“Riley?” Jim asked.
“Grab me one too will you?” Riley called to Angus as Angus downed a shot of whiskey. He ran his hands over his face.
“Thanks.” He said as Angus handed him the shot glass. He downed the drink. The warmth that burned down his gullet made him feel much, much, better.
“Another?” Angus asked.
“Bring the bottle.” Riley answered. “So what’s your point with this little game Jim? Why are we pretending something that we can’t possibly fathom as ever happening?”
“Because we all saw it. We all saw the same thing, and we all saw that she had no intention of going for the gun, and when she had the gun, she had no intention of using it. Like you said, we all would expect her to try to get to the guns, expect her to use one if she had one. She had one, she didn’t use it. Maybe our expectations aren’t accurate anymore. Nothing can be lost by letting this go, but a whole lot can be gained. Think about it, if you knew for a fact that she hadn’t intended anything tonight, what would you do? “
“Okay Jim, you’re flapping your lips a lot here. “ Riley said, skipping the shot glass and swigging directly from the whiskey bottle. What bugged Riley more than anything right then wasn’t really what Jessica had done, or not done, but the fact that he actually believed that she was innocent. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it. But while this should have all been good news, it was disconcerting. Did one innocent act necessarily mean there were more to come? “What exactly are we going to gain from all of this?”
“We may get to enjoy knowing that she didn’t live up to our expectations for once.” Jim replied.
Riley thought for a moment. That wasn’t it at all. For once he saw Jim in a different light. This had nothing to do with Jessica, nor him, Scott or Josh. This was all about Angus. He was trying to get Angus to change his perspective on Jessica. The same thing that Riley himself was trying to do.
“Okay, you want to play this game Jim, let’s play. I’m going to ‘pretend’ that she ended-up near the door with gun in hand, all by mistake. Therefore, I am not going to beat the crap out of her.”
“Good,” Angus said, “because there’s enough crap going on here already. Even if it wasn’t intentional, she broke the rules. If you don’t want to punish her, fine. At the very least make sure she knows that she wasn’t supposed to be there and if it happens again, we will beat the crap out of her.”
“Sounds fair,” Riley said. He could tell by the look on Jim’s face that it wasn’t quite what he was looking for.
“How ‘bout you Scott?” Josh asked, “Are you alright? Seeing Jessica with a gun musta brought back some memories real quick.”
“I think I shit my pants …” Scott said with a laugh. “But I’m pretty sure it was unintentional. I can live with a warning.”
“We agree then?” Jim asked.
“But please, for fuck sake Scott, don’t lean your gun against the wall like that! What the hell were you thinking?” Riley demanded.
“I wasn’t … I was busy sneaking.” Scott replied.
“Sneaking?” Riley and Angus said in unison.
“I saw Jessica in the kitchen, thought she was using a knife. I was thinking so much about how to get it away from her that I completely forgot about the gun.”
“Okay, Jessica does not go in the kitchen again until I say so, got it?” Riley asked Jim. Jim nodded. Well, she may not be allowed to cook yet, but at least both Riley and Angus were willing to concede that she hadn’t been trying to escape.
Jessica sat crying on the sofa in the basement.
Baby was gone. Poor Baby, all on her own in the kennel … yes, she’d be with other dogs, but no one would be there to cuddle her. Jessica couldn’t believe that she had not realized that she was going into the forbidden area. Fear tore through her as she realized that she’d defied Riley and Angus. She was surprised that she was actually sitting downstairs, alone, the way she liked it best and neither Riley nor had beaten her immediately.
She closed her eyes, “Please don’t be mad, please don’t be mad, please don’t be mad …” she chanted to herself. She heard the deadbolt unlock. Standing she watched Jim come down the stairs.
“Am I in trouble?” Jessica asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
She looked so distraught that Jim pulled her into his arms. “No. You’ll get a bit of a lecture from Riley, surprise, surprise, but everyone agreed that you didn’t try to get to the door or grab the gun on purpose. Did you hear me Jess? Why are you shaking?”
“Angus. He told me what he’d do if I went near the guns. He looked really angry.”
“Did you go there on purpose?” Jim asked, rubbing his hands up and down her shaking arms.
“No! Not at all.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.” He said. Well, she’d sounded sincere, that was for sure.
“Hey, are you two coming up or what?” Angus called from the top of the stairs. Jessica tensed. Her eyes were the size of saucers as she clutched Jim’s shirt in her hands.
“He’s never going to believe that I didn’t do it on purpose!” she whispered.
