Authors: Taylor Lee
Tags: #Short Story Prequel to “Big Girls Don’t Cry”
“I’m curious, Lexie. Have you ever been spanked?”
In the mirror, Lexie saw the hot flush stain her face. She shoved at his hands.
“Stop it, Jake! And, no, I’ve never been spanked. And furthermore, you wouldn’t dare.”
Jake moved next to her. He took hold of her arm and held her up close to his chest. His voice was low and dangerous. The vibrations strummed through her core.
“Darlin’, if I wasn’t as angry as I am and you weren’t hurt, I promise you, I’d turn you over my knee and wallop your ass so hard, you wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.” His voice dropped lower, sinking to a husky drawl. “Oh, and Lexie? I dare. I goddamn fucking well dare. This is a conversation we’re going to have, sweetheart. Later. Count on it.”
With that, he picked her up and walked over to the shower and flipped on the faucet. He held her in his arms until he was satisfied with the temperature, then turned the shower head to the wall and stood her in the shower. First he gently washed each cut and scratch. He poured shampoo in her hair and massaged her scalp as he worked the shampoo through the long tangled strands. When he was finished, he removed the hand held shower head and carefully rinsed her body and hair. At his gentle touch and soft murmurs, Lexie felt the tension from the hideous episode begin to loosen. As it did, the full horror of the evening hit her and she moaned, her legs starting to shake. Jake turned off the water and reached behind him for a towel.
After he’d dried her off, he wrapped her in one of her fluffy terrycloth robes.
“Tell me, Darlin’. Are you up for this? If you want, I can put you in bed. Dan can come here to interview you. Especially now that I’ve documented your injuries.”
Lexie shook her head. “I’m fine, Jake. My sweats are in the bottom drawer, the sweatshirts are in the next one.”
Several minutes later, they joined the others in the small conference room. Madam Juen was bustling around the room in her nightgown and robe. When she saw Lexie, her eyes filled with tears and she pressed her hand to her mouth.
Lexie put her arm around her and gave her a hug.
“I’m fine, Madam Juen. I got a little banged up. No more than I get in a hard sparring match. Don’t listen to these men. You know how men are. They exaggerate everything. I can’t get in a little fight. Oh no, they have to call it a brawl—”
“Be quiet, Lexie.”
Jake’s command was soft, but it stopped her in mid-sentence. She heaved out a heavy sigh. Her attempt at humor had backfired, and now Jake was angry all over again. Watching his reaction to Dan’s questions and her answers, she realized the rage she’d seen in his eyes when she first came in was more intense than ever.
The door banged and Brady appeared in the entrance.
“Hot damn! A post-midnight party and I just now get an invitation? C’mon, Jake, tell me for once you’re gonna share hotshot, not make me and Lexie sneak off after we dose up your drink—”
Brady stopped in mid-sentence, glancing from Dan Rourke to Master Wan, and then finally to Lexie and Jake.
“Whoa….Now what you’d do, hotshot? You know how long it takes me to settle the big guy down when you go off on one of your escapades.”
Jake glared at him and tossed him his phone. Brady flipped on the pictures. He held up the one of her in her pink hooker garb and whistled.
“Hotshot, one request. Next time you wanna wear this out on the town, call me. I’m a sucker for hot pink boy shorts.…” His grin died on his face as he scrolled through the photos. After a pregnant pause, his dark green eyes flashing, he glanced up at Jake.
“Names?”
Jake nodded. “Later.”
Brady stood and walked over to Lexie and reached for her.
“C’mere, you.”
He dragged her up into his arms and buried his face in her damp hair. Lexie leaned into the comfort of him. She adored Brady. He’d been her touchstone. He could make her smile when no one else could. But he wasn’t smiling now.
His voice was low. Much like Jake’s had been.
“Gotta question for you, hotshot. Have you ever been spanked?”
Lexie reared back and shoved him away.
“What is it with you men? When you get upset with me, the first thing you want to do is beat on my ass?”
Brady nodded at Lexie as he settled her back in her chair, and then exchanged a grim smile with Jake.
“Among other things.”
Lexie answered Dan’s questions, trying to ignore the pain on Master Wan’s face. Jake’s anger mirrored on Brady’s face was one thing. She could handle them. But hurting Master Wan was another. She longed to go to him and wipe the pain off of his face but Dan wasn’t through asking her questions.
