by Lisa B
Sorry it's taken me so long to get out the latest chapter! My life has just
been running in hyper-drive...lol. The March snow we got this morning changed
my plans for the day abruptly so I figured what better way to fill some time
while doing laundry but work on a chapter. Hope you like it.
Lisa B
Chapter 99
"Jason…it can't be!" Brenda exclaimed in disbelief. "It just can't be." Her voice lowered to a horse whisper. In one blinding moment, her nightmares had come to fruition. As quickly as she realized the horror, she sprung on Jason like a caged animal seeing an opportunity to escape.
Hurling her body across the room, she rammed him in the stomach stunning him momentarily. Feeling the blood boil as it coursed through her veins, her hands took on a life of their own clawing at his face and arms. Julia stood paralyzed by her sister's ferocity. Jason remained motionless until he felt her draw first blood. The injury Brenda inflicted awakened him from his stupor and moved him to action. Effortlessly, Jason pulled Brenda from him and pitched her across the room. Julia flinched as Brenda's body crashed into the coffee table.
"Jason…NO!" Julia cried as he made is way across the room, frightened by the gleam in his eye. Julia had seen that look before. It was the look of revenge. Jason wanted Brenda to pay for something.
Pulling herself to her feet, Brenda turned in time to avoid Jason's grasp. She scurried around the sofa, distancing herself from Jason as she calculated in her mind the approach for her next assault. Brenda had been a victim for many years. She had suffered silently at the hands of her father and the string of men who had graced her bed over the years. She had allowed men to degrade her; never believing she was worth more than the scraps of love these men threw at her. Clinging to them, like a dog with bone, Brenda had stumbled through her life. She had allowed men to belittle her and drag her down to their level. She had allowed herself to be sunk into the depths of despair. In life, Brenda knew she would never get any lower than she did in that one hellish moment where she had allowed her bassist instincts to take over her reason. The moment, she had allowed Sonny to plunge inside of her as they lay covered in dirt and body fluids, assaulted by the smell of vomit and decaying flesh, Brenda knew she had reached the bottom. She had allowed herself to become little more than a hole. Brenda cringed remembering how loving and compassionate Jax had been and how loving and compassionate he remained.
Brenda had never known or understood love until she had been taught the lesson of her life. She, Brenda Barrett Jacks, was a woman with faults and imperfections but she was a woman with a great capacity for love. She learned to love herself which opened the door for the greatest relationship she would ever be privileged to experience. In learning to love herself, she fell in love with Jasper Jacks with no doubts or hesitations. She walked into the arms of this love and basked in its warmth. She loved him so much she walked away. She put his life before hers and wished he would find a woman who would take all the love he had to give and return it 100 fold. During this journey, her wish came true. She surprised herself the moment she realized that woman was she. Brenda and Jax had fought too long and too hard for her to throw it all away by giving up.
Without hesitating, Brenda nimbly climbed over the sofa and hurled herself at Jason a second time. She may die at his hands but she would do it fighting. Brenda had resolved during her many months of self-imposed exile that never again would she give up and allow herself to be used. With every fiber of her being and every breath in her body, she would fight…fight to preserve her integrity, her freedom and the love she had learned to accept of herself. Never again would Brenda turn her back on the love Jax gave to her unwavering. He had accepted her for the woman that she was not the woman he thought she should be. Together they had built a life…a life that Brenda never dreamed possible just a few years ago. No one…not Jerry Jacks or Jason Morgan would jeopardize this life without Brenda fighting to protect it. So she began clawing at Jason's face again. A smile crossed her lips as she felt his flesh tear under her fingernails a second and third time. A flicker of movement caught Brenda's eye. She braced herself as his fist landed squarely on her jaw. The pain radiated through her body as blow after blow assaulted her. Before sinking to the ground, her knee shoved itself between his legs. She smiled again as she felt her knee connect with the portion of his body that Brenda was convinced Jason used to judge his manhood. All Brenda heard as she fell to the floor was the puff of wind and Jason's low grimace as he cupped his groin in agony.
Round 1 was completed.
******************** Damascus Syria *******************
Remi dragged Isabella into the room, throwing her into his favorite chair.
Grabbing her by the hair, he pulled her head back so that she looked squarely on the sight of Jerry Jacks. "See my pet, your savior, has come for you after all." A low chuckle rumbled through his body and he savored the feeling of victory. Lowering his mouth to her ear, he whispered. "Think how wonderful it will feel as my body enters yours. Do you think it will excite him…the sight of you lying naked just beyond his grasp? My dear, Isabella, what pleasure this will give me. Finally, I will take my rightful place as head of the family and keeper of the fortunes of the world."
