Chapter 12
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Jax watched intently as Keesha pinned up her hair. They had to get out
of here fast before he did something he *should* regret. Though he
doubted he would. He walked over to the bar. "Keesha?"
"I know." she answered, peaking through the doorway of the bathroom.
"Just 5 more minutes." she promised.
Jax finished pouring a glass of wine. "Do you want a glass?"
"No thanks, I don't drink that often."
Jax leaned up against the wall across from Keesha. "You finished off
that screwdriver rather quickly." he teased.
"That's because I was nervous. But normally I don't even drink at
social functions...it's what happens when you're involved with an
alcoholic."
"You weren't always involved with AJ."
"No, but before that was Jason...and he didn't drink either, because of
AJ." she came out of the restroom. She took one last look in the
mirror in the bedroom.
Jax swirled his wine around in the glass. "Very nice." he said
quietly. "Of course, I have noticed that you wake up beautiful."
"You're very good for my ego." Keesha smiled. "If you don't stop I'm
going to refuse to divorce you. So, where are we...." she stopped
speaking as her phone rang.
"Go on." Jax walked over to the other phone, connected to her line.
He held up three fingers and counted down...
"Hello?"
Jax placed his hand over the receiver of the phone, to make sure he
could listen in undetected.
"Keesha?"
"What did I tell you about calling me when you've been drinking AJ?"
"Tell me that Ned's lying."
"About?"
"You didn't get married, did you?"
"Why do you care?"
"Just tell me."
"Can't."
"Oh God, Keesha...I thought you said that you would think about what I
told you, about Jax."
"I gave it the thought it deserved." Keesha sat down on the bed and
looked up at Jax. He waved her on. "Is that the only reason you
called?"
"Okay...look, if you need out come to me, okay?"
Jax watched Keesha as she spoke to AJ. She actually seemed to be okay,
annoyed granted, but okay none the less.
"Why would I do that AJ?"
"Because, I will always watch out for you, I always...never mind."
"What AJ?...AJ?"
"Justus told me about the will."
"What?"
"The will, he told me about the will. But he didn't tell me what he
left you, so I was worried...so I took it, until I could check
everything out...because I wanted to make sure that you'd be safe."
"Why'd it take so long AJ?"
"Are you angry at me."
"No, AJ. Just tell me why."
"The money in the account, I had to have it traced, and since it was in
Switzerland at the time, it was hard to do."
Jax mouthed to Keesha. "Get off."
"Keesha?"
"Yes, AJ."
"So promise me, that if you need help getting out that you'll come to
me, okay?"
"Sure AJ."
"Really?"
"If I need help to get away from Jax, you will be the first person I
call." she rolled her eyes. "You're going to stay out of this now,
aren't you?"
"Yes." AJ promised. "I take it that you'll be coming back to Port
Charles."
"Yes."
"So I'll see you around. Bye."
Keesha hung up. "Now what?"
"You realize Ned is already going to go after AJ."
"Right."
"And if we let Ned dig around, he may find out about whatever
information Justus left for you, and we do not want that..."
"Jax...go ahead, and let Ned know if you have to."
Jax thought for a minute. "No. We'll just have to keep an eye out.
Besides, even if Ned finds out, as long as he doesn't know that we know
about it, it shouldn't interfere that much. I won't make life any more
difficult for AJ...he looked out for you. That's important."
Keesha smiled. "You know, the more that time I spend with you...never
mind."
"No. I hate that. What?"
"You're...you're different than what people make you out to be."
"How's that."
"Well, they say that you're ruthless and cutthroat. And though I have
a feeling you *can* be, I bet it's kind of last resort with you. There
are things you could get away with that you haven't I'm sure. For
example, why should you care about AJ's life?"
Jax walked over to Keesha. He placed his hands on the bed on each side
of her. "Newsflash." he whispered as he leaned a little closer. "I
don't care about AJ. But he did something nice for you, so I'm going
to do something nice for him."
"Newsflash. Why should you really care about my life. You know less
about me, than you do about him. So if you're doing this because of
me, then that illustrates my point even more." Keesha countered.
Jax looked at the falling strand of hair on the side of Keesha's neck.
Fighting the urge to replace it with his lips, he looked into her eyes
once more. "You're much more appealing..." than any woman he knew.
"...than AJ, real cute." Keesha laughed and the sparkle in Jax's eyes
grew. "I am telling you, watch yourself or I'm just going to drag you
everywhere...."
