Journey Online

Feedback:akhix2001@yahoo.com
Rating: PG (some chapters will be R and I will not that next to the chapter number
Category: Alternate Reality (I am changing things around to suit me as I see fit. I am playing God, re-writing history and severing family ties. Enjoy!)
Type: Drama/Romance
Summary: Courtney Matthews comes to Port Charles looking for her brother but what she finds first will change her life forever.

All in all it was a pretty normal night until he turned a corner towards the warehouse and saw a small blonde beating the crap out of two of his best men. To clarify a small, blonde girl was beating the crap out of two of his best men. Jimmy was already down with what looked like a broken collarbone and Max was down a few ribs and a busted nose. And the girl didn’t even look winded. ‘Damn, she’s good.’ Jason Morgan thought as he pulled out his gun.

“All right, knock it off before I have to shoot you, lady.”

The blonde looked up at him. She hadn’t even noticed him walk up. They looked into each other’s eyes and a charge went through both of them. ‘Whoa!’ they each thought.

“Okay, what the hell happened here, Jimmy?”

“I saw her snooping around the warehouse, Mr. Morgan. I walked over to her and when I started to ask her …”

“Wait, a second,” she interrupted, “You grabbed me and when I defended myself the other one started in on me. And I wasn’t snooping. I got lost and I was looking for some light so I could make a call.” She pointed to a cell phone lying on the ground a few feet away.

Jason put his gun away and got out his cell phone.

“Marco, get down to the warehouse. Jimmy and Max need to go to the hospital." He turned to look back to the girl who couldn’t have been older than 20. "Yeah, it was some kind of accident.”

He hung up and pocketed the cell. He turned to the two men grimacing in pain.

“You two go wait around front. Marco is coming to take you to the hospital."

As the two walked away he studied her. She was so beautiful. Beautiful like he'd never seen before in his life and there wasn't a scratch on her.

“So, Miss Accident, you got a name?”

“Yeah, I got a name, Mr. Morgan, but it’s none of your damn business. Now if you don’t mind I need to find a pay phone since my phone is broken.”

“Wait a minute, you don’t think I’m just going to let you walk away, do you?”

“Why? You gonna call the cops?”

“How do you know I’m not the cops?” he asked her. In spite of himself he was starting to like the girl.

She burst out laughing at him. “Cause cops usually say ‘freeze’ not ‘knock it off before I have to shoot you.’ My guess is you’re the local muscle.”

“Local muscle, huh?” he smirked at her. She was so cute.

“Yeah, now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Wait … miss?”

“It’s Courtney, okay?”

“Okay, yeah, Courtney. I’m really sorry about this. The guys can get a little tense on the night shift.”

“No, I’m serious, but I have to ask you not to call the cops.”

“Why in the hell would I do that? I don’t want the local mob any more pissed at me.”

“Wait, first, I'm not the mob and, second, what did I do for you to think I’m pissed at you?"

“Well, I hate to keep bringing it up but the whole threatening to shoot me thing was kind of a tip off.”

“Oh, well, I wasn’t really going to shoot you. I just wanted to calm the whole situation down a little.”

“Ah, yes, pulling out a gun usually cools things down fast. How long have you been doing this? You’re not very good at it.”

It was a strange conversation. He found her frustrating and appealing at the same time.

“Listen, I walk around the corner and stumble on this little girl beating the living daylights out of two trained men. I was a little thrown. And how do you know so much about what I do or don’t do?”

“I’m from Atlantic City. You know, where they have a real machine not some two-bit small town operation where Opie Taylor runs the drugs and whores.”

“Now, wait, just a damn minute. I don’t have anything to do with drugs or prostitutes.”

“But you are the local guy, right?”

“Yes … I mean, no.”

“Well, which is it, yes or no?”

“So, you’re an honest business man who has hired thugs watching his completely legit warehouse and who happens to carry a gun when he visits his office at midnight, right?”

“God, you are so annoying!”

“I’m annoying? Look, are you gonna make me stand out here in the freezing cold all night bickering, Mr. Morgan?”

“Jason … hmm. So Jason, what’s your nice legitimate business?”

“Coffee imports.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Coffee imports. That’s good. If I were a total idiot I’d buy the fact that a coffee import business is in no way, shape, or form a front to launder dirty money.”

He just glared at her.

