Chapter 13
<![CDATA[
Jax put the pillow over his face. Maybe if he ignored it, it would go
away...
"WHAT! " he finally answered the phone.
"Jax, I'm so glad you're back...did I wake you?"
"Yes."
"It's 6:00...why are you still in bed?"
"I'm exhausted Grace. I hardly slept in the past 3 days."
"Oh that's right, you're a newlywed." Grace smiled. "I guess
congratulations are in order"
"Thank you, now what do you want?"
"We're having a problem here."
"At Beirara's? What kind of problem..." Jax finally forced himself out
of bed.
Nikolas picked up the phone again and dialed.
"Go away."
"Don't hang up on me Elizabeth. Once more, Marcus is *how* old?"
"30." she sighed.
"And you are?"
"19."
"No, try again."
"I'll be 19 in 4 months."
"And?"
"He is involved with V." she mumbled.
"What you have is a crush."
"Thank you Grandmother." Liz hung up again and Nikolas groaned. Ever
since Lucky died, Liz had grown wilder and wilder. He tried to take
care of her but she seemed determined to make her life as chaotic as
possible. "Come in!" he ordered.
"Nikolas...hi." Alexis walked into his Deception office. "You come in
early...I called you last night and your assistant said to try you
first thing here."
Nikolas just nodded.
"I'm usually in bed this early."
Nikolas continued to stare.
"How are you."
"Just fine."
Alexis sat down cautiously. He was still so cold, after all of these
years. Blabbing to Helena, he forgave somewhat, lying to him to get
his medical records, forgiven. But once he stumbled across proof that
she was again betraying his father, Stefan...with her only excuse that
she was going after what was hers...Nikolas had done what he could to
cut off ties from her. "I'm glad to hear it."
"What do you want?"
"I'm going to investigate someone, and all I need is your word that
you'll stay out of it. And convince Stefan to do the same."
"Who?"
"Jax."
Nikolas had to laugh. " *Jax*? To call you a traitor wouldn't even
begin to describe you..." he shook his head. "Why?"
"I have to, it's my duty."
"Oh...something to do with your lawyering?"
"Yes. And a little more." Justus had made Alexis promise, that she
would be careful before giving Keesha any information. To make sure
that the person who she married, would not just protect her, but would
be able to.
"Why should I care? Why should Father?"
"Because, I know you don't care for me..."
"You mean nothing to me."
Alexis felt the knife in her heart twist. "You are more like him every
day."
Nikolas' eyes grew cold. "Despite what you meant, I shall take that as
a compliment. And if you want me to stay out of it, don't bad mouth my
family,"
"I'm sorry. Well."
"I can't promise for Father. But like I said, you mean nothing to me."
Alexis realized she wasn't going to get any better than that. With a
nod, she got up and left the office.
Jax downed his coffee. Straight, black, regular coffee, the way Jerry
made it...badly. Jax grimaced, hoping that this would finally do what
his fancy coffee's hadn't, and wake him up. He was too awake to sleep,
and too tired to be effective. But once he figured this out, he'd be
free, and he could take the rest of the day in bed. He got up from
his chair and strecthed before sitting himself down, trying to find the
mistake accounting had made that let Ned get into the company.
"What are you doing up?"
Jax looked over at the sound of Keesha's voice. "Did I wake you?"
"No, I wasn't sleeping." she leaned up against the doorway and looked
at him, trying to keep herself from staring at his shirtless chest.
She placed her hands in the pocket of her robe. Even in sweat pants
the man was...
like she realized. Indescribable. "But you should be, you still look
exhausted." she finished.
"That's because I am."
"So, why don't you go to bed."
"I have something to take care of."
"Can I help?"
"I wish. But no."
"Won't it be here later."
"Yes."
"And you'll be more awake later."
Jax yawned. "You don't get it...see, now that I know about the
problem, I have to find it, or else I won't have one peaceful moment.
I'll find it, sleep the rest of the day away, and then check it again
when I get up."
"If you're going to check it again, then why don't you just wait until
you're more awake?"
"I tried to explain that...I need my head clear to sleep well. As of
late, it doesn't matter how miniscule a problem is, it will nag at
me....even if I can barely keep my eyes open." Jax's voice drifted
off.
"Have you *tried* going to sleep? Maybe you're tired enough that..."
"I need to have my mind clear. If it's not clear..."
"Then you can't sleep."
