Chapter 24

Palm Bay

"Erik, honey, can you help set the table?" Erik’s mother, Micki, asked him. Erik sighed as he got the dishes out of the cabinet in the kitchen. "What’s wrong, dear? You look upset," she said as Erik brought the dishes into the dining room, where his mother was arranging the silverware.

"I miss Alex," he said. Micki smiled.

"Oh, you’ll see her when you go back to Orlando tomorrow. Do you think you can wait that long?" she asked. Erik nodded.

"Yeah, I guess," he said.

"She must be a special girl. I’ve never seen you so hung up on someone before," Micki told him. Erik smiled just thinking about Alex’s beautiful face.

"She’s special all right," he said.

Orlando

Alex stood frozen at the door staring into the eyes of one of her attackers.

"Feliz Navidad," he said. "Is Carlos here?"

"Um, uh, no," she said in a small voice. Why had she said ‘no?’ Now the guy would know that she was possibly alone in the house.

"I have something for him. Mind if I wait?" he asked. Alex was shaking. What exactly did he have for Carlos? What should she do? "Hey, what’s wrong with you? Why are you looking at me like that?" the guy asked, suspiciously.

Alex reacted totally on impulse. She slammed the door in the guy’s face and ran upstairs. She could hear the guy banging on the door, but Alex just ran to Miguel’s room and shut the door, locking it. She ran over to the closet and hid inside, closing the door. She curled up in the dark closet, hoping that someone would come and help her…and soon.

California

"Hello?"

"Merry Christmas!" Ashley said happily.

"Hi, Ashley," Emily said. "Merry Christmas to you, too."

"Thanks. So, how are things in Underwood land?" he asked. Emily laughed.

"Well, they could be better," she said.

"Uh, oh. What’s going on?" he asked. "They’re not fighting again, are they?"

"No. At least I don’t think so. Jacob’s mother is still getting to know Maria. Unfortunately, Maria let it slip that she’s slept with Jacob."

"No kidding? How the heck did that come up in conversation?" Ashley asked.

"It just did and now Maria’s all embarrassed and Jacob is upset with his mother because Mrs. Underwood wasn’t thrilled hearing that her son is having sex, I guess. I don’t know. It’s very confusing," Emily said.

"It’s too bad you’re in the middle of it," Ashley told her. "I wish you were here. It’s much more pleasant here. My dad is actually being more supportive of the band than he has been."

"That’s great," she said. There was a minute of silence.

"Well, I’ll go, I guess. Can you tell Jake to call me? I was thinking that maybe I can, like, go there for the last day of break and hang out with you guys, but I need to talk to him first."

"I’ll tell him to call you. He took Maria someplace private to talk, I guess," Emily told him.

"That’s good they’re still getting along, then," Ashley said.

"Yeah. I think it’s just awkward here at the house."

"Okay, well, just tell Jake that I called and I hope to see you in a couple of days," Ashley told her.

"Sure. That sounds great. Bye, Ashley," she said.

"Bye." Emily hung up and sighed. She really liked Ashley, but was it real or was it because he looked like Travis? Or was that just an excuse because she was scared to get close to someone again? Emily sat down by the pool, closed her eyes…and thought about Ashley Angel.

The beach was practically deserted, with only a few people walking around down by the water. The sun beat down on the sand, but there was a breeze, so it wasn’t too warm. Jacob led Maria to a spot that was isolated from pretty much everything. He sat down on the sand and Maria sat down beside him. They sat in silence watching the waves break on the shore and roll back out.

Jacob looked at Maria’s profile. Her hair blew loosely around her face. She had gotten so much California sun the last couple of months, the highlights stood out brightly, making the brown practically unnoticeable. Her skin was tan and smooth. She looked radiant to him at that moment.

Maria felt Jacob staring and turned to look at him. Their eyes met and Maria smiled. "What?" she asked.

"You’re beautiful," he said.

"So are you. For a guy," Maria said with a smirk.

