Prompt: Such a filthy, filthy habit you have there
Part Eighteen
He almost had it, just one more turn and everything would be…
"Dammit."
Jerking his hand back, Jason looked down at his bloody knuckle before he shook his hand, wiped it against his jean-clad thigh, and tried once more to finish fixing his bike.
After his unexpected and unwanted visit from Carly earlier that afternoon, Jason secluded himself in the garage of the Harborview Towers where he could work on his bike and think. It wasn't long after Carly left that Jason found himself needing time alone with his thoughts. He couldn't think with Elizabeth around and with the question Carly left him with, he needed to think.
Elizabeth had understood, giving him nothing but a smile and a sweet kiss after he explained to her that he was going to work on his bike. Jason was sure that she could tell by the tone of his voice and the look on his face that Carly's visit had bothered him. But where she probably thought he was upset because of his past feelings for Carly, it was actually the feelings Carly's question caused that made him…weary.
Who would have thought that the woman he thought he had loved would be the one to have him question if his feelings for the woman in his life now meant more than he was aware of.
He had spent three hours in the garage and the only thing he got done was fixing his bike. He was no closer to finding out his true feelings for Elizabeth now than he was three hours before. Every time the question would pop up in his mind, he would end up injuring himself like he just had with his knuckle.
Did he love Elizabeth? Had he known her long enough to decide if he loved her? Did he even know how to love?
Jason didn't think so.
He thought he knew how to love when he was with Robin. She had taught him everything he knew, showed him what it was like to love. There was a long time when he was with Robin that Jason had been truly happy. But after she betrayed him, after she had helped—in a way—to take Michael away from him, Jason began to question his love for her. He knew now, that during that time, he really did love Robin. But that loved died, and with it his ability to love died as well.
Jason grew up. He started to learn things on his own. He didn't need Robin or Sonny to explain things to him like they had after his accident. He was his own man, and because of Robin and Carly and how they both broke his heart, Jason's heart became hard against any emotion. Especially love.
Elizabeth caused Jason to feel things he hadn't felt in a long time, caused him to feel things he never felt before. But could he call that love?
Shaking his head, Jason concluded that the answer was no. A man like him, the man he had become since he left Port Charles, didn't know love, didn't know how to receive it, and defiantly didn't know how to give it. And even if he did know how to love, a woman like Elizabeth didn't deserve the kind of love he could offer.
She was better than him. She deserved better than him.
But even as that thought ran through his mind, Jason couldn't help but frown. If she deserved better than him than that would mean she would end up being with someone that wasn't him. Just the thought of her smiling at another man the way she smiled at him caused a feeling inside of Jason to occur. Another one of those feelings that only Elizabeth could cause.
Standing up from his crouched position by his bike, Jason placed his hands behind his back and stretched. His bike was finally finished but he was no where near ready to go upstairs. Even though the answer kept running through his mind—that he wasn't in love with Elizabeth—he didn't feel like he really knew his feelings.
If he wasn't in love with her than what were his feelings?
It wasn't just lust. He was extremely attracted to her, thought about being with her every other minute of the day. He didn't dream, but if he could, Jason was sure that his dreams would consist of him and Elizabeth and doing the things he thought about during the day. She was the most beautiful and sexy woman he had ever met. Not just on the outside, but on the inside as well.
But even though he couldn't stop thinking about what it would be like to make love to her, he enjoyed just being with her. He enjoyed talking with her, sitting with her in a comfortable silence, just knowing that she was there and made his life brighter with her smiles and laughter.
He was cleaning up his work area and had to pause. Forehead scrunched in confusion, Jason leaned back against his work-table and crossed his arms over his chest.
He enjoyed laughing with her.
Jason couldn't remember the last time he actually laughed before he met Elizabeth. He closed himself off when he left Port Charles. Focusing on nothing but his work as he traveled from state to state, country to country, following leads or just wanting to see something he read about in a travel book. It had been years since he was able to sit back and just have a good time, laughing.
She made it easy to relax and open up. She made it easy for him to laugh.
A small smile slowly formed on his lips at the many times she made a chuckle escape his chest at a look or thought or smart remark. Jason never would have thought that realizing that someone could make you laugh would be such a big revelation. But for someone who hadn't laughed in years, it meant something.
He didn't quite know what it meant, but he knew that it had meaning.
Turning around, Jason began to finish his task of cleaning up his tools. He might not know how to love, but he knew that if he did, he would have no trouble falling in love with Elizabeth.
She was able to make him laugh again.
Jason opened the door to his penthouse, pausing in his action of closing the door once he entered. Elizabeth was sitting on his couch, concentrating on the sketchpad on her lap as her hand worked furiously over the paper. She looked up quickly to give him a warm smile before she put her concentration back on her drawing.
He had spent the past three and a half hours thinking about Elizabeth, but the minute he stepped in his penthouse, saw her sitting on his couch with her shoes off and looking like she belonged there it made him pause. She did belong there, he thought with a start. A heavy feeling began to settle in his stomach and only grew the longer he stared at her. She looked up at him just then, gave him a questioning look then closed her pad.
Coming out of his trance, Jason finally closed the door and walked fully into his penthouse.
"Did you fix your bike?"
"Yeah, it took a while, but I was finally able to figure out what was wrong with it."
"So… that means its working again, right?"
She was smiling brightly up at him. Her hair was pulled to the top of her head in a messy ponytail, small wisps of hair falling down and caressing her cheeks and neck each time she moved. He wanted to pull her hair-tie out and run his fingers through her soft, silky hair. Instead, he gave a small, genuine smile in return. "Yes."
