Chapter eleven of L&L
Author’s Note: Thank you so very much for my friend Kathy (kittie8571) who is the Beta of this story!
Thank you everybody for the reviews! Especially to joetheone, ramona4jake, bbmjack324, ihatemonday, torry28, fl1789, sweetje, bbmlover, Jada91, coffee83 and Amanda.
Chapter Eleven: Don’t push me over the edge
Ennis could not believe it.
In a minute, they were walking to the main door of Ennis’s building, carrying bags from their trip to the Del Mar ranch.
They were both laughing, recalling a stupid joke Deacon had made about women and horses. Jack had laughed hard, showing those perfect white teeth Ennis admired so much, his eyes closed as he leaned against him for support. Ennis had laughed too, however he couldn’t help but stare. They had then stopped in front of the main door, still recovering from their laughs and smiling to each other, both happy with the result of their weekend. The light of the streetlamps made Jack look even more handsome, even more attractive.
On the other, they were assaulted by a tall man, wearing black clothes and a mask.
He had come out of nowhere. When Ennis returned his gaze from Jack’s mouth, he was facing them. A gun of small caliber, pointed at them both and Ennis had felt fear like he had never feltbefore. Not for him, for surely it wasn’t the first time someone had pointed a gun on him, but for Jack who had stayed in front of the said gun.
“Everything you got, NOW!” He screamed to the empty street.
He was paralyzed in fear, while Jack awkwardly calmed, gave the man his possessions.
“Take it easy.” Jack whispered carefully.
His wallet, his cell phone and watch. His precious watch, the one he had given him when they decided, in private, to make official their relationship. He was still staring at the watch when the man turned his attention to him. In one silent movement he gave him his cell phone and wallet, the man had no interest in his cheap Chinese imitation of a watch.
And in one blink of an eye he was running away. Taking with him their belongings and the still lasting fantasy of security.
Ennis looked back at Jack, who was now shaking, obviously catching up with his feelings. His cool demeanor clearly gone. Ennis held him in his arms, bags forgotten around them, as they rest their foreheads together. The blond lawyer no longer knew who was shaking more.
“It’s ok. We’re safe. It’s ok.” Ennis whispered.
“For a second I feared the worst.” Jack said trembling.
“Me too, baby.”
They held each other and moved to the apartment without exchanging a word. Jack knew they couldn’t call the police. It would only attract the media attention to their current situation. They took turns calling the banks, who promised to get new documents and cards to them as quickly as possible. And when they went to bed, Jack cried a little more. Ennis held him close, feeling guilty, frustrated and furious. Jack’s still fragile emotional balance took a few more minutes to calm down, before both of them fell into an agitated sleep.
When Ennis woke up, he was surprised to see the dips of light coming from his closed bedroom window. It was clearly beyond 6 am. Without raising his head from the pillow, he looked at his alarm clock to see the red numbers shining, it was 8 am already. Ennis abruptly sat up in the bed, trying hard to force his mind into working, when he finally realized he was sleeping alone. The left side of the bed - Jack’s side - was empty, with the exception of the duck feathered pillow that Jack had brought from the mansion a few days ago.
Ennis got up slowly, wondering if Jack had gone to the firm without waking him up, leaving him a note on the kitchen. Wondering if he and Jack were really ok after what had just happened last night. Wondering if Jack had just had enough and gone back to the mansion in the middle of the night. Wondering if he had, by pure bad luck, messed up things with Jack again. He didn’t let himself wonder anymore, he moved to the door of his bedroom.
He rubbed his eyes and scratched his belly. He was still tired, even though he had slept much more than he was used to in the last three days. When his vision focused again, he was surprised to see the strong light, obviously coming from the open windows of the living room, peaking under the door. Jack’s soft, low toned voice coming from the inside. He felt the usual contentment in his heart, as his hand moved to open the door.
Jack turned to face him and although he didn’t smile, his eyes moved to his face for a few seconds; before he turned away, back to his conversation on the phone.
Ennis sat on the couch without much of a word. He was tired, actually the term was emotional drained, but he also felt compelled to talk with Jack. Because he knew one thing for sure about last night, Jack had proved to be right; the neighborhood wasn’t safe. And although Ennis shouldn’t be, he was annoyed with that fact. He didn’t want to move out of this apartment and most of all, he didn’t want to give in to Jack's every little demand. He had already done so at any opportunity since they got back together, but this was the first of many things were he wasn’t going to agree with his boyfriend about.
“I’m sorry for not having woken you up.” Jack said when the conversation on the phone was over. “I guess it’s ok if we arrive late this morning.”
“It’s ok with me.” Ennis said honestly. “Anything important at the phone?”
“Good news. I guess the robber had no idea who we were, he made very little use of the credit cards. All in consideration, I guess the problem will be the IDs and other identification papers I had there.”
“Yeah.” Ennis said with relief.
“Look Ennis…” They both knew were the conversation was leading. “I’m not going to tell you «I told you so». Because this was not the kind of thing I wanted to happen and yes, you may say it could have happened in any other place. It’s all true. But the fact is that, you should consider what I’ve said. This is not the kind of neighborhood were you should live. When you moved here you didn’t know, you didn’t have clients as important as Mr. Hoz, you didn’t…”
“Is this a challenge for stating the obvious? Is it my turn?” Ennis said angry. “We both know why you’re so eager to have me move out of here.”
“Is it such a crime to want what’s best for you?” Jack spit back, his look murderous.
“I can perfectly well choose what’s best for me. You’ve been pushing me into doing things I don’t want to, ever since we got back together.” Ennis said fighting the guilt out of his system and replacing it with the accumulated anger. “It’s the tennis lessons at your uncle’s club, moving to your apartment, sleeping at the damn mansion…”
“I can’t believe this shit! Didn’t you tell me countless times these last weeks that you want us to be together? I thought that meant taking our relationship to another level!” Jack was fuming and by the time he started to curse, Ennis knew he wasn’t going to cool down easily.
“Of course I want that. But you’re not giving me any time to adjust. Just because I feel ready doesn’t mean we have to do it all in a month.” Ennis tried to explained.
“I’m not asking you to move in with me! I’m telling you what’s logical and best for us!”
Ennis was about to answer that, when his cell phone rang. He grabbed it from the coffee table, where it was standing with the intention of shutting it off, when he realized it was Mr. Hox’s number. He knew he had to pick it up.
“Mr. Hoz?” Ennis asked annoyed.
Jack muttered something like «great» under his breath and stormed out of the room without another look. Ennis closed his eyes, begging any gods up there for a little break, the week had only started.
It turned out that it wasn’t Mr. Hoz at the phone, but his wife. Mr. Hoz had done the impossible again and had been caught in another of his small misunderstandings involving the police. Something along the lines of driving drunk and without a license at this hour of the day. Of course, considering his recent accusation of doping, he needed the presence of his lawyer to convince the judge to let him out by paying the fine. It was the second strike in a week. Ennis only hoped he didn’t get Judge Steve McQueen on this one, there was no way to convince him again. So he found himself rubbing his temples at the irritating high voice of Mrs. Hoz, while reassuring her that he was on his way to solve her husband’s problem.
But he knew well, that he had another serious problem to solve, before he could go to the rescue of the annoying basketball player.
Ennis moved slowly to the bedroom, where he was sure Jack had gone to hide after they had been interrupted. He opened the door and turned up the lights. Jack was sitting on the middle of the bed, legs pressed against his chest and head buried between his knees, obviously crying. Ennis felt his heart break at the sight of Jack’s ultimate sadness, knowing that he was the reason why he was like that, understanding that if it hurt him, it surely was hurting a lot more for Jack, who had suffered so much lately.
“Jack…” He murmured moving to sit on the bed too.
“Just… go to work…” Jack said between snobs.
