by Malone, M.
The guy clutched tighter and tugged. Jonas heard the tear, and then muttered a curse under his breath. "Motherfucker. Are you fucking serious right now?"
He popped the guy in the nose again and his head clanked back against the wall, making him groan. "That was for the fucking shirt." Then Jonas hit him again. "And that's for not listening the first time." He released another fist. "And that's for trying to hurt a little girl." Jonas couldn't stop.
You're getting out of control again. Dial it back. Dial it back now!
But he was too far gone. His mind went completely quiet as he let pure instinct take over. Guys like this didn't deserve to walk the earth.
But then there was a voice in his earpiece. "While this is fun and all, listening to you beat this guy's ass," Matthias said, "I've got JJ on the move. You're the closest. It looks like she's leaving work, but she's not getting in a cab like she’s supposed to. Can you swing by?"
Lucky for the idiot in his hands, Matthias had used the magic word. JJ. She needed him a lot more than he needed to keep kicking ass.
"Yeah, I'm on it."
After Matthias disconnected, Jonas glanced down. "Damn it. I love this shirt," he muttered as he dragged Clint’s limp body over to a light pole. He grabbed the recording device from his pocket and stuck it in Clint's back pocket after he wiped it down. And then he took a couple of zip ties and tied the douchebag to the pole.
The police would find enough information on Clint’s stalking to put him away for a long time. And, in case that wasn't enough, they'd get a search warrant for his house, and find all the pictures of Clara Cole. That should do it. Back in the day, he hadn't liked the idea of being a vigilante. But you're a long way from back in the day, aren't you?
He wasn't going to go back there. He had a new life now. One that Noah had given him. And with that new life came the mouthy blonde he needed to go rescue from herself.
As he walked back to the car, not only did he have to wrangle the demons of his past, he had to wrangle the sexy blonde demon that ran through his skull. JJ. Just the idea of seeing her right now made the blood in his veins run hot.
And like the traitor it was, his goddamn dick twitched in his pants. He needed to get that shit under control. He didn't even like her. She was all mouth and a huge pain in the ass.
But there were times he wanted to shut her up by kissing her. And his mind went a little lust drunk thinking about backing her up against a wall and burying himself inside her until she could only scream his fucking name.
Yeah, you need help. He knew it. But none of that shit was going to happen. The last thing on earth he was doing was touching Jessica Jones.
#
JJ’s feet hurt. Her back hurt. Her neck hurt. Hell, even her brain hurt. With a chuckle, she started to sing the song, “My neck, my back, my pussy … ” Yeah well, maybe it was better if she didn't think about her pussy and the lack of attention it was seeing these days. Her vibrator was getting a lot of airplay right now.
With Lucia only back part-time, she was having to pick up some of the slack and take over some styling duties for a couple of the fashion shows Adriana had coming.
Her specialty was makeup, but she still had a great eye, and experience doing some styling work. So Adriana was making good use of that.
But all of this extra work would be over soon. Lucia was coming back full-time in just a few weeks. And it wasn’t a moment too soon. Adriana was even going to let her bring the baby to work sometimes, which made just about every woman in the office happy. Seriously, Noah and Lucia made a pretty adorable baby.
Warmth spread out through JJ's body when she thought about Isabella. God, she loved that kid. All chubby cheeks and baby belly and cute toes. One day you’ll have one. Ha. Her subconscious thought it was a comedian. She was never keeping a guy long enough to even think about kids.
She had left work heading towards the penthouse and considered getting a cab, but it was a nice night and she needed fresh air before she was locked in.
She loved living there. She loved being mere steps away from her best friend. But what she didn't love were the constant, watchful eyes. And she understood that after some past events and the attempted kidnapping, it was for her own safety. Apparently having friends like Noah and the boys was a dangerous proposition. So she now lived in a fabulous penthouse rent-free. Unfortunately, that came with a slew of big-brother types. Seriously overprotective big-brother types. And one best friend and the most adorable baby on the planet. So she couldn't really complain about that.
