Beautiful Disaster [[Writer & AshlinnRose]]

[[This post was written collaboratively with the real-time writing tool, piratepad.net]]
Jai lay there, her brows knitted just slightly together as she turned onto her back, instantly hating the lack of warmth against her body, and watched Ash take her exit. All thoughts of the dream-turned-nightmarish memory had escaped her conscious mind from that point, instead shifting to wonder what the ever-loving-hell was going on...

---

The other end of the phoneline was quiet for a moment, not even laced with the sound of breathing, before Pratt's low voice came over the speaker, sounding calm and official. "Actually, yeah, somethin' did happen." He stated. "The Eagles had a pretty big meeting last night, with the Father..." He paused a moment, letting the words sink in and allowing her to respond if she so chose.

"The Father? Since when did he start getting directly involved in these things?" Ash asked in surprise, her shock very clear in her voice. Over the past month, she had picked up much of what went on in the workings of the gang, so she was not really confused by the presence of the leader. "What was decided, then?" she finally asked, more curious about that than anything else.

"Since Jai's on a one-way fast track to needing to be put into a insane-assylum." Pratt said flatly, bluntly.

"Wait wait wait. Jai is just fine and you all know it. She is not fucking crazy and she never has been." Ash cut him off.

"She's paranoid Ash! The fuckin' girl is freaking out the drop of a damn pin!"

"But that doesn't mean that she belongs in an asylum! She is ju--"

"No but she needs help. You can't deny it. She can't take care of herself right now and neither can---"

"She doesn't need to take care of herself! She has me to help her out with that I don't---"

"You aren't her care-taker! You're her gir--"

"No, but I am her lover. Which means that I am here for her to help her through all of this! I don't understand--"

"Ash! She's freaking out about a fuckin' ghost! No one has seen head nor tail--"

"He isn't a damn ghost. Don't you fucking tell me that because I saw him too. I fucking---"

"Once. You saw him once."

"I served him at the bar. He was a real person I swear to god. Don't you dare try---"

"And when is the last time you saw him? When did he come back?"

"Does it matter? You're trying to tell me that my girlfriend is crazy and I will not sit by and let you do it!"

"I'm trying to tell you that she needs help! "

"And sending her off is going to help with that? What happens if something happens while she is gone?! When none of us are around!"

"We aren't sending her to a hospital. We're sending her across the city to that beach resort. One week. Think about it. Time to get away, time to relax. It's a secret decision and there's no way in hell that anyone could track her that way."

"Bullshit. You don't fucking know who all could be after who and you don't know who is listening in.You seem to trust absolutely everyone that is a part of your "secret" decisions, when really anyone could be double crossing you! It is utter----"

"Well we have to think better of that! We're a family Ash! And Jai is part of this family and she needs help!"

"So then send me with her! Make sure that there is something there that actually can help her if she needs protection and that can also distract her from her troubles. You are automatically---"

"Right. Like you've been distracting her the last month? Like you've been taking h--"

"Has she gone catatonic yet? Has she tried to kill herself? No. I have kept her alive and been her protection----"

"She flipped out at the bar again last night! "

"Because there isn't enough there to make her feel safe! Why the hell are you sending her without me?!"

"Because this is something she needs to do! You can't do it for her! She needs to be strong and she needs to know how to do that--"

"And if something happens to her while she is gone? What is going to happen then? She will be halfway across the damn city and none of us will know about it!"

"Nothing is going to happen to her. What the hell could possibly happen? We're sending her out--"

"You know that this is probably what he wants, right? He wants for us to let our damn guards down so that she is alone. You are playing right into his trap."

"Ash. We're sending her outside of all gang-populated areas. It's a luxury resort. It's in the rich district. There's no--"

"And how is she getting there, Pratt? Hmmmm? There is going to be a time----"

"We're sending her in a private escort car. "

"She takes her phone with her and checks in with me at least daily. That is my non-negotiable rule for this."