“No. Not after you hear me out.” Ennis said trying to act calmer then he felt.
“I understood perfectly well.” Jack said bitterly.
“I’m sure you didn’t.” Ennis reached out his hand, but stopped half away. “I really want to do all those things with you… just give me time. I’m still me… I need time to make those decisions. It's not that I don’t feel the need to do them, but I’m just still… scared.”
Jack said nothing, but Ennis saw the changes in his physical posture and his blue eyes finally appeared. He got his courage and moved to embrace him, which Jack accepted in silence, holding him just as strongly. Ennis held him for what felt a long time, moving his hands in his short black hair and the hot closeness of his boyfriend’s body.
“Promise you’ll be back early…” Jack whispered in his ear and he could just as easily have said «don’t leave me», the words had the same meaning.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. We’ll talk more about this… calmly.” He kissed Jack’s neck. “You’re stuck with me… no matter what.”
A half an hour later, Ennis sat inside of his car, ready to go save Mr. Hoz’s neck yet again; he was surprised to find out that, for the first time in his life, he hated that he was lawyer. His childish dream had the capacity to turn into a perfect nightmare from time to time.
Ennis was not surprised to see Mr. Hoz smiling. Even when the man was wearing the prisoner’s vestment and his long hair wasn’t arranged in the usual ponytail, he was the epitome of the word arrogance.
“You should have just let me go free when I told you to.” He said to the guard on his way out of the cell. “You just made me and my lawyer lose some of our time.”
“Mr. Hoz.” Ennis finally said when they were almost outside of the police office and Mr. Hoz has finally got tired of insulting the poor men and women who worked there. “I’m afraid this is the last time I save your neck.”
“I don’t understand.” He said confused.
“I’m going to help you out of this confusion with the doping system and then, I’m afraid I’ll have to end our contract.” From the inside of the building Ennis watched the hotdogs seller on the other side of the street.
“What? But why Mr. Del Mar? Is it money?” Ennis wondered why everything with these people seemed to e about money.
“No, you’re paying me amazingly well, Mr. Hoz. But I’m afraid that what you need is a personal assistant and not a lawyer.”
“But…” He didn’t finish his sentence.
“I’m not Elizabeth Noris, I’m afraid. This is not my area of expertise and I’m not used to taking people out of jail every two days.” He said honestly.
“I understand I guess.” He reached out his hand defeated.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Hoz, it was a pleasure working with you, but my schedule couldn’t held it much longer.” Ennis took Mr. Hoz’s hand on his.
“A pity to lose you as a lawyer, Mr. Del Mar.”
“I intend to pay the canceling clause and finish all the work at least until the end of the month.”
“I hope I can at least have you as my lawyer for other important situations…” He said facing the bright light of the outside world.
“Of course, Mr. Hoz.” Ennis tried not to sound displeased.
“Good, because I’ve been thinking about getting a divorce…”
Just as the man started with the disgusting details of his wife’s infidelity, Ennis understood that Mr. Hoz was like a bad penny. You can try, but you can never get rid of them. He sighed and followed the man until they reached the car.
He opened the door carefully, wondering what awaited him on the other side. He hoped Jack had cooled down by now and that they could have a calm and honest conversation about this. He didn’t want to fight and he especially didn’t want to see Jack crying anymore today.
“Jack?” He asked loudly.
He heard the soft answer from the living room and moved there quickly. Jack was dressed in his suit, his hair wet and his briefcase next to the couch. The TV was on, but when Ennis noticed there was a Spanish soup opera on, he was sure Jack wasn’t really watching it. Neve was sleeping on the other small couch, still enjoying the effects of the drugs the vet had prescribed him.
“How was it?” Jack said neutrally but his eyes betrayed him. Ennis saw the worry and guilt.
“The usual. I took the chance to inform him that I’m breaking the contract at the first opportunity.” Ennis struggled between sitting on the sofa with Jack and staying in the current position. Standing seemed to win. “I’ve wanted to do it for a while, I guess today my patience just run out.”
“You did well.” Jack said without looking at him.
“Can we talk?” He said softly, having no idea how Jack would react. Since Enrique’s death it was a bit difficult to predict him.
“Yeah.” He glanced briefly at him. “Look I thought about what you said. I guess I can understand that you felt a bit pressured, but I don’t understand why you didn’t come and talk to me. And I came to a conclusion, there’s another reason why you don’t want to do all those things…”
“Jack.” Ennis tried to interrupt him.
“It’s the money, isn’t it?” Ennis got a weird flash back of Mr. Hoz’s question about money a few minutes before. “You’re truly prejudiced about rich people!”
“It’s not…” He tried to speak again.
“It’s not? When you made that small scene at the country club, I suspected it, but this is a full scale thing, isn’t it?”
“You’re wrong. I’m not prejudiced. I just don’t feel comfortable about it…” He didn’t want to say it, but Veronica’s conversation was repeating slowly in his head.
“Uncomfortable? And you do me a scene like this? As if I’m forcing you to be with me.”
“Maybe I overreacted a bit, but I had my reasons. You know I did.” He glared at Jack, hoping he would confess something, anything, a reason for this stupid secrecy, which had been driving him crazy ever since.
“What other reasons?” Jack snapped.
“Let’s just say I had a much unexpected realization about the extent of your fortune.” Ennis said searching Jack’s face for a reaction.
“What…” Jack eyes widened and he knew that his boyfriend had finally understood.
“I just don’t understand why you kept it away from me until now! How do you want me to be comfortable about this when you kept secrets yourself? And why? Is it some dark secret?” He breath down defeated, while Jack looked frightened again.
“Ennis…” His tone full of sorrow went straight to Ennis’s heart but he was still quite mad.
“I want answers and I want them now. I told you everything about me, I showed you everything there was to see about me… why did you kept this stupid secret that I was destined to find out?”
The silence lasted for only a couple of seconds and yet Ennis was sure that in that exact time he had searched every bit of Jack’s body in search of a possible clue. From the black eyelashes resting on his closed eyes, to the shoelaces of his fancy Italian black shoes.
“I’m sure you’ll understand why I did at first. You were so dazzled with Elizabeth’s mansion when we met, I knew you would be shocked to know I was far richer than her. I also don’t like to tell people anything about it at first, to prevent false friends.” An awkward moment when both of them recalled the night they had first met.
“You weren’t too pleased to know I was the son of the firm’s owner, so, how could I have found the courage to tell you that, that was nothing compared to what you didn’t know? When we became involved, it was even more complicated. You’re a simple man, even having money now, you don’t like to spend it on unnecessary things. It would frighten you to know I was the heir of such amount of money.” Jack closed his eyes and breathed out loudly. “Back on that time it was only that. I was the heir… the money wasn’t really mine and I honestly don’t like it much either. Then everything went so fast! My father died… our breaking up. When we got together I knew I should have told you, but the time was never right. Every time we spoke about money you’re either uncomfortable or totally scared.”
Ennis grunted something and Jack sent him a pleading look. He fell silent again.
“I know I have no excuse, but you didn’t make things easy either.”
“You didn’t even try.” Ennis said hurt.
“Yes, because you were dying to know that I was even richer than you were already uncomfortable with.”
“It was so much better hearing everything from Veronica.” Ennis said sarcastically.
“Veronica?” Jack asked surprised and Ennis nodded. “I guess there’s a lot that you still don’t know yet, then.”
“What is it now? Are you a prince in some distant country?” He tried not to smile at the thought but failed miserably. He wasn’t that mad now that he had gotten it off his chest.
