Chapter One

Chapter One

  Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Jonas went over to survey the targets that he’d put up for me, one to my left, one to my right, one behind, and one in front. After he checked them all he turned to Steve, grinning triumphantly.

  “Dead center, all four of them,” he announced. “I told you she was good.”

  “Damn Britney, you barely even took time to aim!” Steve exclaimed as he went over to inspect the targets for himself and saw that Jonas was right.

  I blushed at Steve’s words. “Practicing three to four times a week can make a huge difference,” I said, “along with having an expert teaching you. You should see Jonas; he’s a lot better than I am.”

  I looked at Jonas with an admiring gaze as he put up new targets to replace mine. He was a better shot by far. When I had asked him where he’d learned to shoot like he did, he told me that his dad had taught him. I had told him that his dad must have been a great shot, and Jonas had given me a smile that looked more like a grimace and confirmed that he had been.

  “How many do you want up Steve?” Jonas questioned.

  “I’ll take eight, two to each side,” Steve told him. Jonas nodded and put up the specified number. When they were all up Jonas and I went off where we‘d be safe from any stray bullets while Steve moved to the center of the room.

  “What do you want your clock set for?” inquired Jonas. He always set a timer for me so that I knew that I only had a certain length of time to get all my shots in.

  “Set it for sixteen seconds,” ordered Steve with confidence. Jonas obeyed.

  “Ready…go,” Jonas called out.

  Bang, bang. Bang, bang. Bang, bang. Bang, bang. When Steve gave the signal that it was safe for us to come over, I rushed out to check the targets. When I got to the back one I smirked at Steve.

  “You’re off just a little bit here,” I informed him, pointing to where he had been a full two inches off from the target.

  “You’re about an inch off over here too,” Jonas added as he looked at one of the targets to Steve’s left. “You should practice more, you’re losing your touch. If you ever had it to begin with that is.” Jonas grinned.

  “Guess I will,” Steve grumbled. “I haven’t had a chance to in awhile.”

  “You’re welcome here anytime,” Jonas assured him.

  “Alright hot shot,” Steve said, “let’s see what you’ve got.”

  Jonas shrugged and gave Steve a half-smile. “Ten targets, and try to spread them out a bit too,” he tossed over his shoulder as he went to load his guns.

  Steve looked after him with wide eyes. “He’s kidding, right?” he asked me. I smiled and shook my head. I may never have seen him do anymore then the same four targets that I always did, but I knew Jonas, and I knew his shooting. He could do it.

  Steve went around and stuck up all the targets, and when Jonas was ready, Steve had them all put up for him. Steve and I went back to the “safe” zone.

  “What do you want the clock set for?” Steve called.

  “Ten seconds,” said Jonas.

  “You have to be joking, I barely got eight in sixteen seconds,” Steve replied.

  “After ten seconds I’m dead,” Jonas answered simply. “I’m trying to keep this as realistic as possible.” Steve shook his head doubtingly as he set the timer and even I questioned Jonas’ ability to succeed within his set time frame.

  “Ready…go.”

  Bang-ng, bang-ng, bang-ng, bang-ng, bang-ng. Jonas’ guns went off, the second gun being fired only a split second after the first, blending the shots of the two guns together.

   Steve’s mouth fell open in shock as Jonas finished shooting. Jonas rose from the kneeling position that he’d maneuvered into for his rear shots and signaled for us to join him. We went around and looked at all the targets in awe. All of them were within the bull’s-eyes and over half were in the dead center.

  “What are you shooting with?” asked Steve in amazement.

  “Same thing I give Britt to use, a 629 Stealth Hunter, .44 magnum,” Jonas answered.

  “Nice. I think you missed your calling Jonas. I think even Britt’s dad would have trouble rivaling those shots,” Steve complemented his friend. Jonas gave Steve a startled look and quickly brushed off the complement.

  “I’m sure he’s a lot better than I could ever hope to be,” Jonas told Steve, taking quick strides towards where he kept his guns and putting them away.

  Steve shook his head. “I’ve seen him shoot and even when he was in prime condition before he was shot I can tell you that he couldn’t have done what you just did.”

