Reckless C-12

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hi guys and girls, Thank you for all the comments, they really make this all worthwhile.

In this chapter I'm introducing Damien. The picture provided is of him, or at least the closest picture I could find to what I'd imagine him to look like.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. It is the first one I've really worried about as I'm not sure it flows as neatly as the others; so please...comment and reassure me by letting me know what you think. Any thoughts on what you'd like to see happen next? Let me know because I'm worried my ideas are beginning to get stale and rapidly drying up!

Enjoy,
Dani x
********************
All three of them froze for an instant, Tess on the counter, Jackson hunched over her with his chin turned to look over his shoulder, and Damien in the doorway.

Then Tess' heartbeat began to pound in earnest and everything seemed to happen all at once. With a wordless roar, Damien charged across the room, and Jackson straightened, turning to face him.

"I know what this looks like," Jackson said, hands spread wide of his body, blocking Tess' view, "but-"

Damien's fist smashed into his mouth.

Tess screamed and managed to scramble down from the counter top as Jackson lurched back several steps. She watched in horror as he touched the back of his hand to his mouth, and saw a smear of blood on it when he lifted it away.

"Well fuck," he murmured. He took a step toward Damien with the express purpose of returning the favor.

"You bastard!" Damien was closing the distance fast again, his brows were knit together into a mask of utter fury, and as he launched himself at Jackson, he let out a primeval warrior cry unlike anything Tess had ever heard in her life. It sounded barely human.

Tess just had time to blink before Damien's body crashed into Jackson's.

"I'll kill you, you bloody-" The rest of Damien's rather violent curse was lost as Jackson flipped him over, knocking the breath out of him.

"Damien, no! Stop!" Tess managed to cry out. But Damien was a man possessed. He pummeled Jackson, his rage showing on his face, in his fists, in the primitive grunts of fury that emanated from his mouth.

And as for Jackson, he was defending himself, but he wasn't really fighting back.

Tess, who suddenly realized that she was standing by like a helpless idiot, knew she had to intervene; otherwise Damien was surely going to kill Jackson right there in the middle of her kitchen. She reached down to try to wrest her brother away from the man she'd spent an eventful night with, but at that moment they suddenly rolled over in a quick flipping motion, clipping Tess in the knees and sending her sprawling into the counter top's edge.

"Yaaaaaaahhhhhh!" She howled as pain slashed across her forehead. Her cry must have contained a sharper note of agony than she'd thought, because both men immediately stilled.

"Oh, my God!" Jackson, who had been at the top of the altercation when Tess fell, rushed to her aid. "Tess! Are you alright?"

Tess just whimpered, blinking past the blood that was running into her eyes and trying not to move her throbbing head.

"Oh God...her head! She's hurt," Jackson said to Damien, his voice sharp with worry. "We need to get her to A and E."

Damien gave a curt, businesslike nod, his fury at Jackson temporarily put aside. Tess was in pain, and she had to come first.

"Just hold still baby," Jackson crooned his voice soft and soothing. "I'm going to pick you up and set you on the sofa whilst we try and blot the bleeding. You understand?"

Tess shook her head dazedly. "You'll get blood all over yourself."

"Don't worry about me."

"Let me do it," Damien said.

But Jackson ignored him. While Damien stood by helplessly, Jackson reached down and gently lifted Tess into his arms, then walked quickly into the living room where he lowered her carefully onto the sofa. He then proceeded to rip the sleeve of his shirt that Tess was wearing off from the seam, folding it into a makeshift bandage padding and gently pressed it against the cut on her forehead above her left eyebrow.

"The bleeding is slowing, thank God." one hand cradling her cheek as the other applied pressure to her cut. "Are you alright?" he asked gruffly.

Tess nodded, opening her mouth to say something, to reassure him maybe-when another voice entered the fray...

"What the heck's going on in here?" Carol exclaimed from the doorway, and Tess heard Damien groan in expiration as Carol rushed over, pushing a hovering Jackson aside and taking his place. "Oh honey! What's happened?! Were you mugged?"

Tess allowed her to fuss like a mother hen since it seemed to be distracting the men from further violence. Well it WAS working, until Carol reached out a hand to sweep Tess' hair away from her neck and abruptly fell silent. One moment she was staring at the exposed skin on Tess' neck, then the next she was letting Tess' hair drop as she turned incredulous eyes on Jackson

"Oh, Jackson...You're so big and strong." Carol said rolling her eyes with great sarcasm.

