“And there she is …” Sean said, “ we came to see who this amazing horse rider was … wanted to meet the person we were phonying papers up for …”
Josh looked behind him. He had told Jessica to stay in his room, but too curious, she had followed him out. Josh groaned, and then hovered protectively in front of her.
“Well?” Corey asked. “Are you going to introduce her or not?”
“You know you shouldn’t be here, right?” Jim asked … pleased to see them despite himself. He missed having friends around.
“Of course … but ‘they’,” Corey said, rolling his eyes, “won’t be home till tomorrow. We figured it couldn’t hurt … right?”
“Right.” Scott said exhaling.
He too was glad to see Sean and Corey again.
“Come on in … have a beer. Josh, she’s in no immediate danger.”
“I want to meet them …” Jessica whispered behind Josh, so low only he could hear it. Josh stepped aside and Jessica moved forward.
“Corey, Sean, this is Jessica … Jessica, Corey and Sean.” Jim said.
“Hi Jessica, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Sean said, eyeing Josh as he hovered near Jessica.
“Same here …” Jessica said. They all sat at the table.
The men drinking beer, Jessica wine.
All of them except Josh. He stood still as a statue behind Jessica’s chair. And he kept glaring at Sean and Corey as if he expected them to swallow Jessica up.
They discussed the details of the track and how they were going to get Ebony and Jessica into the race. They discussed the date … a few weeks away, when they knew Riley and Angus would be on another mission. The whole time, Corey and Sean would shoot furtive glances at Josh. Eventually the topic came to music somehow and Jessica was pleased to hear that Sean and Corey both played instruments as well as some others in their clan. And it started to sound to Jessica like plans were being made to see them more often. Which made her happy … but she was becoming uncomfortable with Josh hovering behind her … Sean and Corey obviously unsure as to what the he was doing. Finally Jessica stood up.
“I hope you don’t mind, but it’s been a really busy day. Josh and I are going to call it a night. It was nice to meet you …” and when Sean and Corey got up, Jessica avoided Scott’s furrowed brow and led Josh back to his room.
About an hour later there was a knock on Josh’s door.
“Come in.” he said.
Scott opened the door to find Jessica asleep on Josh’s bed, curled up against him.
“She fell to sleep.” Josh said.
“I can see that.” Scott replied, oddly not as annoyed as he thought he should have felt. Josh sat up, scooping Jessica’s sleeping form into his arms, he stood.
“I can take it from here Josh.” Scott said quietly. Josh, reluctantly, passed her to Scott.
“Get some sleep buddy.” Scott said. “And remember what she said about tomorrow … it’s important.”
“Yes, I know.” Josh said.
“Good night.” When Scott turned to pull the door shut behind him, Josh was still standing there … watching him.
Scott lowered Jessica onto his bed, and looked at her. Well, so much for his plans for the night. That was okay, he reasoned. Even though he’d have to wait four more nights before getting her to himself so many other good things had happened over the past week that he could sacrifice one night. Things were set-up for the race. And with the exception of the minor issue with Josh … which he had to admit was worrying him quite a bit … Jessica was happy. Scott turned off the lights, removed his clothes, and crawled under the blankets next to Jessica. He pulled her to him … as he’d expected, she was down for the night. She’d barely registered his presence. He closed his eyes and tried hard not to think about the coming day. For the first time in years, he was a bundle of nerves. He didn’t like that feeling.
***********************************************************
The next morning, Scott got his sex time in. Jessica more accommodating than she’d ever been. He strongly suspected that it had to do with the track … but he didn’t mind. When they were done, Scott pulled the bedroom door open, Jessica behind him, and cursed.
“For the love of … what the fuck Josh, have you been out there all night?”
Jessica peered out from behind Scott. Josh was leaning on the wall, right leg bent against it, and he looked hideously tired. He ignored Scott, his eyes scanning the space around him and when he saw Jessica his eyes locked on hers, and he pushed himself from the wall.
“Josh, I was fine, you didn’t need to be out here all night.” Jessica said concerned by how exhausted he looked.
“I just needed to be near you.” Josh said, “Since I won’t be able to be when Angus and Riley come home.”
Jessica looked to Scott. “He has to go to bed.”
Scott nodded, “Take him … I’ll meet you for breakfast.”
“Come on Josh.” Jessica said, taking his hand. She led him to his room, made him lie down and put a blanket on him.
“I’m not tired …” he kept insisting.
“Yeah, well, I want you to sleep.” Jessica said and almost laughed when he got trapped by his own rules. He was about to protest, but snapped his mouth shut instead.
“I want you to close your eyes …” Jessica said. For a minute she thought he’d refuse, but then he closed them, and within minutes he was snoring.
