Harvey stood outside of Jake's house, taking a deep, steadying breath before he knocked on the massive double doors. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, Jake was very unpredictable when it came to Jezebel. He had pulled up half expecting to see either Jezebel chained to a tree in the front yard, or Jake bludgeoned to death on the front steps.
"So far so good." he whispered to himself as he scanned the trauma free front yard. He wanted to believe that his friend would never resort to abduction, but deep inside he knew Jake had done just that.
Regardless of the ifs', hows', whats' or whys' his main concern was pacifying his fiancée. Jenna was frenzied with fear and had worked herself up to a state of panic. She had expected him to go to Jake's house immediately but Harvey had decided to wait a day or two. Jenna was not impressed with his decision and by that night, he had found himself out on the couch. She refused to sleep with him in the same bed until he went to see Jake or let her go to see Jake.
Harvey thought back to his agonizingly long night.
"I want you to go to Jake's house right now!" she had demanded last night; standing in the living room wearing one of her sexiest negligees, tapping her slipper clad foot on the walnut floor.
"Jenna, it's too late to go now." he tried to rationalize with her.
"But it wasn't to late when I begged you to go earlier today."
"Jenna I had paperwork to finish."
"Paperwork that's not due until tomorrow! Paperwork that you could be doing right now in bed with me and the chocolate pie I made especially for you." she had tried to tempt him. Harvey had been in the biggest rut of all time last night! Here his fiancée was, scantily clad, offering his favorite 'after sex' pie and he still couldn't muster enough nerve to just go and talk to Jake.
"I'll go first thing in the morning." he tried to appease her.
"No you won't, it will just be another excuse! Forget it, I am going myself and you are not going to stop me!" she snapped grabbing her trench coat.
Harvey had spent the rest of the night the same way he spent that entire day; convincing Jenna not to go tear Jake's door down.
"Good morning Harvey." Geoffrey broke Harvey's trance, his voice snapping him back to reality. Geoff liked Harvey and he always had.
He had first met Harvey 3 years before the incident with Jake's father. The boys had met in grade school. Harvey had just moved from another state and the children at his new school were particularly cruel to the heavy set boy with Mickey Mouse voice.
Jake had been a different person before his father went crazy and murdered his mother. He had always been the boy to root for the underdog, the boy that hated the bullies and what they represented. Geoffrey knew first hand that due to the way his father had treated him, Jake had grown to despise people who used their strength and power to intimidate those weaker than them.
So when he had walked up to see the new boy getting beaten up by the local bullies, Jake was more than happy to jump in and lend a fist. In the end, Jake had been suspended, Harvey found his first friend, and the bullies learned a valuable and painful lesson that day as they were forced to relinquish their power to someone stronger than them.
"Hey Geoffrey, how you been?" Harvey smiled.
"Very well thank you." he nodded, stepping aside to let Harvey enter.
"Is Jake in?"
"Yes, he's in his office."
"Thanks." he said walking to Jake's office door. He knocked lightly and Jake summoned him in.
"Hey Jake, is this a good time?" Harvey poked his head in before he stepped half way into the room.
"Of course." Jake laid his pen down on top of a stack of paperwork. Harvey noticed his desk was a mess, papers and pens all over the place. Harvey had worked with Jake for years and never once had he seen any of his desks a mess. Jake was a calculated neat freak who thrived on order and Harvey knew something must have been troubling him. It was definitely not a good sign with the whole Jezebel situation.
"Sorry to bother you man," he walked into the room, closing the door behind him. "I know you have a lot on your plate right with work and everything."
"Its fine, what's up?" Jake leaned back in his chair a little, already knowing why Harvey was here.
"It's Jenna, she's going crazy," he sat down in the chair on the opposite side of his huge desk. "She can't find Jezebel anywhere and she swears something's happened to her."
"Jezebel is fine." he answered, stopping Harvey from beating around the bush for an hour before he came out with what he really wanted to say.
"So you do have her?" he had actually hoped Jake would have said no. Harvey knew one way or another Jenna was going to blame him for this. He had secretly hoped that Jezebel was just pissed at Jenna for telling on her and had been avoiding her.
"Yes."
"Voluntarily?" he dared to ask.
