A Jar of Hearts

by Cartharn, Clarissa

  He put his hands into his pockets as he ambled into the kitchen. She was alone there, while Anne and Ashley were out in the verandah.

  “You don’t need to keep Ashley away from me.” He coughed. “I won’t hurt her.”

  “Yes, I do,” she said curtly. “I would appreciate it if you stayed as much as you could away from her. Ashley has never had a father figure in her life and the fact that you are here, may make her hopeful. I am not surprised she is latching onto you. But what happens when you decide your assignment is over and went back to wherever you came from? You’d hurt her and that’s something I can’t let happen.”

  “We could be friends, Julia,” he said slowly, strangely perturbed by the thought of this being over one day. “We could always be friends.”

  She gave him a sharp glance and turned on her heels, heading towards the laundry.

  “Fuck,” he swore silently, combing his silvery strands with his fingers. When had he let her affect him? Her little speech on her strives to sacrifice herself for her daughter had undoubtedly touched him. It was not always that he met a woman as strong as she was. He supposed most mothers would have done just the same, not that he knew many mothers at all. In fact, most of the women he did know were either working for him or the enemy camp, leaving him without much of an opportunity to date in a very long time.

  She was beautiful and he would be a fool to deny seeing that any longer. He was going to spend the next few weeks in her bedroom and it was going to take every bit of him to not be tempted and sweep her into his arms.

  It was their first night together and he was nervous despite all common sense telling Mark that this was just an assignment.

  He stalled by the windows of the living room, not sure how he should approach her.

  “Do you mind if I take a shower first?” she asked.

  Shower? And then what? He cleared his throat, not at all comfortable with the images conjuring in his mind of her naked under a shower. “Yeah, sure.”

  He watched her climbing up the stairs. She had a swishy walk, one that swayed her round, firm buttocks from side to side. And that she often preferred to wear a skirt or dress just made them even more feminine and forbidden.

  Finally, having assumed he had given her ample time to shower and change, he knocked on her door. He heard her turn the key and open the door. Almost immediately, her scent rushed up to him, invigorating his senses. Her long wet curls were gathered on one shoulder, her skin radiantly fresh and clean as she continued to towel dry her wet tresses.

  “Do you need me to leave while you take your shower?” she asked.

  “Um… no,” he mumbled. “I’ll figure out something.”

  He tried to look away, doing his best to not pay attention to the thin strapped satin nightgown she was wearing. She must have presumed they were decent given the long length, but did she have any idea of how its laces accentuated her bosom and how the deep purple complemented her dark hair? What about the stirring in his pants?

  “I’ve dragged in a thin mattress which I can use,” she said. “You can take the bed.”

  “No, I’ll use the mattress. It’s your bed after all.”

  “Are you sure?” She arched her brow.

  “Yes,” he said more emphatically than he had wanted to. “I’ll be up at odd times of the night, checking up on a few things and the mattress would make it more convenient for me.”

  He began removing his belt and she turned around quickly, reddening slightly. She bit her lips, rebuking herself quietly for blushing like a teenager. It’s just been a long time since I shared my bedroom with any man, she told herself.

  She peeked at him from the corner of her eyes as he unbuttoned his shirt and almost gasped with delight at his refined physique. He was so damned attractive.

  She returned to her task of towel-drying her hair, patting it with a scowl on her face. Too bad he could be such an arrogant and overbearing bastard as well. Or maybe that was for the better. Because then she would be attracted to him and most likely have fallen in love. And considering her history of falling for duds in her life, she would just be heartbroken again. She couldn’t afford to do that now. She had Ashley to consider.

  She pinched the hems of her towel between her fingers. On the other hand, she did often feel lonely. And how many times had she caught herself wishing that she could share her life with someone who would love her back; someone who would protect and love Ashley like she was his own daughter? But those were just fantasies, because rarely did anyone find a man such as that. And with the luck she was fated with, she would probably never find him at all.

  Mark stepped out of the bathroom, taking a quick glance at her.

  She was already in bed, the lights turned out except for one side lamp, lightening up the room just enough to find his way through it. He quickly pulled on a tee-shirt and a pair of shorts and tread over carefully towards the mattress.

  She had already laid it out for him- cover, pillows and all. She was thoughtful and he wondered if that had anything to do with her years working as a housekeeper. It was relieving to finally meet a woman who was not only beautiful but actually was smart and compassionate and caring. She would have made the perfect girlfriend, except she was unavailable and out of bounds.

  “I’m fuckety fucked,” he grumbled.

  “Excuse me,” she said.

  “Oh… uh, nothing,” he said. Damn, I thought she was asleep.

  “You might want to watch your language in the house,” she murmured sleepily. “I would hate Ashley to pick up something like that from you.”

  “Of course,” he replied. For a man attracted to a woman, he certainly wasn’t doing a good job impressing her. For most of the time he had spent with her so far, he had either argued with her or pissed her completely off.

  He lay down, tucking his arm under his head. Perhaps, tomorrow he would have better luck.

