Stepping out into the pouring rain, Jason made a face as mud sucked at his boot. With a sigh of resignation, he tried to ignore the way the rain trickled down the back of his neck, past the collar on his black leather jacket. Instead his eyes scanned the small cottage he'd left just hours before.
The less then thrilling storm had obviously knocked out the power. The inky black of the cottage's windows, gave the small structure an ominous appearance. Instead of the story book house from earlier that day, it looked less than inviting. Sucking in a deep breath, he ignored the heavy stare from the Spencer men as he made his way slowly up the drive.
What should've been a twenty minute drive, Luke had made in ten. His hands clenched threatening around the steering wheel. Flying around the corners of the isolated back road like brainless idiots, they were lucky the SUV had only fishtailed once the slick asphalt. It took a enormous amount of self control upon his part not to reach from the back seat and inflict bodily damage on the imbecile in the drivers seat.
Preparing himself for the worst, Jason blew out a deep breath. Contrary to Luke's stellar opinion, he didn't hate Elizabeth Webber. Sure her reaction to finding out he was Michael's father hadn't been what he would've preferred. She really hadn't done anything to become the target of some of the biting things he'd said to her. Shaking off the excessive thoughts, Jason concentrated on the task at hand.
With an alert eye, he scanned his surroundings. To much of a pro to go into any situation with out knowing the area, he quickly sought out any hiding places someone could jump him from. Jason waited for a tingle of awareness, anything that would alert to him that something was off. So far everything looked normal.
Heading to the back of the house, he paused one more time, when the coast was clear he quickly made his way to the back door. The sooner he got out of the rain, the better. The wind had kicked up a notch. As he was treated to a face full of razor sharp raindrops that felt as though they were welting his face like a swarm of angry wasps.
The window in the back door was a dark and empty like the windows in front. The interior was void of any light. Meaning that if someone was inside with Elizabeth they'd have an plenty of places to hide.
Turning the door knob slowly, he waited to feel the slight click before easing the door open wide enough to squeeze through. His hand itched to pull the gun from his shoulder holster, but dark places and not knowing who he could hit if the weapon went off wasn't something he was willing to try.
Closing the door just as quietly as he opened it, Jason made it two feet into the kitchen before something hard came crashing down on his back. Knocking the air from his lungs a searing pain swept down to his kneecaps, almost making his toes curl.
Stunned for only a moment, Jason dropped to the ground, only to kick out. Sweeping the legs out from his attacker. With a satisfying thud, the person hit the kitchen floor, and Jason didn't waste any time pinning them down.
It wasn't until his breath caught in his throat, and the blood rushed to his groin, did he realize who was currently bucking underneath him. Elizabeth fought like a wildcat against his body as he pressed her more fully to the floor, worried that she would cause herself harm if he didn't. Angry, empty threats spilled from her lips, as she twist and turned underneath him.
Needing her to stop, not only because he was concerned for her safety, Jason really didn't want to explain the painful bulge in the front of his pants. Christ, he didn't want to take the time to wonder how some girl who was barely old enough to drink could cause him to respond like some thirteen year old with just the brush of her tits.
Shifting his weight so that the firm breast that were pressed against his chest were a good foot away from any of his body parts, Jason pinned her hands above her head.
"Would you stop thrashing around?" A low menacing growl escaped from deep in his throat. He felt Elizabeth freeze beneath him. Could feel her eyes searching the dark before landing on his face.
"Jason?"
"Yeah." Loosening his grip, he was on his knees and about to stand when her knee came flying up and landed conveniently in the one spot that was currently housing the majority of his blood supply. It was a good thing she practically flew out from beneath him, because he crumbled to the floor in agony. "Jesus Christ."
Nothing brought tears to a man's eyes faster than the thought of a life time of impotency.
"Who in the hell do you think you are breaking into my house?" Her screeching almost broke an eardrum. But what did it really matter if he may never achieve a hard-on again? "You scared me half to death."
"Will you shut up?" His jaw clenched, Jason sucked in a deep breath and shook the stars from the front of his eyes.
