Jail Bird. by Em. Z. (best free ebook reader .txt) 📕

He chuckled, but took the cookie from me. Dad's eyes widened as he looked at me. I'd never shared my cookies or any candy with anyone. I smiled slightly and looked away. 

"So Dad I...I swam yesterday." It seemed like ages ago. Could it really have only been yesterday?

He looked at me in surprise. "Really? Wow, I tried to get you to swim for years, and you wouldn't go near the water." He said.

"Yeah, uh, I had a convincing teacher." I said, glancing at Victor.

He smiled affectionately at me.

"I see. Well, I'm proud of you, Jane. You conquered your fear." He said.

"Thanks Dad." I said, beaming at him.

Having time to kill before Dad was able to get lost in the crowd of people, we caught up on what we've been doing, talking in code on some things. I mean come on, I liked Victor, but there were some things we couldn't share with him. He was still a cop. I told him about Mom's addiction to cleanliness, and he told me about a brief job he got in Toronto. 

The only time we got serious, was when he told me how Ike captured him.

"I got too complacent." He explained, as I stared at him with worried eyes, "I dropped by a cheap motel a short while after talking to you. I thought it was safe, but they had tracked my phone call, and traced it to the hotel phone. They chloroformed me while I was sleeping. That's some of the reason why my voice is so weak. I have a bit of an allergy to anaesthetics, my throat closed up a bit. And then of course he punched me in the throat for calling him an SOB." He shrugged.

I shook my head, lifting his chin to examine his throat again. "We are so alike." I said, exhasperated, probing it for the point of impact.

He chuckled, his adams apple bobbing. "It's all part of the Harison Jean. Everyone in my family is hard-headed and fiercely protective of the other. I swear, your grandmother was willing to murder every single one who dared talk bad about me." He winced as I touched a sore spot. Bingo.

I sighed, and stood up. Victor and Dad watched in confusion as I strolled over to the Mc. Donald's. "Hey, can you give me some ice in a plastic ziplock bag or something?"

"Uh...we don't have plastic bags." The kid behind the counter said, scratching the back of his head.

I sighed heavily and pulled out my wallet. "Those apple bags are resealable right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, give me one of those. empty out the apples, and put ice in it." I instructed, handing him a five dollar bill.

He gave me the most confused look, but complied, grabbing a bag of apples from the fridge and opening it, dumping out the apples, and sticking it under the ice fountain or whatever that thing it called, letting ice pour into it.

I gave him an award winning smile as he came back. "Thanks, keep the change."

I turned, my ice in hand, and headed back to where they sat. I turned to Dad when I sat down, lifting his chin and sticking the cold pack to his neck. "I want you to keep this there until the swelling goes down, and then put fresh ice in it and hold it to your eye, got it?" I asked him.

He gave me an amused grin. "Clever."

"Yeah, I'm a genius." I said smugly. 

Victor took my hand, giving me an approving smile.

We were cut from our little exchange by the announcements. 

"Gate thirty four, ready to board, repeat, gate thirty four, ready to board."

This was it. Victor and I stood up with Dad. I turned to him, saddness filling my heart at the thought of not seeing him again for a while. He smiled sadly and tweaked my chin. "Nice fighting out there, by the way." He said softly.

I smiled at him. "Thanks Dad."

We stared at each other for a second longer, before I pulled him into a tight hug. "You take care of yourself. Don't let Ike find you again. Promise me I won't hear I'm Sorry again." My tone was almost pleading.

"You know I can't promise that." He sighed, "I love you, you take care of yourself too. Remember, he tries anything, you kick him where it hurts." Dad whispered lower.

I pulled back laughing. "I love you too Dad, and don't worry, I know."

He took a deep breath, smiled, and then melted into the crowd. I bit my lip against the tears that threatened to fall.

"Let's go home, Jane." Victor said softly.

I turned to him, smiling through the sadness. "Okay."

He sighed softly, carressing my cheek. His eyes softened into molten gold, and he leaned down, pressing his lips to mine. "It's going to be okay." He whispered against my lips.

I nodded, leaning up on my tip toes to deepen the kiss, if only briefly. "I know."

And with that, we went to stand in line for the gate agent.

He promised he'd find me. And he did. I knew I was going to be okay, as long as Victor was here.

I was vaguely aware of being carried into the house, strong arms holding me closely to a muscular chest. The knick on my side was aching, but I didn't pay much attention to it, as I snuggled deeper into his embrace. I was so exhausted from flying back and forth, that I wanted to just curl up anywhere soft and cool, and fall asleep. I was lulled in and out of consciousness by the constant rocking movements of his arms, while he carried me upstairs.

