Chapter Nineteen #2
“Why don’t you let me worry about the proper use of government funds, and you worry about your business.
..while you still have it.” Aravis took a step back from Jessie.
Was that a threat? Jessie didn’t like to think Aravis had it out for him.
There were bigger fish in the city to tackle, like the Devil in the woods or people like Frankie the Fridge.
Jessie, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’t the problem in King’s Fall.
“Have a great evening, Lord Commander.” Jessie nodded to the door and stewed in his fury the whole time he waited for them to leave.
Pierre rattled in his cuffs, but there was nothing he could do.
The smart move would be to let them book him and call for a lawyer to raise a riot about hearsay and battery given that Katarina didn’t catch a single punch…
but Pierre wasn’t that smart. Jessie had a feeling one of those fools would say something on their way to the council building that would land them in deeper shit.
Or, Aravis will offer them a deal to snitch on me, and Pierre will shut up so tight not even air could pass through his lips.
Either way, Jessie needed to address the issue at hand. The moment the Enforcers left the property, Jessie barked, “We’re closed for business! Finish up your customers and pull the doors!”
The shop rushed into action as he stormed to the giant wooden fence. With a hard crack, they shut and Nik locked them behind him. Katarina was an arm’s length from him, face fallen and panic in her eyes.
“Whoa, Jessie, wait, I need to go—”
He raised a finger to Katarina with a glare, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. Keeping that finger raised, he dialed his mother. She picked up within two rings, “Jessie, what’s wrong?”
“Ma, I need you to go pick up Bella from school. She gets out in thirty, can you step away?” He turned from Katarina, nodding at Nik.
His right hand sighed, hanging his head.
He motioned for Katarina to follow him, but she refused to go.
Jessie stared at her firmly then nodded after Nik.
Katarina’s face hardened and her arms crossed over her chest. Fine.
“Yeah, I can. Everything alright?” His mother sounded worried, more than usual.
“Everything’s fine, we’ll see you at dinner.
” Jessie hung up before his mother could interrogate him.
He quickly texted her which school Isabella went to—something he didn’t tell Katarina he knew as it wasn’t important before—and stuffed his phone deep in his pocket. “You really shouldn’t have done that.”
“Done what? Let those assholes beat me up?” she scoffed.
“Nah, you can whoop anybody you want to’s ass. I don’t care. Pressing charges?” Jessie pointed further away from the fence. “Nik, turn on some noise.”
Nik nodded, not having to be told twice.
I don’t trust the Enforcers not to leave some toys lying around to pick up on conversation.
Before Katarina could argue, he brushed past her and stomped deeper into the maze of crunched cars and desolate parts scattered in the middle of the graveyard.
He waited for her to join him. Leaning against a rusted out car, he whirled around to her.
Katarina followed him between two stacks of smashed metal, all bound in rusty wire.
A radio cranked on nearby as well as a rumbling engine, the sound of both echoing off the walls and muffling the world outside the wooden fence.
“Katarina, you don’t ever and I fuckin’ mean ever trust the Enforcers like that again. You understand?” Jessie furrowed his brow.
“Trust the Enforcers? They caught you beating in his face, and had you not pulled me off them, they would have caught me doing it!” She threw her hands out to her side.
“Yeah, and? Unless Pierre had a problem with it, and wanted to press charges, which he wouldn’t, they can’t do shit.
He was on my property, making a mess with my girl!
You hear? You let Aravis walk away with him, and now I can’t fucking talk to him!
” Jessie snapped his head up as Nik approached.
He huffed, motioning at Katarina with one hand while the other was at his side.
“You have any idea what Pierre was yapping about?”
“Nada,” Nik grumbled.
“See!” Jessie jabbed his hand at Nik as he returned his attention to Katarina.
“Well sooorrry!” Katarina sneered, cocking out a hip. “I didn’t know you were running some underground thieves guild!”
“What!” Jessie barked.
“You took something from him, and that’s why he came here! So what the fuck did you take from him, huh? And why are you involving me in it? My child! Is your mother in on it? Is my child complicit in this too?”
“Whoa,” Nik exhaled, slipping up beside her only to have a hand put to his chest. Katarina shoved him back a step.
“Don’t fucking try and sweep this under the rug! Both of you! I swear to the dragons above if either of you have put my baby in danger, I’ll kill you both. Right here and now!” She jabbed a finger in both their faces.
Welp. Time to pump the breaks. Little Momma’s claws were out.
She was heated. Jessie was irate. And Nik was the only sensible one at the time, which was usual, but not good for their cause.
Jessie put up his hands like white flags.
“Let’s just take a breath. My bad, Katarina.
I didn’t mean to come out the gate that hot. Isabella is fine.”
“She had better be or so help you, Jessie Bonesaw—if that even is your real name!” Katarina took a step toward him.
“It’s Edwin,” Nik snickered under his breath.
“Et tu, brutus?” Jessie spat at Nik.
“What? Aravis said your government name first!” Nik tucked his big hands in the deep pockets of his overalls, stepping away from both of them.
Jessie narrowed his gaze on the retreating back of his best friend for a long moment before taking a breath.
Katarina and he had the same idea, as they both sucked in a sharp breath through their noses.
It’s not her fault. She didn’t know. She’s not been raised like I have.