The sound of the back door swinging open and the shine of flashlights cut off Elizabeth's cutting remark, but the heated glare she sent to the immobile male hit it's mark.
"Tink?" Luke didn't waste anytime wrapping her into his arms and pulling her close. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Feeling more than a smidgen bewildered by the kitchen full of visitors, Elizabeth blinked a few times against the harsh beams coming from the flashlights. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Elizabeth you scared us half to death." Lucky was by her side and hugging her when Luke let go.
Feeling as though she was missing something, Elizabeth looked around the room at the men who were watched her intently. She recognized them from earlier that day. Their faces were grim as they waited for her to speak.
"That was almost half an hour ago." Not knowing what else to say, Elizabeth felt lost. Again. A feeling she was starting to despise. It made her feel stupid. She may be a lot of things. Stupid wasn't one of them.
"Lucky said you screamed before the phone disconnected." Said Luke slowly, the frantic glow in his eyes began to fade.
It only took a second before everything clicked, and with a humiliated moan Elizabeth covered her face in her hands. "You thought something happened to me."
"No shit." Jason finally found his footing and ignored the dark, sinister need to wrap his fingers around her throat. His ugly words had Elizabeth dropping her hands to her side and returning his angry glance with one of her own.
"Elizabeth?" The man who'd introduced himself as Sonny Corinthos earlier that day stepped away from the other men blocking her view of Jason's dark scowl. "We're were concerned something had happened."
"I -." Feeling her cheeks burst into flames, Elizabeth gulped while nervously tucking her hair behind her ears. "Nothing happened. Nothing that warranted this."
"What happened to your forehead?" Lucky asked. Prompting Luke grabbed a flashlight out of Francis's hand and pointed it at her face. "You got one helluva bump there." Luke prodded at the sore spot.
Thoughtlessly she touched the sore spot on her temple and winced when Luck grabbed her elbow. "What the hell?" Her wrist had an ugly red mark, looking as though someone had recently gripped her too hard. "Elizabeth are you sure no one else was in the house?"
"No." She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. How much did a girl really need to endure in one day? What was that saying? 'Mama said that there'd be days like this?'. Elizabeth doubted if Miss Cleo could've predicated this one.
Swinging her eyes to the seething man on the other side of the kitchen, Elizabeth felt her stomach clench. Never in her life had she met anyone who clearly disliked her like Jason Morgan did. From the moment he'd laid eyes on her, she could almost feel his loathing.
No. That wasn't entirely true. There'd been complete disinterest at first when they'd met at Luke's bar. Then earlier today, before she'd completely insulted him with her outstanding verbal skills after finding out he'd was Michael's father, he'd had been borderline civil to her. Carefully taking care of her injuries. It wouldn't surprise to find the knee of her pajamas stained with blood after rolling around on the groung like a woman possessed.
"Morgan?" Luke snapped.
"I was attacked from behind." Jason snapped back. "I was defending myself."
"Like I knew it was you." Elizabeth defended herself before the last of Jason's words left his mouth. "All I knew was that someone was breaking into my house. You could've knocked."
"You knew it was me when you sent my nuts up into my kidneys." The comment brought a few dry coughs from the other men in the room, hiding their amusement behind there hands.
"I did not." Her mouth hung wide open in shock.
With a quirk of his brow, Jason watched the mortified look cross her face. "I beg to differ."
"Enough." Sonny's commanded, but his tone sounded suspiciously amused. Turning his attention again to Elizabeth, he gave a gentle smile. "Just to clarify. Besides Jason, you weren't attacked tonight."
"No. It was Church." As though summonsed, the large black cat slipped into the room, skirting around the large group of people. Glaring at the intruders he sulked over to the corner to keep an eye on them. "My cat." This time a few chocked laughs slipped out before they could be swallowed. "He surprised me." She added softly, feeling stupid for causing such a big scene.
"I came out here over a fricken cat?" Jason groused, sending the offending animal a murderous look.