  “Britt, you want to work on hand-to-hand now?” Jonas asked me, looking for something else to change the subject to. Steve watched Jonas’ apprehensiveness with perplexity, wondering why what he’d said had bothered him.

  “Umm, sure,” I told Jonas, not understanding Jonas’ reaction any better than Steve. “What do you want to work on?”

  “Why don’t you and Steve do some grappling?” he suggested, beginning to relax once again. “Just take it easy on her, she isn’t even close to being at your level in that area yet and Ana will shut practice down if she ends up hurt.”

  Steve nodded understanding, and we began laying out the practice mats. When we were finished laying them out we went to the center of the covered area. I raised my hands up to protect my face as Jonas had taught me to, and Steve grinned. Before I knew what had happened, he had flipped me onto my back on the floor.

  “Ouch,” I moaned as I laid still, not yet ready to move. Jonas came over and knelt down next to me.

  “You ok Britt?” he asked me. I nodded slowly. “Then get your butt up! Do you think that if this were a real fight you would just get to lay there until you felt like getting back up? Remember what I told you, don’t stop unless you have no other choice,” he told me gruffly. 

  I groaned and obeyed him. During training Jonas was never the sweet and loving boyfriend, he was always the strict task master, pushing me to keep going. He was always quick to praise a job well done, but he remained strict with me.

  “Whoa, ease up a bit there Jonas,” Steve told him. “I really flipped her hard. I thought she was going to be able to get out of it so I wasn’t quite as gentle as I ought to have been.”

  “Doesn’t matter, Britt knows the rules. She has to learn to keep getting up as long as she can,” Jonas informed Steve, not liking his contradiction in the way he trained me.

  “Where did you learn how to train someone?” asked Steve. “Just because you can move doesn’t mean you should if you’re just training.”

  “My father taught me everything I know, as well as to treat training as if it were the real thing,” Jonas informed him. “And I’m not half as hard on her as he was on me,” he added.

  “It’s ok,” I assured Steve, hoping to break up their argument. “We all know I need the push to keep me going.” Steve gave a look that said he still didn’t like Jonas’ methods, but moved back to where we had started in the center with me.

  This time he moved more slowly, and I took the chance to counter the attack and try to flip him, but ended up flipping myself.

  “Geez, Steve, lay off the donuts would you?” I complained as I got back up. “You’re a lot heavier than Jonas is.”

   “That’s not saying much,” said Steve, waving a dismissive hand in Jonas’ direction. “He doesn’t even look like he has any fat on him and I can’t see much in the way of muscles either.”

  I laughed. Although he didn’t have nearly as imposing a figure as Steve did, Jonas had a very athletic build and was very strong.

  “Excuse me?” Jonas said. “Just because some of us don’t resemble big foot in size does not mean that we aren’t strong.”

  “Alright Joey, try to take me down,” Steve dared him, laughing at the nickname that he used which he knew was sure to get on Jonas’ nerves. Ever since their first run in after the dance Steve had never taken Jonas for a serious opponent when it came to hand-to-hand combat. However, in less than a minute Jonas had Steve pinned face-first to the floor with his right arm wrenched up behind him.

  “Alright, alright, so you’re a little better than I expected,” Steve allowed. Jonas released him with a smirk.

  “Now, get back to practicing, we’re supposed to be back at Ana’s by 6p.m. and I don’t want to be late and make her mad at us,” instructed Jonas.

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  “We’re back,” Jonas called out as we walked through the door of Ana’s and my loft. I looked around for Ana as I followed behind Jonas, but didn’t see her. Suddenly there was a loud thump from upstairs.

  “Jonas, I didn’t see Ana or Macs cars out there,” Steve whispered from behind us. Jonas immediately whipped his gun out from where he kept it behind his back. With his head he motioned for Steve to go ahead of us, and Steve drew his own weapon and swiftly made his way up the steps. Jonas continued to stay in front of me as his eyes carefully surveyed our surroundings. When we heard two pairs of footsteps coming down the stairs his eyes snapped towards the sound.

  “Jonas, put that thing away!” Ana exclaimed with annoyance as she came into view and saw Jonas’ defensive stance in front of me with his gun at the ready. He immediately tucked his gun away.

  “Where’s your car?” he asked, complying with his sister’s wish as she and Steve came over to join us.