“You know, what I don’t understand, Courtney?”

“What, Jason?” This sparring with him was fun. He was so cute and he was really getting steamed at her.

“I don’t understand why if you think I’m in the mob and you know I’m armed, why you’re not afraid of me.”

“Because I can kick your butt too.” And with that remark she smiled at him as if she'd told him to have a nice night.

“Really?” He smirked at her. ‘She thinks she’s one tough cookie.’

“Look, Jason, I don’t want to hurt your ego or anything but look what I did to your two guard dogs.”

“Yeah, well, they thought you were just some nosy girl and wanted to scare you. I’ve seen you in action.”

“Well, if you’re so tough, then come on.”

Laughing, he started to say, “I’m not going to fight you.” But he’d only gotten half of it out of his mouth when she had his legs out from underneath him dropping him to the ground. Before he knew what had happened she was straddling him with one knee on each arm and had his gun out pointing at his head.

“What the fu…?” He stammered.

“Don’t underestimate me, Mr. Morgan. I am not some little girl. I could’ve killed you before you even knew what had hit you.”

“You still could. What in the hell just happened?”

Chagrined she got up off of him and extended her hand. Without any embarrassment he took it and allowed her to help him up. She handed him back his gun butt first and then took a step back.

“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” She asked with concern in her voice.

“No, just my pride.” He smiled ruefully at her.

“I’m sorry. I overreacted. I just don’t like being laughed at.”

“I can see that … and feel it.” He chuckled. He was going to be one big bruise tomorrow but he’d still gotten off easier than Jimmy and Max. He had made a serious error in judgment with this girl. He’d seen her take on Max and Jimmy and yet he laughed at her. ‘Stupid move, Morgan.’

She stood staring at him. She didn’t really understand why she felt she needed to prove herself to him but somehow what he thought of her did matter. She wanted him to be impressed with her.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed at you. It was rude.”

“Yeah, well, I shouldn’t have pulled your own gun on you. That was pretty rude too.”

“To be fair, I did pull it on you first.”

“God, this has been such a bizarre night and it’s just getting weirder by the second.”

She ran her hands through her hair and he realized she was shivering in the cold air. Her teeth were almost chattering she was shaking so hard.

“Hey, are you okay?” He took off his leather jacket and wrapped it around her. “Listen, it’s really late. Can I give you a ride somewhere?”

“Is there a nearby motel?”

“No, no way. I am not letting you stay in some cheap motel in a bad neighborhood. You’re coming home with me.” He didn’t know where that had come from but, for some reason, he knew that if he let this girl get away it would be the biggest mistake he ever made.

“Are you serious? I am not going home with you. I don’t even know you. And if you think I’m just some cheap slut you can seduce with your sexy smile and your bad boy attitude you are certifiably insane. Take your damn jacket. I’m outta here.” She flung the jacket at him and started to stalk off.

“Courtney, wait. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that you could stay in my guest room.”

She stopped and turned back to him. ‘Jeez, he is so gorgeous.’ Then, annoyed at herself for the thought, she went on the attack.

“Right. Out of the goodness of your heart you are going to take in the poor waif who put two of your men in the hospital and threatened you with your own gun.” She said sarcastically.

“Look, we have already established that you can take me. Why would I even attempt anything with you? Plus the bedroom door has a lock on it.” He smiled at her.

She looked at him standing there before her. ‘Why am I contemplating this? I don’t even know him.’ But he looked her square in the eye and she just felt she could trust him.

“All right. But you lay so much as one finger on me and you will join your goons at the ER.”

“Got it.” He smiled at her relieved that she’d said yes. “Let’s go.”

He pulled his cell phone out. “Johnny, can you grab a car and come down to the warehouse and pick us up.” He snapped the phone shut and jammed it into his jeans pocket. He put his jacket back around her shoulders to wait for the limo.

“So how many cars do you have?”

He was having the hardest time not staring at her. She looked like she should have been babysitting somewhere not kicking mob muscle all over a dark alley in the middle of the night. She looked so cold and he really wanted to put his arms around her but he was afraid she’d take it as a come on and get mad.

Just then the limo pulled up. As he opened the door for her and gestured for her to get in he started to speak again.

“Why don’t you have any bags?”

“Oh, shit, I completely forgot.” She looked at him with annoyance as he got in after her. “I was trying to call the cops when this all started. My car was stolen.”

