If I ruled the world

Dedicated to @Jasper

Date | 23rd of April 2022
Time | Late, around 10pm
Weather | Its pouring down
Attire | Black velour blazer, no shirt underneath, black dress pants and high heels

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Was it too early that she was walking around?
Well, it depended on who you were asking, she would think her mother and father would rather see her lying in bed or stay at home right now. But if you asked Norah she preferred not being confined to a space where she could watch how happy the rest of her family was. Or, at least as happy as one could be, when it came to Mary-Jane. So, she had snuck out. It almost made her feel like a teenager that was disobeying her parents, which she in a way was. She was visiting a new opened place, a bar placed in one of the skyscrapers so you could sit by the bar and see almost all of Aston through the giant windows that was around the whole room. A smooth jazz was playing in the speakers, and it was clear that there weren’t a whole lot of people that was allowed in, which kept it rather quiet and without too much noise. Sitting by the bar, nursing a Martini, she had to fight every urge that there was to move her one-man party towards the Elysian Casino and use all of her hard-earned money on the slots or craps table. All she truly needed was a distraction, something that could help with her never ending voices in her head telling her things she would rather forget. Someone placed themselves beside her and she looked up from her drink and took in the rather good-looking man. She gave him a small smile, before her eyes turned back towards the drink in front of her and she decided to drown it and then ordered a new one.

Suit, white shirt and turtleneck.

Beep, beep.
He looked down at his watch and muted it as he entered the bar in the skyscraper. He had gotten a notification about Norah’s whereabouts, but it wasn’t the only reason why he had arrived at this place. He had actually wanted a quite night by himself, but now that she was there, he might be able to have some company and get some of his work done in the middle of that. He sat down next to her and waved the bartender closer. He noticed that she looked at him, which was why he gave her a gentle smile. He waited for service, but Norah was quicker than him. “Make it two,” he told the bartender before he turned a little towards her. “Tough day?” he wondered and took her in. She looked great for the matter. He felt like things had been running in circles with all of the work he had suddenly been handed as soon as he had landed. He had been sent off for one thing, and now he was there for more. Brilliant.

“Oh, you’re one of those” she chuckled and then looked towards him, placing one leg over the other and turned in her chair. Her elbow finding the bar and placed her head gently in her delicate hand. Her big baby blue eyes watched him, taking him in and she didn’t even hide the fact that she liked what she saw. Why should she? It didn’t matter anymore either way, she would die alone. Even though she had decided to wear a rather revealing outfit, it only showed a small part of the dark mass that had spread from her mate mark over her shoulder and down her chest. Almost looking like a black lightning scar, and not that stupid scar that a certain boy was wearing in her head. No. When a lightning struck down a tree or a house, and you could see how the current of the electricity had spread through the mass. “But okay, I’ll bite” she hummed, leaning back up as the martini was placed beside her and she took it and moved it towards her lips. “Long life more like it, and you? Just here to forget, or here to find pleasure? Or something else entirely?” she asked him, letting her tongue glide slowly over her lips catching the last bits of alcohol that hadn’t landed in her mouth.

One of those. What did that even mean? She placed herself looking like someone who wanted to continue to talk to him. And the way her baby blue eyes looked at him, might even tell her that she wanted more than just a simple talk. Was it a work injury? He raised a brow as she mentioned she would bite. He guessed that she believed he was trying to pick her up or something alike. Hopefully she wasn’t too fragile to know that it wasn’t his plan.
He hummed a little as she replied and took his own martini. He had to stop himself from choking on the drink as she mentioned pleasure. That hadn’t truly been something he would suggest as options. “Solitude,” he said and cleared his throat a little. “But I like solitude with company,” he explained.

Lies.
He was supposed to figure out whether or not she was fit to come back to work, and there were to ways of doing that. Asking strict questions to get specific answers or to observe. Right now, he preferred to observe, even though it was the longer route to the results. It also meant that he would have to lie, but in the end it might just make it easier to understand her situation if he got a little closer to her. “So, what has made your life so long?” he wondered raising a brow.