Jessica snuck out of his room and took a shower. She did everything in fast motion, not entirely sure when Angus and Riley would be home. She wanted to be with Jim or Scott when they did.
“Is he asleep?” Jim asked when she sat down at the table for breakfast.
“Yup.”
“It’s probably better if you stay inside today … maybe read or something. Who knows when they’ll get home.”
“Okay.” Jessica said. She was being brave … trying hard to not let her voice waver, but they heard it anyway.
“Do you want to stay too, or should I?” Scott asked Jim.
“Go ahead, I’ll stay.” Jim said.
Scott downed the last of his coffee and after planting a kiss on Jessica, headed out the door.
“Go get a book.” Jim said, smiling with as much reassurance as he could muster.
Jessica returned moment later with a novel … and they moved to the sofa. Jim pulled Jessica against him.
“Your hearts going a hundred miles an hour.” He said, feeling the pounding through her ribcage.
“Jim. What’s the plan for Josh? With Riley and Angus?”
“He’ll be okay.” Jim said, “In fact his little wig out may be just the diversion we need to keep them from paying too much attention to you.”
“But what if it doesn’t work?” Jessica asked. “What if they just get rid of him?”
Jim could tell from the tone of her voice exactly what Jessica meant by ‘get rid of’. He was about to reassure her that it would never happen, when he suddenly realized that in fact it could. Not that Riley and Angus would kill him. But they could ship him off with the rest of the clan for a while … or even worse, they could decide to swap him out to work in the field and either Angus or Riley would stay behind. And God … what if they decided that Jessica had done something to him. What would they do to her? Suddenly the entire plan was wrong. Dangerously wrong. Could Jessica and Josh act normal?
“You’re right Jessica. Everything has to appear normal. With one exception. You have to be incredibly well behaved … everything Riley and Angus have ever wanted …”
Jessica was nodding. “I think so too.”
“It’s ironic.” Jim said.
“What is?”
“Here we all thought that you’d be the one to break … to freak out. Yet, you shoot a few dogs, meet some outsiders, and don’t bat an eyelash. Josh on the other hand goes completely mental.”
“He’s pretty upset.” Jessica said, once again glad that Jim didn’t know about Pam.
“Yeah, I’d be too if I’d raped you.” Jim said. “Sit tight for a minute, ‘k?” he asked getting up. “I gotta go to the bathroom.”
He had heard a noise at the back of the house and figured it was probably Josh getting up. He moved down the hallway, and sure enough Josh was on his way out of his room, looking like he’d lost his best friend.
“Josh.” Jim said.
“Where is she Jim?” Josh said, barely looking at him, ready to sidestep him.
“She’s reading in the living room. But you have to stop and listen to me …” Jim said putting his arm out to block Josh’s path. Josh tried to barrel through it, but Jim shoved him back against the wall, pinning him against it.
“Listen very carefully Josh, because if you don’t you’re going to be the reason Jessica gets hurt.” That got his attention. His eyes snapped to Jim’s and the muscles in his neck, arms, clenched jaw, began to bulge as he fought back against him. “It’ll be you Josh, you. If for any reason Riley and Angus think she’s done something to you they’re going to hurt her. Think about it. Angus with his beatings, and lord knows what else, Riley with his belt. She will be punished for your attempts to help her. Think Josh, think!”
Slowly Josh stopped fighting Jim. “What should I do then?” Josh asked.
“Act normal Josh. Just be like you used to be. Jessica told you herself that she wanted that. She didn’t want you to protect her against them. If you fail in this … she’s going to try to protect you too. And how do you think that would end? Even if that extreme doesn’t happen, Riley and Angus are likely to change things up if they get suspicious or worried. They could easily send one of us out in the field … bring our kill count up. Jessica would love that …”
“Okay, okay!” Josh said. “I’ll act normal. But Jim. What if things don’t get better with Riley and Angus? What if they keep hurting Jessica?”
“I don’t know.” Jim said. He hadn’t doubted that they would change. He’d just taken for granted that things would work out … eventually.
“I can’t let that happen Jim. And I don’t think you or Scott can either.”
“What are you saying?” Jim asked.
“I’m saying that if they abuse her … and they don’t stop, soon. I think we should leave, with Jessica.”
“What?” Jim whispered, taken by surprise. Never had he contemplated anything like this. But Josh was right.
“They’d come after us.” Jim said. “They’d never let us just disappear.”
“Then we’ll have to fight them.”
“They won’t stop Josh. You know that. They’ll hunt us down.” Jim said knowing from past experience what Riley and Angus were capable of when it came to exacting revenge.
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