by JM LOWE
"Just so you know, I don't have a problem being the subject of your girly conversations, I like the idea of you talking about us, just don't get to drunk, when I make you scream my name tonight I want your mind completely focused on what I'm doing to your body." He turned and left, leaving her the one stood with her mouth open and no words this time.
Jackson Hunter had just knocked her for six. And she had no idea what to do about it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
"Oh, my god this is so good" declared Emma as she took her second bite of Pizza "You know Han, you need to get laid more often.”
"Excuse me?" Hannah handed Emma a cold bottle of Bud before sitting on the couch at the side of her friend and crossing her legs as she took a slice of pizza for herself.
"I mean, you have been beaming like a stupid Cheshire cat since I got here, now out with it, I want all details, size, length, score out of ten." Emma took another bite of pizza.
"I’m not…, oh god I am such a slut…" Hannah started
"Oh yes you are, first decent man you have let anywhere your knickers since I met you and I want it all; I'm in the middle of the worse dry spell of my life, hell my rabbit even ran off and died somewhere." Emma not showing the slightest embarrassment when referencing her trusty vibrator.
Hannah laughed, almost choking on her food "Ok" she took a deep breath and a long pull on her beer. "To answer your questions, fucking enormous, length, off the chart, well my chart anyway and was he any good? The man fucks like a machine... oh my god Em, it happened; it actually happened, the myth, the legend, the hands-free orgasm, they do actually exist.” Both girls fell about laughing, this felt good, Hannah needed this.
"Hands free ay, well that’s a new name for it, but do you mean to tell me you have never had an orgasm without help of finger or toy?" Emma took a drink from her bottle.
"Nope, have you?" Hannah asked
"Nope" again they both broke out in hysterical laughter.
"I knew tonight was gonna be a two pizza night."
"I did tell him that I wouldn't tell you everything, so I am going to keep to my word and let you use your imagination, just blur out our faces, then we need to come up with a plan to kidnap him and make him stay, cause I don't think I am gonna be able to let him go Em, I have started something I shouldn't have and I am not in the least bit sorry. Even Harry knows and didn’t kick his ass, I just hope it doesn't hurt to much when he leaves."
"And breathe girl, breathe." Hannah rolled her eyes and downed her beer.
Jacks looked up as one by one his old squad squeezed into Harrys ‘War room’.
It was good to see them, these where his brothers, each had saved the life of another at some point during their time together, he trusted each and every one with his life, and they him with theirs. They all fell right back to where they had left off, as though nothing had changed for them, shit they would probably be using their call names by the end night.
To anyone who didn’t know them, they looked intimidating, to anyone who knew them, they were. Not one of them stood under 6ft, and they had all come dressed in their black combats, if he hadn’t been one of them, he would have turned and ran from the room. They were a site to behold even if he did say so himself.
“Hunter” Jacks stood as his old CO Jenson ‘Java’ Walker crammed his way into the room. “Bud, what the fuck is all this shit?” Jacks watched as Jenson walked over to the boards on his wall, each covered in the same papers contained within the file Harry had emailed Jacks, but a new set of compound blue prints had been added.
Jacks sniggered, Jenson was flicking through the pictures and papers that Harry had meticulously pinned to the oversized cork board on his wall.
“That’s his WALL” Conner ‘Doc’ Parry sat, foot resting on his knee, fingers interlocked behind his head.
“So, that’s him, is it? Carlos Sanchez, Ugly mother fucker, certainly has a face only his mother would love.” Jenson pulled a picture from the board and took a seat.
“Fuck you all very much for coming” Harry tried to gain some form of control over the five other bodies in the room, Jacks knew Harry needed them, hell, he needed them, he almost felt sorry for the fate Carlos Sanchez was inevitably going to face.
“You’re gonna have to tell her man, shit, how the fuck did you expect to be able to keep her safe with just you and ‘trust fund boy’ here?” Dylan ‘Tag’ Briggs pushed the picture Jenson had just handed him so that he and his partner in crime and last member of the group Taylor ‘Jack’ Jones could look at it.
