(no subject)
Chapter Nine
“Maxie get off of Spinelli,” Lulu whispered, grabbing Maxie’s hand that was holding the bottom of Spinelli’s shirt.
She tightened her grip on his shirt. “Get off of me, Lulu,” she whispered. Who was Lulu to tell her that she couldn’t be close to Spinelli?
“He’s trying to walk. He doesn’t need trash like you weighing him down,” Lulu snapped.
“You’re one to talk.”
“Both of you need to be quiet,” Spinelli said, turning to look at them.
Maxie could see the obvious frustration and worry in his eyes.
“But Spinelli…”
“Shut up Lulu,” he whispered harshly.
Maxie and Lulu both jumped at the anger in his voice, backing away from him. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by another voice. Maxie and Lulu grabbed Spinelli’s shirt again as he raised ax in front of him.
All three of them screamed out when Jason stepped around the corner. “Stone Cold, what are you doing here?” Spinelli asked, lowering the ax to his side.
“I don’t have time to discuss this now. Follow me,” he ordered, turning down a corridor.
Maxie trailed after Spinelli and Lulu as they followed Jason.
Maxie wondered why Jason would be taking them out into the storm, but was afraid to ask. She knew that Jason wasn’t a fan of hers and she secretly wondered what he would say if he found out that she and Spinelli were lovers. Actually she wondered what Lulu would say. Oh how she wished she could tell Lulu what she was missing out on. She chuckled softly as they ran out into the rain.
Jason stopped at the barn, knocked, and yelled out that it was him. Maxie watched as Elizabeth opened the large wooden door, letting them in. She ran inside, taking the blanket that Nadine offered her. Holding the blanket tight around her, she watched as Nadine ran into Spinelli’s arms. She turned away, feeling nauseous.
“Lulu, I’m not taking you back up there,” Jason said, walking back towards the door.
“I don’t care what you say Jason, I’m going to see my father, he needs me,” Lulu replied desperately.
He relented. “Fine.”
Maxie watched in horror as Spinelli began to follow Jason. What was he doing?
“You’re staying here Spinelli,” Jason informed him.
Maybe Jason wasn’t so bad after all.
“But Stone Cold, the Jackal can help…”
“I know you can, but I need you to stay here,” Jason explained, pulling his gun from his shoulder holster. “Take this,” he said, handing the gun to Spinelli.
Maxie could see Spinelli’s hand shake as he reached out to take the gun. Jason gave Spinelli a pat on his shoulder, before he and Lulu walked out of the barn.
Spinelli quickly locked the door and started to pace. Maxie knew he was upset about having to stay behind and she wanted to go to him, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t let Elizabeth or Nadine in on their secret. So she stood there and watched another woman tell him how wonderful he is. God, why couldn’t she be in Spinelli’s arms instead of Nadine?
“You do realize that it’s not safe to be involved with him, don’t you?” Elizabeth asked, startling Maxie.
“I didn’t know Johnny’s dad was crazy,” Maxie snapped, trying to give Elizabeth her best poker face.
“I’m not talking about Johnny, I’m talking about Spinelli,” she whispered.
Maxie’s breath caught in her throat. How did she know?
“You’re not that obvious if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Elizabeth,” she snapped, turning away from her.
Elizabeth gave her a knowing look. “Listen, I’m not over what you did to my marriage with Lucky…”
“That again,” Maxie interrupted, rolling her eyes.
“But I can give you some advice. You can tell yourself that over and over again that his world will not touch you, but you know deep down that it will, eventually.”
Maxie gave Elizabeth a curious look. “Are we talking about me or you?”
“You of course,” she answered quickly.
Maxie knew it was a lie, but someone knocked on the door before she could confront her about it.
She held her breath as Spinelli walked over to the door with the gun. He asked who it was but he did not receive an answer. She pulled the blanket tighter around her as he cocked the gun and opened the door.
“Oh,” she gasped as the man fell on top of Spinelli.
Elizabeth and Nadine rushed to Spinelli’s side as he brought the man into the barn, closing the door behind him.
“Who are you working for? Answer me,” he screamed, holding the gun in the man’s face.
Maxie was in shock. She had never seen him so angry. She jumped when he screamed at the man again.
“He’s dead Spinelli,” Elizabeth said as she gave Maxie a knowing look over his shoulder.
I’m going to slap her if she looks at me like that one more time. Spinelli is not like Jason, he’s not. She’s not in danger.
“We need to move the body into the other room. Nadine, would you help me?”
“Sure Elizabeth.”
“The Maternal One and the Noble Nurse does not need to…”
“We’ve had plenty practice with this Spinelli. You should stay out here with Maxie,” Elizabeth informed him as she took the man’s arms out of Spinelli’s hands.
Spinelli looked after them as they walked into the other room, closing the door behind them.
Maxie approached him, placing a small hand on his wet shoulder. “As much as I hate to say this, they were right earlier. Jason trusted you enough to stay out here and protect us.”
“I couldn’t even get ithe nformation we needed out of the intruder,” he mumbled.
“That’s because he was dead you idiot.”
Maxie wrapped her arms around his waist when he bowed his head. She told him she was sorry and pressed a small kiss to his back, feeling the muscles tense through his wet shirt. “Jason trusted you to protect Elizabeth. He wouldn’t trust just anybody to protect the woman he loves.”
Spinelli turned in her arms. “The Jackal highly doubts that there is anything going on…”
“There is, trust me. A woman can tell these things, but I’ll keep it to myself, for the time being,” she said, smiling up at him.
Maxie shivered when his cold hands moved to her face. Their eyes locked as he pulled her in for a tender kiss. It was the sweetest yet sexiest kiss she had ever received. Her hands moved to his face, gently caressing his jaw. She wanted to be in his arms forever, but she knew she couldn’t. They couldn’t risk being caught.
She reluctantly pulled back from the kiss when she heard Elizabeth’s voice. His hands dropped from her face as he moved away from her, just as the two nurses entered the room.
“Did we miss anything?” Nadine asked as they walked into the room.
Maxie rolled her eyes.
“No,” Spinelli replied, giving the blonde nurse a smile.
“Hopefully this will all be over soon,” Elizabeth stated.
Maxie watched as Spinelli frowned and walked over the door with the gun out.
“What is it Spinelli?” Elizabeth asked, following closely behind him.
“The Maternal One needs to stand back,” he replied, ushering her back over toward Maxie.
“Spinelli, it’s me, let us in.” They all sighed with relief as Spinelli opened the door for Jason.
“Stone Cold, thank goodness you’ve returned.”
“Mac is around front to take you all back to the main land. Georgie is with him,” he informed them, stepping past Spinelli.
Thank God. Maxie picked the blanket up off the floor, which had fallen during she and Spinelli’s kiss, and ran towards the door. She felt a hand on the small of her back as she walked out the door. She caught a whiff of his cologne and smiled as they continued outside.
Maxie felt him give her waist a light squeeze when they saw Mac and Georgie as they approached the launch.
“Georgie,” she called as she raced towards her little sister.
“Maxie, thank God you’re alright, I’ve been so worried about you,” Georgie replied as they embraced one another.
“My girls are all safe,” Mac stated as Robin ran towards them. Maxie cried as they all embraced one another. She knew she would have to thank Spinelli later for making this possible for her. She looked over Mac’s shoulder and caught her knight’s eyes. She smiled her thanks before she turned back to her family.
TBC
I'm entirely happy with the way this chapter turned out, but I hope y'all enjoyed it. The next chapter is Thanksgiving, which I hope to have up this weekend.