--Chapter Seven--
.:Luke's Bar:.
"Lucky! Luke! Where's a Spencer when you need one?"
Robert Scorpio grinned when he spotted his best friend's almost-daughter skipping down the steps into the main room of the slow little blues bar. "Most likely hiding," he quipped, tossing the young woman a wink.
Elizabeth laughed and dropped a hand familiarly on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze as she hopped up onto the stool next to him. "How's it going, Commish?"
"Not bad, love, not bad," the Commissioner replied with a nod. "And how's life treating you?"
"No complaints," she grinned back, tapping her nails on the counter.
"Aces," the older man exclaimed, pushing himself up onto the edge of the bar with his elbows. "Let me see if I can't get Luke out here. Luke! Luke, you old bogan, Elle's here looking for you!"
There was some clattering behind the wall, and then Lucky poked his head out. He grinned brightly, instantly spotting his best friend. "Hey, Elle, what's shaking? What do you need?"
"I hope it's something stiff to drink, darlin'," Luke spoke up, coming out from the other entrance. "Because that's about all I'm good for right now."
Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "Actually, I was hoping that you guys could help me."
"A pretty little thing like you?" Luke braced his hands flat against the counter, smirking rakishly at the young woman he had practically adopted. "You name it and I'll get someone to do it."
Robert laughed at that, brandishing his half-full glass of scotch. "Ah, there's the famous Spencer work ethic for you."
"Infamous, you mean, Robbie," the brunette smirked, crossing her arms over the counter. Luke shook his head to himself, pouring out a glass of single malt as Lucky counted the patrons toward the back of the bar and grabbed a few beers.
"Guys," he called, holding up the bottles. "On the house – thanks for the help earlier with the frat boys."
Elizabeth glanced at Luke. "Frat boys? Oh, no, what happened?"
"Nothing we couldn't handle," Luke assured her as the customers in the back began to float toward the front to retrieve their beverages. "The usual crowd came in, got a little rowdy, started harassing Lulu and a couple of her playground pals, and these boys tossed them out on their asses because someone was too busy listening to his Rastafarian music to be helpful."
The brunette shared a cheeky grin with Robert as the oldest Spencer turned around toward the back room. "And by the way? Claude? You're still fired!"
Lucky and Elizabeth laughed aloud as Luke's floor manager poked his head out of the back, nodded once, then disappeared again. The old man shook his head as he wiped down the counter. "Just you watch, darlin' – he'll be back tomorrow. He always comes back. Why does he always come back?"
"Your Stalinesque charm is just irresistible," Robert shrugged, his pale topaz eyes twinkling. "That's the only explanation."
"Clearly," Luke muttered with a dramatic sigh. "I'm telling you, Robert, it's a curse. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy…or even you."
The Commissioner rolled his eyes and took another sip of his drink. The patrons from the back arrived at the counter just then and Lucky passed them their drinks, tipping his head. Elizabeth moved aside to let a tall, broad-shouldered man with scruffy red hair take his and let out an embarrassed cluck when she accidentally elbowed another person in the stomach.
"Oh, I'm sorry-"
She snapped her mouth shut the minute her blue eyes connected with his, then inwardly cursed her luck. It just figured that Jason Morgan would be here – although what Mr. Moneybags was doing at a dumpy little blues club on Baltic Avenue instead of his hotel on Park Place, she'd never know.
"Jason."
He tipped his head at her, that annoying little quirk of his that she knew was meant to be respectful but came off as rigid. "Elizabeth."
Luke quirked a brow at the two of them as he polished a glass and handed it to Lucky, who poured himself a shot of whiskey. "You two kids know each other?"
"Not really," Elizabeth replied flippantly, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she turned on her stool.
"Kind of," Jason answered at the same time, accepting his drink from Lucky.
Luke chuckled quietly and busied himself with rubbing down the counter once more. Robert began to chat with Elizabeth about her art work and her trips to the city, giving the oldest Spencer ample time to watch Jason as he casually hung around with a couple of his friends by the bar.
The first thing Luke noticed was that the younger man couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Even though he stood next to her, Jason kept glancing sideways in her direction. And with Elizabeth dressed the way she was, that wasn't surprising.
Jason took a pull of his drink, only half-listening to Johnny O'Brien as he talked about his plans to soup up his new car. As he was, he stood barely two inches away from Elizabeth and his arm would brush against hers occasionally as she shifted in her seat, unable to sit still.
The brunette's strappy stilettos clicked against the metal rung of the stool, shamelessly demanding his attention, and he obeyed. His gaze strayed upwards, following her dark pinstripe tuxedo pants that clung to her thighs and bottom before disappearing underneath the lower edge of a gray bustier that molded to her modest breasts. A fringe of white lace and a prim little pink ribbon were arranged at the top of the garment, and Elizabeth's neck and arms were bare of all jewelry. Her hair, wild and curly today, spilled around her creamy, narrow shoulders as she chattered away with the Commissioner and Luke, fidgeting every so often on her stool.
