“I told you that already,” Josh said wondering why Riley was acting so surprised by the news.
“Yes. You did Josh, thanks. Jessica, look at me.” Jessica forced her eyes up. “The next time you have something to tell me, do it yourself. Understand?”
Jessica nodded. Her eyes lowered again.
“I’m not done yet,” Riley said, “and I expect you to look at me when I’m talking to you … good,” he said when she looked up again. “If you ever want to get permission to go horseback riding, you’ve got to stop doing stupid things. Hey,” he said snapping his fingers in front of Jessica as her eyes began to slide away again, “I swear to God Jessica, if I have to tell you to look at me again during this conversation, you and I are going to have a little alone time where you can practice doing nothing but looking at me for hours and hours.”
“I gave her permission to see Ebony,” Josh interrupted.
“I know you did!” Riley snapped, “That’s beside the point. Jessica, I don’t want to see you on the inside of that corral again.” Jessica snapped to attention. Now he had her attention. “Do you have something to say?”
“But … when I can ride … “ Jessica’s voice trailed off. Riley looked like was about to reach out and strangle her. “I asked Josh … he said it was okay …”
“So, because you were able to sweet talk Josh into letting you do something stupid, it’s alright?” Riley demanded.
“B b but … when I’m allowed to ride … I need to go in the corral …”
“If … big if, you’re allowed to ride. Don’t take anything for granted Jessica. At the rate you’re going, the only thing you’ll be riding is the sofa.”
“Wait a minute!” Josh demanded. “Jessica did what she was supposed to. She asked me permission and I gave it to her. Are you telling me now that my word means nothing?”
“I don’t know about Jessica,” Jim piped in, getting to his feet, “but I’m getting confused. Which is it Riley, can she ask us permission to do stuff or not? Are you the only authority here?”
‘Shit’, Riley swore under his breath. Jim, Josh and Scott stood glaring at him. Riley got to his feet.
“Let’s continue this conversation with Jessica in the basement.”
“No, I think this is something Jessica should hear. She’s been sticking to the rules Riley. She’s supposed to ask for permission to do something out of the ordinary … and she did. It’s only fair to her, and to us, to know up front what is acceptable and what’s not.” Jim said.
‘So much for not disagreeing in front of her,’ Riley thought to himself.
“Fine. You make a very good point Jim. Maybe it’s not a problem with Jessica, but a problem with you numbskulls. Start using your brains, will you? Next week we’ll be at … work,” Riley said.
He slid his eyes over to Jessica. No reaction. The others had looked to Jessica also fearing a negative reaction. But Jessica seemed unaffected by the knowledge that the men would be returning to their acts of violence. All four men looked at one another, unsure what to make of Jessica’s apparent acceptance of this fact.
“And when that time comes, someone’s going to have to stay here with Jessica. If you still want it to be you … you’d better start making better decisions with her.”
“Fuck!” Josh hissed.
Jim lowered his head in exasperation.
After the attack on Jessica’s family, the clan had taken a break to let things cool down. When word had come that the clans would co-ordinate renewed attacks, it had been decided that Jim, Scott and Josh would remain behind with Jessica. They had been wounded during the attack on Jessica’s family. Although the wounds had not caused any permanent damage, none of the three had any desire to be active in the field again. Initially, none of them were going to participate. Jessica was so difficult to handle, it was questionable whether any one of them could be left alone with her. But as Jessica seemed to have mellowed, Jim, Scott and Josh worked hard to convince Riley that they’d be okay alone with her. They had succeeded but now it seemed Riley was willing to rescind the agreement.
“Okay, okay,” Jim said, holding his hands up. It wouldn’t take much to cause Riley to change his mind about the whole thing. “We’ll be more careful. Okay? You don’t have to worry Riley, really.”
“Luckily for you, you still have time to prove yourselves … wait a minute! Why am I the one looking like the bad guy here?” Riley demanded. “Don’t we all want Jessica to be safe? I don’t think any of you want her to get trampled for Christ sake!”
The door slammed. Angus had returned and stood observing them. Jessica had jumped at the sound, she sat with her eyes squeezed shut, her heart pounding.
“Jesus Angus, is it that hard for you to close the door normally for a change?” Scott demanded. “You scared the crap out of us!”
“You mean I scared the crap out of you and Jessica,” Angus replied, “what does that tell you?”
“Guys!” Riley interrupted. “Let’s stick to the topic. Start being smarter … and Jessica knows enough not to ask to do certain things. For crying out loud Jessica, don’t you have any sense of self-preservation?”