“Give me a fucking break, I’m doing the best I can with what I have.” Jacks was loving seeing Harry squirm as his buddies ripped the shit out of him, this little banter session wouldn’t last long, but there wasn’t a chance they would let this opportunity pass them by, it had been too long.
“Alright, leave him alone, fuck sake, it’s bad enough that he thought to call Hunter first, that shows how fucked up his brain is, but now that we are all here, let’s get this shit sorted and wipe Carlos fucking Sanchez off the face of my beautiful plant” Jenson ‘Java’ Walker was back in full CO mode and shit if it didn’t give Jacks the feeling of relief he had been craving since Harry had called him.
“Damn, I have missed this” Connor ‘Doc’ Parry, gave Jacks a wink and a nod.
“Fuck off you, and don’t go asking for none of that Dr Phil group hugging shit” Java threw another picture he had ripped from the board at Connor, the room erupted into a boom box of testosterone filled laughter.
Harry walked into the apartment as just as Hannah closed the bathroom door.
Why wasn’t he with Jacks? The bar was closed on Sunday, so where was Jacks if he wasn’t with Harry? Why did she care? It was just sex Hannah told herself, but new even as the words formed in her head that it was bullshit.
"Em" his voice was deep as he spoke
"Harry" Emma replied, more than a little tipsy.
"I need you, I mean, we need you down stairs, both of you, where's Han?" we need you? Hannah tried to pee faster, wanting to know what he was doing invading girls night.
"She had to pee, bladder of a hamster that girl" Emma started to giggle "What do YOU, I mean WE need us for and who is WE anyway?" She asked throwing his own Freudian slip back at him.
Harry ran his fingers through his hair, as Hannah walked back into the room.
"Harry its Sunday, how can we bitch about you if you're here?" Harry didn't respond to the humorous undertones of what she had said, that wasn’t like him, normally he would be right there with a witty come back, it’s what they did.
"I need you to listen to me" he started, something was wrong, she could feel it "Ok, here goes nothing; The men that killed Dad worked for a small time drugs lord, they were the nephews or whatever the fuck they were of some low life who was trying to expand his empire."
"Harry, we know this already, what’s going on?" Hannah watched as her brother sat on the chair across from the couch, both girls silent as they listened.
Hannah knew that look on Harrys face and knew this wasn't a time to try and be funny, it was like soldier Harry was back in the room and that scared her.
"ok, I'm screwing this up, so here it is; the family of the men who killed Dad have put a hit out on you. They want you dead Han, well one psychotic fuck to be exact, but that doesn’t matter, what matters is that they think it's gonna send some stupid fucking message to anyone who thinks they can testify against them. I asked Jacks to come and watch your back so I could go and try and sort shit out, but I needed more help so I have called..."
"Hold up ... hang the fuck on a minute ..." Hannah stood as the sobering words sunk in "You called Jacks to come fucking babysit me, are you fucking kidding me?" He had done what? No, oh god no, she was a job and she had let Jacks sleep with her.
What had he done? Used it as a way to get close to her so she wouldn’t be a problem, all bend his will and shit, then off into the wind when the job was done. Bastard!!!
"No,
well yes, I guess sort of, look, scream and shout all you want later, right now I need you to calm down and listen to me" Hannah looked at her brother, hated him at this moment, had he been in on it, had he known that Jacks was planning to sleep with her from the start? how could he?
Emma sat, she pulled Hannah back onto the couch, both girls close to tears as they let Harry's words sink in.
Someone wanted Hannah dead ...
"Just give us a minute will you" Emma looked up at him and he nodded before walking out and closing the door.
"Fuck this shit, why me?" Hannah was angry beyond words, how could she have been so stupid "And him, I was a fucking babysitting project, he screwed me big time and no, I don't just mean in bed. I'm a fucking idiot Em."
Down stairs in the bar the group of men who had been crammed into Harry’s apartment now sat around a cluster of tables that had been pushed together. Each nursed a large mug of coffee as they waited.