  “Mac took it in for repairs for me and then had to go pick up some things from his house quick to finish moving into your apartment and closing up the house for the new owners. We’re going to pick it up later tonight,” she explained. “And since when have you two started bringing those things into my home?” she demanded.

  “Since Larkin took me off Britt’s trail,” admitted Jonas. “I didn’t want to upset you with it, so I never told you.”

  “Oh, so pulling it on me isn’t supposed to upset me?” she challenged.

  “We didn’t know you were here Ana, we’re sorry. We were just trying to be careful,” Steve apologized, trying to smooth things over.

  “Well, at least Britt isn’t carrying one around with her - right?” asked Ana, looking to me for confirmation that I wasn’t concealing a weapon on myself. I shook my head, looking down at my tan cargo pants and short sleeve, close fitting, dark blue blouse. There really wasn’t any place I could carry a gun on my person even if I wanted to and I never carried a purse.

  “I promise that I haven’t given her a gun for anything more than target practice,” Jonas assured his sister as he made his way into the kitchen area. “I thought you said that you would have dinner for us when we got back.”

  “Well that had been the plan, but then Mac came and we decided to go out to eat together since he’ll be taking off again tomorrow,” Ana updated us with a small sigh at the end at the mention of Mac leaving.

  “Just another month and a half,” Jonas reminded his sister. I counted the days and realized that Jonas was right. It was already the first week of August already and their wedding was in the third week of September.

  “Seems like a lot longer,” Ana complained.

  “Hey, we’re in no hurry to lose you yet, Ana,” Jonas told her. “Remember, we only have another several weeks before you leave us behind.”

  At his words I noticed a flash of something in Ana’s eyes, and she began to look uneasy, as if she were worried about something.

  “Mac wants you to come with us tonight, Jonas,” Ana told him, “it’ll be just the three of us,” she added for clarification. Jonas frowned but nodded.

  “Alright,” he agreed looking a bit curious as to what it was that they wanted to talk about without the rest of us around. He turned to Steve. “You mind staying here with Britt until we get back?”

  “Sure, no problem,” Steve answered easily.

  “Good. Mac wants to meet us at Ferris’ in about fifteen minutes from now,” Ana informed her brother.

  “Fine, then we’ll leave now,” Jonas said, leading the way out, leaving Steve and me behind.

  Jonas led the way out to his car and opened the door for his sister to get in before he went around to get in on his own side. They drove together in silence until they were almost there and Jonas could take the silence no longer.

  “What is this about Ana?” he asked her.

  Ana bit her lip. “We’ll talk about it when we meet Mac,” she told him. Jonas let out an aggravated breath and continued driving, accelerating a little above the fast speed he was already racing at. When they got to Ferris’, Mac was already there waiting for them. They were shown to a table off to a far corner by Mac’s request so that they could have some privacy. After they ordered, Jonas fixed his eyes on his sister. Ana sighed and looked to Mac for support.

  “First, I want to tell you that Ana and I have put a lot of thought into this and think that this would be for the best,” Mac began hesitantly.

  “Think what would be for the best?” Jonas pressed, moving his eyes from his sister and boring them into Mac, willing him to stop putting off whatever it was he wanted to say.

  “We’re going to take Britt with us to Washington after the wedding,” Mac told his friend grudgingly. Jonas began shaking his head from side to side violently.

  “No, you’re not,” he stated, pronouncing every word carefully and meaningfully. “She is staying where I can protect her, and since I can’t leave LA quite yet without arousing too much suspicion, that means she’s staying here,” he growled out.

  “Jonas, let us explain,” Ana begged him. “We can move her to Washington with us and give her a new identity there. Mac knows some people that will help her. She’ll be safer,” she tried to convince him. Jonas remained resolute however.

  “As if that worked before,” he hissed. “You know better Ana, it won’t change anything. At most it’ll slow them down a little more and make her feel safe so she won’t be on her guard when they do find her again.”

  “Am I missing something here?” Mac asked with confusion. “Do you guys have some experience with this kind of thing?” Jonas shot his eyes in Ana’s direction with a forbidding look.

  “No Ana,” he told her clearly. Ana bit her lip and looked away from both of them.

