For Love and Vengeance (6 page)

“I'm going to get
Aviva. Josh, conjure up some more of that binding for this fool,” Jason
ordered, toeing the man with his shoe. “When I bring her out, I don't want to
see any sign that they were ever here, is that clear?” He didn't wait for an
answer, he just kept on walking towards the bedroom, and closed the door behind
him without a backwards glance.

~~~~~~~~~~

Josh wasn't happy
with Jason's tone of voice and if the mummy hadn't been in such close
proximity, he would have had a word with his brother. He and Jake were in for
the long haul, that was a given, but Jason needed a reminder that they weren't
his minions. They were beside him because they were his brothers and that was
where they wanted to be.

Almost as soon as
his irritation raised its head, it was gone. He knew Jason appreciated their
presence. He was equally clear that if he and Jake packed up and left at this
moment, Jason would forge on alone, accomplish his goals, probably unscathed,
and still have Aviva giving him her unconditional love.

“I need to use
the bathroom.”

Looking over at
mummy boy, Josh laughed. “Are you for real? You come in here uninvited, with
guns, and then you want to use our bathroom. Well, let me apologize in advance
because my answer is no. You're just gonna have to hold it because I'm not
letting you out of your wrapping, and I still need to move you and wrap up that
other thing on the floor. In case you don't get my drift, let me spell it out
for you. If you piss yourself before I get around to moving you, I'm gonna pull
out your dick by the root.”

Across the room,
Jake winced and shuddered, laughing at Josh's comment. “I suppose I could move
him while you go and get the rest of the binding for this one,” Jake said
helpfully with a head motion towards the prone man, his dimples on display to
accompany his suggestion.

The brothers
stared at each for a moment then looked down at the eager man seated on the
sofa, his relief apparent. The brothers again made eye contact and shook their
heads.

“No?” Jake asked
with a smile.

“Nah,” Josh
replied. “Where's the fun in that?”

“True, very true,
little brother. I've never seen a man's dick ripped out from its roots. That
would indeed be something to tell the guys back home about. Okay, you win. He’ll
just have to hold it.” Jake winked at his younger brother.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jason and Aviva
returned to the living area to find only the brothers present. Aviva wasn't
sure she wanted to know what had happened to the two men and decided not to
ask. Watching her, always watching her, Jason knew what was running through her
mind. He wanted to assure her they were unharmed, well, almost. The fools were
lucky he hadn’t broken them in half and the next person that got in his way may
not be so lucky.

Running around
his mind was also the fact that when these men came up missing, the people they
were going after would be on their guard. There was no question of whether he
was going after them, that was a given. His only uncertainty was whether his
brothers would be willing to do whatever was needed in order to come out alive.

“Don't worry,
Angel. Josh just placed them in one of the bedrooms. Someone will come and let
them out later on.”

“Oh, he placed
them in the room, did he?” Aviva mocked.

“Sure I placed
them in the room. Come on, sweetheart, you know me. Now if it had been one of
them,” Josh said, looking between his brothers, “who could say how gently they’d
have been treated.”

Aviva rolled her
eyes, not bothering to answer. Josh may have more of a sense of the ridiculous,
but when it came to the crux of a situation, they were all the same. It just
manifested itself differently with him.

Having had enough
of the conversation, Jason handed a few of the bags containing Aviva's clothing
to Jake, and asked him if everything was ready for their move. At his nod of
agreement, Jason placed his hand in the middle of Aviva's back to guide her
forward. She immediately recoiled from his touch, her actions not lost on the
other occupants of the room. Ignoring their stares of concern, Jason nodded
towards the door that would lead them from the hotel suite.

“Shall we?”

She had hurt
him...again. She didn't mean to, she just couldn't help it.

Aviva wasn't
paying much attention to the direction in which they were driving. Jake was at
the wheel with Josh beside him. She and Jason sat in the back, not touching,
not speaking. She knew he needed answers to what had happened to her, and she
knew she would have to give them very soon.

Also aware that her
physical withdrawal was hurting him but it wasn’t deliberate on her part. His
gruff exterior was never directed at her. She alone was privy to the man
beneath the shell of protectiveness he had erected years ago. The man who liked
to hold hands, the man who smiled and made the most outrageous jokes when they
were alone. The man who loved to cuddle after making mind blowing love to her.
The man that no matter how much he had exerted himself, how much of himself he
had given, always wanted to give her more.

Often times,
Aviva thought he was...no, she knew he was attempting to show her that he was
worthy of her love, her acceptance. He may not be aware of it, but he was still
coming to terms with what had happened to him during his childhood.

He was a strong
man, a powerful man. Strong, powerful men coped with what had been allotted to
them, and this was a perfect description of her man. More than anything, Aviva
wanted to reach out her hand and grasp his, to feel his strength to assure
herself that he was beside her, but she couldn't.

As Aviva mused,
she became aware that the car they travelled in was slowing down. Curious, she
started paying attention. They probably drove another hundred yards before the
headlights of the car panned over the front of a house so quickly Aviva didn't
have time to make an impression. She was aware, however, that there were no
other houses in close proximity.

The car came to a
stop, and while she looked around, her door was opened by Jake. He held out his
hand to assist her to exit the car. Aviva ignored his hand and got out of the
car without touching him. Their eyes met briefly and hers were the first to
lower, avoiding the question she saw reflected there.

Their
relationship was slower to develop than the one she had created with Josh.
Jake's personality was more reserved than his younger brother’s. Rearranging
her thoughts, Aviva knew it to be incorrect. Jake was the family protector, the
watcher. There was something about him, something embedded deep within him that
gave rise to a
need
to take care of those around him. Of all the
brothers, he was the most silent, the one who missed very little, the observer.

A barely audible
whisper was all she heard as she stood upright outside the vehicle. The words
meant only for her ears. “It's okay, I understand. You need to tell
Jason...everything.” He had no time for further comment as Jason quickly made
his way around the car and stood waiting at her side. He heard the murmur of
Jake's voice but had been too far way, the words too quietly spoken to decipher
their meaning.

“What were you
two talking about?” Jason asked.

“Not now, Jason.
We need to get Aviva out of this chilly rain.” The deluge of earlier in the day
having slowed to a light sprinkling of rain drops.

Feeling reprimanded
for having to be reminded of his priorities, Jason stilled his inquires as to
their conversation. He didn't like that Jake had been whispering to his woman,
but he needed to trust that nothing untoward had been said; so he filed the
incident away as something to bring up with his twin later. He didn't like the
whispering, but right then he needed to get Aviva inside, and settled into the
place they would call home for a short while.

