Lisa Ch. 05a: Only Human

"Okay, okay," Jim said, holding his hands up. It wouldn't take much to cause Riley to change his mind about the whole thing. "We'll be more careful. Okay? You don't have to worry Riley, really."

"Luckily for you, you still have time to prove yourselves ... wait a minute! Why am I the one looking like the bad guy here?" Riley demanded. "Don't we all want Jessica to be safe? I don't think any of you want her to get trampled for Christ sake!"

The door slammed. Angus had returned and stood observing them. Jessica had jumped at the sound, she sat with her eyes squeezed shut, her heart pounding.

"Jesus Angus, is it that hard for you to close the door normally for a change?" Scott demanded. "You scared the crap out of us!"

"You mean I scared the crap out of you and Jessica," Angus replied, "what does that tell you?"

"Guys!" Riley interrupted. "Let's stick to the topic. Start being smarter ... and Jessica knows enough not to ask to do certain things. For crying out loud Jessica, don't you have any sense of self-preservation?"

Jessica had still been cringing from Angus' entrance. With Riley's question, she opened one eye and looked at him. They were all silent. Self-preservation. It occurred to Riley that she either had a large dose of a misguided sense of self-preservation, or no sense at all. Everything she'd done in the past few years could fall under either category.

"Stupid question," Riley said. "Jessica, Baby's gotta go back outside. I've gotta get back to work, I'll take her with me." He held his hands out. Jessica kissed Baby on the head, and passed her over to Riley.

"Stay out of trouble." He said and headed for the door.

Angus nodded to Riley as he came toward him. Riley tilted his chin at the door, and both disappeared through it.

"What's up?" Riley asked as he dropped Baby onto her feet on the lawn and turned in the direction of the kennels.

"There was water in the fuel line." Angus replied.

Riley froze mid-stride. He turned to stare at the house. Angus followed his gaze.

"What do you think she's up to?" Angus asked.

"I don't know. You?"

"I don't believe for a second that her goal has changed in any way. She wants to run away, but now she's biding her time till she does. All this talk about Beth, and giving Jessica a chance ..." Angus said, hoping the catch in his voice wasn't evident. "It's bullshit. She'll use whatever she can to pull a fast one on us."

Riley looked at Angus in surprise.

"What?" Angus asked.

"So you're convinced that she's not to be trusted?" Riley asked, but couldn't help but smile. Nothing that Angus said was new. He'd repeated his same old argument, but this time, much less convincingly. The hell and brim fire was gone.

"What are you smiling about? I just told you that I don't trust her!"

"Neither do I Angus. But do you remember how excited she got when I told her that I might let her train Baby with me? I don't know about you, but I'd like to see that more often."

The total euphoria that was on Jessica's face when she'd been thrown from Ebony, and she'd looked down at him as he'd checked her for broken bones, flashed through Angus' mind. He began to feel a pull in his groin again. Christ, he hadn't been this horny since he'd been a teenager! He shook his head.

"So, you're going to let her train that mutt with you, great. If you think I'm going to let her work on the vette with me, you've got another thing coming. Do you realize how easy it'd be for her to stick me with the screw driver when I'm not paying attention?"

"You're right. All I'm saying is, consider the possibilities. There's a lot we can get from her, whether she plans to run, or not."

"Yeah. Okay."

"Angus!" Jim yelled from the front door, "Help!"

Angus and Riley exchanged a glance before racing to the house.

"In the bathroom," Jim said and led the way to the bathroom.

When they entered they found Josh holding a bucket, and Jessica on her knees in the middle of a geyser of water under the counter, hands outstretched and trying to plug a leaking pipe. She screamed as the water sprayed her in the face, and she tried unsuccessfully to get her face out of the path of the water. Josh tried to maneuver the bucket around her under the counter, and suddenly the water stopped. There was a shocked silence as Jessica shook her soaked head.

Scott raced in to the bathroom, "Did it stop?" he demanded.

He'd gone into the basement in an attempt to turn the water off.

"Holy shit Jessica!" Scott commented when he saw her hair dripping, shirt plastered to her chest. Jessica looked down at herself, and began to laugh.

"What the hell happened?" Riley asked, still feeling the panic he'd felt on his way in. Angus was unable to speak. Anger had gripped him, he was sure Jessica had done something in an attempt to escape. Perhaps even succeeding in killing Scott this time ... and the anger he'd felt was not easily shaken now.