  “Whoa, hold on a sec here. What aren’t you two telling me? I’m about to become part of this family, I want to be treated like part of it,” Mac declared, looking from one sibling to the other.

  “Nothing,” Jonas replied.

  “Yeah, sure, I’m not buying it,” Mac said, crossing his arms. Ana turned a pleading look towards her brother and Jonas sighed in resignation.

  “Our family went underground for awhile, changed our names and stuff, but it didn’t work,” Jonas explained stiffly. “They found us anyway.”

  “So wait, your name isn’t really Ana?” Mac asked with wide eyes, turning to Ana, who laughed at his stunned expression.

   “It’s my real name, I promise,” she assured him.

  “Ana Matthews?” he continued.

  “Ana Marie Matthews,” she said. “I changed it back for college so that I would be using my real name for it. My alias was Amanda Kent.”

  “What about you?” Mac questioned, turning back to Jonas.

  “My cover was Alec Kent. I changed my name back after we realized that they knew where we were. So I really am Jonas Alec Matthews,” said Jonas.

  “Well, I still think that we ought to try it with Britt. You should be able to come join us in Washington soon, so you’ll be able to watch out for her there,” said Mac, trying his best to persuade his friend.

  “No, she’ll be starting classes next week at the university, and I’m starting my final year,” argued Jonas. “It’s too late to move to another school for this fall.”

  “She can start some classes at a school in Seattle for the spring semester. Besides Jonas, even you didn’t like the idea of her staying at the loft on her own either. Steve plans to go to San Francisco soon so he won’t be around to help you watch out for her either. It would just be the two of you here,” Ana pointed out.

  “Then I’ll move into the loft and use one of the extra rooms there,” Jonas said.

  “Jonas, you can’t move in with her!” Ana exclaimed. “Besides, then you’d definitely alert them to your connection to her.”

   “We’re going to talk to Britney about this Jonas, with or without you agreeing to it,” Mac added resolutely. “We think this is the best way to protect her. We just hoped that if we could get you to agree with us then it’d be easier to convince her to come with us.”

  “Over my dead body,” Jonas growled, getting up and walking out of the restaurant, his anger evident in every step he took. He got in his car and sped back to the loft. There was no way he would let them take Britney away where he couldn’t protect her. Maybe he would feel different if she were going to stay in San Francisco with Paige and Kate. At least she would have a federal agent and Steve around then, but Ana and Mac were hardly his idea of protection against Larkin. Sending her with them would be sentencing her to death in his mind. Though Larkin and Terrence wouldn’t actually kill her physically, they’d kill her emotionally.

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  “Why do you think they wanted to be alone with Jonas tonight?” I asked Steve as we ate our pizza that Steve had ordered in. It felt like old times again, just the two of us eating pizza together, just in a different place then we used to.

  “I don’t know,” Steve replied, shaking his head. “They must have something important that they wanted to talk with him about.”

  “But what?” I wondered aloud as I reached down absently to stroke Cinder, who was rubbing against my ankles. I looked down at her. Despite that she was already around six months old, Cinder had only barely doubled in size since Jonas had given her to me.

   A couple minutes later I heard a car door slam outside and someone coming up the apartment stairs at a quick pace. Steve looked towards the door, completely alert. However, when I heard the familiar purposeful step I recognized as belonging to Jonas I relaxed somewhat, but not completely. His step was quicker, more urgent than usual, and I wondered if anything was wrong. The door swung open and Jonas strode in.

  “Jonas, what’re you doing back so soon?” Steve asked with surprise. “You guys couldn’t have been gone for more than half an hour at best.” He glanced behind Jonas when he realized he didn’t see or hear the others with him. “Where are Ana and Mac?”

  “Probably not far behind me,” Jonas assumed, closing the door and coming over to the table.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him as he sat next to me and grabbed my hand that was resting in my lap. Cinder rubbed against our two hands before racing off to somewhere else.

  “Nothing, just a disagreement,” Jonas said, still grasping my hand securely.

  “Did you eat yet?” Steve asked cautiously. Jonas shook his head. I offered him a slice of pizza off of my plate, but he declined it.

  “You need to eat, you can’t be skipping meals,” I told him, quoting his own words that he had said to me countless times before as he forced me to gain back weight until he was satisfied. He gave me a half-hearted smile, indicating that he recognized his own words, but still refused the proffered slice.

