His To Save

13) Teasing Jack

****JACK****

Pure jealousy tinted his face while his sharp eyes borrowed through my face. If he had the ability to shoot lasers with them, I'd have dropped dead the second he walked over to us.

But, the devil part of me was enjoying the spectacular show. Was enjoying seeing the male looking like he was about explode.

"Paul!?" Annie's tone betrayed her.

"Got an alert." He explained casually, yet his glare remained on me. "I thought you'd be in danger."

"Oh!"

The female ran a paper towel over her mouth before dumping it in the waste basket behind us. After clearing the strands of hair brushing her cheeks, she came to stand next to me.

"Um...that-that...that was-"

"Clearly a false alarm." Paul spat, his murderous eyes still stabbing me.

"Paul?" Annie called with a bit of authority, making him gaze towards her. "You, you can leave now. There's no danger. I'm good."

The male gave a slight chuckle that was full of rage while his right hand swept through the thickness of his hair.
He gazed to the side and took a deep breath, as if that was the only thing keeping him sane. His face had turned a little red from the fury that must have been colliding within his poor soul.

"Paul?" The female called, sounding partially impatient and crossed.

When my eyes fell to the side at her, my heartbeats slowed down. She looked so grown. So mature.
She could now take care of herself.
I, had seen it firsthand from the way she handled the idiot from the club.

She no longer needed me.
So why was I still drawn to her?
Why couldn't I walk away and let her lead her life?

The answer laid somewhere in me, but didn't wish to reveal itself.
But I was sure it had something to do with the path she had chosen. A very dangerous path.

Annie suddenly faced me, bursting my stare.
It was too late to look away, so I continued staring at her, deep in her round brown eyes.

Tonight had almost thrown me in a sexual pit.
No. I didn't want to have sex with her till things between us were cleared. We had too much to confess to each other. And rushing for sex as a bridge to cross to each other would only make things horrible.

I wanted Annie for myself.
But the five years we had been apart had pushed us far from each other.
Of course I understood her reasons for leaving. She wanted revenge for her parents. And she did accomplish that, even gained more by taking back her inheritance.
Maybe all of that would have been possible if she never had left. But, that would have only made her grow in a shell, never knowing the cruel side of life.

She had killed so much that her phobia was long forgotten. Killed so much that a certain darkness had tainted her eyes. A darkness I was all too familiar with.

My little devil was all grown.

"Jack?" Her voice snapped me out of my trance.

I cleared my throat as my eyes bounced off of her in a moment of embarrassment. What had she thought of me at that exact second?

"I'm leaving." I announced in a flat tone.

As my gaze scanned the area around us, I noticed Paul's absence. He might have left when my mind had temporarily slipped in memories.

"It's late." Reminded as my feet started moving.

Suddenly, my arm was grabbed by two slender hands before she hurried to stand in my way. "Just like that?"

"Just like, what?"

"You...we..." Her words got lost in the blush rising.
The glimmer in her eyes made them appear adorable as she lowered them to my chest.

I knew too well that at that exact moment, I wanted to cup her cheek and kiss away her little world of shame. But... Control till the secrets between us have been erased.

It was sure going to be a rough road ahead, but I would survive... somehow.

"See you again soon."
I peeled her hands off my arm and walked away. Leaving her stranded on her ground.

--------------------------------

Beatrice pushed a brown envelope towards me on the wooden table standing between us.

"What's this?" I asked picking it up.

She didn't answer right away. Instead, she picked up her cup of hot coffee and took a slow sip.

Winter was now taking over.
A season that killers loved. The sight of pure snow tainted in red was intoxicating.
I, was once like them, loving the rush of power as I took the lives of my enemies.

But then I met this little girl that accepted me as her family even though she knew not of my bloody life. Living with her
Playing with her. All that changed me. She warmed up my cold murderous heart and sparked mercy in my soul.

Now, now she was the one in my place.
Power would soon corrupt her.
Corrode away the innocence that saved me a decade ago.

"A blueprint for the weapon Black Blood is making."

My soul almost fled my body. How had the damned FBI gotten their hands on it?

I ripped the envelope open to draw it out.

When my eyes ran over its contents, I froze internally for a second but maintained a composed posture on the outside.
It was indeed a blueprint of a different kind of weapon. But the only person that could verify it was the person making it... Annie.

Stuffing it back in the envelope, I looked up at Beatrice. "How?"

She took another casual sip, as if toying with my mind and testing my patience.

"From what I gathered, it was from a hack. But they didn't get much due to the resistance from the other side."

"Is there something else?"
I asked, noting how weird she was acting, different from other times we had met.

The female leaned forward. Her chest came to rest on the edge of the table, mashing her breasts together to push her cleavage out.
With her finger playing around with the cup standing to her right side, she looked straight in my eyes.

"Nothing." Beatrice answered after a lot of teasing.

Was she, seducing me?

Dear gawd.