"No." Jake answered honestly and Harvey could feel his throat constrict.
"Damn." he lowered his head, he knew this would not fly well with Jenna. "So she's, um, is she-"
"Chained in the guest room." he finished.
"Wow." Harvey shook his head, already beginning to sweat, "Jake do you think that's a good idea?"
"Not at all." he said bluntly.
"So than you'll let her go?" the question ripe with hope.
"Absolutely not." he said than stood up, "Just tell Jenna she's with me and she's safe."
"Alright." Harvey nodded standing up. "I'll talk to you later than." he headed out of his office.
He had wanted to say something, but had no idea what to say. When Jake wanted something, come hell or high water, he was going to get it. There was no stopping him and absolutely no reasoning with Jake; no one had ever been able reason with him.
Than Harvey smiled ear to ear as it dawned on him, he did know one person who had successfully reasoned with Jake in the past, the one person he actually somewhat listened to and respected.
***
Davis walked into the dining room, his family around the table eating breakfast.
"Morning Mom." he kissed the side of her head before grabbing a plate. He was starving as usual; he always had a big appetite.
"Morning dear." Darleen took a sip of her tea.
"Where's dad?"
"He left early this morning on a business trip." she frowned a little.
"Morning Bi." Davis smiled at his sister in law, Bianca.
"Good morning Davis." Bianca smiled back.
"Diago, Dante." he nodded, piling two omelets on is plate.
"Why are you grinning so hard?" Diago asked, sliding his hand across Bianca's thigh, under the table.
"Because your cousin has finally lost his fucking mind." Davis shook his head loading his plate with bacon.
"Davis!" Darleen snapped, not tolerating profanities at the dining table.
"Sorry mom." Davis instantly apologized, trying to make room for the sausage.
"Jake?" Diago asked raising a brow.
"Who else." Davis grinned as he sat down with a heaping plate of food.
"What happened?" Darleen asked instantly worried.
"Oh, he just abducted his girlfriend than chained her up in the guest room and refuses to let her go." Davis said than stuffed a thick piece of bacon in his mouth. At this point Dante had ignored them in his usual fashion, now he lowered his paper just enough to look at Davis.
"Yeah right." Diago shook his head, Davis was such a prankster it was hard to know when he was telling the truth or not.
"Did I mention his girlfriend is pregnant?" Davis added as nonchalantly as he could.
"Oh God no." Darleen put one hand to her chest, than grabbed Bianca's hand for support with her other hand.
Bianca sat stunned, she knew Diago's cousin was a loose cannon, but she had no idea just how loose. She had met him a few times and although he was polite, he seemed very distant. The last time she had seen him he actually seemed a bit sad and she had wondered what could make someone so detached and cold feel that emotion.
"Bullshit." Diago called his bluff, knowing his mother was too stunned to be upset about his language.
"Harvey just called me, he went to see Jake." Davis said his mouth full of food, when a piece dropped out of his mouth, he immediately picked it up and stuffed it back in. Dante shot him a look that should have vaporized him in his seat.
"Move." Dante warned his brother, he could not tolerate seeing Davis at meals and always forced him to move out of his line of vision.
"Tempest!" Davis yelled to irritate his brother as he slid his plate over and moved to the next seat. Tempest wasn't there of course, but it would still aggravate his moody and ill tempered older brother.
Tempest, their mother's god daughter, was the leverage Davis had against his grouchy and brooding brother. Dante had been unshakable and unbendable for years, but just the mention of the girl shook him. Davis took full advantage of the situation. Dante gave him a look of disgust that was intended to make his brain implode and Davis grinned wickedly.
"Davis!" Darleen scolded him, "this is not the time for your bickering!"
"Now I know your lying," ignoring his brothers' meal time rituals and arguments, Diago continued, "Harvey doesn't have the balls to confront Jake."
"No, but his fiancée does, she's the pregnant girlfriend's best friend or something." Davis shrugged, stuffing his face with half of a bagel, "he said he had to physically restrain her to stop her from going to see Jake." When a piece of the bagel flew from his mouth Dante grabbed the croissant from his plate and threw it at Davis. Davis glared at him and Dante stood up, both ready for their daily battle.
"I told you to move!" Dante roared.
"You can't even see me!" Davis stood up.
