by M. P. Lodi
She clenched her ankle as he looked down at her on the ground “If you weren't so hot, I'd think you might be here to do me harm.” She was in so much pain, but his comment took all of her fears away. She knew she could play any man, if needed, who thought she were hot. Men are such simple creatures. God she wished he would play doctor. He could most definitely give her a physical and patch her up. She had such fantasies of McDreamy from her favorite TV show. She looked up at him and from that angle his chest was to die for. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes teary.
Her pain became too much. She took off her shoe as he knelt back down to her. “Let me take a look, it might be broken. What the hell were you doing in that tree? Are you spying on me, taking photos?” He asked.
She stammered, clenching her ankle. “No...I mean yes. I was. But I only live next door. I'm not a real spy.”
He smiled and looked right into her face. She looked back. His face softened and those eyes went right through her. “Does that mean you're a fake spy?” He joked with her. Thank God he was friendly.
“No...I mean I was spying on you. I just thought you were hot. I'm so sorry. Why the pat-down? Are you a cop?”
“Do I look like a cop?” He did actually.
“I'd say yes, the haircut gives you away. Are you investigating the murder?” He looked to the ground as his eyes teared up. No way. Then it hit her. This had to be Mr. R's son. Jackson Russo. Holy shit, it was him. Wasn’t he supposed to be dead?
“You know who I am, don't you? That look you just gave me was one of recognition. Am I guessing right?” He asked in a sad way. She decided to play stupid even though she did see photos of him in the news. He had died in a boating accident with his best friend a day after his father was shot. Jen remembered looking at his photo in Newsday and thinking 'What a waste of a hunk.'
“My ankle is throbbing. Damn, I'm bleeding too on my leg, it hit the brick coming down. I've lived next door since I was eight years old and have never seen you around here, so I was curious.”
He smiled softly. “You have seen me.” He quickly said as a fact.
Well, yes I saw you four days ago walking into the house, and also in the news. But that...”
He interrupted “No, we've met before. You're the crying girl, don't you remember me?”
She thought about it and a flash of memory hit her. He must be the kid that fell out of the tree when she was twelve. No way!
She stared into his face. “I blocked out most of my past, my memories are hard on me.”
“I remember...your Mom and Dad were in an accident. It was me falling out of this very tree, spying on you that summer when I was thirteen. I was in serious pain that day too. But as you and your friend, I forgot her name...”
It was Emily” Jen said with tears in her eyes. Any memories of the past could make her cry. Her emotions had been totally messed up since her parents' death.
“Does it hurt that much?” She nodded yes. But she wasn't crying for her ankle. It was more the flash of memory. She thought about that day, her and Emily both had to help him walk. Her Aunt called next door and then he was taken to the hospital for x-rays. That was the last she saw of him. She didn't realize or remember it was him, because she thought the kid was from the former family that owned the estate, before Jackson's father bought it.
Jen remembered she had been crying when he fell from the tree. Emily was holding and hugging her that day. The sky was nice and clear and the temperature was in the 70s. The memory was a bit hazy, but it was all coming back to her.
He was in pain from his fall, but she was the one crying. He sat on the ground with Emily and Jen and then reached over to the white rose bushes that grew all along the wall line, he had picked one and gave it to her. A wave of tears overwhelmed her now thinking of it. She remembered him saying “I might be hurt but you need this, and a hug.”
There was a song playing on her old cassette player that she and Emily were blasting. It was 'Total Eclipse of The Heart’, by Bonnie Tyler. She was a mess thinking of that day. She was a mess now too as that song played in her head which to this day could make her ball out cry. And she was. She was getting a total memory dump and that, coupled with her pain had her crying hard. Damn it, she meets Jackson Russo and falls apart like a mental case.
“We need to talk. Let me carry you inside, are you OK with that? You can trust me.” He said to her while grabbing her gently and placing her in his arms, then stood up with Jen draping her arms around his neck. She was light for him. Feeling his chest and body next to her left breast and stomach, she saw she was right, not only was Jackson hot, but his chest was well defined. She smiled as she was carried into the house.
“I know I can trust you and I'm sorry for crying like a little girl. I'm going through a lot right now. I'm normally not such a...”
“Shh.” He said. Jen was rambling and he knew it. He carried her up the three stairs leading to glass doors on the patio in the back of the house. She put her head on his shoulder...and felt perfectly safe. She didn't want it to be too weird even though she was falling for him. He had her at 'who the fuck.'
She was so glad that she fell. Hell – if she broke her ankle this man would be worth it. “Didn't you die in a boating accident a day after your father was killed?” Jen asked.
He looked at her, as he opened the glass door to go in. “That's why we need to talk. I'm assuming your Aunt told you all about it all.” He was a bit choked up himself. She stopped her crying at least, with her ankle hurting twice as much as it had been. It might be better if she stopped talking about his father, it was hitting a raw nerve for Jackson, understandably.
This man was hurting inside himself. He was a billionaire now that his father was dead. Why was he faking his own death? That was a mystery. One she knew she would get all of the details to. Damn... she liked this Jackson.
