Pretty Deadly

Chapter Six

Jericho's POV

"How do you know my father?" I ask and he cracks his knuckles and leans against a counter. "We had a partnership a couple of years back that got my wife killed. We haven't been on the best of terms you could imagine." He says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. I instantly suck my lips between my teeth and go silent. I grab alcohol and a swab and start to clean her gash. Luckily she placed a towel over her breasts when her dad came in. I dab and swab at the cut and I notice other scars along her side. I then take notice of her stretch marks, they stood out against her tan skin and I smiled at them. They always fascinated me. They had like a translucent webbing of reddish-blue skin and it was beautiful. In true detail at least.

"How is she taking it?" He asks me trying to get me to talk again and I sigh taking out a needle and thread. "As well as she can I guess." I say in a monotone voice. "Would you mind if I met with her?" I freeze and quirk a brow at him. He looked like a trusting man, especially with how he treated Lex but I was skeptical. "Only if you bring her over here. It's not that I don't trust you its just I don't know you." I say and he nods and holds up his hands. "I understand. Happy, would you ask the young girl to come over." The blonde quiet guy nods and walks off. I quirk and brow and chuckle. "Happy?" I ask in an amused tone. Lex chuckles and I take a chair and pull it up to rest my bum knee on as I lean over her.

"Jelly bean, I'd like you to meet my boss Sirus." Chuck says as he has her other hand and she smiles up at Sirus. "It's nice to meet you, sir. My name is Janelle." She outstretches her hand and I give her a high five in my head for having manners. "It's nice to meet you. Can I ask you a question darling?" He asks bending down a little. She nods and he continues. "Does this place scare you? Or do these people scare you? Do you know what these people do?" He asks and she looks up at Chuck. "I'm not scared of this place or anyone for that matter. As for what yall do I really don't care. All I care about is if you treat me right. I'll treat you right." She says and I try and zone out her words because I knew she was trying to sound strong. I start to stitch away at Lex while she draws patterns in my arm in boredom. "That's a very brave thing to say. But don't you think that it's a little too trusting? By the looks of those bruises, it looks like you trusted the wrong person."

I hear her take a breath and stop. "These bruises are a reminder. They remind me that I was strong enough to survive but I just wasn't strong enough to fight back. If I'd fought back I wouldn't be alive. Some things are a game of strategy don't you think." She says in a smooth voice as if that was the easiest thing to say. "Those are awfully wise words for a little girl." He says and she shrugs. "Wisdom comes from experience, not age." With those words, I stop what I am doing and take my gloves off. I turn and pull her in a hug.

She wouldn't have had to have as many experiences if I was a good brother. She would be talking like a twelve-year-old right now and not like Gandhi. She yawns when I pull away and I smile and kiss her cheek.

"If she's tired she can sleep on the couch in the break room. It might smell like cigarettes but it sleeps well." Happy say and my eyes widen at his words. He spoke. He gives her a smile and puts his hand out. They walk off and she whispers a quick good night and grabs her stuff.

"She seems like a very strong girl. I think that you don't have to worry about her. She seems to learn from everything." I tighten my hand and take a shaky breath.

"Can I please do my work, sir? No offense but talking about someone I hate and something that is my fault tends to make my mind run in a hundred directions and I really don't need that right now." He pulls his lips in a tight smile and cracks his neck. "As you wish. I apologize. If you need anything ask one of my men. But, I will wish to speak with you sometime soon about your father." I nod and I hear his boots click against the floor and the door open.

"You know you have a really sweet sister. Is she like her mom or you?" Chuck asks from beside me as he sips on a beer and I furrow my eyes.

"I honestly don't know where she gets it. Our mom is a recovering crack addict and her father is a mystery. My father is... well let's not even get into that and me. I'm just an asshole with a degree." I say and he chuckles and brushes my shoulder lightly. "But at least you're an asshole that earned your degree." He says and I chuckle and nod. I rub my eyes to try and focus but I end up digging my reading glasses out my bag. Chuck walked away, probably seeing that I was trying to work and I finish my work.

It's now just me and Lex here and she's staring at me. "You know if you take a picture it might last longer." I say in a teasing tone. "But then I wouldn't get the full experience." She says and I c**k a brow asking with my eyes what she meant. She sits up and looks me in the eyes. "I couldn't do this to a picture."

She runs a hand through my hair and the other comes behind my ear and massages my earlobe. My eyes close and scrunch in pleasure at the feeling and I feel her breath on my neck. "Or this." Her lips hover over my neck and brush me in the slightest way making me lean into her touch. "Or this." She says with a bit of finality and I feel her touch go away completely. I open my eyes but close them just as fast when her lips connect with mine. Her lips tasted different from the first time we kissed. Sweeter perhaps, like honey. They seemed more dominant as well. Like she needed to taste all of me, she grabs my hand from beside her and places it on her left breast and my eyes almost bulge out my head. When I feel her tongue slip in my mouth I control myself and pull away. "I think I get the picture Lex." I say breathlessly as I chuckle she bites her lip and scans my face. Looking for something that I don't understand but I let her do it. Because this gave me the chance to take her in.

