Chapter 2: Blast From The Past

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Jackson kicked the door shut with his foot as he carried unconscious Lisa through his penthouse suite to the bedroom. His mind was reeling. Once he snapped out of his self-induced trance he could not stop thinking. His head hurt. He needed a drink.

Depositing Lisa on his king-sized bed he stood over her watching transfixed for a moment as her chest rose and fell slowly, stretching the thin white fabric of her short beach dress. She changed a lot during the last four years since he saw her. Her hair was longer, darker (she's gone back to her natural chestnut brown color), her skin tanned, a bit too red (must have sunburn). She stirred and Jackson panicked for a brief moment caught off-guard.

His breath stilled within him as he waited for her to wake up, but she did not. 'Get yourself together, Jackson' he scolded himself and stalked off to the salon angry at himself for acting so jumpy. He was a professional for god's sake. Right now he acted like a goddamn rookie.

He came back a moment later, bottle of Gold Label in one hand, half-filled glass in the other, and sat in the chair by the window observing the sleeping woman. Two glasses of scotch later he was able to think straight again.

Lisa was here. He had no idea how it was possible. By any standard she should not be able to be here. For once, it was too expensive. 'Maybe she's here with someone who is rich enough.' Second, the trip originated in New York City. Why would she come all the way to The City if she could take a similar one from Miami? 'Maybe she lives in The City now?' Anything was possible. It's been four years.

Jackson let out a frustrated sigh. This was ridiculous. He needed to gain back the control. He needed answers. He needed a plan. She knew he was alive. That could prove to be problematic if she decided to run yapping to the cops. He wasn't too worried about it, he had it pretty much covered when he 'died', but he didn't want to take chances either. He would have to have a little chat with Miss Reisert.

But first things first.

Digging through the drawers he pulled out a strawberry red belt, stretching it between his hands and snapping it a few times, testing its durability - this should do - and made his way to the bed . Leaning over her still sleeping form, he gathered her hands and put them above her head, securing them tightly to the headboard.

Something flashed in the corner of his eye as he was about to move back into his seat.

He stopped mid-stride. Turned his head slowly.

There.

There it was again. Sparkling just above Lisa's head.

Curiosity took the best of him and he strode back to the bed. Leaning over, he brought his head closer for inspection.

On Lisa's fourth finger sparkled a small diamond. At least he thought it was a diamond. He couldn't really tell, it was so small. Leaning even closer he squinted as he tried to take a better look. He took her hand and turned it slightly. Almost there, a bit more...

A sharp intake of breath and he froze in place, eyes shifting to the face of the woman on the bed.

Lisa was awake and staring at him with wide panicked eyes.

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He didn't even realize how close he's gotten to her when he tried to get a glimpse of the ring. Now, his hand frozen in place on her own, he stared down at her slightly embarrassed at being caught red handed. As soon as he felt it, the emotion passed and Jackson smirked his all-too-familiar smirk.

"So, who's the lucky fella?"

Lisa opened her mouth and let out a piercing scream, which was cut off a mere second later by Jackson's hand.

He tsked at her shaking his head in disapproval.

"Now, now, Lisa. There will be none of that. I don't want to have to gag you. But I'm so glad you're awake. I have questions I need answered."

Lisa promptly started trashing, trying to get her hands free.

"Stop it. You're going to hurt yourself." He chided her like a child.

She whimpered as the thin leather cut into the skin, leaving an angry red mark on her wrist.

"Lisa." Jackson barked voice strong and commanding. "I said. Stop It."

He was shocked when she actually complied. Momentarily thrown in for a loop he stared at her still form. She was glaring at him. Oh, if looks could kill. 'Gain back the control.'

Taking a deep breath he made sure he had her full attention before he spoke. "Now, I am going to remove my hand and I trust you will be a good little girl and stay quiet. Right?"

She looked at him pointedly giving him the 'you have GOT to be shitting me' look.

Jackson sighed. "Lisa. Please. Don't make me do something I don't want to do. I just want to talk. The sooner you comply the faster we can get this over with."

She seemed to think about it for a bit then nodded in agreement.

Jackson carefully removed his hand. Lisa remained quiet.

Standing up he began pacing the room thinking intensely, then abruptly stopped and turned to her. She was watching him with a steady careful look.

