119 Business
He was going to screw his new Armani suit up if he didn't get out of the rain soon. Though the thought would not have rendered anyone cheerful, it made Jay grin. His lips twisted into something that was mirth mingled with boyish delight. An expression which none but Jay himself could have understood. He was a queer sight; the lone figure moving through heavy downpour on the streets of San Antonio.
The rain fell heavily on his hair and shoulders because he had been too stupid and preoccupied to remember to bring an umbrella. He didn't want to get the expensive suit wet, but at the same time Jay didn't really care, either.
Because it wasn't his anyway.
Jay opened his mouth and laughed, whooping into the night, his giddy cry drowned by the heavy downpour. He swallowed, gagged on raindrops and spat it out onto the wet pavement before delicately straightening, aware that the suit he had lifted two days ago was now soaked.
He remembered it perfectly, and when he'd stumbled upon the suit, it seemed like a gift; a good sign.
Jay had broken into a car (if you can call opening and getting into someone's car which was already unlocked that) and was taking the CD player out when he glanced in the rearview mirror and caught sight of the dark gray suit, wrapped crisp and perfect right from the dry cleaners hanging in the back. Jay usually did not take clothes, but the gold lettering of A-R-M-A-N-I caught his eye and he couldn't resist.
And besides, dark gray suits always made Jay look irresistible.
Larger was the luck when he later found that the suit fit perfectly. So you could understand why he would smile at the stupid time like this.
"How dare you!" hecried impudently, just because he wanted to. He pulled on a crisp educated accent. "Ruining my 2,000 dollar suit, you bastard! My Armani kicks your JC Penny shit to the curb!"
Water streamed in rivulets through his blonde hair, causing it to mat over his eyes and making it hard to see but Jay didn't mind. No one was around, so he broadened his shoulders and started walking the walk, pretending to play the good looking devil in a commercial. You know the one, where every woman who passed by just had to stop and stare.
He tried hard not to remember that it was a JC Penny commercial.
"Ahoy, fuckers." He said to no one in particular, pushing through the rain quite happily for someone in such a dreary situation. "Welcome to Hell!"
Some would wonder why he was walking so far in the rain, but Jay didn't bother to. He didn't need to. He knew perfectly well why he had parked so far—five blocks away to be exact. And five blocks of rain would he endure. During business transactions you stayed as impersonal and unknown as possible. It wouldn't help if the guy you did business with turned out to be a turncoat and ratted out to the cops on you.
Getting arrested by a pig while he donned the Armani would be bitching, but Jay would rather stay out of jail. He was too pretty to be locked away.
Pushing his streaming hair out of his eyes, he trekked across the street catching sight of the grand Regency Hyatt hotel where he had oh so cleverly parked his car.
The impressive hotel gleamed and shone invitingly through the downpour.
Jay glanced over his shoulders trying to catch sight of anyone who might be following him but luck was on his side (because of the Armani, he acknowledged) and because of the heavy rain, not a soul (besides his own foolish one) moved through the streets. Cars drove past, drivers too busy, too focused on getting through the rain to spare him a second glance.
Jay whistled, making his way towards the lighted, splendid hotel. He'd park five blocks away to ensure discretion, a trying habit but well worth the effort. He wasn't worried. Just another day of business in the life of Jay Wright; your charming business man of stolen goods, rocking it out in a bad ass suit.
He had run for the sidewalks right beside the hotel, where he would be protected and shaded if not but a little from the rain when he spotted her. Well, any one would have spotted her. She sat by herself on the edge of the sidewalk, in his way, hunched over, face buried in her hands. He was itching to pull off the arrogant bastard role on her, when he noticed her slender shoulders shaking.
In grief.
Oh dear.
Must hurry along. Rich, arrogant, Armani kicking asshole next time then.
Jay had intended to hurriedly blow right past, lest the girl suddenly reach out and grab him, begging for help. But he just couldn't help but notice the drop diamond earrings, flashing every time the girl hiccupped. Nor could he tear his eyes away from the black leather hang bag, sitting beside the girl bearing the legend; D&G.
Now.
The last time his brilliant brain was updated, D&G stood for Dolce and Gabbana. And unless he had shit-for-brains, then the brand meant nothing to him.
Unfortunately, Jay was no uneducated fool and he could spot a spoiled little fucker from a mile away.
Poor baby.
This was just not her night, was it?
Jay pulled his concerned, charming face on before approaching.
"Hon? Are you all right?"
Anxiousness meant you cared.
Too much anxiousness meant you were a two-faced uncaring butt plug.
So Jay was never too anxious.
