Chapter Twelve
"How did you know it was going to be me to go to your hotel room?" Lisa asked, disturbing the quiet that they had found themselves in.
It was currently three o'clock in the afternoon and they were in Jackson's living room, watching, of all things, Dr. Phil. The irony wasn't lost on Lisa. Though neither of them were really watching the television show, it allowed them some semblence of peace. She was sitting on the couch at the far right end, while he was sitting on the matching recliner at the opposite end of the room. He wanted to give her her space. Lull her in to a false sense of security, or, at least, that's what he told himself. Of course it had nothing to do with the fact that he didn't want her to be afraid of him. Or that he wanted her to trust him a little bit more. Nope, nothing to do with that, simply furthering his plan along. Yeah right, his mind retorted, though he steadfastly ignored it.
"I know a lot of things, Leese," he answered, after he chose his words with care. This was fragile ground and he needed to tread lightly.
"You've been," she swallowed, but forced herself onward, "watching me again, haven't you?" She put a hand up before he could answer and quickly added, "I want the truth, Jackson. You owe me at least that much."
"I don't owe you anything," he snapped. Nice, Rippner, real smooth.
She turned to him then, eyes flashing, old defiance shining through. "You threatened to kill my father," she nearly spat out, "tried to kill me. And then kidnapped me, I'd say you owe me a hell of a lot." She finished with her teeth clenched, trying to calm herself, knowing that she probably dug herself into a hole she had no way out of. Her bravado left her just as soon as it had come, but she refused to back down.
Jackson was seething. How dare she speak to him like that, he would make her learn...No, he would not blow up over this. He would not. Repeating his new mantra to himself he tried to figure a way out of this, he never should have snapped in the first place, it didn't go with his plan. His plan was to get her trust, not her anger. Where did the Jackson go that was pre-flight? He hadn't had any problems acting kinda towards her then. And if anything, the initial attraction that he felt when he first met her, well, first spoken to her at least, was nothing compared to what was surging through his brain now. To him, it was as if she could do no wrong...well, other than shoving a pen through his throat.
Taking a deep breath he answered as calmly as he could, "Lisa, it doesn't matter. Let's not..."
"Tell me," she fairly squeaked out. She cleared her throat, "I need to know," and as much as it pained her to, she added a soft, "please." It came out quiet and she knew that she was giving up some part of herself. Some part of her defiance that she could never get back. She was nearly begging for an answer and it was killing her. She had never resorted to begging with him before, well, maybe once, but that was a life and death situation, and she had awarded herself some quality begging. But this...this wasn't life or death. Somehow she knew, she just knew that he wouldn't kill her. However, thoughts of other things he could do to her, that certainly didn't involve death, made her shiver.
Jackson looked at her, took a good long look and actually saw her. She was a scared little girl (Well, not so little, his mind added, to which he ignored). She was leaning back into the cushions, as if she were trying to use them as a shield. He could understand her fear. She was petrified of what he might do to her, she already knew that her life was no longer within her control, and that was something that Jackson could identify with. It was something no one would generally welcome. But, on top of that, she was dealing with things from her past that he could only begin to grasp the full meanings of. Sure, he understood what rape was, and understood the mechanics of it. But he in no way could fully grasp the mental ramifications of such an act. What would they do to a person? What did they do to Lisa? Sure, he knew, to some extent, that it made her a loner, but it was more than that. And as he thought on it more, he realized that he wanted to figure it out. To figure out the great mystery that was Lisa Reisert. But no, he wouldn't, couldn't think on that now.
Turning his attention back to the here and now he answered her. "Yes," he said slowly, "I've been watching you."
She shook her head. "But, how could possibly have known..."
"Multiple toilets in your hotel were broken and were in need of maintenance. They needed to all be attended at the same time. I...," he paused, then started again, "a lot of people owe me favors, and I called some of them in. So, I knew that maintenance wouldn't be able to respond to a broken air conditioner, the toilets would have been more important. And I knew that you wouldn't have bothered them about it, you would have rather taken care of it yourself...And you did"
"...and Cynthia? She had a date. She could have postponed-"
He cut her off, his new found patience wearing thin, "But she didn't. Yes, I admit, she could have. She was the wild card. However, I also knew of her recent track record with punctuality and knew that she wouldn't want to risk her budding relationship," he spat the last out, as if the mere thought of a successful relationship left a bad taste in his mouth.
"You didn't," she stopped herself, then swallowed, "you aren't, going to hurt her, are you?"
"No. No, I didn't. And I won't either. Unless, that is, if I have reason to," he shot a pointed look at her, which she clearly understood for she quickly looked away, refusing to meet his eyes.
As much as she was afraid for herself, she couldn't bear the thought of any else getting hurt for her. Cynthia or...her dad. Tears came to her eyes at the thought of her father. He must have been so worried by now. After the events that took place in her childhood home after the flight, her father felt that it was his duty to watch out for her from now one. More so than the normal protect-father thing, even more so then after she was attacked, the first time that is, well before Jackson came into the picture. He would blame himself for this. Taking in a shaky breath, she tried to calm her turbulent feelings.
"Promise me," she forced out. "Promise me you won't hurt..." she trailed off, she couldn't bring herself to finish.
Jackson shook his head, "I can't do that, Leese."
Sliding forward, she sat on the edge of the couch, eyes looking at him imploringly. "Please," she begged. She took a deep breath, then let it out, preparing herself for her next statement, and all that it would bring with it. "Promise me and...I'll do whatever you want."
Hey guys. I got this up a little earlier than I thought, so I'm really happy about that. Again, the original idea that I had for this chapter, and the end result, weren't the same. Somewhere along the lines the characters hijacked my fingers and decided to do the writing themselves. Who can blame them? I, for one, think this chapter came out really well. But, if you disagree, or even agree, let me know and REVIEW!
Now that I got the usual semi-begging for reviews out of the way, I have a plea for help. Two things actually, kinda.
1.) If anyone has any ideas about what you want to happen, 'cause I know some of you are worried that Jackson is being too nice or whatever, then please, feel free to shout out an idea of something you would like to see. I'll more likely than not use it, if it fits in with where I want the general direction of the story to go.
...and 2.) 'k, here's the deal. I have no beta for this story, as I've mentioned before. So, a few grammar and spelling mistakes make their way through to the posted product (and I really do feel bad for that, 'cause I hate making stupid mistakes, but it happens to the best of us). One of my best friends is usually my beta, she is for all my other stories, but she won't be for this one (she saw Batman Begins, and Cillian Murphy's character really freaked her out so she refuses to watch Red Eye) I mean I could still beg her to beta but it wouldn't really work 'cause she hasn't seen the movie. So, if ANYone is interested please let me know. You can either do it through a review, or e-mail me. Um...oh hell, you can IM me too, but don't expect an answer right away 'cause I'll have to wait to hear from other people. (Not that anyone actually cares, but I figured I'd put it out there anyway.)
aaaaanyway, look for the next update hopefully by...let's say the weekend? Like, Sunday, and that's if I get my anthro essay done. Aaaah, so much work, so little time.
Thank you and goodnight. :)