It's Just Our Fate

Jackson banged on the door as hard as he could, pacing back and forth on the small porch. “Rudy!”, he yelled, banging on the door again. Lights began to flip on as footsteps hurried down the stairs. Jackson shifted from one foot to the other, anxious and angry all at once.
The door swung open, as a tired Rudy rubbed his eyes, “Jackson?”, he said tiredly. Jackson pushed past him, rubbing his jaw as he went in and stood in the main hall. Rudy shut the door and turned to him, “What the hell do you think your doing?” Jackson waved a finger at him, “You fucking set me up, Rudy. You set me up!” Rudy shook his head, not understanding, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Jackson slammed his fist into the closet door and turned back to him, “Lily’s father! My target was her father!” Rudy sighed and sat down on one of the stairs, rubbing his face, “Ah, shit.” Jackson pulled his a hair a bit, “That’s all you have to say! What the hell Rudy!”

Rudy shut his eyes and waved his hand in front of him, signaling Jackson to wait a minute, “You know I don’t know who the targets are exactly. I know as much as you do.” Jackson shook his head and laughed at the absurdity, “That’s not good enough for me Rudy.”

Rudy looked up at him and rubbed the back of his head, “Well what the hell do you want me to do? We get an offer, I set it up, and you get paid. That’s how things work, kid. I’m sorry it was her dad, but he obviously isn’t so good if he’s getting hits all the way from Cali.” Jackson stood still and stared at him, shaking his head, “I almost killed my girlfriend’s father, what about that aren’t yo-“

Rudy stood up quickly and moved toward him, “You didn’t kill him!?” Jackson shook his head, “No, of course not!” Rudy let out a yell for a moment, “Are you kidding me!? Why not!” Jackson watched him in surprise, taking a step back from him, “I’m not going to be the one that kills him! I won’t let that be on my head!”

Rudy pushed Jackson hard, clenching his fists, “They asked specifically for you, Jackson! They asked for you! And you didn’t fucking do it!” Jackson grabbed Rudy by his robe and shoved him into the wall, “I don’t care if they fucking sent you a fruit basket! I’m not doing it!” Jackson let go of him roughly and headed to the door, throwing it open, “Get some other fucker to do it.”

Jackson opened the door to his car, slamming it once he was inside and cranked the car to go. “Jackson! You have to do the hit! You have to!”, Rudy yelled as he ran outside. Jackson hit the gas pedal and flew off, heading back home.

He took the long way back to the apartment, replaying everything in his mind. He rubbed his face hard as he stared at the road, still full of rage. He sped up even more and hit the interstate, starting his journey back home.
Jackson hit the steering wheel a few times with his hand, “Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!” He couldn’t believe this was happening to him. He kept thinking about what Rudy said.

They asked specifically for you, Jackson! They asked for you! And you didn’t fucking do it!

Jackson slumped back into his seat and shook his head. Rudy was right… People don’t just ask for him if it’s a little confrontation, it had to be something big, but what? Lily’s father was the president of his own company, he built that place on his own. Lily had told him plenty of times how hard her father worked to become that man that he was.

He switched from one lane to the other, passing the cars that were going to slow for him. There had to be something there, there had to be some big secret that Lily didn’t know about her father.

But that was just it.. It was her father.

Jackson rested his elbow on the edge of the window, holding his head up as he watched the sun start to bring color to the sky. He hadn’t even met the guy, not once, not in the ten long months that Lily and him were together. They always made plans to but either he had to leave for an assignment or her father was too busy.

Jackson rubbed his forehead as he stared out at the road. “Ah.. God..”, he whispered to himself. Lily would be home today, she would come back home smiling, happy, and tell him about the big event. She would describe everything; her dress, the ceremony, the food, just everything. Not even knowing he was there watching the entire time.

After a good hour and a half, Jackson had made it back to the apartment. He opened up the door and shut it behind him quietly. Max got up and wagged his tail as soon as he saw him.
Jackson rubbed his face and walked to the bedroom, shrugging off his jacket as he went. He went into the room, throwing down the jacket and pulling off his shirt, then fell back onto the bed. He covered his face with his hands, just wanting everything to fade out… At least this part of his life.

He wanted to wake up next to Lily and tell her about the crazy dream he had, being an assassin. The vivid dreams that were in such great detail about his victims and the famous Rudy that helped collect them. He wanted to get away from it all, keep Lily away from it all.
He wanted to just be away.

“Jack.. Oh Jaack,” a voice called out. There was a weight on him, not heavy but enough to realize something was there, “Jack.. Wake up, Jack.” Jackson opened his eyes, seeing Lily straddling him and smiling down. “Morning,” she said as she kissed him gently. He smiled and kissed her back, “Hey, when’d you get in?”

She looked at the clock, “About three hours ago.” He pushed himself up on his elbows, “Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?” She shrugged and smiled, “You looked peaceful, I wanted to stay like that for a bit.” He made a small smile and sat up fully, putting his hands her waist to keep her straddling him.

She wrapped her legs around him securely, smiling, “Miss me?” He pecked her lips quickly, “If I said a lot, it would be an understatement.” She smiled at him and fooled with strands of his hair, pushing them away from his face, “Oh, babe, I wish you were there,” She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, “It was so wonderful.”