"Can I give you my gifts?" Jacob asked.

"Go ahead," Maria said, turning toward him. Jacob first handed her a small gift wrapped in silver paper with a green bow. Maria took it and slowly unwrapped it. She uncovered a forest green, velvet jewelry case. She opened it and smiled. Inside was a silver and gold linked charm bracelet. There were five charms: one was a small camera, the second was what looked like a memo pad/notebook with a pencil, the third was a painter’s palette with paintbrush, the fourth was a piano and the fifth was a gold heart in the middle of the other four charms. The heart had a small diamond in the center. Maria had no doubt that the diamond was real.

"This is beautiful," she whispered, in awe of the thought he had put into it.

"I had it custom made," Jacob told her as he lifted it out of the box and put it around her wrist. "I’m glad you like it."

Maria smiled and leaned over to kiss him lightly. "I love it." He then handed her another gift. Maria unwrapped it and found a berry colored velvet jewelry case. She opened it slowly and gasped as she lifted the necklace out of the box. It was a gold chain with two interconnected hearts. The hearts were made of small…

"Rubies?" she asked, stunned. Jacob nodded.

"Jacob, this is too much," she said as he took the necklace and unclasped it. He put it around her neck and re-clasped it. He leaned in and kissed the back of her neck. The necklace hung perfectly against her throat. Jacob turned her head and kissed her deeply.

"Nothing is too much for you," he said when they had separated. "The hearts represent us. We’re connected, just like they are. Merry Christmas." Maria had to choke back tears.

"Okay, now for your gifts," she said. She took out an envelope that she had intricately decorated with different colored markers and handed it to him. Jacob took it and opened it. Inside were two photographs. One was of Michael Jackson and the other was of The Beatles.

"You’ll understand why I don’t get it," Jacob said, a confused look on his face.

"They are works in progress," Maria explained.

"Huh?" Jacob asked, still confused. Maria laughed.

"I am painting you replicas of those pictures, but they’re not done yet. I have the sketches done, but they’re not painted. Oh, and one Beatle, Ringo, I think, isn’t sketched yet, either," she said. Jacob laughed.

"Thank you in advance," he said, kissing her. "I should switch rooms with Ashley. I’m gonna need more wall space." Maria smiled.

"There’s one more thing," she said. She took the green bow and placed it over her heart. "Okay, unwrap your last gift." Jacob looked at her.

"I’m confused again," he said.

"Unwrap the gift," Maria said indicating the bow. Jacob reached over and plucked the bow from her chest. Maria took his hands in hers. "My final gift to you is my heart." Jacob looked deeply into her eyes as she continued, "I have been thinking and thinking and thinking about my feelings for you and I’m all thought out. It doesn’t matter how much I think about it, because I always come to the same conclusion, so it’s time that I told you how I truly feel."

Maria took a deep breath as she looked into Jacob’s beautiful blue eyes. "Jacob, I love you," she said softly. Jacob smiled. He could practically feel his heart bursting with happiness.

"I know," he said. "I’ve known it all along." Maria smiled.

"I know you have, but it’s taken me a bit longer to figure it out. It’s scary for me to say. I am trusting you with my heart. It’s yours to do with as you please, but the one thing that I’m most scared of is you breaking it," she said.

"I’ll do my best not to hurt you, Maria," Jacob promised, kissing her gently.

"I know you will. This is so hard for me, but it feels so good to finally be able to tell you," Maria said. Jacob stood up and pulled Maria up with him. He put his arms around her and held her.

"I wish we could stay here forever. Just the two of us with no distractions or other things to worry about like ‘real life,’" he said. Maria put her arms around Jacob’s neck and sighed.

"We have to face reality, though. It’s going to be hard to have a relationship with you gone so much," she told him.

"We’ve done okay so far," he said.

"That’s true." Maria tightened her hold on him. "I didn’t like you very much when we met, you know."

"I know. I usually make a bad first impression," he said with a smile.