"Oh, that would be just awful." he replied, the teasing in his voice
gone.
Keesha found herself irresistibly drawn to Jax's mouth. She glanced
down at his lips, and then she looked back up to his eyes. "I have
never seen anything as lovely as your eyes."
"Thank you."
"But I'm sure you hear that all the time." Keesha tried to regain some
sense of control.
"I've never heard it from you before." Jax smiled. "And it's very
flattering, coming from such a beautiful mouth."
Keesha mustered every last ounce of restraint she had remaining.
Because as tempting as it was to just give in to...whatever was going
on between them...she knew that if she did, it would just intensify the
loneliness she was going to feel once Jax was out of her life for good.
"I should finish getting ready."
Jax leaned up and Keesha stood from the bed, walking over to the
dresser. She took a deep breath, reaching for her new pearls...the
pearls that Jax had bought for her...
"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Jax reached over her and
took the pearls from her hands.
"You didn't."
Jax clasped the strand around her neck. "Yes, I did. But I didn't
mean to, I just sometimes forget myself...around you." Jax realized he
was lying. It was actually just the opposite...around Keesha, Jax felt
more like himself than he had in a long time. He
felt more alive, he enjoyed everything more. He actually *cared* more,
about his life, and where it was going. What he always forgot, around
Keesha, was that after they got Sonny, she would be gone. And
everything would be just as pointless as before.
Why couldn't he remember that?
"Jax? Are you okay?"
Jax opened his eyes and looked at her through their reflection in the
mirror. He brushed the falling strand of hair from her necklace. At
his touch, Keesha closed her eyes. "Yes." he whispered. Keesha could
feel Jax's breath against the side of her neck. "Are you okay?"
"Yes." she mumbled.
Keesha felt her body tighten as Jax's lips finally touched her throat.
He wrapped his arms around her tightly as his mouth tasted her. Keesha
reached behind, pulling herself against him, her head leaning back with
a small sigh.
The soft sound intensified Jax's desire for her and he groaned before
quickly spinning Keesha around to face him, kissing the front of her
neck hungrily. He trailed his tongue upwards; she bent down and met
his lips halfway, kissing them fiercely.
Jax lifted Keesha as they kissed passionately, carrying her towards the
bed. He laid her down and reclined on top of her, looking into her
eyes once more before bending to kiss her again. Their lips were just
inches apart when the phone rang.
Jax turned to look at the phone, and Keesha leaned up slightly. She
led his face back to hers and kissed him again, gently. They reclined
once more and she sucked on his bottom lip, kissing him again. He
shuddered, returning her kiss deeply.
The phone continued to ring...finally with a groan of frustration, Jax
pushed himself off of her. He took a deep breath and Keesha opened her
eyes to look at him. She watched as he reached for the phone.
"What?!" he snapped. He listened for awhile, reality slowly pushing
it's way back into his mind. He sat down at the edge of the bed.
"What time is it?...no, don't hold the reservation, Jean-Paul...I
apologize." Jax looked over at Keesha. He had to get out of here.
"...no, we're going back to America. Yes, tonight." he continued into
the phone.
Keesha nodded. "I'll pack." she whispered.
Jax hung up the phone and watched as Keesha took clothes from the
closet.
"Keesha?"
"No need to explain. I agree."
"We have to keep our focus, right?"
"Right." she smiled. "And no apologies, okay?"
Jax nodded and watched as she went into the bathroom to collect some
items.
He stood and took the suitcases from under the bed. He hadn't been
planning to apologize. Because if he had to do it over again, he
couldn't say it wouldn't have happened again.
So what would be the point of apologizing?
"My room is right next door. I'm going to put your clothes in there."
Jax told Keesha as she looked around her bedroom in his house.
"Alright."
"I'll tell people I had work that had to be done here, and that's why
we're a couple of days early."
"Okay. You should go to bed, you look tired."
"I am." he admitted. "Go ahead and search through the house if you
need something. Good night."
"Good night." Keesha watched as Jax closed the door. She sat down on
the edge of her bed and pulled her pearls from the inside of her shirt.
She kicked off her shoes and pushed herself back into the middle of
the bed, reclining. She closed her eyes and played with
her necklace. For once she wasn't even trying to empty her mind of
thoughts of Jax.
She knew trying to would be pointless.
And actually, what had happened and what almost happened, tonight...or
actually now last night...
Was something she didn't want to forget.
Shani
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