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[ J A X ' S P O V ]

I love my dad. I really do. Deep down inside my cold black heart, I do.

    He is a good guy, or as good as good guys can get. Although he has made mistakes in the past, at least he's trying to atone for them. Trying to outweigh the balance of right and wrong. Trying to take an effort and make things right again.

    Baxton Deneris is a good guy.

    But, as good guys get, he can also be a real pain in the fucking ass.

    "Oh, stop scowling at the damn paparazzi, Jackson. You're only going to make it worse." Baxton's bored tone snaps me back to reality. "They'll always be there. Just try to ignore them."

    We're both sitting outside of a restaurant. My dad thought it was a good idea not to have brunch indoors today, probably because he knew that the paparazzi were going to be here trying to snap glimpses of their favorite celebrity. So naturally, he would try to take advantage of that situation.

    I roll my eyes in irritation. Everything about this moment gets me really agitated. The constant glare of flashes going off make me want to gauge my eyeballs out. And it doesn't help that I seem to be the only one that is affected by the lack of privacy we seem to be having. Baxton looks like he's having the time of his life. He has his leg propped up over the other, a huge smile on his face, waving at the paparazzi like he's the goddamned queen of England.

    "How the hell can I ignore them when they're right at my face?" I manage a hiss, glaring at one of the paparazzi who leans way too far over the bushes bordering the restaurant and tries to snap a picture of me. I flip him off, hoping he would back off, but he continues clicking away with his camera.

    Fuck them. Seriously, fuck them.

    "I told you we were having brunch today. You should have expected something like this to happen," Baxton says nonchalantly without tearing his gaze from the paparazzi.

    "No, I thought we would be eating indoors so this wouldn't happen." I manage a groan. "Seriously, this should be violation of space. Or something. We can sue, you know. All of them."

    "You're a fucking moron sometimes, Jackson," he says, shaking his head. "Suing ain't going to solve anything. It will only give them another scandal to leak to the world." "And besides, this is kind of fun." He continues waving to his adoring crowd.

    "Only you would think that, Baxton," I say, flipping over the menu. "I thought you said I was supposed to lay low for a while. You know..." My voice lowers. "Because of Blaire and I?"

    "Yeah, I told the both of you to lay low. That means I don't want to see any more of those almost-fucking-each-other-to-death pictures," Baxton finally tears his gaze from the cameras and calls for the waiter with one swift gesture of his hand. "You and her can't be spotted together, at least for a week or two. But you and me, on the other hand? No problem. It's great for press. The media loves us, particularly when we're together. "

    "You just want to be relevant again for your new TV show." I say, leaning back against my chair, folding my arms across my chest and casting my dad a bored stare as he orders for the both of us. When the waitress leaves, I continue on. "You know, the one with the vampires."

    "The show is called Pretty Wicked."

    "Whatever." I wave him off. "It's Pretty Stupid."

"That's not funny," Baxton says, but there is a hint of smile on his face.

"I think it kind of is."

He sighs. "You always think that everything that I star in is stupid."

    "That's because you make really bad choices when it comes to TV shows."

    Baxton glares at me. "That's not true."

    I roll my eyes. "You play a vampire. That's some Twilight bullshit in the making already."

    "It pays well," Baxton shrugs. "And teenagers love it."

    "But I don't."

    "It's okay," he says, grinning. "You'll grow to love it. Just like you have done so with Blaire."

    I let out a breathy chuckle. I guess I kind of walked into that one. "You're being ridiculous."

    "Why am I being ridiculous?" Baxton eyes me warily. "You do have feelings for her, right?"

    "Yeah," I say without hesitation. "But I don't—I don't... love her. At least not yet anyway."

    "We both know that's not true." He wriggles his eyebrows and my heart quickens.

    "Dad," I start off. "We're just taking it slow."

    "Doesn't mean you can't fall in love with her," Baxton murmurs.

    The waitress comes by with both of our food and suddenly I don't have the appetite to eat anymore. I don't know why but his words had such an impact on me and I'm still debating whether or not it's a good or a bad thing.

    I've just started dating Blaire. I haven't even thought about the prospect of being in love with her yet. Yes, I have really strong feelings for her, but love? I don't know. Fuck, I don't even know what love is. After screwing up with Sienna, then again with Beth, I'm not really sure if I'm entitled to it at all.

    "How are you so sure that I love her?" I ask my dad quietly. He stops twirling the spaghetti with his fork and lifts his face up to really look at me.

    "Because I've never seen you like this before," he murmurs. "Happy."

    "Bullshit. I've been happy before. With Sienna I-"

    "Your relationship with Sienna is an entirely different thing, Jackson." He forks the spaghetti into his mouth and chews. "Sure, you and her fit well together, but the fact that you weren't as invested in the relationship as her proves that you weren't entirely happy with her. So you cheated on her and tried to sought that happiness elsewhere, which was her sister." Baxton says. "Did I get everything right?"