  Mark wandered into the living room to find Anne sitting worriedly on a couch, slapping her phone gently in her palm.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I haven’t heard from James since yesterday. I’ve left him messages but he hasn’t replied.”

  “He must just be busy, Anne. He’ll get back to you soon.”

  She palmed her face. “I can’t help getting this feeling that’s he’s not okay.”

  “You’re only anxious because of everything we’ve told you,” he assured her.

  “Please, Mark, is there any way of finding out how he is?”

  He let out a deep breath and rubbed her arm. “Give me a minute.”

  He walked off to the side and called Casey.

  “Hey, there, chief,” she said. “How’s the guard duty going?”

  “Um… yeah.” He rubbed his temples. He could imagine his team teasing him at the base. “It’s okay.”

  “And the new girlfriend?” She chuckled and added with a sing song voice. “You have a girlfriend.”

  “Casey-”

  “Sorry, I couldn’t help it.” She giggled.

  “Don’t tell me that that’s all you’ve been talking about there.” He rolled his eyes.

  “Just a tad bit.”

  “Don’t make me come there and kick your lazy asses.”

  “Fine, fine,” she said. “So what’s up?”

  “Give me…uh, James’ coordinates.”

  “James?” she repeated cheekily. “A minute… just checking the chip in his thigh… Yep, he’s at his house.”

  “And his pulse?”

  “Strong. What’s going on, Mark?”

  “Nothing much. James hasn’t shown up since yesterday and Anne was beginning to worry about him.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” He frowned.

  “What?”

  “The hmmm.”

  “I just think you’re sounding too emotionally invested in your charges.”

  “Oh, come on,” he scoffed. “I’m just being polite.”

  �
�I’m just saying, chief.”

  “Just get on with the orders. And keep me updated on any changes.” He looked up at Anne on the other side of the room while getting slightly miffed by Casey. Although, he did know that she couldn’t be more right. These were people who were no longer just photographs or distant targets to be scouted. He knew them personally and they were forming a relationship with him, regardless of whether he wanted them or not.

  Julia’s heels clicked against the wooden floor as she ambled into the room, dressed in a beautiful beige dress and a black belt that defined the slimness of her waist.

  “Where are you going?” he blurted out quickly, feeling both awed and possessive at the thought of her visiting a male friend. Why else would she bother to look so goddamned pretty?

  “Ashley’s got into some trouble at school,” Julia said with an annoying glance at him.

  “Ashley?” Anne asked in surprise. “Ashley never gets into trouble.”

  “Yes, beats me too,” Julia added concernedly. “But the principal called and I will be meeting him in forty minutes. I guess we’ll find out what this is all about. I just hope it isn’t an expulsion.”

  “It won’t be. Ashley has a good head on her shoulders and if something did happen, there must be a good reason for it.”

  “I hope so, Anne.” She gave Anne’s hand a short squeeze. “I won’t be long.”

  “Like how long exactly?” Mark asked, a frown etched high on his brow.

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. I’ve never done this before. Hopefully not too long.”

  “I just need to be sure you will be fine, that’s all.”

  “I’m going to Ashley’s school. I think I will be okay.”

  She turned around and marched towards the front door.

  “Julia,” he said sternly. “You need to call me when you get there.”

  “Why?” she replied with a hoarse whisper. “It’s Anne you should be protecting. Not me!”

  “It’s all of you! Everyone in this house needs to be cautious. We don’t know how these gangsters think. They will do what it takes to get to Anne and James! Julia!” he almost shouted at her when she stubbornly made to ignore him.

  “Okay, I’ll call you,” she replied impatiently.

  He nodded and let her through the door, watching her all the while until she sat inside her car and drove away. She was annoyed by his demands but he didn’t care. She didn’t understand the gravity of the circumstances she had incidentally caught herself in. And he was here to make certain she was going to be safe.

  Three hours later, Ashley burst in through the front door and marched furiously up to her room. Julia followed after her in an equally seething state.

  “What happened?” Mark asked, his eyes floundering between the stairs and Julia.

  “Where’s Anne?” she asked sharply instead.

  “She’s in her room. What did the principal say?”

  “That really isn’t your business,” she replied with a glare in her eyes.

  She brushed past him and headed towards the kitchen.

  “Okay, if that’s how you want to play it,” he growled. “I told you to call me when you get there. Why didn’t you?”

  “I had other things on my mind. Important things, Mark. Like my daughter.”

  “This was also important! Anything could have happened to you and I wouldn’t have known!”

  “And what could you have possibly done?! You would be here either way!”

  “Julia?” Anne interrupted them. “What’s going on?”

  Mark and Julia stood staring at each other, anger flaring between them.

  “Julia?” Anne asked again. “What happened at the school?”

  “Ashley apparently got into a fight.”

  “A fight? But that is so unlike her. Do you know why?”

  “Yes,” she replied coarsely, her tone catching Mark’s attention again. “She was telling her friends that I was getting married and that she had a new ‘daddy’. That is when some older girls caught wind of the story and offered to clarify, politely speaking, that the so-called new daddy was just the new guy banging me.”