"Fine. But this is non-negotiable period. We're sending a car at noon. Make sure she's packed for a week. "

"Fine," was all she said before she hung up the phone and tossed it on the couch, letting out an exasperated sigh as she ran her hands over her face and through her hair.

---

Jai slid out of the bedroom quietly just after Ash had discarded her cell-phone, having gotten herself changed out of her sleep wear and into a pair of comfortable, blue-plaid short-shorts and a light brown tank top. Her gaze was soft, thoughtful, curious, even a bit concerned as she looked across the room to the couch that Ash was occupying, and she frowned just slightly as she started towards the woman. "Ash?" She asked softly, almost hesitantly. "What is it? What's wrong babe?"

Ash let out a quiet sigh and tried to put on a happier face as she looked up at Jai. "Come here, love..." she murmured softly, reaching out and pulling her girl into her arms. She hugged Jai tightly to her and buried her face in her neck, wishing that she didn't have to tell her what was happening. She wished more than anything that she could just steal Jai away and take her off someplace where the could both be safe together. However, she knew that as soon as she tried to do that the entire gang would try to come after her to get Jai back. She knew that he best bet was to just let her girl go and hope that things got better after that happened.

"Apparently there was this big meeting of the Eagles and the Father came to be a part of it and a decision was made... They are sending you to the nice resort across town for a week to help you try and get away from all of this stress..." she murmured softly, still holding Jai tightly to her. She lightly scattered kisses along her girl's neck, knowing that the action was more affectionate than anything else, especially since Jai's neck wasn't as much of a sensitive spot as it was on other girls.

"Unfortunately... They aren't allowing me to go with you..." she finally added in, knowing that that was the worst part of this entire deal. Things would have been almost perfect if they had been allowed to go on this "vacation" or sorts together, but now it would be the worst week of her life. Sure, she would be able to talk to Jai every day, but she would still be filled with worry that something might end up happening between those check in calls.

"I'm going to miss you so much..." she whispered as she held onto her girl, really not wanting to let her go even for a second, let alone an entire week.

Jai bit her lower lip softly as she moved closer to Ash, meeting her eyes. She slid her own arms around Ash's neck when the woman tugged her onto her lap, and Jai settled easily in the warmth and comfort of her closeness and embrace, pressing as close to her as possible. Something was aching in the back of her mind, something that screamed as loudly as possible that whatever it was Ash was going to say, was going to be extremely far from good, and Jai could only imagine the worst case scenarios as she waited for Ash to speak.

Wow... she thought to herself, listening intently, Father almost never makes his presence known... that must have been some meeting... but, wait... why wasn't I... Her heart dropped far below her stomach, hitting firmly against the bottom of her intestines, and every ounce of color and expression left her face, ocean blue irises sinking. She opened her mouth to speak, and at first, the words were only mouthed, her voice having been cut off by the constriction in her throat. Numbly, her arms tightened more around Ash's neck, and she tried to swallow past the mountain sized boulder that had formed in the opening of her esophagus.

"No..." She breathed, starting to shake her head slowly, firmly. "No no no. No! I'm not going. I'm not. They can't make me. You can't make me. I'm fine. I'm fine really I swear. I don't need to go on some forced get away and I'm not stressed. I'm fine. Really. I'm not going. I'm not and you can't make me go." It was clear that she was fast falling off the track of any sense of self-control, spinning off the rails in a roar of catastrophic calamity.

"Hey, hey hey... Shhhh... Calm down..." Ash murmured as she held onto Jai, not allowing the girl to get out of her embrace. She finally just pressed her lips to her love's and held her there until she stopped struggling. "I am not the one forcing you to go... I was arguing against it for that entire conversation..." she murmured softly as she held onto her girl, practically clinging to her actually. She really did not want to have to see her love go away, especially not for an entire week. She let out a soft sigh and pressed her lips lightly to the top of her girl's head, still holding her tightly.

