The Rebel
Chapter 25

This is my adaptation of “Rebel With a Cause” by Kim Hansen.


Jax brushed past Sonny’s fluttering secretary and threw open the office door.

“Sonny, I want to talk to you. Now!”

Sonny rose from behind his desk. In front of it, Harlan Barrett stood up also, his
face darkening with a scowl. “I’m busy, McCarty,” Sonny barked, and then
smiled showing all his teeth as he gestured towards Harlan. “In case, you didn’t
notice.”

“I noticed,” Jax answered, but didn’t stop moving. He walked over to the desk
and past Harlan Barrett. “Where were you on Thursday afternoon?”

“Where...?” Sonny glared at him and then looked over to his boss. “This is
ridiculous!”

“Just answer the question!” Jax demanded, and suddenly leaned across the desk
to grab Sonny’s shirt. “You own a black pickup truck that has ash in the back.
“How is that possible?”

Sonny’s mouth moved but no sound came out.

“You work in L.A., you live in a condo in L.A. How would ash get in the back of
you truck?”

Sonny pushed Jax’s hand away. “I also like to camp out. You can ask anyone. Its
hard to tell how long its been there,” he replied, but his eyes were looking
anywhere but at Jax. His body language also showed he was nervous.

“I’d say the ash has been there since at least Thursday,” Jax said, moving around
the desk to stand in front of Sonny.

Sonny backed up and hastily retreated around the desk to the other side. “The
dentist. I was at the dentist. I can prove it.”

“When? And how long were you there?”

“I don’t remember,” Sonny muttered, trying to keep some distance between him
and Jax.

“Somehow I don’t believe you. You left the office right after I hit you, and that
was before lunch. Why didn’t you come back?”

“What business is it of yours?” Sonny returned, and suddenly stopped to hold
his ground. He stiffened as Jax came to stand in front of him. “You have no right
to question me.”

“I have every right when I have reason to believe you’re the one who set the fire
that almost got Brenda killed.” Behind him Harlan and Brenda both gasped, but
Jax barely heard it. He had his attention focused on Sonny, whose dark eyes
were shifting back and forth between the door and Jax. “Tell me where you were
on Thursday and tell me you have witnesses, because the fire marshal is going to
want to speak to all of them after he comes out and takes prints of the tires on
your truck.”

Sonny bolted, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Jax grabbed him by the shirt, preventing him from fleeing, but Sonny took him
by surprise hitting him in the stomach with his fist. Brenda heard the air rush
out of his lungs and cringed. Sonny’s blow didn’t seem to affect Jax though,
because Jax brought his right hand up to connect with Sonny’s face.

Sonny wiggled free and started to back away from Jax. As he was backing away,
he tripped over a chair and landed on the floor. Sonny shook his head to clear
the cobwebs. He scrambled to his feet as he saw Jax coming closer. Jax flashed
Sonny a smile, which irked Sonny to no end. Letting out a yell, He charged at
Jax.

Sonny made impact and they both fell to the ground. They rolled over and over
trading punches. Brenda tried to intervene, but Harlan held her back. Finally,
Jax was able to get Sonny pinned underneath him and he gave him several
punches to his face to show that he was in charge.

Harlan released Brenda and she ran over to Jax and Sonny. As Jax was about to
land another punch to Sonny’s face. Brenda grabbed his wrist. “Jax, stop it!
Don’t sink to his level!”

Jax sighed and nodded. He got up off of Sonny and pulled Brenda into his arms.
He hugged her tightly, never wanting to let her go. After a few minutes, he
reluctantly pulled away and turned to Harlan. “Call the police.”

“They’re on their way,” Harlan announced before walking over to his fallen
vice-president, who still laid on the floor.

Several moans came out of Sonny’s mouth, as he held his face. He glared at Jax
and if looks could kill then Jax would definitely be dead.

Harlan leaned over Sonny, his eyes stone cold as looked at him. “Sonny, you’re
fired.”

Sonny closed his eyes and screamed.

Jax smiled and drew Brenda back into his arms. Sonny had fallen and there was
no getting up. A few minutes later, there was some commotion as the police
arrived. An officer handcuffed Sonny before pulling him to his feet. The officer
then preceded to read Sonny his rights. While all this was going on, another
officer was taking statements from Jax, Brenda and Harlan.

An hour later, everything was done. The statements had been taken and Sonny
was on his way to jail. He wouldn’t be getting out for sometime or maybe ever as
he had an arson, attempted murder, and several other charges pending against
him.

After the police left, Harlan excused himself and Jax and Brenda was finally
alone.

“My hero,” Brenda murmured as she held an ice pack to Jax’s swollen check. “I
wished that you would have just let the police question him.”

Jax smiled. “Yeah, and then all my fun would have been ruined.”

Brenda didn’t smile in return. She just simply shook her head. “I just can’t
believe that he would want to hurt me that bad. So bad that he would actually try
to burn the Malibu property down.”

