Fearless (16 page)

“She will be happy to report how you
scammed
her for two grand. You’re in some serious shit, motherfucker! Is that what you call producing music? Scamming people? You’re nothing but a low life scumbag.”

Jesse pulled back and tossed the wallet with all the other contents intact at the guy. The man flinched and reeled back as the wallet bounced up against his chest and he caught it. Jesse threw a fast sidelong glance at Chase, whose muscles were tight as a rope, ready to strike if needed. Jesse wasn’t taking his eyes off this guy for a minute. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

 “Niki, call the cops.” Chase ordered.

“How about we kick his ass first and then call the cops,” Jesse shot back.

The guy’s face paled with fear. “No, no! NO! Please, no need to call the police. Look, I don’t have it. I gave it to my dealer. I…I…I don’t think he’ll give it back.”

“Tell him you want it. Tell him you want a Dancing Elmo for Christmas. I. Don’t. Care. Just get the money!” The pitch and volume of his voice propelled his words like a cannon, attracting curious stares from people standing nearby.

The guy looked nervous but stalled, like he was plotting his escape, about to bolt for the door. With a strong, angry fist, Jesse twisted up the guy’s suit jacket by the lapel and pulled him in within inches of his face. He seethed at the guy with mounting rage and spoke through clenched teeth.

“See this. This is my happy face. Either tell me where her money is or become an invalid, bitch.” He threw the words at him like stones.

“Okay, okay. I got your friend’s money. It’s at my house.”

“Now we’re talking. Let’s go get it.”

“Look, you two wait for me here and I’ll go get it.”

“Excuse me. What are you on? Because you must be hallucinating. There is no sign on my back that says Jerk Face.” Jesse’s clawed hand clamped down on Michael’s shoulder. “We are coming with you to pick up the money. Niki, you stay here with Kat. Chase and I will go.”

“Jesse…” I held onto Kat’s arm and stepped out of the way. “Be careful.” I had no doubt that Jesse could handle himself with this guy. I had seen him easily beat the living daylights out of that guy who threw a beer glass in Chase’s face. His ability to unleash a torrent of violence was dependent on his pent up anger, his unresolved emotions. It was strange how unfettered rage could be an advantage. I shuddered inwardly as I thought of various scenarios. This guy could be armed, have a knife or worse, but my fears were pacified with the realization that Jesse had always held his own in the past and that Chase would be with him.

A minute later, Jesse and Chase left, with the scumbag wedged between them, as they hustled him out the door. Kat and I parked ourselves at a small corner table until they returned. I swallowed another drink in the hope that it would wash away the anxiety of waiting.

Kat worked her lower lip between her teeth, fiercely punching the keypad on her phone. I wasn’t sure why she bothered. Neither Chase nor Jesse would answer a text, given the situation at hand. She looked up. Her trepidation was obvious in her eyes. “I hope everything goes well. I would never forgive myself if something happened to Jesse and Chase over a stupid two thousand dollars,” Kat said.

“Everything will be fine, and two thousand dollars is not stupid.” Even I was stunned when my voice came out even and calm. Maybe my self-confidence really
was
growing. I was standing up to people and the shaky, uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach had dissipated. Tonight I had confronted a bad guy with nerves of steel! Well, maybe more like nerves that were not wet noodles. Let’s not get carried away here.
Baby steps, baby steps
.

Four empty drinks glasses later, there was still no sign of Jesse and Chase. A tiny bud of nervousness threatened to spring up inside me, but I sheared it down, like a weed in a garden. I could try calling – but it was highly unlikely he’d answer.

“Fuck, where are they?” This time Kat was nervous and I the stoic one.

“Hold your horses, girlie. Let them work their magic.”

Finally, I spotted Jesse coming through the door. He ran his hand through his unruly hair. My heart did a little flip as he strode towards our table. The sight of him always quickened my pulse. He and Chase forcefully pushed through the crowd, looking like two Viking warriors returning from battle. I could finally breathe again.

Their faces were unreadable, not offering a clue to how things had gone. Assuming the worst, I blurted out, “You didn’t get the money?”

Chase plopped down in the chair next to Kat and Jesse slipped in next to me.