"I want you to call me as soon as you get there and at least once every day... But they gave me no choice... I was told to have you ready by noon... If I had it my way, we would be packing up and running as far and fast as we could," she muttered softly when she finally pulled back some to look Jai in the eye. She gently took her girl's face in her hands, holding her there so that she could evenly meet her gaze. She leaned in and kissed her once more, trying to put on as brave of a face as she possibly could for the girl that she was so in love with.

"I will do everything I can to keep you safe there..." she whispered softly when she finally pulled back, resting her forehead against Jai's. She was absolutely terrified that something would happen while her girl was all the way across the city. There was absolutely no way that someone could be there in time to help her if trouble did arise and she was terrified that she would lose her girl. That was the main reason that she had wanted to go along with her, but of course, the big dogs had told her no and now she would be stuck in a week of not knowing what was really happening.

Tears burned in the backs of her eyes as she slid them closed, reluctantly allowing herself to relax in Ash's arms, her own lips pressing back against the woman's gently. This wasn't Ash. It couldn't possibly have been, and she knew that. She knew it within the very depths of her heart and soul. But what threw her for a loop, what truly sank down deep and began to unravel her, was the fact that it was the Eagles. The fact that the one group of people that she trusted almost more than Ash was suddenly pitting her in a corner. It didn't make sense... it didn't seem fair, or right, and the fact she'd been completely back-doored, blindsided...

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Jai slid her eyes open to meet Ash's, her gaze burning with unshed tears of anger and fear and even heartbreak. She nodded firmly, agreeing with every word that Ash spoke, momentarily unable to find her voice. Their eyes locked together an the warmth of Ash's palms flooded through Jai's face, the affection and love behind the notion all but screaming into her heart. Their lips met, and Jai pressed back firmly, as if silently trying to say how hard this was within the action alone.

"I know..." She murmured, breathing in deeply, slowly, through her nose, fighting to keep the urge to break down at bay. "Help me pack, please?" She watched her, waiting for her response before she slowly, reluctantly forced herself to scoot back and get to her feet, sliding her hands into hers to gently pull her along with her and head back into the bedroom to find a duffle bag and begrudgingly pack for a week away from everyone and everything that mattered most in her life.

12:02PM, The sidewalk outside the apartment building

A black duffle bag hung from a strap slung over Jai's shoulders as she stood staring at the street, hand tightly clasping Ash's, watching as a black SUV slowly pulled up in front of them and parked, the front passenger window slowly rolling down. The driver wore a pair of sunglasses and plain navy-blue baseball cap, regarding the two with a simple lift of his chin. "Jaime Marks?" His voice was low, rough, but cool and easy. Jai nodded silently, chewing away at her bottom lip. "Feel free to chuck your bag in the back seat. I wasn't expecting to make any trips today, so I've got a few things in the back that would be in the way, sorry. Make it quick though, we've got a schedule to keep and I'll be damned if I have to hear it from someone that we were running late."

Jai nodded mutely, slowly turning to face Ash as she swallowed hard, feeling a flood of emotions hit her like a meteor. Letting go of her hand slowly, she threw her arms around her waist and hugged her as tightly as she possibly could, laying a firm, lingering kiss on her lips. "I love you, so much..." She breathed against her mouth, her eyes forced closed to keep the tears at bay. "I'll call you as soon as I get out of the car, I promise."

She waited a moment longer, before forcibly moving herself back, turning slowly and deliberately to face the side of the car, and she dragged her feet across the pavement before she slowly pulled open the back door, shrugging the strap of her duffle bag off of her shoulder and sliding it across the benched back seat before she climbed in too. She took one last look at Ash before she reluctantly pulled the door closed and reached up for her seatbelt as the man driving wasted no time in shifting it out of park and putting it into drive, pulling away from the curb smoothly and efficiently. A loud click echoed throughout the interior of the vehicle as Jai pulled her seatbelt over her shoulder, signaling the doors locking, and as she buckled the belt, she sighed heavily and leaned back in the seat, setting her gaze to watch the world pass by through the window.