Isabella bit the inside of her cheeks, fighting back the tears. She had made a resolution as the guards had dragged Jerry's bound and gagged body past her. She would rather kill herself than be used as a pawn in Remi's sick and twisted game. He would never take her again.
Straightening her back, Isabella spit into Remi's bowed face. His arm jerked ready to slap her across the face but he stopped himself. "No my sweet hitting you would be too easy. I want him to see you groomed beyond perfection without a blemish on your sweet, supple skin."
Isabella refused to answer his taunts. Knowing him as only a wife could, she fought the instincts to fight against him barb for barb. That would be playing into his hands. The game was not lost yet. Jerry was alive and she hadn't been broken. She prayed that Jerry's brother would be coming to get him out of this latest scrape. During their time as friends, Isabella had heard tale after endless tale of Jerry's exploits. All of them began and ended the same. Jerry getting lost in the intrigue and Jax pulling him from the jaws of death was the constant theme. Hopefully, this adventure would follow true to course.
Stroking her hair, Remi purred. "What are you thinking of my pet? Are you wondering why you turned your back on a man like me or are you still hopelessly pining over that worthless shell Jerry Jacks?"
Isabella got up to leave tired of Remi's games. He pushed her back down into the chair.
"Take a good look at him. He may not look as good the next time you see him. I wonder if he will weep tears of anger when he realizes how good you would have felt against his flesh. It really is thrilling to make a grown man cry."
No longer able to lock away her words, Isabella snarled one reply before she left the room. "Even dead he would look and feel like more than a man than you. I will never be yours." With that, she turned and left the room leaving Remi to stare at his enemy alone.
****************************************************
Jax paced back and forth in the apartment. He had placed the call into Emily Thompson 4 hours earlier with still no word back. Worried that the Thompsons were out of town, he decided to call their son who lived down the street. He pulled his cell phone out staring at the numbers uncertain if the call would do any good or just serve to alarm another legion of friends. Startled, Jax jumped as the phone rang incessantly in his hands.
"Jax here." He answered calmly, even though he was shaking inside.
"Jax, it's Emily Thompson. Is he dead?"
Somehow her matter of fact question didn't surprise Jax. It seemed fitting that Emily Thompson, Jerry's co-conspirator for known and unknown reasons, would understand the seriousness of Jerry's latest adventure.
Not bothering to explain details that were probably already known, he simply stated. "He's missing."
The silence stretched across the miles. After what seemed an eternity, Emily answered. "That slime Bodega has him…any ideas where they could be."
"I was hoping you could help me." Jax said.
"I'm sorry. I told you everything I knew when I called you in Boston. All he said in the note was that he was going after Bodega."
"Mrs. Thompson think, is there anything, any thing at all Jerry might have said during one your conversations that could give me a clue. I have men scouring the city. I've threatened anyone and every one. It's as if Bodega and Jerry have fallen off the face of the earth. There's no action on his credit cards or cell phone. I know he doesn't carry that much cash so he must be using something. Karen would have known what dummy accounts Jerry has set up. Now there is no one."
"Jax, I really am sorry but Jerry and I never talked about money or plans. We talked about Karen. My sweet, beautiful Karen who lies under 6 feet of dirt because of that pig Bodega. I hope he rots in the fires of hell for what he's done."
The cold harshness of her voice sent shivers down Jax' spine. Jerry's need to avenge Karen's death was larger than any of them had ever realized. For the first time in his life, Jax had the sinking feeling that he was too late to save his brother from his latest jam.
"He's smarter than you think." Emily said sensing Jax worry.
"But he's blinded…by love and revenge. That's a deadly combination for any man." Jax dreaded facing the family if he could find and save Jerry.
"He's not yours to save Jax. He never was and he never will be. Jerry marches to his own drummer. He let's the rest of you join in from time to time but he only let's you see and do what he wants. You never knew about Isabella. And you will never understand the bond that ties us together."
Jax could not answer. He knew her words were true.
Emily continued. "You're going about it the wrong way. You're trying to find Jerry by trying to figure out what you think he would do not what Jerry would do. I know it sounds the same but it isn't. Jerry has a lot of quirks. We need to think of his quirks if you're ever going to find him."
"We?" Jax questioned.
"Yes. Have someone meet me at the airport. I started my journey to Syria after I called you in Boston. Don't worry Jax, he means as much to me as he does to you. We will find him and I will see Bodega pay for what he's done."
Jax hung up the phone with a sense of relief that he wouldn't have to fight this battle alone.