“We’re coming!” Jim called up. “Jessica, weren’t you listening? You’re not in trouble. Just be calm all right. Do whatever they say before they even say it, and everything will be fine!” He said.
Angus watched Jessica emerge from the basement with Jim. The thing he didn’t admit to anyone, and that he had a hard time admitting to himself, was that he honestly did believe that Jessica had ended-up holding that gun by mistake. She shouldn’t have been there to begin with, true, but he could see that it wasn’t intentional. For the first time ever he could honestly say that it was not likely planned by Jessica. He didn’t know what to do with that. Jessica hesitated behind Jim.
“Jessica come … “ Riley began but Jessica stepped out from behind Jim and head down, took a couple of steps forward.
“Closer …” Jim whispered over Jessica’s shoulder. Jessica took another step and stopped.
“Let’s see if you can do this without Jim’s help,” Riley said giving Jim a dirty look. Just how much was Jim coaching her? Was all of this sudden obedience the result of Jim’s misguided belief that she needed new ideas on how to lull them into a false sense security.
“Come here.” Riley ordered.
Jessica hesitated for a moment, and then took the final several steps to stand directly in front of Riley. She stood staring at the floor. Riley wondered how long it would be before she decided to look at him. He pointed at Jim and then held his finger to his lips. The silence lasted so long Jessica ventured to look up. The look on Riley’s face made her look down again.
“Well, you almost got it,” Riley said quietly. “Look at me when I’m speaking to you.”
Jessica raised her face. She tried hard to keep her eyes trained on Riley, but they looked everywhere but at him. Angus grunted and Riley knew it was his way of pointing out to Riley that Jessica’s response was yet another example of the behavior Angus found suspicious. Riley could see what was freaking Angus out. There was no hatred or anger on Jessica face. The past couple of months had been much calmer with Jessica, more pleasant, but the lack of anger on Jessica’s part was proving to be difficult to adjust to. A chill went down Riley’s spine. Not only were the past couple of months calmer but they were incident free. Now, suddenly, Jessica found herself with access to a gun. Instinctively he felt that something seemed amiss, but yet, he honestly couldn’t believe that the gun incident was planned by Jessica in any way. Even not planned, she had not taken advantage of the situation, and that was certainly not Jessica’s style.
Jessica had dropped her head again. Riley grasped her chin in his hand and raised it until she had no choice but to look at him.
“You broke a couple of rules tonight Jessica. Important rules. Do you have anything to say about that?”
“I’m sorry,” Jessica whispered.
“Do that again, and you’ll really be sorry.” Angus muttered. Jessica instinctively tried to lower her head again.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Riley said keeping her chin tilted, “Angus is right, if this happens again we will not take distraction by the dog as an acceptable excuse. Got it?”
“Yes,” Jessica said softly.
“Pardon?”
“Yes, “ Jessica repeated, barely increasing her volume.
“Alright then … “ Riley said, releasing her chin. “Scott, are you going to be okay tonight?”
Scott blinked at the mention of his name. His heart hadn’t stopped pounding yet. He looked at his watch. Ten o’clock already.
“If you’d rather, “ Josh interrupted, “you could switch tonight with me. Give yourself some time to calm down.” Josh felt like crap about taking Baby away from Jessica. He had this overwhelming feeling that she hated his guts now, and he couldn’t stand the idea of her going to bed without him having the opportunity to apologize.
Scott paused for a moment. He did feel a little shaky and it was her time of the month … it wasn’t like he’d get any tonight anyway … but he couldn’t see himself giving up a night with Jessica willingly.
“Thanks, but I’m fine. Let’s go Jessica.”
Jessica moved from man to man, kissing them goodnight, and then next to Scott, no prompting necessary.
“We shouldn’t have let her get off so easy.” Angus said after Scott and Jessica disappeared to Scott’s bedroom but he didn’t feel the anger that he knew he should.
Damn it, he wished he were in Scott’s place. Not that he would touch her … he hadn’t in weeks but he needed her alone so he could satisfy himself she hadn’t been planning an escape. “I’ll be outside!” he said gruffly and headed for the door. Damn her … proof of innocence aside, he wanted to touch her. He was going soft … it was hard to keep his emotional distance when he couldn’t brutalize her at will. These days, he was better off as far away from her as possible.
As soon as Scott’s bedroom door closed, Jessica broke into tears and flung herself onto the bed with a wail, burying her head in her arms.
“What’s wrong Jessica?” Scott asked. Was it him, or had she just been melodramatic?
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