Jessica turned to see Riley and Angus scowling at her, and the laughter ceased.

"The pipe broke," Josh said.

"It broke, or it was broken?" Angus asked in a low voice.

"Broke," Josh replied, doing a double take when he saw the expression on Angus' face. "I was standing right next to Jessica, right here, when it happened. Trust me, it broke on its own."

Riley nodded. He felt physical relief as the tension eased out of his body. For the first time, he realized how much energy it took for him to get that angry.

"You going to fix it?" Riley asked Angus.

Angus nodded.

"I'll need help though," he said moving forward to get a look under the counter. "To get the piping off, I have to slide under the counter. I need someone to hand me the tools, like we did when we changed the sink a few years back."

"I can help," Jim said. "I'll get Jessica cleaned-up and then we'll be back."

"Josh, want to give me a hand in the barns then?" Scott asked. "I never did get finished in there."

Josh nodded and disappeared with Scott.

"Come on Jess," Jim said and held his hand out to her. Jessica moved to get up, and bumped into Angus.

"Sorry," she said, and began to crawl forward. Angus caught Jessica by her arm and pulled her to her feet. Jessica's shirt was plastered to her chest, she stood shivering, her erect nipples protruding from her shirt. When Angus didn't let her go, Jessica looked up, and followed his line of vision to her chest. Jessica's cheeks turned red as she hugged herself with her free arm. Angus couldn't move his eyes from where the little peaks had been. He couldn't take any more.

"I'll change her," he grumbled and he pulled her behind him by the arm.

No sooner had the door to his room closed, Angus pulled Jessica to him. His hands slid up her shirt, found her nipples and rubbed. Jessica was shaking, her flesh was freezing. He pulled her shirt over her head, he reached for her pants and cursed. She was on the rag! Damn it, when was she supposed to start the pills again? He couldn't remember but her bleeding never stopped him before. It just made things messier.

"Are you bleeding?" he demanded while tugging on the waist of her pants. Why the hell was he asking her? Like she'd tell the truth ... he'd have to find out for himself.

"No," Jessica whispered. Angus looked down at her, her cheeks were bright red and she was looking everywhere but at him. He couldn't wait any longer. He ripped her pants off, and pushed her onto his bed. Jessica turned her head to the side as Angus' hand moved down her thighs, and pushed her legs apart.

"Kiss me," he said gruffly. Jessica had closed her eyes. But Angus took her chin in his hand and turned her face to his. She opened her eyes to stare at the stubble on his chin.

"I said, kiss me," Angus was panting, out of breath from the mounting pleasure. His one hand had found Jessica's opening and he slammed his fingers into it, his other hand tilted her chin up.

He lowered his lips to hers and slipped his tongue between her lips. Her lips were rigid at first, and he slid his hand down to her breast, cupped it as he normally would in preparation to protect himself. But then Jessica softened, and her lips became pliable. He used his tongue to feel around her mouth, and as his fingers prodded Jessica's hole, the flesh around it, a moistness trickled from it.

Angus couldn't wait any longer. He got to his knees, nudged her legs apart with his knee and rammed himself into the opening his fingers had held ready for him. His hands moved to her shoulders and held her in place as he thrust over and over again, finally feeling a sensation so pleasurable that he groaned and fell on top of her. He lay panting, unable to move. God, if he'd waited any longer with his pent up need he would've blown her head right off.

Jessica didn't move beneath him. Just lay still, warm and soft. She smelled so good, the urge to hold her to him began to take hold. Damn it, he was weak. No wonder Beth had pulled one over on him. He should take her up the ass, hurt her a little again. Maybe he'd force her to enact her escape plan and get the inevitable over with. But, it wasn't his night with her, he'd already gone too far. He rolled off of Jessica and sat up.

"Get dressed." He said without looking at her.

Jessica didn't move. She'd been thrown off by his demand that she kiss him. And he hadn't hurt her. A phrase ran through her mind ... 'men think with their peckers ... you want to change the way a man thinks, do a good job on his pecker!'. As though through a fog, she realized she'd heard her mother's friend say it once. She hadn't understood what it'd meant then, but now she was getting the idea.

Angus looked over his shoulder and caught Jessica watching him.