But there were nights where she just needed time alone, for the love of Christ. And even though her feet hurt, she liked walking in the city at night. The hustle and bustle of the day quieted to an excited buzz for the evening.
The local bars were hopping for a Wednesday, filled with people who wanted to catch up with friends over dinner and drinks. As she passed a few, she could see couples sitting close together, heads bent towards each other or holding hands.
Would that ever be her? Not that she cared about any of that stuff. She wasn’t interested in holding some guy’s hand as they strolled around Central Park. Boring. She wasn't really a family and baby sort of person.
Except, you are.
Okay, fine. She was slightly green with envy whenever she saw Noah and Lucia together. And then with the baby. That was the icing on the jealousy cake. And it wasn’t real jealousy. It was more of a could-she-ever-have-that-herself? kind of pang. She knew the answer to that already.
No.
And she wasn’t hiding from her past. But every time she got close to someone, the nightmares would start, and she remembered what it was like to trust someone who did nothing but hurt her day after day. And she wasn’t interested in that any more.
So she’d dated a slew of guys that were never, ever going to go anywhere. She’d even dated a couple of guys that tried to go somewhere. Hell, one had actually proposed, and there was one she thought she might care about. But she couldn't love any of them. Every single one of them left her cold. Well, they left her bed warm for a moment or two, but after that she didn't really want to be with them.
Because none of them gets your blood pumping like Jonas does.
Dammit. She’d promised herself she wasn't going to think about him right now. Although maybe that's just what she needed. A fight with him, and then ten minutes of battery-operated boyfriend, and she’d be out of her little funk. Actually, that didn't sound like a bad idea.
Yeah, she was pathetic. But she had to take her pleasure somewhere. As she passed an empty boutique with the mannequin lit in the storefront window, the hairs on the back of her neck stood. JJ frowned, swearing she saw a shadow in the window, but when she turned around to look there was nobody there. Across the street a couple kissed. The guy picked the girl up and she kicked her feet out like a movie picture poster. It was cute. And not for you.
Still unable to shake her unease, she considered a cab but opted against it. She'd be at the penthouse soon. But she did start walking faster. When she rounded the corner at the next street, she heard footsteps tracking hers, moving at the same fast clip. A shiver ran up her spine.
She looked around again, and there was no one there, but a shadow slipped around the corner behind her. "Listen asshole, you should know I have a Taser. And a dick. You're going to be very unhappy if you try to do anything to me." She reached in her purse for some kind of weapon, but all she came up with was … Oh, hell. Her vibrator. Well, technically Lucia’s. Lucia had gotten it as a gag gift a while ago, but she’d been too scared to actually use it. The thing was HUGE! And purple. Honestly, no one’s vagina could accommodate that monster.
She’d tossed it in her cavernous purse the day before the fire and had never taken the thing out. Well now it was her weapon, and hey, look at that. It was actually a dick, so that part was true. Maybe she could get Matthias to rig it as some kind of Taser too.
While it might do the trick to get her off—hey, sometimes she need
ed to take the Jonas edge off—it was not gonna do much against a would be attacker.
What was she gonna do, orgasm him to death? La petite mort indeed. Fuck it, she was ready for this asshole.
But there was no one there.
Jesus, she was losing it. She turned back to head to the penthouse, and stopped short, even as the knot of fear lodged in her throat.
She thought she recognized the car that had pulled up on the corner across the street, as well as the man driving it. This meant trouble. She only had one choice: run faster.
chapter 4
She wanted to give him a heart attack.
As Jonas raced through the streets, his eyes went back to his phone again and again to follow the tracker Matthias had sent. A blinking red dot that represented the one woman who could crawl under his skin.
He turned at the next street and gunned the engine. Luckily he’d been close, so the crazy woman hadn’t been walking alone for too long. She was determined to send them all into heart failure. What the hell was she thinking walking home this late by herself?
