Chapter Fifty

John smiled at Claire, wishing that he could kiss her. "How was lunch?" He asked, hoping that she'd liked the sandwich he'd made her.

She brushed her fingers over the bruise around his eye, sighing as she noticed that the makeup needed touched up. "Sit down." She ordered, pulling the foundation bottle from her purse and dabbing some over the black and blue skin around his eye. She jumped as he jerked back, knowing that she'd caused him pain. "You alright?" She asked, screwing the cap back onto the bottle.

He nodded, taking her hand and guiding it back to his cheek. "I'm fine." He smiled, turning his eyes toward the ceiling as she blended the makeup into his natural skin. "I'm tougher than I look." He chuckled, digging his hand into his pocket and pulling out a stick of gum.

She rolled her eyes, tracing her finger over his split lip. "You look tougher than you are, right now." She smirked at the fake hurt on his face. "Oh, stop with that. I know you're faking."

He laughed, leaning his head into her stomach, breathing in her scent. "Are you wearing a different perfume today?" He asked, looking up as Jessica and Mister Kemp walked into the courtroom.

She nodded, smoothing his hair back into place as she noticed some of the gel had given way to his stress. "It's Kaylie's Opium. I ran out of my stuff."

John shook his head, smiling up at her and ignoring Jessica's glare. "I like yours better."

She smiled, cupping his cheek in her hand as she looked into those deep pools he had for eyes. "Don't have an attack." She patted his face just hard enough to make his skin pinken. "And try to stay calm."

He nodded, looking over as he noticed Jessica talking to Thomas and Kemp. "I'll try." He stated, standing and walking over to the three.

"I want to see if we can work things out on our own, maybe I can even get him to admit he was in the wrong." She looked over her shoulder locking eyes with John as he approached them. "If he admits that to me alone, I will relinquish the charges and we can both move on with our lives."

John paused a few feet away from her, watching as Thomas seemed to consider what she was offering. "What are the conditions for this agreement?" He asked, stepping toward the witch and her pet snake.

She looked up at him, batting her thick lashes at him. "That we meet alone in the meeting room, no lawyers, no judges, no overprotective family members. Just you and me."

John looked at Thomas, walking a few paces away with him. "I think she's got something up her sleeve." He whispered, knowing that Jessica was playing an angle. "But I've got an idea as to how we can shut this down."

Thomas nodded, knowing that John was a smart kid and knew a lot of the system. "What were you thinking?"

John ran a hand over his chest, tapping the spot over his heart. "I wear a wire." He stated, his gaze drifting over to Jessica and her uncle. "If I'm going to be alone with her, I want a wire. That way, whatever she says, can and will be used against her."

Thomas took this into consideration. "Alright, but we'll be right outside of the door if you need us." He smiled, patting John's shoulder as he turned back to the others. "John accepts the offer, just give us a few minutes to get together before we turn these two into the same room together."

Kemp nodded, leading Jessica away from them as Thomas began speaking to the judge. "If you try any funny business, I'll hang you with your own dick." He growled at John, jumping when the kid snapped his gum. "Is that nicotine gum?" He asked, watching as John pulled the pack from his pocket.

"Nope. It's normal everyday Bubblemint." He smirked, blowing a bubble to prove his point. "Just a nice flavor and something to keep me busy."

Kemp shook his head, pointing a finger at the kid. "I've got my eye on you, kid."

John chuckled, switching his gum to the other side of his mouth. "Feel free to keep it there. I didn't do jack shit, and that DNA test will prove it." He walked with Thomas out of the room, noticing the little razor in his hand. He leaned toward him, noticing the cops tailing them. "What's the razor for?" He asked, knowing that he'd never had much hair on his chest and what he did have hardly counted as hair and was more of a couple strands of dark string.

Thomas chuckled, opening the bathroom door and motioning for John to take his shirt off. "We've gotta shave you down so that your hair doesn't get ripped off."

John shrugged out of his shirt, letting Thomas spray his chest with the aerosol shaving cream that John couldn't stand. He'd always preferred the bar and brush over the canned stuff, knowing that it always burned after he ran the blade over his face. "I don't have much to call hair there." He stated, feeling the razor slide over his pecs, making the shaving cream burn his skin as it became raw from the multiple blades as opposed to John's old straight razor he'd been using since he had first hit puberty and had needed to start shaving. "I mean, it's not like my beard. My body decided that all the hair needed to be on my face and not on my body."