She fell asleep on the ride home exhausted from the crazy evening and whatever else had happened during her day. When they arrived at the building he eased his arms under her and carried her out of the limo and up into the elevator. She woke up a little from the jostling but she just put her arms around his neck and snuggled into his chest deeper. She felt so good in his arms and she couldn’t have weighed more than 110 pounds. He carried her up to the spare bedroom and laid her gently on the bed. He took her boots off and marveled at her.

‘In the morning, I’ll call Carly and see if she can have some clothes sent up from a shop. That’s going to be a fun conversation.’

He could just picture his best friend now. She would give him grief for picking up some strange girl …

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“… off the street, Jason? What in the hell were you thinking? She could be a psycho.”

“She’s not a psycho, Carly.”

The second Carly had heard his request and why he was asking she was across the hall before he could even hang up the phone.

“Oh, and you know this how?”

“Can you just trust me?”

“Trust you? Jason, she put Max and Jimmy in the hospital. How was she able to do that if she’s just a normal girl?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t get to that part yet. But I imagine it’s some kind of martial arts training. You should have seen her - she’s amazing. She even took me down.” He grinned at the memory.

“WHAT?!?!” Carly shrieked.

“Shh, keep it down, you’re going to wake her up.”

Carly and Jason looked up to see Courtney staring back down at them. She looked so small in her rumpled clothes with mussed hair standing shoeless at the top of the stairs.

“This is the girl that took you down, Jason? Well, I am glad I am seeing it because I don’t believe it.”

Courtney was a little confused at what was going on. She walked down the stairs and walked over to Carly and Jason.

“Carly, this is Courtney … um, I’m sorry I don’t know your last name.”

“Carly, this is Courtney Matthews. Courtney, this is my best friend, Carly. She’s also my bosses’ wife. They live across the hall.”

Courtney reached out to Carly and shook her hand. She turned back to Jason.

“Across the hall? I guess you guys just like each other a lot, huh?” and then under her breath “Coffee importer, my ass.”

“Yeah, well.” Jason shrugged his shoulders.

She turned back to Carly, “Hi!”

Carly turned and walked towards the door. Over her shoulder she called, “Size 6, right?

But Carly didn’t answer and then she was out the door. Courtney looked quizzically at Jason.

“Okay, she’s … um …”

“She’s Carly.”

“So, what was that all about?”

“I asked Carly to have some clothes sent up from her favorite store.”

“For me? No, no way.”

“Why? You don’t have anything. Everything you own in Port Charles is on your back.”

“No, my coat and boots are upstairs.”

“Dammit, Courtney, you know what I mean. Why are you being difficult?”

“I don’t think I’m being difficult because I am refusing to let a man I don’t know turn me into some kept woman.”

“Why do you keep insisting that I have an ulterior motive? I’m just trying to buy you some clothes.” He was so frustrated with her.

“And give me a place to stay.”

“Well, yeah, but …”

“But what? Except for the fact that I won’t have sex with you how is this any different than being a kept woman.”

“For the LAST TIME, I’m not asking you to have sex with me, all right?”

“Well, I don’t know, it sounds like most marriages too. Especially the no sex part.”

He was so mad he could barely see and she was so focused on him neither had noticed the door open and Sonny Corinthos walk into the room.

“Who the hell are you?” Courtney spit out.

“Sonny Corinthos. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Matthews.”

“Oh, let me guess, you’re the coffee importer partner … or should I say mob boss.”

“Well, I prefer, coffee importer but whatever works for you.” He smiled at her.

She looked at Sonny. She took in his designer suit, $500 shoes, and expensive haircut.

“I get it now. You’re good cop to his bad cop, right? He annoys me and you come and charm me.”

“Sonny, I swear to God I am gonna shoot her. Talk some sense into her.”

Jason stormed out of the room and down the hall into the kitchen.

“Why are you tormenting him so much? He’s just trying to be nice to you.”

“Why? Why is someone I don’t know trying so hard to be nice to me? And why do you care?”

“Jason likes to help people. I like to help Jason - he’s my friend.”

“Yeah, right, I’ll bet you’d like to help Jason help himself to me.”

Just then Jason yelled in from the kitchen in a nasty tone of voice. “Courtney, do you want some breakfast?”

