For Love and Vengeance (9 page)

Josh was at a
loss of how to help her. As he watched her, he was certain she was unaware of
how the sounds she made affirmed her ordeal. He didn't yet know the extent of
what she’d gone through, but he would in time, and he intended to exact
retribution. No one would ever again be allowed to inflect pain on his loved
ones. This he had sworn long ago.

From his earliest
memories, Jake had been his protector. Whenever he had needed his brother,
before he had even voiced the need, he had been there. What Jake hadn’t
realized was that Josh was also his protector. He would do whatever was
necessary to keep his father and brother safe – anything. Along the way, he had
acquired another brother and a sister, and the perimeter of his protection had
simply widened. There was a debt to pay, and he would see that it was paid in
full.

At the same time
as his musings, Josh was also at the end of his tether. He could no longer bear
the sounds of Aviva's anguish. He couldn't comfort her with his touch, he didn't
dare touch her after her reaction in the kitchen, nor did his whispered words
of comfort appear to reach her. He was at a loss as to what to do. Crying women,
in general, always made him uncomfortable. Aviva’s tears, however, scared him
as nobody else could. If she were his, he would have laid down beside her and
found a way to take her into his arms to still her flow of tears. But she
wasn't his and never would be, but the crying had to stop!

Minutes prior, in
the kitchen, she had been ready fight for her relationship with Jason despite
her obvious cloud of pain. Yet, now her body was wracked by tears that sounded
to him like despair, and it had to stop!

As Josh reached
the door, he looked over his shoulder one last time before he left the room.
With laden steps, he made his way back to the kitchen. Whether he wanted to
accept it or not, Jason had unfinished business that he needed to take care of,
and Josh intended to make sure he attended to it. Entering the kitchen, he saw
his brothers sitting on the floor, their backs pressed against a wall.

Both the seated
men looked up as he entered the room, their clouded expressions denoting the
seriousness of the conversation that had taken place in his absence. Cutting
his eyes to Jake, Josh saw the brief blink of his eyes that told him Jason had
shared Aviva’s story. He would also know the story in time, but at that moment,
he needed to find a way to get Jason upstairs.

“She’s in a bad
way, Jason. I think you need to go upstairs and see to her.”

“I know she’s in
a bad way. That’s why I sent you with her.” Jason’s voice held no emotion as he
replied to Josh.

“Jesus, you are
such a dumbass.”

“What?” Jason
asked in amazement.

“What’s the
matter, Jason, you suddenly gone deaf? I said you're a dumbass. Did you hear me
this time?!”

Still in his
prone position, Jason looked over at his twin and spoke to him rather than
answering Josh. “Get him off my back. I’m not in the mood for his antics.”

“Leave Jake out
of this. This is between you and me!”

“That's where
you're wrong, son. This is between Aviva and me, so back off!”

“Well, I just
made myself a part of it, whether you like it or not!”

“Are you looking
to get your ass handed to you?”

“You want some,
Jason? Come get some,” Josh said, beckoning Jason with both hands.

Jason held his
younger brother’s gaze as he rose to his feet, his eyes still devoid of
emotion. “You need to back off, Joshua,” Jason spoke with a deadly calm and
Josh's body grew taut as it readied itself for Jason's next move.

“That's right,
Jason, keep coming and after I kick the shit out of you, I'm gonna turn right
around and go upstairs and take care of that little woman in every way you can
imagine.”

Josh was quick. He
saw Jason's hammer fist rushing towards his chin, but for the life of him, he
couldn't out maneuver it.
Shit this is going to hurt,
Josh thought just
as he felt the full impact of Jason's fist connecting with his face, the force
of the punch rocking him back on his feet.

“Now I'm going to
take care of my woman, just like I intended to do before you came in here
running your mouth.”

“What was all
that crap about
I love her so much I have to set her free
?” Josh asked,
incredulous at what he was hearing.

“Yeah, well, that
was then, this is now...it's definitely catching,” Jason said with a shake of
his head as he shouldered his way past a shocked Josh who was still holding his
jaw.

Josh realized he
had missed much more than he had originally thought while he was upstairs with
Aviva. Unable to help himself, he rose to the bait of Jason's cryptic remark.
“What's catching?”

“The shit you all
spout,” Jason said without a backwards glance as he left the kitchen to his
brothers; one still in shock and the other laughing at his parting remark.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jason heard the
sounds of her crying even before he got to the door of the bedroom. As he
turned the handle to the door, all became quiet. Moving into the room, the door
closed behind him. He sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at Aviva’s face.
No evidence of the tears were visible. She had obviously heard him coming and
had wiped them away.

“I've just been
told that I'm a dumbass, and as much as it pains me, I have to admit that I
agree.” Aviva didn't open her eyes or in any way acknowledge his softly spoken
confession. So he just kept talking, filling the quietness with the sound of
his deep voice, his way of communicating that he was once again in complete control
of his faculties.

“I'm sorry for
what I put you through earlier. I'm not even going to try to justify the way I
behaved. Just know that I'm sorry, and I'm glad you're back here with me. Did I
tell you that before? Maybe not, I can't remember. But I am…glad to have you
back I mean.”

Jason never took
his eyes from her still form, watching as her silent tears found a way past her
closed eyelids. Looking at her beloved face, he acknowledged that the pain in
his chest was a manifestation of his stupidity, and even though he accepted it,
and was sorrier than he was capable of verbalizing, it kept expanding, bringing
with it an almost overwhelming need to take his hand and massage his chest in
an attempt to eradicate the ache.

“Tell me what I
can do, my Angel. What can I do to make all of this right…to make us right?”

His words were
met by silence.