"You were a moody, arrogant, shithead." Jacob laughed.

"And you were a bitchy, bad-tempered photographer," he told her. "That I was extremely attracted to," he added.

"Oh, I wanted you, too, in a big way. You never made the first move, though. I had to every time. I kissed you first and I initiated our first lovemaking session. What was wrong with you?" Maria asked, smiling.

"I didn’t know what the hell you were thinking and I didn’t want to take advantage, you know, since you had just broken up with what’s-his-face at the time," Jacob answered.

"Or maybe you thought that I’d reject you," Maria said, smirking.

Jacob shook his head. "Nah, I’m irresistible…there’s no one like me," he told her. Maria laughed. The wind had picked up and blew Maria’s hair into her face. Jacob pushed it away from her eyes. "Tell me again," he said softly, looking deeply into her eyes.

"I love you," she said, without hesitation. Jacob smiled and slowly brought his lips to hers. He kissed her gently at first, and then added more pressure. Maria held him tightly, savoring the feel of his lips on hers. She deepened the kiss and he tightened his arms around her, pulling her snugly against his body. He released her lips and moved to her neck.

"I want you so much," he said, breathlessly.

"Not here, pal. I’m not getting arrested for public indecency, especially on Christmas," Maria said with a smile. Jacob laughed and backed off.

"I wish you could stay in my room tonight," he said.

"No way. Things are already uncomfortable between your mother and me. There’s no way I’d make them worse by sleeping with you underneath her roof," Maria told him firmly.

"I know that you’re right, but knowing that you’re just down the hall when you could be in my bed with me…it sucks," Jacob told her. Maria kissed him lightly.

"Just a few more days and we can go home where we can make up for lost time."

"We won’t really have a lot of time to make up for lost time. We leave for New York on the 30^th," Jacob said.

"So? We have the 28^th and the 29^th, right?"

"You’re right. We do. And you’re coming to New York, so we’ll be together for a little while anyway," Jacob said. Maria sighed. She reached up to run her hands through his messy hair.

"’A little while’ isn’t enough, though," she said, frustration in her voice. Jacob kissed her again.

"Let’s not think about that, okay? Let’s enjoy our time together now and the gifts that we have given each other," he said, fingering her necklace.

"Oh, by the way, my heart is non-refundable," Maria said with a smile.

Jacob laughed. "That’s okay. I have no intention of returning it," he assured her as he kissed her yet again. Maria melted in his arms and they sank down onto the warm sand. Maria didn’t even care if she was getting sand in her hair as Jacob lay her down, continuing to kiss her. All she could feel was Jacob’s love for her in his kiss…and she gladly returned her own love right back to him.

Orlando

‘Why the hell am I hiding in a closet?’ Alex asked herself. She then heard voices.

"Alex! Where are you?" It was Miguel. Alex slowly opened his closet door just as he ran into the room. "Alex?" He walked over and lifted her from the floor. Alex hugged him tightly. "What happened?"

"A guy…he was…one…attackers," Alex said, too upset to form a coherent sentence. Miguel held her tightly.

"It’s okay. He’s gone," he said, soothingly.

"I was so scared. I thought that he was going to hurt me again," Alex said against Miguel’s chest.

"Alex!" Carlos then came running into the room. "What did he do? Did he hurt you?" Alex frowned.

"Not this time. What did he want and why are you hanging out with a guy who stabbed me?" she yelled. "He sounded like a friend who had a Christmas gift for you or something. How could you?"

"Alex, it’s not what you think," Carlos told her.

"Shut up! Did you call the police? Do they know that one of our attackers was making a friendly visit?" she asked, angrily.

"He’s not a friend of mine! He left this, if you must know!" Carlos shoved a note at her. There was a hole in the middle. "This was hanging on the front door…a knife stuck through it."

"And that’s supposed to make me feel better?" Alex asked, incredulously.

"It basically says that he owes me for my keeping quiet," Carlos said, his voice barely above a whisper. Alex frowned, as did Miguel.

