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Chapter 2 You Knew This Would Happen
It was her worst nightmare; the man her brain refused to remember the actual face of because it hurt too much. All she remembered were eyes; crystalline, cold, lethal, beautiful...
It was Jackson Rippner.
He was glaring at her with that demon-like blue gaze from under the dark tresses of hair that partly covered his face. One hand was resting at the door frame next to her, his head slightly cocked.
Lisa's first confused thought was, what took you so long, but then she reacted with her gut and screamed and tried to slam the door shut again. His foot snuck in and stopped the movement, and instead it slammed violently back open again. Her heart had stopped beating and her head spun with fright. Images flashed before her mind; Jackson with a knife; Jackson choking her in the airplane; Jackson with a pen in his throat; Jackson caressing her scar; Jackson smiling at the airport…
…Jackson coming to kill her, like she had seen in her dreams, night after night for a week.
"No!" She stumbled backwards and tried to get out of his reach, but Jackson bolted into the hallway and grabbed her arm as he threw the door shut behind him. She screamed again and yanked her arm to free herself of his grip, but he tightened his hold and brutally gripped for her mouth with his other hand, muffling her cries.
"Hi, Leese," he smirked and shoved her into the opposite wall. "We meet again."
Lisa thrashed in his hold and beat at his arm, yanking and pulling, trying to break free. Jackson let go of her mouth, took a firm grip of her other arm as well and pushed her up against the wall. Shoving a leg up between hers and pressing against her, his face a mere inch from hers temporarily ended her struggles in his grasp. They both panted and glared at each other, then Jackson smirked in triumph and Lisa looked away in defeat.
When he stirred, she looked back at him with a pale frightened face. "What are you doing here?" she breathed with a hoarse voice. Then it dawned on her. "What did you do to Jay?"
"Jay who?" he sneered into her face.
"My… the guard downstairs… Please don't tell me you killed him, please!" In spite of her own precarious situation, her mind filled with images of the huge, friendly man the police had posted at her house to guard her. "What did you DO to him!" She tried to break out of his hold, but he held her in a steel grip.
"You know, Leese, you really should worry more about your own situation, than about some fat lazy guard down there who's not doing his job… You know… ANYTHING could happen to you while he's messing around… ANYBODY could show up here, on your door step." He snickered. "I'd hate to see you get hurt… Leese…" His voice rasped when he spoke, and her eyes instinctively fell on his throat where the collar of the shirt hid the wound.
"Have you killed him?" Please, tell me you haven't! …what do you mean 'my own situation'?
"Awww, Leese… you two connected?"
Lisa twisted and yanked angrily, trying to get her arm out of his grip.
"HAVE YOU HURT HIM!"
Jackson smirked and shrugged. "He was on his cell phone and looked so peaceful. I didn't have the heart to disturb him. Ergo; he doesn't know I'm up here and he thinks you are alone… all night… Turns out he's wrong… doesn't it?"
What are you doing here?"
"Well, my dear, WE have unfinished business. And you KNEW I'd come back. It was only a matter of time, really." The slight raspy dissonance in his voice was enhanced as he emphasised some of the words.
Yes… I knew. He'd already come to her every night. Every single hour she'd woken up, sweating and squirming from yet another nightmare.
Lisa yanked once more in his steel grip. He had never held her like this before and she hadn't gotten the impression that he was this strong when they had fought a few days earlier. Maybe she'd just been lucky then…
"Let me go, Jackson," she gasped, exhausted, and hung in his arms.
He regarded her for a moment, his crystalline eyes flashed, and for a fleeting second she thought he'd let her go, that he'd change his mind. Then the moment passed, Jackson tightened his jaws and abruptly pulled her forward. With their chests colliding, he propelled her around and swung a forearm around her throat, partially obstructing her airways, sending a rush of fear through her chest.
"That's not on my agenda, Leese," he half whispered as he gave her a shove forward.
"Ja-Jackson," she rasped. "Please."
"Please what?" he taunted, clearly unimpressed by her struggling and begging as he began to partially drag, partially push her from the hallway through the corridor to her bedroom. He shoved the door open and unceremoniously dumped her on the bed.
Lisa's eyes went impossibly big. No, he wouldn't!
"Don't… Jackson… don't…" She began to fight him off her, as he climbed up on the bed. Lisa's face was an image of terror and Jackson's of increasing irritation. She screamed and clawed at him, tried to bite the hand that held her throat, slapped at the hand that gripped her blouse and kicked her legs to try to hit him and to get some balance. Jackson met her every move with a perfectly pitched counter move, holding her down by her throat as he immobilised her legs with one of his own, his other hand clutching her wrists in a steel grip.
Finally she lay limp in his hold, gasping, exhausted, chest heaving, frightened to death. She was going to have bruises all over and she could see angry red marks on his throat where she had scratched him.
This is not happening!
"Don't do it, please," she begged. "I thought you were…" She went quiet and looked away, swallowing hard and angry.
He released her throat and instead gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him, snarling, "You thought I was WHAT?"
"Different," she mouthed in defeat.
His mouth twisted into a grin. He would have looked beautiful, breathtakingly beautiful, hadn't it been for the hateful expression on his features. His eyes looked cold and vicious, like there was nothing within him to plead with. Whatever she could say would go unheard. For a few moments during the flight, she had seen something else than the ice cold assassin… whatever it had been, it wasn't there now.
"I AM different."
Lisa mutely shook her head and looked to the side, avoiding his piercing gaze at all costs.
"Leese," he hissed, and gripped her chin harder until it felt like it would break in his hold. "You think you're above me, don't you? You believe you have higher standards... a better moral. That..."
Lisa could feel a tear slid down her cheek as she angrily tried to yank her head away. Meeting his eyes, she snarled, "I don't have to think!"
She screamed as he slapped her cheek, hard. Her head flew to the side; it stung at first, and then it turned into a dull pulsating ache. It hurt, but not as much as it pained her soul. It was true that she'd somehow thought he was different from just any other thug out there. She realized she was far from as afraid as she should be. That was probably the reason why she had dared to fight him in the first place; some kind of stupid belief that the Jackson she had been chatting friendly with at the Tex Mex restaurant back at the airport was still in there. And that he didn't want to hurt her... not for real.
A cold shiver of doubt and fear crept up on her as she hesitantly met his gaze. What if I'm wrong?
Jackson looked long and hard at her, and then he sighed barely noticeable and let her go, sitting back on the bed next to her. He tightened his lips into a thin white line and gave her a calculating glance before he spoke. "Here's what we'll do. Let's not complicate things more than they already are; we have business we need to finish. You might get out of this... or you may not. It's entirely up to you, but I need you compliant… and I fucking know you, Leese. You're trouble, but I'll give you one chance to get to play this nicely."
He got up from the bed and left an unexpected cold spot on her hip where his body had been. "I wouldn't make any long term plans, though... if I were in your clothes."
Lisa's lower lip trembled and she bit it, trying not to show her fear. Her hand touched her aching cheek as she glanced cautiously at him. "Wh...why?"
Jackson laughed coldly; two fingers briefly caressing his throat. "Your stocks aren't that high at the moment, Leese."
"Just let me go," she whispered. "Please."
"Not until I get what I want from you."
Her heart stopped. What is that? "What?"
"I need you to make a phone call."