Chapter 28
Jasina sighed as she watched her daughter walk past her, wanting to reach up to stop her, but knew she couldn't. Arielle needed discipline and Mark was going to be the one to dish it out. She slowly turned around to face Mark, who was just staring back at her, and walked over as she wiped more tears away.
"Thank you." She whispered, leaning up and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight embrace, burying her face in his neck and felt his arms encircle her waist. "Don't ever tell her this, but it was nice being locked up with you after the fighting." She whispered in his ear before pulling back and began cleaning up the kitchen, ignoring his disapproving look. "I'm not leaving this kitchen in this mess, Mark." Her tone was final as the rest of her tears subsided.
Sighing, Mark got to work alongside of her, groaning when he seen a pile of noodles hiding behind the garbage can. "Disgusting kids." He snapped, not believing this mess. Arielle KNEW better. Or at least he had thought she did, she'd proven him wrong on a lot of things. He glanced at Jasina, hesitating. "Darlin', are you alright?" He asked softly, knowing what he said to their daughter had really hit home with her.
"Yeah, stop worrying about me." She stated, picking up the toaster and sighed when she seen batter underneath, shaking her head. She sighed when Mark's arms encircled her waist, pulling her against him, and rested her head back against his chest. "You said what you had to say, Mark. I'm not mad at you for it. It meant...a lot when you mentioned that I overcame the drugs..." She admitted quietly, a small smile crossing her face. "In your own way. Stop worrying." Jasina slowly turned around to stare up into his green eyes, and brought his face down to hers, softly kissing his lips to show him she meant what she said before going back to cleaning.
Mark half smiled, shaking his head and got back to work, damn this was such a horrible mess. He was tempted to say fuck it and call a maid tomorrow or something. God it scared him to death knowing that he could have...could have done something incredibly stupid under the influence of those pills. He shuddered, knowing if Jasina hadn't stopped him, he would have probably raped her.
"Dear god..."
Jasina frowned when she seen Mark shudder and placed her hand on his arm, knowing what he was probably thinking, especially when his eyes darted to those sex pills. "Mark, look at me." She ordered gently, taking his chin to force his eyes to meet hers. "Nothing happened, okay? You stopped before things got out of hand and it wasn't your fault." She stated firmly, refusing to release his chin, sighing when she seen the tears in his eyes and hugged him tightly around the neck again. "Calm down sweetie, it's alright. You didn't hurt me, I'm fine. You were very gentle in everything you did." Her heart broke feeling him shiver against her, knowing he was thinking what if.
"Darlin', I could have been gentle the entire time you were sayin' no." Mark said quietly, firmly pulling away from her. He did not need her seeing him breaking down like a little bitch. But damn it, the mere thought of what he could have done, no matter how gentle, was enough to make him want to go throw up.
His stubborn pride was getting in the way and she knew it, causing her to frown and sighed. "Fine, go on and beat yourself up over something that was not only out of your control, but something that didn't happen. I'm cleaning the rest of this mess up." She stated evenly before turning back around, wiping the batter off the counter, shaking her head.
Granted, she knew Arielle wanted them together, but locking them up and giving them drugs to help stimulate them probably just drove them further apart. Jasina loved Mark, she always would, but she knew he didn't feel the same way. He cared for her and even though that was enough for Jasina, it still hurt.
"Goddamn it woman." Mark snapped, turning her around and picking her up. He set her on the counter and cupped her face in his hands, kissing her until they were both breathless. "Do you always have to go out of your goddamn way to make me feel better?" He demanded.
Jasina smiled back at him, giggling softly, and nodded. "I've always done that, you should know how I work by now. And I refuse to let you beat yourself up over something that was out of your hands." She smirked and poked him gently in the chest before tapping her finger against his chin. "You love it and you know it." Jasina giggled when he growled before their lips met again, moaning softly, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Now THIS was more like it! There was nothing helping them along, it was all natural, and that's what she wanted as she slowly pulled back, rubbing her nose against his. "Help me with this mess so we can go to bed. I'm exhausted from what we had to deal with tonight."
