A Jar of Hearts

by Cartharn, Clarissa

  “It’s Juan.” He chuckled. “What you got there, babe?”

  “Roasted chicken. Are you staying for dinner?” She laughed.

  “It’s smells delicious. Why not?”

  James tensed. His fists clenched in his pockets. What was Juan up to? He released his grip, doing his best to muster some casualness in his body. “You know Juan, Anne?” he asked, trying to sound surprised.

  “Yes. We met a couple of weeks ago at the mall. He said he saw me once with you but didn’t get to meet me.”

  James put an arm around her waist as he fronted Juan. She was his and he had to let him know that.

  “James was being too protective.” Juan arched his brow as his eyes flickered quickly to James’ arm. “You’re beautiful and he probably was trying to keep you to himself a little more. He can be selfish like that.”

  James kissed her temple lightly. “Finish with your cooking, darling. I’ll just have a chat with Juan in the study.”

  Juan strolled about his study, admiring his décor. “It has just occurred to me that in the two years I have known you, Jamie, I have never been inside your house.”

  “What do you want, Juan?” James asked stiffly.

  “Want? Ahh… yes, of course.” He gave out his hand. “Congratulations on the Harvey job.”

  James took it hesitantly. There was something wrong. His instincts were on alert, looking for any signs, any traitorous indication in the man’s body to tell him what that was.

  “Damn, man! How do you do it? And you had a bullet straight through his fucking head! Just like the way I wanted it.” Juan beamed with delight. “You have one motherfucking aim, ése.”

  “Thanks. I was gonna tell you about it tomorrow.”

  “Yeah? Because you didn’t.” His tone grew serious again.

  “I haven’t slept in days, Juan. I’ve been up late nights planning the shoot and then waited all morning for that sucker to ride up the highway. It hasn’t been easy.”

  “How… how did you know he was gonna be there?” Juan tilted his head to the side with interest.

  “I do my research. I don’t just pick up my gun and start hammering people down. That’s what makes me an assassin.”

  “And not a gangster,” Juan added carelessly. “I get you. I respect you for that.”

  James rubbed his brow with his thumb. He was digging himself deeper into whatever shit this was. “Listen Juan, I told you this was gonna be my last contract. I really want out after this.”

  “Sure.” Juan shrugged his shoulders. “Not a problem.”

  “Yeah?” James narrowed his eyes. It couldn’t be this easy. Nothing was ever this easy.

  “On one condition. You leave without Anne.”

  His jaw clenched. “I don’t understand. What has this to do with Anne?”

  Juan smirked as he collapsed into a couch. “You know, Jamie, you were right. You, ése, was right about Anne.” He folded his arm behind his head as he looked up at him. “When I dropped out of university, I didn’t think too much about the small things in life like a woman to love, children, family. You know I have women. Lots of women to fuck, but none to take home to your mother, to your family.” He stopped briefly. “When I did start thinking about it, I thought nah, I had lost my chance. Fuck, I am almost forty years old. I didn’t think I would last this long in this business. But that night when you told me about her, it hit me that you were right.” He swiped a hand over his face. “Anne is beautiful. She’s perfect, and she’s smart. She maybe blind, but she doesn’t show it. In fact, when you’re with her, you forget that she is. Jamie, I have this chance with her. She won’t see my gang tatts or my scars. She is a polished woman and will love me for who I am. The man inside me. I won’t be afraid of being judged by her.”

  Blood was rushing to his brain, his rage coursing through his veins. “Are you fucking with me?” he said slowly.

  Juan shook his head as he stood up from his chair. “You’re a good looking man. I now understand why you never wanted to be inked. You kept your options open and I know once you left Anne, you’d find another who would fit you just as well. I, on the other hand, don’t have the same opportunities.”

  James ran his hand through his hair. “You can be fucking eloquent when you want to be, Juan. And you’re always gonna be a fucking bastard too. Anne is my girlfriend. You can’t just walk into my house and order me to fuck off so you can get it on with her! Who the fuck does that?!”

  “You think we only gangbang with guns?” Juan snorted.

  James stepped closer to him with a murderous intention to wring his neck but his men moved as well. Juan stood them down quickly with a wave of his hand.

  “Listen, Jamie, you’re making this hard on yourself. You wanted out, and I’m giving it to you. You fucked my sister. You even broke her heart, and if it weren’t for me, she would have ordered Anne dead. But I promised I’d get her away from you, and I like to keep my promises as much as I can.”

  “And I suppose you think I should take back Avanna?” he said, his eyes growing dark, his pulse racing inside him.

  “That’s for you and Avanna to decide. I only said you can go free but without Anne.”

  “Fuck off, Juan, because that isn’t going to happen.”

  Juan let out a puff of air. “I’ll give you three days to say your goodbyes. After that, she is mine. You’re a smart man, Jamie. You should know what to do. You’ll get your freedom like you’ve always wanted. You can go start up that business you’ve wanted to do, finish up that office you seem always to be working on, and we’ll leave you alone.”

  “Anne is mine. I’m not giving her up.”

