting that Jones knew one of his best-kept secrets when he thought the deception to be flawless.
Jones saw his conflict, "What has happened?"
Smith nodded to himself then opened his eyes and spoke. "She has reverted to who she was before the experiment. The host memories have resurfaced and taken over."
"That is very bad news."
"Well?" Smith asked expectantly, "Can you help?"
"The experiment wasn't intended to last more than a month. Thus provisions for an event like this were never made. The human mind is a very complex thing. It doesn't function in the way that we do. No matter how much we study it, some elements still escape us. The subconscious can trap things there that no technology can remove. It may be impossible for her to return."
"I don't want to hear that. After all of this I do not want to hear that I have lost her."
"I will research into the matter, I may just not be able to do anything."
"Thank you Jones."
"You are welcome Smith."
*****
Jessica and the boys were sitting around telling stories of parties they had been and the varying amounts of narcotics and alcohol they had consumed when there was a knock on the door.
"Answer it Camden," Brad said as he reached for some small white pills. Camden got up and pulled the door open.
"Hey the circus is in town," he said with a slurred voice, having chosen to get drunk instead of high.
Cray stood strong, "my friend is missing. I think she might be here."
"Don't think so."
"She doesn't remember who she is."
"I know that voice," Jessica said as she stood. "What are you doing here freak?"
"Stevie...you don't belong here. It's time to come home."
Brad looked down at her, "How many names do you have?"
She shrugged and replied sardonically, "One, as far as I'm aware of."
"I'm going to call the cops if you don't let her go."
"She doesn't want to go anywhere," Brad said as he pushed him down the stairs before slamming the door.
Cray looked up at the door then ran home. He burst in the door, "I know where she is!"
Darth's eyes almost fell out of his head, "Where?"
"Brad's house, where the party was. She still thinks she is Jessica though."
"She is Jessica," Stef said from the stairs. "She's not Stevie anymore," she threw a photo at him, "Look familiar?" Cray nodded, "That is Jessica before her memories were wiped and Stevie was born. She has gone back to that. And we might not get her back."
"I don't want to believe that," Cray said definitely.
"Believe it or not Smurf, that is the truth."
*****
After having left Jones' office Smith paced for a while before requiring her location. He shifted to the front door and knocked.
"Oh I don't believe this," a voice said as it opened up. Camden's eyes went wide with shock. "Oh shit." He calmed down a little, "Can I help you?"
"Let me in."
"Do you have a warrant?" Nelson asked and found a gun in his face.
"Yes," Smith said coldly. "Let me in." The boys shrunk to the side and Smith walked in.
"Don't go in there!" Camden yelled as a warning as he walked toward the living room.
Smith stopped dead as he saw what was going on. Brad was lying shirtless on the couch with Jessica sitting on top of him, leaning down and kissing the tattoo on his chest. Smith was across the room in less than a second and pulled her off him.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she screamed at him and promptly stopped when she saw the gun.
"How much to get you out of my house?" Brad asked as he sat up.
"If you say one more word I'll put a bullet in your skull," Smith said and Brad shrugged. Smith pulled Jessica into the next room.
"You're hurting me!" Jessica yelled as she yanked her arm from his grip.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I thought it was pretty damn obvious," she said as she reached for a beer from the fridge.
"You don't even know him."
"He looks and tastes good, he's letting me stay here and he's given me a fix. What more can a street girl ask for?"
"You are not a street girl."
"I have no fucking idea who you are, or why you are following me around. Stop it or I'll get a restraining order. I don't care who you work for but you don't have the right to keep harassing me."
"You really don't know who I am?" he asked in a softer tone. "No idea, clue or hint whatsoever?"
"A creepy guy in a suit with a gun."
"What about you?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"What did you do yesterday?"
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"Humor me."
Jessica thought hard for a moment, and was surprised when her mind came up empty. "I must have taken some bad shit yesterday. But with the people I hang with that isn't surprising." She stopped and looked up at him, "Unless you are going to arrest us...stay away." She turned on her heel and walked back into the living room.
He felt sickened when he heard her say, "Want to continue from where we left off?"
"Stevie," he said to no one in particular. "I swear that I will get you back. And until then I will look after you and make sure that no harm comes to you." He shifted from the house.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
No footnotes, *sigh*