Jesse (5 page)

“I am trying to be very nice. Extremely
nice, as a matter of fact, but I have had enough.” Joey took a deep breath and
continued. “I want you people to get the fuck out of here and give me back my
paperwork.”

No one moved. Joey picked up the pillow
and before she could throw it, if that had been her intention, Jesse took it
from her. Annamarie was nervous then. She nearly told her son she was sorry
before he spoke.

“I would like a word with Miss Foster.
If you all wouldn’t mind waiting outside, I’ll be quick. What I have to say to
her won’t take but a couple of minutes.” She started to protest, but he simply
guided her to the door. “I won’t be a minute, I promise.”

She was out in the hall a few scant
seconds later. She looked over at Curtis and he sat beside her on the bench
that was just outside of Joey’s room. She asked him what had happened between
him and his brother.

“He said he will pursue who he wants
when he wants and I was to keep my…nose out of it.” Curtis grinned. “He had a
different viewpoint when I told him you had said so. But I think you’re wrong
about this.”

She looked at him, waiting for him to
continue. When he didn’t, she asked, “Wrong about what? You want him to hurt
her? I don’t. She saved my life and probably Sondra’s, even though I think the
woman tried to kill the poor child. What would you have me say?”

He never answered because Jesse came out
of the room just them. Well, she supposed stormed would have been a better
description. He didn’t even speak, but stomped past them. He dropped some
wadded up papers into the trash can at the desk as he swept by it. Both her and
Curtis stood and went to Joey’s room. Annamarie was afraid she’d gone too far
this time.

~~~

Joey watched the door open slowly. She
knew that it wouldn’t have been Mr. Hunter again. She was pretty sure he’d said
all he had to say. She took several deep breaths to try and control herself,
especially in light of who walked in. Mrs. Hunter and another Mr. Hunter. She
should have figured there’d be a round two.

“Are you all right, dear?”

Joey nodded afraid to speak.

“Did he hurt you? I can make him come
back and—”

“I’m fine. Peachy.” She didn’t want him
back. This time, he might hit her. She’d never seen a man so pissed before. “I’d
like to be alone, if you don’t mind. I’m sort of tired.” She waited for her to
tell her that she was staying. Curtis, this Mr. Hunter, simply nodded and
picked up his coat that had been across the chair. He cleared his throat before
he said anything. She didn’t know why, but she thought he was trying to think
of how to tell her something.

“Are you really all right, Miss Foster?”

She nodded then turned away. The tears
were burning.

“Good then. The desk has my phone number
if you need anything. My wife and I will get you whatever you need.”

She nodded again. When the door closed
she turned and saw that Mrs. Hunter hadn’t left with her son. She didn’t sit,
but held her coat. Joey hoped that she’d simply go too.

“Are you going to leave as soon as I
walk out the door?”

She shook her head then answered. “No,
ma’am. I’m here until…until I’m released officially.” She didn’t add that she
either stayed or would have to pay the bill in full and then face the wrath of
Mr. Jesse M. Hunter.

Mrs. Hunter nodded. She turned away then
back to face her. “What did Jesse say to you? Did he threaten you? I won’t have
him bully you, Joey. I will speak to him.”

“I’m very tired, Mrs. Hunter. And your
son didn’t…he didn’t bully me. I swear to you.” Joey rolled to her side and
closed her eyes. “Goodbye, Mrs. Hunter.”

The door closed with a soft click. Joey
didn’t move for long moments, afraid that she had fooled her again. Joey
reached up and turned off the light then lay there in the darkness and wondered
how she’d ever thought that doing the right thing could fuck up your life so
badly.

Chapter 5

Curtis watched his brother pace. It had
been nearly twenty-four hours since Josephine Foster had been admitted to the
hospital the second time and he was pretty sure Jesse was going to explode
soon. He’d done everything but pull out a gun and start shooting things in his
office.

“When do we get the results from the
fire? I would have thought with your pull, you’d have had them by now.” Curtis
handed him the file again. “What took you so long to mention this?”

He plopped down in the chair across from
Curtis’ desk and didn’t open the file. Again. He decided that he was going to
give him five more minutes of this mood then he was either going to leave him
in his office or beat the shit out of him. The latter was sounding better and
better.

“Have you spoken to her?”

The question startled Curtis and it took
him a few seconds to gear away from the bloody mess he was going to make of
Jesse’s face. “Who? Joey?”

Jesse nodded.

“No. She knows how to reach me if she
needs anything.”

Curtis didn’t mention that other than a
daily report from the nurse he had hired for the girl, she’d not spoken to a
soul. At least during the day. A friend of hers, the bartender Doyle, came by
when Curtis assumed the bar closed and left around six in the morning. He was
also bringing her food.

“She’s supposed to be released in a few
days, I guess. The doctor said that night that she’d be there for a week or so.
He wanted to make sure her cuts healed and the infection was gone.”

Curtis only nodded. Actually, she was
getting out in the morning, a full four days early. But if Jesse didn’t ask,
Curtis didn’t see any reason to tell him. Kylie thought he was being mean, but
did like the idea of Jesse not having control over something.

Curtis sat up and handed his brother
another file. “Sondra Jennings hasn’t been heard from at either her apartment,
nor her work. I’m pretty sure she realizes by now that Mom or the police are
looking for her. Frankly, I hope she stays hidden. The insurance company is
also looking for her. The company she works for is as well.”

He opened the file and stared at it. Curtis
was hoping his brother would take some interest in something other than the
girl. He didn’t know what Jesse had said to her, but he was pretty sure
whatever it had been was eating at him.

“It says here that there was an
insurance policy taken out on the building. Is that normal for them?” Curtis
nodded, waiting for him to get to the good part. “Miss Jennings is the
benefactor?”

“Now that’s
not
normal. They have
it insured in the event that someone gets hurt during a showing. Something like
we do when we purchase a building. But in this case, not only did the agency take
out one, but so did Jennings. Hers took effect the week before the agencies
did.” Curtis pulled out a few sheets of paper he’d not added to the file yet. “According
to the records, her brother-in-law owned that building before the bank took it.
There are several more he’d had to file over. It looks to me like she was
trying to help him recoup his losses.”

Jesse opened the file over his desk now
and was reading it. Curtis knew his security instincts would kick in and he
watched him get absorbed in the project.

“It says here that Jennings and Sons
owned nine of the nineteen buildings in the area. You think the police are
looking into those as well?” Jesse looked up when Curtis’ phone rang. He
glanced at the caller ID and almost let it go to voice mail. Damn, but the girl
had timing.

“Hello, Curtis Hunter here.” The pause
at the other end didn’t bother him. He knew she’d not hung up. There were the
distinct sounds of hospital going on in the background.

“I’m getting released now. The doctor
has said it was alright. I need a fax number to send the paperwork to or I
can’t leave. Your brother made that perfectly clear.” Curtis glanced at his
brother and wondered again what he’d said to Joey.

“I can give you one. Do you have a pen?”
When she said she did, he told her the number to the one in his office. “When
are you sending it?”

“He said he’d send it over now. I won’t
leave until I hear back from somebody on your end.” He waited, knowing she had
more to say. “He will find out, won’t he? You’ll let him know you got it so I’m
clear?”

Anger and something more was in her
voice. Something he couldn’t tell over the phone, but it sounded like she was
hurt. And her not telling Jesse herself was telling as well.

“Yes. I’ll make sure he knows. Do you
have an address yet?” Jesse stood up and leaned into the phone to listen. Curtis
didn’t even try to stop him.

“That wasn’t part of the orders. I’ll
expect to hear from you when you get it. Goodbye.” She hung up as Jesse jerked
the phone from him.

“That was her, Miss Foster.”

Curtis nodded.

“You told me that you’d not heard from
her.”

“I hadn’t. That’s the first time since… What
did you say to her? That night in the hospital room? What did you say to her
that made her think that you’d threatened her in some way to have to stay until
she was officially released?”

Jesse flushed and returned to his seat. “Nothing.
I didn’t actually threaten her. Not really. I simply told her that she’d either
stay until she was released or she’d pay the entire hospital bill. Including Mom’s
bill.”

Curtis took two deep breaths before he
thought he could speak without killing Jesse. “You threatened her. No matter
how you try to butter it up so it looks good, you threatened that poor girl. No
wonder she won’t have anything to do with…” Curtis stood up and grabbed his
coat.

“Where do you think you’re going? If you
think I’m going to allow you to go to the hospital and see that—”

He’d hit his brother before. When they’d
been kids, once or twice maybe, and when they’d been in their late teens, but
never as an adult. And he wasn’t sure what had driven him to hit him now. But
he did. His fist was connecting with Jesse’s face before he could blink. And
when he tumbled over the chair behind him, Curtis was right there standing over
him, daring him to get up.

“You. Do.
Not
. Allow. Me. To. Go.
Anywhere. Do I make myself perfectly clear? And if this is the way you spoke to
Joey, it’s small wonder she is acting like we’re the enemy.” Curtis stretched
his neck before continuing. “You fucking asshole, if you come near that girl I
will castrate you myself.”

When Curtis turned to leave, his
secretary as well as his mother and brother were standing there. He glanced
back at his brother, who still lay on the floor, and continued to the door.
When Royce opened his mouth, Curtis told him to ask the prick. He didn’t even
say he was sorry to his mom as he walked to the elevator.