  “Oh, Julia, I’m so sorry,” Anne muttered with disbelief as she reached out for her.

  “It’s okay.” Julia held her, squeezing her shoulders. Her eyes welled with tears, but she shook her head to push them away. “It was bound to happen. I’m just glad Ashley didn’t get hurt in the scuffle.”

  “Julia, it’s not okay. It is my fault you are in this predicament.”

  “No, I had a choice to go back to Boston and I opted to stay. I just didn’t expect it to be so hard, Anne. It just hurt me to see her so helpless.”

  Anne put her arms around her and hugged her. “I’m so very sorry… I’m really sorry…”

  Mark watched the two women comfort each other. This wasn’t Anne’s fault. This was his. Julia had been doing her best to piece her life back together again. In fact, she had been doing a remarkable job at it until he intervened with her plans.

  “I’ll go check up on Ashley,” Anne said with a little snivel. “She’ll be fine, Julia. I promise you.”

  “Thanks,” Julia mumbled.

  “Julia,” Mark said when Anne had disappeared up the stairs.

  “Please, stop,” she said with a slight tremble. “Please, don’t say anything.”

  “Any word from James?” Anne asked again the next day.

  “He is fine, Anne,” Mark replied. “The base has assured me he is home. He probably is just taking time out for himself.”

  He didn’t reveal though that her concerns were finally rubbing onto him. While James didn’t need to report to him regularly, he was aware of the meeting James had had with Juan two nights ago. Could something have happened? Had Juan threatened him in some way?

  “Anne, I’m going to the market. I’ll pick Ashley up from school on my way back home, so I won’t be here until at least four o’clock,” Julia said. She was addressing Anne but staring directly at Mark as if to let him know she was actually informing him.

  He stood up to face her, reading her clearly. “Call me when you get to the market.”

  “Would you prefer it if I let you know of my whereabouts every thirty minutes?” she asked sarcastically.

  “I wouldn’t mind that either.”

  “This is absurd! You’re only being stifling protective - more than is necessary. You can’t expect me to believe that the Pachecos are hanging about at every turn waiting to kidnap me!”

  “Well, you had better believe it!” he minced angrily between his teeth. “Two women went missing last month after attending a festival. Only after a painful effort of searches did their families discover that they were hijacked midway on their way back home, kidnapped and sold as sex slaves to a gang.”

  “They must have been young and single,” she muttered, taken aback by his story.

  “As to you being a mother with a child?” he scoffed. “What difference does that make to them? Oh, I see, you think you won’t make the criteria of a sex slave. You don’t give yourself enough credit, Miss Medina.”

  “You’re just being a bastard again,” she said angrily.

  He moved threateningly closer to her. “And why are you being such a bitch?”

  “Okay, stop it!” Anne shouted. “I’m tired of the continual flare-ups between you two. For godsakes…” She shook her head incredulously. “Mark, if you feel the need to ensure that I am escorted everywhere I go, then please take me up to James’ house. I’m worried about him and sitting here waiting for him to call me is not doing me any good at all.”

  “But Anne,” Mark began.

  “You can leave me there with him since it is where he is, according to your reports. Hopefully, the people at your job are efficient at what they do and he is where they say he is. That will also leave you free to play the bodyguard to Julia all day. Really, you two need to stop it.”

  “Anne, I don’t need a bodyguard,” Julia protested.


  “Probably, you don’t,” Anne replied sharply. “But this is the arrangement we have agreed to for the moment so you can use this time to at least get to know each other and get past the bickering.” She clasped Julia’s hand. “Please, for me.”

  CHAPTER 26

  “James?” Anne knocked on his back door.

  “James,” Mark hammered loudly.

  James stumbled down the stairs, tugging down his shirt. “I’m coming.”

  He unlocked the door and let them through.

  “Are you okay?” Anne reached out for him. “I haven’t seen you in three days.”

  “I’m fine. I’m just tired.” He looked at Mark, his face ridden with worried lines.

  Mark narrowed his eyes, reading his hint. “Anne, I think James is in a dire need of some coffee and a hot meal.”

  “James?” She clasped his hand worriedly. “Is everything alright? Have you not been well?”

  He put his arms around her, gazing lovingly into her face. She always managed to push his troubles away somehow. “I was until Mark reminded me that I am so utterly famished.”

  “Is that all? You sure you’re not sick?”

  “Of course not.” He kissed her lightly on her brow. “Is it too much to ask you to whip me up something?”

  She smiled. “I swear, James Connelly, I could whip you for almost putting me through hell. Do you know how worried I was these past few days? You better have a good reason for it.”

  “I have.” He chuckled as she scowled and walked on towards the kitchen.

  “What’s going on?” Mark asked with a frown.

  He scratched his head. “Let’s talk in the study.”

  Mark followed him, closing the door behind him as Eric fell into a couch.

  “Okay?” Mark said.

  “Juan ordered a hit.” He ran a hand through his hair. “The hit, Mark.”

  “On Trent Harvey?” Mark slumped into an opposite chair, his words feeling far too surreal to comprehend. “How did that happen?”