Chapter 7: Heart of Ice

“Another sharp shooter, huh? Better than you?” Maya asked. She’d finished discarding his ruined clothes and started to gently clean his two wounds.

“Hardly. I wouldn’t have gotten sloppy if my shot didn’t make its target,” Jamison scoffed, and then winced while she dabbed at the wound on his shoulder.

She worked in silence after that for several minutes. Once Maya seemed happy with the amount of blood she managed to clean off from the two areas, she began to work on getting them bandaged. A task that was a little more painful than his clothing removal and her cleaning since he had to lift his arms in order for her to wrap his torso.

His body still ached terribly, but he did have to admit that being bandaged and cleaned up helped a little bit. Jamison knew he was going to be in a decent amount of pain in the coming days. He couldn’t let it slow him down too much though. As the Don’s second, it was his job to ensure that the life of his boss was protected at all costs. Which meant he would have to go back to it as soon as he was strong enough to stand on his own.

“So, I assume she forced you two into a hostage situation if she got into the car,” Maya spoke up again while she worked on wrapping up his arm. “How’d you manage to escape it?”

“Our new Don is more clever than he lets on. He may be a novice to business dealings and making connections, but he’s quick to think in a crisis,” Jamison replied, and paused to take in a sharp breath at a jolt of pain. “He had a knife on him. I don’t even know if he knows how to use a gun, but he was carrying a hidden knife.”

“My, my, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you sound impressed, Mr. Bright,” Maya chortled.

He paused again, but this time to consider her words. “He has impressed me,” he finally admitted. “Both in his determination and cleverness.”

“He must be something then,” she snickered. “But that doesn’t tell me how you got to that knife if she had a gun on you.”

“Does it matter?” Jamison questioned with a sigh. He raised his gaze to hers and frowned at the smile that greeted him.

“Well, that response tells me it wasn’t a conventional method. So how’d he do it? Sweet talk her?” Maya pressed. Now, she sounded more curious than as if she was just making conversation.

Jamison stared at her for a long pause before he shook his head and turned away from her. The scene rolled around in his mind at the mention of obtaining the hidden knife. He recalled the gentle touch of Kade’s lips to his own. The touch had been smooth and effortless as though it wasn’t the first time he’d kissed him. Perhaps that was because of the confidence Kade had performed it with. There hadn’t been a moment of hesitation in his touch.

“Ah!” Jamison hissed and turned an icy glare towards Maya.

She held his wounded arm with both hands and pressed with just enough pressure that it sent a jolt of pain through him. “You forget I’m tending to your wounds right now. I’ll have my answer one way or another,” she cooed with a smile.

“You are a cruel, vile woman,” Jamison said through his teeth.

“I wouldn’t be good at my job if I wasn’t,” Maya said with a shrug. “So, are you going to tell me how the knife was retrieved?”

“Kade had the idea to distract her while I slipped the knife from his pocket. So, he feigned making a goodbye scene when she was ready to take him,” Jamison spoke slowly through clenched teeth. His gaze shifted away from her again before he added, “and he kissed me as an excuse for the goodbye.”

Maya released his arm to his explanation and filled the room with her laughter. Jamison sat quietly in the chair and kept his eyes turned away from her. His jaw clenched the longer she carried on. He knew why she was laughing and why it seemed so absurd to her. It was because of his reputation. The reputation that Kade either didn’t know about or wasn’t intimidated by. Jamison Bright was known across the organization as a cold hearted killer.

From the moment he had been adopted into their ranks, word traveled fast at how he hardly ever flinched when it came to pulling the trigger. There wasn’t anyone he wouldn’t put a bullet in if he was given the word to do so. The killing never seemed to bother Jamison both when it was happening and afterwards. He’d been deemed by many to have a heart made of pure ice and rumored to care for no one, only his duty.

There wasn’t a soul that knew of his reputation that would have so boldly and confidently touched him like that without an invite. Yet, Kade managed to do it so easily and without a warning. Jamison went along with it because he understood its purpose. Because he had sworn to protect the Don at all costs.

“He really is something!” Maya laughed. “Our Don either must truly not know much about our world or he is fearless of any of the consequences.”

“If we’re done here…” Jamison muttered and pushed himself up from the chair with a little bit of difficulty.

Her words had him thinking back to the meeting and how Angelo had tried to take advantage of Kade. The thought made him clench his jaw even tighter in distaste. Kade had said he wanted to gauge how far Angelo would go. An indication that he suspected something of him at the start of their meeting. Kade was clever and unconventional in ways he had never seen another operate. But he wondered if that would end up getting his boss into more trouble than he could handle in the long run.

Moving across the room towards the door took a little bit of effort. A couple of times, he had to pause while an ache washed through his body. At least he was back on his feet again. It meant that after he went for a change of clothes in his own room, he could report to Kade just as he had been instructed to do. The conversation with Maya and the day’s events could be put to rest then while they sorted through their next move.

“Just one more question, Jamison,” Maya called from where she was still standing.

He stopped at the door and turned to look at her. “What is it?”

“Did you enjoy it?” she asked with a curious tilt of her head. “When he kissed you, I mean. Did you enjoy it?”

Jamison froze at the question, his gaze locked on her, although his face remained expressionless. The answer to that question should have been simple. A solid no was what he wanted to tell her, but he couldn’t make the word form on his lips. He went along with it at the time because he understood Kade’s reasoning behind it and his duty to protect his life. However, there had been no backlash afterwards. He hadn’t even bothered to warn Kade not to do that again. Was it because Kade was his Don or because he couldn’t stop thinking about the warmth of his lips?

He finally tore his eyes away from her and placed a hand on the door handle. “If I answered that, I wouldn’t be as cold as my reputation precedes me to be,” he said instead and without looking back at her, he left the room.