“No. Look, as she should have told you, most of the fortune the magazines write about isn’t really from the Twist’s. My mother was the one who was notoriously rich. She was the heir of a great and quite old fortune. When she decided to marry my dad, her family wasn’t thrilled with the idea. Dad was far from destitute, but the name was mostly unknown among the rich families of New York back then. Mom was determined and got her way, so they got married. My grandparents never spoke with her again, but they didn’t disown her since the family name was more important to them.” Jack said bitterly and Ennis absorbed his every word. “Grandfather died shortly after my parents got married, I never did get to meet him. Dad always said I had his temper. I guess he could be right.”
“Anyway…” Jack continued. “When I was born and my mother passed away…”
“You don’t have to.” Ennis said when Jack paused to breathe in.
“Grandmother had the shock of her life and rarely ever visited Dad or me again. I barely knew her. When she died a couple of years ago, Dad decided to keep all the money from my mother’s side of the family away. He hired someone to deal with the investments and never touched a cent of her money. We basically lived off the money we made at the firm and other investments Dad and my grandfather Twist had made.”
“So that’s why magazines say you’re discreet.” Ennis said calmly.
“Yeah, we could have a yacht and an island on the Pacific but we’ve decided to be a little more discreet than that.”
“That’s how your father kept the press away. He simply bought them.” Ennis realized.
“I… I did the same thing last week. We offer them more money than they would make with the articles about us. Or if we get lucky, we buy the photos directly from the paparazzi.”
“Jesus Christ.” Ennis said finally sitting on the couch. “I had the stupid hope you would deny everything.”
“I’m not sure if I’m all that sorry for not telling you earlier, Ennis. You wouldn’t have handled this well before and I never hid from you the fact that I was rich. I just never confessed how rich and you never really asked.” Jack said defensively. “I am, however, very sorry for keeping this from you generally…”
“I guess this helps me understand your father a bit better. He had good reasons to be suspicious of my intentions, with you being so rich and all.”
“I guess.” He said glancing at him, although only a few centimeter away from him. “Are you still mad?”
“You shouldn’t push me into moving into your apartment. I still need to be in my own place.” He rested his hand on Jack’s knee, giving him a small smile. “I’ll confess to you that it makes me feel more like my own man.”
“It’s ridiculous, honey.” Jack said quickly.
“Is it? I work for you… I love you unconditionally.” His fingers caressed Jack’s knee. “So much lies in you. I need to feel there’s something in my life that lies with me too.”
“You’re right. It’s just that I want you so much, with such intensity, I can't face the possibility of ever losing you again.” Their eyes locked and Ennis shortened the distance with a bruising kiss.
“Give me time, I’ll get there. I’ve promised you that, haven't I?” He said when they came up for breath.
“Yeah. So what are you going to do?” Jack asked caressing his face.
“I’m going to find a better apartment. I’ll find something a bit more outside of the city, closer to the Twist mansion. Maybe an apartment with security cameras and a doorman.” He laughed a bit. “We’ll spend the weekends at the Twist mansion. Matilda deserves that much and we make everybody happy then. And I’ll think about the tennis lessons.”
“Good.” Jack smiled openly. “We don’t need to spend every weekend at the mansion and we'll go to the club only when you feel like it. I’ll try not to push you more about this and if I do, please tell me to stop.”
“I'll hold you to that.” Ennis said, chuckling softly.
“I love you. You can’t let my stubbornness make me forget about that.” He hugged Ennis.
“I love you too.” Ennis said against Jack’s neck.
“Can we stay at home today?” Jack said after a while.
“You’re the boss.” Ennis said honestly.
“I thought we were business partners.” Jack tried to joke, although it still sounded empty.
“We’re much more than that, honey.” Ennis said seriously.
Tuesday afternoon found Jack Twist standing in front of the closed door of Mary’s office. A very irritated Jack Twist. He couldn’t believe Mary still preferred to have an office outside of the commercial zone, working on the ground floor of a really small brick building. The result of such a poor choice of location was a soaked pair of trousers, which he was staring at now. Not just any pair of course his own pair of brand new Hugo Boos trousers. Some teenager did a really cool maneuver on a skateboard near a puddle just as he was getting out of his car. An accident which the cleaning bill won’t let him soon forget. The kid was full of quick apologies and Jack sighed as an answer. The kid started to cry and Jack felt awful. He ended up buying him and his friends ice creams. He was a sucker for kids.
Jack frowned one last time at the conditions of his expensive attire and opened the door of Mary’s office. Inside, right in front of him, a woman - Mary’s secretary whose name Jack could never remember - was reading a magazine and chewing gum. If it had been the first time Jack had been at Mary’s office, he might have been surprised with the relaxed and lazy attitude of her secretary.
“How can I help you?” She looked away from the magazine for a second and Jack was sure she hadn’t recognized him. It had been a while since he'd last come here to ask a favor for Elizabeth as his partner.
“My name is Jack Twist. I’m here to speak with Mrs. Bingley.” Jack scratched his jaw delicately, he hadn’t shaved that morning.
“Do you have an appointment?” She almost sounded annoyed behind her lip glossed fake smile and she probably was.
“Yes, I do.” Jack answer with a matching smile.
“I’m going to check with Mrs. Bingley.” She stood up and disappeared inside of the wooden door to her left.
Jack stood looking around the waiting room, or so the division where he was standing seemed to be. Mary had decided to cover the walls with a strange shade of green. Strange because it resembled old puke and water full of bacteria, or maybe it was that Jack simply wasn’t in a good mood. His eyes moved back to the safety of the black and white photographs of New York that Mary had used to cover some parts of the wall. All in all, it wasn’t so bad, although the green sofa she had placed on the other corner didn’t help matters either.
“Mr. Twist? Mrs. Bingley is ready for you.” The secretary informed him, sitting back at her desk.
Jack didn’t spare another glance her way, she was always like this, as far as he remembered. It was her unique charm. Jack had long forgotten why Mary had hired her in the first place and why it was that she still hadn't gotten herself fired, but he was convinced that certainly there must have been a very good reason. Certainly not for her good looks, he thought just as he opened the door.
“Jack! So what can I do for you? Your new assistant, Mrs. Gersh called me this morning, but didn’t give any information.” She gestured to an empty chair just at the right of her desk. “She sounded lovely by the way.”
“You’re a married woman, Mary.” Jack said amused. “And she is lovely. She was working with the president of a high-tech company and jumped at the chance of working with a Twist.”
“I haven’t seen her yet, but if she jumped at the chance of spending time with you, she most definitely isn’t my type.” She paused with a smile and Jack laughed. “Come on, what brings you here?”
“Well it’s a serious family matter.” Jack said seriously.
“I see.” Mary said interested.
But she clearly didn’t expect what Jack said next. And as he went over the details of his uncle’s discerns, her expression was already different. Finally when Jack verbalized his suspicions, Mary bit her lower lip and sighed. They discussed things a little more and parted ways with the promise of news soon. Mary reassured Jack that this would be her new number one priority and Jack had been grateful for the professionalism of the female detective. But then, she was Elizabeth’s wife for a reason.
Ennis was having one of those weeks. Between phone calls from Mr. Hoz begging him to return to his service, the fight he had with Jack after they had been robbed and the odd details of his new case; he was beginning to fear for his mental health.
His new case was by far the most surprising. A famous dentist from Hollywood, responsible for the makeovers of many famous actors, was also the owner of a vast number of clinics around the states. One of his clinics had a contract with a local power plant power according to the health insurance. Their workers could have specific treatments in the clinic for free, but there were limits to the treatments they could use and the number of times too. This contract was ended the moment the power plant realized the doctors were faking appointment records with workers who hadn’t been there in the first place. Almost 100 falsified appointments were discovered by the administration and the case immediately went to court. The odd part of this all, at least to Ennis, was that the doctors allegedly involved in the case had publicly pled guilty. Too quick and easy for Ennis’s taste. This surely was covering something up. He suspected that this famous doctor had also been involved in this scandal, if he wasn’t the head of the scheme, but that alone wasn’t enough to make this doctor lose his licenses willingly. Something else was happening in this clinic and Ennis was itching to find out. Unfortunately the time for this case was short.
