People Will Say We’re in Love-Chapter 7

 

He stopped when he saw her sitting on the bench in front of him. "It is a great day to be out, isn’t it," he said sitting on the bench next to her.

She smiled when she looked up at him. "Yes, it is. Kind of makes you forget about all of your problems."

"Is this about Ashton?" Sonny asked. "Do you want me to take care of him for you?"

She laughed. "That depends on what you mean by taking care of him. No, I can handle Ned on my own, though. Thanks for the offer though." She sighed as she looked forward again. "I’m pregnant, Sonny," she said.

He smiled at her and rubbed her back. "That’s wonderful news, Alexis. You don’t seem very happy about it, though."

"No, I’m very happy about it. Like I told Jax earlier, I’m just a little scared, that’s all."

"What did Golden Boy have to say about that?" he asked. Of course she would tell him first.

"He told me that he would help me and be there for me, but I can’t ask him to do that. He has his own life to live, but I guess he feels some responsibility towards me as an ex-husband or something. He’s not as bad as you think, Sonny," she told him.

He shrugged. "It doesn’t really matter what I think of him," he informed her.

"I kind of beg to differ," she said a little hesitantly. "He called me from somewhere over Kansas earlier."

"So, he’s out of town," he said. "At least I won’t have to worry about Esmerelda running into him."

"Not exactly. She’s with him. Wait, Sonny, listen to me," she said calming him down before he could get started. "He just wanted to get away for a little while, and she went with him. She’s going to call you later when their plans are finalized. Trust me, he’s not going to try anything with you cousin; I warned him not to. I like to think that I have some pull with him."

"I can’t believe her," Sonny said shaking his head in disbelief. "How could she just go off with him and not let me know about it."

"Like I said, she’s going to call you. I think that she knew what your opinion of this would be, and besides, Sonny, she is a grown woman, and old enough to make her own decisions. Now, I only told you this so that you would be prepared when she told you. Remember what I said before, you can’t tell her what to do. She is an adult, but she is young, and I can tell she has some of those rebellious tendencies left. Be careful how you handle this."

He nodded. "She’s sort of like Carly, but in the best way possible. If I tell her one thing, she’ll do the other. That’s one of the reasons she and her mother don’t exactly see eye to eye. I will try to be careful with her, but if I see that she’s getting in too deep with Jacks, then I’m going to have to step in," he warned her.

She sighed. "Okay, fine, but he’s not such a bad person." She patted her stomach. "Do you think that I would trust my child with him, if he were? Just like you, Sonny. I would trust my child with you."

He smiled and took her hand. "That has to be the nicest thing anyone as ever told me. But," he said laughing. "It’s not like I get told nice things very often."

Chloe rushed towards Alexis. "Alexis," she said reaching them. "I am so glad that I found you."

"Hello, Chloe," she said smiling at her. "What can I do for you?"

"I’ve been trying to find Jax. I went to his house and the office, but he’s not there. I’ve tried calling several times and left messages, but he hasn’t returned any of them."

"You know what, Alexis," Sonny said giving her hand one last squeeze before releasing it. "I’m going to leave the two of you alone. I’ll see you later," he said rising. "As always, a pleasure to see you, Chloe."

She stared after him as he left and took the spot he vacated on the bench. "Do you have any idea of where he went? Please, this is important, I need to talk to him."

She sighed. "I don’t know how you’re going to do that, he left town for a little while. What happened? I know he went over to your place this morning, to work things out, or at least that was the impression I was under. What happened, didn’t the two of you talk?"

She looked away from her and into the distance. "I’ve done something very, very stupid."

"Okay," she said nodding. "Now we’re getting somewhere. Do you mind telling me exactly what you’ve done?"

She looked back at her again. "Last night, after my little alteration with Sonny’s cousin, I went on a little drinking binge. I saw her having breakfast with Jax just the other day, you know, and I guess seeing her again pushed some buttons."

"Having a hangover isn’t a crime. I know that cannot be the source of your troubles."

She shook her head and wiped at her tears. "No, that is not the problem. The problem is that I…" she started, her voice breaking. "I slept with Luke Spencer last night," she continued in a hushed voice.

Alexis looked at her shocked. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again, not knowing what to say. "I must say, I was not expecting that. I assume that Jax knows this."

She nodded. "Yes, he came by like you said, and he saw him there. He didn’t give me a chance to explain. Alexis, I need to talk to him, straighten all of this out. You have to tell me where he is."