"What?" Tess straightened self-consciously, her hands rising to cover whatever was on her neck that had captured the three avid pair of eyes. Jackson's face looked dark and intense as he stared at her neck, whereas Damien...well Damien looked even more furious than he had a few minutes ago.

"I'm guessing this one," Carol waved towards Jackson, "is responsible for all these love bites on your neck."

"Are you certain you're all right?" Damien grunted as his eyes darted back to Tess'.

"The cut stings a little," Tess admitted, "but what are you all staring..."

"Good." Damien said as his attention shifted swiftly back to Jackson. He drew his fist back and slammed it into Jackson's face, easily knocking his unsuspecting friend to the ground.

"That," Damien spat out, "is for defiling my sister."

"Defiling? What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tess felt fury welling up within herself, god but she was so mad-she was shaking with it as she leapt to her feet away from Carol's restraining arm and despite both Damien's and Jackson's protests that she should be laying down, got right in her eldest brother's domineering face.

"How dare you treat me like I'm twelve years old!" She stormed, thrusting out an arm and prodding an imperious finger at Damien's chest. "I can sleep with whoever I want."

Damien flinched but soon returned his burning glare to Jackson.
"Stand up," Damien grunted, "so I can hit you again."

"Are you even listening to me?" Tess cried out, jumping between him and Jackson, who was still on the ground clutching his injured eye.

Damien tried to push her aside, and not gently. "The next one," he spit, "is for betraying our friendship."

Slowly, and to Tess' horror, Jackson rose to his feet.

"No!" She yelled, jumping back between them.

"Get out of the way, Reckless," Jackson ordered softly. "This is between us."

"The hell it is!"

Tess was thankful that Carol chose that moment to thrust herself between Tess and Damien, because surely Carol's cool hauteur was the only thing that could possibly distract her older brother at that moment.

Tess was right.

"Damien you are acting ridiculous." Carol said with a galling tilt of her head.

"Me. I don't think so!" Damien said sullenly.

"Of course you are; you sound like some spoiled little brat!" Carol crossed her arms and smirked at Damien with a smile that Tess knew Carol had specifically designed to infuriate him. "What's the rule...if Damien isn't getting any, nobody can?"

"I can get any whenever I want darling." Damien growled, his eyes turning to slits as he stared Carol down.

"Yeah sure...we're all just lined up asking for it." Carol scoffed.

Damien took a step forwards so he was looming over Carol, the pent up fury radiating from him was so intense that Tess was surprised that Carol managed to hold her position and not retreat. Tess backed up a step herself until she was pressed against Jackson's chest, his hands rose and held her shoulders reassuringly as he too watched the drama unfold in front of them.

"If I wanted you to want me, you wouldn't be asking for it darling...you'd be begging." Damien growled. Tess could have sworn she saw Carol shiver.

"That's enough!" Tess wriggled from Jackson's grasp, Carol had stepped in for her, and it was only fair Tess returned the favor. She yanked a dazed looking Carol away from Damien and glowered at him again. "I'm sick of this Damien; sick and tired of you and the others muscling in on my business."

Damien opened his mouth, but then shut it again as Tess continued to talk regardless.

"I mean Jesus, Jackson's your friend for God's sake! And you're talking about 'defilement'... maybe I 'defiled' him!" Tess slashed her hand through the air; a gesture that both signified her raging anger and that Damien would be wise to remain silent.

"Last night was a one shot deal," Tess felt Jackson shift behind her as she spoke, so she quickly addressed him over her shoulder "we both knew that." Jackson looked annoyed, almost like he DIDN'T know that.
"But even if it hadn't been," She turned back to Damien, "you have no right to treat me like this."

Tess drew a deep breath to calm herself.
"I want you to leave."

Damien narrowed his eyes at her and then focused them over her head, straight into Jackson's eyes. When he spoke, his voice was frighteningly still.
"If I leave, he leaves too."

"You're not getting this!" Tess fumed. "It's not a request! Leave. Now." She pointed at the door.

Damien's eyes somehow managed to narrow further at Jackson as he said, "Don't even think this is the end of it, Bud. You and I'll talk again."

Then he turned and stalked out of the room. Carol mumbled something about seeing him to his car and hurried after Damien.

The door slammed and Tess closed her eyes and gave a shaky sigh. When she opened them, it was to see a rumpled yet incredibly sexy Jackson planted directly in front of her, his expression full of frustration.

"What the hell do you mean it was a one shot deal?" he growled.