Noah
Noah was busy watching the game as the glass doors to the patio opened, and in walked Jackson carrying a hot, crying woman. He smiled and said to his friend “No one is supposed to see us here.” Jackson carried the girl over to the sofa, while saying “I know, but we can trust her. She's someone I've known since I was thirteen.”
Noah shook his head and sighed. “You know what that agent said, no one is to see us until the investigation is over and done with.”
“Ouch” Jen said as she sat on the sofa, holding her ankle.
“What happened to her?” He asked Jackson, ignoring Jen.
“It's a long story, I'm going to get her some iced tea” he looked at her when he said that as if asking her. She nodded to him and he said “and something to clean up her cut, plus a bag of ice for her ankle.”
Jackson started walking out of the room while saying “her name is Jen, be right back.”
Noah looked her straight in the face, with pursed lips. “Since you were thirteen you've known him?” He didn't believe the story.
“Yes. Since the day he fell out of a tree.” She said.
Noah's eyebrows went up, as he looked at how beautiful she was. “You look like the one who fell out of tree. What happened to your ankle?”
She looked embarrassed to say anything and put her hand over her eyes and wiped them of tears. “I did fall out of the tree.”
Noah had to laugh and did. “Get the fuck out of here. I was right? This is too good. What the hell were you doing in a tree?”
Jackson walked back into the room. Noah just watched as Jackson put peroxide and a towel on the table and gave her the glass of iced tea. He then raised her leg onto an ottoman and put the bag of ice on her ankle. She winced and made a pain face.
“How's it feeling now?” Jackson asked.
She gulped down some of the iced tea.“It’s throbbing.” Noah didn't follow up on his question as to why a hot girl that supposedly knew Jackson for years, was in a tree.
Noah looked at the game and then back at Jackson and Jen. “I tell you two what, I'll leave you guys alone to play doctor. I could have swo
rn I saw this in some porno before.” He looked right at Jackson. “Later you can tell me why I can’t even have women visit, but you can nurse women falling out of trees on the estate.”
He looked at Jen from head to toe then back at Jackson “And not just any woman, a hot lady that you've known since you were a kid. I'll be in my room watching the game.”
Jen
Noah walked out of the room, leaving Jen and Jackson alone on the sofa. The game was blasting. Jackson looked around. “Hold this a second, I want to shut the TV off.” Jen held the ice on her ankle as Jackson reached for the remote and clicked it.
“I'm sorry if I'm imposing on you and your friend.” She said.
“Don't mind him. He's frustrated at being stuck in this house until things settle down, he wanted to invite a girlfriend over last night, and I was the one who told him that it was impossible. He knew though, and understands the gravity of the situation that we're in. He's not used to being cooped up.”
She picked the bag of ice up and looked at her ankle. It was huge and throbbing. She put the bag of ice back on. “I can understand that. So what's going on? You were going to tell me about it all. My Aunt still has the papers on the kitchen table. For three days straight it was huge news all over Long Island and the country. I saw something on CNN and FOX too.”
Jackson grabbed the peroxide off the table and poured some into the towel. He cleaned her cut off. It didn't hurt her nearly as much as her oversized and blown up ankle. She licked her lips and bit on her lower lip. Watching him clean her leg, he looked up in the perfect moment, catching her eyeing him up. Admiring his body and again licking her lips. This time without biting her lower lip. Jen felt the chemistry between them. It was undeniable.
Jackson tilted his head to the right, smiled and looked deep into her eyes. She didn't look away as he came close to her, and sat closer to her. Their eyes never left each other’s. He kissed her right there and then. Their first kiss. It was only peck, but it was a taste of things to come. He looked at her lips then back into her eyes.
“Don't laugh at me, but I'm kind of glad you fell out of that tree.”
Her mouth opened wide. “You're glad I'm hurt?” She was playing with him. Something was stirring in her. The pain of her ankle interfered with her thoughts, but she so wanted to get closer to him.
“Not at all, I just meant that it was a great way of meeting, or re-meeting.” He looked a little shy.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
She nodded yes.
“That day when you and Emily came over to help me when I fell out of that same tree, I was watching over you both, and all I could think about was how much I wished I could hug you.”
She left the bag laying on her ankle and sat back. “You made me stop crying when you fell. All I could think about was holding you, too, especially when you gave me the white rose. I stopped thinking of my parents and was thinking of how hurt you were. I’m too emotional for my own good though, just a song on the radio alone can have me in floods of tears.”
“Me too lately. That Rod Steward song ‘Forever Young’ came on the radio yesterday.” Jackson said as he started tearing up. “My father used to play that for me growing up, he always said no matter where I was, if I wasn't with him, I can listen to that song and know he's thinking of me.” Jackson had tears rolling down his cheeks. He wiped them with his right hand, and looked at Jen who then said to him “Come closer and hug me.”
Jackson held her, his head over her right shoulder. They hugged, and both cried. It must have been five minutes until he said, “You don't think I'm a jerk, do you?”
“Not at all. We've both been through tough times. You more recent, I'll hug you anytime you need one.”