He looked so different from the Jackson she remembered. He stood before her dressed casually in a pair of faded jeans hanging loosely on his narrow hips and a form-fitting grey t-shirt that nicely accented his slim athletic body. He let his hair grow out a bit more too. It was longer than she remembered, bangs framing his icy-blue eyes and the ends curing slightly at the nape of the neck. He looked good. More than good. He looked mighty fine. And he looked so normal Lisa momentarily forgot who he really was. A cold-blooded killer. She scowled at herself for even thinking about him.

"Sooo," he stretched playfully flashing her his famous charming smirk. "How have you been?"

Lisa narrowed her eyes and promptly flipped him off.

"Ok. Ok. No need for the hand gestures. I was just trying to be polite."

"Are you going to kill me?"

He blinked. Another choke on his part. "What?"

"Are. You. Going. To. Kill. Me."

"Well, I hope it won't come to that. It all depends on you actually. You caught me a bit off guard I have to admit, showing up like you did. I haven't been expecting to see you ever again, but here you are. So-" he paused thinking carefully over his next words. "Are you going to play nice this time or do I have to slip into my manager suit?"

Lisa fixed him with an evil glare, then started wriggling free from her restrains.

Stubborn little girl. He all but rolled his eyes at her determination. "Leese, please. Stop doing that. It's tight enough. I made sure."

She glanced over her head to inspect it. Keeping her hands together was a thin red women's belt. So either Jackson was gay or he had a lady friend over who left in quite a haste. 'Oh God. I am laying on Jackson's sex-bed. Eww!!'

Jackson grinned noticing her obvious discomfort as she tried to scoot as far to the edge as her restrains allowed. Oh, he knew what she was thinking. "I know it's no handcuffs, but it's not like I came prepared. I had to make due with whatever was laying around."

"You're disgusting."

Shrugging he shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. "I'm just but a man, sweetheart."

"Untie me."

The demand she voiced was so simple and obvious it took him a moment to come up with an answer. He blinked utterly taken aback. "Are you serious?"

"My wrists hurt." Lisa made a point of tugging at her restraints and winced in pain when they cut into her already chaffed flesh.

Jackson looked concerned for a moment, eyeing his handiwork. Maybe he tied it too tight? He was hesitating. "Answer my questions first then we'll negotiate your... release."

"I'm not answering anything until you untie me." Lisa stated curtly.

"Why are you here?"

"Why aren't you dead?"

"Who are you here with?"

"How did you manage to escape?"

"Does anyone else know?"

"Who are you here to kill?"

Jackson let out a frustrated growl and started pacing again. God! She hasn't changed a bit! If anything, she was even more stubborn than before. And a lot more brave. Running a hand through his long locks he all, but tugged at them in annoyance.

"Why are you being so goddamn difficult?"

"Go to hell."

A white flip flop bounced off his chest and landed softly on the floor by his feet. He stared at it in mild fascination.

"You've changed." He remarked changing the subject so dramatically Lisa was momentarily confused.

"So have you." It was out of her mouth before she finished thinking it.

Jackson let himself for a small smile. "You look good with long hair." He found himself saying.

'So do you.' Thankfully that one never went past her lips.

Bending down, he picked up her flip flop and went to the foot of the bed. The second he touched her ankle she kicked at him wildly, loosing her second flop in the process.

"Don't touch me!" She managed to land a swift kick to his chest knocking the breath out of him for a short period.

Eyes narrowed in anger as he pounced on her. "Lisa. LISA. Stop it." He commanded, blindly trying to catch at her flailing limbs.

She managed to push him off of her and onto the floor at the foot of the bed, then quickly scrambled to the head of the bed, curling into a tight little ball. He was on his feet again in less than a second and grabbing her ankles, stretching her back to her original position. The dress rode up until it was neatly bunched at her waist flashing him with a blinding white bikini bottom and uncovering a small belly button framed by firm tummy. His eyes slid downwards to a one fine pair of golden-tanned legs.

"Oh my God." A soft whispered cry of mortification.

"I swear, that one was not planned."

"Maybe you could say that again WITHOUT THAT STUPID SHIT-EATING GRIN ON YOUR FACE!" Mortification turned into pure utter anger.

Was he grinning? He hadn't noticed. He busied himself with fixing his t-shirt back in place after their little unexpected romp, not paying a slight attention to the little red-faced brunette currently glaring daggers at him. "Well, you gotta admit, this is quite a funny turn of events."

Oh, she was mad.

"I hate you. I hateyouIhateyouIHATEYOU!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "Fix me." A short and to the point demand.

Jackson's grin never faded as he lifted his head to look at the girl. "Excuse me? What was that?"

