Gentlemen Only

Ready, Jet, Go

The daylight had long set behind the canopy of sky risers, the last rays of light barely illuminating the silent, empty corner office.  Nearly all the staff had retired for the evening, all but one dark haired, desperate man who sat studying the documents before him like he was preparing to take the bar exam.

Jet sighed, leaning forward to remove more files from one of many boxes that had been dumped unceremoniously in on his desk. He blinked and rubbed the weariness from his eyes, trying to focus on the task before him. He reached desperately for his coffee, sighing in defeat as he noticed it was empty. The break room would be locked by now, so any hope of a caffeine boost was lost at this point.

He had no idea how he'd ended up being blackmailed by a crooked businessman. Never had his climb to the top landed him in such hot water before, and he couldn't wrack his brain hard enough trying to figure out how exactly Moretti knew about him, or how long he'd been planning this.

It frightened Jet how long Moretti's men had been tailing him: some of those pictures of Meredith were years old, and he couldn't fathom who had been in their lives that length of time to even have been able to take those photos, much less the recent ones.

His mind whirred at warp speed, processing and filtering useful information from the useless. The words Anthony spoke still rung clear in his mind and he was sure he did know exactly who was behind this, the monster lurking in the shadows playing games with his personal and professional life. The fact they were targeting Meredith brewed such rage in his heart he could barely focus.

The details on how and when it happened were lost on him, but he knew exactly how he had fallen for her: she was exquisite. Somewhere in the years he'd known her she had gotten under his skin, in the most beautiful ways possible. As an assistant Meredith assisted him in taking their company farther than anyone ever expected, much less himself. On her hire date they'd been little more than a rumor, a whisper in the business world, due to their unconventional approach to cost effective business management strategies. Yet, that overly intelligent brain of hers was just the thing the company needed, what Jet needed professionally.

Personally, her effect on him carried far more of an influence. Jet was usually emotionally distant, for personal reasons, and believed letting your guard down around people would lead to weakness. Meredith, however, was an exception to his rules, the only exception, really. The day she interviewed was the day he changed. From the moment she had walked in he already knew he would be a goner, eventually, and the day finally came that he could admit to himself something he never felt before.

He loved her with all of his being, as much as humanly possible. That love though was threatening her life, and his. He would never let anyone hurt her. It was a promise he had made to himself the first day he laid eyes on her.

A loud snap caused Jet to startle, pulling him from his musings. He jerked around, searching for the culprit behind the offensive noise. A low, amused chuckle escaped his parched throat; he'd been holding his pencil in a vice grip, causing it to break. The laugh turned into a growl as he thought about what he had done to Meredith, what those vile, pathetic excuses for human beings had forced him to do. He didn't like being tricked into corners.

The desk phone rang harshly, the sound scraping on his addled nerves perversely. He flinched and yanked it up, barking a terse "What is it?"

"Security. Permission for visitation requested."

Jet frowned, glancing at the clock. It was gone past nine p.m. "Who is it?" He cradled the phone between his shoulder and cheek, flipping open his laptop to the security feeds.

"She claims to be a relative." The guard's voice crackled through the receiver.

Jet's heart leaped with boyish glee when he saw a clearly feminine outline on the video. It fell just as fast as it had flown: he could recognize those bouncy, fiery curls anywhere.