"I’m sorry, Chloe, but I can’t help you. He didn’t tell me where he was going. All he said that he was going to be out of town for a couple of days, and would most likely be back on Monday. You’ll just have to wait until then unless he returns you calls."

"It might be too late then. I really need to explain this to him."

She nodded. "I understand, but I don’t think that explanation will do very good. I think that it would be best to let this sit for a while. Let Jax digest all this, and then talk to him. Now might not be the right time."

She thought about it. "I guess I don’t have much of a choice do I? I just don’t know what I’m going to do," she said giving into her tears this time.

*****

"Wow, this is very nice," Esmerelda said entering the huge suite with her shopping bags and takeout from Utamoro’s. "I have to say that I haven’t been in one nicer than this before."

"I should hope so, I certainly paid enough" he joked taking her laptop case from her. "Shall I plug this up for you."

She nodded and smiled. "Please do. Which one of these is the master suite so I’ll know which one is mine?" she asked walking in the direction of the bedrooms.

"The one on the left. We’ve already discussed it, so I hope that is the one you mean to take."

"I know, you’re the boss, and I’m going to take it," she shouted from the bedroom.

He smiled as he plugged both of their laptops up and connected them to the two phone lines in the suite.

"The water pressure is great," she said pulling her hair back into a ponytail as she exited her bedroom, and found Jax dressed and at his laptop.

"Yes, it was. Are you hungry? I was just about to heat up the leftovers," he said minimizing his E-mail screen and getting up.

She smiled and sat on the couch. "That would be fine." She looked over at her celluar and knew that she needed to call Sonny. She dialed the phone, and waited for him to pick-up. "Hi, Sonny," she said brightly.

He suppressed a sigh when he heard her voice. "Hello, Esmerelda. It’s quite late, don’t you think."

"Not very. It’s only after seven here," she joked. "I’m in California."

"California," he repeated. "Alone?" he asked already knowing the answer, but wanting to hear what she would say.

"No, not alone. I’m here with Jax. We wanted some Japanese food for dinner, and there’s this great place here that has wonderful food."

"I understand. So, the two of you flew there for dinner. When will you be coming back?" he asked trying to follow Alexis’ advice.

"That’s a little up in the air at the moment. Well, at least I won’t be late for work on Monday. I just wanted to check in with you so that you wouldn’t worry about me. I’ll talk to you later, Michael. Good night," she said and when he bid her a good one as well, she hung up.

Jax walked back in with a tray. He set it out in front of them as he sat near her. "I assume that was Sonny. How did he take the news that you were with me?"

"He took it very well, actually," she said taking her plate and tucking her legs under.

He smiled. What he suspected was true; Alexis had already told him about this little trip. "I’m glad to hear that."

"Somehow, I think that he already knew. Sonny isn’t exactly the calmest person that I know," she said musing. She smiled. "It doesn’t really matter, though."

He laughed. "Tell me about yourself. I mean outside of business; I think that I know all of that."

She shrugged. "There’s not much to tell. I was born and raised in Georgia," she stopped when she noticed the smile on his face. "What’s so funny?"

"Nothing, that just explains a lot, that’s all."

"Explains what?" she asked wanting to know.

"Just the hint of the southern accent the peaked out every now and then. And, it also explains some of the expressions that you used today."

She smiled and rolled her eyes. "I was never really good at hiding my accent, not for long anyway. Out of all my siblings, I think that my accent is the most marked. When I go home, it’s terrible," she laughed.

"I know what you mean," he said jokingly. "I try to hide mine, too. I think I’m pretty successful, but everyone can usually tell where I’m from."

"Right, and you do such a wonderful job of it, how do they every tell? Well, Mr. Jacks, how about you? Most of your life is out there for everyone to see anyway, anything we don’t know?"

He shook his head. "No, not really. About this ‘Mr. Jacks’ thing, I don’t think that it’s necessary to call me that. We’re not exactly at work."

"It shows respect," she said simply.

"Okay, Ms. Johnson, we’ll play by your rules."

"No, please don’t do that," she laughed. "You make me feel as if my mother is just around the corner."

"Same here. So, just call me Jax, and I’ll call you Esmerelda. I’m sure we can switch back into work mode at the office.

She nodded. "Yes, I’m sure we can, too. We’re professional people, highly professional," she said in agreement. They both laughed when both of their laptops signaled incoming mail at the same time. "Well, our children call us," she joked.

"They can be so very demanding," he laughed as they both rose to check their respective E-mails.