Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay. Finals and all that. On the brighter side, we are nearing the end of our story. Thanks for the reviews, your support, and your patience! I really appreciate it. I'll stop blabbing now and let you read! Let me know what you think!
Chapter Eight: Dealing With Clyde
Jackson's eyes went from Davey's face to Clyde's. "Kill him." He said, letting his hand snake its way discreetly down to his ankle to release from the one remaining tie.
Lisa watched poor Davey's dark blue eyes widen in a combination of shock at what Jackson had just said and fear at the fact that Clyde might just do it.
"I don't want him." Clyde said. There were chunks of dried blood hanging from his face just below his ear. Lisa smiled with a slight sensation of pride blooming inside her at the sight of the wound. "I want that bitch of a wife you got."
The smile faded. Asshole.
Jackson's grip on Lisa's waist tightened. "Not gonna happen."
"So, you don't care if I do away with this little prick?" Clyde said, nudging Davey's temple with the barrel of the gun.
"Either you do it or I do later, he's dead either way." Jackson announced.
It was about then, Lisa, as she was fighting the urge to drop her head into her hands and groan, she watched Davey's eyes roll back in his head and he fainted dead away onto her carpet. Everything seemed to stop for a moment as everyone's eyes followed him to the floor. "Pussy." Jackson and Clyde said at once.
And just like that, the time out was over and Clyde lunged onto the bed for Lisa. Jackson held out his arms from around either side of Lisa catching Clyde by the forearms and Lisa brought her hands up twisting them into the material of Clyde's shirt. The three of them toppled over the edge of the bed to the floor with Lisa sandwiched in between the two men. In the midst of the fall, Lisa watched the 9mm fly out of Jackson's grip and slide across the floor and underneath Jackson's bureau. Jackson started to slam Clyde's hand against the corner of the windowsill until the gun flew out of his hand and out the broken window. It was that point that the two men began trying to kill each other with their bare hands. Lisa, who was still pressed between the two of them, was just trying her best to keep breathing when she spotted something shimmering under the bed. A knife! It was her carving knife! She stretched out her arm just as the two men shifted their weight and rolled. With a frustrated growl, Lisa shoved her hand to Clyde's side and twisted a handful of his flesh in her fingers. Clyde grunted in pain and shifted his weight again, causing them to roll back. Lisa wiggled her upper body out from between them until she was under the bed enough to reach where the knife had been shoved halfway under. She grabbed the knife and swiftly dragged the blade over Clyde's bicep, who then howled and sprang away from her and her husband.
Lisa thrust the knife into Jackson's capable hands and rolled off of him, allowing him to get to his feet. The two men then began to size each other up and circle one another in a predatory prowess.
"Come on, Rippner." Clyde said, "Don't make me kill you. It'll really piss off you know who."
"You should've thought of that before you came after my family."
Lisa sank back into the corner. She was trapped there. The only way out was across the bed and that would give Clyde a clear path to her. No. It was better to stay in the corner and keep Jackson between herself and Clyde. He was her shield; her own knight in shining Armani so to speak. Jackson lunged for Clyde, but Clyde caught him by the wrist and spun him around. He pulled Jackson back against him, almost in the same fashion that Jackson had done to Lisa a million times. He closed his hand over the fist that held the knife so Jackson couldn't drop it. Then he shoved Jackson toward Lisa.
"This makes it more fun!" Clyde growled in Jackson's ear, "Look into your pretty little wife's eyes as you stab her in the throat."
Lisa screamed and caught Jackson by the forearms, using all of her strength to keep him away. Jackson was struggling against Clyde and trying to hold his arms back and the weapon away from Lisa. The tip of the knife was biting into the soft flesh of her neck and Clyde had used Jackson to pin her body to the wall so she couldn't wiggle away. A tear slid down her cheek as she looked into Jackson's pretty blue eyes. His brows were drawn together as he looked back at her, the strain and fear evident in those deep pools of his eyes. It was funny. She couldn't remember ever having seen him afraid and now he was afraid that he was going to kill her.