An open parking space ahead beckoned and Jonas almost took out a part of the curb as he swung into it. He jumped out and slammed the door behind him, locking the vehicle with his key fob. He’d deliberately aimed for a street ahead of her so he could intercept her. Not that she’d appreciate his forethought at all. No. He fully expected to get an earful and a sassy string of expletives from the always delightful Jessica Jones.
He didn’t have to wait long. She was about ten feet away and still hadn’t noticed him, another thing he’d be sure to spank her ass for later. Hadn’t he taught her the importance of being aware of your surroundings? But JJ was in a world of her own, her hips swinging as she strode down the street. It was only as she got closer and he saw her face that he realized this wasn’t just JJ flouting the rules for fun. Her eyes were wild and darted around her frantically. She was clutching her bag to her side, not so much like she was afraid someone would steal it, but like she just needed to hold on to something.
She wasn’t breaking the rules. She was scared. Something had sent her running, and Jonas needed to know what it was.
Jonas didn’t move so she almost crashed into him.
“Watch it, asshole!”
He grabbed her arm and they struggled for a moment. “JJ, calm down. It’s me.”
Her eyes locked onto him, and for a moment she looked so vulnerable that it broke his heart. “Baby girl, it’s me. Matthias sent me your coordinates when he saw you leave work without an escort.”
She nodded frantically then glanced behind her. “I had to go. I just needed to get out of there.”
“Okay, well, we can go wherever you need to.”
His words, meant to calm, seemed to enrage her. She pointed her finger at him, getting annoyingly close to his eyes.
“I know I can go where I need to. That’s what I’m doing. I don’t need a man to tell me where I can go. Nobody controls me!”
Jonas threw up his hands. “No one said you couldn’t. I’m trying to help you. Do you know how reckless this was, walking out alone? Anything could have happened to you, crazy woman!”
JJ clutched her bag tighter. “I’ve walked home plenty of times by myself before.”
“I don’t think you need me to tell you that things are different now.”
The words took the wind out of her sails. JJ sagged a little, her eyes meeting his directly.
“Yeah. I know.”
He fell into step beside her, happy when she followed him back to where he’d parked the car. Their usual routine was for one of the guys to escort her home from the office. If she needed to stay late, like she had tonight, she would call them when she was ready to go and someone would pick her up. Ever since everything had gone down last year, when her best friend had been stalked, JJ had seemed to understand how serious this all was and had cooperated with their efforts to keep her protected.
What had happened tonight to change that? Jonas wasn’t sure what was going on but there had to have been something to send her fleeing into the night looking as haunted as she had earlier.
He held the door open for her and waited as she climbed up into the vehicle. She settled her bag on her lap and then turned to grab the seatbelt. When she saw him still standing in the doorway to the car, she hesitated.
“Is everything okay?”
“Do I look okay to you?” When she recoiled at his harsh tone, Jonas took a deep breath. “Sorry. No. I’m not okay. Not at all.”
Jonas didn’t offer any other explanation, just shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side. Let her stew on that. Maybe then she’d see what it felt like to be left out in the dark, wondering what the hell was going on.
Right before he reached the driver’s side door, he stopped. He was angry. Not just annoyed or peeved, but truly angry. Because whatever had scared JJ badly enough to have her running out without a word to her security was something that she hadn’t come to him about. That didn’t feel right at all. As much as they bickered, did JJ really not know that he’d drop whatever he was doing to help her?
He took a deep breath before opening the door and getting behind the wheel. JJ looked over at him. What he was feeling must have been broadcast on his face because she groaned.
“I don’t want to hear the lecture right now, okay? I was busy at work and just felt like going home without calling out the cavalry, okay?”
Jonas shook his head, unbelievably disappointed. Not just because she wasn’t taking her own safety seriously but also at the boldfaced lie. Did she really think he was that unobservant? It was an insult to him, not just as a security agent but as a man. He saw everything about her. She loved Lucia like a sister and put up with her best friend’s fussing, even though she hated to be hovered over. She liked to watch Oskar lifting weights, much to Jonas’s annoyance and jealousy.