“Did you get the name of the man who joined the fight? A description?”
“Yes. He was a Korean man. A Hapkido fighter. He got the knife away from Sanchez and took down the ‘quick’ one, they called him Chang, in a couple of moves. It was impressive. We ran together. His car was a few blocks away. He drove me to my car.”
Jake frowned. Brady spoke for all of them.
“Damn, hotshot. You must have been out of it, to get in a car with a guy you didn’t know.…”
Lexie looked from Brady to Jake and shrugged.
“He had a Jaguar for God’s sake. You know us little women. We go gaga over strong men with hot cars.…”
Seeing that her impudence didn’t help, if anything ratcheted up their anger, she added, “Look, be glad he was there. I probably could have taken those animals, but the odds were getting worse by the minute. At the very least, when he joined the fight, all those creeps on the side backed off. And yes, we ran like hell, and I was glad to be locked inside that hot car. Given where we’d been, it seemed a lot safer.”
Dan broke the heavy silence.
“You got his name, Lexie?”
“Yes, I have his card….” Lexie frowned, then remembered that she’d tucked the card in her shorts.
“I had it, Jake. In my pants?”
Jake motioned to Ming.
“Her shorts are in her bathroom. Please. See if you can find the card.”
Lexie focused on Dan, who seemed like the most reasonable of the men glaring at her.
“Like I said, he was Korean and clearly a master Hapkido fighter. But it was strange. In addition to his expensive car, his clothes were different, expensive. A silk shirt, for God’s sake. He said he was a businessman. That his name was Peter Kim.”
Dan and Mark exchanged a surprised glance. Mark spoke before Dan could.
“The Councilman?”
Lexie frowned.
“No, I… I don’t think so. Unless he is new. I know all the Councilmen.”
Dan replied. “He is new. The Mayor appointed him last month to fill Chou Min’s place. When Chou had that stroke.” He quirked a disbelieving brow. “At least that’s what they said it was.”
Lexie remembered hearing the news about Chou.
“That’s right. Now I remember. But, Peter? He told me he was a businessman.…”
Dan passed the card Ming gave him to Mark, who then gave it to Jake.
“Yeah, he’s a businessman all right. Owns property all over the city, primarily in the District. People were surprised. The guy’s never been in politics. Said he wanted to represent the decent businesses. I dunno. What can I say? The Mayor seemed excited about it. Said we need more businessmen on the Council. And hell, you know as well as anyone, Lexie, those campaign contributions go a long way. Although why anyone would want to serve on that Council is beyond me. Talk about a thankless job.”
Lexie was thoughtful. She could think of a few reasons. And not all of them would help the “decent” people in the District. A Council member had a lot of power over what happened in his ward. He could start an investigation—or stop one—if he chose to do so.
She met Jake’s questioning gaze.
“That answers at least one question: how he knew who I was. But it doesn’t answer the more important question. How he just happened to be in the alley behind the Rising Sun in the middle of the night.”
Jake nodded. “Sure as hell doesn’t.”
The silence around the table was deafening.
Chapter 13
When Jake returned to their bed, Lexie breathed a sigh of relief and rolled over next to him. When he left she didn’t need to ask him where he was going. Instead, she’d closed her eyes and hugged her pillow—wishing it was Jake. Even as tired as she was, there was no way she could sleep. Not until he came back—safe. She’d seen the look he and Brady exchanged and heard his last words to Dan, telling him to “hold up a bit” before he went to arrest the men who’d hurt her.
She snuggled against his big body and murmured, “I worry about you too, Jake. Maybe I should spank your butt when you and Brady take off in the middle of the night to do your ‘big cave-man macho’ thing.”
Jake pulled her up close and chuckled. “Spanking is not a laughing matter, Lexie, as you will find out soon enough.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ll see. But, tell me. Jake. Tell me you’re not hurt.”
“No, Lexie, unlike you, I’m not hurt, at least physically. But there are a few bouncers at the Rising Sun whose body parts won’t be rising or doing much else for a good long while.”
Lexie didn’t have to ask what they’d done. She’d seen Jake and Brady fight. Coupled with Peter’s and her attacks, she doubted any of those goons would be harassing young Korean girls for a long time, if ever. But she didn’t miss Jake’s reference to the hurt he felt. She hated that. In retrospect, it would have been so easy just to tell him what she planned to do. But he never would have let her. Damn, the least he could have done was let her know he wasn’t going to D.C….