It was different for Jason to tease someone, but he couldn't help it when he was around her. He knew she was trying to ask if he would be taking her out for a ride since his bike was fixed, but since she wasn't coming right out and asking it, he wanted to pull her along for a while. Make her ask him.
Her lips twisted as she bit the inside of her cheek, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she looked away, started to play with end of her shirt. "Do you think that we could go for a ride?" Before he could answer, she rushed on. "That's if you're not busy of course. Or if you just want to go for a ride by yourself, I under—"
"Elizabeth."
She looked up at him under thick eyelashes. "Hmm?"
"Do you want to go for a ride?"
It was smiles like the one she just gave him that caused Jason to want to do anything he possibly could to make her smile. The heavy feeling in his stomach grew stronger.
She gave out a small squeal before she jumped off of the couch. "Thank you so much. I have wanted…what happened?" In the middle of her gratitude she noticed the gashes and scrapes on most of his fingers. She grabbed his hands carefully, circling her fingers around his wrists when he tried to pull his hands away. "Jason, did you do this fixing your bike?"
"It's nothing."
"You're hurt." She looked up at him, concern in her eyes, a frown marring her face. His hands hadn't hurt that bad when he was fixing his bike. His screwdriver would slip and his knuckles would scrape against a part in the engine or a sharp piece would cut his hands when he wasn't being careful. It stung, but he quickly got over it. But her concern for him warmed him.
"Really," he tried to pull his hands away, stopping when her hands squeezed his wrists. "It's nothing."
She rolled her eyes, giving him a teasing smile. "You are such a guy. Leave it up to a man to try and act macho when he's hurt."
He couldn't help it, he chuckled. "It doesn't hurt."
Sighing, she dropped his hands. "Will you at least let me clean them up?"
The denial was on his lips, but when she looked up at him, her large, heart-stopping eyes staring up at him, he couldn't deny her. "Yes." His voice was rough, causing him to clear his throat when she turned towards the stairs.
"I'll just go to your bathroom and get the first-aid kit you have under your sink." As she ascended the stairs, Jason wondered what she was looking for under his sink when she found the first-aid kit.
Once she reached the top step and rounded the corner, out of sight, Jason looked down at his hands and grimaced. They looked worse than they felt. But what made him grimace even more was the grease and dirt covering his hands and arms. Before they went on their ride, he was going to have to take a shower.
He walked up the stairs, entered his bedroom and made his way to his bathroom. Elizabeth was bending over, her head slightly in the cabinet under the sink as she reached for his first-aid kit. But what caught his attention the most was the way her jeans hugged her well rounded butt. She wiggled as she reached further; he started to strain against his jeans. Before he ended up embarrassing the both of them, Jason spoke. "Hey, I…" He was cut off when she jumped up, knocking the back of her head against the sink.
"Oww, oh…crap." She spun around, one hand rubbing the back of her head, the other placed over her chest in a dramatic gesture. "Jesus, don't ever sneak up on me like that!" She glared at him when he covered his mouth, trying to conceal his smile. His shaking shoulders gave him away. "Don't laugh at me, you scared the crap out of me. Not to mention the fact that you probably caused me to get a concussion." Even though she tried to sound serious, there was laughter evident in her voice.
"Sorry," she grunted, he held his hands up in surrender. "I am. Does it really hurt?" When he reached out to touch her head, she backed away from him and into the sink.
"I just washed my hair and your hands are all greasy."
Remembering why he followed her upstairs, Jason looked down at his hands. "Yeah, I realized that I needed to take a shower before we left."
Elizabeth's eyes locked with his before he looked down at his hands once again. She was sure that he could see her thoughts. At the mention of him taking a shower, Elizabeth immediately pictured him standing under the water, his well-sculpted body glistening as the water ran over his body. She then began to picture herself in there with him, touching him, kissing his…
The clearing of his throat stopped her thoughts, caused a blush to spread across her cheeks. Her voice was unsteady when she spoke. "Oh…o-ok."
"Your not going to have to clean my cuts for me, I'll just do it when I get out of the shower."
"Mmmhmm." Was all she could say as she stared at his lips. Lips that drove her crazy.
"So, I'm just going to take a shower now."
"You do that."
Neither moved and Jason began to wonder if she was waiting for him to undress before she was going to leave. "Ok."
He looked left and then right before he reached for the hem of his shirt. When he pulled the shirt over his head, Elizabeth's composer snapped at seeing his sculpted torso, his rock hard chest, his large arms. Before Jason even knew what was happening, Elizabeth was clasping his face, bringing it down towards hers and kissing him.
He didn't move for a split second before he began to kiss her back. Their kiss was heated, like every kiss before. Elizabeth was in control, thrusting her tongue into his mouth, running her hands in his hair, down his back, up his chest. She tried to feel every part of his exposed skin.
They both broke apart after several minutes, both gasping for breath. Elizabeth was resting her forehead against his chest, not wanting to pull away. She kissed his chest before she pulled away, patting him lightly on the chest, still dazed. "You…you better take your shower."
Jason only nodded as she turned around and walked away. A sparkle entered his eye as he watched her walk away and saw two black handprints on each of the back pockets of her jeans.
Pulling back the curtain of his shower, Jason turned his shower on. He shed the rest of his clothes and stepped into the freezing water, not truly feeling the coldness, but hoping it could do something for his current…state.
Jason might not know how to love, or know exactly what it felt like to love in order to recognize it when it was happening. But what he did know was that he was not going to ruin what he and Elizabeth had.