“He probably didn’t give it much thought. After you got him in the boardroom
and I cornered him in the file room, he just wanted revenge. The Malibu project
was the only place that was vulnerable and accessible. So he figured that he
could hurt us.”

“But we have insurance.”

Jax shrugged his shoulders. “I told you he wasn’t thinking. Just reacting.”

Brenda removed the ice pack from his check. She winced as she saw the bruise
that Sonny’s fist had left. “Mr. McCarty, I’ve certainly seen you look better.”

“You can’t tell in the dark.”

Brenda leaned in and kissed the bruised area. “I think you better take it easy for
a while. In fact, I think you should go home and get some sleep.”

“I did have a very busy weekend.”

“Don’t be cute.”

“I’m being perfectly serious. You wore me out.”

Her smile was anything, but regretful. “Did I?”

“Yes.” He lifted his head to meet her lips in a brief kiss. “Are you going to come
and nurse me back to health if I go home to bed?”

“Only if you give me your address.”

He didn’t smile. “That was mean.”

“You deserved it. You were being cocky.” She caught a motion at the door out of
the corner of her eye and turned as Lilly entered.

“I’m sorry to interrupt.”

Brenda shook her head and stood. “You’re not interrupting anything except
sympathy for our hero.”

“More, more,” Jax groaned with alarming realism.

Lilly reacted in immediate concern. “Is he...?”

“Fine,” Brenda assured her. “Did you need me for something?”

“You father wants to see you in his office right away.”

Brenda sighed. “Duty calls. You be a good boy for Lilly, and maybe she’ll feel
sorry for you.”

Jax groaned again and closed his eyes, opening them almost immediately to see
Brenda slip out the door. He sighed. “Being a hero is more painful than I
thought it would be.”

“That’s because you don’t live in the movies. The punches you and he were
exchanging were real,” Lilly said sympathetically. “Can I get you anything?”

“How about a new face?”

She grinned. “I don’t think so. The one you got is handsome enough.”

He choked on his own laughter as his side ached in pain. “Don’t make me laugh.
Please don’t make me laugh.”

Lilly smiled and left the room.

Brenda returned fifteen minutes later, her face glowing as she stood next to the
couch and looked down at Jax.

Jax eased himself up into a sitting position. He could tell something good
happened. But instead of telling him what had made her so happy, she asked
how he was feeling.

“I feel fine. Now tell me what’s made you so happy.”

She laughed and reached out to brush some hair off his forehead. “I have some
good news. Since Sonny is gone, there is going to be a lot of work to do. My
father gave me all his accounts, including KLM.”

If he’d been flattened with another punch, Jax couldn’t have been more stunned.
Whatever he was expecting her to say, it hadn’t been that.

When he’d gone after Sonny, he hadn’t stopped to realize that someone would
have to take over Sonny’s place on the KLM bid. His only thought had been for
justice, but if he’d won the battle, it appeared Sonny was going to even the score.
For, as Jax watched Brenda do a little dance, he realized what he’d feared most
had happened.

“I’ll need you help, of course,” Brenda said, oblivious to his expression or his
reaction to her news. “It’s a big account and my father wants to work with me on
getting ready, but isn’t it great? Aren’t you proud of me?”

“Of course,” he murmured, and tried to think how he could tell her that he
couldn’t do it. That he couldn’t work with her. Not on this. Morally, ethically, it
wasn’t right. He knew more about KLM already than she could learn by the time
the meeting, which was set for Friday.

Brenda sat down beside him, but the excitement of the moment was blinding her
to everything he was trying to tell her. “This is what I’ve been working for. I can’t
believe it! We’ll have to start right away...”

He reached out to take her hand. “Brenda, I can’t.”

Suddenly focusing on him, on his face, on the scraped knuckles of the fingers
holding hers, she sobered. “Oh, Jax, I’m so sorry. Of course you can’t. Not now.
Why don’t you go home and get some rest?”

“Brenda...” he began, but she interrupted him.

“Or you can go to my place. I’ll give you the key, and I can meet you there later.”
She jumped up. “I don’t want you to worry about me or KLM or anything else.
Just get some sleep.”

He let her pull him to his feet.

“Are you going to be okay to drive? Or I can have someone take you home?”

“I’ll be fine,” he reassured her, but her concern was killing him. She was worried
about him when he was about to crucify her across the negotiation table. He
pulled her into his arms and brushed his lips against hers. Would this be their
last kiss? She was going to be initiated into the business world at its most
ruthless time--when too much was at stake for him to back off and be a nice guy.
But how could he tell her?

“Are you sure?” she asked, as they drew apart and saw pain in his eyes but
mistaking the cause. “Maybe I should go with you. You don’t look very well.”

“No, you stay here. You have work to do. We’ll talk tonight.”

“Tonight,” she agreed, and kissed his check.

But it was hard for him to let her go. And it was nearly impossible to
comprehend how what he’d hoped to avoid at all costs had come true. He was
going to face Brenda as the enemy. His worst nightmare had begun.

How was he ever going to be able to make her understand?

To be continued...