Norah folded her lips together and forced herself not to smile. Solitude with company who even looked for that? She shook her head and failed her try to keep herself from laughing, so she did. A soft clear laugh that sounded much like a windchime being softly rocked by the wind outside. Her teeth found her lips and she unfolded her lips and turned her body back, so her front faced the bar in front of her.
She slowly licked her lips and shook her head “solitude with company” a low laugh left her, and she shook her head, it clearly wasn’t buying it. Why should she? She had been in the game to long, she had written the handbook on profiling, and he thought he could run around her without her noticing that he was trying to get her to open up. She might be broken, but she wasn’t stupid. “Why don’t you look in my file, and see what it says?” she hummed, lifting a brow and turned her head towards her giving him a cheeky smile before it disappeared and there was nothing left but a hard shell. “Tell O’Connell that if this is his way of seeing if I’m ready to come back, he can go fucking himself, I know a really good trainer that surely can get him bendy enough to do that” once again she drowned her drink and got up from her seat, grabbed her handbag and started walking towards the elevator that would take her to the exit, changes of plans, she was going to the Elysium.

Jasper looked at her as she started laughing. What was going on? When she repeated his words, he rolled his eyes and knew that she was smart enough to figure it out herself. He took another sip of his martini as she talked about her file. He groaned a little putting away the ‘cute’ façade. From the bar where there was a mirror, he could see the cheeky smile and how it disappeared. Super.
“Good to know that you’re flexible,” When she downed the drink, he quickly looked from his drink to her. He couldn’t down it in time, so he let it stay on the bare to follow her. “Hey, Norah. Wait,” he said and skipped a couple of steps to catch up to her. He followed her even though she went into the elevator. Another dude who wanted to take the elevator had gone in, but just before the doors closed Jasper pushed him out. “That was my mistake, okay,” he explained and turned to try and get her to look at him, but without even putting hands on her. “You’re valuable and they want you back as quickly as possible,” he explained. Being a substitute wasn’t that nice at all. “So, I, your substitute was sent to check up on you, and I believed you would appreciate company than a cold interview, correct?” he wondered and put his hands out a little. “A friend?”

She was so close to raise her hand and give him the middle finger when he asked her to wait. She pushed the button and just her luck, the elevator was already up on this level and opened its doors so she could step inside. Before she knew it, she was alone with the person she was running from, seeing the confused person that had tried to take the ride down with her.
Her lips twisted into a smirk as he told her that she was valuable, and they wanted her back. Her eyes gliding towards the hand that had hold her in place and made sure that she was facing him. The gears were turning in her head as she weighed the pros and cons of every move she could make. Gently she pushed his arm down and with a twist she placed it against her waist just above her hip and took a step closer and raised a brow. Cat and mouse.
“Oh, you want to be my friend?” she hummed almost like a purring cat and took a step closer. There was always something magical about elevators weren’t there? Her other arm lifted, and she placed the lower half of it against his shoulder, letting it rest there. “And why would you be that? Haven’t they warned you about me already? I might be valuable, but I’m unstable and showing signs on ptsd, I have a server problem with authority and have a tendency to go rogue” she swallowed and titled her head a little, not really holding herself back with making him feel as uncomfortable as possible, hopefully that would make him back off and leave her alone. So her eyes rested towards his lips letting her tongue once again glide over her lips as if she was picturing for herself how it would feel to have them pressed against hers. “You want to continue?” she hummed, giving him a toothy grin as she looked up and locked her eyes with his.

Alright now she was holding onto him. Cool, real cool. Everything he didn’t want, but alright, he could get through this. He didn’t reply to her at first, but let her move as she pleased. He remained calm even though she spoke about everything that was wrong with her. He knew it all. He noticed how she looked at his lips, which, well it wasn’t because she wasn’t allowed to look, but he truly didn’t appreciate the feeling it gave him. You want to continue?

She pressed her brows together as he gave her a small nod and then told her that she really needed a friend. Then she lifted one of them but didn’t move away, instead she moved closer, pressing the boundaries that she didn’t understand he wasn’t respected for himself. “Well -“ she whispered so her breath would dance over his skin by how close she was at him right now. “What type of friend would you like to be?” she asked him with a hushed tone letting her arm on his shoulder move so her fingers could dance over his shortcut hair.
But just as he would be able to answer the elevator made the announcement that they had arrived at their destination, which made her move away from him so fast, that one might start thinking if she had ever been that close. “Well, sadly I’m all booked up on friends, so don’t bother!” she said and waved her hand as she once again started to ‘run’ away from him.

