Chapter 48 - South Beach - Jason and Jett and the Problem

University -- Brickhouse Coffee Shop





Another late spring thunderstorm had moved in, dark clouds racing in from the west. Pausing under the awning outside the coffee shop, Jason glanced up at the place, then laughed. “You’re going to ask the Brickhouse Blonde about a job? She only hires ugly chicks, Kes. Everybody knows that.”

Kestral had never paid any attention to who worked here, trolls or supermodels. “I can cook. It shouldn’t matter what I look like. And she dated Colin for a while so I know her. I have to try. I have to get a job.”



“I told you not to worry about the money. I can ask my parents for help if we need it.” Just the impression she wanted to make, Kestral thought dryly; girlfriend needing handout. She may as well slap a GOLDDIGGER sticker across her forehead. She started inside and paused briefly to look at a couple seated on the outside deck.


That strange guy Marc, Rafe’s half brother, chatting with Ericca Stanfield. Marc looked tense and irritable and uneasy. But every time she had ever seen him he looked tense and irritable so that was nothing new.


Taking a deep breath – she really didn’t know Lauren very well – Kestral left Jason sitting at one of the café tables and approached the tall blonde at the other end of the room.


“Hi Kes,” Lauren greeted her with a perfunctory hug, which Kestral uncomfortably returned. “How are you?”



“I’m fine. Did you think about what I mentioned on the phone?” Kestral asked. “I can bake anything you want. I can make coffee. I need a job.”
Lauren paused, glancing over her shoulder at Jason, then shook her head. “It’s not a good fit, Kes. This isn’t real baking. The food comes already prepared. You’d have no creative input at all. If you’re going to waste your time, you can find something that pays better than this place.”



Stunned, Kestral stepped back, trying to come up with an argument, but she had never been good at interviews or negotiating or anything useful. A wave of regret hit her; maybe she should have gone with Colin. Lauren still didn’t even look directly at her. She was looking at Jason. “If you really need a job, you’ll make a lot more at one of the clubs. You’re pretty – you’d make more in one night than you’d make here in a month.”



She swallowed hard, and said, “Thanks but I don’t think I – “


Behind her, a deep male voice suddenly demanded, “What the hell are you looking at? You have something to say to me?” Kestral turned, off balance and bewildered. A chair slammed against a table. The door flew open. Jason had jumped out of the chair, yelling something at Marc. And behind him, Ericca was running through the door shouting something like stop stop. Lauren murmured, “What on earth…”



Lauren took a step back, staring at Marc, narrow eyed. Faced with what seemed like total lunacy, Kestral stammered, “Excuse me?”



“You have something to say to me, say it to my face!” Marc was yelling, close up, large and intimidating. “Why do you keep looking at me like that?”
“Marc what are you doing!” Ericca called out. “Please stop it!”
“He’s going to stop it all right!” Jason cut in.



Jason stepped between her and Marc, snarling, “Look asshole, leave her the hell alone! Go chase aliens someplace else! Go on, Kes, get out of here, I’ll be right there.” Marc glared at him, fists clenched, but confusion flickered across his face and he didn’t respond.



Approaching from behind, Ericca put one hand on his arm and turned him, firmly, to face her. “Marc, look at me. Listen to me. Everything’s ok. We should go…come on, let’s just go back to my place and you can rest for a while.”



Jason started for the door, following Kestral out of the place, but he shot Marc a hard glare as he passed the couple. “I don’t know what your problem is, but you stay away from her,” he warned.

“It’ll be all right,” Ericca intervened in an even, steady voice. “Just go.”


Kestral felt Jason touch her back. “Keep going,” he told her quietly. “Don’t look back at them.”



“What is the matter with him?” Shaking, frightened, Jason’s hand still firm on the small of her back, Kestral could hear Ericca continue to try to talk to Marc. At least he wasn’t shouting anymore.

“My best guess is he’s fucking insane.”


University - Stanfield and Mitchell Residence



Still shaken, Kestral stopped outside the door to Jason’s house, saw Jett walking around inside. She didn’t want to go, but neither did she want to talk to Jett. And she needed to think, not only about Marc, but about another option for a job. Which she didn’t have. “Jason, I think I’ll go home. I can cut through the park.”



“No way,” he told her flatly. “You’re not going anywhere right now. You don’t even have a dead bolt on the door in that place you’re moving into. That son of a bitch could be waiting there.”

She cast a glance up at the towering house, uneasy. “I can’t stay here.”



“We’re going to talk about that,” he responded, and turned away from her. “Come on inside.” He shoved open the doors, striding directly toward his brother who had come into the foyer and stood there with his arms folded, watching them curiously.



“Listen,” Jason told Kes softly, “go wait for me in the living room, will you Bird? I need to talk to Jett for a few minutes.”

“We have Animal Planet,” Jett offered helpfully, uncertain what was up. “You could watch that.”



“Animal Planet?” Jason muttered. “Sometimes you’re an idiot, Jett.”

“Yeah, probably should have mentioned Food Network. What’s going on?” Jett asked quietly, watching Kestral walk around the divider into the living room.

“Not here,” Jason told him. “Outside.”



Jason slid the patio door shut and turned to his brother, who stood there, waiting, thumbs hooked into his jeans. “That crazy fucker Marc tore into Kes at the damned Brickhouse,” Jason explained tensely. “Crawled all over her screaming she was looking at him or talking about him. He’s always been weird but he’s gone over the edge now. I can’t let her go home while he’s out there!”



Jett glanced past him. Kestral was stretched out on the sofa in the living room like she was watching TV, but the set was dark. “Let her stay here then, if she’ll agree to it. But that’s not going to solve the problem. You can’t keep her locked up in the house.”

“I know that,” Jason snapped. “I need a way to get him out of here. Ericca can’t control him. And I don’t know his dad.”



“We know someone who can take care of it,” Jett grinned. “Marc’s big brother…”



A slow smile spread over Jason’s face. “Rafe.”

The door behind them opened and Wyatt stepped out onto the patio. “Hey, what’s going on?” he asked. “Why’re you out here while Kes is lying on the couch?”

“We’re dealing with a problem,” Jason responded, smiling at his brother.



“Just dealt with it. One four letter word solution. Rafe.”

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NEXT CHAPTER: South Beach 49