“Yeah.” She yelled back just as rudely.

Sonny started laughing and headed out the door. “You two have fun now. But later I’d like for you to tell me how you managed to take down three of my best men all by yourself.”

After Sonny left Jason walked out with two plates of eggs. He set them both down on the table opposite each other.

“Courtney, can we please just call a truce and eat? We’ll talk about the rest later.”

The clothes arrived by courier while they ate. Johnny carried in 10 huge shopping bags and set them inside the door.

In spite of herself, Courtney kept eyeing them over Jason’s shoulder. He studiously avoided looking at her and remarked, “There sure are a lot of bags over there. I’ll bet Carly told them to send one of everything they had.”

“I don’t care. I’m not accepting them.” But her eyes kept straying to the packages.

Jason couldn’t help but laugh, “Courtney, I don’t want anything from you, really. Look, I have plenty of money and I never use it. I don’t even care about it. Look around here. Do I look like I’m caught up in material things?”

She glanced around the sparsely furnished room.

“Please let me do this for you and you can repay me by answering some questions.”

He seemed sincere but she was still a little suspicious, “Like what?”

“For starters, what was that last night? How do you know how to do all that? I mean, half the time, I couldn’t even see what you were doing you were moving so fast.”

“Well, a couple of years ago when I was in high school there was this series of rapes. Really nasty, too. The guy was cutting the girls up pretty badly. He didn’t kill them but … anyway, the school brought in this guy to teach us how to defend ourselves. He was really cool and, I guess, I was pretty good at it because after the session he offered to teach me.”

“So it is a martial art.”

“Sort of. It’s called krav maga and it’s more of a fighting system. This guy developed it in the forties for the Israeli army. It’s mostly used by the military and cops. It’s different from a marital art because there really isn’t much spirituality behind it. The point is to neutralize a weapon and prevent someone from hurting you.”

“So that’s how you were able to get my gun.”

“Actually, no. You really shouldn’t keep it tucked into your pants like that. It’s really easy to get at it.”

“I know that’s why I keep it there.”

“Yeah, but easy for you means easy for me.”

“Ahh. Okay, I should have seen that coming.” He smiled at her.

“Okay, what else do you want to know?”

“Why are you in Port Charles?”

“I’m looking for my half brother. His name is Zander Smith.”

“You’re Zander’s sister?”

“He used to work for Sonny but …”

“Let me guess? He got fired.” She said with exasperation in her voice.

“How do you even get fired from the mob? I thought it was cement shoes and sleeping with the fishes.”

“You watch too many movies.” Jason chuckled.

“Okay, next question.”

“Do you want to go see your brother?”

“That’s your question?”

“Well, no, but I am curious.”

“I’ll go see my brother when I’m ready.”

“Okay, I’ll take that to mean you want to drop the subject. Will you teach me?”

“How to drop the subject? Sure, first you just stop talking about it then you …”

“No, … funny … ha ha. I mean the … uh … whatever you called it?”

“Yeah. Will you teach me?”

“I didn’t expect that.”

“I guess I just figured, you know, you’ve got a gun, why bother? I mean, it looks like you know how to use it pretty effectively.”

“Yeah, but, what if someone took my gun? Like you did last night. Then what? You don’t want me to get shot, do you?” He teased.

“Let me think about that? Do I want you to get shot? I guess that all depends on where. I think it could live with a flesh wound.” She tried to keep a straight face but she couldn’t. She started laughing.

He stared at her. Her blue eyes dance when she laughed.

“You look so pretty when you aren’t yelling at me.”

“Um, thanks.” Courtney felt a blush come over her cheeks.

“You’re welcome. Now do you want to check out the bags?” He asked gesturing over to the pile by the door.

“For a girl who’s not accepting the clothes you sure are excited.” Carly remarked.

They had been going through the bags for over 2 hours. The store had indeed sent one of everything even underwear. Carly did a lot of things well but spend other people’s money was what she did best. But Jason wouldn’t even blink when he got the bill. She could have ordered 10 of everything in the store and he wouldn’t care. The money just didn’t matter to him.

“Well, I might just take one outfit. You know, to wear while these clothes are being washed.”

Carly laughed. She hadn’t been sure about Courtney at first but she quickly got over her initial misgivings when Jason told her the story. He had called Carly over when Courtney got in the shower and asked her to stay and help out with the clothes while he met with Sonny.

