A Changed Man (Altered Book 1) (14 page)

"You think it could be from whatever those people did to you?" She asked looking at him in the mirror. "I mean, you can manipulate metal, so what if somehow it's sped up your healing process? Your nose bleed at the phone booth today didn't last anywhere near as long as before."

Remington just stared into the mirror. Jackie could see he was trying to make sense of it in his head, trying to put it together. "You want a beer?" She asked to change the subject. She left the bathroom and headed to the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure." He didn't know if he was scaring her again, but he was starting to be able to read her. He was learning that when she got nervous or needed a minute, her coping mechanism was deflection. "You could be on to something." He said leaving the bathroom and following her back toward the kitchen. "Are you ok?" he asked nervously.

Jackie grabbed two beers from the fridge and handed him one. She twisted the top off of hers and took a long swig. "I'm okay; it’s just a lot to take in. Don't worry; I'm not going to freak out or anything. It's just that, well, you keep getting weirder." She looked at him with a huge smile on her face.

Remington laughed and let out a huge sigh of relief. She was teasing him now, after everything that happened today, she was teasing him. "Do you have a small pair of tweezers or scissors? I'd like to get the stitches out before my skin completely heals around them."

"I can do that for you." Jackie held out her hand to Remington. He laid his hand in hers and let her lead him back to the bathroom.

Remington sat on the commode while Jackie gently worked on pulling out the stitches. Some of them had new skin starting to cover them. "I may reopen a few of these, not to the extent they were, but just enough that I can pull the thread out."

"Do what you have to do." Remington sat there while she worked on hi, her scent surrounding him. She was standing between his legs with her breasts in his face, and with every inhale he was breathing her in. She smelled of roses and rain; he didn't know if it was her perfume or just her natural scent, but it enveloped him. Before he realized what he was doing he wrapped his arms around her legs and held on to the back of her thighs just above her knees.

Jackie took in a sharp breath when she felt Remington’s hands rest on the back of her legs. She stopped what she was doing and just stood there, stock-still. It felt good, being touched. She could feel the heat of his hands go right through her jeans and heat up her skin.

"Is this okay?" He whispered.

Jackie leaned back just enough to look down at his face without moving out of his reach and nodded. "Yes." They just stared at each other. Jackie could see he wanted to kiss her, she could see his lips part slightly as he very slowly started to tilt his face up to meet hers, but before he could get any further she leaned back in and went back to work on his stitches. "I'm almost done," she said, swallowing hard. She wanted him to kiss her, more than anything, but it had been so long she was scared. What if he didn't like it? She was long out of practice. What if he was just doing it out of gratitude and not because he cared for her? Although he really didn't seem to be that kind of man. She continued working on removing his stitches, hoping like hell she didn't give him the wrong idea and miss her chance to feel if his lips were as soft as they looked.

Remington put his head back down so Jackie could finish. He smiled big into her shirt that was barely brushing against his face. He could hear her heart pounding and see her beautiful chest rise and fall faster than before. Her scent got stronger. He made her nervous; he could feel it. He didn't take it as a refusal; she hadn't made him remove his hands from her legs. He was having a hard time keeping them in one place, he wanted so badly to start rubbing up and down the backs of her thighs. He could picture it, his hands moving up slowly until he was able to cup that sweet ass.

"All done." Jackie said stepping back and letting Remington’s arms drop from her legs. She set the tweezers on the sink and walked out of the bathroom.

                      Chapter 10

Jordan Chase was on his nightly stakeout. Every night at dusk he would make his way back to the place he used to think could only exist in nightmares. The Den. Every night he would watch a different entrance or exit. Every night he would wait for a break in the routine of the sick fucks that ran the place. He had already found a few flaws. Now he just had to come up with a plan, recruit some help. He knew just where to go to do that now. Jordan laid in the bushes a few hundred yards away from a back entrance; writing down every detail of the structure and the dates and times that the people who worked there would come and go. It was getting dark fast. The sky was overcast, which meant when it truly turned night there would be no light from the moon to help him see. He wasn't worried though, since his escape he never had a problem seeing in the dark again. He watched through binoculars as a full sized black SUV drove up the long gravel road leading to the den. When it reached the huge iron gates, six large, very bright, motion sensor floodlights strategically placed at the gates and all around the entrance lit up the entire area. Jordan saw the driver roll down the window and tap a few numbers into the security box. They then drove through the gates as they opened. The SUV pulled up to the large metal door that led inside; it was also equipped with a security pad. He watched two large men dressed all in black get out of the car, open the back door of the vehicle, and roughly pull a man out of the back seat. The prisoner had his hands cuffed behind his back and a covering over his head. One of the men took the cover off as he held him in place while the other went around to the back of the SUV and opened the rear hatch. Jordan redirected his gaze back to the poor son-of-a-bitch that was sure to endure the same amount of torture as everyone that was stuck in this shit hole. He saw the man looking around and fidgeting. He was trying to reach in to the back of his pants without anyone noticing. The man pulled out something silver and it looked to be on a chain. "Dog tags" Jordan whispered to himself. The man then dropped the tags next to the SUV coughing loudly at the same time to cover up the noise they made while hitting the ground. He then put his foot over them. The big man holding him was too busy watching his buddy dig through the back of the car to notice what he had done. The man at the back of the SUV retrieved a large duffle bag and as he shut the hatch, the prisoner used that distraction to kick the tags under the vehicle. "You sneaky son-of-a-bitch." Jordan said to himself. The two goons escorted the prisoner to the door and the one with the duffle tapped a code into the security pad and all three of them disappeared into what Jordan could only describe as hell. Jordan was in shock, all the months he spent watching the place he had never seen them bring someone in. He was at the right place at the right time tonight it seemed. He knew he had to get those dog tags. He waited for the security lights to go off and plunge the area back into the glorious darkness he had grown so fond of.

