Chapter 9 - and mild warnings for Starsky having a good time (wink, wink)

The drive back to Starsky's place gave the brunet time to calm down and for the doubts to make their reappearance again. As they'd got into the car, Starsky had asked Jade where she'd like to go. He would have been happy to take her to a bar, or to a different restaurant if that's what she'd wanted, but she'd explained to him that she'd been on her feet since six that evening and she'd love somewhere quiet where she could sit down and relax.

'Your place?' Starsky asked, trying not to be presumptuous.

'Mine? Oh….um, no, maybe not.'

'Ok then. Wanna go back to mine?'

Jade smiled at him, complete trust in her almond shaped eyes. 'That sounds nice. Is it far?'

'About twenty minutes. Settle down, put the radio on if you like.'

Jade reached down and twiddled with the dials on the radio beneath the dashboard of the TransAm. A moment later there was a crackle of static and then '……244 in progress at the corner of Wilshire and Central. All units in the area please respond.'

Starsky reached down and fiddled with a dial, cutting off Minnie Caplan's voice and replacing it with a classical music station. Jade cast him a questioning look.

'Police scanner?'

Starsky shook his head. 'Half right. Police.'

'You're a police man?'

'On the button. Me and my partner, Hutch. The blond blintz that ramraided his way into your restaurant a while ago.'

'Oh' Jade said quietly. A shadow fell across her face and she looked out of the window, her hair covering her face so that it was hidden to Starsky's view. He slowed the car.

'Is that a problem?' he asked.

'Problem? Um…I guess not, but answer me one question.'

'Anythin'.'

'You know my brother. That's why you were at my restaurant last night.'

'Yeah, we know Kim.'

Jade turned to look directly at the brunet, her eyes almost as powerfully piercing as Starsky's own. 'Then I need to know. Do you want to take me out because you like me, or because it's a good way to keep my brother in check?'

The directness of the question both took Starsky's breath away and at the same time came as a refreshing change. Most girls he knew would have skirted around the question for days, even weeks whilst the relationship foundered on the rocks. At least Jade had the courage to ask outright.

'I asked you out coz I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and I wanted to get to know you better. Not your brother, you. Sure we know about Kim and yeah, we need to keep an eye on him, but it's you I want to get to know. Does that answer your question?'

Jade smiled at him and the smile lit up her eyes. This man was just as straight forwards as she was, and she liked that. In China she had been used to people talking in riddles, always with a double meaning to what they said so that she had to learn to read between the lines. With this man, this curly haired, bruised and battered man, she felt relaxed for the first time and she believed him when he said that he was interested only in her.

'It's fine, thank you' she murmured, settling back into the deep black leather seats.

Starsky drew up outside his apartment, turned off the engine of the car and came around to the passenger side to let Jade out. He held out his hand and she took it, following him up the steps to his front door and waiting patiently as he unlocked it and led her inside. As the brunet busied himself with arranging the lighting and the music to his taste, Jade allowed her eyes to wander about the living room. It was tidy for a man –Jade was used to clearing up after her father and her brother- but the room still felt "lived in" and cozy. Plain comfortable furniture was adorned with colourful throws of some Native American origin and on the coffee table there was an orderly pile of photographic magazines. One whole bookshelf was taken up with paperbacks and more expensive books and interspersed with photographs. In one, a beautiful white girl smiled as she held an arm around Starsky, in another, a man who looked like Starsky but was younger stood beside a tiny, curly haired woman with a fierce expression but the same piercing indigo blue eyes as the cop. Brother and mother? Jade wondered at what sort of family Starsky had…..where he came from…..who he really was beneath the slightly quirky exterior. Tossed to one side of the photographs was an appointment card and she couldn't help but notice it had Memorial Hospital Department of Physiotherapy written on the cover. It nestled beside a small bottle of white pills. What was that all about?

'Have you always lived in Bay City?' she asked.