    Dammit. I hate him sometimes.

    He knows me so fucking well.

    "She was your equal. I get that now," he continues on. "But sometimes that's not the best thing. Sometimes, all you need is someone who can push you to your limits. Someone who can help you be your best self. That was what you and Sienna were lacking of. And that was what made you miserable as fuck."

    I keep quiet because everything that my dad said was true. It hadn't even occurred to me that the reason why I cheated on Sienna was because she couldn't make me happy. I knew I loved her—and maybe I did because she shared my strengths and my weaknesses—but she didn't really help me overcome them. I made her strong—physically and emotionally—but I didn't make her her best self. She was still consumed with bitterness and hatred.

    I didn't save her.

    I ruined her.

I see it now. Sienna and I wouldn't have worked together. We were too similar—almost the same person—and we wouldn't be able to fix each other because we wouldn't even know what of each other to even fix. We were stuck in this endless loop—neither of us knowing what to do. It was the worst form of love to ever exist. And the only reason I got out of it was because I did the worst thing possible and that was to cheat on her.

    "I guess hadn't thought of it that way until now," I mumble.

    "Of course you didn't. You're stupid that way," Baxton offers me a smile.

    "Gee. Thanks." I deadpan.

    "You should thank me," he shrugs, finishing the last of his carbonara. "I was the sole reason why you ended up with Blaire in the first place."

    "Thanks, dad. Would you like a nobel prize?"

    "Come on, give me a little credit here. If I didn't, the both of you would be too damn stubborn to even utter a single word to each other." He rolls his eyes. "I just made sure you guys would have no choice but to do so. And it worked. So therefore, I am responsible for JAIRE."

    I snort. "What the fuck is a JAIRE?"

    "It's your ship name. I created it. Well, I can't really take full credit for it. Hunter helped," Baxton tells me.

I lift a curious eyebrow at my dad and he sighs.

"You don't know what is a ship name? People do this all the time with movies, TV shows, books. It's when you root for a couple-"

    "Fucking hell, I know what a ship is." I say, looking away, because I'm pretty sure I'm blushing and I really want to hide it from my dad. It's fucking embarrassing. "And don't ever say that again."

    "It's actually pretty adorable. Right, Hunter?" he turns around and taps on Hunter's shoulder. He's sitting right behind us to give us a little privacy, but when my dad calls him, he's more than eager to turn around and answer. My guess is that he's been eavesdropping this whole time. That son of a bitch.

    "Yes, sir." Hunter nods. "Pretty adorable."

    "Thanks for your opinion, Hunter," he taps lightly on Hunter's shoulder and smiles, then reverts his attention back to me. "You and I both know that Blaire's different than Sienna." Baxton's eyes meet mine with complete seriousness.

    I nod, knowing that he's right. "She's... phenomenal."

    And I think I'm in love with her.

    Shit. That came out of nowhere.

     But... it's the truth. Even though I've only known her for a month, I know that the feelings that I have for her are unlike anything that I have ever experienced before. They consume me—all parts of me—and I feel light, dizzy, giddy with excitement and warmth and rainbows and all that other shit that is associated with love.

    Fucking hell. I've turned into a monster.

    This is crazy.

    I'm in love with Blaire.

    "You guys look good together, you know," Baxton grins, finishing the last of his spaghetti.

    I'm in love with Blaire.

    "Yeah, I guess," I croak out.

    Holy shit. I'm in love with Blaire.

    "Definitely a good looking couple." He nods. "Hell, if this whole thing blows over and the media can finally accept that the both of you are together, you guys will look really good on magazine covers, which in turn, will give great publicity-"

    "Always trying to make this about that, huh?" I groan.

    Baxton emits a soft chuckle. "I can't help it. It's in my nature."

    And it's in mine to fall in love with Blaire.

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I head over to the gym after my brunch with my dad where I promised Blaire I will meet her. She's having lunch with Belle, catching up with her, and no doubt I will be one of the hot topics of that conversation. I haven't got around to really get to know Belle yet, but from what I heard from Blaire, she's practically obsessed with our relationship, or particularly, me.

    At least Belle and I have something in common: we both love Jackson Deneris.

    I make a mental note to ask Blaire to invite her over to the mansion one day. I think Belle and I might get along just fine.

    But her brother and I on the other hand? Probably not.

    Ben is probably someone I don't intend on being friends with. I don't hate him—I just envy him for having Blaire for so long before I came into the picture. And I know that bastard has feelings for her. I don't have to see him to know it. And yesterday, Blaire insisted she was going to meet up with him to explain what is going on between her and I.