“Jake?”
“Yeah, Darlin’?”
“Can we talk in the morning? I’m exhausted. I just want you to hold me and maybe we can both go to sleep.”
He pulled her up close into the hollow of his shoulder, the place where she longed to nestle her weary head.
“Yes, Lexie. I will hold you. And please, Darlin’, go to sleep. As for me, I don’t feel much like sleeping.”
Lexie frowned. She could feel his simmering anger, at her, and from the aftermath of his fight. She sighed and snuggled closer to him. Looked like she would have to be satisfied with sleeping tonight—even if Jake couldn’t.
~~~
The next morning, Lexie woke early, prepared for the ‘discussion’ with Jake that they’d postponed. To her relief, she saw that Jake was gone. He must have had an early morning meeting that he forgot to mention. She grinned. The gods were with her. Hopping out of bed, she took a quick shower, groaning at the bruises on her body. She’s known they’d hurt worse in the morning. They always did. Fortunately her body healed quickly.
Wrapped in her fluffy robe, she smelled the delicious scent of coffee – with cinnamon and cream she was sure. But, as good as it smelled, the delivery came with strings attached. Jake was sitting in one of the arm chairs in the siting area. Her coffee was on the table in front of him.
Jake’s lips twitched and a flash of humor streaked across his face.
“Don’t look so disappointed, Darlin’. You can’t think that I would leave you this morning without bringing you your coffee.”
She clipped her damp hair up on top of her head and sauntered over to him. She smiled sweetly and settled in the chair across from him. “Of course not, Jake. And this coffee smells so good, it’s almost worth putting up with the guy who brought to me.”
Jake’s smile vanished. He studied her for a long moment. Lexie’s gut clenched. She knew this was going to be a difficult discussion. She considered playing the sympathy card, mentioning her injuries, but that seemed like a bad idea. The last thing she needed to do was remind him that she’d been hurt. Instead, she waited for him to begin. And she didn’t have to wait long.
“Why, Lexie? Why didn’t you tell me where you were going, what you planned to do?”
She shrugged, “Well, to begin with, you weren’t here, or at least you said you were going to D.C….” She groaned to herself. Now that was a stupid way to begin. Nothing like giving him an opening.
“Hmm. Then, can I assume, if I
had
been here, if you hadn’t
purposefully
waited until you thought that I was out of town, that you would have discussed what you were planning to do? What you clearly have been planning for some time?”
Lexie sighed. She may as well acknowledge he wasn’t going to let her off easy. She knew as well as he did, this was a discussion they needed to have.
“I’m sorry, Jake. I know you’re upset that I got hurt. I appreciate that. But you are just going to have to trust me, trust that I know what I am doing. I am in the middle—”
Jake put up his hand stopping her.
“Hold up, Lexie. Let me make sure I’m hearing you correctly. I’m supposed to trust
you,
but you don’t trust me. Hmm. You go out in the middle of the night, dressed like a streetwalker, with a twenty year old boy, and come home covered with bruises… and you tell me to
trust
you?”
Lexie tossed her head.
“Nothing happened to Dewa. He wasn’t—”
Jake’s voice rose. “Goddammit, Lexie. Cut the crap. I want to know what the fuck you were doing,
and
why the hell didn’t you tell me about it before you did!”
Jake’s voice dropped. It was soft. Ominously soft.
“Lexie. Now.”
Lexie leapt to her feet and began pacing across the floor, then put both hands on the back of her chair and leaned forward, glaring at Jake.
“Fine. I’ll tell you. But before I do, just know that I would do it again and probably will. And you can’t stop me.”
Jake quirked a skeptical brow and his eyes narrowed. He motioned to her chair.
“Sit down, Lexie. This is going to be a lengthy discussion. I want you to be comfortable. I’ll ignore that last remark. Let’s start over. Now. Please tell me, why did you do what you did? What are you involved in? And when we are finished discussing those issues, I want to know why
you
couldn’t trust
me
to tell me that.”
Lexie sunk down in her chair. She took a sip of her coffee and tried to be calm. Jake was upset, but she was too. She debated how much she should tell him and decided that at least for the moment, she’d keep it limited to last night’s ‘adventure.’”