"Oh good, you're home." I heard Logan's voice from down the hall, coming closer as he spoke. 

Victor jumped. "Jesus, Logan, it's three in the morning!"

"You said to keep an eye on the family-" He paused to yawn, "So I kept an eye on the family. She alright?"

"Yeah, for the most part. I got to her just before the bastard..." He didn't finish, as his voice faltered on the last word, and his arms tightened around me.

"Jesus." Logan whispered.

"But she's just tired now." He went on, his voice a little less strained, "Jet lag's taking it's toll on her. I mean she flew almost twelve hours round trip." Victor said.

"Did you get him?"

"Who?"

"Ike. Did you get him?"

"No." He said, his voice extremely upset.

I wanted to make him happier again. I didn't want to hear the dissapointment in himself...the hurt that he couldn't get to me sooner. So I did the best I could, curling myself into a tighter little ball in his arms and burying my face in his chest.

The men were silent for a few moments, before I felt Victor begin to move again. "I need to get her in bed." He muttered.

He shifted me expertly to one arm, as if I were lighter than a feather, and I could hear the rustle of fabric as he pulled the covers back on my bed. He laid me down as gently as if I were a brittle piece of china, ready to break at any moment. He only pulled the thin sheet over my hips, of that I was grateful. The sheet was cool, and the bed was comfortable. I shifted onto my stomach, cuddling into my pillow. Victor carefully grabbed the opening of my jacket, and I tried hard not to shiver as his knuckles grazed my arms. No such luck. My breath came out shaky, as a subtle shiver ran down my spine. I prayed he wouldn't figure out I was still awake.

Thankfully, he didn't seem to think anything of it, as he pulled my jacket completely off my arms and set it aside somewhere.

"You really care about her, don't you?" Logan asked softly.

"Yeah, so?" Victor asked gruffly, but softly, as not to wake me.

"It's just...usually you don't care for girls like her."

Victor sighed, and I felt a finger run down my jaw. For the life of me, I couldn't suppress the small smile that graced my lips. Dangit!

He only traced the smile with his fingertip, before his hand disappeared, and I heard him move. "Let's go, before we wake her up."

Ha! Too late.

I heard them shuffling out the door, closing it softly behind them. Well, might as well get some shut-eye. I relaxed into my pillow, closing my eyes and drifting to sleep.

I awoke the next morning to someone jumping on me in the bed. "Ouch!" I exclaimed.

"Jane! Don't you ever worry me like that again, do you hear me? I don't want you to ever just leave the state like that!" Kent ranted, pinning me down.

"Kent! Get the hell off me!" I yelled.

"You have to swear you won't do anything like that again!" He said.

I rolled my eyes at him. I took hold of his arms, flipping him off of me. "I'll do what I want, Kent. I can take care of myself." I said, sitting up.

"Oh no you don't!" He grabbed my arm and pushed me against the wall, pinning me there. "Promise me you won't do something like that again!"

"Kent!" I complained.

"Say it!"

I huffed, rolling my eyes again. "Fine, I promise I'll try not to do something so brave and heroic again." I deadpanned.

He glared at me. "Dad made his choice. He chose to get mixed up in that gang. It's not up to you to clean up his messes."

My glower would probably kill a lesser man. "Don't talk about Dad that way! He did what he did for us!" I pushed him away from me, storming out of the room.

Kent always resented Dad for breaking up our family the way he did, but I respected him. I knew he wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for a reason. Kent was always a Momma's boy, and I was always a Daddy's girl. I always took Dad's side.

I walked down the stairs, running a hand through my rat's nest of hair. I proabably looked really bad right now, but I couldn't care less. Kent had irritated the knick in my side by jumping on me like a maniac, and I grimaced as my cheek ached from where Ike had slapped me. My knuckles were bruised from smashing Ike's face in, and i wasn't in a very good mood.

I was glad to see that the kitchen was empty. Victor didn't know I'd been cut. And he really didn't need to know. I lifted my shirt, sucking in a sharp breath through my teeth as I pulled back the patch that I'd put on it last night, and looked at the damage. Well, it could have been worse, I suppose. A jagged, crusted scar graced my side, and I shook my head slowly. It wasn't swollen or anything, but it hurt to touch it. 

"What is that?" I dropped my shirt at the sound of Logan's voice.

"What is what? Do I have something on my face?" I played dumb.

Logan entered the room fully, his eyes on my now covered hip. "Hey, Victor!" He called.

"No, please, it'll only make him angrier!" I begged softly.

"He needs to know about this!" He argued.

"What? What happened?" Victor asked, coming