“I know you and Jason got off to kind of a rocky start but he really is a great guy.”

“Yeah, I know. I feel bad for abusing him last night and this morning. I’m just not used to someone wanting to help when there isn’t anything in it for them.”

“I used to be the same way but Jason helped me change how I saw people … well, some people anyway.”

“So, you’ve known him for a long time?” Courtney fished around for information on the man she was, technically, living with.

“So how’d you two meet?”

“I picked him up in a bar.”

“What? Didn’t your husband mind?”

Carly laughed, “No, Sonny and I weren’t married then. We got married 3 years ago. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t even living in Port Charles when I was with Jason. It’s a long story. All you really need to know is Jason will never hurt you. You can trust him.”

Courtney had a feeling that “long story” didn’t even begin to cover it and she didn’t think she wanted to know.

“What about this?” Carly held up a slinky red dress.

“Where would I wear that?” Courtney laughed.

“Out to the club with us tonight.”

“Wait, what club?”

“My club. Club 101. Sonny and I are going tonight and I thought you two might like to join us.”

“You mean like a date or something?”

“Or something. Look, Jason never wants to go with us but he’ll come if you do.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Haven’t you seen the way he looks at you? He’s smitten.”

“Uh uh, no way. He doesn’t even like me. He says I annoy him.”

“He used to say the same thing to me. Still does, actually.”

“I can believe that.”

“Come on, it will be fun. Jason will just die when he sees you in that dress. That’s why I asked for it to be sent too. I saw it the other day and then when I saw you this morning I knew it was perfect for you.”

“But .. but I can’t.” Courtney thought quickly. “I don’t have any shoes to wear. Sorry, maybe some other time.”

Carly got up from the bed and stretched like a cat.

As she headed out the door she said, “Shoes are on their way. I checked the size on your boots while you were in the shower. See you at 7:00 sharp.”

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Courtney pulled her hair up into a rubber band and donned the sweats that came with the other clothes. They were a little fancier than she was used to but they would still work.

She went down to the living room and scooted the couch out of the way so she could use most of the floor to stretch.

The fighting last night had really given her a workout and she wanted to make sure she didn’t tighten up. Plus stretching would allow her to clear her mind of all the confusing thoughts bouncing around.

She had come to Port Charles to find her brother and now that she was here she was a little sorry she had come. The relationship had never been great between them and after he ran away it was non-existent. He never wrote or called her. He said when he left that he wasn’t mad at her but 2 years of nothing gave her a different opinion. At least she had found some friends or whatever you wanted to call them. Carly was cool even if she was a kind of a busybody. Sonny was all right too. But Jason really threw her for a loop. One minute she thought she hated him and then the next she was dying for him to kiss her. She was sure he was thoroughly annoyed with her. She had been such a bitch to him. After tonight she would be on her way. She’d find Zander and if it didn’t work out with him she’d find a motel.

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t hear Jason come in from his meeting. He watched her for a minute and when she bent over to touch her toes her top pulled up and he could see the butterfly tattooed on her lower back. He wanted to reach out and touch it. She looked through her legs and saw him standing at the table watching her. She straightened up and turned around.

“You should change. You’ll need something more comfortable for this.”

“Sorry, I’ll what?” Jason was confused. He’d been so caught up in thinking about where that tattoo ended that he thought she was talking about …

“Your first fighting lesson.”

“Right. Yeah, I’ll go put some sweats on. Be right back.”

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“Tell me again why I am wearing this monkey suit, Carly?” Jason fidgeted with the jacket

“So Courtney can see how handsome you look.”

“I don’t think she’ll care. She doesn’t even like me. You should have seen her this afternoon. She enjoyed hitting me.”

“You’re wrong, okay? Just trust me. You look great.”

“Fine, but I am not wearing the tie.”

“Whatever. Just wait here and I’ll go up and get her.”

Jason paced the foyer while he waited for Carly and Courtney to reappear. He was so nervous and he wasn’t quite sure why. It was just drinks at the club. But tonight it was different because Courtney was going with them.

That afternoon she had pummeled him. She explained the basic principles and then decided that he had been in enough fights to skip the lecture and move on to the exercises. She attacked from every angle, exploiting weaknesses, getting in cheap shots until he’d finally ended the lesson pleading off with the excuse that he had to get some work done. He’d gone upstairs to take a shower and had seen the blossoming of a dozen bruises when he’d taken his clothes off. And those were just the bruises he could see.