"Oh," Jessica exclaimed, and dropped her gaze. She sat up. She couldn't figure Angus out. She'd come to expect to be used by Angus, physically, and then ignored. He rarely paid any attention to any part of her that was above her neck. Tonight he had. And he hadn't gone out of his way to hurt her. And with the help of the cream that Scott kept putting on her private areas, she could have had an orgasm had Angus been a little gentler, taken a little more time.

Maybe her mother's friend had been right. She wasn't sure she was up to the task of finding out. Jessica moved off the far side of the bed and to the chest of drawers. She kept her back to him as she worked on a bra, and slipped on a shirt. She closed the drawer and stood quietly before it. She seemed to be studying the knob on the drawer.

Angus felt unsettled. Why, he didn't know. There'd been something odd about the expression on Jessica's face, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. She'd never so openly looked at him before ... in fact her eyes had never strayed in his direction unless they were forced to.

"Let's go," he said. Jessica turned and moved toward the door. She reached Angus as he was getting to his feet, almost colliding with her. She tried to scoot by him, but he grabbed her arm.

"I asked you to kiss me earlier Jessica, you owe me a kiss."

"I ... I ... we did ..." Jessica stammered.

"No ..." Angus replied kind of liking the gentler side of Jessica. It occurred to him that normally, by now, he'd be fighting to hang on to her arm ... protecting his vulnerable parts from Jessica's jabs.

"I asked you to kiss me. But I ended-up kissing you. You owe me a kiss."

"Uhhh ..." Jessica seemed to be struggling with a flurry of emotions. Fear, confusion, desperation, resignation, all seemed to play across her face.

"I'm waiting ... and if I were you, I wouldn't keep me waiting for too long."

Jessica inhaled and placing her hands on his chest, she pushed up on her toes and brushed his cheek with her lips.

She stood before him, head lowered, enduring the silence that followed. At any moment now, Angus could be hurting her again. But, if he didn't hurt her, what did it mean? Should she try ... try to use sex to get what she wanted? No, she couldn't. What she wanted, he would never give her. But still, things could get better. With the exception of Riley, they had improved with the others.

"That was a kiss alright Jessica, but when I talk about a kiss from you to me, I definitely and in no way, mean on my cheek."

Jessica flicked her eyes up at him for a moment and then stared at the floor again. She shifted from foot to foot.

"Where do you think I would want you to kiss me?" Angus asked. This was almost like his fantasies. Not physically fighting, but Jessica being coy ... making him tease things out of her. He felt a stirring in his groin. He was never going to get around to fixing that sink.

"I asked you a question Jessica ... " pleasure was mounting.

"Lips," Jessica whispered.

"What was that?"

"On the lips," Jessica replied.

"So?"

Jessica placed her hands on his chest again, and paused. She stood staring at his chest. She suddenly had an overwhelming urge to make Angus like her. He had been nicer to her lately, maybe if she tried a little harder to be nice to him ...

Angus stood staring at her. He couldn't possibly fuck her again, could he? Jim was waiting in the bathroom for them. They'd already well exceeded the time it took to change clothing.

Slowly, Jessica raised her eyes and looked in his. She held his gaze for several seconds, and then slowly raised herself up to his lips. Her lips locked on his and delivered a kiss much like he'd fantasized about hours earlier, in the bathroom. She stopped short of using her tongue but it was electric anyway. She looked in his eyes again, before moving away from him. Angus was stunned. Absolutely stunned. His desire gave way to something else ... something he didn't know what to do with. He could hear his bedroom clock ticking away. They had to get out of the bedroom before something unpredictable, and emotionally dangerous happened.

Angus cleared his throat.

"We'd better go," he said, but as Jessica took a step forward, he wasn't really ready to let her go yet. He was still struggling inside with the desire to have Jessica again. Angus' arm shot out to stop her. It inadvertently landed on her left breast. She froze ... fear played across her face. He let his hand fall. Relief replaced the fear in Jessica's expression. Well, it wasn't his night with her anyway. Obviously the fantasy he'd been hoping for wasn't going to happen, the fear that had played on Jessica's face made that clear.

"After you ..." he said. Jessica moved to the door quickly. She wanted to get away from him. That knowledge had disappointment washing over him. Angus shook his head. Things were getting confusing.

Jim was coming out of the bathroom as they came to the doorway.

"There you are ... is everything alright?" he asked, studying Jessica to see if Angus had hurt her. She wouldn't look him in the eye, but otherwise seemed alright.

"Fine." Angus grumbled. "Toolbox is in the garage. Be right back."