She moved closer. She was indeed good, even though she wasn’t really playing the role that she was so good at playing, but maybe it was a work thing. She asked him what kind of friend he wanted to be while she let her hand dance over his hair. It made chills spread over his skin. No, no.
He opened his mouth to reply as the elevator announced their destination. She was quick to leave him which made him stand with an open mouth blinking a little. Picking up his jaw he once again ran a quick couple of steps after her. “Would you please work with me a little?” he said, almost walking sideways to look at her while he talked. “If you wanna quit, just tell me,” he assured her. Now, he really didn’t want to tell O’Connell that Norah had chosen to quit completely, so it wouldn’t be an option. “No, scratch that, Norah-” he skipped a couple of steps ahead an got in front of her. “I would much rather talk to you than your family, okay?” Norah had a giant family and trying to figure out who was who was a giant puzzle. “Sadly, as lonely as you look, I don’t think you’re fully booked up on friends,” he raised his arms a little out from his body and hoped that she would take… The offer?

“Why would I?” she laughed as she kept walking while she kept her eyes away from in and straight ahead. Then he told her that she should just tell him if she wanted to quit, but just as she opened her mouth and was about to tell him that she wanted to quit, he spoke again and ended up in front of her. Forcing her to stop. She let out a small sigh and titled her head as she lifted a brow. Talk with her family, what did that even mean? Then she widened her eyes, and took a step towards him, this time there was nothing flirtatious about the way she was looking at him. Narrow eyes and a small scowl formed over her lips. “You stay away from my family, you hear me?” she hissed, not in the mood for jokes about how big it was, and it was near impossible to stay away from a Jones, be somehow there would be one on every street corner.
She blinked a little as he called her lonely, so that was where he was going? Using her own technique against her, analysing and desiccating one’s personality. “You are persistent, I’ll give you that” she sighed and then took out a car key from her purse and clicked on a button. A few seconds later a car parked behind Jasper. “But I already found myself a new job, much better pension than the other one, so you just run back to O’Connell and tell him his valuable asset needed him one and a half years ago, not today” she mused, leaning in and placed a soft kiss against Jasper’s cheek, just moving her lips towards his ear instead of moving away. “But if you really insist you can come along, keep me out of trouble?” she asked in a low and sensual whisper. Before he could answer she moved away and walked towards the car and got into the drivers seat.

She had her family dear. Good. Something to fight for, and if she wasn’t here, she couldn’t be sure they were okay. “Then you have to talk,” he told her with a calm expression on his face. Now, it wasn’t like he was going to do anything to her dear family, no, he just wanted to talk to the family about how she was doing and what she was doing.
A smirk spread on his lips as she called him persistent. He noticed that she clicked her car key and could hear how a car parked behind them. She then continued to talk about how she had found a new job already and it made him raise a brow a little. A better job? He was about to argue with it when she suddenly leaned in to kiss his cheek which made him freeze for a moment. Chills formed down his back and arms as she whispered into his ear sensually. She moved away once again, almost like a tease, even though it didn’t really have that effect on him. He simply rolled his eyes and turned around to get into the passenger’s seat. “So what place are you going that could get you into trouble?” he wondered and looked shortly towards her.

She waited. Not that she understood herself why she did, but her eyes found his figure as he sat into her car. Now that was an excellent question. “The Elysian Casino” she hummed, because right now it was the only place that could take away that aching feeling in her heart. Even if it was only temporarily, it was better than to find drugs that would numb the pain that was still pulsating by her mate mark.
Now she wasn’t only broken in the mentally but also in a more astral sense. Her magic was far more chaotic, and she was starting to wonder if she could even call herself a witch now. So no, she wasn’t ready to get back to work, because she would only end up putting other people in danger. “I’ll make this easy for you” she said in a more sombre voice, almost as the atmosphere of the car made it more real, and she couldn’t really run away from him as she had done before. Slowly driving down the streets of Aston towards River’s casino. “I’m not ready to come back to work, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready to come back, they left me in the hands of Bratva for over a year and I’m not really a forgiving person” she said letting her eyes glide towards him and gave him an almost honest smile, before it disappeared and she looked out on the road again.

A casino. Perfect. “Super,” he sighed and leaned back in the seat. He glanced towards her as she mentioned she would make it easy for him. He clenched his jaw tight when she mentioned how she had been left. “I’m sorry for what they did,” he said, even though it had nothing to do with him. He was after all just a substitute. “But I still have to make a report. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I got everything I need,” he said and looked at his watch shortly. “And you don’t have to forgive them,” he mumbled and corrected his sleeves a little. He looked over at her, “Just don’t sacrifice more money than you can afford to lose,” he mumbled, already knowing about the debt.  

