[center][color=teal][h2]Jessamyn "Jess" Bailey[/h2][/color][/center]

At the sound of a chime, Jess stood up, her nerves stretching taut. Anxiety and anger from two people weren't a good combination, although she didn't blame Roxy for the outburst. Right now, the anchor was doing her best to control her frustration by furiously scrubbing the floor. Jess' muscles tensed as if she needed to channel all that pent-up emotion in a similar way, which only added to the unease. She wasn't used to feeling like this.

She pulled back as the shady man rushed over to her and flung the money onto the desk. [color=teal]"It's ok, it's ok!"[/color] she blurted after he growled a reminder at her that nobody was meant to know about the job. [color=teal]"The card's gone, I just got rid of it."[/color]

It was at that point, while the flustered empath frantically sorted out change, that Roxy intervened. Jess couldn't help but be a little taken aback. In just a day, the anchor had gone from snapping at her to standing up for her. Of course, while Jess didn't know the full story or even close to it, she now knew the other woman had a good reason for her defensiveness - and that her anger was directed more at herself than at her.