Author's Note: Hi. Sorry this took so long, I had to move back to Memphis for the summer and my parents decided to make a six-hour road trip into a two day one. Can we say fun? I thought so. So to my loyal fans who have been waiting so patiently here is the fourth chapter.
Review…it's for your own good.
That's Enough for Me
Chapter 4: Knight on shinning armor
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How can everything be justified by you you get off on watching me bleed you get off on feeding my disease this time will be perfect you explain but your tongue's as deadly as a needle in my vein... -Stabbing Westward, "DrugStore"
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Her breath caught in her throat for a heartbeat until she realized the sound came from outside her front door. She closed her eyes slowly and tried to hear any other sounds, there was another creak this one louder. At least two men were in the hallway outside of her apartment.
She slipped out of the shower, not turning off the water and ignoring as more of it dripped down her body. She looked out the window, just big enough for her to fit through, to find five men with guns and police badges watching the side door intently. A mad dash into the living room yielded her cell phone and a knife before she ran back into the bathroom. She picked up her purple silk robe and quietly opened the window, slipping the robe on but not bothering to tie it. Knife and cell went into the pockets of the robe even as she held back an unhappy gasp when cold air hit her wet body full on.
Taking a deep breath she climbed onto the sill and with gentle hands searched for a handhold that her eyes couldn't see. Time had worn away the mortar that held bricks together giving barely any room for handholds but just enough that she was willing to take the chance. She was standing slowly, careful not to draw any attention upwards. She heard the front door come crashing in as she started down the wall.
Bricks scraped at exposed toes and fingers as she grasped on with every fiber of her being, muscles rippled under satin skin. She made it over another windowsill and had to hold in a gasp of pain as the edge caught on skin and left a bloody welt across the soft skin of her stomach and breast. Her muscles twitched gently and she turned to look at how far she had gone. She wanted to just jump down, she was already hanging on a good three stories up, she was sure she could make it without too much damage even with no shoes on, but the resulting sound would catch too much attention.
"This is so not fair," she grumbled under her breath as another brick left a rough good-bye kiss against her hip. "Ok, next time I close the robe." She tried to toss wet clumps of hair out of her eyes unsuccessfully as she listened to the commotion inside her apartment. A man shouted and she rested her head against the cold brick for a heartbeat, her eyes closed and her breathing even. Someone was sticking his head out of her window, people pointed and she let go of the wall.
Her legs folded under her to catch the shock of the landing and then she was running bare feet slapping against wet concrete. She pulled in her billowing robe to tie it off, knowing that being accosted in the street by horny men and cops was worse then just cops. The lucky part was the men who caught a glimpse of her stopped for a long moment just blinking.
Then the clomping of heavy boots sounded behind her, followed by the loud revving of engines. Arms pumping and breath coming in even gasps she ran for everything she was worth cutting out the cold and the feeling of hard concrete abusing already torn feet.
Turning on her heel she made her way into an alley, jumping stray boxes rather than go around them. One jump landed her on a piece of glass and the gasp of unbidden pain ripped itself out of her throat even as she kept running, gritting her teeth and refusing to slow down. She made another turn fearing for a second that she was going to get herself lost.
Shots rang out and she ducked throwing hands up in an instinctive reflex to protect her head. She zigzagged as best she could without catching another piece of glass in her already abused feet. More shots and she had to wonder if these guys ever actually went to target practice.
Another turn and red and blue lights illuminated the street infront of her; she back peddled her arms flailing for a full second before she caught her balance again. Her eye caught the rich red of blood smeared against the pavement; whipping around she saw the glint of lights off of guns.
"Attacking me without any clothes on is not fair!" She yelled through gritted teeth as she brought her fists up ready to fight when the sound of motorcycle engines cut through the air. Eyes of electric blue went wide as steel and flesh cut through the night air.
Two of the bikers made circles around the cops kicking a few back and shouldering them away by sheer force. One cycle skidded to a stop beside her, and Jondy took in the familiar smirk with a smile of her own. "Get on," Alec yelled over the sound of engines.