An hour or two passed by in silence, without even the radio on or a word spoken between passenger or driver, and when they pulled up to a streetlight and veered right instead of continuing straight on, Jai sat up a little bit and glanced forward to look at the driver through the rear-view mirror. "Why did you just turn? If they're sending me to Royale Venue, you should have gone straight."

"Shh..." The driver breathed easily, and the sound immediately caused the hairs on the back of Jai's neck to stand on end. "There's no shortcuts there." Jai stated a bit more firmly, reaching across the backseat for her duffle bag. "Where are you taking me? What's going on?"

"Relax." The driver spoke smoothly, coolly, in a low, gruff voice, much darker and different than the one he'd used when he first picked her up. She knew that voice, knew it all too well in fact, and felt her heart all but skid to a dead halt. "Oh my god..." She breathed with a lack of air in her lungs.

"Now now Jaime. Let's not get worked up, shall we?" He continued in that same, gruff, dark, cool voice. "We're just taking a little detour that's all. Relax."

"It's you..." She breathed, shoving her hand into her bag slowly, as quietly as possible, digging for her phone. "Ohmygod..."

She watched his lips twitch into a dark, malicious smirk in the mirror. "Yes, yes it is. I can see that my little.... insurance policy has insured that you indeed haven't forgotten me."

Panic was building up within like a raging current, and the moment her fingers grasped around her phone, she tugged her arm free and unfastened her seatbelt, frantically unlocking her phone's main screen and opening her speed dialer while she turned to face the inside of the door. Her gaze searched over it frantically, and she groaned in horror when she realized that it was the newer type of vehicle that didn't have any lock-switches on the interior except for the front doors.

The driver chuckled coldly as he glanced back at her. "There's no sense in starting to panic, Jaime. You're stuck here. And you're just going to have to relax and deal with that. Now, as long as you behave, I'll be gentle. I promise."

Jai shuddered, hesitating for one split second before she scooted back and lifted her legs, slamming the soles of her sneakers against the base of the window with a cry of exerted strength. Immediately, the driver slammed on the brakes, swerving the car so hard that Jai bounced her cheek off the back of the seat. He pulled over and put the car in park, and the audible unlock sound that filled the air lasted for only a brief moment of time before Jai lurched and grabbed for the door handle. The driver was just as fast, all but diving out of the vehicle and bolting around it just as Jai threw open the door and shoved herself out.

"Now, I said to play nice." He mumbled in pure annoyance as he moved to get in her way, easily ducking to the side as she attempted to throw a punch in his direction, and he growled under his breath when she opened her mouth to scream for help. Swiftly, he reached out and grasped the back of her neck, and the action caused her to shriek as her finger jammed down on the call button to dial Ash's cell. "I don't know what it is with you and not listening to me, he growled as he jerked his arm back, causing her head to jerk backwards and feet to lose traction. "But it is going to stop." Without further warning, his arm jerked again, causing Jai to jerk forward, and within a flash of movement, everything went black, her forehead colliding with the top, metallic edge of the door frame.

He was quick and easy to catch her immediately limp form, and with infuriation, he saw that her phone was in her hand, and the screen was lit with a call page, and a timer. He slid her body into the back seat slowly, deliberately, and took the time to reach beneath the front seat into a storage cubby and produce a roll of ductape as he used his free hand to take the phone. "Jai can't come to the phone right now." He said in a low, gruff, dark voice, as he pulled out a line of tape. "She's a bit tied up. She'll call you later." He bit the edge of the tape and ripped the piece he'd pulled free before he took the phone away from his ear and removed the battery.