"She's gonna fuckin flip" Jacks looked towards the stairs as though he expected a raging Hannah to come ploughing through the bar like a Bull in a china shop.
"She needs to be told, it makes things easier if she is aware of the threat against her." Jacks looked at his CO "Harry meant well by keeping her in the dark, understand his reasoning, but now she needs to know."
Jacks looked up, Harry walked into the bar followed by both Hannah and Emma. It was clear that Hannah was angry and upset, he could see the redness and swelling of her eyes and there had been more than a few raised eyebrows in the bar when the shouting had started above their heads.
Seeing her like that made his chest hurt, he wanted to pull her to him and tell her she was safe, but the look she gave, he knew she hated him right now and that hurt more than he ever expected it to.
He stood as the three approached, Hannah ignored him, yeah, she knew why he was here, knew she wouldn't like it, but he needed her to know that wasn't the only reason he was here. As soon as this briefing was over Jacks would talk to her, make her listen ...
He stood, so did the four other men who had been sat around the tables. Each one dressed as Harry had been, Black cargo pants, boots and hooded sweatshirt. Hannah had noticed Jacks as soon as she had walked in the room and wanted to go over and kick him straight in the balls, but that would be making a scene and right now the last thing she wanted was to make herself look like some bimbo who had lost her shit over some guy.
"What’s this? Some kind of Black Ops convention?" She asked as she sat in one of the three empty chairs that where left. Emma and Harry then occupying the other two.
A round of laughter went through the men before one of them stood. He was as tall as he was wide and introduced himself as Jenson ‘Java’ Walker on account of his love of good coffee, it was clear he had an air of authority about him and looked to be in his mid-thirties.
"Something like that. Nice to finally meet you Hannah." He introduced each of the other men in turn, Dylan ‘tag’ Briggs because he was always losing his dog tags and had cause the squad to kick his ass on more than one occasion once they realised the dick wasn’t dead. Tyler ‘jack’ Jones, ‘jack’ because Jenson couldn’t remember his name when he first met him, had called him ‘Jack’ and it had stuck, and finally Conner ‘Doc’ Parry, the patch’em up go to guy for anything from a splinter to the bullet hole Jacks now owned.
Each man was now ex-military, they had all served together with Jacks and Harry but found themselves back in civilian life, each bored with what they found themselves doing, each waiting for the excuse to fire their weapon at more than just a stationary target at The Range.
They briefly explained to Hannah what their rolls had been in the military before Harry stood and handed out a file to each of the men in the room. Hannah had paid little attention, still overwhelmed by the bombshell that had been dropped on her. Carlos Sanchez wanted her dead, why wouldn’t this nightmare end, when would it be over?
Jacks was aware of her every movement, as she sat just feet away from him, he saw every agitated twitch, every hateful glare that she threw his way.
"Ok, so here's what we know, Carlos Sanchez, head of the small but expanding Sanchez cartel has put a hit out on Hannah" the words catching in Harry’s throat. "We know why, but what we don’t know is how or when. I brought Jacks in first, had hoped I could sort it myself, but I can't get anywhere near the place, they know my face. Stupid of me to try, but I haven't had my head on straight past few days, but now I have, which is why I have asked you fucks to help me out on this. I will consider any and all favours paid in full even if you chose to walk away now." Jacks knew these men, walking away was not an option.
"Gentlemen" Jenson stood again, he looked at Hannah as he spoke "I think it goes without saying we finish this and keep our girl safe, any questions?"
The man who had introduced himself as Conner ‘Doc’ Parry studied the pictures before he spoke "Seems to me they might just have a weakness themselves" He tapped a grainy picture of a woman who looked to be in her early sixties "She appears with Sanchez more than anyone else from what I am looking at here, could be the mother. What do we have on family? Might be worth a negotiation before we consider a take out, although I have no problem removing a drug peddling insect from the streets."