"Don't have to tell me twice," wrapping the robe around her more tightly she climbed on behind him and pressed her body tightly against him. "My night on shining armor!"
With the tightening of her arms he was off, two cycles falling in behind. "That's twice in one night," he yelled over the wind, "I think I deserve something!"
She tucked her chin into the crook of his neck and put her lips next to his ear, suppressing a smile when she felt his body shudder softly against her, "we'll see." She turned her head to see Max riding next to them. Jondy's eyes narrowed slowly as she watched the other woman, taking in for the first time the dark skin and black hair and, with a flash of memory, dark eyes slanted delicately. "Max," she whispered softly blinking away the memories of a little girl she had lost below the ice so long ago.
She buried her face into Alec's leather clad back and breathed deeply. His smell invaded her senses and she felt her head spin with it. Leather and cat and man, he smelled like strength with the undercurrent of pain. Without thinking about it she slid her arms tighter around him, her thumb brushing against bare skin where his shirt had ridden up. She pulled back abruptly as a sudden surge of electricity ran up her arms. Curious eyes watched as his muscles tensed, she leaned back in slowly and felt his breath come in ragged gasps. She rubbed her cheek against Alec's shoulder like a cat scent marking and resisted the urge to purr.
Once safely inside Terminal City Jondy slipped off the back of Alec's cycle and bit off the laugh the threatened to bubble out of her chest as she watched his hands turn white against the bike handles. "You ok?" she asked her teeth denting her lip delicately as she lightly touched his shoulder.
"I'm fine, Why do ya ask?" Looked up at her innocently, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed.
"No particular reason," she laughed.
"How about you?"
"What about me?"
"Are you ok?"
She picked up her left foot and tisked softly," I'm gonna need tweezers to get the glass out of my foot." Gritting her teeth she ran a bail across the ball of her foot, "running on it worked it in."
"We can take care of that," he said wit a smile, throwing a leg over the bike. "Any other injuries that we should know about?"
"Minor ones." She fluttered dark lashes playfully; "you can kiss 'em and make 'em batter if you wanna."
"It depends on where they are," a smirk played across full pink lips as he took a step closer to her.
"Max!" The yell made them both jump with the realization that they weren't alone.
"Yeah?" The reply came from somewhere behind Jondy and she turned to catch a glimpse of dark hair being thrown over caramel shoulders.
"That's Dix," Alec whispered into her ear as she looked back at the pale man with an eye patch over a misshapen face.
"Logan's on the screen, says he wants to talk to you and Alec." Dix disappeared back into the HQ as Jondy watched both transgenics in question tense.
"Oh goody," Alec growled under his breath, nodding at Jondy to follow. She pulled her robe in tighter and shrugged as she fell into step with Max.
"So…who's this Logan guy you both are dreading to talk to?" She asked with a grin.
"I'm not dreading it," Max said, pulling a face.
"Ri-ight, and I'm fully clothed."
"He's Max's we're-not-like-that-boyfriend, who she decided to tell that she's dating me," Alec raised an eyebrow at Max's glare and Jondy felt her stomach drop.
"Why would she, uh you," Jondy smiled over at Max, "have done a thing like that?"
"We can't touch," She explained to Jondy quietly.
"Which she hadn't stopped moping about for the last nine months," Alec grumbled under his breath.
"Why can't you?"
"I was given a virus tailored specifically to his DNA," Max watched Alec with narrowed eyes just waiting for his next comment.
"So you two aren't dating, you just decided to tell Logan that because he's hopelessly in love and won't take a hint?"
"Yes," she answered quietly. "Alec and I are reluctant friends."
Alec leaned in close his lips mere inches away from Jondy's ear. "She's the only one who's reluctant."
"Likes to take things slow, huh?"
"Like a turtle," he deadpanned.
"Doesn't embrace the cat DNA, does she?" She shook her head despairingly; "it's a sad thing."