The girl lifted her head, slightly startled, wondering why she was being disturbed from her grief. Jay could read it all on her face. Her lovely face, that is, because this girl was truly lovely to look at and it made it all the better for him. At least she'd be good looking enough for him to hold and entice her while she cried her sorrows and while he robbed her stupid. Jay always found his efforts wasted when the female was none too desirable to look upon.
Some call him shallow, but Jay preferred it if they called him an honest, lovable, good-for-nothing fiend.
Jay squatted, face a mask of concern. He ran his hand through his hair to pull it back from his face just to show her how sincere he was. More than a few times in his life had he been told that his looks were just too innocent.
Jay never forgot this and used it to his advantage whenever needed.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing." The girl turned away, not ready to be bought yet.
"Can I get you something?" he urged, still playing his role. "Would you like to borrow my cell phone? Do you want to call somebody?"
"No, th-thank you. I'm fine, I promise." Her large blue eyes were filmy with tears, tears which spilled over and clung to her wet lashes. Lovely.
"You don't look fine, and I'd hate to leave a woman by herself when she's like this. Won't you please call somebody? Would you like me to give you a ride somewhere?"
"It's not th-that." The girl pulled in a deep shuddering breath, turning to Jay, trying to pull up a brave smile. "That's so nice of you, b-but I'm fine."
Jay gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'd feel a lot better if you called somebody. It's dangerous to be out here by yourself."
She sniffled, more tears slipping free.
Jay paused for timing before saying again in a soft, I-really-want-to-know-because-I-do-care voice, "What's wrong?"
The girl pressed her lips together, to hold back the sob, Jay knew. "It—it's just…" she swallowed. Jay took the okay and sat beside her, but not close enough to make her uncomfortable, all the while gazing at her rapturously. Oh yeah, sure, he wanted to know.
"It's my brother," she wiped her eyes before hiccupping. "We-we've always had trouble, but this time, finally we decided to take this trip together down here to San Antonio to just be together and….and to try and be a family again—" at this point she was unable to hold back the sob and Jay reached out and patted her—not on the back, it was too fast and too personal—but on the arm.
"—but—but he tricked me. When we got here, his s-stupid girlfriend was here waiting for us. He didn't even want to spend the time together. I thought he did. He just needed a ride to get down here where she was on business, a-and its been so a-awful—"
"Oh jeez, that's terrible."
"But that's not all. I paid for everything when we got here, because I wanted to do him a favor. I wanted to be friends again—to be family. A-and do you know what he did? Do you?" she dropped her face and cried for a few seconds.
Jay kept the concerned face straight.
Jesus, this girl was a basket case, sitting in the dark by herself crying her eyes out over her worthless brother, feeling sorry for herself. Just tell the damn guy to go fuck himself and be done with it. Women made everything so complicated.
Now she had to come out here and cry about it.
Fuck.
"He kicked me out! Out of the room I paid for! Just so he a-and that stupid b-bimbo could screw their brains o-out. He kicked me out. His own sister." The pretty girl turned to stare imploringly up at Jay. "His own sister! He chose that skank over me! His own family! And he kicked me out into the streets! I've been o-out here since eleven!"
Now the girl burst into a full fledged sob, shoulders violently shaking, unable to take her brother's betrayal any more.
With the amount of rain and considering how hard the girl was crying, Jay was afraid she might drown herself.
The girl had totally lost it now.
"You poor thing," he murmured, cleverly sounding compassionate and heart broken. He reached tentatively out first before pulling her into his arms. She more or less threw herself at him. Jay gave her a small hug, letting her soak her tears into his already soaked shoulder.
He wondered if he should tell her it was Armani, but decided against it. She would probably become even more devastated once she found out she was ruining a very expensive suit. And Jay was too compassionate to allow her to feel any worse.
"I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair, which smelled delightful, despite the rain. "But it'll be over soon. It's okay, sweetie."
"I h-hate him." She half sobbed half screamed into his shoulder.
Jay was professional enough not to wince.
"Shh," Jay patted her back reassuringly. "It's okay, hon. you can cry. Cry as much as you want, I'm right here."
Cry your fucking heart out, doll.
People who cried their fucking heart out were never aware of being robbed.
Because.
They were too busy crying their fucking hearts out.
Yeah…
He rocked her soothingly in the rain. To a stranger surveying them from a distance, they looked like lovers, enjoying romance in the rain. Wonderful. Jay continue rocking her, after a few seconds he began rubbing her back, trying to help her to control her tears, but the girl was much too distressed. And as she was pleasantly preoccupied, he slid his other unoccupied hand into her purse.
Jay tightened his hold on her so she wouldn't notice and began rocking a little harder so she wouldn't feel anything. He hoped he wasn't rocking hard enough to borderline psycho. His fingers nimbly unzipped the bag, hands plunging.
