"I can't believe he took off like this. He'd normally tell me." Jack sighed whilst in his office in Invictus, looking on at his brother looking around.
"Maybe he's with his girlfriend." Dennis said as Jack stiffened.
"No." Jack shook his head, "What'd I tell you? They aren't in a relationship. And anyway, I seen Dean yesterday, told me that he seen Phil leave, and then seen the girl with Elise a few hours after." Jack shrugged.
"Well then maybe he's just taken a week off to go catch his breath. You have the boy on a leash, Jack. Gotta give him some space." Dennis said.
"He's never minded working here and getting on until this girl came into his life. She's no good for him. I'm telling you." Jack said.
"I don't think you have the right to say that when you haven't even spoke to the girl." Dennis said.
"I have. And she's just like Lisa." Jack said, referring to his late wife, "The defiance, the attitude, the way she isn't scared of us."
"Yeah, and you fell for Lisa for those exact reasons. You can't judge Phil for maybe doing the same." Dennis said, "You have to stay out of the boys business. Let him live his life. You know he's been a good kid for you. He always does his work." Dennis implied.
"I know." Jack nodded, "I just think she's a bad influence. I mean yeah, Lisa was all those things, but she grew up on the streets, she knew about the business and the work, she could handle it. This girl has a damn ballerina." Jack said, "Whose to say she won't be able to take it one day, and she'll blow our cover?" Jack said, "I don't trust her."
"Well your son does. And you always trust him." Dennis said, "Just let it play out. We need to focus more on these guys that raided here. You said Phil looked them up before he left?" Dennis asked. He was much more calm and professional than Jack. He was so laid back about everything and anything, and was always a good uncle to Punk and Elise.
"Yeah." Jack nodded, "He found out some stuff." Jack said, pulling out the pictures and files from his drawer.
Despite the motel that AJ and Punk were staying at was pretty run down, and was practically just filled with alcoholics, drunks and druggies, it was the most relaxed Punk had felt in a long time. He just loved knowing he wasn't needed anywhere, or he didn't have to go out on a job. He was here with AJ, who as the days went by, he was falling for harder and harder.
"So have you ever had any other girlfriends?" AJ asked curiously later on one night, walking along the path that ran around the quiet lake, little twinkly lights leading the way.
"No." Punk laughed, feeling her lean into him, her arm linked around his as they walked slowly.
"None at all?" She asked with a tone of surprise.
"Well I never went to school. So I didn't have any high school crushes or prom dates. The first time I had sex I was fifteen-"
"Fifteen?" She gasped, "That's so young." She said.
"Well my dad used to have these huge parties in our house. Years after my mom died. When the business was going well. I was fifteen, Elise was just seven. It was when my Uncle Dennis stayed with us. The parties would be insane. So many people." He recalled, "The girl was older. And of course I didn't know what the hell I was doing." He laughed, "Ever since then I just slept around. It was easier. No one got hurt, and everyone was happy, well… at the time." He shrugged, "What about you? Who am I competing with?" He said as she laughed.
"No one really." She said, "I dated a French guy for a few months when I was sixteen. I didn't feel like I was ready for sex and he wasn't all that willing to wait, so we broke up." She said, "I then moved back here. Met a guy in a bar one night, had sex in his car, and then from then on out it was just a date here and there, nothing special." She shrugged.
"I thought you didn't drink." He said.
"I don't." She said, "But I'd had a rough day, it was round about the time of sorting out my parents will. I'd become old enough to access the money and the things they'd left me. It was hard having to deal with it all. Just needed something to ease the pain." She shrugged.
"I guess I am lucky I had my dad when my mom passed." Punk said, "I couldn't imagine losing both of them at the same time. My dad found it tough but he still made sure he was taking care of us." Punk nodded. He had to respect his father in that term.
"What actually happened to your mom?" She asked as they took a seat on the grass.
"She was given a choice." Punk said, picking at the grass, "It was either her or Elise. They could have saved her, but Elise wouldn't have made it." He said, "I don't remember it really. I was just a kid. I remember sitting at the hospital, watching my dad walk up and down the corridor the full time. That was about it. A few days later I was burying my mom and saying hello to my new baby sister." He said, "I remember thinking that… that was what happened. Because the baby came my mom had to leave." He said, "But my dad was super blunt with me. Just used to tell me she died, and that we all had to move on."
"He shouldn't have done that." AJ sighed.