'Me? No. I was born and brought up in Brooklyn, New York. Me and my brother Nick. There's a photo of him on the bookcase. I moved here when I was about 16 and apart from taking a tour in Viet Nam, I've been here ever since. You?'

'My family moved here from a small island off the coast of mainland China when I was a small girl. I don't remember a lot about my home country except that the countryside was beautiful and we were very poor.'

Starsky stuck his head around the door. 'What made your folks decide to move?'

She shrugged. 'Money I guess. Money and "The American Way". It worked too. Dad would never have been able to afford to develop his own business back home. But here….. well you've seen the success of the Royal Phoenix.' There was pride in her voice and for a moment afterwards there was an awkward silence.

Jade jumped as Starsky came back from the kitchen with two glasses and a bottle of red wine. He placed them on the table and sat on the chair awkwardly, suddenly feeling like a teenager on his first date. The pleasantries were over. Normally now he would be sat beside his girl with his arms around her waist and maybe his tongue stuck somewhere south of her tonsils, but this felt so different. His mouth was dry and although he'd dated scores of girls, he couldn't get over the feeling that somehow this was a new beginning for him. A small voice inside the brunet urged him not to fuck up and Starsky always listened to the voices inside him. They'd saved his life countless times.

Jade sat opposite, her hands folded demurely in her lap, also looking uncomfortable but at the same time so young and fresh and unlike any of the other women Starsky had known that his heart did a little skip of excitement….and fear.

Silence. There was too much silence, despite Wolfgang Amadeus doing his thing in the background. 'Drink?' the cop asked, as much to break into the void as anything.

'Oh, yes, please.' Jade smiled. She watched as Starsky took the cork from the bottle and poured the ruby red liquid into her glass and held it out to her. She took it and swirled the wine around and took a deep breath of the rich fruity aroma, her eyes closed as she concentrated. 'Hmm…..Burgundy?'

'Chateau de Camarsac. It's a Bordeaux. Hutch bought it for me last Christmas although I didn't have the heart to tell him that I like Beaujolais better.'

'Do you know a lot about wine?'

Starsky shrugged. 'I know what tastes good to me but I'm no expert. Why? Does it surprise you?'

'A little.'

He chuckled. 'Well, I have beers in the fridge too. And cold pizza and probably a donut somewhere. See – a true cop!'

Jade giggled and peeped from behind her curtain of hair. 'I didn't mean that. I meant you aren't what I thought you'd be.' The girl used her hair like a shawl, the whole time pulling it around her face so that most of her was in the shadow of the black, glossy veil. It gave her a certain mystique but it was also so unlike the girl Starsky had met the previous evening. It intrigued him.

'Uh huh? You aren't the stereotype either. I thought you'd be more…. I dunno, maybe more um….American?'

Jade looked at him thoughtfully through the shadows of her hair. 'American? I am American, kind of.'

Slowly Starsky slid off the chair so that he was on his knees by Jade's side. There was a sudden desire there to touch her – to make sure that she was real and that this was real and that he was truly having a date, with a girl who was interested in him and not the scars. Almost afraid in case the bubble broke and she would run screaming from the house, gently he lifted his hand as though to brush away her hair but the girl drew back. Starsky paused, suddenly unsure of himself and then persisted and this time Jade allowed him to push her hair back from her face although she frowned as he did so. He hissed as he saw the reason that she was not wearing the high, tight pony tail that night. Down the left hand side of her face a pale bruise in the shape of a hand marred her perfect cafe au lait complexion. Starsky let his finger trail softly over the bruise, his eyebrows V'd in anger as his awkwardness dissipated.

'Who did this to you?' he asked softly

Jade pushed Starsky's hand gently away and rearranged her hair so that once more the bruise was hidden. 'It doesn't matter.' She said in a small voice.

The cop put his hand under her chin and gently raised her face so that he could see her eyes. 'It matters to me. Who did it? Kim?'

'You don't understand. We come from a different place, almost a different time. We may be living in this big beautiful country, but my family's ideals are still all Chinese. My brother is used to being obeyed and I should have been more careful.'