He let the files rest on the empty spot next to him on the couch. He probably should ask Jack’s opinion on this one. Dave was an option too, but since he had sent Mr. Hoz to seek help in the young lawyer, it was almost impossible to find him in the firm. He got up and checked on Neve, who was eating normally again and the pills were about to stop in another day or two. He rubbed the fur between his ears and watched his small friend close his eyes in pleasure. It had been another fright, to realize that Neve had gotten so sick, so quickly without him even noticing. Neve moved to rest on his back and Ennis scratched his belly lazily. Neve played with his fingers until the bell rang and the small cat moved to the door meowing. It was obviously Veronica, since Jack already had a key and Neve only meowed for both of them.
Ennis moved to the door and opened it with a tentative smile. Veronica had been mostly surprised and sad about his decision to move out. She had easily understood Ennis’s position and after hearing Ennis’s story of them being mugged. She even shared some of his apprehensions. It was dangerous to live on this side of the city, they both knew, but only now they seemed to have acknowledged the fact. Veronica promised to help him find a new place and Ennis had promised that he would still visit her often.
“I was hoping you would be home.” She said picking Neve from the floor.
“Yeah. I needed a bit more silence to read a bunch of files from work.” Ennis moved back to the living room and Veronica followed him after closing the door.
“I’m interrupting you then.” She said observing the confusion of papers and files all over the room.
“Nope. I’m done for today. Jack will be here any minute, so….” Ennis explained trying to make space on the sofa for his friend.
“It’s ok, Ennis. I’m here because I have something to tell you.” Ennis looked at her worried. “It’s a good thing, I guess… Well, after we talked the other day, I’ve decided that I want to move out too. Just not sure to where.”
“Really?” Ennis said happily.
“Yeah. It’s not safe. Jack’s right. I have the oddest schedule at the hospital… imagine if one day it's me? When I moved here, I had only been working as a nurse for a few years, so I didn’t have much money and the building was the best in this zone. Now, I guess I can afford something a little better.” She sat on the floor, after grabbing a pillow from the couch.
“I didn’t know much about the city. I basically picked the available apartment closest to the firm.” Ennis admitted to her, sitting on the floor too.
“I guess this means were going hunting for better places, hum? In this city we may need an eternity until we find something acceptable.”
“I’m sure I’ll find someone to help us.” Ennis said relaxed.
“Maybe I can find something closer to Kenzei.” She said smiling.
“That serious, hmm?” Ennis said teasing her.
“Look who’s talking.” She said defensively.
“I’m ok with that. I’m sure we’re going to have a wedding on a Saturday, Jack will be wearing white and we’ll buy a small cottage and have 2.4 kids like everybody else. Or not.” He said with humor.
“Or not. Kenzei doesn’t want to have kids.” Veronica said seriously.
“Really? Has he told you why?” Ennis said interested.
“Something about the very little free time we have.” She rested her head against the couch.
“I guess it’s an issue to almost everybody nowadays. How do you manage a career and a family at the same time?” It was a rhetorical question but they both sat in silence for a few minutes, almost as if trying to find an answer.
Jack knew he was late for dinner with Ennis at his boyfriend’s apartment. He got caught at the firm calling an expert to take a look at his father’s old desk. The damn buttons didn’t seem to work no matter how many times he pushed them. The entire time conversing with the man had made him seriously late, but he had a plan.
Everybody knew that plans and surprises weren’t actually Jack specialty. But he was trying to change that starting now and continuing with Robert’s surprise party tomorrow. He was just hoping Robert wouldn’t find out about his little intervention before the party. There was plenty of time for him to be mad with Jack after the party.
Now he had EnnisDel Mar to surprise.
Not that he hadn’t surprised Ennis before. He did so, many times, but never on purpose. Like that time when Ennis had caught him dancing to Justin Timberlake’s latest hit, Sexy Back. Ennis had laughed all day about it and Jack had hoped such a surprise had never happened. Or when Ennis had found out he could speak a bit of Spanish if he wanted. But tonight, the surprise would be different.
He opened the door silently, trying not to be noticed and hoping that Ennis was in the living room working or the bathroom taking a shower. He had no such luck, almost as he was reaching the living room, Ennis appeared from the bathroom, wearing his big blue robe.
“Hi, I was just about to call you… Dinner must be almost cold by now.” Ennis said rubbing his hair with a white towel.
Jack didn’t answer immediately. His mind was still processing the tenting vision in front of him. Ennis half naked, looking deliciously sexy, obviously and as always, unaware of his appeal, which Jack found with time to be even more appealing. And what surprised Jack at the moment was that even after six months of knowing this man, the attraction had not decreased in the slightest. Knowing exactly what was beyond that bathrobe didn’t make him less tempted to see it all over again. The only difference was that he could now control his urges a little bit better with the certainty that there would be another chance to do everything his dirty mind was conjuring in his head.
“Hi, honey.” Jack said smiling.
Ennis moved closer leaned down slightly and kissed him softly in the lips.
“Missed you.” Ennis said rubbing their noses together.
Jack was almost drowning in the familiar sent of Ennis’s shampoo. He had a new fondness for apples. He was already moving to kiss him on the lips when his mind remembered that he had different intentions when he entered the door just a few minutes ago. He looked at his watch and frightened immediately.
“Forget about dinner, there’s something I want to show you.” Jack said pulling him by the hand. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but I’m sure you’re going to like it.”
“That’s a very rude way to kill the mood.” Ennis said surprised as he was dragged to the living room.
“Ok. I hope you like this…” Jack walked around to open the curtains of the living room window and then grabbed the stereo’s remote control and put the radio on.
Ennis looked oddly at Jack as the WCBS-FM radio station, famous for playing New York’s greatest hits, was suddenly on. They were playing the usual commercials and Ennis just looked at Jack confused.
“Wait a minute…” Jack said looking at the stereo.
“You’re listening to WCBS-FM on 101.1! New York! Well folks, I usually don’t do this, but I received a very nice e-mail asking, so… From «your honey» to «blond baby», let’s hear Christopher Cross with Arthur’s Theme!”
Ennis looked at Jack, his eyes widened as the music begun to play. He didn’t exactly know the whole lyrics but he was sure he still remember the chorus well.
“Do you want to dance?” Jack said already holding him in position.
“I can’t believe you did this.” Ennis said starting to dance at the rhythm.
“It’s just silly music, I wanted an excuse to dance again with you.” Jack said smiling.
“You… you caught me by surprise.” Ennis said smiling. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I still feel bad about our fight, if that makes this any better.”
When you get caught between the Moon and New York City
I know it’s crazy, but it’s true
If you get caught between the Moon and New York City
The best that you can do…
The best that you can do is fall in love
“I love you.” Ennis said looking to him as if reading his soul.
“It was the best that you could do.” Jack said before kissing him.
Author: Finally Ennis understands the danger they were leaving, but it’s just the start of more problems. Thankfully Jack always gets his way, even if no one notices! Go Jacky! I scared him shitless in this chapter. Poor thing is still suffering from the side effects of his past depression. That’s why he’s a bit more sensitive in this sequel (answering amanda’s comment on ff).
Now that exams on university are over (I failed pharmacology :() I can write more and still find some time to seduce my green eyed beauty (What’s a girl without a boyfriend?). The updates will happen once a week (I hope). I’m writing chapter 18 and finally getting to a very interesting part. I’ve been starving for blood and chapter 19 might end the starve. :P
On the next chapter: Jack and Ennis are acting like teenagers. Maybe it’s because of Robert’s birthday party or maybe it’s because we’re back at the Twist mansion!