Lisa's clenched her teeth until her jaw hurt. He was going to make her beg. Bastard. No way she was going to do that. Turning her head from him in defiance she showed him exactly what she thought of it.

"OK then." Hands dove into the pockets of his jeans again and then was moving away from the bed and walking off to the living room whistling softly. No. No no NO! I HATE YOU!

"Fix my dress, please."

Jackson turned raising a surprised eyebrow. "Now you want me to touch you?"

Lisa was fuming.

He seemed to be thinking hard about it, fingers absentmindedly drumming on his lower lip. "Hmm.. I don't know. Are you going to kick me in the face the second I come close?"

"Why don't you come close and find out." She grinned.

Jackson resumed his walking away.

"No! No come back! I'll be good!"

Blank stare.

Lisa rolled here eyes. "I promise."

He looked at her hard. Seeming satisfied he came back over to the foot of the bed and bracing himself on one knee he loomed over her for a moment before reaching for the garment. Lisa flinched involuntarily when his hands brushed her hips as he grabbed the rim of her white dress and started pulling it down and over her form. That done, he stepped back and watched her for a moment.

"Thank you."

He nodded mutely hands shoved back deep into the pockets. He looked almost embarrassed, but strangely confident, Lisa thought as she tried not to be affected by the way he was looking at her. It seemed too personal. And it made her very uncomfortable.

Awkward silence descended upon them, almost suffocating in its presence. Lisa squirmed a bit trying to find a more comfortable place. Her sunburned back started to hurt from all the aggravation it endured and she whimpered when the red belt cut into her wrists yet again.

She almost jumped out of her skin when she felt Jackson's fingers touch her bruised skin and then he was gently tugging at the makeshift restrains and releasing her aching wrists.

"Sit." He ordered curtly, then disappeared into the adjacent bathroom for a moment. Before the thought of escape crossed Lisa's mind he was back, dumping various medical supplies on the thick carpeted floor next to him, and kneeling in front of her dumbfounded person.

When his hands touched hers again she yanked them away, only to have them pulled back again by a slightly pissed off Jackson.

"Don't fight me, Leese. I'm not in the mood." He said quietly, sounding almost tired as he said so. Then he proceeded to check her wrists for an injury, turning them slowly and delicately in his hands before reaching next to him for an antiseptic and a gauze.

Lisa sat back stiffly and very uncomfortable. This was just too weird for words.

"Ouch!" Hands flew to her chest cradling them protectively.

"Give me your hands back." Jackson ordered.

"You're hurting me!"

"Leese." He growled, his patience slowly seeping away from him. "I need to fix those. Don't want the big scary man to come raising hell cause I hurt his woman." He added smirking.

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Shut up." Pouting she extended her wrists back to him and watched him work on her injuries in silence for some time.

"So when's the big day?"

Lisa remained silent.

More uncomfortable - at least for her - silence followed and Lisa found herself gnawing on her lip.

"He would, you know?"

"Eh, pardon?"

" 'The Big Scary Man' " she quoted. "He would come and beat the crap out of you if he knew. He's a cop." Shut up. Don't say anything! He's going to twist it and use it against you!

"A cop?" Jackson feigned shock complete with gasp and a hear to the heart. "Oh my. I better run and hide. Do I have the time to pack or should I just go ahead and jump into the lifeboat and start rowing?"

Lisa scowled. And huffed. "Asshole."

"Oh, come on, Leese. You handed this one on a silver platter." He laughed shaking his head in clear amusement.

"So how did you two meet? Last time I saw you, you were one step short of 'man-phobic' and now you're shacking up with one? Dr. Phil would be proud."

She chose to ignore that question too and Jackson sighed, but gave up nonetheless. All in good time.

One hand disinfected and patched, he moved onto the other, repeating the process. Lisa, too confused by his soft gentle touch let him.

"Are- Why are you here?" She cringed at the mid-choke. Please don't say it. Please. Prove me wrong.

A knowing smile formed on his lips. "If this is your way of asking if I am here on business then the answer is 'no'. Believe it or not, but we have vacation too."

A very unladylike snort made him lift his head up from his current task in time to catch Lisa roll her eyes. "Yeah, right. You're here on vacation. Please. Don't insult my intelligence."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He grinned.

"So you're really here just... relaxing?" A skeptic glance.

"Yep." Liar.

Lisa sighed not quite ready to accept the given answer. "This is so bizarre. Of all the places, it had to be on the cruise ship." She muttered gnawing on her lower lip. Karma had a funny way of getting back at them both.

