Protector ~ H.S

~Chapter Forty-Eight~

A/N: I was worried I wouldn't reach my aimed word count for this chapter, but it was actually closer than I thought it would be :) and I really do like this chapter way more than I like the last ones I've posted – but I kinda feel like it deteriorates towards the end, though.

"J-Jackson!" I whipped my hands behind my back and immediately dropped the two tapes I was holding back into the drawer, "Jackson, I-"

"Oh, you really are something," he smirked at me, "you're quite the minx, you are. Using a cute little baby boo-boo voice on your first day to get a confirmation from me that I had records of my fights in here. And then, barely a month into your job, you thought you'd just waltz into my office and try to look through all my tapes, huh?" He then began to laugh, "What did you think you'd achieve by doing this, sweetheart? You thought you'd be able to find Harry's records and burn them, so he can't get in trouble with the big bad cops?"

My body froze over with fear, and despite how much I wanted to, I couldn't say a word.

"But I bet you weren't expecting the colour code, were you?" Jackson continued with a chuckle, "How stupid do you think I am, Angelique? Those tapes are very important to me. Did you honestly think that finding your boyfriend's tapes would be that easy? Did you really think I'd leave my precious records so unprotected?"

"I..." my voice began to wobble, "I don't-"

"Nope. I'm gonna stop you right there," he interrupted me by holding up a hand, "because you were about to try and give me an excuse as a pitiful cover-up of what you were really doing here. But I've already seen more than enough to know, so don't you even try, doll."

"I'm sorry, Jackson..." I didn't know what else to do except apologize, "I-I'm so sorry..."

"Oh, no," he shook his head, "sorry's not gonna cut it, Angelique. We both know I have a soft spot for you, but that doesn't mean you can just apologize when you've done something like this – expecting to get off scot-free. This was a really, really stupid thing of you to do, and you really should've just kept your fat nose out of it," he scowled at me, "but you, you stupid bitch, you just went ahead and did it anyway."

"I'm sorry..." I said again as I felt my bottom lip starting to quiver, "I'm sorry...Jackson..."

"You can say sorry as much as you want, but this simply cannot go unpunished," Jackson spat, "and all just for trying to save your idiot boyfriend. So adorable, yet so fucking pathetic at the same time."

"No..." I let out a whimper and began to shake my head, "Jackson...p-please..."

He began to smirk again. "Oh, I love watching you beg. But I'm afraid my decision still stands. All that's left is for me to think of an appropriate punishment for what you've done..."

He began to stroke his chin thoughtfully while fear and terror started chilling me to the bone. I didn't even want to imagine what Jackson's ideas of 'punishment' were, and I sure as hell didn't want to stick around to find out. I had to do something...anything to get away from him, and I had to do it now.

I began to look around the room frantically for anything that could possibly help me get the hell out of his room – and my breath hitched as I suddenly clapped eyes on an empty beer bottle lying on its side on a nearby table.

I can work with that.

I can totally work with that.

A plan popped into my head instantly. It was going to work, I was sure of it – but the hardest part was somehow finding the courage to actually do it.