"Lisa…" he said as the knife sank deeper.
"I love you." Lisa said whispered and closed her eyes.
And just like that, she heard the solid thwap as Jackson threw his head back and connected with Clyde's nose. Lisa felt the instant relief of pressure as both men stumbled back and away from her. She opened her eyes and released a deep breath that had been trapped in her lungs. As the two men again wrestled each other to the floor, Lisa sprang up onto the bed, scuffling across it until she reached the nightstand, where she immediately took hold of the remaining 9mm and swung around taking aim at the floor where her husband and his assailant were rolling around. They were tossing and turning so much that she couldn't get a clear shot. They rolled again and banged into Jackson's bureau, causing a heavy antique silver picture frame containing a picture of her and Jackson on their wedding day to fall off. It struck Jackson on the top of the head. His actions seized for a moment as he tried to shake the blow off, but instead he soon collapsed to the floor completely motionless.
Lisa felt as though her throat had closed up entirely as she watched her husband's body go limp. Her dropped open and she spaced out for a moment, her eyes locking on Jackson's unconscious form. She was so focused on Jackson that she didn't notice Clyde jumping to his feet until he was reaching for her. She blinked herself back into reality and squeezed the trigger, but Clyde already had a hold of her wrist and pushed it back so that the bullet hurtled into the ceiling. With one fluid movement, he pulled the gun out of her hand, tucked it into the back of his waistband, and dragged her off of the bed. Lisa went to punch him in the jaw with her free hand, but Clyde caught that wrist as well.
"Let me go!" Lisa screamed.
"Shh," Clyde cooed as though he were talking to an intimate lover, "Can you hear that?"
Lisa couldn't hear anything her heart was pounding so hard. Then, the sound of running water flooded her ears. Clyde was smiling at her like a shark. "That is a beautiful sound."
Before she knew it, Clyde had spun Lisa around in his arms so that her back was pressed tightly against his chest. He took both of her wrists in one hand and pinned them to her own chest and tangled his other fist into the back of her hair. All of her struggling was apparently futile, because with all her kicking and screaming, Clyde managed to drag her toward the bathroom with seemingly little effort. He kicked open the bathroom door and the sight brought out a fresh burst of force from Lisa. She jerked her head back, aiming for Clyde's face, which he dodged with ease and tightened his hold on her. The bathtub was overflowing, water cascading down the sides to the floor. Their feet splashed into at least an inch of water as they sloshed into the bathroom. Lisa twisted and writhed in attempt to escape from Clyde's grasp, but he merely chuckled in her ear and carried her over to the tub. It took him about seven seconds to force her down into the tub of ice cold water and get her completely submerged.
When the brain is deprived of oxygen, the mind panics. Lisa had gone into hysterics. She wasn't thinking clearly. All that was going was her survival instinct as she clawed at Clyde's wrists and lower arms. She went for his face but he had her held down so she couldn't quite reach. The water was so cold, it felt like a million little pin pricks all over her skin. She was staring up through the water at Clyde's distorted face and she was unable to stop the thought from entering her mind. She was about to die. She had imagined herself dying a thousand different ways, and since she had married Jackson, more than a few of those ways involved an assassin, but…being drowned in her own bathtub? Come on!
Suddenly, the pressure on her throat was gone. She was above the water, both her hands gripping either side of the tub, coughing and hacking as her lungs filled with air and her vision started to clear. She shivered involuntarily as she looked over and saw that Jackson had ripped Clyde away from her and had him pinned against the wall, fighting to bury the blade of her favorite kitchen knife into his chest. With a shuddering breath, Lisa hoisted herself to her feet in the tub.
"Don't go too far, sweetheart." Clyde said without looking away from Jackson, "I'm not through with you, yet."
"Oh, yes you are." Jackson said and head butted him.
