“Whaddya think? Should we try to wake him?”
Marissé walked by Jacinto and sat down on the bed then slowly leaned down over Jay-L, who was sprawled out in the back of his custom Gulfstream jet. She gently placed her arms on each side of his head and looked closely at his face. Jacinto and Jim, the helicopter pilot, had managed to get Jay-L into the back stateroom before either of the jet pilots could see he was unconscious when they were on the tarmac in Chichen Itza. Marissé then stowed her bag and the pelican case in the front cabinet while Jacinto had jumped into one of the huge leather chairs in the main cabin. Then Marissé had gone to the bedroom cabin with Jay-L and buckled herself into the seat for takeoff. When Jim got off the plane before takeoff, he told the Captain that his boss retired to the rear cabin with the woman he had come to pick up. That was good enough for the flight crew, and the large private jet was flying down the runway for a quick takeoff shortly after. Jay-L never moved from the same position he was in when they laid him out on the luxury full-sized bed.
As soon as they were in the air, Jacinto jumped up from his seat and was now standing at the doorway to the plush bedroom in the sky. His arms were crossed, and he was shaking his head.
“No way, Boss. It’s like they say, ‘Let sleeping dogs and babies lie.’ Well, it’s sleeping billionaires, too.”
Marissé looked over at Jacinto with a frown and then she turned back and looked closely at Jay-L’s face again. She knew she didn’t hit him that hard. But, she’d hit him before. And she knew how easy it was to knock him out. His face almost looked comical. His mouth was slightly open, and his tongue was hanging out to the side just a little bit. If it weren’t for his steady breathing, she might have been worried.
• • •
When someone is knocked unconscious, they don’t dream. It’s just blackness. So when the hollow ringing darkness started to fade from the nerve shock his brain received when Marissé jammed his jaw back into his skull with her fist, the slowly returning light was the first thing Jay-L’s brain began to register. It started at the exterior of his completely blackened visual field. Pale orange began to lighten the deep nothingness and slowly the visual cortex of his brain rebooted. Unconsciously, his eyelids started to flutter slightly and lift up, as his eyes began to pull down from their position rolled back in his head.
After the lightness overtook the darkness in Jay-L’s eyes, the fixture over the bed was blocked by Marissé’s head as she leaned in over him. When his eyes finally came back to life fully, the light coalesced around her head, and blood rushed back into his brain causing sparkles to roll across the image in his eyes. The features of Marissé’s face started to form in the middle of a bright stream of light and fireworks going on in Jay-L’s head. In his altered conscious state, the image of Marissé was transformed into an angel with a face glowing from a heavenly light. Jay-L’s face smoothed into a contented smile, and he was overcome with a sense of calm serenity.
Then he blinked, and the image was gone.
• • •
Jay-L snapped into consciousness with Marissé’s face only a foot away from his and backlit by the ceiling light. He was still smiling as she got up and stood beside the bed. When she moved, Jay-L’s eyes were hit by the overhead light, and he stared at it for a moment while he blinked a couple more times. Then he slowly looked around the room. Suddenly, his smile dropped. The area between his eyes on his forehead crunched together and his eyebrows bunched up. Then his eyes flew wide open as he remembered landing at Chichen Itza. He jerked his head back to look at Marissé next to his bed.
“You hit me!”
Marissé looked back over to Jacinto standing in the doorway and smiled. “Give us a minute.”
Jacinto happily took the hint and pulled the door shut behind him. Marissé looked back at Jay-L, and the smile instantly disappeared from her face.
“You got some ‘splaining to do Roosie.” Marissé was not happy as she gave him her impression of Ricky Ricardo from the I Love Lucy Show. “My nice tequila buzz is long gone, and I want some answers right now. And if I don’t like what I hear, I’m gonna do a lot more than just hit you… Comprendé mi amigo?” Now she pointed her finger right at his face. “What the hell do you mean, we’re mar—”
Jay-L interrupted her. “We’re NOT married.” Then he spilled his beans like a piñata whacked by baseball bat. “I had to give the custom officials a name and a reason along with the customary bribe. That’s how I got you out of the country. You were listed as my wife, and Hassi was your brother. I told the officials you came here to visit family, and now you were ready to come home.” He almost sounded a little desperate.
Marissé was shocked, and it showed on her face. Slowly it turned into embarrassment. Jay-L’s story made sense. And now that she thought about it with a bit more of a clear head, she realized she jumped to a conclusion.
“You… I…” She turned and sat down on the bed beside Jay-L, who was sitting up now. “I’m sorry,” she said as she roughly sighed and looked at the closed door to the stateroom. “I thought you…” She let her voice trail off.
