Page 21 of Jacking Jill

The hope didn’t last long.

“Hey,” came Bobby Carmine’s voice from behind Jill out in the parking lot, making her jump as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Hey,” came Jack’s sharp response, his arm whipping up from where it had been wrapped around Jill’s waist and swatting Bobby’s unwelcome hand off Jill’s shoulder. The movement was breathtakingly fast, and before Jill could react, Jack had turned all the way around and had placed his body between hers and Bobby’s. “Watch it, buddy.”

“I’m not your fucking buddy,” snarled Bobby Carmine, and when Jill looked at his hopped-up eyes she knew Bobby was most certainly not clean, which meant Nina wasn’t clean—or at least wouldn’t be for long. Not with a partner who was clearly hooked on meth or speed or some other drug with an unpronounceable name. “Who let you two in here? You aren’t on the guest list.”

“Bobby, Jill’s my best friend!” Nina’s sweet smile had disappeared, and her entire body language changed along with her expression as she pleaded like a traumatized child. “She’s—”

“She’s a meddling cunt who tried to get you to dump me,” Bobby growled, standing to his full height, which was about two inches shorter than Jack, who was still positioned squarely in front of Jill like a protective wall of immovable muscle. “Get the fuck off my property before I have you thrown out. Now. Both of you. Go, before I—”

The rest of the sentence didn’t make it past Bobby’s snarling lips because Jack’s hand was suddenly around Bobby’s throat.

“Before you what?” Jack had whispered as Bobby’s light gray eyes started to bug out. “Before you call my lady a nasty word like that again? Because that’s never going to happen. I’ll rip your fucking throat out before you disrespect my woman like that again. Are we clear?”

“Jack, let him go!” Jill leapt out from behind Jack and tried to pull his arm away, but it was like trying to uproot a bridge from its foundation. “Jack!”

Bobby was gasping and gurgling, one hand desperately trying to break Jack’s vise-like grip, the other hand feverishly digging into his jacket pocket like he was either reaching for a gun or a phone. Thankfully Jack released him before Bobby found what he was looking for, sending the gagging Bobby stumbling backwards in shocked relief.

“You’re a fucking dead man,” Bobby had gasped after catching his breath and straightening his tie. “You can’t put your fucking hands on me! Especially not in my own damn house!”

Jill clamped her eyes shut tight, sighing when she felt Jack’s body stiffen like he was cursing himself for losing his cool to a rush of protective anger. She was about to ask Jack to apologize when another man’s voice came through to them across the cold parking lot.

“This isn’t your damn house, Bobby,” came the man’s voice, silky-smooth like fine dark chocolate. Jill stared as a tall, broad-shouldered older man strolled towards them, a burning cigarette held loosely between his long fingers, languid smile on his dark red lips. He puffed on his cigarette and exhaled, the smoke swirling around his wavy black hair slicked with oil that made it glisten darkly under the decorative string-lights. “It’s my fucking house, and you best never forget that, Bobby.” He glanced coolly at Jill, his lazy gray eyes shining with wolf-like intensity, resting on her face for a long moment before flicking towards Jack for the briefest of glances, moving on with calculated casualness, like the man had been already been studying Jack without looking at him directly. His gaze was back on Bobby now, who was shifting in his Italian leather shoes, grinding his teeth and glowering at the older man with an odd mixture of rage and submission. “And nobody’s killing anyone on my property. Especially when you’re the one who did wrong, Bobby.”

Bobby whipped his gaze towards the older man, who Jill guessed was Romeo Carmine. He looked early fifties but seemed fitter than most men half his age. “What the fuck, Uncle Romeo? This asshole had his hands around my damn throat!”

Romeo Carmine had cast another cool glance at the silent Jack before flicking his burning cigarette carelessly in Bobby’s direction, who was jumpy enough to sidestep it before it landed on his white jacket. “You called his woman a cunt, Bobby. What did you expect was going to happen, huh?”

Bobby flashed his pale eyes at his uncle, then stepped on the still-burning cigarette and ground it beneath his shoe with far more force than necessary. “Are you seriously taking this guy’s side over mine? Over your own blood, Uncle Romeo?”

Romeo Carmine grunted. “My own blood. Right. I guess you did crawl out of my idiot sister’s vagina, so technically we share some genes.” He grunted again, his heavily muscled shoulders jerking upwards with a single scoffing laugh. “But you aren’t a true Carmine. Too much of your loser dad’s blood in your veins.” He’d smiled warmly at Jill, showing perfectly aligned white teeth that were polished well enough that if he was a regular smoker, the nicotine stains didn’t show. “I’m Romeo Carmine.”

