gut feeling

The sun had barely been up when he’d let himself into the office. He’d been the first on there, slinking from one moonlit patch of industrial carpet to another like he shouldn’t have been there. Wasn’t exactly breaking and entering if you had a keycard to get in, was it? Of course, that didn’t stop that little pang of guilt as he’d flipped on a lamp and dropped into the chair behind his desk.

Others started to flood in around eight, the glances shot in his direction rolling off of him like water off a duck’s back. He’d looked up as a cup of coffee had clunked down lightly on the corner of his desk but JJ hadn’t spared more than a flicker of a grin for the redhead who’d been working the entertainment column since before he’d been employed by the Daily. There’d been the prick of her gaze between his shoulder blades as he’d gone back to pulling together the conclusion of the article about the boss’ bloke but he’d shrugged them off. There’d be plenty of time for office socialising once this was in … if he was still there.

An hour later he was scrolling down through it one last time, the knot in the pit of his stomach ratcheting tighter with each punch of the down arrow. If there was as much to Leah’s accusations as his research said there was then he was painting a target on his back with it but there’d been too much here for him to just throw his hands up and let Destiny get on with it. Chances were she’d be hitting delete on it five minutes after she got to the end of it, the whole thing lost not to an editor’s red pen but to the owner’s temper. It wouldn’t be good for the baby but neither would having a dad in his life who was practically washing his hands in blood on a daily basis either.

Maybe he winced as he printed it out and slipped into Destiny’s office while she was out in the bullpen talking to someone else but JJ was back in his usual relaxed slump at his desk five minutes after. It wouldn’t have been the first article he’d had that’d been pulled from press, wouldn’t be the first he’d waved around for someone else to pick up either. One way or another he’d get the truth out there and maybe one day Destiny would thank him for it.

Working his tongue into the pocket of his cheek JJ picked up the cold cup of coffee and downed it. Foul but it was fuel for throwing himself back into writing again. The gala that had been thrown at the museum. A half smile tugged at his lips as he got into it. Another example of Grey Maddox throwing his money around here like that wasn’t stained with blood too. He could smell enough of it in the water that he was prepared to circle like Jaws until he could sink his teeth into it.

Brows furrowed as he stared at the rapidly scrolling cursor, letters that were out of his head the minute he’d got them onto the street shooting past. How long it was between the article going down on Destiny’s desk and her smacking the crumpled remnants of it down on his he had no bloody clue.

JJ eased back in his chair, slowly swivelling it towards her. His fingers reached out to smooth the pages, running over his name on the by line. Aqua eyes rose to meet hers, sandy brows hitching above them. ”I woulda thought that was pretty obvious,” he said lightly, knowing it would probably only fan the flames. Lines sprung up around JJ’s mouth as he pressed his lips together. He shoved the pages away, crossing his arms over his chest. ”I’d beg to differ on the truth of it and you know I can’t tell you who I spoke to. I’m not ratting them out cause your boyfriend’s dirty laundry’s getting aired.” The evidence he’d gathered littered his inbox, each email kept for situations like this. He might’ve sent them to her but the minute she asked what was wrong with him JJ was letting out a protesting ”oi!”

Scooting towards her, coming disturbingly eye to eye with that bump that looked like surely it was gonna burst at any day now, JJ jabbed a finger on the edge of his desk as he looked up at her. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been honest about his past when he’d applied for the job here. ”There’s not half as much wrong with me as there is him. You’re a little biased with him, eh?” Each tap of his finger got a little louder, a metronome for his temper. ”There were articles over there about his dad’s death after he disappeared, you think all of them were based on just rumours? It’s not shit. Your fella’s got a shady past, Destiny, closing your eyes to it ain’t gonna do you or that one much good.” Lifting his chin towards her bump he winced faintly. Was it like a grenade, could you set it off just by pulling the pin?

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 874

The boss had some self-control, he’d give her that. There’d been this editor in Kabul at one point – blonde, stick thin, strung tight enough that it was a wonder she hadn’t snapped and tried to pogo home with the stick stuck up her arse two minutes after their flight had turned up – who’d finally snapped when he’d come rolling back with a patrol, blood smeared, his camera man wrapped up neck to crowd in bandages in the back. She’d screamed at him almost unintelligibly before she’d slapped him. Blood red nails, chipped after three weeks in country, raking across his cheek as that sting had struck. That was a total loss of control. JJ twitched a corner of his mouth up, almost feeling the crack of it still. She’d been back on a plane eight hours later and he’d spent the next week telling the blokes they were embedded with that it’d been some wild cat he’d faced down.