Thomas shook his head, noticing how John's skin became red from the friction of the razor. "Well, you've still got a little fuzz there and it'll hurt if that gets ripped off." He paused as John flinched back, letting him turn away to inspect the nick on one of the scars that was close to his nipple. "You alright?" He asked, noticing how John expertly put pressure on the bleeding spot and stopped the blood in a matter of seconds.

John nodded, taking a paper towel and wiping it over his chest to rid it of the left-over foam. "Yeah." He stated, turning back to Thomas to let him start the prosses of hooking up the wire to his body. "That's why I like the straight razor better." He stated, jumping when Thomas pressed the cold, sticky glue pad to his skin. "Shit, that's cold."

Thomas shook his head, attaching the recording devise to the glue pad and letting John pull his shirt back on before expertly snaking the wire for the microphone up his shirt and hiding the mic in the hem of his blazer. "I think you're just hot all the time." He chuckled, making sure the wire wasn't visible under his clothes. "I know Amelia likes you when she's cold."

John shrugged, readjusting his tie around his neck. "That damn twenty-four-hour thing she had her feeling like she was freezing." He remembered the child burning up in his arms as he'd held her close while she shook. "She had a bad fever that night."

Thomas nodded, patting the kid on the back as they started back toward the courtroom. "I'm surprised you didn't catch that."

John looked down at the shorter man, his eyes the color of whiskey that always proved his honesty. "Who says I didn't?" He could remember Allison's birthday, how he'd been feeling like death but had forced himself to act normally so that no one knew he was sick.

"You mean, you were sick?" Thomas asked, watching as John nodded.

"Sicker than a dog."

"We never would have guessed."

John nodded, adjusting his watch around his wrist. "Because you've only seen me sick with withdrawals." He straightened his posture, popping a couple vertebrae in his back. "You've never seen me with a cold."

Thomas looked up at Claire, watching as she blew her nose and gave a little cough. "I guess that explains why Claire Bear isn't feeling good."

John grimaced, stepping toward Jessica at one of the meeting room doors. "Yeah, I wasn't really thinking that clearly."

Jessica sighed, watching as John walked forward. "Well? Are you finally ready?"

John nodded, walking inside the room with her on his heals. He heard something mechanical move in the corner moving only his eyes to look at it. A camera focused itself on them, the lends barely visible through the little hole it the wall it was hidden in. He turned to her, resisting the urge to scratch at the glue on his chest. "What do you want, Medusa?" He asked, making sure to keep her in full view of the camera and not letting his body block the image.

She slunk forward, walking her fingers up his sternum to find the key under his shirt. "I want you to make this case go away." She smiled, her green eyes flashing.

"And how do I do that?" He asked, pushing her hand off of him as she got close to the wire.

She smiled, her hands moving to his hips, and eventually into his back pockets. "All you have to do, is surrender yourself, mind, body, heart, and soul." She dug her nails into his butt as he tried to pull away, taking joy in the slight reaction of pain she got from him. "I want you to fuck me, right here, right now. No holding back, no breaking up with Claire, just you and me. Down and dirty, with me bent over the table and you fucking me fast and hard."

John shook his head, trying to get out of her grip. "That price is too high."

She slid her hands to his belt, slipping her fingers into his waistband. "The price is never too high if you love the person." She purred, jerking him toward her as he tried again to escape her.

John pulled her hands out of his pants, looking into her eyes. "Do you even know what love is?" He asked, knowing how confusing that subject could be.

She nodded, trying to get closer to him and press her body against his so that he could feel her breasts against him. "I know it's what I feel for you." She purred, squeaking as John turned away from her and started toward the door. "Where are you going?" She asked, anger flaring in her veins.

John turned to her, pulling the key out from the collar of his shirt. "To be with the one I love." He sighed at the tears in her eyes. "Jessica, maybe if you weren't so desperate for attention, you could find someone really special. Maybe you could even find someone a lot better than me."

"You belong with me John." She cried, reaching for his shirt sleeve. "We were meant for each other."

John shook his head, pushing her hand off of him as gently as he possibly could. "Jessica, I was meant to be with Claire." He handed her an old handkerchief, flinching when she slapped it away from her.

"You were meant to be with me! Not a slut like Claire!"

John sighed, looking at Jessica with pity. "I'm happy that I'm sober now, because I could have ended up so blinded by drugs and alcohol that I might have actually believed that was true." He shook his head, opening the door and walking out. "But I wouldn't believe that now." He closed the door, listening to Jessica scream as he took Claire's hand in his, resting his head against hers. "I love you." He stated, his eyes meeting hers, as he wiped a lone tear from her cheeks.