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Thank you everybody for the reviews! Especially to joetheone, ramona4jake, bbmjack324, ihatemonday, torry28, fl1789, sweetje, bbmlover, Jada91, coffee83 and Amanda.
Chapter Eleven: Don’t push me over the edge
Ennis could not believe it.
In a minute, they were walking to the main door of Ennis’s building, carrying bags from their trip to the Del Mar ranch.
They were both laughing, recalling a stupid joke Deacon had made about women and horses. Jack had laughed hard, showing those perfect white teeth Ennis admired so much, his eyes closed as he leaned against him for support. Ennis had laughed too, however he couldn’t help but stare. They had then stopped in front of the main door, still recovering from their laughs and smiling to each other, both happy with the result of their weekend. The light of the streetlamps made Jack look even more handsome, even more attractive.
On the other, they were assaulted by a tall man, wearing black clothes and a mask.
He had come out of nowhere. When Ennis returned his gaze from Jack’s mouth, he was facing them. A gun of small caliber, pointed at them both and Ennis had felt fear like he had never feltbefore. Not for him, for surely it wasn’t the first time someone had pointed a gun on him, but for Jack who had stayed in front of the said gun.
“Everything you got, NOW!” He screamed to the empty street.
He was paralyzed in fear, while Jack awkwardly calmed, gave the man his possessions.
“Take it easy.” Jack whispered carefully.
His wallet, his cell phone and watch. His precious watch, the one he had given him when they decided, in private, to make official their relationship. He was still staring at the watch when the man turned his attention to him. In one silent movement he gave him his cell phone and wallet, the man had no interest in his cheap Chinese imitation of a watch.
And in one blink of an eye he was running away. Taking with him their belongings and the still lasting fantasy of security.
Ennis looked back at Jack, who was now shaking, obviously catching up with his feelings. His cool demeanor clearly gone. Ennis held him in his arms, bags forgotten around them, as they rest their foreheads together. The blond lawyer no longer knew who was shaking more.
“It’s ok. We’re safe. It’s ok.” Ennis whispered.
“For a second I feared the worst.” Jack said trembling.
“Me too, baby.”
They held each other and moved to the apartment without exchanging a word. Jack knew they couldn’t call the police. It would only attract the media attention to their current situation. They took turns calling the banks, who promised to get new documents and cards to them as quickly as possible. And when they went to bed, Jack cried a little more. Ennis held him close, feeling guilty, frustrated and furious. Jack’s still fragile emotional balance took a few more minutes to calm down, before both of them fell into an agitated sleep.
When Ennis woke up, he was surprised to see the dips of light coming from his closed bedroom window. It was clearly beyond 6 am. Without raising his head from the pillow, he looked at his alarm clock to see the red numbers shining, it was 8 am already. Ennis abruptly sat up in the bed, trying hard to force his mind into working, when he finally realized he was sleeping alone. The left side of the bed - Jack’s side - was empty, with the exception of the duck feathered pillow that Jack had brought from the mansion a few days ago.
Ennis got up slowly, wondering if Jack had gone to the firm without waking him up, leaving him a note on the kitchen. Wondering if he and Jack were really ok after what had just happened last night. Wondering if Jack had just had enough and gone back to the mansion in the middle of the night. Wondering if he had, by pure bad luck, messed up things with Jack again. He didn’t let himself wonder anymore, he moved to the door of his bedroom.
He rubbed his eyes and scratched his belly. He was still tired, even though he had slept much more than he was used to in the last three days. When his vision focused again, he was surprised to see the strong light, obviously coming from the open windows of the living room, peaking under the door. Jack’s soft, low toned voice coming from the inside. He felt the usual contentment in his heart, as his hand moved to open the door.
Jack turned to face him and although he didn’t smile, his eyes moved to his face for a few seconds; before he turned away, back to his conversation on the phone.
Ennis sat on the couch without much of a word. He was tired, actually the term was emotional drained, but he also felt compelled to talk with Jack. Because he knew one thing for sure about last night, Jack had proved to be right; the neighborhood wasn’t safe. And although Ennis shouldn’t be, he was annoyed with that fact. He didn’t want to move out of this apartment and most of all, he didn’t want to give in to Jack's every little demand. He had already done so at any opportunity since they got back together, but this was the first of many things were he wasn’t going to agree with his boyfriend about.
“I’m sorry for not having woken you up.” Jack said when the conversation on the phone was over. “I guess it’s ok if we arrive late this morning.”
“It’s ok with me.” Ennis said honestly. “Anything important at the phone?”
“Good news. I guess the robber had no idea who we were, he made very little use of the credit cards. All in consideration, I guess the problem will be the IDs and other identification papers I had there.”
“Yeah.” Ennis said with relief.
“Look Ennis…” They both knew were the conversation was leading. “I’m not going to tell you «I told you so». Because this was not the kind of thing I wanted to happen and yes, you may say it could have happened in any other place. It’s all true. But the fact is that, you should consider what I’ve said. This is not the kind of neighborhood were you should live. When you moved here you didn’t know, you didn’t have clients as important as Mr. Hoz, you didn’t…”
“Is this a challenge for stating the obvious? Is it my turn?” Ennis said angry. “We both know why you’re so eager to have me move out of here.”
“Is it such a crime to want what’s best for you?” Jack spit back, his look murderous.
“I can perfectly well choose what’s best for me. You’ve been pushing me into doing things I don’t want to, ever since we got back together.” Ennis said fighting the guilt out of his system and replacing it with the accumulated anger. “It’s the tennis lessons at your uncle’s club, moving to your apartment, sleeping at the damn mansion…”
“I can’t believe this shit! Didn’t you tell me countless times these last weeks that you want us to be together? I thought that meant taking our relationship to another level!” Jack was fuming and by the time he started to curse, Ennis knew he wasn’t going to cool down easily.
“Of course I want that. But you’re not giving me any time to adjust. Just because I feel ready doesn’t mean we have to do it all in a month.” Ennis tried to explained.
“I’m not asking you to move in with me! I’m telling you what’s logical and best for us!”
Ennis was about to answer that, when his cell phone rang. He grabbed it from the coffee table, where it was standing with the intention of shutting it off, when he realized it was Mr. Hox’s number. He knew he had to pick it up.
“Mr. Hoz?” Ennis asked annoyed.
Jack muttered something like «great» under his breath and stormed out of the room without another look. Ennis closed his eyes, begging any gods up there for a little break, the week had only started.
It turned out that it wasn’t Mr. Hoz at the phone, but his wife. Mr. Hoz had done the impossible again and had been caught in another of his small misunderstandings involving the police. Something along the lines of driving drunk and without a license at this hour of the day. Of course, considering his recent accusation of doping, he needed the presence of his lawyer to convince the judge to let him out by paying the fine. It was the second strike in a week. Ennis only hoped he didn’t get Judge Steve McQueen on this one, there was no way to convince him again. So he found himself rubbing his temples at the irritating high voice of Mrs. Hoz, while reassuring her that he was on his way to solve her husband’s problem.
But he knew well, that he had another serious problem to solve, before he could go to the rescue of the annoying basketball player.
Ennis moved slowly to the bedroom, where he was sure Jack had gone to hide after they had been interrupted. He opened the door and turned up the lights. Jack was sitting on the middle of the bed, legs pressed against his chest and head buried between his knees, obviously crying. Ennis felt his heart break at the sight of Jack’s ultimate sadness, knowing that he was the reason why he was like that, understanding that if it hurt him, it surely was hurting a lot more for Jack, who had suffered so much lately.
“Jack…” He murmured moving to sit on the bed too.
“Just… go to work…” Jack said between snobs.
“No. Not after you hear me out.” Ennis said trying to act calmer then he felt.