Jessica had still been cringing from Angus’ entrance. With Riley’s question, she opened one eye and looked at him. They were all silent. Self-preservation. It occurred to Riley that she either had a large dose of a misguided sense of self-preservation, or no sense at all. Everything she’d done in the past few years could fall under either category.
“Stupid question,” Riley said. “Jessica, Baby’s gotta go back outside. I’ve gotta get back to work, I’ll take her with me.” He held his hands out. Jessica kissed Baby on the head, and passed her over to Riley.
“Stay out of trouble.” He said and headed for the door.
Angus nodded to Riley as he came toward him. Riley tilted his chin at the door, and both disappeared through it.
“What’s up?” Riley asked as he dropped Baby onto her feet on the lawn and turned in the direction of the kennels.
“There was water in the fuel line.” Angus replied.
Riley froze mid-stride. He turned to stare at the house. Angus followed his gaze.
“What do you think she’s up to?” Angus asked.
“I don’t know. You?”
“I don’t believe for a second that her goal has changed in any way. She wants to run away, but now she’s biding her time till she does. All this talk about Beth, and giving Jessica a chance …” Angus said, hoping the catch in his voice wasn’t evident. “It’s bullshit. She’ll use whatever she can to pull a fast one on us.”
Riley looked at Angus in surprise.
“What?” Angus asked.
“So you’re convinced that she’s not to be trusted?” Riley asked, but couldn’t help but smile. Nothing that Angus said was new. He’d repeated his same old argument, but this time, much less convincingly. The hell and brim fire was gone.
“What are you smiling about? I just told you that I don’t trust her!”
“Neither do I Angus. But do you remember how excited she got when I told her that I might let her train Baby with me? I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see that more often.”
The total euphoria that was on Jessica’s face when she’d been thrown from Ebony, and she’d looked down at him as he’d checked her for broken bones, flashed through Angus’ mind. He began to feel a pull in his groin again. Christ, he hadn’t been this horny since he’d been a teenager! He shook his head.
“So, you’re going to let her train that mutt with you, great. If you think I’m going to let her work on the vette with me, you’ve got another thing coming. Do you realize how easy it’d be for her to stick me with the screw driver when I’m not paying attention?”
“You’re right. All I’m saying is, consider the possibilities. There’s a lot we can get from her, whether she plans to run, or not.“
“Yeah. Okay.”
“Angus!” Jim yelled from the front door, “Help!”
Angus and Riley exchanged a glance before racing to the house.
“In the bathroom,” Jim said and led the way to the bathroom.
When they entered they found Josh holding a bucket, and Jessica on her knees in the middle of a geyser of water under the counter, hands outstretched and trying to plug a leaking pipe. She screamed as the water sprayed her in the face, and she tried unsuccessfully to get her face out of the path of the water. Josh tried to maneuver the bucket around her under the counter, and suddenly the water stopped. There was a shocked silence as Jessica shook her soaked head.
Scott raced in to the bathroom, “Did it stop?” he demanded.
He’d gone into the basement in an attempt to turn the water off.
“Holy shit Jessica!” Scott commented when he saw her hair dripping, shirt plastered to her chest. Jessica looked down at herself, and began to laugh.
“What the hell happened?” Riley asked, still feeling the panic he’d felt on his way in.
Angus was unable to speak. Anger had gripped him, he was sure Jessica had done something in an attempt to escape. Perhaps even succeeding in killing Scott this time … and the anger he’d felt was not easily shaken now.
Jessica turned to see Riley and Angus scowling at her, and the laughter ceased.
“The pipe broke,” Josh said.
“It broke, or it was broken?” Angus asked in a low voice.
“Broke,” Josh replied, doing a double take when he saw the expression on Angus’ face. “I was standing right next to Jessica, right here, when it happened. Trust me, it broke on its own.”
Riley nodded. He felt physical relief as the tension eased out of his body. For the first time, he realized how much energy it took for him to get that angry.
“You going to fix it?” Riley asked Angus.
Angus nodded.
“I’ll need help though,” he said moving forward to get a look under the counter. “To get the piping off, I have to slide under the counter. I need someone to hand me the tools, like we did when we changed the sink a few years back.”
“I can help,” Jim said. “I’ll get Jessica cleaned-up and then we’ll be back.”
“Josh, want to give me a hand in the barns then?” Scott asked. “I never did get finished in there.”
Josh nodded and disappeared with Scott.
“Come on Jess,” Jim said and held his hand out to her. Jessica moved to get up, and bumped into Angus.
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