“Do you want
something to eat? A bath, I know you love your baths...or if that's too
difficult, maybe a shower? I'll help. Just tell me what you need.”

Jason had been
sure Aviva was awake, but as the silence stretched on, he began to have doubts.

“Go away, Jason,
just go away and leave me alone.”

“Never.”

Aviva's eyes
popped open in a flash. “You got to change your mind downstairs, remember? You
don’t want me anymore. Now it's my turn to change my mind...piss off and leave
me alone, I don’t need or want
you
anymore!”

“Yes, you do. Just
as much as I need and want you.”

“I said go away,
I don't want you here!” Aviva voice was cold, devoid of emotion. It was this
lack of emotion that frightened Jason the most. She hadn't moved a muscle nor
had she looked at him. He supposed he deserved her coldness, her withdrawal, he
had hurt her, rejected her, pushed her away after she had gone through so much
and exactly at the point when she needed him the most. For that, he was sorry
and was therefore prepared to do anything to regain her trust.

“I'm sorry,
Angel, I can't do that. You can ask me to do anything other than that.”

“Get away from
me!” Aviva snarled, looking him in the eyes for the first time since he had sat
down beside her. “Can you hear yourself…can you? You arrogant shit. Get away
from me right this minute, Jason King.” Aviva locked eyes with Jason’s as she
threw her barbs at him. She wanted to hurt him as much as he had hurt her
downstairs in the kitchen. She even knew what he would say before the words
were spoken. He was going to ignore her, always wanting his own way. First, he
thought he could discard her and now she would bet that because he had changed
his mind, she had no other option than to comply with his wishes. When he
wished it.

“No.”

“What did you
just say to me?”

“You heard me. I
said no, and I meant it. You can be as angry with me as you need to, have a
right to be, but I'm not leaving and nothing you say or do is going to change
that.”

“This man has got
to be joking!” Aviva mumbled as she pushed herself up onto an elbow that
trembled from her slight exertion, her energy nearly spent. “Fine, if you won't
leave, then I will. Move!”

Jason remained
still, as though she hadn't just demanded that he give way. She wasn't fooling
him, he could see she was as weak as a newborn kitten, but he understood. Everyone
had their pride and he had diminished hers in front of his brothers. That would
never happen again. He wasn't going anywhere, nor was she. She was back where
she belonged and he was where he wanted to be, and the sooner she accepted
that, the sooner he could take care of his outstanding business; followed by
them getting the hell out of London and returning home.

“Aviva, you're
not going anywhere, because I won't allow it. You know it and I know it, so
accept it. Be angry with me, rage at me, I have strong shoulders, I can take
it, but you're not leaving and neither am I.”

There it was
again. He had called her Aviva. That fact alone was enough to tell her he was
serious. He only called her that when he was serious. Well, he could bloody
well piss off. She was serious too, or she would be if she had the strength to
get of the sodding bed!

“Piss off!” Aviva
said with as much feeling as she could muster in her almost exhausted state.

“You said that
already, Angel. Come on now, repetition…that's so not like you.” Jason
chuckled.

Allowing her
forearm to fold, Aviva returned to a prone position, she was spent. “You’re
such a shit and I'll get you back!”

“Now that's more
like it…fighting talk,” Jason said with the gleam of laughter in his eyes, his
dimples on prominent display.

“Don't think you
can maneuver me. I know exactly what you’re doing, and I’ll get you back, and
when I do, you won’t see me coming.”

“Promise? That
sounds like fun. I'll await your endeavors,” Jason replied with a smile and his
signature lift of a brow, accompanied by another show of dimples.

Aviva sucked her
teeth and rolled her eyes at his comeback, but didn’t comment.

“So what do you
need…food…a bath…a shower?”

“I need…you to
get lost!”

“Not gonna happen.
So what's it gonna be?”

Aviva closed her
eyes in frustration, communicating with him when he was in this mood was
tantamount to banging one’s head against the proverbial brick wall, and she
just didn't have the strength.

“Bath.”

“I'll run it.

What would his
reaction be to the scars she now carried? On the one hand, she was concerned at
how he would react to what had been done to her, and on the other hand, she
knew she was being completely superficial about her appearance, but both
thoughts lingered. Only time would tell and she was through worrying.

Everywhere one
looked, everywhere one went, the world was filled with images of perfection or
rather an illusion of such. This thought kept popping into her mind with
increasing frequency since meeting Jason. From the outside, his life seemed
perfect. He was healthy, had great looks and probably more money than she could
comprehend. Yet lurking under the façade was more imperfection and pain than
anyone should ever have to endure.

Normality had
always been her reality. Before her abduction, she had been the same as
millions of other woman throughout the world doing what they could to make a
living and support themselves. Even though she knew Jason was rich, his wealth
had nothing to do with her and she wouldn’t rely on it. She hadn’t worked to
earn it so she would keep working and earning her own money. The events of the
last week had shown her that line of thinking was sound. It had taken mere
minutes for the cruel machinations of evil men to shatter her reality and send
them all reeling.

Aviva was unsure
of what Jason's reaction would be to the first sight of her scars, but they
were now a part of her. Her reality. And if they were to be together, it was
now his reality. As he moved into the bathroom to run the bath, she began to
remove her clothing. No more hiding, no more second guessing his reaction. He
wanted to see what she had gone through so she would show him.

When Jason
returned to the room, Aviva stood in the middle of the room naked. He hadn't
expected that. He had been sure he would have had to coax her to reveal what
her captors had inflicted on her body.

Aviva was tired
and resolved to put her fear aside. If Jason was unable to come to terms with
her new scars, that might well be a constant reminder of what had taken place,
it would hurt her, but she would survive.