---

Two days later, 2:27AM

"Nnn..." A soft whimper of a groan left her lips as her head lolled. The darkness around her was even more terrifying than the position she was in, sitting in a rickety chair with her wrists duct-taped behind her, ankles tied to each leg of the thing. Her head throbbed, and every inch of her body was sore, aching, muscles cramping, and the dull pain that pulsated throughout her core and lower half was nearly unbearable. She had had a strip of tape covering her mouth, but in the wake of the night that it clearly was through a narrow window high above her to her left, he had snuck up and yanked it off, the sound in itself painful enough.

Through the darkness, she could distinctly make out the cold, malicious look in his eyes, and the evil smile across his lips. "Guess what?" He muttered in a cold, husky voice, mock excitement tinting his tone. His arms moved, and she instinctively flinched, causing him to be unable to hold back a laugh of twisted pleasure as he produced a cell phone and wagged it in her face, the brightness of the screen hurting her eyes and causing her to squint. She didn't dignify his words with a response. She'd promised herself that no matter what, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of hearing a single sound from her, not unless it was absolutely impossible to hold back.

He narrowed his eyes some, leaning in close enough that she could feel his hot, sticky breath on her ear, eliciting a chill to run up her spine. "I got a phone call! A phony call! So y'know what that means for you? Heh, well, it doesn't mean much at all really, since there's nothing you can do. But me? I can do whatever I please. Of course, within reason, otherwise this would just be boring, and I wouldn't be nearly as effective in the plan. Y'see, the Eagles are a big problem. A bunch of goody-goodies, a gang with a purpose to do good? One that doesn't pay off those that need to mind their business? It's bad. It looks bad. And it makes it really hard for people like the Wolves to accomplish what they mean to. But, y'know, they won't just stick up their hands without a reason, now will they?" He paused a moment, raising his free hand to so very lightly trail the backs of his knuckles across her cheek, and she inwardly cringed.

"No. No they won't. But with you? You are the heart and soul of the Eagles. 'Poor little Jaime Marks, her daddy was beaten and executed in front of her and then she got raped and then her mommy died and she is just such a strong fighter, keeping her head up and keeping going.'" He snorted with slight disgust, his hand moving away from her cheek just long enough to allow it to crash back against her skin, her head jerking to the side from the force of it as she bit down on her tongue so hard she tasted blood. "It's a great negotiation agreement, really it is. You're life, for the end of the Eagles. Or, well, I mean, that's what we'll tell them. But as much as it pains me to have to do, I just never wanted to let you live in the first place. And somehow you got away. You lived. And I have a problem with that. A very big problem. But in the meantime, how's about you tell me who to call, hmm? After all, we can't have a good ransom if I call someone with no authority."

He moved back, slowly, deliberately, his form fading into the shadows, and Jai swallowed hard, hearing an indefinable noise. She counted in her head, slowly, one... two... three..., and when she reached twenty, she'd started to think maybe he'd gone away... maybe he'd had his fun for the night... A sudden flash of movement and a cacophony of sound, and Jai managed one raw, choked scream before he silenced her...

3:49AM
He leaned back in a chair slowly, a smug look on his face as a lit ember glowed neared his lips, one hand holding a phone to his ear as he listened to the ringing of the line, waiting rather patiently for an answer, and when it came, he couldn't help but grin darkly. "Want to make a deal?"

Ash stared at the phone in shock as it disconnected, unable to believe what she had just heard. She knew that voice and it sent fear striking through her. "Fucking hell..." she muttered as she slammed the phone in her pocket and snatched up her keys. She slid into her leather jacket and was almost immediately running out of the little apartment. She mounted her bike and took off, breaking all of the speed limits and running almost all of the lights without caring. She parked the bike pretty much haphazardly before taking off into the club. "I fucking told you!" she yelled as she barged in, not even caring that it was still during business hours.

