“And they’re getting better at it. Do you really have a problem with the girls going out? As head of the Sanctuary I could stop them.”
“I’m not happy about it, but I’m sure that Sarah will look after Katie. Let them have their fun. Let’s face it, I would be surprised if the boys haven’t been to see strippers on a number of occasions. The only difference is I know about this one.”
“I must admit,” Doc said, his voice becoming serious, “when I agreed to take you on as 14’s trainer, I did have my doubts about you. But every time a situation arises that I think you aren’t mature enough to handle correctly, you prove me wrong.”
“Thanks Doc. Now I have a problem child to deal with.”
————————————-∞————————————-
The 15th arrived and JD was nervous. It was the first time Sarah had gone on a girls night out since he had met her and he was worried that he would like what she was wearing a little too much.
As soon as she arrived, she went straight to his office, closing the door behind her. It was as bad as he had feared. She was wearing a tight fitting little black dress with strappy high heels. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders and it was the first time he had ever seen her wear makeup, though in his opinion she didn’t need it. She took his breath away.
“What do you think?” she asked, twirling around for him. He refused to verbalise what he thought.
“You look nice,” he told her. Nice? That was an understatement of gigantic proportions. Wonderful, stunning, desirable were better words, but they were words he could not let himself speak.
“So what are the rules in regard to Katie?” So that was why she was there. He had wondered why she had shut the door. He was sure she hadn’t turned up in his office just to show off how good she looked.
“There are no rules. Just make sure she has a good time and gets back in one piece.”
“Will do.” She turned to leave, then turned back once more. “Thank you for letting us do this.”
“I couldn’t have stopped you.”
“Yes you could and you know it. All you had to do was ask us not to go and neither of us would.”
He wasn’t quite sure he believed her, but she sounded sincere. “It would have been wrong. Now get out of here.”
She blew him a kiss then left his office. “I swear to God she is going to be the death of me,” he muttered once she was out of earshot.
“Nice dress you’re almost wearing,” Jonathon said to Katie as she walked down the stairs in a figure-hugging blue outfit which was showing a lot of leg.
“You’re just jealous that I don’t dress like this for you,” she said, patting his cheek as she walked past. “Now be a good boy and enjoy your training with JD.”
Jonathon was too busy watching her walk away to comment.
“You know, if we stay at your place tonight, we can skip the training session in the morning,” Katie told Sarah once they were in the car.
“Tempting, very tempting, but I’ve already told Jason I’ll be there.”
“He doesn’t control your life you know.”
“He does until I pass my assessment and we both know it.”
Sarah really didn’t like the way Katie was smiling at her. “What makes you think it’s going to stop then?”
“Shit, you’re serious, aren’t you? You really know how to ruin a night out.” Katie burst out laughing.
The two ladies had a great evening. Katie got on well with all of Sarah’s friends and the men put on a good show, leaving their G-strings on and keeping their gyrations tasteful, most of the time anyway.
Katie was a little the worse for wear and had trouble walking from the garage to the house, so Sarah had to assist her.
“A little help here please,” she called out as soon as she got the front door open.
Jonathon was the first to arrive and placed his arm around Katie’s waist to support her. She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
“Is she drunk?”
“You could say that.”
“And why does she smell of body oil?”
“My lips are sealed.”
Craig turned up and between them the two men did their best to get Katie up the stairs.
JD exited his office in time to see what was going on and followed them to make sure she was alright.
Sarah opened Katie’s bedroom door and Craig released her as Jonathon manoeuvred her to the bed, where she proceeded to drag him down on top of her.
“Why don’t you stay with me tonight Jonathon. Your body is so much nicer than the stripper I had my hands on.”
JD raised a questioning eyebrow at Sarah.
“Don’t ask.”
Craig burst out laughing. “I am so looking forward to bringing this up in the morning.”
“You wouldn’t,” Sarah said.
“Of course I would.”
JD did not like the look on his brother’s face. “Jonathon,” he said, his voice deep and menacing. “Do not even think about it.”
“Think about what?” he said in fake innocence.
JD turned to Sarah. “Sarah, would you mind undressing Katie then staying with her tonight, just to make sure she’s alright?”
Sarah gave him a knowing smile. “To make sure she does not get a visitor you mean.”
“Exactly. But I want a word first.”
Sarah groaned, but followed him down to his office, leaving Craig in charge of getting Jonathon out of Katie’s room.
“How much did she have to drink?” JD asked as soon as he had shut the door.
“Not that much actually.”
“She’s not used to it.”
“I’m not in trouble then?”
“Of course not. I wanted to thank you, not scold you.”
Sarah was taken aback. “Thank me? For what?”
“Other than Jonathon, none of them get out and let their hair down very often. I worry about them. Thank you for getting her out partying for once.”
“Them? What about you?”
“I have other priorities.”