Mark had been about to make a smartass comment about what WAS in his hands, but decided against it. This had been one hell of a tiring night, not to mention he still had leaves stuck in his hair from chasing Arielle and that punk Gary through the woods. "Oh shit...You mind checkin' on Arie? I shot her at close range..."
Sighing, Jasina nodded as she softly kissed his lips before plucking a leaf out of his hair, smirking as she twirled it around. "Mark, I love you and everything, but this whole nature look definitely isn't your style, honey."
She laughed when he growled and felt him lift her from the counter, kissing him again before walking out of the kitchen and down the hallway, up the stairs. She shook her head at the door and raked a hand through her hair, sighing when she seen Arielle's door was closed. Gently knocking on it, Jasina opened it and seen her daughter was sleeping, her face tear streaked. Her heart broke as Jasina walked over and sat down on the bed, stroking her hair gently, and pulled the blanket back to stare down at her leg. It wasn't too bad, just a small red dot that was swollen. Jasina got up and walked inside Arielle's bathroom, wetting a rag and walked back out as she wrapped it around the wounded area, seeing Arielle's eyes slowly open.
"Your father wanted to make sure he didn't hurt you too badly." She quietly said, raking a hand through her hair.
"He shot me at point blank range." Arielle said, her voice thick from sleep and tears, slowly sitting up and wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "Why are you in here? I thought you hated me for what I did?" She winced, pulling her legs up to her chin.
"Just because I yelled at you doesn't mean I hate you, Arielle." Jasina softly reasoned, though her tone was still stern. "What you and Toni did with that boy was..." She sighed, gently pulling her daughter's leg back to examine it, nodding. "He did it so you wouldn't run away from him." Jasina stated, glad Mark hadn't done more damage with how pissed off he was. "What were you thinking doing something like that to us, Arielle?"
"I wanted you two to get back together." Arielle admitted helplessly, pulling her leg back, again, gingerly tucking it underneath herself. "I thought if you guys had time alone where there wasn't anything to distract you..." She trailed off, suddenly finding one of her old stuffed animals more interesting then anything else.
Jasina had expected that answer, nodding gently. "No matter if your father and I are together, we're not going to love you any less, Arielle. God you don't understand the pain I put him through." She stood up, raking a hand through her hair. "I left him when you were two days old, Arielle, the first day we could bring you home from the hospital because you were born prematurely. I broke his heart." She whispered that last part, feeling the tears sting her eyes, and blinked them away. "That's not something your father can just get over. Granted, I know you think he's Superman, but he's also a human being with emotions. We talked at lunch and he told me he wanted to date. We both agreed not to tell you because we were afraid you were going to pull some antics and interfere...like you did with your friend and that boy."
"That boy has a name and it's Gary." Arielle interjected, green eyes narrowing. "And you totally ruined everything with him, thanks. You've punished me." She groaned, burying her face in her knees. "I knew how old he was." She whispered, not daring to look up. She was in so much trouble already, why not add on to it?
"You knew he was sixteen?" Jasina asked quietly, turning around to face her daughter, somehow not surprised in the slightest. She sat down on the bed, crossing one leg over the other, a small smile playing on her lips. "You like him don't you?" When her head snapped up, Jasina sighed as she leaned over and wiped her tears away. "Sweetheart, it's alright to like a boy, but he's too old. I know age is just a number, but..." She sighed, seeing the heartbreak in her daughter's eyes. "Maybe I can talk to your father...AFTER you're not grounded. You'll be lucky if you're not grounded until you're eighteen, do you realize that?"
"He's only four years older then me and I've been hanging out with him for over a year, a bit late to tell me I can't now, isn't it?" Arielle said with a sigh, knowing she'd be lucky if she wasn't grounded until she was like...thirty or something. Not putting that past her dad. "Besides, isn't daddy older then you are? What's the difference? Besides I'm underage."
