I open the door, temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight outside. “I do,” I say. “But I'd still prefer if you didn't get yourself killed because of it. Or me either. Watch yourself, Katrina.”
The afternoon sunlight is hot and bright, and I'm finally able to adjust my cock in my pants as I head down the stairs on the side of the old warehouse. I get into my car, the first time I've been allowed in it since the incident, and once inside, I throw my head back, sighing. She's dedicated, she's deadly, she's a fanatic that's on a level that makes those jihadist assholes look like a bunch of pushovers... but she's also beautiful and sexy, and part of me wants to go up there and tell her right now that whatever she needs, she has my help.
But I can't. Not yet. I'm too pissed off, and I don't want to fight with her. Instead, I turn the key on my engine. I'm about to drive back to the plantation, and try and do some serious thinking, when the door to Kat's loft bangs open, and she comes running down the stairs.
What is it now?
Chapter 9
Kat
I really don't know why I'm running down the stairs. The question that I have in mind isn't all that important. Besides, I can't trust Jackson to answer me truthfully anyway, if he even knows the answer. Still, for some reason I'm pounding down the stairway, my Glock tucked into the back of my pants.
“Jackson! Jackson!” I yell, hitting the blacktop. The parking lot of the gym is cracked and worn, and alternates between dusty and soaked depending on the recent weather, so my feet raise little puffs of dirt as I cross the few yards still separating us.
I'm glad when he shuts off his engine and rolls down the window, although he's visibly annoyed. “What, Kat? Wanna arm lock me again? Tell me I'm a piece of shit?”
I stop, frozen more by the pain in his voice than by his words themselves. “I... I need to know if Nathan Black is coming for me,” I finally say. “Are you going to send him to see me?”
Jackson looks out the front windshield for a moment, then slams his hand against the steering wheel of his Audi. “You really think I'd do that? You think I'd just come by, ask a few questions, then send Nathan after you? I'm not my father, Kat. I'm not like him at all.”
“You might want to reconsider that,” I tell him. “From what I saw in the limo, you're going down the same path he has.”
Jackson's eyes are blazing in fury when he looks back at me, and his teeth are bared. “Goddammit Kat, I told you, we all have ways...”
“Yeah, yeah, ways to cope. I'm just saying, you might want to check yours, ask yourself if they're making you the person you want to be... or not,” I say, gentler than before. “But fine. What about your father? Will Nathan tell him about me?”
“I don't know... I don't think so. But Kat, I do know this about my father... this isn't over with Pops. He's not going to let it drop.”
I smirk and tilt my head. “I hadn't planned on that at all. Hell, Jackson, what I did to you is just round one. I've got all sorts of shit planned.”
“Then it certainly won't be over,” Jackson says, calming. He looks at me for a moment, his eyes uncertain. There's something in them, and I kinda understand, I think. It's the same uncertainty that's haunted my dreams for the past week. It's the same feeling that I have right now, looking at Jackson. Douchebag, yes. Spoiled rich kid, yes. But he's still Jackson, and we were friends.
“I know it won't. But, 'even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate',” I tell him, knowing he won't get the reference. It doesn't matter, I understand it.
I'm surprised, however, when Jackson chuckles and shakes his head. “'But in the end, the details of a matter are important. The right and wrong of one's way of doing things are found in trivial matters.'”
I blink, absolutely shocked. Jackson shrugs. “You're not the only one who's read that book. I went through a phase of trying to find a philosophical backing to my bodybuilding. Katrina, my father probably deserves every bit of retaliation, hatred, and punishment that's in your heart. Just... make sure you're doing the small things right. As for Nathan... I won't send him. If he's coming, I'll try and warn you at least.”
He starts his engine again and I watch as he drives away, and I'm still speechless. Finally, I shake my head, smirking. “Who the hell would have thought that?”