He knew that she had a serious love affair with vodka. She had a hate affair with men and always chose badly. Including the dipshits she dated who didn’t even bother to pick her up at home.
So why would she think he wouldn’t see through such an obvious lie?
“I’m not going to give you a lecture, JJ. Just a reminder. If shit goes bad, we can’t help you if we don’t know where you are.”
Jonas had expected her to have a scathing response or to tell him where to stick it. But what JJ did next was the absolute last thing he’d ever expected. She turned to him with big blue eyes.
And burst into tears.
#
JJ had been only seven when she first discovered the power of tears.
She’d gotten caught by her father sneaking a cookie. Her dad was a stickler for the no-sweets-before-dinner rule. Sneaking a cookie without asking was grounds for losing her television privileges. The moment her eyes had filled with tears, her father had started to shift on his feet. She’d added a sniffle and before she knew it, he was shoving a cookie at her.
She’d learned it applied to men in general when she’d tried it on her first boyfriend at the age of twelve, Sal Morini. Sal had tried to break up with her before the seventh grade dance so he could go out with a girl who’d put out. Namely Vicki Dematto. As soon as she’d turned on the tears, he’d backtracked. Of course at the dance she’d ditched him to party with Lucia and her friends, then told Vicci Dematto what he’d said. No girl had gone out with Sal the rest of the year.
Those early experiences had been eye-opening experiences and led to an epiphany for JJ. Ever since, she’d never had an issue using her big blue eyes to get her out of trouble.
But this time, she wasn’t pulling a sympathy card or being manipulative at all. She was honestly just overwhelmed.
And furious that Jonas was the one to witness it.
But, he didn’t seem to be enjoying it any more than she was. He stared at her in shock before swinging his eyes back to the road.
“Oh God, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to yell at you.”
Hear
ing him backtracking somehow only made it worse. She was a strong, independent woman and she didn’t need to be pandered to. It was humiliating that she was crying right now when all she wanted to do was rage, but after being so sure that someone was following her, her emotions were raw and right at the surface.
“I’m not crying about that. Damn it, why am I crying at all?” She swiped at her cheeks and glared at him, as if the tears were his fault.
Although maybe they were partially his fault. She’d been holding it together while walking on her own. Then Jonas had to show up looking all kinds of edible and reminding her how much her safety meant to everyone else. Of course she’d broken down! What woman wouldn’t, after a guilt trip like that?
Never mind that what he’d said wasn’t even that bad. JJ needed someone to blame just then, and Jonas was readily available.
“You show up talking about Lucia and my safety. I thought someone was following me, so I told him I had a Taser and a dick, but really, all I had was the dick and I was scared, because even if that dick is huge, I mean it’s probably more effective as a club.”
Jonas glanced at her from the corner of his eye, and then mouthed the word dick slowly. Under any other circumstances JJ would have laughed. He had the cautious expression you use when talking to someone who is completely batshit crazy.
Maybe she had lost it. She reached back into her purse and pulled it out. “See, I have a legitimate dick.”
His eyes went wide. “Damn, I think that thing is setting some unrealistic expectations.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not for me to use, asshole. It was a gag gift that Lucia gave back. And it was all I had as a weapon.”
He worked hard to wipe the smirk off his face. “Jessica, I apologize if I made you feel like I was coming down hard on you. I just want you to know that your safety is our top priority.”
He made another turn that had her shifting slightly, almost falling into the door. Part of her wanted to give him shit for his driving, but she couldn’t even muster the energy. She’d been running on pure adrenaline before, but now that she was tucked into the safe confines of the car with Jonas, the fear from before came back full force. What the hell had that been about? She’d heard something; there was no way she’d imagined that. And if she’d heard something, and someone had been there, why hadn’t they answered when she called out? Why would anyone want to scare her?