“I understood perfectly well.” Jack said bitterly.
“I’m sure you didn’t.” Ennis reached out his hand, but stopped half away. “I really want to do all those things with you… just give me time. I’m still me… I need time to make those decisions. It's not that I don’t feel the need to do them, but I’m just still… scared.”
Jack said nothing, but Ennis saw the changes in his physical posture and his blue eyes finally appeared. He got his courage and moved to embrace him, which Jack accepted in silence, holding him just as strongly. Ennis held him for what felt a long time, moving his hands in his short black hair and the hot closeness of his boyfriend’s body.
“Promise you’ll be back early…” Jack whispered in his ear and he could just as easily have said «don’t leave me», the words had the same meaning.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. We’ll talk more about this… calmly.” He kissed Jack’s neck. “You’re stuck with me… no matter what.”
A half an hour later, Ennis sat inside of his car, ready to go save Mr. Hoz’s neck yet again; he was surprised to find out that, for the first time in his life, he hated that he was lawyer. His childish dream had the capacity to turn into a perfect nightmare from time to time.
Ennis was not surprised to see Mr. Hoz smiling. Even when the man was wearing the prisoner’s vestment and his long hair wasn’t arranged in the usual ponytail, he was the epitome of the word arrogance.
“You should have just let me go free when I told you to.” He said to the guard on his way out of the cell. “You just made me and my lawyer lose some of our time.”
“Mr. Hoz.” Ennis finally said when they were almost outside of the police office and Mr. Hoz has finally got tired of insulting the poor men and women who worked there. “I’m afraid this is the last time I save your neck.”
“I don’t understand.” He said confused.
“I’m going to help you out of this confusion with the doping system and then, I’m afraid I’ll have to end our contract.” From the inside of the building Ennis watched the hotdogs seller on the other side of the street.
“What? But why Mr. Del Mar? Is it money?” Ennis wondered why everything with these people seemed to e about money.
“No, you’re paying me amazingly well, Mr. Hoz. But I’m afraid that what you need is a personal assistant and not a lawyer.”
“But…” He didn’t finish his sentence.
“I’m not Elizabeth Noris, I’m afraid. This is not my area of expertise and I’m not used to taking people out of jail every two days.” He said honestly.
“I understand I guess.” He reached out his hand defeated.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Hoz, it was a pleasure working with you, but my schedule couldn’t held it much longer.” Ennis took Mr. Hoz’s hand on his.
“A pity to lose you as a lawyer, Mr. Del Mar.”
“I intend to pay the canceling clause and finish all the work at least until the end of the month.”
“I hope I can at least have you as my lawyer for other important situations…” He said facing the bright light of the outside world.
“Of course, Mr. Hoz.” Ennis tried not to sound displeased.
“Good, because I’ve been thinking about getting a divorce…”
Just as the man started with the disgusting details of his wife’s infidelity, Ennis understood that Mr. Hoz was like a bad penny. You can try, but you can never get rid of them. He sighed and followed the man until they reached the car.
He opened the door carefully, wondering what awaited him on the other side. He hoped Jack had cooled down by now and that they could have a calm and honest conversation about this. He didn’t want to fight and he especially didn’t want to see Jack crying anymore today.
“Jack?” He asked loudly.
He heard the soft answer from the living room and moved there quickly. Jack was dressed in his suit, his hair wet and his briefcase next to the couch. The TV was on, but when Ennis noticed there was a Spanish soup opera on, he was sure Jack wasn’t really watching it. Neve was sleeping on the other small couch, still enjoying the effects of the drugs the vet had prescribed him.
“How was it?” Jack said neutrally but his eyes betrayed him. Ennis saw the worry and guilt.
“The usual. I took the chance to inform him that I’m breaking the contract at the first opportunity.” Ennis struggled between sitting on the sofa with Jack and staying in the current position. Standing seemed to win. “I’ve wanted to do it for a while, I guess today my patience just run out.”
“You did well.” Jack said without looking at him.
“Can we talk?” He said softly, having no idea how Jack would react. Since Enrique’s death it was a bit difficult to predict him.
“Yeah.” He glanced briefly at him. “Look I thought about what you said. I guess I can understand that you felt a bit pressured, but I don’t understand why you didn’t come and talk to me. And I came to a conclusion, there’s another reason why you don’t want to do all those things…”
“Jack.” Ennis tried to interrupt him.
“It’s the money, isn’t it?” Ennis got a weird flash back of Mr. Hoz’s question about money a few minutes before. “You’re truly prejudiced about rich people!”
“It’s not…” He tried to speak again.
“It’s not? When you made that small scene at the country club, I suspected it, but this is a full scale thing, isn’t it?”
“You’re wrong. I’m not prejudiced. I just don’t feel comfortable about it…” He didn’t want to say it, but Veronica’s conversation was repeating slowly in his head.
“Uncomfortable? And you do me a scene like this? As if I’m forcing you to be with me.”
“Maybe I overreacted a bit, but I had my reasons. You know I did.” He glared at Jack, hoping he would confess something, anything, a reason for this stupid secrecy, which had been driving him crazy ever since.
“What other reasons?” Jack snapped.
“Let’s just say I had a much unexpected realization about the extent of your fortune.” Ennis said searching Jack’s face for a reaction.
“What…” Jack eyes widened and he knew that his boyfriend had finally understood.
“I just don’t understand why you kept it away from me until now! How do you want me to be comfortable about this when you kept secrets yourself? And why? Is it some dark secret?” He breath down defeated, while Jack looked frightened again.
“Ennis…” His tone full of sorrow went straight to Ennis’s heart but he was still quite mad.
“I want answers and I want them now. I told you everything about me, I showed you everything there was to see about me… why did you kept this stupid secret that I was destined to find out?”
The silence lasted for only a couple of seconds and yet Ennis was sure that in that exact time he had searched every bit of Jack’s body in search of a possible clue. From the black eyelashes resting on his closed eyes, to the shoelaces of his fancy Italian black shoes.
“I’m sure you’ll understand why I did at first. You were so dazzled with Elizabeth’s mansion when we met, I knew you would be shocked to know I was far richer than her. I also don’t like to tell people anything about it at first, to prevent false friends.” An awkward moment when both of them recalled the night they had first met.
“You weren’t too pleased to know I was the son of the firm’s owner, so, how could I have found the courage to tell you that, that was nothing compared to what you didn’t know? When we became involved, it was even more complicated. You’re a simple man, even having money now, you don’t like to spend it on unnecessary things. It would frighten you to know I was the heir of such amount of money.” Jack closed his eyes and breathed out loudly. “Back on that time it was only that. I was the heir… the money wasn’t really mine and I honestly don’t like it much either. Then everything went so fast! My father died… our breaking up. When we got together I knew I should have told you, but the time was never right. Every time we spoke about money you’re either uncomfortable or totally scared.”
Ennis grunted something and Jack sent him a pleading look. He fell silent again.
“I know I have no excuse, but you didn’t make things easy either.”
“You didn’t even try.” Ennis said hurt.
“Yes, because you were dying to know that I was even richer than you were already uncomfortable with.”
“It was so much better hearing everything from Veronica.” Ennis said sarcastically.
“Veronica?” Jack asked surprised and Ennis nodded. “I guess there’s a lot that you still don’t know yet, then.”
“What is it now? Are you a prince in some distant country?” He tried not to smile at the thought but failed miserably. He wasn’t that mad now that he had gotten it off his chest.