“Then you need to reassess them.” JD gaped at her as she walked out of the room.
The following morning, Sarah turned up to the 5 o’clock training session without Katie.
“Katie not joining us?” JD asked.
“Trust me, you really don’t want her to have a weapon in her hands right now.” Jonathon laughed, making JD frown at him.
“Is there any point in me asking you not to give her a hard time about this?”
“Sorry JD, but there is no point whatsoever,” Craig told him, doing his best not to snigger. He had already told Scott and Simon what Katie had said and she was going to be fair game as soon as she showed her face.
She didn’t turn up for breakfast, so Sarah went to see her.
“You look terrible,” she said when she was given permission to enter the room.
“I feel it,” Katie said. “Why did you stay with me last night?”
“JD asked me to make sure Jonathon kept away from you.”
Katie frowned at her. “Why?” Sarah then told her what had happened and what she had said to Jonathon. “Oh God. Kill me now. Please. My life is going to be made hell isn’t it?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Katie stayed in her room through lunch so she wouldn’t have to face the grilling until dinner, where she hoped the presence of Silvia and Doc would suppress some of the comments. Sarah went home as soon as her afternoon session had finished instead of staying to dinner, which she had gotten into the habit of doing, just so she could avoid the carnage. Craig told her all about it the next day and she was glad she hadn’t been there to witness it.
I have a proposition for you
A few weeks later, during breakfast, Scott and Sarah were talking about computer programming when Jonathon decided to join in the conversation.
“I was thinking about becoming a computer programmer on
ce, but decided I would rather have friends and a life.”
Sarah knew how to react to that. “I was thinking about becoming an accountant but was told I couldn’t because I have a personality.”
“The point goes to Sarah I think,” she heard Simon whisper to Craig.
Jonathon smiled at her smugly. “With looks like mine, I don’t need a personality.”
“You really are in love with yourself, aren’t you?” she said in disgust.
“No, but everyone else is. Especially Katie it seems.” He winked at her.
“Go to hell,” Katie said and walked out, leaving her breakfast half finished.
“You really should stop teasing her,” Sarah said to Jonathon. After the initial brutal few days, everyone else had left Katie alone, but Jonathon seemed to get some sort of perverse pleasure out of annoying her.
“But it’s such fun.”
Sarah turned to JD. “Can’t you do something about him Jason?”
“I wish I could, believe me. But unfortunately I can’t. It’s outside my authority.” He then focused on Jonathon, making sure he had his full attention before continuing. “If, however, he goes too far and Katie asks to be moved to another Sanctuary, then I can take action and he’s going to wish he had never been born by the time I finish with him.”
JD got a strange sense of satisfaction when he saw Jonathon go pale.
“Do you think we can talk Katie into asking for a move?” Scott asked Simon, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
“I have to go and speak to her,” Jonathon said and hastily left the room.
“That was well played,” Craig congratulated JD. “You say you can’t do anything, but somehow you managed to do so anyway. If you’re that good in a courtroom, I feel sorry for the opposition.”
————————————-∞————————————-
Later in the day, during her one-on-one session with JD, Sarah brought up the topic of teaching her to shoot once more. She had been asking on a regular basis ever since she found out he had guns, but he always said no. This time she approached it differently.
“You enjoy making deals,” she said as she attacked.
“Stop trying to put me off. It won’t work.”
“I’m not. I have a proposition for you.”
“This should be good.” He stood back and lowered his sword, waiting to hear what she wanted.
“I want you to teach me how to shoot. I’ll make a bet with you. If I win the bet, you do as I ask. If I lose, you get whatever you want from me.”
“But there’s nothing I want from you,” he lied.
“I’m sure you can think of something. To make it really interesting, let’s make the bet about Jonathon.”
Now she had his attention, but not in a good way. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to know where the conversation was heading, but he did nothing to stop her continuing.
“We all know he loves his Ferrari more than anything in the world and nobody is ever allowed to touch it, let alone get behind the wheel. I bet you, that by the end of the month, I will be driving it.”
JD didn’t know what he had been expecting her to say, but that was definitely not it. Suddenly the proposition had become interesting. He had no doubt that she would fail, but if, by some miracle, she succeeded, he wanted to see Jonathon’s face.
“Alright. How does this sound? If you manage to drive his car within the stated timeframe, and it’s a very big if, I will teach you to shoot. If, however, you fail, you will take me to one of your Korean sword lessons.”
The smile dropped from her face. He had never before mentioned his interest in seeing how other people trained her and he knew she would do everything within her power to stop that from happening.
He watched with interest as different emotions played across her face. She was weighing up her desire to learn to shoot against her determination to keep her Korean sword lessons private.
“Alright,” she finally said. “It’s a deal. On the condition that nobody knows about it until either I win or the deadline is reached.”
“Agreed,” he said. “Now stop bending your arm too much when you block and concentrate on getting it right.”