Finally, Robert excused himself to make a phone call and disappeared into Luke's office. The oldest Spencer went off to find out where his unemployed floor manager had disappeared to, and Lucky had vanished into the back room. Letting out an irritated huff, Elizabeth crossed her arms over the counter and glanced sideways out of the corner of her eyes. What she saw still made her frown.
Jason blinked when he heard her terse voice, this time directed at him. "Are you done pretending not to stare at me, Jason?"
The brunette's blue eyes narrowed dangerously when he only quirked a brow at her, the corner of his mouth twitching in a barely suppressed smirk. "Are you done pretending to ignore me, Elizabeth?"
Now at the far end of the counter, Luke let out an ill-disguised bark of laughter as he polished his tumblers.
Keeping one eye on the troublesome old man a few feet away, the brunette frowned at the arrogant businessman. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"
"I've been called worse."
She snorted, propping her chin up on one hand. "I'm sure."
Jason rolled his eyes, sliding his half-full bottle across the counter from one hand to the other. Elizabeth watched with mild indifference as he continued to play with it, then swung it up into his hand and took a long pull. The stool creaked when he shifted enough to balance one worn motorcycle boot on the rung, and the dark denim of his equally worn blue jeans stretched against his muscular thigh with the movement.
She frowned, annoyed with herself for noticing the little things about him – like how his black t-shirt clung to his back, or how long his fingers were, or that tiny bump on the ridge of his nose.
The tapping of her nails on the hard surface of the counter caught his attention, and Jason looked as if he might say something when one of his friends called out to him.
"Hey, Morgan – you in for another game?"
Elizabeth turned on her seat, her eyes coming to rest on a handsome Irishman with green eyes and a broad grin. She blinked, catching Jason's rare grin as he shook his head at his friend.
"O'Brien, you can't afford to play another game against me."
The young man laughed, slipping his pool cue between his fingers and shrugging. "It's true."
Jason shook his head and turned on his stool as Johnny motioned for a dark-haired man named Max to rack up the balls for the next game. Elizabeth frowned, her eyes still on the two men that were apparently Jason's friends – although they didn't seem like businessmen or even as if they were particularly wealthy – before turning back to her sister's colleague.
"You come here often?"
There was more curiosity in her voice than derision, so Jason obliged the petite brunette with a shrug. "I guess."
"Funny," Elizabeth muttered, narrowing her eyes at her best friend as he clambered down the stairs to join the next pool game. "Lucky never mentioned it."
Jason turned slightly to face her, missing how the younger Spencer stuck his tongue out at the brunette. "I used to come here a lot before I left Port Charles – Luke's known me since I was a kid trying to sneak a beer. He used to put me to work behind the counter as punishment."
The information surprised her; neither Luke nor Lucky had ever mentioned being close with Mr. Moneybags Morgan in all the three years she had known them.
Jason watched as Elizabeth's dark brows furrowed. "Surprised?"
She shrugged uneasily. "…I didn't think this was your kind of place. I thought you'd like…"
"That I'd like what?"
The brunette pursed her lips, staring at the older man. "Someplace with a live orchestra playing Haydn where the cheapest thing on the wine list costs as much as Carly's entire collection of shoes."
That actually got a laugh at him – a deep, rusty, entirely masculine laugh that Elizabeth was ashamed to admit she found just the least bit pleasant. "God, no. Whenever I get dragged there, I spend the entire time trying to stop myself from turning my tie into a noose."
She grinned despite herself, chuckling at the remark. "I'd like to see the Goliath that could drag you anywhere."
Jason rolled his eyes, shaking his head to himself as he took another drink from his bottle. "Yeah, well, Edward can be persuasive like that."
"Edward Quartermaine?" Elizabeth's dark brows furrowed when he nodded. "He's been sticking pretty close to you since you got back, hasn't he?"
Her perception and memory momentarily surprised him, but the older man just nodded once more. "You know what they say – keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
"But he seems to like you," the young woman frowned. "Carly says that he's always going on about how great it is to have you back at the company and now things will finally get back on the right track and-"
She stopped when Jason chuckled to himself, finishing off the last of his beer. "He only says that to keep Carly on her toes. He knows that we've been competitive from the first day and so he plays on her insecurities by using me. It's nothing new. And it definitely doesn't mean that he likes me."
"Huh." Elizabeth ran a hand slowly through her dark tousled mane, not noticing how Jason's piercing eyes followed the suggestive moment. "I never would have known that."
He shrugged, motioning for another beer. Claude, who appeared to be dodging his employer, quickly slid two frosty bottles toward the young couple. Jason waved away Elizabeth's protest at buying her a drink, and watched as the young woman twisted off the top and took a sip.
"Edward likes to know what I'm doing at every moment of every day," he sighed, following a bead of condensation with his finger. "It was hard for him to do that when I was away, but now he's got me right where he wants me."
"-Which explains why you're here," Elizabeth laughed, clicking her nails on the glass. "Hiding out, Mister Morgan?"
He chuckled at that. "You could say that. At least I know that Edward would never be caught dead here."