"Are you hungry?" Jackie asked Remington as he walked in to the kitchen. She felt like a nervous teenager running from her first kiss. This wouldn't have been her first kiss, not her first anything, so why was she acting like such a chicken shit? She was obviously attracted to him. Now that he was no longer swollen and bruised he looked hotter than anyone she had ever seen. Shit, he was hot even then. "I was going to make us some pasta for dinner if that’s okay." Jackie kept her front to the counter and her back to him.

Remington walked up behind her and put both hands around her grabbing on to the counter, trapping her between his muscular arms. He leaned over, putting his lips right next to her ear. "That sounds delicious. Anything I can do to help?" He whispered.

Jackie felt his hot breath on her ear. It was like some sort of cat and mouse game, her being the mouse, or was it the chicken? It didn't really matter; she liked it. "No, I got it. You go relax. Turn on the TV; I'll bring it out when it’s done."

"Yes ma'am." He said and just as fast as he trapped her, he dropped his arms, turned, and walked out of the kitchen. Jackie was blushing like a fool, she knew if she looked in the mirror right now she would see her cheeks a deep pink. She liked his flirting, it made her feel wanted, something she hadn't felt in a long time. She finished making dinner and brought her and Remington’s plates into the living room where he was sitting watching TV.

"Wow, this smells great!" He said taking the plate she handed him. "Thank you." Jackie sat down on the couch next to him and started to eat.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Remington said turning to face her. "What did you mean earlier? When we got back and noticed the new doorknob you said it's happening again, what exactly is happening again?"

Jackie stopped eating and set her bowl down. She was unsure if she wanted to say anything. "Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Jack, tell me, please."

No one calls her Jack but Sarah. It was a nickname she reserved for only the people closest in her life, and Sarah was the only one left. But for some reason she liked hearing it from him, it sounded right coming out of his mouth. "You'll think I'm crazy." she laughed.

"Are you kidding me? With all the shit I told you? You believed me, and I promise I'll believe you."

"Okay." She said deciding to just go for it. He was right, after his story, nothing she said could be crazy compared to that. "Well, last week I decided to get off my ass and start working on the house; I had been moping around for a few months after moving here, feeling sorry for myself. Anyway, I was working on the shutters. I wanted to repaint them and re-hang them on the house. I went to town and got some paint and I left it out on the front porch overnight. When I woke up the next morning I went out to get started and it was gone. I thought I may have put it in the shed, and when I checked, it was in there on the counter. I didn't think anything of it so I grabbed it and headed back to the house when I saw the shutters were all freshly painted and hanging perfectly straight on the house." She watched his face for any sign that he thought she was nuts. She didn't see any. He was looking her right in the eyes waiting for her to continue. "There's something else." She looked down at her lap. "I've been seeing things. Well, not things really. A shadow. I've been seeing a black shadow. I saw it for the first time out the kitchen window, in the tree line. It disappeared so fast I thought it was just me, that maybe I was just tired or whatever. Then I saw it in my room. I thought it was being cast from the light coming through my window or something but I got up to use the bathroom and when I went back to bed, it was gone. Then again closer to the house while I was sitting out on the front porch one night." Jackie waited for him to say something; she knew what she was saying must have sounded strange.

"I believe you." He said reaching out and taking her hand. This time she let him. "Does it do anything? Does it seem to be threatening in any way?"

"No, not really. It's just freaky as hell. It's like it has a mind of it's own. I don't know how else to explain it. The last time I saw it, it was like its movements were purposeful, like it's alive."

Remington let go of her hand and picked her plate back up and handed it to her. "Eat, before it gets cold. We'll figure it out. If I’m not around when you see it again, even if you're not sure it's what you experienced before or just a regular shadow, if it makes you wonder at all be sure you come get me."

"I will." She said smiling at him. "Thanks."

They ate the rest of their meal in silence, just watching TV. Remington would scan through the news stations to make sure his picture wasn't showing up again. It hadn't. After they finished dinner Remington got up and took both of their plates to the kitchen. He rinsed them and loaded them into the dishwasher, then went to work on cleaning the pots and pans Jackie had used to cook.

"You don't have to do that." She said looking over the back of the couch at him. "I'll get those later."

"No, I'll do it." He turned from the sink to face her. "You made that wonderful dinner, the least I can do is clean up. Plus, your letting me stay here, I want to pull my own weight. If there are anymore repairs you want to make on the house, I'm your man."

I'm your man
. Jackie liked the sound of that, even if he didn't mean it that way. "Well thank you. I'd really appreciate that."

Remington finished cleaning and putting everything away. "It's still early, you want to watch a movie or something?" He asked from the kitchen. "I just thought it could get our minds off of everything for awhile."

Jackie rose from the couch and walked toward the hallway. "Sure, that sounds great. I'm just going to go change first, I wanna get comfortable so that if I fall asleep on the couch I'm already dressed for bed." She laughed.

"Sounds good. I'm going to jump in the shower real quick while you do that if that’s ok."

"Of course! I’ll meet you back here in fifteen minutes?" She replied and continued down the hall to her bedroom.

"Perfect." Remington followed her down the hall stopping at his room. He grabbed the backpack that he had left on the floor earlier and took it with him to the bathroom. He started the water and while waiting for it to heat up he stood in front of the mirror and stared at himself. He couldn't believe there wasn't a mark left on his face. Maybe Jackie was right, maybe it has something to do with the operation. He didn't really want to think about it right now. He was exhausted, and just needed to let go for a while. He got undressed and stepped in to the steaming shower.