The second Angus was gone, Jim turned to Jessica.

"Did Angus hurt you?" Jim asked bending down to get into her line of vision. "Did he hit you?"

Jessica shook her head.

"Jessica, look at me will you. What happened?"

Chin tucked in, Jessica rolled her eyes up to look at him. Her cheeks grew red.

"Oh God," Jim mumbled. "You don't mean ... he didn't ..."

Jessica looked down at the floor quickly and shifted uncomfortably.

"It's ... it's not his night with you ... Hell, it's not even night ... I'm sorry Jess."

Jessica nodded.

Angus stomped back in, carrying the toolbox and long pieces of tubing.

"I'll tell you what tools I need, you pass them to me," he said as he bent onto his knees before the sink.

"Right," Jim replied, wondering whether he dared bring up the breach of rules with Angus. This was to be Jim's night with Jessica, he had every right to be angry! Christ, he couldn't say anything. The second he did, Angus would strike back at Jessica.

"What's your problem?" Angus asked.

"Nothing ..." Jim answered, taken aback, was he that easy to read?

"Could've fooled me," Angus replied shifting his eyes over to where Jessica stood fidgeting.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jim replied looking over at Jessica also.

"As long as you're sure," Angus said and made his way under the counter. At least Jessica hadn't gone whining to Jim about their interlude. He had no idea who he would've been more pissed at ... Jessica for complaining, or Jim for having the nerve to bring it up.

"Just take a seat on the toilet there Jess," Jim said, opening the tool box, "this shouldn't take long."

"Christ it's dark under here," Angus complained, "I knew we shouldn't have set this up like this. Why the hell would we have the joint under the counter? I can barely fit under here ... damnit."

"Here's the flashlight," Jim said sliding a small snake light under the counter with Angus.

"Thanks. Alright, I need the basin wrench,"

"Jim!" Josh yelled from the living room.

"Coming!" Jim yelled, jumping to his feet. "Back in a sec Angus."

Jim held a finger up at Jessica. She nodded and he ran out the door.

"Thanks for your help there ..." Angus grumbled, leaning to the side, trying to see out from under the cabinet. He felt around with his hand until it landed on the tool box. He felt his way along the side of the box. Suddenly he felt metal against the top of this hand. He turned his palm up and his fingers closed around a tool.

"Thanks," he said pulling it closer to the light. It was the right wrench ... 'what do you know', Angus muttered to himself.

"Son of a ... pass the adjustable wrench will you," Angus said. Now he remembered why he hated tight places. Alternating between the basin and adjustable wrench, Angus finally managed to get the cracked tubing separated.

"Here," he said sliding the first piece of tubing out to Jim. "This is the original broken one, and I think I cracked the bottom tube here, while trying to separate them. So what you're going to have to do is measure this new tubing to the same length as this old piece. There's a hacksaw in the toolbox."

Angus paused and heard Jim moving around, and then the saw cutting into the tubing. Jim pushed the tube beside Angus.

"Okay, here's the other piece." Angus said shoving the second piece out.

"Hey, this fits perfect," Angus commented as he fit the tube to the existing piping and began attaching it.

He heard the saw working on the tubing. Intermingled with its rhythmic whine, was the sound of footsteps, running, and a bang, like the bathroom door banging against the wall.

"Jessica!" he heard Riley yell, "Put that down, now!"

Angus heard something fall to the floor. He scrambled out from under the counter ... what the hell had she done to Jim?

He came into the light blinking. He looked around for Jim, and found him standing near the bathroom door, face frozen in the same contorted expression as Riley, Josh and Scott.

None of them moved. Angus blinked. What the hell was Jim doing over there? He swung his gaze toward the toolbox, and found Jessica kneeling near him, the piping in one hand, and the hacksaw lying on the ground beside her. He stared, unable to move. Jessica too was frozen, head turned to the other men. She was panting and beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Angus could see the excess piece of piping next to her knee.

"Move back Jessica," Riley said in a voice filled with fury. Jessica turned her gaze away from the men, and looked directly at Angus. She looked scared, and oddly, confused. She held Angus' gaze for a second before looking down at the floor as she crawled back away from the piping.

"Are you alright Angus?" Scott demanded as he moved forward and kicked the saw further away from Jessica. His heart pounded in his chest. Images of Jessica sawing his head off while he hung helpless in the handcuffs on his headboard played in his mind. Thank God she hadn't had a weapon on hand!