"He's worthless," he murmured for her ears only. "If he's willing to leave you, someone who will always be there for him, for some stupid bitch passing through, he just isn't worth it." His voice was husky, and even if it didn't soothe her, he imagined it might turn her on. He had to admit, he did have a rather sexy voice when he dropped it a few octaves.
His fingers raked across something hard and plastic inside the bag.
And just like that, Jay jacked it, sliding it from his right hand to his left, wrapping his right arm around her again. Just before he slipped the object into his pocket, Jay gave her a hard squeeze.
They broke apart.
Done.
"Thanks," the girl sniffled, brushing back her auburn hair from her wet face. She didn't look any better than before, but Jay had the feeling she was starting to feel funny every time he gave her the violent squeeze.
"No problem."
She inhaled shakily, but the tears stopped. "I can't believe I'm crying out here to a complete stranger. I'm not usually a crybaby." She looked like she wanted Jay to believe her.
Jay smiled.
Sure, he believed her.
"I'm Jay-Jay." He introduced, deciding to be fun with his name.
The girl smiled back at him. "Thanks for everything, JJ. I'm Marissa." She hiccupped, smile trembling before she looked away. Her eyes were blue, but not like his, all bright, light and joyful. Hers were deep, more mysterious and profound. He figured he could like them.
Marissa began pushing herself up and Jay quickly moved to help her, ever the gentleman. She smiled gratefully his way, clumsily picking up her purse. But he had gotten what he wanted, and the only thing he wanted to do now was to get as far away as possible.
And besides, he was hungry. His stomach growled loudly, and Jay could hear it even through the rain.
"Where will you go now?" he asked.
Marissa sighed, pushing away sopping hair. "I don't know. I'm just gonna get in my car and drive."
"Let me walk you." He offered, smiling enchantingly, sweetly.
She smiled back at him, as he knew she would.
"Okay, thanks."
They moved through the rain, Jay wishing she would walk faster and be done with it. But no, she wanted to take her sweet steps as she recollected herself on the way. He asked her where she was from. She said Austin. He said wonderful, Austin was a fun city. She told him so was San Antonio, and he told her she was absolutely right.
And now as she climbed into her rich ass BMW, Jay dearly wanted to slam the car door after her, but knew he couldn't possibly, so he closed it gently, flashing her a generous, caring smile. Jesus, he was smiling a lot tonight.
"Thanks for everything, JJ. One day someone will repay you for your kindness." Marissa said sniffly.
"Knowing that you'll be okay is enough repayment for me." Jay said modestly. (Heroically, in his opinion).
The pretty spoiled girl looked as if she was going to cry again.
Jay backed away quickly. "Take care now."
"We need more people in the world like you." Marissa sniffed. "Bye, JJ. Thanks."
No we don't, Jay thought. "Bye, bye love."
He turned and walked away in the direction of his car. But he could feel her eyes on him as she slowly pulled away. Shit! Jay looked around for a car compatible with his Armani. He spotted one and moved languidly towards a yellow, gleaming Corvette. As he reached it, he turned and waved. The girl waved back before peeling out.
Jay smirked.
He walked away from the 'Vette as Marissa's silver car disappeared around the corner and headed for his car. Sure the Corvette was a nice car, but Jay had seen better. Oh god, loads better. His car slowly came into view. It sat parked fifteen feet away, his glorious, trusted '98 Shit Wagon. The shit wagon was strictly business.
"Hey baby," he purred, patting her rusted frame before he got in. "Did you miss your man? Well don't worry, I got something for us tonight."
H pulled the door shut and once he was out of the rain he reached into his blazer to find out what exactly he had taken from the girl. He figured it was a cell phone. Girls like that always carried cell phones to talk their mouths off and bitch and gossip.
It was oddly shaped. It looked like a cell phone at first, but then he thought it might be some hand held computer. Jay reached up to snap on the overhead light. It was weak and yellow, but did its job so he didn't care.
"TeenMobile Sidekick Series III." He read aloud from the side.
Well what do you know, the brat was up to date with her gadgets. Goodo. He could get at least fifty bucks for it. Buy that memory card he needed for his own cell phone. Jay grinned, tossing it into the passenger seat before turning his car on.
He patted the dashboard of his shit wagon lovingly as her engine turned over and purred. She was in great condition.
Jay took care of his girls.
Another victim, another item, another paycheck.
Jay started whistling again. Life was good to him.
And yeah, so some girl would be out there heart broken after she realized what had happened, but hey.
It was just business.
A/N: Updates might be a teensy weensy bit slow because I'm a fag like that. But I'll try hard to update when I can. Juggling multiple stories at once is not a talent I posses, unfortunately.
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