Jessie reminded himself that the Enforcers were the reason Katarina got away from her husband.
That because some concerned citizen called in a tip, Aravis dragged Gill away before he could lay hands on her one more time.
Katarina’s first instinct was always to protect her kid, and that likely she was trying to protect him by letting the Enforcers take Pierre.
Plus, he wasn’t even all that angry. If Pierre came to hassle him, there were bound to be breadcrumbs somewhere he could follow.
Might just be time to go find Bobby again and ask what gives!
Jessie exhaled heavily and spoke first, “I’m sorry for snapping, baby girl.”
Katarina’s face fell, her arms sliding down to her sides. “I’m…I’m still baby girl?”
Jessie snorted, “Of course you are. Unless you don’t want to be?”
Katarina opened her mouth, only to close it. Like a creaky hinge, a squeak escaped her, but no words were spoken for a long time. Finally, she hugged herself, glancing away. “I won’t lie, I kind of liked when you told that fuck-wad that I was your girl.”
Jessie’s eyes crinkled as his lips curled up high on his face.
Oh, did you now? He took a test step toward her.
Those flashing rubies of hers darted up to his face, but she didn’t stop him.
Jessie sauntered tentatively closer, then walked her back into the side of a stack of crushed metal.
One hand to her hip, the other taking one of hers and bringing it to his lips, he kissed her palm affectionately. “You are my girl.”
Katarina let out a wheezy breath, pink coating her cheeks. Her gaze darted away from him and Jessie chuckled, “His too, but he’s in time out because he used my government name against me.”
“Hey!” Nik huffed from over his shoulder.
Katarina returned her attention to him and Jessie rewarded her with another kiss to her hand. He nuzzled his nose against her soft skin. Her dreamy sigh filled his lungs with air, “Jessie, we need to talk about this. About your business.”
He tensed, eyes falling to the ground. Ah, so this is where the fork in the road is for us.
He was a fool for not seeing it sooner. Things were always headed to this crossroads.
When he finally looked up at her, he knew what he had to do.
I really, really like you Katarina…and I want to keep you.
But he didn’t want to force her while she still had a choice.
If she left, everyone would eventually forget about her and she’d be safe.
I want to keep you and make you forget that scumbag ex of yours and invite you to dinner where you’re happy. I want to provide for you. I want to hear Bella running through the house with Barnibus…but…
“We can talk,” he sighed. “But you gotta decide now if you’re in this or not.”
“What does that mean?” Katarina croaked.
Nik finally stepped up beside Jessie, his warmth radiating off him. The feel of Nik’s arm pressed against his own was the grounding sensation he needed. Please stay, baby girl. His enforcer took up her other hand and cupped it in his. “It’ll be safer if you don’t know.”
Jessie nodded with a soft hum. “Baby girl, if you want this, we’ll take care of you.
You and Isabella will be a part of the family.
But, if you want out, now’s the time to say that.
I can get you an apartment not near here, and you’ll be back on your feet…
but you can’t come back. Pierre made it obvious that people think of you as mine, and after that little stunt of mine, it’ll be dangerous for you not to be if we don’t cut the cord now. ”
“Wait, I have to choose what? If I’m going to stay with you both? Right now?”
“Yeah,” Nik grumbled.
Katarina ripped her hand back and Jessie lurched.
Nik had him by the back of the overalls, stopping him from moving as she stormed away from them.
He felt like his heart was throwing itself against his chest. Shoulda seen that coming.
Jessie lived his life with the understanding that things don’t last. Empires fall, businesses crumble, friendships end, so he tried not to regret a single day of it.
Yet, watching her stomp off into the graveyard? That shook him to the core.
The only person that he thought could rip his heart from his chest like that…well…was rubbing a gentle hand to the center of his back. Nik murmured, “I’ll walk her back to get the kid—”
Katarina came stomping back up to them, red in the face.
Hands flapping about, fury in her eyes, she nearly shook the ground with each step.
Her tail whipped back and forth behind her like an angry cat.
“Alright! First off, we’re going to clear the air right now or this isn’t going to work for me.
I am not stuff, I am not property, I am not arm candy, got it?
I’m not putting up with macho anything, so don’t think you can push me around just cause I’m signing on.
Got it? And Isabella is top priority. I don’t care what it is, if she’s put in danger for even a moment, it ends. We clear?”
Jessie’s face softened as he heard Nik involuntarily suck a breath in. Smiling, Jessie struck a hand out to her, “Little Momma, our kiddo’s gonna be just fine.”
“Our…” All that spitfire was put on pause as she breathed the word. Her shoulders slouched and her face fell. Jessie arched a confused brow as she studied his face, then Nik’s. Tears welled in her eyes as she nodded. “Okay…ours. She comes first, got it?”
“Got it,” Nik nodded.
Katarina swallowed loudly. “And you have to be 100% honest with me. Are you guys stealing stuff from other people?”
“Baby girl,” Jessie chuckled shaking his head. “I don’t steal nothing. People use our shop for services.”
Katarina eyed him. “What kind of services?”
Nik and Jessie shared a smug, knowing look before they nodded back to the shop. Jessie wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Nik, give her the tour…I’ll meet you both down there when I’m done locking down the shop.”