    I don't see any reason why she has to explain herself to him if he didn't have feelings for her.

    I was adamant on following her to the meet up with Ben but she wouldn't let me go. She said that she had to settle this with Ben by herself.

    I didn't agree.

    Needless to say, we fought and it ended up with me being handcuffed to the bed and her creeping out of the room while I shouted profanities at her.

    Fortunately, she came back home a few hours later and told me that everything between Ben and her was settled.

    "Did he try to kiss you? Touch you? Bring you back to his place?" I remember asking, my hands smoothing over the red indents on my skin that had been made by the handcuffs.

    "Jackson, he's not like that." She rolled her eyes. "Stop being an asshole."

    "I'm not being an asshole. I'm just making sure that you're okay."

    "Well, you can stop worrying. Ben and I are fine," she reassured me, cupping my face in her soft hands and casting me a ridiculous smile. "We're going to try the whole friends thing again."

    "What?" I said, baffled.

    "Minus the benefits. I promise." She leaned forward to kiss me. Her lips are soft and delicate and rough and moist all rolled into one. "You have nothing to be jealous about, Jackson. I'm with you. My heart, my soul and my body belong to you."

    "I like the sound of that," I murmured. "You know, maybe you can invite him over so we can really make that clear to him-"

    "You're unbelievable." She smacked me on my shoulder and I released a small chuckle.

    Thinking about Blaire makes me miss her this morning. I wish I brought her to brunch with my dad but Baxton specifically told me that he wanted to take to me only and I can finally see why. He has made me realize that, as much as I hate to admit it, I am indeed falling in love with Blaire.

    Son of a motherless goat.

    "Son of a what?" I hear a familiar voice echo throughout the gym, cutting me off from my thoughts. I turn to Blaire as she dumps her gym bag next to mine and gives me a really confused look.

"Motherless goat?"

She snorts. "What does that even mean?"

    "It's an expression." I shrug.

    "That's a weird ass expression." She walks towards me with a little skip. Today she has a hair slicked back into a high ponytail and she's wearing a hot pink sports bra and black tights that really make her ass look good. I try to take a peek but she hits me hard against the shoulder and glares at me. "You're such a pervert."

    "I'm your boyfriend, aren't I? So I think I get a pass for looking at your ass, darling," I drawl. "Your tits look really great in that sports bra too. You should wear that more often when we're at home." I pause for a while, then rethink again. "Actually no. Forget what I said. How about you just not wear anything at all-"

    Blaire laughs and shoves me again. She's getting really good at that. Usually when she shoves me, I don't even move an inch. But these past few weeks, she's been getting much stronger.

    Whenever she's not spending time with me or Eden, she's off working out in the gym with Hunter. Her physique is getting better—she really buffed up too. Her shoulders are a little bit broader now and she really fills out the bodyguard uniform, making her so goddamned irresistible. It's hard to keep my hands off her when she's wearing it.

    One day, I will fuck her in it. One day.

    She places her hands on her hips and cocks her head sideways. "Where's Hunter?"

    "Oh, uh... he couldn't make it."

    Bullshit. I told him I wanted some alone time with my girl at the gym. Which is true. The endless possibilities that we could do here...

    I also closed off the gym to any outsiders today. Perks of having a super rich dad.

    "Okayyyyy," she strings the last syllable. "That's weird."

    "You're weird."

    "I'm not weird. You're weird." She rolls her eyes. And did you close out the gym today? There's no one here."

    "Guess it's a slow day."

    "Whatever you say." She laughs. "So what are we going to do today, boss?"

    "I thought we'd be doing a little fighting today," I tell her.

    "Awesome," she holds up his fists and grins. "Because I've been practicing on your punching bag in the mansion the other day and I can't wait to beat the shit out of you."

    "You won't be doing any hitting today, darling." I hold her fists down. "I'll be the one that's hitting. And you'll be the one that's blocking."

    That earned a huge frown from Blaire. "But that's not fun."

    "You're still my bodyguard, remember? Your job is to defend. Not offend." I wrap my fists with red wraps and ready into a stance.

    "Ugrh. But that's boring," she moans.

    "Come on, darling. I know you can do this," I tell her. "Unless, you know, you're scared because you can't beat me."

    The spark in her eyes come to life. "I'm not scared."

    "That's what you said when I asked you if you were scared of your feelings for me. And you were."

    "This is different." She laughs. "I know I can beat you."

    "Then, show me," I cast her an arrogant smile.

    "Maybe I will," she teases back, taking her position opposite from me, her arms lifted up and locked. She blows a steady breath, a cocky grin worn on her lips.

    "Wait a minute," I murmur, slowly peeling off my T-shirt and throwing it into the ground. "Yeah. That's better."