  “For three days, she is.” Juan narrowed his eyes, staring directly into his. “You should know by now that we, The Pachecos love our families and I intend for Anne to be a part of that. Three days is all you have.”

  He spun on his heels and strolled out of the study. “I’m leaving, Anne,” he called out to her.

  “I thought you were staying for dinner.”

  “Not tonight.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “But we will have dinner another day.”

  James clenched his fists by his side. He wanted to kill him, but now was not the time. He had to consider Anne first. He had to protect her.

  He glanced at the clock through the utter darkness and noted its fluorescent hands. Ten o’clock. It had been four hours since Juan had paid them a visit; declaring his sudden obsession with Anne.

  He peered out through the blinds in his window. If Juan’s goons had been on a watch, they were now gone.

  “James, what’s going on?” Anne asked as she felt her way into the living room. “You said you were going to bed early and yet you’re still here.”

  He took her hand and sat her down on the couch. If he wanted her safe, he would need to tell her about Juan.

  “Anne,” he began. “I need you to listen carefully. Juan isn’t a friend.”

  She sat down, taken aback briefly and then smiled amusedly. “Is it because he kissed me? Honey, are you jealous?”

  He frowned. Damn right he was. He had wanted to kill the bastard when he had touched her. But that wasn’t the issue at hand right now. “It isn’t that.”

  “No?” She chuckled, disbelieving him.

  “Anne, hon-”

  “Really, James? Do you think I’m so fickle that I would fall for any man trying to charm me?” She nuzzled his neck, laying soft kisses down the side. “Would you like me to show you that you are the only one who turns me on?”

  He closed his eyes, momentarily blinded by her seduction. He loved it when she talked like that. “No,” he rasped.

  “No?” She pulled her head back with disappointment.

  He shook himself out of his daze. “I mean yes, but not now.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said with a hint of growing anger. “I guess I’ll have to gauge your mood swings before I try it again next time.”

  “Anne, it isn’t th
at.”

  “Forget it. I should go to bed.” She rose out of the couch to leave but he grabbed her wrist.

  “Anne-”

  She tried to snatch her hand away, but he held her tight, yanking her against him.

  “Stop it!” she growled.

  “Juan is Avanna’s brother,” he let out quickly before she could storm off.

  She froze. And even in the dim light of the street lamps seeping through the blinds, he could see she had lost color.

  “Avanna, your ex who is trying to kill me Avanna?” she muttered.

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

  “Mark thought it would compromise the mission.”

  Her legs wobbled under her and she fell into the couch again. “He was here. He spoke to me. He kissed me. And I was offering him dinner.”

  He sat next to her, caressing her thigh. “Honey, it isn’t your fault.”

  “What did he want? Did he try and hurt you?” She clutched his hands, her body wrought with fear.

  “No, but there is something you need to know. He wants you.”

  Her grasp on his hands grew tighter. “What do you mean he wants me?”

  “He is obsessed with having you.”

  “That is ridiculous. I barely know him. In fact, I can count the number of times I’ve spoken to him on one hand!”

  “He’s been watching you.”

  “Wh- what? But why?”

  “I don’t know. Nobody knows how the mind of a stalker works and why they stalk. There could be a thousand reasons.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “I’ve spoken to Mark. Tomorrow, I’ll drop you back at your house and I’ll move out of mine.”

  “No.” She shook her head profusely. “You can’t give up on us, James. I won’t allow us to separate only because he threatened us.”

  He clasped her hands and kissed them. “He can’t scare me, Anne. And I won’t let anything split us up either. But we have to be clever. We’ve got to outsmart Juan or we’d never make it through this at all. Do you trust me?”

  She pinched her lips together and nodded.

  He tugged her to him, rocking her. She had every right to be scared. He never wanted her messed up into his problems. He had only wanted to love her. But he should have known life would never hand her over to him on a silver platter. Like everything else, he would have to fight to claim her.

  CHAPTER 29

  He stood in her bedroom, reluctant to let her go. If there had been another option in which he could have resolved this without involving her, he would have snatched it up immediately. But even after hours of deliberation with Mark’s team, there was no way other than this.

  “I need to go now, Anne,” he whispered against her.

  But she wound her arms tighter around his waist. “Just a little while longer.”

  He smiled. “If you had your way, you’d never let me go.”

  She sniveled into his shirt. “I’m scared I’d never see you again.”

  He cradled her head. The last time he left her as Eric, she never did see him again. “You will.”

  “When people say that, they don’t come back.”

  “I will.” He lifted her chin and kissed her on her brow. “I’ll be careful.”

  “James,” Mark called from below the staircase.

  He leaned his head against her. “I’ll see you in a few weeks?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  He threw his bag into the trunk and then slammed the lid down.

  “You have everything you need?” Mark asked, leaning against the wall of Eric’s garage.

  “Yes.”

  “Your ticket?”

  “Yes.”

  Mark straightened up and gave out his hand. “Take care then.”

  Eric looked at it and smiled. “Thanks,” he said as he shook it.