~~~~~~~~~~

The interior of
the house was beautiful. It was just the type of house every little girl who
grew up in London dreamt of, and Aviva was no exception. As a child, she had
wanted enough space so that she could entertain her school friends who had so
much more than she and her mother had ever been able to afford. Enough space so
that she could invite them over for afternoon tea of sandwiches and Earl Grey
tea served from dainty china cups.

Her reality was
something far different. On the occasions she had friends over, her mother was
always a warm and welcoming host who never allowed anyone to leave their home
without feeling the full force of her hospitality. She was also a fiercely
proud Caribbean woman. While she respected the culture of which she was a part,
she was also proud of the culture into which she had been born.

There were no
cucumber sandwiches with the crust sliced off. Instead, there was bun and
cheese, a dark, sweet bread with raisins. It was so doughy, its density would
be remembered long after it had been consumed. Also served was hard dough white
bread sandwiches, coupled with ham and English mustard, her concession to
Englishness, but she always insisted on a Jamaican twist, hence the bun and hard
dough bread.

Aviva remembered
those tea parties with nostalgia of an age that had shaped her into the person
she had become. Proud of her heritage, proud that she had been blessed with a
mother who took the time to allow her to attend the tea parties of her peers,
but had also allowed her childhood friends to experience another culture and to
see that although different, there was much to be gained through that
difference. Throughout the journey that was her life, she had come full circle.
Here she was, back in England, walking into the type of home she had always
dreamt of, and yet, at that moment, she would give anything to be surrounded by
the warmth of her mother’s arms.

Standing in the
hallway of the house, Jason saw the tears in her eyes and was immediately
worried she was uncomfortable in her surroundings.

“Are you okay,
Angel? If you don't like this place, we'll leave.”

“Oh, Jason, it’s
perfect. It's a lovely house.”

“Then why are
there tears in your eyes?”

“Memories, just
memories of a bygone time. Beautiful memories that I'll tell you about one
day.”

Jason wasn't
convinced. He didn't want to see her tears unless they were accompanied by her
laughter. He was certain she had already shed too many in the past week. The
period of time they had known each other was short by the standards of others,
but for him, he felt he had been waiting a lifetime for this woman. She was the
one person who was his perfect fit and her happiness meant everything to him.