“Of course, you do - fine” she mumbled, and was just about to ask him what his name was, when he told her that she shouldn’t sacrifice more money that she could afford to lose. A soft laughter left her; “There are two things to know about an addict, when you become one, you’ll always be one, meaning that you can never just try it a little” she hummed, knowing very well that if she started gambling again, she wouldn’t be able to stop. Much like if a former alcoholic started drinking again, you couldn’t just drink a little when you had a problem with liquor. “I don’t have anything to live for, so I’ll lose as much as I feel like” she licked her lips and stopped at a red light. “Now, before I tell you anything else, you could tell me what your name is, since you know everything about me and I know very little about you it would seem only fair, now wouldn’t it?” she said, and turned her head towards him and let her big doll eyes look into his.

He glanced towards her as she commented on how she couldn’t just try a little. Well, if she knew that herself, why did she then do it? Maybe he should make sure that she didn’t spend money at all on games, but maybe just got drunk enough to be thrown into her car so he could drive her home to her parents, so they could take care of her. God, he just really didn’t want to talk to neither of her parents.
He looked towards her as she mentioned that she didn’t have anything to live for. He was about to tell her that she had to shut up about that, when she interrupted, asking for his name. He sighed slowly. “Jasper,” he replied. “Anything else you’d like to know?” he wondered, being somewhat open to reply to whatever she wished to know about him. He knew she had things to live for, but she just didn’t know it yet. She had lost hope and will, and she truly needed to find that again. It was there. He could see potential for her getting better, but never back to who she was. She was another woman than who she was back then. Which also was why he knew, that she wasn’t coming back.

She shook her head and pressed a button on the car and the screen that was in the middle of the two of them found his file. “Nah, I think I got it covered Jasper” she said and then closed down the menu, she could read it later if she felt like it. Then it was green again and she started driving once more. “So ask away, the faster we get it over with, the faster you can get back to your normal life and be with your partner, or are you more a -“ she looked at him and then back towards road “yeah, you’re differently a cat person” she chuckled turning to the right down a road. It wouldn’t take long before she was at the casino. The place she wanted to go ever since she had stepped outside the house. Or ever since she had crawled out of the window. But as she came closer, she actually dreaded the situation. She didn’t want to be that person anymore; the problem was just - she had no idea how to be anyone else.

His file suddenly appeared, and he raised his brows. Super. He looked out his window while she closed the file and started driving again. He huffed a little as she mentioned that he could ask away so he could get back to his partner. He laughed a little, but the laughter died quickly when she mentioned that he was a cat person. “My cat died three weeks ago,” he mumbled.
He pulled his small notebook up and a pen. Yes, old fashioned. “Intrusive Thoughts?” he looked towards her to see if she only nodded or actually replied. “Nightmares?” he wondered when she had responded. “Avoiding reminders of the event?” he listed up. He allowed her to have room to explain if she wished to, but he wasn’t going to force it onto her. He looked down the list and crossed some of already.

His sentence completely silenced the witch.
His cat had died. Now, if anyone understood the pain of losing a family member, that many just saw as a pet. It would be her, not that one could put a familiar on the same pedestal as a cat. But she would, she missed her familiar every day. Maybe that had been the reason why she had overlocked all the flaws in Leigh, because he had been supposed to mend the hole that was left behind as Bratva had killed her companion through so many years. Through all the heartbreaks she had always had her.
“Yes” she murmured as he asked if she had intrusive thoughts - “Constantly” she added to the question about nightmares, she had even woken up Iris and Mary-Jane a couple of times because of her screaming. “To the best of my ability” then she parked the car, even though she hadn’t come close to her destination yet. “Your cat died?” she asked, turning around in her seat so she could take him in and see if he was lying. “You’re not just saying that because that would be a way for me to open up to you, are you?” she asked, hoping that it wasn’t. Some how she wished to find someone that could somewhat understand her own pain. Even if it wasn’t comparable.

Japser looked up at she suddenly parked the car. He looked a little around. This wasn’t the casino. He looked towards her as he returned a question. She asked whether or not his cat had died. He swallowed a lump. It was a clear sign that it was something that was a little tough to talk about, but also a clear sign that yes, he had lost his cat. “Yes,” he replied quite simply. He raised a brow as she mentioned if he was trying to make her open up to him. He chuckled a little and shook his head. “Is it working?” he joked and bit his lip a little. “I know it sounds really macabre, but I sent him to a specialist,” he said and leaned a little more back in his seat. “He… Skins the animal, so the owner can get the bones. The fur is put in a frame so I can pet his back and all that even though he’s not here,” he elaborated and folded his lips. There were a lot more in the package, but this was some of the core elements. “The package arrived two days ago,” he said and nodded a little. He wasn’t able to go home to his own place before he was done with the things he had to do in Athena. But he just had to bite the sour apple until he was done, so he could come home to his package. He took out his phone and made the screen light up where he had his cat as his lock screen. He turned the phone so she could see it a little better.