"Tell me about it." He sighed, putting her other hand down and gathering all the leftovers from the floor as he straightened up to his full almost six foot length. "Listen. As far as I'm concerned, this it a very unfortunate and unwelcome coincidence that we're both here. But we are. I'm not too fond of it either, but like it or not, we are stuck together for the next three weeks and we will, no doubt be bumping into each other, so at least we could try and be civil to one another. And maybe - maybe - we will both get out of it in one piece-"

"And never see each other again?" She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

He grinned nodding slightly. "Right. My thoughts exactly." Lies! He's going to kill you the second you get off the ship. You know he's alive. You're a liability.

Lisa checked for the work he's done on her injured wrists and huffed disappointed. Damn, he knew what he was doing. She couldn't even yell at him for that. Damnit. "And I'm supposed to believe that you will stay out of my way and not try to murder me in my sleep?"

"As long as you stay out of my way and try not to murder me in mine, I figure we should be peachy." A loud clatter as various supplies got carelessly dumped on the small table by the veranda door.

"What? No sudden urge for revenge?"

Jackson turned to Lisa a small smile forming on his lips. "Revenge is for weak people, Leese. I am above that. Besides, if I wanted that I would have done it a long time ago."

"What was that at my dad's house then?! Cause it sure didn't feel like you dropped by for milk and cookies!" She was getting annoyed again.

"Ah, that. Yeah, I'm not too proud of that, truth to be said. It was unprofessional and it came back to bite me in the ass." He actually managed to look slightly ashamed.

Lisa was beyond confused. Who was this man? He felt a little like 'Tex-Mex Jackson' but she knew better. He was a cunning, manipulating bastard who had only one thing in mind and that was his own ass and interests. He's going to kill you! Run. Go to the captain, tell him everything, make Jackson go away. RUN!

Lisa bent over and whimpered in pain clutching her stomach protectively.

"Lisa? Leese. What's going on?" He was on her in an instant, kneeling in front of her small form, hand on her shoulder and concern lacing his words. Lies. Lies lies LIES!!! He doesn't care! He will kill you if you don't run NOW!

With every ounce of strength she could muster Lisa pushed Jackson back, sending him flat on his back, then jumping off the bed, she ran. Through the bedroom door to the living room - where am I? Where's the door? - past the open kitchen and to the foyer - the door? Where IS IT? - past another bedroom and then - YES! - there it was. Just few more feet. Hand on the doorknob. And then the wind was knocked out of her when a slim body crashed to her and slammed her face-first into the heavy door.

Lisa whimpered in pain.

"Lisa, Lisa, Lisa." He breathed heavily into her ear, keeping her tightly pressed in between his own body and the door. "And we were doing so good." Disappointment.

She tried not to show her fear. Instead she retaliated with sarcasm. "Oh come on, Jackson. You HAD to know I would do that."

She could actually feel him grin into her ear, lips brushing against her hot skin as he spoke. "Oh, I did. I was fully expecting it. But really, the old 'feign sickness-push-and-run'? That's so... unimaginative. I must say I am disappointed. I thought you'd be more inventive."

Another hard push. Lisa bit back a groan as a white hot pain shot through her. "Sorry. You have to forgive me, I am a bit rusty in that field. I'll do better next time."

"I'm sure you will." A hand on her hair, caressing it with a soft touch.

He turned her to face him, slamming her back hard against the wooden surface. Her sunburned back screamed in protest. Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes, but she refused to give in.

"Oh Leese. What am I going to do with you." He sighed, caressing her face delicately, almost lovingly. "All this time I've been nothing but civil to you yet you insist on fighting me. Why do you do that, Leese?" His bipolarity would be alluring if it wasn't directed solely on her. Lisa felt a sparkle of fear ignite within her. He was getting unpredictable.

"You know why, Jack." She referred to his earlier question. No need to beat around the bush now.

He smiled then. Sad disappointed, but slowly accepting smile. "I do. I do. And it makes me sad. Because I thought we could get this worked out, but you had to go and fuck it up yet again. Stupid girl." He cradled her head in his hands delicately as not to crush her - a complete opposite of what his whole body was doing to hers right now. "You want to do it your way? Fine then. We'll do it your way. Sweet dreams, Leese."

Before she had a chance to ask what he meant his eyes had gone icy cold and the hold on her head tightened. Then he slammed her head back against the door with a loud thud.

For the second time in the last half an hour Lisa Reisert sunk heavily into his arms.

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