Chapter 18 MT comes to pay Jane a visit
1640 Words
Jane got up from her nap, she stretched showing her flat stomach.
She needed to burn off some negative energy. She put on her go- to disguise, baggy grey sweats, a baseball cap and sunglasses.
She told Sasha she would be back for a late dinner.
Jane snuck out of the hotel side door and ran out onto the sidewalk.
She jogged around town, looking at small shops as she jogged by.
Jane loved seeing new cities and seeing them in disguise was even better.
She was about thirty minutes into her run, she took the sidewalk down toward the little park.
She turned the corner quickly, she suddenly bumped into someone very solid.
She held her hand to her chest in surprise and said, "Oh, excuse me!"
The tall man said, "We need to talk, Jamie."
She looked up at him now. It was Max. Jane Knight took a step back.
She leaned down to catch her breath.
She said," We did that already." He pulled her up, grabbing her arms. She pulled back and said, " I will scream "
He smiled,"Go right ahead Jane Knight."
He knew she was bluffing. She squirmed away from him and shrugged out of her jacket, running as fast as she could.
"Dang!" He said. "She's a lot faster than she used to be."
He raced behind her, holding her jacket now. Jane turned and ducked into a small shop.
She walked toward the back of the store. Her new book lined the shelves. She felt the panic of being discovered. She backed up.
She had to leave before anyone recognized her.
She poked her head out of the door.
He was gone.
She sprinted to her hotel.
She entered discretely, using the side entrance.
He was there, in the lobby. Jane snuck up the back stairs. Max caught a glimpse of her then and followed her.
Jane heard him coming up behind her on the metal stairs.
She stopped. She made a fist and prepared to hit him.
He rounded the corner. Her fist shot out.
She struck him in the throat with her closed fist and then turned her body sideways to kick him.
She kicked his abdomen with the side of her foot, just as she had been practicing for all of these years.
Max fell back holding his throat. He fell and rolled down the stairs.
Jane moved quickly, she would not let him near her again.
She ran up the stairs to the next floor. She hopped in the elevator.
Using her key card, she went past her suite to the roof. She entered a beautiful roof top garden area.
She lost him.
Max made his way to Jane's room.
He knocked loudly. "Jamie, open up. We need to talk."
He hoped she would open the door if he had made enough noise.
Sasha looked at him through the peep hole. He was yelling for Jamie. She recognized him from Jeff's elevator. He called himself MT. He was the man in the photos.
She opened the door.
"Did Jeff send you, Jane's not here."
Max said,"Oh, I remember you. He held out his hand. MT, Jeff sent me. I'm Jane's security."
Sasha was confused. She showed him to an empty room. She didn't question Jeff Allen's decisions."Jane should return shortly."
Jane walked in about an hour later. She went straight to her room to shower.
Jane dressed in her silky pajamas. She left her room and rounded the corner to the kitchenette.
Her mouth dropped open, seeing Max at her kitchen counter.
He was laughing with Sasha, eating dinner.
"Jane, do you know MT? Jeff sent him here to protect you."
Jane said, "Oh, there's been some mistake then. I just beat the crap out of MT? is it."
He smiled coldly at her rubbing his throat.
Sasha smiled at this interchange she said,"Jane's been practicing karate for years now."
Sasha got up to leave.
" I see you two have some things to talk about."
Max felt played by her.
She let him hurt her the other night. She could have fought him off.
She chose not to.
Max stood up now.
He walked over to Jane. "We need to talk."
She nodded and took his empty chair.
Max was silent. Jane stared at him. "Well? why did you call my step dad?"he said.
She looked down at her hands, her brow knit together. "We talked about this the other night. He paid me off, I wasn't supposed to make contact with you. He somehow found out that I broke the contract."
Max nodded. " I was angry at you, I spoke with him."
"Oh, I know that you are angry," she said subconsciously rubbing her cheek where he had hit her.
Max looked down feeling like a jerk. "Look, I talked to dad. He told me why you took the contract. He told me that you wanted to avoid dragging us all through a lengthy trial.
He said you didn't cash the check he had given you for almost a whole year."
Jane stood up. " Yes, I paid that money all back now. You have what you need.
Now if you don't mind, it's getting late."
She left the room. He thought she was coming back. She didn't.
Max frowned. Tim never said that she had paid all of the money back.
Max was thinking about everything Tim had said to him. About Jamie trying to come on to even his own step dad, Tim that day long ago.
Max knew that was a lie.
He almost lost it when he saw Tim hitting on Jamie that day.
His Jamie.
Max walked into Jane's room. He sat on her bed.
Jane turned her shoulder to him, avoiding him.
He put his head into his hands.
" I've been a cruel jerk to you, Jamie."
She interrupted him.
"My name is Jane, Jane knight. Do not ever call me Jamie again. That person is dead."
She sat up now.
"Jamie died a slow, painful death. She was an i***t. She was weak."
Jane was angry now.
"Jane is strong. Jane Knight saved my life. I owe her everything. I would be dead now."
She looked down, softening as she remembered,
"Don't think I didn't plan my death. I had decided that I would walk into the ocean and never come back."
She nearly whispered," I saw the beauty of the ocean, the sand, the water. I couldn't mess that up too."
She didn't look at him. She asked him to please go. "Never come back. Jeff will destroy you, you know? He brought you here for a reason. Ask Tim about it. Tim sold you out. He planned this from the beginning."
Max nodded. He wasn't shocked. " Then you live in a small beach house on the ocean?" She nodded. " Why?"
He said," That's where I traced the IP address, he created a fake cyber threat from your house. I thought it was odd that he wasn't surprised it was a local address.
Hmm, now it all comes together. He must really love you then." he stood up.
"Jamie, uh Jane can I ask you something?"
She said,"yes."
" If I had proposed to you 6 years ago, when we were so close, would you have said yes?"
Jane didn't hesitate."No Max, I would never marry you."
That stung him. He deserved that.
She went on, "I wouldn't let you ruin your life with someone like me, you deserved so much more. I was just the naughty nanny back then.
I was less than nothing to your mom and dad. I was just an ugly stain on your beautiful life.
I guess it worked out. You finished college. You moved on with your life."
She shifted in bed, "Jamie did too. She's free somewhere. She doesn't have a care in the world now."
She went on, "That night, when you kissed Jamie at the masquerade, she found you again. She was so happy. She found you.... then later at the hotel.
Well she was weak, she was stupid. You did what you came to do. You killed her, you punished her. NOW LEAVE!" She yelled at him.
Max walked over to her and softly stroked her face, where he had slapped her.
He said," I am sorry for that. I was wrong. You, Jamie taught me so much better than that. I see you. Your still her. I will call you Jane in public, out of respect for your wishes.
But here in private I will call you by your given name. You will call me MT in public, but here in this room- I am Max."
He left her then.
Jane got up and went to the bathroom.
She ran the shower. She tried to wash him away. His touch, the way his hand felt on her face.
She would wash him away. She was done with this.
Jamie dreamed of Max, he took her in the moonlight. She kissed him all over.
They were making love in their own bliss.
She woke up and rolled over.
Jane knew Jamie and Max were a fantasy, not real. Too bad. It was such a good dream. She quickly jotted down notes to use in her next book.
Max drained a glass of vodka. He sat outside of her bedroom door.
He made plans to woo her back. He had to have his Jamie back. She wasn't dead.
He was hurting thinking about her words, how she had planned her suicide.
He had wanted to hold her then. She shut him out. She wasn't ready.
He had hurt her last time. He would never hurt her again.
Jane wrote a firey love scene, ending it with,She would do anything for him, her younger lover.
- Writer
