Authors: Linda Opdyke
Within a split-second, the audience gasped and Jack's attention spun back to them. The bikers had stopped in their tracks three rows from the stage when a mountain of a man, dressed exactly like they, rose to his feet from an aisle seat to face them.
Robert.
Jack wavered between knee-buckling relief at Robert's intervention and laughing at the sight of the usually no-nonsense, stoic, by-the-rules angel decked out in full biker garb, including a leather cap with a small link chain draped above the visor.
The biker who'd pointed his finger at Jack stared at Robert. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.
A hush filled the auditorium and Robert's deep voice boomed through the room. "They call me Big Bob."
Jack clamped down on a grin. This was no time to find humor in anything.
The biker stepped closer to Robert and his voice dripped menace. "Move."
Robert returned an icy, unblinking stare and it didn't waver when he jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward Jack. "You want him? That path is through me."
The biker shrugged, then laughed. "Whatever you say."
Robert disappeared beneath the pile of bikers who charged and leaped on him.
Jack's jaw dropped.
Screams filled the audience and families hustled their children toward the exit, children who tried to pull back and watch the excitement.
Jack knew the right thing to do was to help Robert and he brushed Kelly Jo's restraining hand from his arm and took a step forward. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he'd severely regret it, but he would jump into the fray to help Robert.
He heard "Jack!" twice before he realized the harsh whisper called him. He turned to find Robert standing at the rear of the stage gesturing to him.
Jack looked in shock from Robert to the still brawling group, then grabbed Kelly Jo's hand and hurried to Robert.
"Drop the jacket," Robert ordered, "and get out of here quick."
"But...but...but how did you..." Jack sputtered.
Robert's smile was amused and he cocked his head toward the still-fighting group of bikers. "They haven't yet noticed I'm gone." He sighed. "Such is their love of the fight." His amusement turned to sadness when he added, "Unfortunately, a love that is the ultimate undoing of some of them."
Kelly Jo looked puzzled as her gaze studied Robert, and her question floored Jack. "Who are you?" She turned to Jack for explanation.
Robert's gaze met and locked with Jack's. In Robert's, Jack saw that Kelly Jo's transformation and memory loss was complete.
"A friend," Robert told her softly. He nodded to Jack. "Get to the address I gave you before, without delay. It's started."
Robert's hand raised and Jack swallowed hard. Robert held the sneakers that Jack had lost in the cold water of Covey's Creek. Bone dry and showing no signs of their dunking.
Robert's low voice cut through Jack's reverie. "Go!"
Jack pulled the black leather jacket off, tossed it and the boots he tore from his feet to the floor, grabbed Kelly Jo's hand and jerked her toward the back door and into the deepening dark of night. He ran back to grab his sneakers from Robert's hand. No socks.
Robert's somber dark eyes met his but neither man said a word.
Jack barely gave a thought to the people swarming outside, their chatter still excited as police cars pulled to the front of the building. His hand tightly around Kelly Jo's, they began running in the opposite direction, staying well in the shadows away from the moonlight until they'd put several blocks between themselves and the high school.
Finally, feeling safe and hidden from the glow of streetlights, Jack stopped and leaned back against a thick, heavily branched tree, dragging deep breaths against his pounding heart while he put his sneakers back on.
Kelly Jo's breathing was as short and labored as Jack's and she also leaned against the tree, watching while Jack put on his sneakers but she made no comment that her own feet remained bare. It wasn't until each of their breathing returned to normal that Jack realized he had no idea how to find Rosetta Street.
Kelly Jo put a soft hand on Jack's face and on her second attempt to smile succeeded. "Come on, Jack, I want to get to my apartment as quick as possible."
Jack held Kelly Jo's gaze. Why did she remember him and nothing else? He cleared his throat but was almost afraid to ask, "Rosetta Street?"
Kelly Jo's laughter was lyrical and her lips brushed his when she giggled, "Like I have another one? You act like you've never been there before."
Chapter Twenty Nine
Jack held Kelly Jo's hand as they hurried through the streets, gently nudging her forward in such a manner that she had no idea she actually guided him to their destination. The quiet footfalls of his sneakers and her bare feet along the dark sidewalks and the steady noises of cars blaring their horns in traffic were the foremost night echoes until they left the main drag and rounded a corner onto Rosetta Street. No bikers pursuing, no police hot on their heels. A few people walked the narrow street, but nothing more than a politely murmured, "hey, how you doing?'" passed between Jack and those that walked by him and Kelly Jo. He didn't bother to turn his head and look back to see if they were staring at Kelly Jo in her sexy, well-fitting Grease outfit. That fact was a given, one acknowledged by cheeks that had blushed throughout their escape flight and her self-conscious but fruitless tugs to pull the top just a little bit higher on her shoulders. He was surprised to find that two-way traffic on Rosetta Street was as heavy as that on the main road.
Jack eyed 17 Rosetta as they approached it, turning through a black wrought iron gate and onto the path of aged bricks that formed a walkway through a lawn dotted with flowerbeds and evergreens. The house was set back about twenty yards from the sidewalk and similar in style to its well spaced neighbors. 17 was an aging, ivy covered, three story red brick building with a cast iron weathervane on a gray slate roof. Concrete steps led upward to the long wrought iron enclosed front porch of what was obviously a private home converted to apartments. Faded white wicker chairs and potted plants in dark green containers added a cozy touch to the building's
I’m old and weary
look. A dim beacon of yellow porch light greeted their arrival. Four numbered bronze buzzers, one for each apartment he guessed, were lined in a vertical row beside the white door jamb.