He finally heard them moving around upstairs and then Carly yelled to him, “Are you ready?”

He turned to the stairs to yell for them to hurry up when he saw her. She was standing at the top of the stairs in the sexiest dress he had ever seen on a woman. This afternoon she had looked like the girl next door with her ponytail and makeup free face but tonight she looked like a goddess. The red dressed skimmed her body ending just above her knees. The silk moved with her like it was painted on as she came down the staircase. The front cut down low over the tops of her full breasts and he knew if she bent over even a little he could see what he suspected - that she was not wearing a bra - was true. She had on the barest amount of makeup just enough to show that she didn’t really need any at all and her hair was down but curled all around her face in loose waves. She had these tiny white flowers pinned in the strands too and he could smell the scent of them as she came closer to him. It was the shoes that got him though. Her feet looked so sexy in them. They were very high with delicate red beaded straps. He wasn’t quite sure how she could walk in them.

Carly had come down the stairs right behind Courtney but he didn’t even see her. He was so awed by the woman in front of him he couldn’t even speak.

“Jason, isn’t Courtney beautiful?” Carly prodded.

He didn’t trust his voice so he just nodded with a stupid smile on his face.

“You look nice too, Jason.” Courtney smiled shyly at him.

“Maybe you should hand Courtney her wrap, Jason.” Carly tried again.

Jason turned to see a strip of red fabric lying over the back of the couch. He grabbed it then turned to Courtney and handed it to her.

“Don’t you have any manners, Jason? Help her put it on.” Carly ordered as she breezed past him and headed to the door.

“We’re leaving. Come on.” Carly ordered holding open the door.

Jason offered Courtney his arm as Carly looked on approvingly. He walked her to the elevator where they stopped to wait for Sonny.

“You really do look beautiful, Courtney. Um, does that dress only come in red?”

“Why? Don’t you like the red?” She asked nervously as she looked down at the front of the dress.

“No, I love it. I just thought we could get you one in every color.” He grinned at her as the foursome stepped onto the elevator.

Club 101 was packed. There was a long line outside the door and none of the people waiting in it seemed to care about the cold. The limo pulled up in front and one of the club’s doormen held the door open as Sonny and Jason got out. Each in turn helped his date out. As they walked past the waiting people and into the club they heard a wolf whistle. Jason and Sonny bristled at the disrespect but the women just smiled and pushed them along inside.

“I hate that. It’s so disrespectful. You’re my wife and for someone to do that …”

Carly just patted him on the hand as they were shown to their VIP table and said, “Honey, calm down. Maybe it was for Courtney.”

Sonny smiled ruefully at the other woman, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have presumed. I’m not used to Jason having a date.”

Courtney ducked her head to hide her smile. She didn’t want Jason to think she was laughing at him. She snuck a look at him to see if he was embarrassed by his bosses’ remark but he looked unperturbed.

“So you don’t date a lot, huh?”

Jason gripped her hand a little tighter as he pulled a chair out for her. “I just hadn’t found anyone I wanted to spend time with until now.”

As he pushed her chair in for her his fingertips brushed against the ends of hair lying curled against her back. He felt a charge go through him and hit him right in the pit of his stomach. She shivered from his touch so he laid his hand on the soft skin of her shoulder.

He leaned down and asked quietly into her ear, “Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?”

She shook her head no and watched as he sat in the seat next to her.

“I’m fine. Thank you though.”

Carly just smiled at the two of them. They were so cute both nervous and unsure. It was actually kind of funny. Jason never acted like this. ‘He must really like her.’

Carly leaned over to Jason and whispered, “Why don’t you ask her to dance, Jase?”

He whispered back, “Because I don’t dance, Carly.”

Carly cut her eyes to the man walking across the floor towards them, “Well, you’d better start or you may lose your date.”

The man was bearing down on the table his eyes on Courtney only. Jason shot him a look and then quickly got up and went to stand in front of Courtney’s chair blocking her from the man’s view.

“May I help you?” Jason asked with tension in his voice.

“I just wanted to ask the lady to dance.”

“This is a private party.”

“So she can’t dance?”