“You trust me,
don't you, Angel? I'm sorry I let you down before. You have my promise, it will
never happen again.”

“Jason, what are
you talking about?” Aviva asked, looking up at his troubled expression.

“You can trust
me. I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again, I promise.”

“Stop it, Jason.
Anything that happened to me wasn't your fault. Those men had a choice. They
chose their path. That has nothing to do with you.”

“Don't try to
tell me I wasn't the catalyst that set this in motion.”

“I won't because
you probably were. But you were a child, left to your own devices. God only
knows how you survived. Whatever you did, whatever you have to do, I'll think
no less of you.”

Before he could
respond, his brother joined them in the hallway, loaded down with boxes and the
bags containing Aviva's clothing.

“Follow me,” Josh
said as he walked past them, continued across the hall, heading towards the
stairs.

Following behind,
Aviva and Jason climbed the stairs. Her awkward gait again reminded Jason of
her pain, making him even more determined to get to the bottom of what had
happened to her. He knew the telling would be traumatic for her, having to
relive an ordeal always was, but he needed the details. It was through these
details that he would plan and mete out his brand of justice.

The room they
were shown to meant nothing to Jason, apart from it being the place they would
be spending a few nights. Then they would be on their way back to the States.
By then, his business in London would be completed, and he had no intention of
sticking around to answer any questions that came up. When dealing with business
of this type, his motto was,
silent and deadly.

Josh deposited
the bags on the bed and left the room in silence, leaving an awkward Aviva
along with an ever watchful Jason. Aviva looked down at the pale pink carpeting
in silence.

“Make yourself
comfortable, Angel. I'll be back in ten minutes. I know it will be difficult,
but time’s running out and we need to talk.
I
need to know what happened
to you. Believe me, if I could give you more time, I would but we just don't
have that luxury.”

Jason watched as
her throat moved up and down as she silently swallowed.

“Ten minutes,
Angel,” he said softly as he headed out the door to give her a few minutes of
privacy.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jason retraced
his steps down the stairs and followed the voices which led him to the kitchen.
His brothers were seated at the table, a glass of whiskey in each of their
hands. He also saw that another glass sat on the table, waiting for him.

Sitting down, he
picked it up and downed it in one swallow and held his glass out for another.
He needed the burn of the liquid moving down his throat and then spreading
throughout his stomach as fortification for what was to come.

“What happens
now?” Josh asked.

“I've given her a
few minutes to settle in. Then I go back upstairs and she tells me everything.”

“Isn't it too
soon for that? Maybe she needs more time.”

“We don't have
any more time, Josh. These men are ruthless killers and it's only a matter of
time before they move in us. I don't intend to give them that opportunity. I’m
bringing it to them, and I'm bringing it hard.”

“What do you have
in mind?” Jake asked.

“First things
first; have you heard from your people, Jake?”

“Yes, I have, mummy
boy told the truth. My guys were already on to the location. They counted ten
men protecting Anderson.”

“Ten!” Jason
sniggered. “Well, that's my lot accounted for. What are you guys gonna be
doing?”

“Covering your
ass, by the sounds of it, Mr. Invincible!” Jake snapped back, bothered by
Jason's attitude. Didn't the pigheaded man realize that he could be killed?
Yes, they had wronged them and the things they had done…no Kingdom would put up
with. That didn't mean he was prepared to get into the Kingdom style of
retribution without a plan.

“Did I ask you to
cover my ass?”

“Someone has to,
you hot headed bastard!”

Stuck in the
middle of their constant mess, Josh reached the end of his endless patience.
“The both of you need to stop because I've taken all I intend to of this
constant bickering!”

“What?!” Jason
and Jake said at the same time in disbelief at the ferocity of his words.

“That's right,
you both heard me, and I'm not about to repeat myself!”

If their current
situation hadn't been so dire, Jason would have been amused. But right then, he
was hard pressed to find amusement anywhere. He knew he was reacting in this
way because he didn't want to face what he was about to hear and Jake was
always good for a distraction.

“Whatever, man,”
Jason said without inflection, giving his younger brother a
I don't give a
shit what you have to say
look.

Josh just shook
his head and rolled his eyes at Jason's comment while Jake gave him a hard look
of disapproval.

Jason had stopped
paying either of them any attention after he had spoken. His interest was firmly
locked on the time as the minutes ticked towards the ten minute mark. With
exactly thirty seconds to spare, he pushed back his chair and left the room
without comment.