  As he predicted, Ana and Mac were not far behind him and they showed up about ten minutes after he had. They came in and sat down at the table with us silently, Mac snagging a slice of the pizza as he seated himself.

  “Jonas, please listen to us,” Ana whispered. Jonas squeezed my hand tighter and I looked over at him. His jaw was clenched resolutely and his back was rigid and unrelenting.

  “What’s going on?” I asked him gently. He didn’t look at me, just continued staring at Mac meaningfully.

  “They want to take you with them to Washington,” Jonas explained with a slight snarl. I involuntarily leaned away from him slightly at the foreign-sounding tone of his voice. I had never seen Jonas this angry before. I also had only seen Ana and Jonas in anything close to an argument, much less a fight, once the entire time I had known them, back when Ana and I decided that I would move in with her.

  I turned to Ana. “Ana?” I said questioningly.

  “We think it would be best if you moved with us to Washington and we got you a new identity,” she explained.

  “She’s not going,” Jonas growled.

  “Actually, I agree with Jonas on this one guys,” Steve said, offering his two cents worth. “You two aren’t equipped for protecting her when they finally find her, and Terrence will find her. You should have seen him when he arrived right before I left. That guy is not one I would want to meet in a dark alley when I had something he wanted. He doesn’t look like the kind that just quits something. It would be better if she were somewhere where she could be watched over by either Jonas or myself.

  “Now I agree LA really isn’t the place for her, but I don’t think going to Seattle, Washington with the two of you is the answer either. I think that she ought to move in with Kate and Paige in San Francisco when I leave,” Steve said.

  “If she goes anywhere, I agree that that would be where she would be safest,” Jonas confirmed, relaxing only very slightly, seeming slightly relieved to have an ally in Steve.

  “But as far as anyone connected to Jonas knows he was the only child of our father. That would be where their familiarity with Jonas would be to our advantage. Once they traced her to him then they wouldn’t look into him much and wouldn’t know I even existed. Britt would just be gone in their minds,” Ana countered, trying to get Steve and Jonas to see it the way she and Mac did.

  My head began to spin with confusion as they talked. Mac and Ana wanted me to go to Washington with them. Steve wanted me to move in with Kate and Paige, and Jonas…what did Jonas really want? He thought that I would be safer in San Francisco than Washington, but it was obvious that he wanted me right here in LA with him.

  I could see everyone’s reasoning and the plus’ of each one’s plan. Still, I didn’t know which would be for the best. Finally, I raised a hand to silence all of them, and they immediately quieted at the unexpected action.

  “I appreciate all of you, you know that. However, I think you’re all forgetting that ultimately, this is my life and my choice as to where I want to live it,” I told them quietly.

  “You’re right,” Ana agreed with an apologetic look. “We were going to give you the choice, we weren’t planning to make you go anywhere you didn’t want to.”

  “I need time to think about all of this,” I said.

  “You don’t have to decide now Britney. We’d just like to know before Ana moves to Washington after the wedding,” Mac assured me.

  “Just know that you have options Britt,” Steve added. “Washington and San Francisco are both possibilities for you. I’m sure Paige and Kate would love to have you stay with them.”

  “And staying here is still a choice,” Jonas added.

  I nodded. “I’ll let you know when I’ve decided,” I announced, getting up from the table, pulling my hand out of Jonas’, and clearing my plate. Jonas followed me to the kitchen and watched in silence as I rinsed my plate and put it in the dishwasher. When I was finished I turned to him shaking my head.

  “I don’t want to leave you,” I whispered to him, tears filling my eyes. Jonas wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close and out of the sight of the others.

  “It doesn’t matter where you go Britt. Wherever you go I’ll be right behind you, I promise. I will follow you as soon as I can without endangering you more by joining you,” he whispered back into my hair and then kissed the top of my head. He carefully pulled away from me and looked deep into my eyes as he wiped away the few stray tears. Without a word, I turned away from him and went up to my room.

  After closing and locking my bedroom door, I collapsed across the bed, staring up at the ceiling and inwardly cursing my father. If he would have just left me alone then I wouldn’t have to worry about leaving LA, the only place I had ever lived. I hated the idea of leaving my home city. This was where my mother had been, where I had grown up, and where I wanted to stay. It wasn’t fair that Hayden and my father were now forcing me into exile.