'Careful about what? Did you break a dinner service or kill a customer or sumthin?' Starsky asked angrily.

'I was careless. I didn't have my mind on my work.'

'So what were you doing instead? What's so bad that he beat you? Huh?'

Jade looked away. 'I was talking to you and your other policeman friend' she said defiantly. 'And I've told my brother I will go on talking to whoever I want.'

Starsky sat back on his heels. 'That does it. He's pissed me off once too often' he snapped and made to stand up but the strain on his damaged rib caused a lance-like pain to shoot through his chest and despite his best endeavours, the brunet caught his breath and clutched at his chest, massaging it until the pains subsided. It was Jade's turn to reach out, putting her arm around the cop as though it was the most natural thing in the world to comfort him.

'Are you ok? You seem so worried about me, but you're in pain. What's the matter?'

Starsky got stiffly to his feet and perched on the arm of his chair, waiting out the residual pains. 'Nuthin' he muttered, angry at himself that this evening wasn't going the way he'd planned.

Jade was on her feet, coming to stand by him. 'I don't buy that. You're hurt. Let me look.'

'It's fine' Starsky protested although he wasn't quick enough to stop the girl from gently lifting his shirt and un-tucking his tee shirt. It was Jade's turn to take a sharp intake of breath as she saw the blackened area across Starsky's left side.

'When did this happen? It looks serious. Have you been checked out at the hospital?' Jade's hand rested against the cop's body longer than was absolutely necessary. It felt cool and soft and sent thrills of excitement coursing down Starsky's spine.

'I don't need a hospital' he said, a little too harshly. He sighed. 'I got hurt yesterday. I was careless and it won't happen again. Yeah, it hurts and I think the ribs broken, but I've had too much of hospitals to want to go back.' Why did he mention that? What made him volunteer all that information when he'd vowed that this girl would know nothing of his past?

Jade sat on the chair beside Starsky and looked up. She'd heard the anger in his voice, but it wasn't anger at her, or the person who'd hurt him, or even that he was hurt. The anger sounded more deep rooted somehow, as though this was the tip of the iceberg and that in the past this man had been through more than any man should. But a Chinese woman's duty is not to pry and surprisingly Jade did not push Starsky for details. Instead, she was about to pull her hand away from his side when she felt a large, warm hand over hers.

'M'sorry honey. Do you want to leave?'

Jade looked surprised. 'Do you want me to?'

'Oh god no. you're the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. Will you stay? Please?'

'Of course, if you'll let me help you.' She raised a hand as Starsky started to protest. 'No hospitals, I promise. My father suffers from an old injury and when the pain is particularly bad, he asks me to give him a massage. I um…..' her voice trailed away as she thought about what she was saying. Would this man think she was slutty if she asked him to take off his shirt? Would he think less of her for wanting to help? Was she being too forward?

Starsky twisted painfully and looked down at the beautiful girl. 'You don't have to. We can talk and listen to the music. You're my date, not some therapist.'

Jade smiled at him shyly. 'I'd like to help. If you'd let me?'

The brunet let out a shaky breath. 'I have pain meds. I could take one of those, but I'd prefer to remain awake. Sleeping through a first date kinda takes the edge of the romance, don't you think?'

'It can do that, yes' Jade giggled. 'So you'll let me try?'

Starsky held up his hands in mock surrender although something low in his belly was prodding Little Davey awake. 'Where do you want me?' The sparkle in his eyes glinted in the soft lights and for a moment Jade became lost in the depths.

'Here's fine' she whispered. With practised hands she started to unbutton the cop's shirt while Starsky sat passively, his hands on her waist as she worked the cotton free and pulled the clothing free from his shoulders. The brunet raised his arms as she pulled the tee shirt over his head and then Starsky froze. Without thinking, he'd exposed all his newly healed, pinkish, shiny scars to the girl –the one thing he'd vowed he wouldn't do.

Ok Davey. This is the part where she gets her coat and makes some excuse. You've blown it buddy.