Clyde let out a yelp, but didn't let the blow faze him. The two men fell out through the bathroom door back into the bedroom. Lisa leapt from the tub, the fuzzy water soaked rug squishing as her feet hit it. When she hit the tile, a large pool of water had already formed from the overflowing tub and her feet slipped and flew out from under her. She landed on her tailbone with a grimace. The sound of something breaking got her focus back and she hopped to her feet and charged into the bedroom. When she got through the small hallway, she saw that Clyde had Jackson pinned down on the bed. He had turned the knife on him and was slowly overpowering Jackson, who had his arms braced in front of himself for protection. Lisa darted past the bed and grabbed her wedding picture from the floor, then turned and watched in horror as Clyde managed to stab Jackson in the upped shoulder. Jackson's scream was matched by her own as she swung the picture frame hard and connected with the side of Clyde's head. Clyde fell away from Jackson and over the footboard of the bed. Breathing hard, Lisa watched as Jackson pulled the knife from his shoulder with a wince and pushed his self from the bed. He walked over to Clyde and grabbed a handful of his hair. He paused briefly and met his wife's steady gaze. "Close your eyes, Leese."
Lisa obeyed. But as soon as her lids dropped, she remembered Lasard and what Jackson had done to him without even flinching. He had gutted the man with no regard for her presence and what the sight would forever do to her psyche. Being a husband and a father had changed him in very few ways, but the ways that it had changed him were significant. He didn't only want to protect her life now, he wanted to shield her from certain things. He knew that Lisa was fully capable of dealing with what he did, but he didn't want her to have to deal with it. If it was possible to avoid exposing her to the gory details, he would go to any lengths to see that it was done. When she opened her eyes again, Jackson was wiping his knife of on Clyde's pants and Clyde was laying at the foot of her bed, his throat slit open revealing layers of tissue and artery and pooling blood onto her white carpet. Lisa frowned, "You've ruined my carpet."
Jackson looked up at her with a grin, "I'll buy you a new one."
Just then, Lisa heard a slight groan and looked down to see Davey stirring into consciousness at her feet. Normally, people are relieved when people regain consciousness, but in this case, Lisa knew that Davey stood a better chance of living if he didn't wake up. She was just about to kick him in the head to knock him back out, when she saw that Jackson had already noticed. His bright blue eyes had narrowed into dangerous slits as they honed in on Davey's rising form.
"Uh-oh." Lisa said aloud to herself. Her eyes went to Jackson's right hand which had visibly tightened around the handle of her kitchen knife. "Jackson." She said.
"So…" Jackson said, his voice turning sing-song.
Davey shook his head side to side, touched one hand to it and then looked up and around the room, his eyes settling momentarily on Lisa. He smiled. Then he saw Jackson. And the large knife in his hands.
"You kissed my wife?" Jackson seethed, closing the distance that separated them.
Lisa moved quickly, stepping in between her husband and her young trainee. "Jackson, remember when we talked about being rational?"
"That conversation does not apply to men who try to hurt, kill, or kiss my wife." Jackson countered.
Davey had climbed unsteadily to his feet and was cowering behind Lisa. Jackson grabbed Lisa by the elbow and pulled her past him, lunging for Davey. Lisa countered quickly, swinging herself around and jumping on Jackson's back. "Jackson! You cannot kill him!"
"You know better than that, Leese." Jackson said, trying to pull Lisa off of his back. "I can do anything I put my mind to."
"Jackson!" Lisa yelped as he flung her from his back to the bed. She bounced to the other side and rushed for the bedroom door, leaving Davey on his own with Jackson. She ran for the hallway closet and ripped it open. Amongst the cascade of junk the toppled from inside, she caught her trusty field hockey mallet and then ran back for the bedroom. By the time she got back into the room, Jackson had Davey on the floor and had drawn blood from him.
"Jackson." Lisa said ever so sweetly.
Jackson looked over at his wife, locking eyes with her just before she whacked him across the face with her mallet. He fell over, freeing Davey to jump to his feet. Jackson's face snapped back toward Lisa as he rubbed a hand over his jaw.