--The following was completed through piratepad.net collaboratively.--

Mel had been standing by the DJ booth in a moment of quiet, discussing something with the DJ, as she leaned over the desk, clad in a form-fitting black and white cocktail-dress and a pair of match black and white stilhettos. Her hair hung down around her neatly, clearly straightened, and when she heard the woman's voice so angrilly fill the air upon her unexpected arrival, Mel turned around with round, blinking, clear green eyes. "Ash?" She asked alloud, at a volume just high enough that she could hear her. "What's up? You're not on the schedule today..."

"I told you that something horrible was going to happen and it already has. You were an idiot for sending Jai away unprotected," Ash hissed out as she stalked her way towards Mel, her anger very apparent as she neared the woman. "Go ahead, call the driver that was meant to pick her up. Ask her if he has her," she snapped, very quickly losing a handle on her self control. She was both furious with Mel for this, as well as absolutely terrified for Jai.

Mel blinked, her brows knitting together slowly as she reached out as if to gently lay a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Ash. Honey. Slow down. What?" Sh blinked again, tilting her head just slightly as she stared at Ash calmly, collectively. "Alright, my phone is in the back but if you wouldn't mind calming down a little? Telling me what exactly is going on?"

"Jai wasn't picked up by someone that you sent. She was picked up by the man who has been after her for this entire time," Ash hissed out, only barely managing to calm herself enough to actually get that sentence out. She was absolutely fuming with the fact that someone, with intent to harm, had taken her Jai.

Furrowing her brows gently, Mel gently curled her fingers around Ash's arm, encouraging the woman to follow along with her towards the back room of the club where the employees could relax and get ready, or unwind. "What makes you think that hun? She hasn't rubbed off on you too much, has she? You're worrying me..."

"Don't you dare patronize me..." Ash snapped, pulling her arm free from Mel's grasp. She glared over at the woman, unable to believe that she wouldn't listen to her. "Jai tried to call me. A few minutes after she left she tried to call. Well, she wasn't on the line and there was a loud bang before a man's voice said that she was unavailable. I'm not fucking crazy," she grumbled out.
"A loud bang?" Mel was staring at her wide eyed, her brows heavily furrowed over her clear green eyes. "Like... a gun-shot? You're sure? I mean, that's just... let me call him. Okay? I'll call him and we'll see what's up. Alright?"

---------About an hour later---------

Ash couldn't believe what had happened back there and how she had been so utterly not believed. She had gained a decent amount of standing with the Eagles in the past month, as they knew that she was there to help protect Jai. However, apparently she had not gotten enough standing to be believed when she came to them with information. She knew for a fact what she had heard over that damn phone, but of course, absolutely no one believed her story. She wasn't sure what they thought of her, but she figured that it was probably safe to assume that they thought she was growing just as crazy and paranoid as Jai had been before the sent her off.

---------Two days later: 3:49 AM---------

She had been pacing around the apartment for most of the night and into the early hours of the morning. She had simply been living in Jai's apartment for the past couple of days, as she had been unable to leave to go home with all of her worry. That, and being around all of Jai's things helped calm her just a bit, though it wasn't much. She had been avoiding work for the past two days, as she knew that she would be completely unable to handle speaking to or being around any of them. She knew that eventually she would get into trouble for bailing, but she just couldn't focus when she knew that her girl was in trouble.

Ash actually jumped when she heard her phone ringing from the other room. She went racing into the living room to answer the phone, knowing that it had to be the guy who had taken Jai. No one else would be trying to contact her at this hour, seeing as everyone would assumed that she was asleep. Her thoughts were pretty much answered when she saw that it was Jai's number that popped up on her screen. For a moment, she had hope that she would hear her girl's voice on the other side, but she forced that hope down so that she wouldn't end up disappointed.

"Hel--" she began saying into the phone before she was cut off by a man's voice. She automatically ground her teeth together at the sound of it and forced herself to center herself so that she could act rationally. "That depends... Is Jai still alive?" she finally asked into the phone as she began pacing throughout the front room of the apartment.