  “I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I really did enjoy working with you.”

  Eric grinned. “Yeah, I kind of surprised myself as well.”

  “You hated me.”

  “Despised would be a better word.”

  Mark chuckled. “Well, it was both ways; let me assure you on that.”

  Eric nodded. “Take care of Anne.”

  “With my life.”

  Eric slid into the driver seat and pulled out of the driveway and into the road. In his rear view mirror, he watched the house he had called home for two years disappear into the distance. Outside his garage stood the man who had started it all, watching him leave as he faded with it.

  Three weeks later

  Anne stepped to the side and against the wall in the arrival section of the Philadelphia International Airport, her fingers fiddling nervously with the head of her cane. She could hear wheels rolling by on the plush carpet while the excited chatter of the airport’s occupants rang through the air. Some of them brushed past her as they hurried to leave the busyness of the airport.

  He would be here, Mark had told her. Anxiety pitted in her stomach. It had been three weeks since James had left and he had promised her he would be safe. She checked her watch for the time again. It had been fifteen minutes since she had arrived, where then was he?

  She clutched her cane tightly. Was it possible that Juan had got to him and hurt him? What if he had died… just like Eric?

  She paled, her worry washing over her.

  “Are you okay?” a woman asked her. “You don’t look too well.”

  “Umm… yes…” How else should she answer that? She didn’t know who this woman was. And unless she received some form of confirmation the woman was just a harmless concerned stranger, she would have to be suspicious of everyone as being a possible contact for Juan.

  “Can I help you with anything? Is there someone here to pick you up or do you need me to call someone for you?” the woman asked again.

  Anne fidgeted with her cane. “Yes, someone should pick me up. I am fine… really.”

  “Okay, then,” the woman said and Anne could feel the smile in her voice.

  She smiled back as she heard the woman’s sneakers squeak away. For a moment, she wished she could call her back. In a place full of people, she ironically felt so lonely. Her short conversation with the woman had strangely brought a little calm to her uneasiness.

  “Anne.”

  She spun on her heels to turn towards the voice, her eyes welling with her tears. Her body trembled, her relief that he was finally here choking her in her throat.

  “James,” she sobbed.

  He gathered her face in his hands and kissed her, his mouth sucking deliciously at her tongue.

  “You’re late,” she moaned.

  “I’m here.”

  “You’re here.” She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  He brushed her hair back, the heat from his hand warming her soul again. “Let’s go.”

  The wind tousled her blonde curls as he drove up the highway. He threaded his fingers through hers, caressing them occasionally with the pad of his thumb.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  She looked so much more at ease, unlike the tension he had seen in her at the airport. He had wanted to grab her in his arms then, but he needed to be careful she hadn’t been followed.

  “To Huntingdon,” he said. “It’s about an hour’s drive.”

  “Will we be safe there?” She was worried.

  He picked her hand and gave it a soft kiss. “Yes.”

  She closed her eyes, letting the breeze brush over her face. He could sense she was still bothered about something despite his assurance.

  “I promise you we will be fine,” he added.

  She shook her head. “It’s not just us, James. I feel guilty about leaving Julia and Ashley behind. I hope Juan doesn’t hurt them in order to find us.”

  He smiled. “Mark will take care of them. You do know he loves them, right?”

  “I do. But Julia can be stu
bborn sometimes. I wish she’d open her eyes a bit so she could tell the difference between charity and love.”

  He released her hand to rub his chin. “Did… Juan meet you at any time during these past few weeks?”

  “Yes.” She sighed. “Twice but I was with Mark and Julia each time. They wouldn’t let me out of their sight.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Just that I looked beautiful or we should have dinner.” She shrugged. “Something of the sort.”

  “Were you scared?”

  “Only because he might discover our break-up wasn’t real.”

  His jaw stiffened. “Well, let’s just hope that once you’re out of his sight, he’ll learn to forget about you.”

  “Will he forget about you?”

  “What do you mean?” he said, giving her a quick glance.

  “Mark told me your undercover task was to work as an assassin for The Pachecos. According to him, you were one of the best snipers he had ever seen. He believes that Juan envies you and the reason he wants me is probably because he is obsessed with you. He wants to be you.”

  “Yeah, well Mark is no shrink,” he muttered. “Just because he has a theory doesn’t mean he is right.”

  “But James-”

  “Let’s not think about that yet,” he said, cutting her short. “We are here together and we can only pray that Juan wouldn’t bother making the effort to come find us.”

  He gripped the wheel of his vehicle tightly, her words resonating through his mind and a thousand questions flooding into him. What if Juan did come after us? What would I do then? How long would I keep running with Anne?

  Mark rapped softly on her door before walking into her bedroom. Julia was standing by the window, looking out of it quietly. Her hair was hung loose, her curls flowing freely over her shoulders and the silhouette of her figure shone through her nightdress.

  He licked his lips, trying to focus more on her face rather than her delectable body. It wasn’t respectable, he chanted to himself, doing his best to keep a firm control on how his body was responding to hers.