Elizabeth laughed as he shook his head again, once more switching his bottle between his hands. "That's part of why I come here, I guess. It's a quiet bar, doesn't really get big crowds-"
"Gee, thanks, Morgan," Luke drawled, poking his head out of the back room. The couple smirked but ignored him otherwise.
"-there are pool tables in the back, spare rooms upstairs, and I know the owners," Jason continued. "No one really expects anything of me here – I can drink and play pool all day in jeans and an old t-shirt, and no one says anything. It's better than what's waiting for me outside."
She was staring at him as if he'd grown three heads.
"What?"
Elizabeth leaned down to rest her chin in her hand, allowing him a glimpse of her shielded cleavage. "…It never occurred to me that you didn't like what you do."
"It's not that I don't like what I do," Jason clarified, shifting in his seat so that his soft t-shirt rubbed up against her bare arm. "…I just don't like what comes with it. The rules, the people, the politics…the wardrobe."
She let out a soft laugh at that. "Then why put up with it at all?"
Jason didn't say anything. Instead, he wrapped one hand around his beer bottle and stared at a point in the wall, as if trying to formulate a thought into words. But it never came out and with each passing moment, Elizabeth grew more and more easy.
"Sorry – I shouldn't have asked," she blurted out, hesitantly nudging him with her elbow. He glanced at her instantly, surprised by the contact. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It's not any of my business anyway."
"It's not that," he answered quietly, folding his arms over the counter. "It's hard for me to explain it…It has a lot to do with loyalty. My grandfather and Edward worked together to create ELQ, and my father was on the board before he died. I took his spot afterwards, then got fed up with it and left. And now that I'm back, I think I'm here for good. Still, I can't explain it…"
She waited for him to continue but Jason just trailed off. With a sigh, Elizabeth nibbled on her lip and hesitantly glanced at the businessman before reluctantly reaching out and poking him in the arm. "Hey."
He raised a brow. "Hey, what?"
Elizabeth lifted her shoulders together, maintaining an uncomfortable shrug. "I'm sorry about last week – you know, at Jake's. It was…"
The corner of his mouth twitched with amusement when Jason saw that the spirited brunette was practically choking on her next words.
"…nice of you to come check on me because Carly was worried." She let out a hissing sigh as if the words had an upsetting effect on her constitution.
He accepted her words with a small nod. "I didn't mean to make you angry that night by doing it."
"I know," she responded uncomfortably. "It's just that I've had to deal with one too many well-intentioned but patronizing males coming over at all odd hours to make sure I haven't electrocuted myself or locked myself into a closet or something. Geez, you do it once and you never hear the end of it…"
She wrinkled her nose at him when his lips parted in an easy grin. "Oh, shut up. I was replacing the wiring."
Jason was still chuckling softly. "You do all the repair work around Jake's yourself?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Oh, yeah, everything. You should have seen it when I bought it – it was a total dump. I ripped off all the gutters and put up new ones, then replaced the wiring, then patched up the drywall, and I even had to lay the brick and tile around the back entrance and in the bathrooms. I take care of everything around there. That's why I came over to Luke's today – the roof at Jake's is looking weak and I've been meaning to put a new one up. He has guys help him with the repair work around here, and I just needed some cheap labor for a day or two."
Jason nodded absently, doing his best not to picture the petite brunette in her toolbelt…and nothing else. "Why not hire someone to do all that stuff?"
She shrugged. "To be honest, I kind of like it. I like doing things with my hands."
Luke strolled up to the counter from the back room, smirking when the businessman coughed slightly and took a long pull of his cold drink. He graciously allowed Jason a moment to recover from the remark as he slid a piece of paper with phone numbers across the counter to Elizabeth. "That should do the trick, darlin'. Let me know if you need anything else."
"This is perfect, Luke," she beamed, finishing off her beer and standing up in order to pocket the list. "With a little luck, I'll be able to get started on Tuesday."
"Don't break a nail, angel," the old man called over his shoulder as he resumed his hunt for his floor manager who always managed to disappear when he needed him. "And if you see Claude, tell him that he's re-hired."
"Aw, you decided to hire him back? That was nice of you."
"Nah – I'm hiring him back only so I can fire him again. Claude – CLAUDE! You're fired! You heard me! Fired!"
Elizabeth laughed and adjusted her high bustier before picking up her purse and turning back to Jason. "I should probably be going. I'll see you around, Jason."
"Wait," he called out, standing up from his seat as she turned to leave. "Listen, I'm sorry about the things I said last week. I don't know why I did that and-"
"Don't worry about it," she smirked wryly, playing with her keys. "I have a way of goading people and bringing out the worst in them. Let's just call it a wash, Morgan. Thanks for the drink - See you around."
He stood still, dumbfounded, as the brunette climbed the three steps up to the exit, offering him a most appealing view of her backside and bare shoulders. Luke watched as Elizabeth disappeared and then glanced discreetly at Jason, who was muttering something under his breath.
"Yeah, sure turns out that way, doesn't it?"