"Oh, he has a weakness alright, and we might just hold the trump card" Jacks looked towards Hannah, still she refused to make eye contact with him, damn she was pissed, "Looking at this it seems he has started to lose the ability to think rationally, Hannah has become an obsession, or rather he has become obsessed with her, not losing face, we use this to our advantage"
"We are not using Hannah as fucking bait" Harry seethed "No, come up with another idea"
"That’s not what I'm saying, but seriously, think about it. We have the one thing he wants, Hannah. He thinks she is an easy target, but as soon as he finds out she's not, he's going to start making mistakes; and that is when we make our move. The man is a ticking time bomb." Still nothing from her, he needed something, anything.
Hannah sat in silence, it was like watching a movie in 3D, there was a script, stereotypical military types ready to unleash hell on the world before disappearing back into the shadows, leaving no trace that they had ever been there, shadows Harry had called them, and she was the fucking damsel in distress. All the time, she was aware of Jacks watching her, even when he spoke to the group he was looking at her, the briefest of glances between them. Fucking liar.
She listened as they discussed tactics, exchanging code words she had no idea the meaning of, it was scary how they seemed to think like one unit, each aware of the other’s strengths.
All she could do was sit and watch as they delegated who would be doing what to keep her alive, shit this was like being awake in the middle of a nightmare.
She looked across at Emma who was focused solely on Harry as he spoke. She looked at them each in turn, who were these men? They had each come to lay their lives on the line for her and they didn’t even know her, who the fuck did that?
Hannah knew something wasn’t right when Harry had said Jacks would be coming, her alarm bells had rung loud and clear so why hadn't she listened to them? Too late now.
"So, trust fund boy, what do you suggest? Is she safe here, or do we need to move her?" asked Jenson.
Trust fund boy? Hannah looked up and realised they were all focused on Jacks.
"Harry has installed a pretty solid system here, and yes, she has been safe up until now, but my main concern is if they have been watching her, I checked the property out yesterday and I'm not comfortable that she is completely safe, like I say, they have plenty of chances to be watching her and places where they wouldn’t be seen."
"Her has a name, its Hannah!" She'd had enough of this, wanted, no needed to get out of this place, she had been stuck in for almost forty-eight hours and wasn't prepared to stay any longer, the walls suddenly feeling like they were closing in "And Hannah has had enough, In the last two days, I've been lied to, made a fool of, tol
d someone is trying to have me kidnapped or killed or whatever the hell they want to do to me and now I'm sat in a circle like its fucking over eaters anonymous with a bunch of... I don’t know, whatever you are. I need to get away from here."
"Sorry, if they have been watching Hannah, it’s clear from spending time with Hannah that she has a routine at weekends and if it’s the same during the week, it’s probably best that we move her to a more secure location, a safe house of sorts." Jacks spoke to the group, but kept his eyes on Hannah.
She didn't look at him, instead ripped a beer matt into small pieces, anything to stop her from wrapping her hands around Jackson Hunters throat. He had been with her just to map her routine, nothing more, he just said as much, he had hurt her, oh yes, this definitely hurt.
"You two ladies got anything you want to share?" Jenson asked, clearly referring to Briggs and Jones who had been pointing to various pictures before seeming to scribble notes, sometimes nodding in agreement, other times shaking their heads, but all the time listening to everything being discussed in the room.
"Yeah boss, Jacks is right, if the intel in this is correct and recent, they have been watching Hannah for a while, probably mapping out as you say a routine, establishing a pattern of her movements looking for a place to do a clean grab, little to no witnesses." Dylan ‘Tags’ Briggs looked about the same age as Jacks and Harry, twenty eight, maybe twenty nine, he was blonde whereas all the others seemed darker in colour, although the mandatory buzz cut that the four newcomers carried just added to the domineering presence that each man possessed.
This was Harry as Hannah had never seen him before, this was soldier Harry and it was scary as shit to witness, but damn if it didn’t make her heart swell with pride. He was doing all this for her, they were all doing this for her, putting their lives on the line and they didn’t even know her. 'That’s what we do' is what they told her when she asked why.