The Messiah [1]

21: Jax

"You, boy! Want to buy your girlfriend a necklace? Pretty necklace for a pretty lady!"

Jax turned, attention caught by the glittering necklace being crushed by a meaty fist. His eyes flicked to the heavy-jawed man who held it, but before he could open his mouth to respond Athena delivered a sharp jab to his ribs.

Hissing in pain, Jax snatched her hand and once again began moving through the thick crowd, his free hand tenderly rubbing his bruised flesh as his eyes darted from side to side.

"Why is it you can never just say, 'no, Jax' or 'don't do that, Jax.'" He mumbled, glowering down at her, "Instead you have to hurt me. You're so violent, like, Athena mad. Athena smash tiny human."

"Why is it you can never just follow the plan?" Athena hissed back, rolling her eyes at his impression.

Annoyed by the pain in his side and her attitude, Jax jerked Athena forward until she tripped into him, then slipped his arm around her waist so he was close enough to whisper, "On a safer topic, I'm fairly sure we're being followed. Do you see the young girl two stalls behind us?"

He swiveled, using the canopy from a nearby booth to hide the two of them, if only for a few seconds. Athena turned slowly, one hand running up his chest, giving the impression they had stopped for an intimate interlude. The movement would have usually kicked his heart into a mad dash, but since the girl doing it hated him there was no misinterpretation. Jax was beginning to learn that Athena was a far better actress than he had originally been led to believe.

"The one who kind of looks like a little bird?" She whispered back.

Jax followed her line of sight to a dark-skinned little girl checking out a table full of broken pieces of machinery. Her hair was a dirty brown, whether naturally or from actual dirt he couldn't tell, and it hung in jagged pieces around her neck. Her clothing was strange - not as dirty as many of the things surrounding her, but over-sized and clearly not originally intended for the scrawny girl wearing them.

"Yeah," He let his gaze drift away, his hand on Athena's back urging her closer as someone bumped into them, "She's been following us since we got here. I doubt she's working for my father. Any chance she's part of the rebellion?"

He looked down just in time to see Athena roll her eyes and murmur, "Jeez - do I look like I memorized the faces of everyone in the rebellion? I was there for a couple of months and I kept to myself."

"Of course you did." Jax sighed, stepping farther under the overhang of a vendor's booth and pulling Athena with him. He was about to ask another question when her elbow crashed into his ribs, forcing out his breath on a hiss.

"What was that for?!" He snarled.

"Will you stop manhandling me? I'm not a small child!" She growled back, using the arm he didn't have a grip on to shove him farther away.

"For the gods sake - I'm not manhandling you, I'm just trying to make sure we stay inconspicuous, which you're not helping with!" Jax said, shaking her in an attempt to get Athena to focus.

"Do you usually fight like this?" A breezy voice asked from behind Athena.

She stiffened, but before she could turn Jax yanked her behind him and used his free hand to pull the gun from where it was tucked in the waistband of his jeans. Releasing Athena, he reached out to pull the young girl closer by her sweatshirt. He didn't have the time to process her lack of resistance before he pressed the gun into her stomach where it couldn't been seen by the crowd walking right outside the booth.

"One scream, and I'll shoot." He murmured low enough for only their ears.

"Oh for gods sake, Jax, you're not going to shoot her in a crowed area."