    Blaire's eyes quickly narrow and dance over my half-naked body. "You're cheating." She groans.

    "How the hell am I cheating?" I say, trying to look baffled.

    "You're trying to distract me!" She makes exaggerated gestures at my body. "With... with this! With your beautiful chest and your pecs and abs and..." her voice trails off as her breath catches, suddenly distracted again when she looks at me. I throw a chuckle, wiping my mouth with my hand.

    "Well, you can't afford to be distracted. You don't even hesitate. If you do, something like this..." I swing my first punch but she quickly dodges it away. "...will get you severely hurt. I might even be dead because you didn't act quickly enough." I nod. "That was good."

    "Come on, that was too easy," She smiles, teeth showing.

    "Alright, darling. If you say so." I say, then surge forward. Blaire moves with fluidity, taking her weight to her advantage. She throws herself to the side and I try throw a punch, but she ducks and instead, hits my underside that I have just left completely open with her fist. I recoil and groan slightly, but try not to let it get to me.

    "Faltering now, are we?" She is teasing me, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Maybe I shouldn't have underestimated her. Maybe all those trainings with Hunter these past few weeks really paid off.

    "Never," I hiss, rushing forward but this time, Blaire sidesteps the wrong way.

    Both of us slam into the ground. Blaire lets out an oof sound when my body makes impact with hers, knocking the wind out of both of us. I'm surprised she isn't crushed to death with my weight yet. I quickly gain the upper hand and roll on top of her, caging her. She tries to fight me off, squirming and struggling against me, but I hold my ground, a cocky grin staring down at her.

    "I win," I whisper.

    "I let you win," she murmurs back, biting her lip and smiling. Fuck me, I love it when she bites her lip. It's so fucking sexy.

    "Yeah. Okay. Whatever makes you sleep at night, darling," I say, gulping. "So I win. Do I get a prize?"

    She sieves her fingers in my hair, stroking the back of my neck. "What kind of prize do you want?"

    "The one that has your pussy wrapped around my cock and you yelling my name from the top of your lungs."

    "Always blunt huh, Jackson?" She chuckles. "I see now why you wanted to close down the whole gym. It's because you wanted to take advantage of this situation, huh?"

    I shrug. "Pretty much."

    "You're crazy. You're the horniest guy I've ever met."

    I trail my fingers down from her neck all the way to the curve of her breasts. "Well," I pause slightly. "I'm only horny for you."

    "Gosh, that's so romantic." She fakes gushes and I laugh.

    "I want my prize, darling." I tell her. "Pretty please."

    "Okay," she whispers and she leans forward to kiss me.

    My lips melt against hers, tasting and suckling. I'm so fucking thirsty for her that she could kiss me all day and I'd still be dying in a damn desert. Her hands roam over my arms, sending the lightest of touches to my skin. My body comes alive under her fingers and I respond to her, my hips pressed against hers, providing what seems like sweet torture for the both of us.

    Blaire tugs on my bottom lip, the way she usually does when she's just as turned on as I am, and I let out a soft moan. Her hands trail down my back, cupping my butt, and I know she wants me just as bad as I do her. Just when I'm about to take things further, she pulls away from me and flips us both around so I'm caged beneath her.

    She presses her hands hard against my chest to prevent me from reaching forward and I laugh, knowing that I've been defeated.

    "Got you," she breathes. "You really need to take your own advice, Jackson, and not get distracted. Because if you do, then you will get severely hurt. I might even be dead because you didn't act quickly enough." She says, throwing my own words back at me.

    "Well, I'll be damned," I say. "Someone here knows how to manipulate people."

    "I learnt from the best." She grins. "Now, since I won... you gonna give me my prize, Jackson?"

    "And what is that?"

    "My pussy wrapped around your cock and me yelling out your name from the top of my lungs."

    "Always blunt, huh, Blaire?" I whisper, echoing the previous words I just told her.

    "Pretty much." She smirks.

    "Alright, then." I grab her hips to press my growing erection against her. "I think I can give you what you want."

    "Good," she whispers. "Make it count."

And then she pulls me forward to press her lips with mine again.

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A/N: HAHAHHA CAN YOU SENSE THAT SOMETHING BAD IS GONNA HAPPEN? MUAHAHHAHAH.

I'm kidding. As I said before, I'm just going to let them be happy for a while. Note the italics. I give it... one or two more chapters. Maybe more. Maybe less. IDK. (; (; (; (; (;

ANYWAYS, JAX ADMITS THAT HE LOVES BLAIRE! WOOOOHOOOO! PROGRESS OR NAHHHH? I wonder if he's going to tell her though... 

What do u think is going to happen soon? Let me know in the comments section below!

See you next NEXT Friday, y'all!

Love, Claudia.