“What happened? What happened?” Kat squeaked, her energy was so pent up she could barely keep her petite tushie on the seat of the chair.

“The fucker ran away.” Chase blew out a breath.

“Shit! Now we will never find him.” Kat’s misery was so acute her physical pain came through in the tremor of her voice.

Chase threw his head back laughing and nearly rocked the chair to its back legs. I didn’t see what was so funny. These two just went away with a crook, an underhanded thief, probably with gang affiliations. My imagination exaggerated the situation but his laughter didn’t make sense.

I turned to Chase and asked, “Do I get an invitation?”

“To what?” He chortled, barely able to contain his laughter long enough to speak, as he rocked back and forth as if he were riding some kind of damn rocking horse.

“To whatever festivities are going on in your head, obviously. What the hell, Chase?” I looked at Jesse for an explanation. He ducked his head and put a hand on his brow, resting his elbow on the table. He faked rubbing his forehead in an attempt to shield his smirking face from my sight. His efforts were in vain. The jig was up.

Even Kat was grinning from ear to ear, caught up in the infectious humor found only in Chase’s mind. “Damn, Chase. What’s so funny?” Kat asked.

“You should have seen Jesse…” He had to pause to suck in air. “I’ve never seen anyone run that fast. In thirty seconds flat he chased down the dude.” Chase rocked back again and slapped his thighs. “It was fucking awesome.”

“I hope you kicked his ass, Jesse,” I said boldly.

“Wow, listen to you, babe. I can’t believe you just said that. What happened to always finding a peaceful solution?”

“Yea, well, maybe I changed my mind. There’s a time and a place for everything. Besides, that bastard deserved it for what he did to Kat. Men like him think women are easy targets. But we are not. We can show the world that no one can take advantage of us and get away with it…well, maybe with a little assistance from some men, guys like you. Men who use their powers to fight evil…”

“I’m no Spiderman, Niki. Wait...” Jesse’s face went deadpan and he reached over one shoulder and patted around on his back with the palm of his hand on his T-shirt. “What’s this? I think I feel a cape or something on my back…is it red?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. So Spidey…did you get Kat’s money back?”

Jesse reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thick white business envelope. “Here you go, Kat. It’s all here.”

Kat’s eyes went wide as saucers, and her mouth opened with a gasp.

“Jesse, you
are
a fucking hero.” She launched herself straight up and over the small cocktail table, knocking empty glasses as she dove. She threw her arms around his neck and planted a big juicy kiss on his cheek. I grabbed the edge of the table to steady it as it wobbled. Then she launched an attack on Chase next, profusely thanking him and all of us again and again for helping her retrieve the money. Luckily, he was positioned next to her and the contents of the table were safe from her enthusiasm. She seemed to linger a little longer with her arms draped around Chase’s neck and his kiss was a little more lingering when she thanked him. My eyebrow shot up. Was it my imagination? Or did I see a sign?

“Come on, guys. Let’s get out of here,” Jesse said and shoved back his chair. “What do you say we stop by Rookies for a nightcap?”

Ending the evening at Rookies, with Jesse and my two best friends, sounded like the perfect way to celebrate. I gave myself a pat on the back. I had made progress today. I was learning to live in the moment, go for the gusto, and ohmygod, ‘seize the day,’ - carpe diem. I stifled a giggle.

Jesse had shown me how to let go of the worry, all of the ‘what if’ thoughts that were so confining. There had been times in the past when I had drummed up so many ‘what if’s in my head that I’d been immobilized. Left unable to think straight or move forward. But, tonight, I had made a breakthrough. Sure, I wasn’t all the way there yet; I still had that little voice of doubt, that whiny little voice buzzing like a fly, but I had definitely improved.

Jesse threw his arm over my shoulder and we all headed out the door of The Roxy. I gazed up at him, with a huge smile plastered on my face. He beamed down at me and gave me a warm kiss on the forehead, as our feet hit the sidewalk of Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood.