"Owes you? He’s been paying for you to not turn them in?" Miguel asked. Carlos nodded. "Why would you agree to that, man? The bastards almost killed Alex!"

"The family needs the money. They promised not to come after us again," Carlos said.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Alex shouted. "You were shot! I was stabbed! How can you agree to protect them?"

"I did it for the family!" Carlos told her. "We need the money!"

"Carlos, bro, why did they go after you to begin with?" Miguel asked.

"They thought I had a stash of heroin someplace, but I don’t. The cops got all of my stuff when I was arrested. Those bastards had been waiting for me to get out of jail so that they could get at it, but it doesn’t exist. I swear, I don’t do none of that shit no more," Carlos said.

"I have a headache," Alex said. She didn’t understand how Carlos could be protecting their attackers.

"Al, I love you and I’m sorry…" Carlos started, but Alex shook her head.

"No, don’t even bother apologizing. I obviously mean shit to you if you would rather protect my attacker than protect me," she said as she quickly left the room.

Carlos looked at Miguel, who shook his head and followed Alex. Carlos sighed. He sat down on Miguel’s bed and covered his face with his hands.

California

Jacob and Maria had returned to the house in time for dinner. Mechele was annoyed that they had been gone for most of the day, but she didn’t want Jacob upset with her any more than he already was. Maria remained polite, but she wouldn’t look Mechele directly in the eye like she had been able to do before.

After dinner, Jacob, Maria, Emily, and Bryan changed into bathing suits and went in the hot tub that was attached to the pool. Maria leaned against Jacob as the warm water soothed her body. Jacob smiled at her. His hand was at her waist and he was caressing her bare side, causing goose bumps to break out on her skin. Of course, she had to bring her bikini instead of a less revealing bathing suit. If Mrs. Underwood saw her, Maria would be further on her bad side.

"Jacob, Ashley called and wanted you to call him. He said that he hopes to spend the last day of break here if it’s okay," Emily told him.

"That would be cool, actually. Oh, wait, one of the cameras is with him," Jacob said with a sigh.

"So what? You’ve done two seasons of the show now, why are you so against the cameras?" Maria asked him. "You should be used to them by now."

"I don’t want it to catch me doing something I shouldn’t be doing," he said, kissing her.

"Dude, Mom’s in the dining room with Dani. You better cool it," Bryan warned his brother. Jacob turned and, sure enough, his mother was giving him an annoyed look from inside the house.

"What did she say after we left?" Jacob asked. Emily and Bryan shrugged.

"Nothing, really," Bryan replied. "I think she just has to get used to the idea that you’re with Maria and not with…"

"Janie, yeah, I know," Jacob said. "But, that’s over and she knows it. I love Maria." He kissed the side of her head. Maria wrapped her arms around Jacob’s waist and looked in at his mother.

"I want her to like me," she said, softly.

"Why don’t you go talk to her?" Bryan asked. Maria looked at him.

"Do you think she’ll hear me out?" she asked.

"Sure. It hasn’t helped that you haven’t been around much," Bryan told her.

"That’s my fault. I’m sorry," Jacob said. Maria shook her head.

"No, it’s okay. I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth this morning. She doesn’t even know me and I go and tell her that I’ve slept with her son. I don’t blame her for being upset," she said. "Well, here goes nothing." Maria stood up and Jacob had to look away. Her bikini was too revealing and he wanted her. Tonight would be torture.

Maria pulled a towel tightly around her body and walked to the doors that led into the house. She slowly slid the door open and walked over to Mechele and Danielle. "Mrs. Underwood? May I talk to you?" Maria asked, hesitantly.

Mechele looked into Maria’s eyes and nodded. Danielle got up and went into the other room. Maria sat down at the table were Mechele was looking through Christmas cards. "I want to apologize for what I said earlier. I never meant to make anyone uncomfortable and I know that you don’t even know me, so I’m sorry if I upset you in any way," Maria said, looking at the table.