Jay-L looked at her, and his demeanor softened. “I know what you thought.” He pulled his legs around and slid over to the edge of the bed next to her. His voice subtly changed, too. He looked and sounded like a brother talking to his sister when he continued. “Nobody knows about my personal life, and everyone understands my need for discretion… I do it all the time with girls I’m dating. It’s how I’ll get you into Miami, too. It was supposed to be a joke. I was going to explain when you popped me.” He looked over at her and chuckled. She looked back just in time to see his face soften again.
“I’m really glad to see you Mahddy.” Then he reached up and rubbed his chin.
Marissé couldn’t help it. She cracked up as she reached out and gave Jay-L a big bearhug. She finally let go and sat back.
“I’m glad to see you, too. I’m sorry again about the chin… I don’t know what’s come over me. Maybe it’s just the excitement.”
Jay-L tried to stand up, but his legs wobbled. He quickly got his balance but still weaved a little as he headed over to a cabinet.
“Easy there, Rocky.” Marissé watched as Jay-L almost ran into the cabinet he was heading for.
“You know… I thought you got tired of beating me up years ago.” He reached into the small cabinet and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. He opened it and poured two out into his hand. Then he wiggled his jaw a little and found that it was really sore. He poured two more aspirin; then two more. He put the cap back on the bottle and returned it to the cabinet. Then he headed over to the bar, opened the mini fridge, and took out a bottle of water. He was still a little wobbly as he opened the water bottle and threw the pills in his mouth. Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide and started to choke before he coughed the six tablets across the cabin like a spit-take in a movie. He stood there for a long comedic moment, then he cracked up laughing.
Marissé was laughing too, as she got up and walked over to him. “Sit down… I’ll get you some more.” She stepped over the ejected pills on the carpet and walked over to the cabinet with the aspirin bottle. Jay-L plopped down on the bed again.
“Boy, I really fit the ‘suave billionaire’ stereotype… Huh?”
Marissé walked over to him with a new handful of aspirin in one hand. She held them out for him while he took one at a time and swallowed each with water. After a minute when he was finished, she took her other hand out from behind her back. She held out a copy of People Magazine with Jay-L and some blonde model on the front cover, with a headline that read, ‘Suave Billionaire and Most Available Bachelor on the Planet.’ The color faded out of Jay-L’s face for an instant as he stared in disbelief at the magazine cover. Then his face started to turn pink as his cheeks blushed. Marissé waited for a long beat, then at just the moment he looked up at her from the magazine, she calmly answered him.
“That’s exactly what I read in here… But I don’t know?”
&n
bsp; She looked at him through squinted eyes for another long moment. Then she cracked up laughing.
Jay-L couldn’t help it and rolled backward on the bed, howling like a drunk hyena.
Marissé stood next to the bed slowly shaking her head as she watched Jay-L. Then she tucked the magazine under her arm and smiled at him.
“Come on. Let’s get out of your bedroom before you start any more rumors.”
She walked over to the cabin door and waited as Jay-L composed himself and joined her…
Continue the story in the second exciting novel,
The Hole in the Magic Shield…
Available Now!
THE ANCIENTS OF EARTH
An Action Science Fiction Series
by Lucian Randolph
Available now at all major online booksellers.
Book One - THE GOD IN THE CLEAR ROCK
Book Two - THE HOLE IN THE MAGIC SHIELD
Book Three - THE EMPTY EGGS OF BURNING LIGHT
Book Four - THE WRATH OF THE INVISIBLE SWORD
Book Five - THE FINAL FIRE OF BRIGHT SKIES
And Coming Soon…
Book Six (the final book) - THE SEED OF THE SUN’S HEART
Find the latest information about Lucian at:
LucianRandolph.com
And circle Lucian on Google Plus:
https://plus.google.com/+LucianRandolph
Or follow Lucian on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/LucianRandolph
Dedication
For my loving wife Marie,
without whom
this story would never have been told.
And for Linda,
without whom I would not be.
We never really got to know one another.
But I’m sad you’re gone.
Acknowledgements
A book like this is a labor of love. But rarely is it wise to enter labor alone. This story was brought into the world with the help of several literary mid-wives. I’d like to extend my sincere gratitude to Marie, Ryan, Luc, Ethan, Gilly, Toni, Viv, Randy, Gigi, Charlie, Bruno, Moto, Fergie, Tiny, Shiny, and Baracus. Although several of you reside in only one person’s body and some of you are furry, I love each of you and I thank you all. I could not have gotten here without your help.
About the Author
Lucian lives in Florida with his wife and two sons. He also lives with a pack of eight (yes eight) miniature dachshunds that he uses to hunt Garden Gnomes. An avid Gnome hunter since his days with the Fifth Special Gnome Expeditionary Forces based out of Fort Bragg, he has personally been responsible for the reduction in the Florida pest population of the common Garden Gnome, Gnomiansis Gardenii.
Unfortunately, since he uses mini dachshunds to hunt them, he only has a few intact heads in his trophy room.
But if you’re in Florida and run into him, he might show them to you.
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