Here's chapter four! I hope you guys like it! Sorry for the delay, I had computer problems. Let me know what you think!
Lisa's world had, for the third time in four years, fallen apart. Her father's death hit her like a sucker punch to the stomach, and she was left scrambling to pick up the broken pieces of her life.
The funeral came and went faster than she could comprehend. But, surprisingly, despite the fact that she was absolutely dying on the inside, she managed to keep a public face. She was calm and collected, even as she cleaned out her fathers house and sold off his things. It was the business side of her that held her together.
But everyone has a breaking point, even the tough Lisa Reisert. Hers simply took a little time to catch up with her. Two weeks after the funeral, nineteen hours without sleep, five phone calls about the sell of her fathers house, and three large glasses of red wine later, she was curled up in a ball on the living room floor of her apartment. She was broken. Her sobs came out in heart wrenching gasps, and her entire body shook with the ferocity of it all. Her petite hand curled into a fist and she slammed it into the carpeted floor over and over again. Waves of grief, depression, anger, betrayal, and hurt flooded through her. It was the most powerful thing she had ever felt. The build up had begun from the moment she had been raped, all the way through the flight from Texas to Miami, and ending with her fathers death. At some point she pulled herself up, wrapped her shaking arms around her knees, and hid her face. The more she cried, the louder she got, until she felt like she was screaming so loud that the world was forced to stop and notice her.
And Jackson didn't know what to say.
In his line of work, he thought he had seen the depth of human hysteria. But never had he seen someone completely fall apart like Lisa was in the process of doing.
"Lisa.." Even his voice didn't startle her back to reality. She was completely lost in her own world of misery.
If Jackson believed in fate, he would have definitely thought that it had a hand in bringing him to her on that exact night. But as it was, he didn't, and he also didn't know how to play the role of comforter. Somewhere deep inside of him, in a part that he had long since thought was dead, he felt for Lisa. Compassion stirred in a soul that had thought it was impossible to feel. Kneeling next to her, he set a hand on her shoulder and murmured her name again.
Before he could react, she had turned on him with a cry. Her hands gripped to his shoulders as she shoved him to the floor and she moved on top of him, straddling his sides. Her tiny fists were now punching his chest rather than the floor, but in her extremely weakened state, it didn't hurt him. Letting her exhaust herself, she finally fell against him and sobbed into his chest. "I hate you.. I hate you.. I hate you!"
Awkwardly, he held her in his arms. Hours seemed to pass with her laying on top of him, soaking his shirt with her tears. Finally, at some point, Lisa seemed to become aware of the situation. She dragged herself off of him and fell to the floor, her face pressed to the carpet.
"If you've come to kill me, now would be an excellent time," Her voice was weak and had he not been laying right next to her, he wouldn't have heard it. Jackson stood and grabbed her arm, roughly pulling her limp form to her feet.
"I'm not here to kill you. I heard about your father and I came to check on you. And that I have a proposal for you."
"No," She glared angry, glassy eyes at him. Her face was tear strained and the normally creamy skin was red with puffiness.
"Now, now, Leese. You haven't even heard it.."
"I don't care. I don't CARE!" She turned and screamed again, and this time when she punched him in the face, it was with strength.
She knocked him square in the jaw, which jerked his head to the side and caused a cut on his lip. With a growl, he grabbed her and threw her across the room so that she knocked over a table and landed against the wall. A lamp toppled over and smashed in the process. Groaning, she brought a hand to the back of her head, which was quickly growing damp with blood.
"Why do you insist on starting it, Leese? I came here to help you, and all you do is try to beat me up. You should really work on controlling your violent tendencies." Chuckling, he crossed the room and once again ripped her to her feet.
She swayed and he caught her, a flicker of concern flashing through the bright blue eyes. "Leese?"
With her head against his shoulder, she groaned and weakly tried to pull out of his arms. "Let me..go.."
"When was the last time you ate? Or even slept?" When he didn't get a response, he rolled his eyes. Women and their dramatic tendencies.