"No."
"Okay...come on."
"Where?"
"Humor me, and come on. I won't take up more than...10 minutes of your
time."
Jax looked at the computer screen again. With a sigh he got up and
followed Keesha into the living room. "What are we doing?"
Keesha sat down on the couch. "Tell me everything you know, about the
first thing that comes into you rmind."
"What? Why?"
"Humor me." she repeated.
Jax sighed. "Okay...the account....you don't want to hear this, it's
boring."
"Maybe, maybe not. The point is that it's on your mind at this very
moment. So talk about it until you can't talk about it anymore."
Jax stared at Keesha for a moment. "Okay..."
"Wait, get into the most comfortable position you can think of."
"This, no offense..."
"Is insane, I know. But..."
"Humor you." Jax looked around the room. He was hoping to think of
some other place, but he couldn't. Finally he looked back at her.
"Okay." he said softly and sat down on the sofa next to her, reclining.
He pushed himself closer to her and rested his head on her lap.
Keesha looked down at Jax as he took her hand and placed it near his
head. Keesha touched his hair gently and Jax closed his eyes, with a
long sigh. "I'm comfortable now."
Keesha slowly stroked Jax's hair. She shifted a little on the
couch...taking a quiet breath. She glanced down at him again, watching
his hair fall softly in between her fingers. "Jax?" she said
cautiously.
"I'm not sleeping. Just thinking."
"You're supposed to think out loud. Things get less cluttered that
way. So tell me about this account..."
"Your scent is intoxicating." he answered. Keesha froze, as Jax turned
and laid on his side. "Keep going." he asked.
"Sorry." she continued running her fingers through his hair. She
forced herself to stop looking at him and stared straight ahead.
"I couldn't exactly place it at first..." Jax yawned. "We were on our
way upstairs to sleep in your hotel room during the blizzard. And I
remember wondering what perfume you used, I even asked you, remember?"
"Yes."
"And you said it depended on your mood...and at that moment you weren't
wearing any, because you hadn't felt the desire to...so then I
realized, that it was just you...perhaps I should have learned then."
Things were so much clearer now...
"Learned what."
"Not to question things...." Jax yawned again. "...that it's just
you...I don't need a reason to be comfortable around you, I just do,
because you're...you..."
Keesha played with Jax's hair for a moment longer, waiting. Finally
she ventured another look at him...he was fast asleep.
Jax fumbled around for the phone. "Yes..." he sat up on the couch and
looked at the clock. Almost noon. "I'm working on it Grace, right at
this very moment." He hung up the phone and hopped over the couch. He
paused. Nice burst of energy...oh yes. He had an epiphany. Now that
he stopped worrying and thinking and analyzing things. He jogged into
his office and stood in the doorway, surprised. "What are you doing?"
Keesha looked up from the floor. "When I worked at the Charles Street
Foundation, I handled lots of accounts. So I just printed up what was
on your screen, saved the work of course, and these three small piles
are things that caught my attention, for different reasons. You can
take a look at them, maybe I saved you some time, and even if I didn't,
I didn't hurt anything." she got up from the ground.
Jax stepped closer and took one stack of papers from Keesha's hands.
"Thank you."
"You didn't look at them yet." she smiled. "I'm tried, I'm going to
take a nap." she started to move past him, and he took her hand.
"Yes?"
Jax reached up with his other hand and touched Keesha's face. She
continued to stare into his eyes, and he bent slightly, placing a tiny
kiss upon her lips. Just because he wanted to. Because it was her.
"Have a nice nap."
Keesha opened her eyes and looked at Jax once more. She didn't know
what to say, that one small kiss left her more tongue tied than she had
ever been around Jax, more than the moment when he ran his fingers
gently across her lips, more than the wedding kiss, even more
than...*whatever* had happened in the hotel room. Something was
*different*. He was different. She felt different.
And that difference made...whatever it was she felt for Jax...intensify
ten-fold.
Finally she manged a simple "Thank you." and let go of his hand.
Jax watched her go and sat down at his desk. He picked up his phone
and dialed.
"Yep."
"Hi, Jer. How are you?"
"Welcome back, bro. You sound cheerful."
"Clearer."
"On what?"
"I'm doing what you taught me...knowing when to fold."
"What are you giving up on?"
Jax shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I'm just going to let things
happen, and see where it takes me."
"With what?"
"Keesha."
Shani
]]>