“No. Look, as she should have told you, most of the fortune the magazines write about isn’t really from the Twist’s. My mother was the one who was notoriously rich. She was the heir of a great and quite old fortune. When she decided to marry my dad, her family wasn’t thrilled with the idea. Dad was far from destitute, but the name was mostly unknown among the rich families of New York back then. Mom was determined and got her way, so they got married. My grandparents never spoke with her again, but they didn’t disown her since the family name was more important to them.” Jack said bitterly and Ennis absorbed his every word. “Grandfather died shortly after my parents got married, I never did get to meet him. Dad always said I had his temper. I guess he could be right.”
“Anyway…” Jack continued. “When I was born and my mother passed away…”
“You don’t have to.” Ennis said when Jack paused to breathe in.
“Grandmother had the shock of her life and rarely ever visited Dad or me again. I barely knew her. When she died a couple of years ago, Dad decided to keep all the money from my mother’s side of the family away. He hired someone to deal with the investments and never touched a cent of her money. We basically lived off the money we made at the firm and other investments Dad and my grandfather Twist had made.”
“So that’s why magazines say you’re discreet.” Ennis said calmly.
“Yeah, we could have a yacht and an island on the Pacific but we’ve decided to be a little more discreet than that.”
“That’s how your father kept the press away. He simply bought them.” Ennis realized.
“I… I did the same thing last week. We offer them more money than they would make with the articles about us. Or if we get lucky, we buy the photos directly from the paparazzi.”
“Jesus Christ.” Ennis said finally sitting on the couch. “I had the stupid hope you would deny everything.”
“I’m not sure if I’m all that sorry for not telling you earlier, Ennis. You wouldn’t have handled this well before and I never hid from you the fact that I was rich. I just never confessed how rich and you never really asked.” Jack said defensively. “I am, however, very sorry for keeping this from you generally…”
“I guess this helps me understand your father a bit better. He had good reasons to be suspicious of my intentions, with you being so rich and all.”
“I guess.” He said glancing at him, although only a few centimeter away from him. “Are you still mad?”
“You shouldn’t push me into moving into your apartment. I still need to be in my own place.” He rested his hand on Jack’s knee, giving him a small smile. “I’ll confess to you that it makes me feel more like my own man.”
“It’s ridiculous, honey.” Jack said quickly.
“Is it? I work for you… I love you unconditionally.” His fingers caressed Jack’s knee. “So much lies in you. I need to feel there’s something in my life that lies with me too.”
“You’re right. It’s just that I want you so much, with such intensity, I can't face the possibility of ever losing you again.” Their eyes locked and Ennis shortened the distance with a bruising kiss.
“Give me time, I’ll get there. I’ve promised you that, haven't I?” He said when they came up for breath.
“Yeah. So what are you going to do?” Jack asked caressing his face.
“I’m going to find a better apartment. I’ll find something a bit more outside of the city, closer to the Twist mansion. Maybe an apartment with security cameras and a doorman.” He laughed a bit. “We’ll spend the weekends at the Twist mansion. Matilda deserves that much and we make everybody happy then. And I’ll think about the tennis lessons.”
“Good.” Jack smiled openly. “We don’t need to spend every weekend at the mansion and we'll go to the club only when you feel like it. I’ll try not to push you more about this and if I do, please tell me to stop.”
“I'll hold you to that.” Ennis said, chuckling softly.
“I love you. You can’t let my stubbornness make me forget about that.” He hugged Ennis.
“I love you too.” Ennis said against Jack’s neck.
“Can we stay at home today?” Jack said after a while.
“You’re the boss.” Ennis said honestly.
“I thought we were business partners.” Jack tried to joke, although it still sounded empty.
“We’re much more than that, honey.” Ennis said seriously.
Tuesday afternoon found Jack Twist standing in front of the closed door of Mary’s office. A very irritated Jack Twist. He couldn’t believe Mary still preferred to have an office outside of the commercial zone, working on the ground floor of a really small brick building. The result of such a poor choice of location was a soaked pair of trousers, which he was staring at now. Not just any pair of course his own pair of brand new Hugo Boos trousers. Some teenager did a really cool maneuver on a skateboard near a puddle just as he was getting out of his car. An accident which the cleaning bill won’t let him soon forget. The kid was full of quick apologies and Jack sighed as an answer. The kid started to cry and Jack felt awful. He ended up buying him and his friends ice creams. He was a sucker for kids.
Jack frowned one last time at the conditions of his expensive attire and opened the door of Mary’s office. Inside, right in front of him, a woman - Mary’s secretary whose name Jack could never remember - was reading a magazine and chewing gum. If it had been the first time Jack had been at Mary’s office, he might have been surprised with the relaxed and lazy attitude of her secretary.
“How can I help you?” She looked away from the magazine for a second and Jack was sure she hadn’t recognized him. It had been a while since he'd last come here to ask a favor for Elizabeth as his partner.
“My name is Jack Twist. I’m here to speak with Mrs. Bingley.” Jack scratched his jaw delicately, he hadn’t shaved that morning.
“Do you have an appointment?” She almost sounded annoyed behind her lip glossed fake smile and she probably was.
“Yes, I do.” Jack answer with a matching smile.
“I’m going to check with Mrs. Bingley.” She stood up and disappeared inside of the wooden door to her left.
Jack stood looking around the waiting room, or so the division where he was standing seemed to be. Mary had decided to cover the walls with a strange shade of green. Strange because it resembled old puke and water full of bacteria, or maybe it was that Jack simply wasn’t in a good mood. His eyes moved back to the safety of the black and white photographs of New York that Mary had used to cover some parts of the wall. All in all, it wasn’t so bad, although the green sofa she had placed on the other corner didn’t help matters either.
“Mr. Twist? Mrs. Bingley is ready for you.” The secretary informed him, sitting back at her desk.
Jack didn’t spare another glance her way, she was always like this, as far as he remembered. It was her unique charm. Jack had long forgotten why Mary had hired her in the first place and why it was that she still hadn't gotten herself fired, but he was convinced that certainly there must have been a very good reason. Certainly not for her good looks, he thought just as he opened the door.
“Jack! So what can I do for you? Your new assistant, Mrs. Gersh called me this morning, but didn’t give any information.” She gestured to an empty chair just at the right of her desk. “She sounded lovely by the way.”
“You’re a married woman, Mary.” Jack said amused. “And she is lovely. She was working with the president of a high-tech company and jumped at the chance of working with a Twist.”
“I haven’t seen her yet, but if she jumped at the chance of spending time with you, she most definitely isn’t my type.” She paused with a smile and Jack laughed. “Come on, what brings you here?”
“Well it’s a serious family matter.” Jack said seriously.
“I see.” Mary said interested.
But she clearly didn’t expect what Jack said next. And as he went over the details of his uncle’s discerns, her expression was already different. Finally when Jack verbalized his suspicions, Mary bit her lower lip and sighed. They discussed things a little more and parted ways with the promise of news soon. Mary reassured Jack that this would be her new number one priority and Jack had been grateful for the professionalism of the female detective. But then, she was Elizabeth’s wife for a reason.
Ennis was having one of those weeks. Between phone calls from Mr. Hoz begging him to return to his service, the fight he had with Jack after they had been robbed and the odd details of his new case; he was beginning to fear for his mental health.
His new case was by far the most surprising. A famous dentist from Hollywood, responsible for the makeovers of many famous actors, was also the owner of a vast number of clinics around the states. One of his clinics had a contract with a local power plant power according to the health insurance. Their workers could have specific treatments in the clinic for free, but there were limits to the treatments they could use and the number of times too. This contract was ended the moment the power plant realized the doctors were faking appointment records with workers who hadn’t been there in the first place. Almost 100 falsified appointments were discovered by the administration and the case immediately went to court. The odd part of this all, at least to Ennis, was that the doctors allegedly involved in the case had publicly pled guilty. Too quick and easy for Ennis’s taste. This surely was covering something up. He suspected that this famous doctor had also been involved in this scandal, if he wasn’t the head of the scheme, but that alone wasn’t enough to make this doctor lose his licenses willingly. Something else was happening in this clinic and Ennis was itching to find out. Unfortunately the time for this case was short.