  I rolled over onto my side and sighed. Jonas promised that wherever I went he would follow me as soon as he safely could. I knew though that Jonas couldn’t leave for some time yet. I’d overheard him telling Steve once that he was sure that DeRuise was keeping tabs on him to make sure he didn’t go to the police or FBI about him. It would be some time before Jonas could manage to leave LA without arousing any suspicion from anyone.

  Before I had realized it, I had drifted off to sleep, and didn’t wake back up until the next morning when my ipod turned on to wake me up from its perch on top of its docking bay.

  I stretched out with a groan at how stiff I felt, realizing the stiffness was likely a result from when Steve had flipped me the previous day. I got up and changed into a fresh blouse and crept downstairs, looking around. Lately it hadn’t been unusual for Steve or Jonas to stay the night, but after a quick glance at the door, I saw that there was no sign that they had stayed.

  I grabbed some breakfast quick and then sat at the table where I saw Ana had left a note for me.

 

        Britney,

            Hospital called me in today to lend a hand due to a slight emergency. Be back when I can be.

                                  -Ana

 

  I looked around in surprise, realizing what the note meant. For the first time in longer than I could remember I was wholly alone. No one was around to be watching over me for once. I smiled with satisfaction. Although I understood they just wanted to keep me safe, I had to admit that I felt smothered by them sometimes. Wondering what I would do with my short period of freedom before my wardens realized their error, I got up and looked out the window. It was a beautiful day, and thoughts of a park bench by a familiar pond flooded my mind. Before my thought could get too far in that direction however, I saw Mac’s car pull into the parking lot. Surprised, I looked at the clock and wondered why he hadn’t left for the airport yet. I wasn’t sure when his flight was, but I was sure it had to be soon since it was a morning flight and it was already 9a.m. I went to the door, and when I heard him right outside it, I opened it for him.    

  “Shouldn’t you be at the airport?” I questioned him as he walked in. He nodded.

  “Ana said last night that she’d drive me over so that I wouldn’t have to leave my car at the airport. Where is she by the way, I didn’t see her car,” Mac said, looking around the apartment for his fiancé.

  “Oh, she must have forgotten. She left me a note saying she had been called into the hospital for an emergency early this morning,” I explained to him.

  “Well, guess I’ll be leaving my car at the airport after all,” Mac commented, preparing to head back out the door.

  “Wait, I can drive you over,” I offered quickly, giving up my plans for going to the park.

  “Are you sure?” Mac asked slowly. “I don’t know how pleased Jonas would be with that plan. In fact, I ought to call him and tell him that you’re alone here so he can come over.”

  “Please Mac, let me drive you, then you can call Jonas if you want. I’d like a little freedom from my protection agency. I haven’t even driven the Benz in longer than I can remember,” I told him, hoping to convince him to allow me to drive him. It would be a nice long drive there and back, and would give me some time to just get out and clear my head.

  “Alright, I guess I can understand. You don’t get much time by yourself anymore do you?” he asked. I shook my head quickly.

  “No, and since I’m used to spending most of my time by myself it’s not easy to adjust to,” I said, pulling on my shoes and grabbing my keys and backpack.

  “We really ought to get you a purse,” Mac commented as we walked to the Benz.

  “I doubt I would use it,” I replied. “I’m not much of a purse person really.”

  “Well, maybe a nice messenger bag then,” Mac suggested. “Anything has to be better than lugging a backpack around everywhere. I’m surprised Ana hasn’t gotten you something else yet.”

  I laughed. “Maybe,” I allowed, getting into the Benz and starting it up. It took us a bit over half an hour to get to the airport. I saw Mac to his terminal, gave him a quick hug, and promised to watch out for Ana for him while he was gone. After that I went back to the Benz, I grudgingly drove back to the loft. When I got back Jonas’ Maserati was parked in its usual spot and I groaned. Oh well, I should have known he’d be waiting for me, I told myself. “He must have a sixth sense that tells him when I’ve exceeded some invisible boundary.

