Jessica's Fate

Chapter 50

Tony headed into downtown Charleston before parking in a parking garage and coming around to open my car door. "Milady..." He smiled.

"Oh, thank you, kind sir." I said before getting out of the truck and dropping a quick curtsey. He laughed. "So, why downtown?" I asked as he wrapped his fingers around my hand and clicked the alarm on his truck to lock it as we walked to the elevator.

"I like to walk around and talk." He admitted. "Window shopping has always been a way to see things a little more clearly." He said, punching the button to call the elevator to take us to the concourse level.

"I hadn't thought of it that way." I said. Then again, I hadn't thought about window shopping like, ever. My bus to school had taken me through downtown, twice a day, Monday through Friday, September to June for almost 10 years. It never dawned on me that it might be nice to get off the bus and walk around.

I wouldn't dare waste bus fare.

And I just thought that a teen girl wandering around by herself would maybe find unexpected trouble.

And, Kota had my backpacks low jacked with trackers. I never had it fully confirmed until the day last spring when I'd confronted Owen and Sang about it and Owen hadn't said one word to dissuade the notion. Therefore, yes, I had to walk in my house and turn off the alarm and turn it back on again at the same time every day or I surely would have brought the entire Academy and their wrath down around my ears.

Well, probably not the ENTIRE Academy.

Just, whoever could come find me based on GPS locator and bring some sort of wrath down on me.

Might have been fun if it had been Raven.

Although, he would have been super scary to meet the first time if I was by myself.

He had been kinda scary on prom night. It was only after I was learning Russian and spending time with him every week that he wasn't so scary.

No, his wife was scary. All that bottled-up hatred... yeah, crazy.

Tony squeezed my hand. "You're lost in thought." He observed. "Is this all right? Did you want to do something else, go home...?" His voice held a hint of apprehension as if nervous that I was done with the date and I was longing to be rid of him.

I blinked up at him and stretched up on my tiptoes to close the distance between us and brushed a kiss along his jaw. "Oh no, this is fine. My mom would be at home and I'm not ready for you to be exposed to the motherly inquisition." I said. "I know you're Academy and obviously, North probably put you through quite a vetting process even before you were aware he was doing it." I smiled when he chuckled. "But he's got nothing on my mama bear."

His eyebrow quirked up. "Is that so?"

I nodded solemnly. "She's been mama bear to all of the guys that I grew up with. Even the ones that had their own mama's who should have known better than to treat their sons with a lack of respect for them as a human and as their own child. She would not hesitate to take you down at the first sign of weakness. Even if she did point out to me that you were hot before we left." I felt my cheeks flush with a sudden heat at the look in his eyes.

Tony considered what I said. "You're right. I have no problem with meeting parents but if you think it's too early for me to meet her more than just a greeting at the door when I pick you up then I'm okay with that." He squeezed my hand again as the elevator arrived and he let me get on it first. He joined me and pushed the button for concourse level before pulling me into a hug that had me facing him. "I am, honest." He said at the questioning look I gave him.