He forced himself to smile at her, “That’s great baby. So what was the surprise?” She jumped a bit in his arms, excited to share, “My dad got this big award for building his companies and stuff. It was just so..” She searched for the right word and then looked into his eyes, “Spectacular.” He swallowed a little, looking away from her, “That’s great, baby” he said, as he looked back to her, “That’s just great.”

She smiled wide, “I know right! I told daddy after that I had wished you came with me! He’s so eager to meet you, so maybe this time you both won’t bail on each other.” She said tapping his nose. He made a small chuckle and nodded, “Yeah, I’d love to meet him, it’d be nice.”

She kissed him quickly again, “Well, I don’t have to work today so I think I’m gonna clean up the apartment a bit. Wanna help?” She said smiling too wide purposely. He laughed and nodded, “Uh, sure.” She tapped his nose again, untangling herself from him and headed into the bathroom to change.

Jackson got out of the bed and headed to the closet, pulling out some basketball shorts and slide them off. He decided not to wear a shirt being that it got a little hot whenever he had to move furniture and what not. Lily came out of the bathroom, Black t-shirt and some red shorts, “Time to clean.”
He smirked as he looked her up and down, “Oh yes.” She put her hands on her hips, “Don’t even think about it”, she said as she walked past him. He laughed and followed after her.

After they had cleaned the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, they started on the living room. Jackson came back into the apartment, wiping his forehead, “Any other ugly furniture you want me to put out?” Lily turned to him and made a face, “Oh shut up.” He laughed and let himself fall on the couch, acting exhausted, “Well, is there?” Lily pulled her ponytail tighter and looked around, “Yes, actually.” She pointed to a small red table, “Could you put that in the storage room. Don’t and I mean, Do Not, throw that out. Just put it in the storage.”

Jackson rolled his eyes and laughed, walking over to the table, “Fine. Throw it out. Got it.” He lifted the table and slowly walked out of the apartment. Lily laughed a bit and headed to the bookshelf, taking out the books and setting them down neatly on the floor.

She cleaned off two rows and started dusting, laughing at the collection they had already. She grabbed a rag and cleaned the bottom and top of one shelf, then moved to the next. As she wiped the board facing her, a part of it caved in. She looked at it curiously and pushed it further, it was an exact square. She hesitated for a moment than felt around inside of it.
It was cold and that was about it, all it felt like was another board extending on the other side. The door swung open and quickly shut as Jackson entered, “Remind me to clean the stora-“ He looked over at Lily, his jaw clenching as he swallowed.

“Did you know this was behind here?”, she asked. Jackson stood there for a moment, and then shook his head, “No,” he said in a voice a little above a whisper, “No, I didn’t.” She stood on her tip-toes and tried to look in, “It’s so weird, wonder what people used it for?”
Jackson walked to her, examining it, “Who knows.” She looked over at him and laughed, “Maybe it was someone’s candy stash.” He smiled a little and nodded in agreement. She shut the small compartment and cleaned the rest of the bookshelf.

Jackson exhaled in relief, “I’ll put the books back.” He said calmly. She nodded as she finished the last shelf, “Alright,” she said wiping her brow, “I’m going to just order some food, cause I am not cooking.” He laughed and picked up a stack of books, putting them back in place as Lily went to get the phone.

Jackson clenched his teeth, cursing under his breath, it was time to find another back up spot for his gun. That was beyond close, if Lily had found a gun in the house she would of killed. Of the things that Lily hated, one would be guns; the next would be people lying to her, which Jackson did.

He shook the thought out of his mind and finished putting the books back. “Kay, all done.” Lily nodded and smiled as she continued to order food over the phone. Jackson kneeled down and ruffled Max’s fur, “Good boy.” He said smiling.

Suddenly Jackson’s phone started ringing. He moved away from Max and snatched it off the top of the TV stand. “Reed.”, he said into the phone. There was a slight pause, “Reed, it’s Martinez.” Jackson looked over his shoulder and walked to the bedroom, shutting the door behind him, “There a problem?”

Martinez sighed into the phone, “Yeah, how about you flaking on your target?” Jackson groaned, “You too, huh?” Martinez let out a small laugh, “Look, they reassigned me too it. The people who set up the deal aren’t happy, neither is Rudy.” Jackson rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, well were all in the same place. So they can deal.”

“Jack, I need some help.”, Lily called out. Jackson turned his body toward the direction of her voice, “One sec, babe.” Martinez sighed low into the phone, “She’s getting to you, Reed.”
Jackson exhaled a bit, “We’re not discussing her. So drop it.” Martinez cursed in spanish, “Reed, she’s affecting your job. You do understand there will come a time where you’re going to have to let her go. You can’t always protect her or have people do so.”

Jackson gritted his teeth for a moment, “You’ll get the job done. I know it. Make it quick.” He snapped the phone shut and tossed it on the bed, walking out of the room and headed into the living room. “Lily?”, he called out.

“In here,” she yelled. He turned around and followed her voice into her art room. She was staring at a painting of her and her father. Jackson came behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, “You ever going to finish it?” She leaned back into him and smiled, “Yeah, I will. I wanna give it to him soon, you know. He’ll love it, don’t you think?”

Jackson nodded and kissed her cheek, “Even a blind man would.” She laughed a bit, “Well thanks.” He smiled, pulling himself away from her, “So what’d you need help with?”
She pointed to a broken canvas, it was bigger than their coffee table. He sighed, making her laugh, and picked up, “Be glad I love you.”