"I know…she should rush head long into things…"
"And when things get messed up point at someone else and look cute and innocent…" Jondy went on.
"And nap frequently," he finished with a smile.
"Would you two stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Max snapped but couldn't help the smile that spread her lips.
"Just embracing the inner tabby," Jondy explained with a smirk, "Maxie." She said the name with as much inflection as possible and saw a spark of something in Max's eyes, but then she shook her head and it was gone. Jondy couldn't help the sigh of disappointment, thinking that there should be some blinding spark of recognition somewhere along the way.
Inside Alec touched Max's arm and nodded to Jondy, "let me help her with some first aid and then I'll be along for the fun." He didn't wait for a reply as he led Jondy to a back room.
She glanced over her shoulder to watch Max for a second before she felt air moving in front of her and knew she was about to run into to someone. She turned coming face to collar bone with a man who looked to have way too much lizard in his cocktail. "Ah! Moving wall!" She blinked up at him curiously. "Now you're just cool."
He smiled around his cigar before removing it, "you realize you're not wearing much in the way of clothes, right?"
She grinned, "I was going for the I-don't-care-look…do you think I went too far?" She flipped still damp hair over her shoulder and shrugged. "You just can never tell these days."
"This is Mole," Alec said with a smile at the large man.
"Mole?" One eyebrow rose elegantly. "That's a fun…great name for a lizard man…how'd that happen?"
"I like it," his voice was gruff as he blew a puff of smoke into the air.
"More power to ya, lizzy!" She flashed pearly whited and followed Alec farther back, casting a weary glance at the trail of red she left behind.
"You're not hobbling," Alec said suddenly when he entered a small room and watched her follow behind him.
"Huh?"
"You're not hobbling," he repeated.
She looked down at her foot then back up at him and shook her head, "nope."
"Most people would," he observed dryly.
"That they would," she sat down on a chair and propped her foot up slowly. He watched her for a second before shaking his head and shuffling through some shelves. Pushing items out of his way haphazardly.
"I know we have a tub thing in her some…ah ha!" He stood up straight brandishing a wash basin and tweezers. "I knew it!"
"Wowzers!" Blue eyes went wide; "You're amazing."
"Finally someone who appreciated me!"
"Oh, I think there are plenty of girls out there who appreciate you." She smiled sweetly and pointed down at her foot. "Hurry up, wench!" His eyebrows pulled together to furrow his brow before he shook his head and turned to get some soap and water.
He came back with a wash cloth and sat down in front of her, taking her left angle in strong hands. His fingertips felt like fire against soft skin and she forced her face to go blank as he looked up at her questioningly.
Jondy grimaced as she felt cold metal touch raw skin. Biting her lip she watched as his drew closed in concentration as he wrestled with the piece of glass lodged in her foot. With a cry of triumph Alec held up a bloody chunk the size of his fingernail, "Got it!"
"Woohoo! Celebrate good times, come on!" She held up her hands and cheered.
"Now we get to clean it," he said with mock joy.
"If only it could be the rest of my body," she threw her head back. "They came in just as I was starting me shower."
He put on a pretend pout as he started to clean off her foot, pressing the wash cloth against delicate skin as gently as he could. He watched as her face muscles jumped for a heartbeat and settled back into the look of unconcern. When he finished he could feel the full weight of those blue eyes of hers as he looked up at her. He leaned in slowly his thumb tracing slow circles against her ankle. "So, what were you saying about other injuries?"
A smile spread across full red lips slowly as her hand moved to touch her hip gently, "I got one here," her voice was the barest whisper. Then her hand touched her stomach just above her navel, "and one here too." She stopped for a second watching as his tongue darted out, green eyes watching her with enough intensity to make her want to blush. "And I have another one right…" she looked up suddenly as the door came open and Mole stuck his head in.
"Max's is getting impatient," he explained with a grin.
"All right, I'm coming," Alec grumbled and put Jondy's foot down. "I'll be back in a bit."
"All righty then," she couldn't help the grimace that she threw at the closed door sighing under her breath quietly.