"It actually made it easier. It was less painful than sitting hoping she'd walk through the door one day." He said.
"I suppose." AJ nodded, "Why do you and Elise not get on? Do you blame her?" She asked. This week wasn't just about them getting away to figure out what they were going to do about Jack, but to have some alone time, to really talk and get to know one another without having to dash off other places.
"I don't blame her." Punk said, "It was my mom's choice. She wanted Elise to live. Even if it meant she couldn't. That was who she was." Punk shrugged, "But she was always just trouble. You'd never think it when you know her now. She's really matured and got herself together, but she used to be just as bad as me." Punk said, "She always hung around me and Dean when she was a kid. I think she had a crush on Dean." Punk laughed, "But I'd have to go pick her up drunk from parties. I'd have to stick my fingers down her throat to make her sick incase someone had gave her something they shouldn't have. I'd have to make sure she wasn't sleeping around." Punk said, "My mom died for her. I didn't want her making a fuck up of her life." He said, "And then she got pregnant. My dad couldn't even look at her. I didn't know what to do. She was still just a kid. Told us the father wasn't from around here and wouldn't be interested." He said, "And then she moved and really got a hold of herself, and now continues to blame me and my dad for her choices in her own life." He shrugged, "She refuses to let me or my dad see Toni. I mean… I know we aren't good people, but I know my dad would love her to death." He smiled to himself.
"So… if your dad wants this business to carry on, like I'm assuming he does… how does he expect you to do that when he won't even let you get into a serious relationship with a girl?" She asked curiously.
"To be honest, April. I don't think it's the serious relationship thing he isn't ok with. I think it's you." He admitted, "My dad makes his mind up about people the minute he knows about them." He shrugged.
"Well he should damn well show me some respect." AJ said, "For what he done to my parents." She turned away. It was still unreal that she was closer to her parents killer than she really thought. It disgusted her, and if Jack didn't like her? Well boo hoo, because he wasn't on her favourites list either.
"I think it was his first job back after my mom died." Punk said, "He must have been all over the place." He admitted.
"He shouldn't have went out then." AJ said bluntly as Punk watched her look out into the lake, "My parents were good people. They struggled and struggled for money, and they finally got enough to buy a house. A few months later they were killed." She said.
"I'm really sorry, April. If I could have… stopped my dad from going out that night I would. I was just a kid like you." He said.
"You don't need to apologise to me." She shook her head, "Please don't think I'm getting at you. You're right, you were just a kid. It just hurts knowing they died so… horridly." She sighed.
"My dad is pretty cruel." Punk nodded, "I know everyone who works there is cruel on some level. But I always make sure it's quick. I don't drag it out. I don't tease or abuse. I just do it. Clear the evidence and leave." He said.
"How can you live with such a guilty conscience though?" She asked.
"Because that's all that's ever been on my conscience. Guilt, guilt and more guilt." He said.
"Doesn't it ever mess with you?" She asked. She wasn't trying to degrade him by any means. At this point she had accepted what he done, and was able to talk about it freely, it didn't mean she liked it, but it was everything else that came with him that she was falling in love with. Yes. She said it. She was falling in love with him.
"Sometimes." Punk nodded, "But my dad said I used to talk to dead people when I was a kid anyway." He shrugged, "So if any of the people I've killed want to come back and haunt me, it isn't going to phase me much." He laughed as she smiled, resting her head on his shoulder.
"What are we gonna do about your dad?" She asked him.
"I say we just tell him that this is what's happening. If he has a problem, then he can fire me, stop talking to me, I don't know." He shrugged, "All I know, is that this isn't worth jeopardising. I mean, I still don't know how I feel about this, but I know it's good, and I know I don't want it to go away. I don't want you to go away." He said as she smiled.
"I don't feel like I can be without you." She admitted, looking up at him, "I want to wake up with you every morning." She smiled, "There's no other feeling that compares to it." She smiled, "Being with you might even be better than ballet." She admitted as he shuffled away and put his hands up.
"Woah." He exclaimed, "Shit just got real." He said as she laughed, pulling him back over as she rested into him, "I know what you mean." He agreed despite his jokes, "Nothing has ever felt as good to me as being with you. I just… you're all I think about now. Day and night." He said as she smiled up at him.
"You're all I think about too." She nodded, leaning up and pressing her lips against his softly.
10 REVIEWS = New Chapter.