Secured Sevenfold

Matt's POV
"Sir, you really have to put on your seatbelt, we are about to land" the stewardess looked at the sleeping form of Joe on my lap. I was reluctant to let her go, seeing she had finally fallen asleep.
"Is there no other way?" I ask quietly. She shook her head and gave me an apologetic look "I'm sorry" and continued her way.
"Joe, Josephine... You have to wake up sweetie, were almost there" I stroke my fingers softly over her cheek, and saw her bloodshot eyes open up. I still couldn't believe how things escalated that fast, how I had almost lost her....

I looked at my watch. It might sound childish, but I wanted to give her exactly 5 minutes, before I would storm into the restrooms and got her. I was tired of fighting with her and the last thing I needed was going on a wild goose chase because she fooled me again. I looked over the rest rooms and saw a lot of people. Why were public restrooms always this crowded? Crowds really weren't something you wanted when you on a job, too many things could go wrong. The crowd split and I saw a hooded man walking for the exit. I watched the situation pass along, and shook my head, why did people make so much trouble, if he would just ask nicely, people would just step aside. I was still watching him when I saw the person behind him look over her shoulder, the eyes of the woman were the most frightened I had seen in a very long time, and those eyes belonged to the woman that was slowly driving me crazy. JOE!

I started running towards the man, straight through all the people walking around, but I changed my mind. I couldn’t risk of spooking the man, forcing him to take action on the situation, jeopardizing Joe’s safety. I quickly ran around the group of people, constantly locating Joe, trying to get her attention, tell her I was coming to get her. I bumped into someone “HEY! Watch it!”. I mumbled an apology and looked up again, trying to find Joe, but I couldn’t find her anymore. How could he have disappeared that fast?
Shit, I was losing it,I was frantically looking around, when I saw the man again, still holding on to Joe, and then I heard Joe’svoice screaming my name.The tone of her voice made my skin crawl, I never wanted to hear her like that ever again. The distance between me and her became smaller and smaller and when the last few obstacles moved out of the way, I was suddenly able to grab Joe's hand. Her grip was tight and I softly spoke, not sure if it was for me or for her "Don't let go...."

The man seemed surprised that I was there all of a sudden and let go of Joe. At first I thought he would pull her to him tothreatenme with her, but then he seemed to change his mind and pushed her to me, while he took a run for it. Joe fell down and I could barely prevent her fromhitting the floor. The second I felt her body against mine, I let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh Joe, I'm so sorry" I talked into her hair, holding her close. For a few seconds she relaxed andI held on to her tight, I never wanted to let her go again, that had been so close. I was lingering in the moment whenshe quickly pushed herself away from me.
"It's not your fault, you couldn't have known" she was talking, but that was all I got from her,her eyes wereabsent andshe was completely turned into herself. "Let's find Liv, we'll miss our plane"she added and started moving as if she was a robot.I followed quickly, she must be in shock, there was no other way to explain.

Our places on the plane weren’t all together,they were separated intwo and one, and I wanted to sit down in the single chair when Liv stopped me."Matt, what's wrong with Joe? She is acting weird" I stared at her and then at Joe, I thought Joe would have told her, but Joe was walking to her seat as a zombie, nevereven turning around to see if we were following her."They almost took her at the airport, I barely made it in time" I replied quietly. Liv placed her hand in front of her open mouth and looked shocked."I... I... shit Matt, I didn't know it was this serious... You have to take care of her, she is important to me""I promiseI willLiv, that's my job" Olivia seemed to think of something and then she spoke again "Maybe it's best if you sit with her,I think she might need some answers I won’t be able to give to her.I nodded and walked over to Joe. She was curled up in her chair, not even aware of her surroundings."Joe?" I touched her arm, making my presence known to her. No reaction, nothing at all, she just kept staring out of the window.

The plane took off andit wasn’t long before the "seatbelts" sign turned dark again.
To my surprise Joetook of her seatbelt andturned to me that exact second, moved her face to my chest, and started crying softly.I put up the armrest and pulled her even closer to my body as I held her while she was crying quietly, no hysteria, just heartbreaking sobs.
“Shhh, it’s okay, you’re safe”
She looked at me with big teary eyes and just stared at me
“I couldn’t find you” she sobbed, large teardrops rolling down her cheeks. I couldn’t turn away, the look in her eyes broke my heart and I was completely out of words. I hadn’t been able to keep her safe, I had almost lost her. I was so much worse than Zack and Brian, Joe didn’t choose to walk away from me, she was taken and I didn’t even notice.
“I’m so sorry Josephine, you can’t imagine how sorry I am” I put my hand on her cheek and wiped away a tear with my thumb.

