Killing Me Softly - Teenage Assassin - aka Young Love Murder

KILLING ME SOFTLY - Teenage Assassin - Chapter 28

IF YOU DIDN'T READ YESTERDAY'S CHAPTER 27, GO BACK AND READ IT FIRST!

CHAPTER 28:

GABRIEL’S POV:

So, Anna wasn’t completely feeling my rowdy sex idea, but the time spent in the bedroom wasn’t a total waste of my time and I was able to truthfully sport a satisfied smirk on my face when we left the room and joined Brent back in the living room area of the hotel suite.

And maybe I oh-so-accidentally put my shirt back on inside out.

Some guys would probably be pissing their pants at the thought of mouthing off to guys like Brent and Jackson. After all, they could kill me in the blink of an eye. Me, though? Hell no. I’ve never been a b!tch and am not about to start now.

I’m realistic enough to know that my skills are sadly lacking in comparison to the others, but while I was looking for, but mostly waiting on information on Annabelle for all those months, I did manage to put in quite a bit of time training in all the areas that she has a professional’s skills. Fighting, shooting and just plain being a badass motherf*cker.

I still don’t know what to think about Jackson. The dude is a total pain in the @ss. I should have guessed a sibling relationship with the way they annoy the crap out of each other, but I was too blinded by jealousy. All I saw was another male encroaching on what was mine. Praise be to Allah that I don’t have any siblings. My cousin Max is as close as I get and usually I’m the one annoying the crap out of him.

Actually, knowing that Jackson is her older brother, I’m surprised that I’m still alive. I guess I can’t be too upset about Annabelle hiding the truth from me, since I would have done the same thing in her situation. Family is important.

Family.

Constantly, it’s always in the back of my mind, the past. I love Anna, I really do. However, when the past is no longer in the back of my mind, but instead blaring through the forefront, things get bad. I’m trying to hide it from her, not ruin what we are trying to build. But damn, it’s hard. I know now that it was a mistake on her part, on the part of whoever gives her orders. If I twist it just the right way, maybe it wasn’t really her fault at all. She thought she was doing the right thing, saving lives in the end.

For now, I can give her my love. Maybe someday I can give her my complete forgiveness.

Now, the question is . . . How to get rid of the douchebag Brent?

Not two seconds after we leave the bedroom, there is a knock on the door. Family reunion time.

As Brent stands, while glaring at me, and goes to answer the front door, I pull Anna down beside me on the couch. I’m not going to back down to these two males. They’ll punk me in a heartbeat if I let them. Anna is mine and the big brother and wannabe boyfriend will just have to deal with it.

While Brent and Jackson are doing the dude greetings, I whisper in Anna’s ear, “Where are your parents?”

She gives me a long serious look then whispers back, “Dead.”

Thinking of my own father, I give her the inadequate, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

I absentmindedly rub Anna’s hand while it rests in mine, thinking that life sucks. I glance up at her face and revise that, life just sucks some of the time. She isn’t looking at me, but instead at the two men that are now looking our way.

I let go of her hand to wrap an arm around her shoulders and give my best smartass grin to Jackson, “What’s up my favorite brother-in-law?”

For a split second, I think that he looks surprised, but like his sister, he quickly masks the emotion. I know that he is giving me his meanest scowl, but I’m not in the least bit intimidated. If he was going to kill me, he would have done it months ago. I’m assuming that Jackson’s job title is the same as Annabelle’s.

“Quit touching my sister,” he practically growls. That’s when I realize that I’ve been rubbing her shoulder during this staredown. Brent laughs and Jackson elbows him in the stomach. “And you, Brent, quit thinking about touching my sister.”

“Why don’t you quit being a retard, Jacks?” Anna says with obvious exasperation.

“I dropped you on your head when you were a baby once,” Jackson tells Anna.

Anna scoffs at that, “We’re too close in age for you to have dropped me on my head.”

Jackson raises his eyebrows, “I know, they really shouldn’t have let me hold you.”

Thank the gods that I don’t have any siblings.

Anna’s scowl turns into an evil sister grin, “One time when I was mad at you, I burned that autographed picture of that girl you have the hots for.”

Jackson an astonished expression on his face, “So that’s what happened to my Britney autograph.” He starts to look pissed, “You know Annie, it was not easy getting that. I had to break into her concert backstage. That girl has more security than the President.”