Destiny had the squall of one definitely, all hissing anger boiling out of that burgeoning form like the growing bump might deflate as all that temper spilled out, but she hadn’t hit him. That had to be a sign that he wasn’t immediately out, didn’t it? JJ frowned as she hissed at him, full lips pursing as he rocked back another inch in his chair. ”It wasn’t honestly trash, was it? I mean … the actual writing, not the laundry…” Lie was a little sharp when it seemed that lying was all that Grey Maddox had done since he’d rolled into town on a wave of charm and money (he still hadn’t found out exactly where Maddox had managed to pull all of that together from).

Maybe that was the problem. Destiny had believed his lies, gotten herself in far enough that she’d ended up with that little bun in the oven. You never wanted your sore spots poked when you were trying not to see them yourself. JJ sank his teeth into his tongue behind closed lips for a minute. He probably shouldn’t have carried on digging a nail in one when there was a little bundle stuck in the middle of it all, one who could take all this hubbub and use it as an excuse to try and make an early jailbreak. Nobody had ever accused him of being eminently sensible though.

Inching closer, one eye on the bump, JJ practically corkscrewed a finger right into that soft spot. He was probably hammering the nails into his coffin here in town one at a time but this was him doing the right thing here. The boss had to know, even if it meant blowing up the foundations of everything Grey Maddox had here. ”I’d saying ‘nothing’s’ a bit of a stretch. I found out plenty when I started raking the mud.” Asshole probably wasn’t half as much a stretch but he wasn’t gonna say he’d take that. The finger he’d been stabbing the edge of the desk with rose, pointed at her until she gasped and then JJ shoved it flat on the desk, like that jab that hadn’t even touched her had set her off. ”When you havin’ a pop at me’s gonna have you poppin’ in a minute? No, love. I didn’t mean for this.” Another wide eyed, worried look at the bump she was rubbing her hand over. God, he hoped he wasn’t gonna have to call an ambulance here.

The baby didn’t shoot out like a greyhound of a trap when she snapped upright at least. JJ craned back in the seat, feeling a little like he had indigestion as he met those glaring eyes. ”I was talkin’ about the pair of you. I’d say I’ve got more of one than you think I do, Destiny.” Wasn’t like his old man was a saint. Dumping his first wife and son to shack up with another, wiping them so far off the map that his boys hadn’t met until they were well into adulthood and fully capable of slagging off the General and his shitty life choices.

Indignation rolled out in his chuckle as he propped an elbow on the arm of his chair and lightly pinched his lower lip between his thumb and forefinger. So this was meant to be a case of glory hunting, better than sour grapes about the boss getting herself a rich boyfriend he supposed. ”Maybe he’s gonna be and you’ll both prove me wrong but I gave enough of a shit to back all of this up with plenty of evidence. Did you read it carefully enough to see where I dropped it in there? I ain’t a hack love, I know what I’m doin’.” He knew he wasn’t about to kick Leah under the bus too. You didn’t reveal your sources in situations like this for a reason, not even to your big boss – especially not when she was all tangled up with the subject of the story.

The murderer.

JJ nipped at his lip, considering pulling the reports up on the screen at least. It’d just take a couple of clicks of the mouse, they were all filed neatly on the system (and backed up on a separate drive at home, he wasn’t stupid after all). He sighed, shaking his head up at her. ”They’re more than that if there’s still a file on him as a ‘person of interest’ on a copper’s desk back home. Sorry, love … I’m not gonna drop a story like this just because the truth’s got you all … aw, did you have ta?” Yeah, she did. Making him feel like a fucking arsehole as the tears started to spill. He’d never been good with them, especially when he’d been the one wringing them out. Most of the time he retreated, hands up in the air, calling no foul as he high tailed it out of the situation but he couldn’t squeeze out of this one without trying to shimmy around that bump. Given the way she’d gasped earlier, that might just set something off.

Cursing under his breath he plucked a handful of tissues out of the box on his desk. JJ frowned as he held them up to her, keeping his head back out of face raking distance of course. Once bitten, forever shy with that. He sighed, grimacing before he shook his head at her. ”I didn’t exactly go out thinkin’ I was goin’ to have the boss sobbin’ at my desk by writin’ bad about her bloke. I was gonna do a profile on him but … you know, you’ve gotta go where the story takes you and there’s more to the eye with that bloke.” The laugh was bitter as he rocked back, his head shaking.

”This is it then? You hired an arsehole, knowin’ he was one but that was fine at long as he wasn’t arsin’ in your direction? It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done it. Probably won’t be the last. People like knowin’ the truth when it ain’t their life you’re shinin’ a light on.” Hissing out another sigh between pursed lips he pushed his way to his feet and nudged his chair in her direction. ”Would you sit down in that while you’re callin’ me every nasty thing under the son at least? You’re worryin’ me.” He cast another dubious look at her stomach, all round and ready to start heaving with the arrival of a kid who had no idea yet that his dad was just as big an arsehole as the man pissing his mum off at the moment.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 1271