Her big blue eyes were staring at me and I felt her breath on my face, I realized how close we were and I couldn’t help but stare back at her, not knowing what to do to make her feel better, make her feel safe again. We got lost in each other’s gazes and forgot the world around us.Without even knowing, I was still caressing her face and my other hand was moving over her back soothing, the moment was back, the moment we had, just before I found someone had entered her room, the thing between us, whatever it was, raised it’s head again.

Joe blinked her eyes and I bend over to her, not able to control my actions anymore as I saw her close her eyes, trusting me, waiting for me to take the next step and I let my lips lightly touch hers. Her mouth moved with mine as she started kissing me back. After a few moments, we pulled away and she blushed. Her eyes were begging me to not make a big deal of what just happened and to be honest, I didn’t even know how to react myself. She started nestling herself to my body again and I heard her cry softly. I just couldn’t take not having her close, not making her feel better, so I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her on my lap.
That was where she stayed the whole flight, crying at first, but then she fell asleep, leaving me with too much time to think about everything that had happened.

Joe moved to her own seat and put on her seatbelt. The plane began to land and as soon as the wheels had touched the ground, Joe started gathering her stuff, not saying a word.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” I asked her quietly.
“I’m fine, I can’t wait to get home” she replied curtly.
“You will like the mansion, I promise, I let Arin prepare the nicest room for you”
She snapped her head at me as if I had said something stupid
“I’m going to my own apartment, Matt, I already told you” her voice was ice-cold and all business and the woman who I´ve had on my lap for over 4 hours was completely gone.

I looked at her in disbelieve, how could she still want to go to her own apartment? After all that had happened?

Jacky’s POV
I was trying not to laugh at Arin’s sad face but when I couldn’t control my laughter anymore he began to pout.
“That’s not funny.” Arin said still pouting and I walked over to him, laying both my hands on his cheeks smiling at him.
“Yes, it is.” I looked at the vegetables he had not chopped but massacred. They had so many different sizes that the first ones would be burned while the rest would still be raw.
“We normally don’t cook… at least not much.” Arin said apologizing.
“I can see that.”
“We are busy.” Arin tried to justify and it was just too cute.
“Hmm.. sure.”
“Really.” He tried again.
“I know. Come on, let me do that and try to save the vegetables and you put the pasta into the water.” I told him and gently guided him to the side.

“What are you cooking?” I heard a smooth voice behind me, his head leaning over my shoulder, his breathe on my ear sending shivers down my spine.
“Pasta and a self-made Bolognese, my mom taught me how to do this.” I said trying to resist turning my head to Brian, because if I would, our lips could touch, and we weren’t allowed to do that.
“Hmm… smells delicious.” He murmured and leaned a little closer smelling on my neck before moving away a little, standing close to me at the kitchen counter.
I threw all the vegetables in the sauce and tried to concentrate on my task ahead.
Zacky stepped also into the kitchen. “Matt called, they will be here shortly.”
He looked at Brian pointedly and I felt my cheeks getting hot, feeling caught even though nothing really happened.
“Brian? Did you hear me?” Zack asked again sounding annoyed.
“Yes, I did.” Brian pushed himself away from the counter and walked out of the kitchen I sighed when Zack followed him.
Arin walked closer to me, looking at me with an eyebrow lifted.
“What was that?” He asked and I lifted my shoulders shrugging.
“How do I know…” I had to talk to Arin about this more, but not with everyone here in the house, we had to find a quiet moment, just the two of us… I had to get this out of my system, normally I would call Dean, but right now I think I couldn’t do that.

Half an hour later the food was ready and we headed towards the long table. I sat down and Arin pulled out the chair next to me, but then suddenly Brian appeared next to him, wanting to send him away.
“Get over there, kid.” He told him and Arin looked surprised.
Then Zack walked over to Brian hissed something that sounded like “Matt will be here soon, let the kid sit next to her.”
Brian retreated and walked around the table sitting down opposite of me and Arin took the chair he wanted, plopping down next to me.

When we were all seated the front door banged open and I saw my sister walk in.
I sighed heavily and looked at all the guys at the table who also looked at the front door “Sorry guys, but from now on the fun part is over… look who is here.” I said, meaning my sister who stood in the doorway.
“What? I thought you haven’t met Matt before…” Johnny chuckled and I had to try to suppress my huge grin, but Johnny was already bursting out with laughter and all the others were also trying to hide their smiles.

When we looked back at the door seeing not only my sister with a serious and mad expression but Matt as well, we knew that my saying was true.
From now on we would not only have one bossy pain in the ass, but two…

Notes

Yay, Joe is safe and to her annoying self again, how will things work out when she is also at the mansion?
How will the sisters be together, and how will Matt act after he kissed her.... Again!
Soooo much fun coming up :D

Leave some comments lovely readers, we'd love to know if you are here, so we can give you a proper welcome! :-)