Her face is covered in faint freckles that you really have to concentrate to see, the darker ones cascade across her small angular nose.  Beauty marks littered her face like the stars, each one aligning perfectly with the other. Her lips are so full and plump that I just want to kiss her again. Her eyes looked like deep orbs of chocolate and had speckles of gold in them.

"Where did you get this scar?" I hear her say and I shake my head and try and stop checking her out. Her hand comes to my neck and she runs a finger over the long scar from ear to my Adam's apple. I sigh and contemplate on whether to tell her or not. It was a time in my life I'm not proud of but I felt that she wouldn't be scared or runoff. She would be different.

"My father paid for my college tuition. It was the only way he could get me to work for him, so he made me earn my way. I was apart of his clean up crew. Anytime someone witnessed something they shouldn't I was given the order to shut them up. I let a women go once, and that didn't go over well with my father. He held me by the throat and cut me, I don't know if he ever meant to kill me or not but it wouldn't have surprised me. I stopped working for him after that. I found ways to make my tuition up, but it involved a lot of sleeping with the dean of the university."

I say and run my hand over a scar on her side. "At least your scar has a story. All of mine have been blurred into the category of work-related accidents." She says chuckling and looks at me with a smirk. "Would you want to sleep together sometime?"

I choke at these words and pound on my chest. I stare at her like she was crazy and she looks to be a bit sad. "I'm sorry the idea repulses you so much." She bites out and stands up from the table, wrapping the towel around her. I grab her arm to stop her from walking away and she glares at me as I position her in front of me. "It didn't repulse me I was just caught off guard. I've never had someone be so... blunt you know?" She shakes her and runs a hand through her hair. "Sorry. I'm not really subtle about things I want." She says biting her lip nervously.

"So, Do you want to?" She asks running a hand through my hair. What the hell do I say? I mean hell yes she was one the sexiest women I've ever seen but I felt like an asshole. "f**k yes." The words came out and a smirk slides across her face and she licked her lips. "I look forward to hearing you cuss more. Come by my place tomorrow while Janelle is at school." She says and I can't hide my smile.

What the hell am I doing? I never do things like this, yes I get the occasional flirting and such but no one ever could accept the fact that my family was more important than they will ever be to me.

"I might have to work late. I'll text you when I'll come by." I say and glance at my watch seeing as it is two in the morning. "That's fine. I'm just a text away and make sure you bring your energy cause I've got some things in mind to do to you." She says running a hand down chest. I shiver a bit and place my hands on her waist and my eyes widen.

"I'm sorry, I didn't finish stitching you up. Let me clean the needle in the bathroom and get a new pair of gloves I say and walk over to the sink that is behind a curtained area. I hear some faint goodbyes and hollers as the door slams and when I turn back Lex is the only one there.

"I turn my back and everyone leaves?" I ask and she shakes her head. "Happy is still here. He's sitting in the break room with Janelle." She says and I tense up. I don't want to assume the worst but the guy only seemed to be friendly to Janelle and I couldn't risk anything. "He's a good guy. He's just doesn't talk till he needs to. You can go check, I bet he's reading a book and drinking a beer." She says and for some reason, they ease my creeping fear. I've known her three days now and yet they were comforting. I just walked over to her and placed a hand behind her head and laid her down. She removed the towel from across her chest and dabs at the blood on her side. "I can shower with these right?" She asks, sitting up a bit. Her chest distracts me so much that I have to close my eyes and think of dead cats and old nuns yet again. "Yeah, but I would duct tape a plastic bag over your injury that way it doesn't get infected." She nods and lays back down and I watch as her boobs drift to the sides and up her chest at their heaviness. I put my gloves on and place a hand on the side of her breast in order to fully reach it. "You're lucky you're a chesty women or else this would have went straight into your lungs." I say as I start to stitch and she chuckles, which makes them jiggle against my hand.

"I knew these things would come in handy somewhere besides the s*x department." She says cupping her breasts and jiggling them. She was trying to kill me I swear.

I finish the stitching and clean her bloody side and pack up my things. "You can sleep on the mat over there till in the morning. I'll make sure you get up in time to take her to school. Get some sleep." Lex says as she stands up and braces herself on the table. She walks off and opens a closet and digs through an old bag and some old shirt till she finds a pillow a blanket.

"Sleep tight J." She says and hands me everything and gestures towards the mats. I smile but it wavers when I think about something. "How about you have the blanket. You can catch some sleep, you've had a long day." I say and she rolls her eyes. "Go lay down. I'll join you in a second. I just need a shirt." She says and walks off to the closet. I place the pillow on the Matt and lay down, surprised by how comfy this was. She walks back, in pair of basketball shorts and a Celtics tee and smiles and places down another pillow. "There aren't anymore more blankets. Can we share?" She asks and I nod lazily as sleep is already starting to take hold of me and I feel her lay down beside me and curl up to my side, rest her arm over my stomach.

I let sleep take a hold on me and I slip under, but not without dreaming of James. All the things he had done to me in my life and how I refuse to let that happen to Janelle. But I already knew it. I had failed her.