"You
do
have a key hidden out here?" Jack asked hopefully as they reached the top step. "Or is someone already inside?" he added, having no idea if she lived alone, with parents or with someone else. Wow. This could prove fairly awkward if someone demanded an explanation on who he was, her outfit or even just why she was barefoot. He hoped that 'we entered the talent contest' would appease any questions he wasn't able to breeze over.
She reached for the round black metal doorknob but threw him a puzzled side glance. "Are you trying to be funny?"
He gave her an 'of course' grin but groaned inwardly. He was now totally on his own. Not only did she not remember what she'd put them both through to get here, he had no idea who she thought he was, what or who he represented to her. The fact that she still not only knew him but seemed very relaxed with him should have scared him at least a little. Truth be told, it scared the hell out of him. He was now winging it, literally winging it for his life.
Kelly Jo pushed the door open and they stepped into a long narrow hallway lit only by the faint glow from heavily shaded wall lamps.
When she'd closed the door again Jack noted there were two dark, heavy doors in the white walled open foyer. The first, on their right, stood opposite a flight of stairs to their left, stairs that he figured led to the two upper apartments. The other door faced them at the far end of the hallway and he guessed it led to the basement apartment. Each door bore a transparent nameplate that held a white paper with, he assumed, the tenant's name. From the door closest to them Jack read 'Whitman'.
Kelly Jo sighed, glanced at the Whitman door and offered Jack a gloomy look before she headed for the staircase, stopping with her hand on the thick banister before starting up the stairs. "It's quiet tonight. We can only hope that he's either sober or asleep and that it stays that way."
Jack nodded, what else could he do but pretend he understood perfectly?
Kelly Jo stopped and raised an eyebrow to Jack.
Surprised, he asked, "What?"
"Don't you want to stop downstairs first?"
Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow, but his heart pounded that he stayed able to play along like he knew everything that she did. "For...?"
"To see if the bogey man stopped by again, of course," she answered matter-of-factly. At his startled look, she laughed. "To grab some socks, silly, what do you think? You always complain when your sneakers rub the back of your heel."
"Oh. No, I'm fine," he answered, wondering if he needed to contact Robert and ask if there was a reason he'd better go downstairs. Only, he had no idea what had happened to Robert after they raced from the high school leaving the brawl to Robert and the bikers. His money was on Robert, no question about it. But Robert had made it very clear what would happen if Jack chose to help Kelly Jo. Did that mean Robert would tell Jack exactly what he could do with any appeal for help before he carted him off once and for all? Robert was the one who told Jack to get to this address, so he definitely knew where the two of them were headed and it was only a matter of time before Jack's time crunch ended, very possibly ended unpleasantly.
"Well, goody for you," Kelly Jo tossed over her shoulder as she climbed the first section of stairs, stepped onto the short landing and turned a sharp right to finish the trek to the second floor. "But I can't wait to get out of these...clothes."
"Sounds good to me," he answered but returned her withering look with an innocent one. Suppressing a grin, Jack followed her. Because the landing and the upper floor held the same heavily shaded wall lamps as the first floor, slivers of moonlight overpowered the artificial lighting and danced along the stairwell, casting an almost eerie atmosphere.
Kelly Jo topped the stairs and headed right, to one of two doors identical to those downstairs. Jack's fast look around gave him the impression that the name plated door at the hallway's far left end was probably for the third floor apartment.
Kelly Jo turned to look at him and saw him studying the other door. "The attic apartment hasn't been rented yet, if you're still considering moving from your place up to where you actually have a view of something besides the cellar windows of old man Shelton's house.
"I...uh...maybe. We'll see," Jack answered lamely. His gaze went to the name plate on her door and he read
Bradford
neatly written on the white paper inside it. Kelly Jo was now more than just the self-serving con artist angel that had done nothing but steer him toward and into trouble. Now she had an actual name.
Like a real human being.
Sky blue eyes evaluated him. "Are you okay, Jack?" She giggled. "You're not still annoyed that
I
won and you didn't, are you?"
"No," he said sourly, and his answer sounded petty even to him. But before he could graciously add that she deserved the win, he saw, with dread, a puzzled look flit across her face. "Kelly Jo?" Now it was his turn to ask, "Are you okay?"
She raised her hand to her forehead and briefly closed her eyes. "I think so...yes," she ended with assurance. "I guess I'm just tired."
Jack moved close and laid his hand on her cheek. "You sure?" he asked quietly, but his heart was thudding at the realization that he'd be groping blindly if he was suddenly left on his own to try and straighten out this mess. A mess of
her
making, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to feel anger when he saw her very real vulnerability.
He reached for her door, but it was locked. "Where's the key?"
She looked at him blankly and his heart dropped at her, "I don't remember."
Then she shook her head as if to clear it and said, "Just run downstairs and grab the emergency key that I leave in your apartment."
A chill ran through him. What the hell was he supposed to do now? The only thing he could do is either somehow fake it or hope that the downstairs door was unlocked. He hoped it didn't mean he'd end up doing another breaking-and-entering stunt, this time breaking a basement window to get inside to find her 'emergency' key.
"I'll be right back," he told her, then smiled. "Relax, it's going to be okay," came out with much stronger conviction that he felt.
He started down the stairs and had just stepped onto the landing when she called, "Jack!" Something in her tone sent mild alarm through him.
He raised his head to look back and her confusion of before was nothing compared to the look she now wore. He hurried back upstairs, apprehension increasing with each step.
"What's wrong?"
She was looking down at her clothes, fingering the tight pants and barely-there off-the-shoulder top. When she looked up she seemed completely surprised. "Why...why am I dressed like this? Where are my shoes?"