He snorted, a dark, twisted, highly amused sound sending through the receiver of the phone. "Quite the businesswoman you are now." He muttered. "Maybe she is, maybe she isn't, that depends on your definition." The malicious grin on his lips resonated so strongly in his voice that she could very easily have heard it spread across his thin lips. He didn't wait for a response before he scooted the chair he was seated in back, the legs groaning against the cement of the floor that it rested upon, and he got to his feet with a lazy stretch and quiet grunt of reluctant effort. Pity, he'd gotten so comfortable too.

"Let me guess," he continued to speak, his tone taking on a more cynical sound. "You're going to want to proof that she's alive right?" He paused for a half a second, once again not giving her enough time to answer. "And only if I give it to you will you be open to a negotiation. So, here's my counter-offer: I've gotta get my lazy-ass up and walk all the way over to where I have her in order to even attempt to get you that proof, and that's assuming that she's even compliant. Quite the stubborn little brat, I'll give you that. Silent as the grave. Anyway, in the meantime, I'm going to make you an offer anyway, and you can mull it over. Ok? Ok. Good."

He smirked to himself as he straightened, taking his sweet time as he started to move his feet across the ground, the sound of his heavy steps echoing dully into the air. "The Eagles are... unorthodox... And I have a problem with that, as do the rest of the Wolves. See, they make it really difficult to do whatever the hell we want, and there's always that impeccable comparison like siblings. 'Why can't you be more like your brother?', why can't you be more like the Eagles? Y'know, legal, helpful, polite, kind, respecting, et cetera, et cetera. And y'know? That's real annoying. Like, really annoying. I mean, how many times do you see some psychotic twenty-something year old go off on a rampage and kill their whole family then torture and kill their sibling? All the time right? Yeah. Exactly. But the thing is... we're.... reasonable people. What's the point in going on a rampage, right? Won't get us anywhere and won't solve anything. So, instead, we take our time, we plan, we plot, we get ready. Keith was a great guy, really, I mean, y'know, it kinda sucked that we had to kill him, for everyone else that is, but he was a strong figure in the city and even stronger in the eyes of the Eagles."

He paused briefly as he leaned over to flick a light-switch from a board hanging from the ceiling, a dark grin pulling across his lips as he gazed at Jai so helplessly trapped across the room. Sure, there were bruises on her pretty skin and a few good cuts and scrapes, but that just added to how incredibly hot she looked. With a grunt, he cleared his throat and lifted his free hand to wipe the corners of his mouth. "But killing him didn't lead to the Eagles breaking like we hoped it would. After all, a death like that would leave you crippled, right? But no, no, instead they made Jaime their heart and soul. Poured everything into her and her dainty mommy, and we once again waited. But then I got a little impatient so I tried something.... fun. Only that didn't work either. Really aggravating, truly, you can't even begin to understand. Like finding out that Santa Claus isn't real y'know? Crushing. Anyway, back to the point... We have Jaime, and you don't. And we all know how badly you love her and want her back alive. So here's the deal."

He stepped forward, and switched the phone to his other ear, moving his now freed left hand to reach behind him and pull a pocket knife from the waistband of the pants he wore, lazily and teasingly trailing the tip of the blade along her cheek as she squinted towards him with a hazy gaze, clearly trying to hold onto reality and not the clouds that she was slipping into. "The Eagles disband, publicly, and not in some make believe way, because, you know, we'll be watching, and in exchange..." He moved his arm swiftly, digging the tip of the blade into the fleshy part of her arm roughly, taking the time to turn the blade slowly to the left, eliciting a whimpered, breathless cry of pain from the woman. It brought a sinister grin to his lips as he leaned back and straightened, reluctantly drawing his hand back. "Oh. Would you look at that? She's talkative now." He paused a moment, resisting the urge to laugh before he took back his lazy, cool tone. "We'll give you her life. Deal?"