"Davey, run away right now." Lisa said keeping her voice calm and controlled. Davey didn't need to be told twice. In the blink of an eye, he was out the door and Lisa had stepped in front of it to guard his escape. Jackson climbed steadily to his feet.
"Move, Leese."
"Not gonna happen."
"So, we're gonna do this now?"
"Do you see any way around it?"
Jackson quirked a crooked smile and shook his head, just before he lunged for her. He grabbed the mallet with both hands and spun her around, causing both of them to lose their balance and topple onto the bed. As soon as they hit the mattress, each of them began fighting for the top position. Jackson managed to secure his place on top of his wife, but it wasn't for long. Lisa wrapped both of her legs around Jackson's waist and twisted him beneath her and used the strength of her lower body to hold him in position. One thing she had always been proud of was her lower body strength, hell, she had given birth to three children from down there! She used all of her weight to shove the mallet down long ways onto Jackson's throat and pin him down to the mattress. Jackson stared up at her with what could very well have been pride beaming from his crystal blue eyes. He tried to move his body, but Lisa just tightened her thighs around him.
"Jackson," she whispered, "don't make me do this."
Jackson smiled his sexy little smile up at her. "Fine, Leese, you win. I won't kill the little shit…tonight, anyway."
Lisa chuckled in spite of herself. "That's all I can ask."
She pulled the mallet away and released her hold on his waist, pushing herself to her feet. Jackson was soon also on his feet, rubbing a hand over his face. "Nice shot, by the way. Caught me right in the jaw."
"I'm so sorry, baby." Lisa laughed, leaning forward and giving him a light kiss on the cheek. "I promise, I'll make it all better tonight."
"Hey, Jackson." A light airy voice said, drawing both of their attention to the corner of the room where Maggie stood hold her side with one hand and the 9mm from under the bureau in the other. The wolverine smile was back on her face as she said, "You really are a lousy shot." With that, she fired the gun.
Time seemed to switch into slow motion and Lisa felt as though she could see the bullet flying through the air. She heard the raspy grunt as the hunk of metal slammed into Jackson's chest. All the breath seemed to leave his body as he looked to Lisa just before he clasped a hand to the wound and fell back into the wall and slid down it to the floor. Then, Lisa's head was filled with this horrible high pitched shrieking noise, which she soon came to realize was her own screaming.
Still clutching the mallet, she leapt at Maggie. Maggie turned and swung the gun around to aim it at Lisa. Too slow. Lisa slapped the gun out of the blonde's hand with the end of the mallet, and on the return swing hit her solidly in the face. Maggie stumbled backward and fell on her rear end. Lisa delivered a swift kick to her face, knocking her to her back. It was then that she lost complete control. She began screaming once again as she brought the mallet down onto Maggie's head repeatedly. Over and over and over again, she beat her in the skull with as much strength as she could, sending little bits of flesh, blood, and tissue all over the carpet, the walls, and Lisa herself. There was no stopping her. Maggie had since quit moving considering her head was now nothing more than a squishy pile of soft tissue, but that didn't keep Lisa from beating on it. Only when the mallet broke in half did she finally stop. All the strength seemed to drain out of her all at once and she sank to her knees in a heap of choking sobs. She hurled the broken piece of wood she still had in her hand into the wall before turning away from Maggie's body. Unable to stand, she began crawling to where Jackson lay motionless on the floor. She pulled his head into her lap and put her own hand to the wound in his chest. There was still warm blood oozing from it and she felt a fresh wave of anguish overtake her. She crushed her Jackson to her and twisted her fingers into his soft silky hair.
"Jackson." she cried out, though it left her lips no louder that a whisper, "Jackson, baby, wake up. Please wake up. I can't do this without you. Come on baby, open your eyes. Open your eyes, damn you. Damn you, open your eyes. Jackson..."
Author's Note: Please, please, please, let me know your opinions! I live for feedback!