  I got out and went up the steps. When I got to Ana’s door Jonas already had it open and was waiting for me with his arms crossed and leaning against the door frame. I slipped in past him and took off my shoes. As I did so, Jonas closed the door.

  “Britt, what were you thinking?” asked Jonas. “I thought you understood you couldn’t go out by yourself like that. Especially without telling anyone where you were going.”

  “Well actually, I wasn’t alone the entire time. See, Mac stopped by looking for Ana. Apparently, she forgot that she had agreed to take him to the airport today. So I drove him there,” I explained to him.

  “I know, Mac called from the airport and told me. You still shouldn’t have gone,” he insisted.

  I sighed heavily. “I know Jonas, I know. I just feel smothered having someone always right there all the time. I need a break.”

  This time it was Jonas’ turn to sigh. We had had this same fight ever since I had met him and it was getting old for both of us.

  “So, what would you like to do today? Ana called after Mac did to tell me you were alone here and that she didn’t see herself getting away from the hospital until late. So we pretty much have the day to ourselves,” he informed me, changing the topic.

  I shrugged, not really caring at this point what we did. “It doesn’t matter to me,” I said.

  “Well, what would you want to do if I wasn’t here today at all, if you were by yourself the entire day,” Jonas asked. I thought about what he said for a moment. 

  “Well, first I would probably take a nap I guess, I didn’t sleep great last night,” I began slowly with a slightly strained laugh. “After that I might call up Sandy and Andrea to go shopping together and grab lunch with them. Then, I would see if they wanted to see a movie. And finally, I’d have a picnic dinner at the park and then come home,” I told him.

  “Busy day,” Jonas commented.

  “Every year I’d do that with my friends, since my sophomore year of high school,” I explained. “Kind of like a tradition.”

  “Alright then. You can still do all of that if you would like. Just pretend I don’t exist. You can start with the nap,” Jonas said, eyes sparkling.

  “Are you sure?” I asked him with surprise.

  “I’m going to be going with you everywhere,” he warned me. “But I’ll just play the role of the adoring boyfriend who can’t stand to be away from you when you’re around your friends,” he informed me with a smirk.

  “You’re going to go shopping?” I asked him with a doubtful look. “At the mall? For Clothing? With teenage girls?”

  “If that’s what you want,” he said, only barely grimacing.

  “You’re going to go watch a movie with us, a movie that interests a bunch of girls?” I pressed.

  “As I said, if that is what you want. You get to decide,” Jonas promised me sincerely. I eyed him a second or two, doubting that he would last long, but curious to see just how long he would put up with it.

  “Alright, but I’m skipping the nap,” I decided.

  “Why?” Jonas asked with a mischievous smile. “We could both take a quick nap,” he suggested, massaging my shoulders. I shook my head firmly though instinctively leaning into his massaging hands.

  “Nope,” I stated somewhat firmly. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  “I do,” Jonas said, leaning over and kissing my lips gently. I kissed him back and then leaned away from him shaking my head.

  “No Jonas, it would be a bad idea,” I said, standing my ground despite his efforts to persuade me.

  “It would just be a nap, no harm done. I can control myself, I promise. I won’t even kiss you,” Jonas said persuasively, eyes innocent.

  I looked at him carefully. This wasn’t like Jonas. Usually he held to the same standards that Ana did and would never consider crossing those lines. The only time he had acted like this before was when he had promised to quit working for DeRuise for me. Since then he had kept his distance physically except holding hands, a brief kiss, and an occasional embrace like last night.

  He leaned over and kissed me again, but this time more like when Mac had interrupted us before all those months ago. After a second, I pushed away from him gently and once again shook my head.

  “I’m going to call Sandy and Andrea to see if they want to meet. Now behave or I’ll call Steve and spend the day with him instead,” I threatened him. Jonas smiled.

  “Steve is in San Francisco as we speak,” he divulged with a grin.

  “Oh,” I said and then contemplated a new threat as he leaned in once again. I put my hand on his chest to stop him. “Then I’ll go spend the entire day at the hospital with Ana.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled, eyes narrowed as he released my waist, which he’d wrapped his arms around while kissing me. “Go call your friends then,” he gave in.

  I slipped away from him and headed upstairs to make the calls.

 

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[Zachary_James]

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