Jade looked at the battered and scarred body in front of her but all she saw was olive toned flesh stretched over a plane of hard muscle and with a liberal coating of dark brown hair across chest and in a well defined line down Starsky's belly, disappearing beneath the belt of his jeans. For a moment, she traced the fuzz with her finger tips, making the brunet shiver with expectation. Jade giggled again.

'What?' Starsky asked. He'd expected gasps, comments, questions, but certainly not mirth.

'You're hairy. Your chest. It's covered in hair. Chinese men have such smooth skin.'

'And?' the brunet was taken aback and at the same time still waiting for the inevitable questions.

'And nothing. I think I like it.' Jade's hand trailed down from the centre of his chest towards the huge bruise on his left side. Her hands were deliciously cool, the skin soft and her pink painted nails scratched his flesh in oh such a seductive way, although Jade didn't seem to know that she was being seductive. The girl was so natural. There was no artifice and this was so evidently not just a plan to get the man out of his clothes. As Jade's fingers hit the first of the long, linear scars stretching down his chest Starsky froze, expecting the first comments. None came. In fact Jade seemed not to be interested in the healed flesh, only in the bones beneath the blackened skin.

'I can feel something broken there' she said, her eyes closed and without thinking Starsky put his arms around her and brought her to him so that he could kiss her deeply. The woman stiffened for a second and then, shyly at first and then with growing confidence, her body responded to his advances and her tongue met his.

Starsky ran his hands down Jade's slim frame just as Jade's hands played across the cop's back, her nails raking delicious pale furrows across his overheated skin. She pulled away, her hand now hovering above the belt of his jeans as Starsky's eyes rested on her perfect face.

'If we're gonna start this honey, we need to be sure coz it's been an awful long time and I don't think my control is up to much tonight. You are so beautiful.'

Jade said nothing. Instead, her hand started to work at the buckle of his jeans and Starsky immediately had his answer as to whether his body would respond to a woman. The rod of flesh stretched the denim fabric tightly across his groin and Starsky gasped as the zipper finally gave way and he could feel Jade's fingers beginning to close around him. His body trembled with desire and pent up emotion and as her hand closed, he flung his head back and gave a low, long groan.

'Oh God!' he panted through clenched teeth. Even that first touch tested his control and he felt spikes of energy jolting through the centre of his body as Jade touched and stroked his cock.

Slowly Jade went to her knees and Starsky followed, determined that he would hold out and give as much pleasure as he was receiving. Gently he pushed Jade to the floor where she lay looking up at him with such trust in her eyes that it made his heart ache with longing. Starsky's left hand started to work at the buttons on Jade's blouse as his right hand caressed her hair and as he got space to work, his hand slid inside her blouse to find her breasts full and ready for him. As he bent to take his first taste, as his tongue prepared for that first encounter and he felt the woman raise up to meet him……the telephone rang.

Jade jumped a little.

'Ignore it' Starsky growled breathlessly.

It rang again.

'You should answer it' Jade mumbled half heartedly.

'I could disconnect it' Starsky said as he licked delicately at the pink rosebud nipple. Jade mewed and bowed her spine.

The telephone rang again, spoiling the moment and Starsky braced himself on his hands, hovering above his woman.

'Damn! Be right back. Don't go away' he said as he got to his feet. Angrily he reached for the receiver.

'Starsky. If this aint life or death I'm hangin' up' he snapped.

'I'm truly sorry buddy' Hutch's voice sounded down the line, 'but Dobey wants us at the meat canning place out by Jamesville. There's another body with Kim's handiwork written all over it.'

For a moment Starsky considered telling Hutch to handle it on his own. Jade's body was just too tempting. Until he thought back to the previous day and the feeling of fear he'd experienced as Kim had knocked the crap out of him. Could he do that to Hutch? Could he bear it if his partner was hurt because he wasn't there as back up?

'You are so gonna owe me partner' he said and slammed down the phone, looking longingly at the beautiful woman sprawled so seductively on his rug.