————————————-∞————————————-
The following Saturday afternoon, Jonathon, Katie and Scott were in the games room when Sarah walked in.
“Just the person I wanted to see,” Scott said. “Can I borrow your car tomorrow while you train? Mine is still being repaired.”
“Sorry Scott, but you can’t. You’re not covered on the insurance. Over twenty fives only.”
As predicted, Jonathon jumped on this. He was constantly giving her a hard time about following the rules of the Sanctuary so she knew exactly how he would react.
“You need to change your insurance then. It’s a rule here that everyone needs to be able to drive everyone else’s car in case of an emergency.”
“You’ve never let anyone drive yours,” Sarah said.
“That’s not the point. They can if they need to.”
“That’s exactly the point. Why should I let others drive my car if you won’t let them drive yours?” Jonathon had no idea the entire conversation was a set-up and that both Katie and Scott were in on it.
“I would in an emergency,” Jonathon said.
“Surely we should get used to driving it first.”
“She’s right you know,” Katie said, backing her up.
“Come on. Hand over the keys.” Sarah held out her hand and was pleased to see it wasn’t shaking. It was the only part of her plan she had doubts about. Her argument was logical, she just hoped Jonathon couldn’t see a way out of it. “I could always mention to Jason that you refused.”
She could see his mind working, looking for a reason to say no. Eventually he gave in and handed over the keys. “If you damage her in any way you’ll regret it for a very long time. Extra training sessions with JD are nothing compared to what I will put you through.”
Sarah grinned at him. “Coming Katie?”
“You bet I am.”
They raced out of the door before he could change his mind, almost running into Craig, who was just arriving home.
“Where are the girls off to in such a hurry?” he asked as he walked into the games room. Then his eyes fell on Jonathon. “And why do you look so glum?”
Jonathon told him what had happened and wasn’t too happy when he burst out laughing. “It isn’t funny,” he snapped.
“You didn’t fall for that did you? I told her all about the rules around cars before she started training and she changed her insurance. Even Scott knew that.”
Jonathon glared at Scott, who grinned back at him.
“She’s really beaten you this time,” Craig said.
“That bitch. I’ll kill her when she gets back.”
————————————-∞————————————-
Sarah pulled out of the driveway and turned left onto the road. “Call Jason will you,” she said to Katie, who was more than happy to oblige. She put it on speaker so that Sarah could hear the ringing.
“Katie,” JD’s voice rang through the car when he answered.
“Guess what I’m doing right now,” Sarah said and revved the engine. Everyone at the Sanctuary knew what Jonathon’s car sounded like so JD didn’t have to guess.
“How did you manage that?” he asked in disbelief.
“Go speak to your brother. He’s probably sulking right now. I’m surprised he didn’t go straight to you to complain about me.”
“I take my hat off to you. I never thought for one minute you would manage it.” He would never have made the bet if he had even the slightest doubt about who would win.
“So you’re gonna teach me how to shoot?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You promised.”
“I did, didn’t I.” He could see no way out of the situation he ha
d gotten himself into. “Alright. You win this time. It won’t happen again.”
“Thank you.”
“Sarah.”
“Yes.”
“Drive carefully.”
“Are you worried about me or the car?” He hung up without replying.
Katie didn’t know about the bet with JD, but managed to work it out from the conversation. “Did you just get your own way with both brothers?”
Sarah nodded, unable to keep the smile off her face. “I did have help,” she said.
“Sometimes you amaze me,” Katie said, her voice filled with wonder.
The ladies were only gone for thirty minutes, deciding that if they stayed away any longer Jonathon would have a heart attack.
“Car still in one piece?” Craig asked as soon as he saw them, unable to keep the grin off his face.
“Of course. I’m not impressed with it though. It judders when you hit one sixty.”
“It does not judder,” Jonathon said. “Hang on. What do you mean one sixty?”
“Just kidding. I never took it above the speed limit and I stayed on quiet country roads. There isn’t a scratch on it.”
“There had better not be,” he snarled at her as he grabbed the keys and left to check.
————————————-∞————————————-
Instead of going home, as she usually did on a Saturday, Sarah stayed for dinner. Jonathon was refusing to speak to her.
“Will this make you feel better?” she asked him once everyone had finished eating and handed him a key.
“What is it?”
“A key to my place.”
This took everyone by surprise and she could feel all eyes on her, especially JD’s. “You want me to move in with you?”
“Hell no. Sally is going to spend a week visiting her mother soon and Jason has somehow managed to convince me to spend the entire week here so he can torture me even more. My house is all yours.”
Jonathon took the key, smiling. This meant he could take a girl back to his place for a change.
“I just have two requests. Firstly, please stay out of Tommy’s room. Secondly, make sure you wash the sheets before I return home.” She handed him a piece of paper. “That is the code to the alarm.”
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