A few moments later, his head was nuzzled in her neck while taking a long whiff of her hair. He kissed her on her neck, lightly. She played with his hair behind his head, and licked her lips again. She felt like she were home. There was a closeness to Jackson that she never felt with a man before. It was almost as if they truly did know each other non-stop since they were kids, as he alluded to with his friend Noah. She'd read love stories where star-struck lovers would meet and everything clicked. This was exactly like that. They only needed to fill in the blanks, but she knew the story was written. This had to be fate.
“So...do you want to play doctor?” She said.
A loud clearing of his friend Noah's voice echoed as he stood at the door. They both looked up. “I called it. I knew this was a porno. Fuckin A. to the both of you.” Jen and Jackson both looked at Noah, surprised he was there watching them hug. He heard her ask about playing doctor. Jackson and Jen shared a quick glance.
They had no idea how long he had been watching, but Noah shook his head and said “Don't worry... you two love-birds. I'm going back to my room. I won't be coming out. You can have your privacy as you play... doctor.” He turned and before he walked out of the room Jackson and Jen both, at the exact same time said “Thanks”.
They first both saw Noah's left hand go up as if he was waving to them both while walking out. “I really feel like I've known you forever. How is that possible?” Jen said.
He put one hand on her hip and used the other to hold the back of her neck, and squeezed softly as she placed her arms around his neck. “Shut up and kiss me.”
She was about to kiss him, but pulled back for a moment. Looking in his eyes, she saw something. She knew there was a hint of something sexy behind it, a familiar feel. “Yes sir.”
Jackson
Noah sat slumped over his coffee at the table in the family room with the radio playing in the background. Guns N Roses' ‘Sweet Child Of mine’ just started. Jackson walked into the room and went right to the coffee machine. “Another late night, brother?”
Noah did his usual morning groan, in the early afternoon. As it was after one already. He said “Not as late as you, Jen was over again all night?”
Jackson popped in the coffee and patiently waited as the machine dripped the coffee into his cup. “I have to admit, I'm in love with her. It's only been a week but I'm hooked.”
Noah shook his head “Oh God.”
“I'm serious”, Jackson said. Hear the song playing?
Noah huffed and said “What of it?”
“Listen to the lyrics...”
Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder
And the rain
To quietly pass me by
“That part right there, I thought of Jen every day since I first smelled her hair and hugged her close when I was only a boy. How weird is that?”
“Oh God, I feel like puking. No more of this love bullshit.” Noah had his right hand massaging his temple.
The cup finished filling. These Keuric machines take too long to drip out the coffee. Jackson added sugar and French Vanilla cream. He always put too much in his coffee, that’s what others would say anyway. Why was it that other people cared so much what anyone ate of drank?
Noah watched him walk over to the table, and sat down opposite him. “I can smell your candy coffee from here. You put way too much creamer in your coffee.”
“Says who?” Jackson said right before taking a sip. He put the cup down “This is how you make it taste oh so good.”
“I like my coffee like I prefer my women. White, weak and not quite as... sweet.” Noah said.
Jackson looked at him with a smile. “You mean slutty. That's the common theme of your women.”
Noah raised his cup of coffee “Let's toast'
Jackson smiled and raised his coffee cup. “To What?”
“Slutty women, The New York Giants, and an end to the FBI's investigation.”
Jackson said “I'll drink to that”, even though it's only coffee.” They both drank up.
Jen suddenly made an appearance, and walked in wearing sweatpants and t-shirt as the two drank up their toast. It was one of Jacksons t-shirts that made h
er almost look like the size of a child.
Jackson's smile never left his face, but now it softened as his eyes locked onto Jen's. “A vision of loveliness.” She walked to Jackson, and kissed him on his cheek “Good morning. Mind if I make a cup?
Jackson said “Of course not.” I'm going to get another after you. My candy coffee is addictive.”
She looked at Noah “Good morning, or afternoon Noah.”
Noah just groaned which made Jen almost laugh. She held it in. Noah had done the same with her early greeting each day.
Noah downed what was left of his cup, and turned to Jackson. “I'm going to get on that treadmill, see you two in an hour.” He got up, and grabbed a donut off of the table. He always took the chocolate ones, and left the cinnamon and white ones for Jackson.
Jen said “You're going on the treadmill with a donut?”
Noah put it in his mouth and must have bitten off half of it. “Damn straight. Before this investigation started, and I died on that boat with your boyfriend, I used to go to the gym every day. First the treadmill, then a workout.”
Jackson said “Tell her why you stopped going to the gym.”
Noah made a funny face to Jackson, then looked at Jen “I dropped a burrito on the treadmill, the bastards banned me.”
Jen did a double-take. As Noah started walking out of the room she asked “What were you doing with a burrito on a treadmill?”
He left the room and yelled back “Eating it.”
She looked at Jackson. “He's a character that one.”
“You have no idea. He's a great guy, we’ve been best friends since we were fourteen.”
She started to make her coffee. Popped the cup into the machine and pressed it to start. “Don't be mad, but I want to admit something to you.”
He looked at her with his funny eyebrow face. He could put both of his eyebrows together with that look. She smiled and walked over to him, with a kiss on his neck, she said “I was standing by the door when I heard you talking about me. It sounded so nice I didn't want to interrupt.”
