Chapter 7 – What is she doing?

I'm a tease, I know, but this chapter has more questions that answers. For Dexter Tanner, think of Ewan MacGregor as Catcher Block in Down With Love and then make him evil.

When Hyde returned to Point Place no-one needed to ask him how things went – his wrathful demeanour said it all. His friends left him alone for a week before they had the courage to question him. The interrogation took the form of Randy and Fez pushing Donna into his room and holding the door shut until she had some answers for them.

"So I take it Jackie said no?" she hazarded.

At first it appeared Hyde was going to ignore her question and her presence, but then some more of his bottled-up anger came fizzing out.

"I don't know what I was thinking, giving her a second chance. I offered her everything she ever hounded me for, Donna, and the ungrateful little bitch threw it back in my face."

"Really? You asked her to marry you?" Donna gaped. "But hang on – didn't your wife just leave you the day before you asked her?"

"What difference does that make?"

"Oh, I don't know, that she thought you only asked her because you were trying to fill a vacancy in your bed. I mean, did you tell her you were sorry?"

"Well, no, but I did tell her that I forgave her."

Donna looked at Hyde like he was a mental patient. "You think Jackie was the one who needed forgiving? At least tell me you told her you love her." Hyde was silent. "Hyde!"

"It was totally implied!"

Shaking her head, Donna left his room, muttering "Dumbass!"

So things plodded along in Point Place with Hyde going through the motions of eating, sleeping and working each day (his working and sleeping were closely related). He wore his anger like a bullet proof vest, impervious to depression, except for those times when he overheard an Abba song or The Love Boat theme. People tended to leave him alone as he spent more time shut in his room. To his friends, the worst sign was that he hardly ever started a circle anymore, as though even that act of community was too much for him.

Therefore, when Kelso burst into the basement two months later and asked for Hyde, the three remaining basement dwellers discouraged him from disturbing the recluse. Kelso ignored their warnings and made for Hyde's room with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

"Hyde, man, we've gotta talk."

Hyde moved his arm over his eyes to block out the dim light from the basement. "Get bent, Kelso," he growled. "I'm resting."

Kelso turned on the light and nudged Hyde roughly with his foot. "Dammit, this is important." Hyde responded by grabbing Kelso's ankle and twisting it until his friend collapsed onto the floor.

"I'm in no mood for your stupid problems, man. Just tell whatever poor bimbo you knocked up this time you had a vasectomy so it couldn't be yours."

"I'm not the one in trouble, Hyde. Jackie is."

These words pierced Hyde's funk. "Jackie's in trouble?"

"Yeah, and I think you're the only one who can do something about it."

Hyde sat up and raked his fingers thorough his fro. Kelso got a good look at Hyde's new moustache and jumped back, startled. "Dude, what's that thing crawling underneath your nose? Quick, have you got some roach spray?"

"Just tell me about Jackie, you dilhole."

"Well, when I moved to Chicago I was too busy at the Playboy Mansion to see much of Jackie – you know, I had to settle into my job," his face grew dreamy as he remembered the 'settling in' until Hyde punched his arm, "but we met for coffee every now and then and she seemed to be doing great. Loved her job, crazy about her boyfriend, glowing with sexual satisfaction – " his tactlessness earned him another punch. "But something has happened to her these last two months. Last month when I ran into her by chance she looked all worried about something but wouldn't tell me what it is. I asked her about her guy and she said they had broken up, but she didn't seem upset about it. I don't think that's what was on her mind."

"Really? They broke up?" Hyde interjected.

"Yeah, but don't get your hopes up, man. I know, I thought this would be my chance for a little rebound action and Jackie sure does look good these days but when I put the moves on her she just shook her head and said she wasn't available. And this morning Miss July was reading Cosmo to me in bed when we came across this!" Kelso pulled a crumpled magazine article out of his pocket and handed it to Hyde.

Hyde squinted to read, "The Hottest Couple in Town. Lately CRN's brightest light, Jackie Burkhart, has been glued to the arm of Chicago's most delectable bachelor, Dexter Tanner. Has this millionaire playboy found love at last?" Underneath the article was a picture of Jackie resplendent in a dark green cocktail dress slow dancing in the arms of a disgustingly good looking man. The huge smiles on their faces gave strong credibility to the article's claims.

"So she found a new sap to torture," Hyde said dismissively, reaching for his sunglasses to hide his eyes. "What the hell does that have to do with me, you dilhole?"

"Hyde, this guy, Dexter," Kelso said in what was almost a stage whisper, "he's not a good guy."

"What, you mean he's a cheater? Good!" said Hyde, lying back down.

"No, I mean that girls he dates usually get hurt – and I'm not talking emotionally." This caught Hyde's attention. "Tiffany – Miss February – she's been to some of his parties, the kind that don't make it into the social pages, and there is some bad shit going down there."

"Like what?"

"Like drugs. Orgies. S & M. You name it, this guy's into it. But because he's old money and smart, he keeps it hushed up. Tiffany's friend used to date him – nice small town girl just like Jackie – until he got her hooked on heroin. She OD'd last year. And she wasn't the first."

These revelations left Hyde shaken. "Jackie wouldn't take drugs, man – she's smarter than that. Just tell her all of this stuff and she'll dump his sorry ass."

"I think she's hooked on this guy, Hyde. When I found out all this I went over to her place and told her everything but she just said not to worry about her, that she knew what she was doing."

"Shit," Hyde said, pacing his room in agitation. "She probably thought you were lying – that it was one of your lame attempts to get with her." Kelso was about to say something in his defence but Hyde cut him off. "I'll have to tell her myself."

"Good. You can drive back with me tonight. You can even stay at the Playboy mansion with me as my guest – well, that is if you…" Kelso looked at Hyde's face uneasily.

"What?"

"You're gonna have to shave off the soup strainer, man. If the other guards get a look at that mo they'll think you're a porn star and won't let you near the bunnies."

Late that night, back in Chicago a sleek expensive limousine drew up in front of Jackie's building. A smoothly handsome man in a tuxedo opened the door for his companion, clasping her hand as she exited the car as gracefully as a dancer. Jackie smiled invitingly at her escort as he walked beside her to the front door.

"So is this the night, my little tease? Are you finally going to fulfill the promise your eyes have been making to me all night?"

"Now Dex, please," Jackie replied with a shy upward glance through her dark lashes. "We've only known each other a month. I've told you, I need to have complete trust in a man before I can, well…" she finished her sentence in a whisper in his ear that made his nether regions twitch. She had this ability, Dexter Tanner had found, of appearing both completely innocent and seductive at the same time. It had been a long time since a woman had made him work this hard, and he found himself enjoying the hunt.

He plied her lips with soulful kisses, stroked her soft shoulders, trailed his fingers over her cleavage, taking satisfaction in her breathy sighs. Finally, she pushed him gently away and with a final kiss whispered good night.

As she walked into her building and up the stairs to her apartment, she could not stop shivering, which was strange because it was a warm night. As she opened her apartment door, she was startled by a muscular arm tightening around her waist and then pulling her into an embrace which seemed to restore the heat to her body. Jackie breathed in the sweet, safe smell of this man she had come to care deeply for. He whispered hopefully in her ear "Did you get it?"

Regretfully she replied, "No, Nick."