“Hi, Mister Carmine,” Jill had said, taken aback by the man’s sudden switch from cold spitefulness towards his nephew to warm welcome towards her and Jack. She shook Romeo’s outstretched hand, then glanced at Jack and smiled back at Romeo. “I’m Jill Hennessy, and this is—”

“Jack Wagner, yes, I know,” said Romeo without missing a beat as he ended their handshake and offered his hand to Jack, who shook it firmly, without hesitation, looking unflinchingly into Romeo’s gray eyes. “Gate security ran your name and face through our systems. Thank you for your service in the Army, Mister Wagner. And thank you for not using all your Delta-trained skills on my idiot nephew.” He flicked his gray-eyed gaze in Bobby’s direction, who had most certainly flinched at the revelation that Jack was a Delta Force veteran. “Sometimes I wish this country had mandatory military service. Then maybe we wouldn’t have so many of our young men turning into pussy-livered junkies.”

Bobby visibly bristled at Romeo’s provocatively disrespectful words. Nina shifted uneasily in her white designer heels, her stockinged legs tight together to stop the cold air swirling through the parking lot from riding up her evening gown. Romeo didn’t look at either of them. His gaze remained locked on Jack’s, their hands still gripped together in that firm handshake which Jill noticed was tight enough that Romeo’s veins were bulging thick like snakes along the sides of his wrist.

“You have access to military databases?” Jack released Romeo’s hand, narrowed his gaze, then glanced past Romeo towards where two thick-looking men in black suits and black shirts and black ties had strolled up to flank their boss. “That’s pretty impressive. Is it legal?”

Romeo grinned. “We’ve got a background-check company that uses Artificial Intelligence to run searches on all publicly available information and make educated guesses. It’s pretty accurate, and can tell if someone’s been in the military, even which branch. We don’t have access to any details, of course.” He wagged a long index finger in Jack’s direction. “But I give you credit for having the guts to challenge me.” He winked at Jill. “I like him. He has balls.” Romeo glanced back at Jack, his grin relaxing to a tight smile. “Perhaps my nephew can learn something from you.”

Jack returned the tight smile, then shrugged coolly, like he was smart enough to pick up the oddly provocative edge in Romeo’s tone and not take the bait. “I’m here as Jill’s guest to her best friend’s wedding. Your nephew was way out of line with his language, but I guess I lost my cool a little. It’s probably best not to choke out the groom if you want to be invited to the rest of the wedding festivities.”

“You were never fucking invited to begin with,” snapped Bobby, his neck straining like it was spasming from too many drugs or perhaps not enough. He glared at Nina, his long face stretching even longer as he scowled. “Tell them, Nina. Tell them what your so-called best friend said about me when she bailed on being your maid of honor. Tell Uncle Romeo how she wanted you to dump me for your own good. Six months ago you hated Jill. Now suddenly everyone’s friends again? Just like that?”

Nina blinked her blue-shaded eyelids like a panicked butterfly, her lips moving silently like she was desperately looking for words that wouldn’t escalate the situation.

But then Romeo Carmine waved his hands and shook his head, smiling at Nina and Jill and chuckling. “That’s how women interact with each other, Bobby. Drama and emotion, claws and conflict. It’s too sophisticated for us men to understand, and the truth is we’re not biologically wired to understand. If Nina says they’ve made up, it’s good enough for me. They can stay.” He glanced at Jack again, then gestured with his head towards his two black-suited bodyguards. “But just to make sure nobody loses their cool again, these two peacekeepers will stay close to our military hero. Consider them your hall-monitors for the evening. Now, you kids stay out of trouble, all right?”

Romeo had walked away without another word, striding between the two barrel-sized bodyguards and disappearing around a tall hedge of evergreens lining the path to the main house. Bobby had stormed off immediately afterwards, and Nina had hurried off behind him after casting an apologetic smile at Jill.

And then suddenly Jill and Jack were alone in the parking lot, those two silent guards staring sullenly at them like the Sphinxes of Egypt. A chilly wind started to blow, making Jill’s shoulders shiver beneath the red wool wrap she’d knitted herself specially for this night.

This night which was most certainly not going according to plan, Jill thought now as she stared at herself in the bathroom mirror and pursed her red lips and flashed a white smile of relief because she knew that she’d never have been able to go through with that original plan which had seemed so clever and daring when she was coming up with it but was now exposed as ridiculously unrealistic, pathetically optimistic, ludicrously far-fetched.

But then Jill took a step back so she could see her body in the mirror, and suddenly that sensation of being sexy rippled through her curves, bringing forth the strangest thought.

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