Chapter 16

Niki

“Are you nervous about flying?” Jesse asked as we stepped up to the check-in counter at LAX airport. Here I was, inadvertently heading back to New York State, a place I vowed I’d never return to, after my years spent there in boarding school. It was with mixed feelings that I stood next to Jesse and my brimming suitcase, waiting for it to be my turn to show proper identification. Although my memories were sullied with negative thoughts, I reminded myself over and over, in my head, that this trip had a positive purpose. This time, New York would get a second chance to show its colors, no pun intended. Hopefully the dark memories would be replaced with more cheery ones. The kind that would later be nostalgically pressed into a drug store photo album, or nowadays, ostentatiously posted on Facebook to share with all my family and friends.

“No, not at all. I’ve flown many times, my dear.”

“Some people still get nervous when flying, even if they’ve done it often.”

“Are
you
nervous?” I asked. I found it peculiar that Jesse, a man with steel nerves, who took the hairpin curves of Motocross tracks like they were a walk in the park, would have
any
fears, let alone a fear of
flying
.

“Hah, no way. I like flying. Actually, it reminds me of a flight I took about a year ago to Paris. I met…a-ah, never mind.” He stared off into the air as if his mind had warped back to a time of pleasant memories.

“No, tell me. I want to know.”

“It was just a fun flight, that’s all.” He ducked his head and reached down to grab the handle of his suitcase. He heaved my bag, and then his, onto the stainless steel shelf where the attendant had politely instructed him to put them.

“Hmm, really? That’s all? You are not going to tell me what was so
fun
about it?” I peered into his twinkling eyes. The corners of his mouth twitched, struggling to keep a humorous smile at bay that threatened to erupt.
That devil.
Only a fond memory could provoke such a cryptic smile.

Two unruly locks of hair fell loose into his eyes when he leaned over to pick up the bags. He shoved them back with his hand. “Uh, just a lot of bumps and stuff, you know…turbulence.”

My heart skipped a beat without warning, it did that more and more ever since Jesse entered my life. Yes, I had ‘Jesse Syndrome;’ it strikes women out of nowhere. First, you experience shortness of breath and difficulty breathing, then a rapid rise in heartbeat. This is followed by complications of ‘fuzzy thinking,’ whenever Jesse’s enigmatic personality is near, and thoughts get confused. It often leads to impulsive behavior that one wouldn’t normally engage in. And I had my suspicions that it struck women from New York to L.A., and even possibly as far afield as Paris.

For a brief moment I imagined that all the women in the airport terminal were gawking at him, drooling over his good looks and the rippling muscles that stretched his T-shirt to its limit. I snapped my head around for a look, then chided myself for acting so ridiculously. What exactly was he talking about? He looked like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Hmm, so turbulence is fun now,” I muttered. Half of me wanted to believe it was nothing, but the expression on his face made me wonder. I was sure there was more to the story than he was telling, but I decided to let this one slide and brushed it off. We all have at least one innocent little secret and I decided to let this skeleton stay in the closet.

The clerk behind the counter handed us our boarding passes and, after the usual security check including a full body x-ray scan, we were sitting comfortably in the Business Class Lounge, waiting for the flight to start boarding.

“That’s a nice benefit of business class. Access to the airport lounge,” Jesse said, practically stuffing an entire cream cheese breakfast Danish into his mouth at once.

“I’ve never flown business class before. Nice change, so far.”

“Really? Your dad never splurged on you when you went back for Christmas breaks and such?”

“He was always tight with money on certain things. He has an anal retentive driven logic about money. I could never figure it out. If it pleased him to spend money on something, then he’d splurge and go all out. If he perceived it as too expensive, then he didn’t. Like I said, there seemed to be no logic to it, more like it was controlled by his anxieties about money.”

“Yeah, I guess if I had to pay out of my own pocket, I would fly monkey class too. Thank God for team managers and their big budgets,” Jesse laughed as they finally called out on the loudspeakers for the boarding of our flight to JFK, New York.

After an uneventful flight, with no major turbulence, we walked towards the baggage area to meet up with the driver. I noticed a sharply dressed man holding a sign saying, ’Morrison.’ Cool, that was us.

“Hi, I’m Morrison,” Jesse said to the driver.

“Welcome to New York, sir. Are those all of your bags?” He looked at our two pieces of luggage and started loading his trolley.