“No, she can dance. Just not with you or anyone else. She dances with me.” With that Jason turned around and held his hand out for Courtney. She took it and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor. She place her left hand on his shoulder as his slid his arm around her waist. They joined hands and started to sway to the music.

“What was that all about?” Courtney asked with a faint wrinkle in her brow.

“You can’t be too careful.” He replied lightly.

“Next time let me answer for myself, all right? Or were you afraid I’d say yes?”

He looked away from her intense gaze. He didn’t want his eyes to give him away. He had been afraid she’d say yes to the offer. She didn’t owe him anything. They weren’t even dating.

“Jason, I would have said no.” She told him softly.

He pulled her tighter and she rested her head on his shoulder. It all seemed so unreal to her. Just 12 hours ago they were at each other’s throats and now she was wrapped around him so tightly she didn’t know where she ended and he began. She loved having his arms around her.

“Shh, just dance with me. I never do this so I just want to enjoy the moment.”

She could feel his heart beating through his shirt and the thin silk of her dress. It was reassuring and made her feel at home somehow. They were so wrapped up in each other neither had noticed the song had stopped until another couple bumped into them on the way back to their table.

“Excuse me. “ The man said and then he noticed who he was talking to.

“Well, hey, Jase. How’ve you been?” The shorter, dark haired man asked with more than obvious fake concern. “You remember my lovely wife, Liz.”

“AJ.” He replied and then turned to the woman, “Elizabeth, how are you?”

Jason tried to lead Courtney away from the couple in an attempt to circumvent what he knew was coming.

“And who’s your little friend, Jason?” Elizabeth asked with a sneer.

“Courtney, this is my half-brother AJ and his wife, Elizabeth.”

Courtney looked at the couple and could sense this was not a happy family relationship. She withheld her hand and both knew they couldn’t comment on her refusal to shake hands without appearing rude.

“I’m sure you’ll understand when I say how sorry we are that we can’t stay and talk more. We’ve been ignoring our hosts and I feel terribly rude. I’m pleased to have made your acquaintance. Goodnight.” She turned Jason and herself away and headed back to the table where Carly and Sonny were watching the exchange.

“What did they want?’ Carly demanded when they reached the table.

“Trouble.” Courtney replied, “I don’t like her. She’s a little viper.”

Carly laughed so hard Sonny had to go get her some water. Tears were streaming down her face at Courtney’s assessment of Mrs. Alan Quartermaine, Jr.

“She’s pretty smart, Jason. It took you a year to pick up on that.”

“Drop it, Carly.” Jason warned.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with them. You handled that really well.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.”

Sonny’s phone rang then and he stepped away from the table motioning Jason to follow him to a quieter area of the club.

“Excuse us, ladies.”

Courtney leaned over to Carly and inquired, “Okay, what was that with his brother?”

“Jason and Elizabeth used to date. Exclusive but not too serious. Next thing you know she disappears over a weekend and comes back married to AJ. They had been seeing each other behind Jason’s back for months.”

“Oh my God, was he really mad?”

“Not really but he doesn’t like to talk about it. I think he feels foolish for believing she was so sweet and nice all along. She’s really played up the part and sucked him in.”

The women could see Sonny and Jason heading back to the table so they broke off the conversation.

“What were you ladies talking about so intently?” Sonny queried.

“Shoes” “Makeup” They both answered at once.

Jason looked at them suspiciously. “Carly, why couldn’t you just drop it?”

“Jason, this is my fault. I asked her to tell me.” She looked at him apologetically.

“Yeah, okay, whatever. We’ve got to go ladies.”

“Why?” Courtney asked and then saw the look on Jason’s face. “Never mind.”

They headed toward the door of the club and as they neared the exit a man grabbed Courtney’s arm. Before she could even react Jason had the man pinned up against the wall with his forearm against the man’s throat.

“Don’t ever touch her again. Do you understand me?” Jason growled.

The man nodded his head yes. He was a little drunk and had only intended to get the pretty blonde’s attention.

“Jason?” Courtney demanded.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Jason realized he was still holding the man and started to let him go. He turned to Courtney ready to make his apologies for grabbing the man when she started lecturing him.

“How many times do I have to tell you to make sure you put your leg in between the assailant’s when you have him a forearm chokehold? Jeez, you never listen.”

Sonny started laughing at her response to the altercation. “Jason, I think you have met your match.”