“Which one?” Brent asks in all seriousness.

“South Africa,” Jackson answers in the same serious manner. Someone missed out on a childhood. Maybe three someones.

Anna looks guilty, “I know, I know. I’m sorry, Jacks.” With a wave of her hand in the air, she says, “I’ll break into her house and get you a new one.”

“Just don’t hurt her,” Jackson says. “She’s too hot to die.”

“Word,” Brent puts in. “Way too hot.”

They are all insane.

Jackson grins, “I cut the ears off your favorite Care Bear when we were little.”

“No duh, Jacks. I knew you were the only one sadistic enough to do that,” Anna scowls.

Jackson places a palm on his chest and in fake innocence says, “I was merely practicing my torturing skills.”

Yep, no childhood at all.

I glance over at Anna’s face. My poor Anna.

“I’ve hid your favorite semiautomatic from you!” Anna tells him gleefully.

Jackson points a finger at her, “I knew it! I freaking knew it!” He crosses his arms over his chest and looks menacingly at her, “Which country is it in? Where’s Bert?”

“Bert?” I ask dumbfounded.

Anna is practically bouncing on the couch in satisfaction, “Bert is his favorite semi-automatic pistol. And I’m not telling!” The last part is for Jackson’s benefit.

Jackson lunges toward her, but she jumps off the couch and sidesteps him. He crashes into the couch, next to me, where Anna was just a flash ago.

Anna laughs and runs behind Brent, using him as a shield between Jackson and herself. This doesn’t make me happy at all. I’m all the protection that Anna needs.

Before I even know what he’s about, I feel the cold steel against my temple. Asshole has a gun to my head. So not cool. Jackson says the words slowly, “Again, I ask. Where’s Bert?”

Annie peeks around Brent and glares at Jackson, “You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t I?” Jackson taunts. “I’m already not happy with your little boy toy.”

I’m not about to wait around to be saved by my girlfriend. In a move that one of my trainers taught me, my hand shoots up and I backhand the gun away from where it’s pressed against my head. Quickly, I then knee him on the side of his thigh. Hard, just like my instructor taught me.

He grunts, then while rubbing his thigh, “Good one, boy toy.”

Anna gives up her human shield and stalks over to Jackson. She looks a tad angry. Her foot shoots up in the air towards his head and at the last minute, Jackson catches it in his right hand, twisting to the side so that she is forced to change the angle of her entire body, her torso now facing away from Jackson.

I’m wondering if I should step in or let them work out these family problems by themselves. Brent is obviously of a mind to leave them be, if his loud laughter is any indication.

“Give up, baby sis?” Jackson asks.

I can see Anna’s face and don’t miss the gleam in her eyes right before she drops her upper body weight to the floor, landing on her hands and kicking out her free leg backwards, right into her brother’s stomach.

As he doubles over, gripping his stomach and trying to catch his breath, he loses his grip on her other foot. Anna twists her body around as her feet hit the floor with a thud. She’s grinning from ear to ear, “Jacks, what’s the matter? Need an inhaler?”

Finally catching his breath, Jackson smiles as if he wasn’t just kicked in the gut, “Annie, where’s Bert?”

She rolls her eyes and lets out a short laugh. While standing up she mutters, “Such a baby. Bert is safe and sound, under my bed at the condo in Seattle.”

Now recovered, Jackson holds up his hands in defense, “For the record, Annie. I did send the Care Bear’s ears to you in the mail.” Then he shrugs, “But, we had to the leave the country in a hurry the next day, so you never got them.”

“I spray painted Bert pink!” Annie shouts, then runs behind Brent again with a squeal as Jackson lunges toward her again. “Jackson, don’t!” she screams, while continuing to maneuver Brent’s body in between her and Jackson. I don’t think Brent minds one bit, the bastard winks at me. “Hit Brent! Hit Brent! He’s my whipping boy, Jacks!”

I’ve had enough, as amusing as the show is. I get up off the couch, circle around the roughhousing and wrap an arm around Anna’s waist from behind. I then whirl her around and, moving away from where Brent and Jackson are now wrestling on the floor, set her down on a chair at the table.

Setting another chair right next to hers, I sit down next to her and bring her face to mine for a kiss. A very long kiss. She giggles when I’m through with her and says softly, “I love you.”

“Love you too, baby.”

“I’m happy, Gabriel.”

“I know.” Then I kiss her again.

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