"Again, I had no idea it was you." Running a hand through her hair, Elizabeth turned her attention to Luke. "I had no idea my reaction was going to cause this much drama. You know how I get with storms, Lucky. Church brushed up behind me, and with the day I've had and the storm . . . it just surprised me." Swallowing her pride she continued. "I dropped the phone. Well actually the phone flew out of my hands along with the flashlight."
"Which is why we couldn't get through." Some of the tension left Luke's tone. "Why didn't you turn the generator on?"
"I thought it was supposed to just kick on." Elizabeth shrugged. What did she know about generators? She could probably count on one hand the times she'd had the power go out on her. "Everything else in the house is either falling apart or broken, I just assumed it was something else to add to the fix-it list."
"You really do need a keeper." Muttering under his breath, Jason took the flashlight Luke had taken from Francis. "Where's the basement?"
Biting down sharply on her tongue, Elizabeth pointed to the door on the other side of the kitchen. Silently hoping he tripped down them on his ass. Maybe it would improve his disposition. Perhaps she'd suggest to Luke his pal should make an appointment at the nearest clinic to have the redwood crammed up his behind surgically removed.
Waiting until the offensive jerk to disappear from sight, Elizabeth turned back to the other men in the room. "Is it me, or does that neanderthal dislike me?"
The room fell silent.
"Oh." With a quick nod of her head, Elizabeth rubbed her tender palms together.
"Tink, Jase is just." Apparently stalling, Luke shifted uncomfortably before looking over at Sonny for help.
"Don't take offense." Sonny offered after a moment's hesitation. "He's like that with most people."
"I'm surprised he's allowed out in public." Not knowing why she was being so shrewish, Elizabeth felt guilty for a millisecond. She typically didn't speak ill of people. Well, most of the time. There were a few exceptions, such as her Grandmother who warranted such behavior. But, historically she'd never been the catty type. To throw snide remarks that weren't hidden behind some sort of teasing. There was just something about the bossy, stuck-up prick that rubbed her the wrong way.
If she could just tell her hormones to side with her brain on this one, she'd be just fine.
It seemed like forever before someone spoke. "So, Miss Webber," The tall, hulk like man with sandy blonde hair started hesitantly. "What exactly did you hit Jase with?"
Color kissed her cheeks again before she answered. "A bat." When the man blinked at her in shock, Elizabeth shrugged. "He's lucky I couldn't lift the chair."
Reaching to the bottom of the steps, Jason moved the beam of light from one side of the basement to the other. Irritated that he'd been hauled out into a night like this, all because she over-reacted, didn't hold a candle to the way he felt toward himself.
Besides his groin feeling as though it were on fire, his pride had taken a beating. A girl had done what no other man had been able to do before.
He'd never, in his entire life, had been taken down like that from behind. He was trained to detect danger. To analyze, and predict danger. A freaking Kindergarten teacher had attacked from behind. If it'd been anyone else he'd be needing a body bag, instead of an icepack.
Stalking over to the far end of the basement, Jason looked the ancient generator over. The thing was practically an antique. He'd have to tell Luke to look into getting her something from this century if she wanted to survive the winter.
Fiddling with a few loose wires, more to have something to do while his anger burned off, he was bothered at the way he'd let himself go. There'd been a time years ago when something like this would never had happened. He'd been on top of his game back then. Scared of nothing, and ready to put his life on the line to protect Sonny and the few people he considered family.
Where in the hell did that guy go?
After a few minutes of tinkering, and with a precise kick, the motor kicked on and hummed noisily. Seconds later the lights flickered back to life. The thing had a short life expectancy. But it would do for the night.
Turning back toward the stairs, he paused when something caught his eye. Moving to the boxes along the wall he noticed the way several of them seemed to have been torn through. Looking back to where the other boxes were neatly labeled and stacked, his eyes swung back to the mess. Something was off.
From what he'd seen of Elizabeth's house, she wasn't a slob. Not that she was some neat freak. But something told him that she didn't treat her stuff with disregard. That she took care of what she had. Someone had been down here. Perhaps not that night in particular. But something told him Elizabeth didn't make this mess.
That same something told him he'd be stupid to believe otherwise.