"Sweetheart, when you're fourteen, Gary will be eighteen, do you realize that?" When she nodded, Jasina sighed heavily. "You are jailbait to him, he could get in a LOT of trouble and especially after what he pulled with your parents...that wasn't the best way to get on your father's good side, especially after you told him about the bells." She remembered that and pictured the anger in Mark's eyes, shivering. "You better worry about how you're going to make this up to your father. He's very disappointed in you Arielle. I can forgive you easily because of what I did to you, but your father has been nothing, but supportive and loving for twelve long years. Do you understand?"
"Yes." She also understood she was still in a world of trouble and the only thing saving her from one hell of a butt whipping was the fact that her dad was probably exhausted. "I still can't believe he shot me!"
Mark snorted, leaning in the doorway. "Believe it, you're just lucky it was with a BB gun and not the paintball. Now get to bed, you have school in the morning and we'll be having a chat on the way."
Jasina cringed, knowing Mark overheard their conversation about Gary, swallowing hard. "Good night, Arielle." She whispered and bent down, kissing her forehead, smoothing her hair back. "No matter what happens, your father and I love you very much. You could never do anything that would make us love you any less, alright?" When she nodded, Jasina hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead again. "Get some sleep." She walked out, raking a hand through her hair and let out a long yawn, physically exhausted from the night's events.
"Come on." Mark led her to his bedroom, leaving the door OPEN. He'd had enough of being locked in here. "You look beat, Jasi." He commented, knowing she was, hell he was too. Yawning, he dropped onto the edge of the bed, pulling off his boots and tossing them away from him. "Think he touched her?" He asked bluntly, wondering if he needed to go kill someone, blood boiling at the thought.
"Whatever happened between them, if anything, was consensual. She really likes him, Mark." Jasina wasn't about to lie to him as she slipped her shoes off and climbed into bed, pulling the comforter over her. She could feel Mark shaking with anger and placed her hand on his arm, causing him turn to stare at her. "Don't, not tonight." She whispered pleadingly, just wanting one good night sleep since she had to be in the office first thing in the morning. Then she was going to have to explain to Trish what REALLY happened and then she was going to tell Steve...Jasina felt a headache coming on and sighed. "You are prohibited from killing Steve." She ordered before turning around.
Mark snorted, already imagining everything that was bound to come out of his best friend's constantly running mouth. "Darlin', as much as I love ya, I have to tell you somethin'." He said with a grin, laying back on the bed, folding his arms underneath his head. "You can prohibit me as much as ya like, but we're divorced, which means I don't have to listen." He grinned even more when she shot him an 'oh really' look.
"So you love me eh?" Jasina asked as she turned back around, snuggling against him, her head resting against his chest and threw a lazy arm over his stomach. She giggled when he growled, saying something about not pushing her luck, and looked up into his green eyes before brushing her lips against his. "God that sounds so bad. Divorced and yet still together." That was an ironic bitch as she sighed, snuggling further against him, loving how warm his skin was. "You'll listen to me because you know I'm right." She added as an afterthought.
"Divorced and still together." Mark grunted, nodding in agreement. Did sound a little weird, but not bad. He smirked at her last remark. "Darlin', you apparently don't know me all that well anymore. I don't listen to women, they listen to me. With the exception of the troll in the other room." He grinned slightly. "Though I'll give her credit, she has balls, figuratively speaking of course."
"You never did." She snorted right back at him, rolling her eyes, and smiled when he kissed the top of her head. "I still can't believe what she pulled." It was hard to believe her daughter was that evil and diabolical, sighing gently. She was like her mother in so many ways, Jasina just prayed she didn't follow the same path she had. Arielle had her father's brains though so she knew she would be fine. "Get some sleep, we have a busy day tomorrow." She whispered, closing her eyes and turned over, feeling Mark's arms wrap around her from behind, pulling her back against his strong chest. "Night Mark." She yawned before closing her eyes, sleeping claiming her moments later.