Oh, he really was good.
She blinked a little as he talked about what he had done to the cat after it had died. That wasn’t something that you heard every day; it wasn’t something that you heard at all if she was being honest. Which she really should be, not that it came easy to her. None of this really did, and for a brief moment she thought about if she should just rip of the bandage and call someone else, that she every once in a while, found comfort in, or he found comfort in her. One of those relationships where it wasn’t much else, it had gone on for so long that she wasn’t even sure how it had started, or who had started it. Other than it was a relationship her father would never know existed, much like she was sure Bentley didn’t want his mother to know about her.
Her eyes looked at the cat that he was showing her and a soft expression washed away all the pain that was normally there to see. “His beautiful” she mumbled then looked up at him and gave him a small smile.
“So, instead of being home and taking care of that, you’re stuck here with me?” she said with a small smile and then nodded “fine, you win, where are you staying? We can go there and wrap up the interview and then you can get back to your home” she said, and leaned back in her seat and started the car, ready to drive to the address that he gave her.

Jasper pulled a slightly sad smile, “Yeah, he was,” she said licking his lips a little and looked up at her, for the first time noticing something in her eyes that he was certain he hadn’t seen before. He nodded and put his phone away, and just as he did that he looked over at her as she said that he won. “What?” he said at first, not really believing that she agreed to the interview at first. “Uh, yeah,” he shook his head a little before he mentioned the address. He would navigate her while she drove, just to be certain that they arrived at the right place. He had been offered to stay at the Castillo, but he had rejected it and chosen something that was more like a motel, and definitely not in the expensive line like the Castillo. No, it was very down to earth and definitely not somewhere where you would normally find someone in his line of work.

When she parked, he got out of the car and found the keys for the small room that he had gotten. “It’s just a place to sleep really,” he assured her before he walked towards the door, constantly aware whether or not she was changing her mind and running off. He opened the door to the room that only contained a bed, a table, one stool and of course there was a smaller room with a toilet. There wasn’t even a kitchen. “Make yourself at home, it’ll just find everything,” he said pulling out a nice carrycase. The bed wasn’t unruly, but it wasn’t neatly folded and there was clothing hanging out of his suitcase.

Finding the place had been easy enough, but as she parked her car and took in the place, she couldn’t help but raise a brow. Just a place to sleep. “Yeah okay” she laughed and got out of the car and walked with him. “I’m just really getting the murder vibes out here” she added as she stepped inside of the small room. How was one supposed to make yourself a home here? She looked around as he started to shuffle around after things.
It didn’t take long before she had seen it all and decided to take off her shoes and walked over towards the bed and sat down, flexing her aching toes that had been trapped in the high heels she had been wearing. Getting a little restless she leaned back and fell into the bed and closed her eyes. Her legs still hanging over the bedside, she kicked them softly back and forth. It smelled sweet, with a hint of something she couldn’t quite place. It had to be how he smelled, not that she had taken notice of it before right now. Would also have been an odd thing if she had, but still - it was a nice scent.

“Well, I actually think someone one was murdered in here,” he told her quite calmly, though he didn’t know whether or not the rumors had been true. But it was cheap. He found the papers and a hardback to put them on, so he had something to scribble on. He scribbled a little from their earlier conversation before he looked up and noticed how she was laying in the bed. A soft sigh left him before he took the stool and carried it the small distance so he could sit next to her. “Memory loss?” he wondered and looked up at her for the first time really noticing what she was wearing – not that much. He looked at the next question and pulled a slight smile. Negative Thoughts About Self and the World. He simply checked it. “Self-Isolation or feeling distant?” he wondered, though he was already scribbling down that it was a symptom she felt. “Anger and irritability?” he wondered and actually looked up at her again, wondering whether or not she got that.

“Sometimes” she mumbled, not that she had thought about it “Well, no, I don’t know - I remember what is important” she decided to answer, opening her eyes and raising her arms so she could look at her hands while he spoke. Why could a person be so obsessed with things that worked their whole life? Maybe that was it, she lifted her brow and shook out the thought and let them fall down on her stomach. “Yes, and yes - even though I am working now, but I’m just using it as a distraction, so you can check that box off too” she said moving towards him and placed her finger against his paper. Then she moved her hand away again.
“I’m getting a little irritated at you for all these question, so, yes?” she chuckled and closed her eyes ones more.