Jackson had to pretty much drag her into the kitchen. Dropping her into a seat, he went to her pantry. It was nearly empty. "Lisa, I understand that right now you're going through hell. But that's no excuse to deprive yourself of necessities. Is this what your father would want?" All that he could find was bread, and then there was a enough of cheese, lettuce, and ham meat in the fridge for a sandwich. Sitting next to her, he drew his chair up closer and held the sandwich in her face until she was forced to take it and eat it herself.
"Now that your mouth is stuffed and you won't be able to interrupt, I have some information for you." When she simply continued to chew on her sandwich, he went on. "I found your rapist. And interestingly enough, it benefits both of us for him to be dead."
He was actually surprised that she didn't choke, especially considering the look she gave him. Holding up his hand to silence what she would try to say, he continued. "Yes, I want to kill him, and I want you as my partner. Now, before you start asking questions, I'm going to tell you. Don't. If you want to, you have to go with me tonight. We have to leave Miami. If you don't want to go - fine by me. Stay here and wallow in your world of self pity and waste away through lack of food and sleep. I don't give a shit. But it makes my life easier if you do go."
Finally, she sat back and looked up at him. Her voice was soft and almost childlike. "Why?"
"I told you, no questions. Yes or no."
"Yes."
It happened so fast that she barely could comprehend it. Lisa went from sobbing hysterically on her floor, to being whisked away in the middle of the night in Jackson's sleek black Mercedes. Once they had gotten out of the city glow of Miami, the darkness settled in and seemed to envelope everything but the headlights of his car. Leaning her seat back, she tilted her head so that she was looking up out the window. Why would Jackson have wanted to find her rapist in the first place? And why would his death benefit him? And why include her? There was so many questions racing through her head that as she drifted to sleep, she didn't realize that Jackson had succeeded at doing one thing…since he had put his hand on her shoulder, she hadn't thought of her father.
The sun was just beginning to rise when Lisa began to stir. "Where are we?" Her voice was hoarse and she slowly sat up, glancing over at Jackson.
"Savannah."
"Georgia? Why?" But the look he gave her silenced her -- for the moment.
"We're going to stop and get a hotel room, I'm exhausted and you look like you could still use another six hours of sleep."
Looking out the window, Lisa couldn't stop the very small smile that came to her face. The old part of Savannah that they were in was absolutely gorgeous. She'd seen it before, in that movie Midnight In The Garden of Good & Evil, and now she knew why they'd actually filmed it in Savannah. It was like another world. As they pulled off the oak lined street into a small drive, she looked back to him.
"This is the Carlton House, it's an old pre-Civil War house that's been turned into a hotel. I've stayed here before.. I think you'll like it." His tone was impersonal as he opened his door and popped the trunk. Opening hers as well, she walked around to grab her suitcase but found that he was already half way up the steps with both of theirs. Trotting along behind him, a frown fell on her face.
Once they'd gotten into the room, she stopped. "Wait.. There's only one bed. Look, why don't I just go get my own.."
"No. You're safer with me.."
She turned on him and glared, her hands going to her hips. "I've had enough, Jack. I realize you're probably enjoying this odd power trip of you having some kind of control over me, but I think I deserve an explanation! Why are we here? Where are we going? And what does this have to do with my rapist?"
He rolled his eyes at her and tossed her bag on to the bed. "Get changed into your pajamas. It's a king sized bed, so you won't even half to be within an arms distance of me if you want. But should you get the urge.." Lisa didn't know how it was possible for him to make a joke at that moment, and she resisted the desire to throw up. The smirk on his face just irritated her.
"Jack.." Her tone was short and full of barely contained disgust.
"Go to sleep, Leese. I think we've both had enough for one night. I promise, first thing when we get back on the road, I'll explain it all."
Any arguments were cut short, and with his back turned, she changed into her pajamas and crawled into the bed. The mattress felt so wonderfully soft and warm, and before she could stop herself, her eyes were closing heavily. The last thought on her mind was that she felt strangely safe knowing that Jackson was all of three feet away from her.