He let the files rest on the empty spot next to him on the couch. He probably should ask Jack’s opinion on this one. Dave was an option too, but since he had sent Mr. Hoz to seek help in the young lawyer, it was almost impossible to find him in the firm. He got up and checked on Neve, who was eating normally again and the pills were about to stop in another day or two. He rubbed the fur between his ears and watched his small friend close his eyes in pleasure. It had been another fright, to realize that Neve had gotten so sick, so quickly without him even noticing. Neve moved to rest on his back and Ennis scratched his belly lazily. Neve played with his fingers until the bell rang and the small cat moved to the door meowing. It was obviously Veronica, since Jack already had a key and Neve only meowed for both of them.
Ennis moved to the door and opened it with a tentative smile. Veronica had been mostly surprised and sad about his decision to move out. She had easily understood Ennis’s position and after hearing Ennis’s story of them being mugged. She even shared some of his apprehensions. It was dangerous to live on this side of the city, they both knew, but only now they seemed to have acknowledged the fact. Veronica promised to help him find a new place and Ennis had promised that he would still visit her often.
“I was hoping you would be home.” She said picking Neve from the floor.
“Yeah. I needed a bit more silence to read a bunch of files from work.” Ennis moved back to the living room and Veronica followed him after closing the door.
“I’m interrupting you then.” She said observing the confusion of papers and files all over the room.
“Nope. I’m done for today. Jack will be here any minute, so….” Ennis explained trying to make space on the sofa for his friend.
“It’s ok, Ennis. I’m here because I have something to tell you.” Ennis looked at her worried. “It’s a good thing, I guess… Well, after we talked the other day, I’ve decided that I want to move out too. Just not sure to where.”
“Really?” Ennis said happily.
“Yeah. It’s not safe. Jack’s right. I have the oddest schedule at the hospital… imagine if one day it's me? When I moved here, I had only been working as a nurse for a few years, so I didn’t have much money and the building was the best in this zone. Now, I guess I can afford something a little better.” She sat on the floor, after grabbing a pillow from the couch.
“I didn’t know much about the city. I basically picked the available apartment closest to the firm.” Ennis admitted to her, sitting on the floor too.
“I guess this means were going hunting for better places, hum? In this city we may need an eternity until we find something acceptable.”
“I’m sure I’ll find someone to help us.” Ennis said relaxed.
“Maybe I can find something closer to Kenzei.” She said smiling.
“That serious, hmm?” Ennis said teasing her.
“Look who’s talking.” She said defensively.
“I’m ok with that. I’m sure we’re going to have a wedding on a Saturday, Jack will be wearing white and we’ll buy a small cottage and have 2.4 kids like everybody else. Or not.” He said with humor.
“Or not. Kenzei doesn’t want to have kids.” Veronica said seriously.
“Really? Has he told you why?” Ennis said interested.
“Something about the very little free time we have.” She rested her head against the couch.
“I guess it’s an issue to almost everybody nowadays. How do you manage a career and a family at the same time?” It was a rhetorical question but they both sat in silence for a few minutes, almost as if trying to find an answer.
Jack knew he was late for dinner with Ennis at his boyfriend’s apartment. He got caught at the firm calling an expert to take a look at his father’s old desk. The damn buttons didn’t seem to work no matter how many times he pushed them. The entire time conversing with the man had made him seriously late, but he had a plan.
Everybody knew that plans and surprises weren’t actually Jack specialty. But he was trying to change that starting now and continuing with Robert’s surprise party tomorrow. He was just hoping Robert wouldn’t find out about his little intervention before the party. There was plenty of time for him to be mad with Jack after the party.
Now he had EnnisDel Mar to surprise.
Not that he hadn’t surprised Ennis before. He did so, many times, but never on purpose. Like that time when Ennis had caught him dancing to Justin Timberlake’s latest hit, Sexy Back. Ennis had laughed all day about it and Jack had hoped such a surprise had never happened. Or when Ennis had found out he could speak a bit of Spanish if he wanted. But tonight, the surprise would be different.
He opened the door silently, trying not to be noticed and hoping that Ennis was in the living room working or the bathroom taking a shower. He had no such luck, almost as he was reaching the living room, Ennis appeared from the bathroom, wearing his big blue robe.
“Hi, I was just about to call you… Dinner must be almost cold by now.” Ennis said rubbing his hair with a white towel.
Jack didn’t answer immediately. His mind was still processing the tenting vision in front of him. Ennis half naked, looking deliciously sexy, obviously and as always, unaware of his appeal, which Jack found with time to be even more appealing. And what surprised Jack at the moment was that even after six months of knowing this man, the attraction had not decreased in the slightest. Knowing exactly what was beyond that bathrobe didn’t make him less tempted to see it all over again. The only difference was that he could now control his urges a little bit better with the certainty that there would be another chance to do everything his dirty mind was conjuring in his head.
“Hi, honey.” Jack said smiling.
Ennis moved closer leaned down slightly and kissed him softly in the lips.
“Missed you.” Ennis said rubbing their noses together.
Jack was almost drowning in the familiar sent of Ennis’s shampoo. He had a new fondness for apples. He was already moving to kiss him on the lips when his mind remembered that he had different intentions when he entered the door just a few minutes ago. He looked at his watch and frightened immediately.
“Forget about dinner, there’s something I want to show you.” Jack said pulling him by the hand. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but I’m sure you’re going to like it.”
“That’s a very rude way to kill the mood.” Ennis said surprised as he was dragged to the living room.
“Ok. I hope you like this…” Jack walked around to open the curtains of the living room window and then grabbed the stereo’s remote control and put the radio on.
Ennis looked oddly at Jack as the WCBS-FM radio station, famous for playing New York’s greatest hits, was suddenly on. They were playing the usual commercials and Ennis just looked at Jack confused.
“Wait a minute…” Jack said looking at the stereo.
“You’re listening to WCBS-FM on 101.1! New York! Well folks, I usually don’t do this, but I received a very nice e-mail asking, so… From «your honey» to «blond baby», let’s hear Christopher Cross with Arthur’s Theme!”
Ennis looked at Jack, his eyes widened as the music begun to play. He didn’t exactly know the whole lyrics but he was sure he still remember the chorus well.
“Do you want to dance?” Jack said already holding him in position.
“I can’t believe you did this.” Ennis said starting to dance at the rhythm.
“It’s just silly music, I wanted an excuse to dance again with you.” Jack said smiling.
“You… you caught me by surprise.” Ennis said smiling. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I still feel bad about our fight, if that makes this any better.”
When you get caught between the Moon and New York City
I know it’s crazy, but it’s true
If you get caught between the Moon and New York City
The best that you can do…
The best that you can do is fall in love
“I love you.” Ennis said looking to him as if reading his soul.
“It was the best that you could do.” Jack said before kissing him.
Author: Finally Ennis understands the danger they were leaving, but it’s just the start of more problems. Thankfully Jack always gets his way, even if no one notices! Go Jacky! I scared him shitless in this chapter. Poor thing is still suffering from the side effects of his past depression. That’s why he’s a bit more sensitive in this sequel (answering amanda’s comment on ff).
Now that exams on university are over (I failed pharmacology :() I can write more and still find some time to seduce my green eyed beauty (What’s a girl without a boyfriend?). The updates will happen once a week (I hope). I’m writing chapter 18 and finally getting to a very interesting part. I’ve been starving for blood and chapter 19 might end the starve. :P
On the next chapter: Jack and Ennis are acting like teenagers. Maybe it’s because of Robert’s birthday party or maybe it’s because we’re back at the Twist mansion!
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