Jackson Rippner 2.0

I want you to do me no good.

•JACKSON'S POV•
•1 MONTH LATER•

"Hello?" My voice was hoarse as I answered my incessantly ringing cellphone.

"Rippner? It's me, John." The familiar english accent of my boss echoed through the speaker.

"Oh, what's up?" My tone was flat, no real life to it.

"I have a job for you, and you're not going to like it."

What does he mean, I'm not gonna like it?

"What is it, Sterling? Spit it out."

"Well, Jackson. It's in Miami, but thats not the worst of it."

"John..." My voice was warning, telling him to tell me what it was.

"You need a female escort."

And there it is, the sentence I didn't want to fucking hear. I've had more than enough of females coming along with me on jobs, I wan't to go back to working solo.

"But I must say, I highly recommend you take Liliana. You put her through a lot of stress, she could use a vacation."

"No, John. I'm not putting her in that position again, she almost died last time, not to mention she hates me." I groaned, rubbing my eyes frustratedly, sprawled across my couch with a glass of whiskey.

"Jackson, you will take her, talk to her, and make it up to her, but you will NOT get her involved. Keep her blind on all actions made against the target." Now it was his turn to be warning, but he was a bit more forceful with his demands

I'd much rather just leave Liliana out of this, and allow her to live out the rest of her life in peace, and away from me. I'm a destructive force, made for ending life and charming my way through bad situations, and she doesn't need to be around that.

"John I really don't want to bother her again. She's much better off away from this line of work." My lips pressed against the rim of the glass, the burning liquid quickly flowing into my mouth and down my throat.

"Jackson, this isn't about what you want, it's about Lili's mental health, and the sake of this business. Now, clean yourself up and get to her workplace." The line suddenly went dead, letting it be known that he'd hung up on me. If he wasn't the man who paid me, he'd probably be buried in a shallow grave just outside of town, but luckily I was taught to not bite the hand that feeds me.

"Fuck you, John. Fuck you." My voice was a low groan as I sat up from my long term position, hand running roughly over my stubbled and neglected face.

•••

The scent of cheap booze and smoke wafted towards me as I sauntered through the blacked out doors of Show N' Tail, the strip joint that employed Liliana. The stained purple carpet and broken lights in the floors was enough indication to tell me it was no respectable establishment. I just hoped she'd still be here, and that my time wouldn't have been wasted in such a disgusting place.

Walking further into the joint I didn't bother with taking my sunglasses off, for I hopefully wouldn't be here long. My frosted eyes scanned the dimly lit room, spotting a stage with a less than impressive girl grinding her sweaty body against the pole.

Definitely not Lili.

Middle aged men watched in a pleased fixation, no doubt receiving vile satisfaction while their wives ponder over where they must be. Is he at work? Is he at the store? No.