~~~

Joey looked at the television again. The
little clock in the corner kept moving. It was not forty minutes since she’d
been told the fax had gone through, and nothing. She was going to call the
office again, but didn’t want to unless she absolutely had to. She didn’t know
why, but she thought that Curtis had been trying to hide the fact that she was
on the phone from someone and she just knew it was going to be Jesse.

She looked over at her friend and boss
Doyle. He was reading, and she smiled at the cover.
Moby Dick
. He might
look uneducated, but under those tattoos and bald head lay the heart of a
philosopher.

He looked up at her and winked. “That
Melville sure knew how to tell a story.” He stretched out his huge frame. “I’m
not in any hurry, girly. I got the bar covered if I’m not back and besides,
it’s Tuesday night. No football on. Now if this was Monday? Hell, girly, you’d
be getting yourself home by bus.”

She was still laughing when the door
opened. Finally, she thought, and smiled. But when she saw who was there she
felt it slide from her face. She just knew the Hunters were here to take
another pound of her flesh.

“That’s very telling.” Curtis came into
the room with a beautiful woman right behind him. She was hugely pregnant. “This
is my wife, Kylie. And before you ask, no, she’s not in labor.”

“I wasn’t. Why are you here? I kept my
end of the bargain. You can’t renege now.” She flushed when she realized how
rude she was being. “I’m sorry. I just want out of this.”

“You’re free to go. I have some things
I’d like to ask you, if you don’t mind.” She watched him open a briefcase that
he’d set on the bedside table. “Just some questions about what happened.”

“What’s this going to cost me?” She
looked over at Doyle when he growled at her to behave. Again, she flushed.

“Nothing but a little bit of your time.”
He was helping his wife sit as he answered. She watched how tender he was being
with her and how he looked at her with such emotion. He caught her looking at
them and he winked.

What was wrong with everyone today, she
wondered? In less than ten minutes she’d been winked at twice. She had gone her
entire life without a single one. And now, a married man and…well, and Doyle.