Chapter 8
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There were so many places Keesha had alwasy wanted to go, but never
did. Yet it seemed whenever she got together the money to go on
vacation she almost always wound up here, in France. She loved France;
the country side was so quiet and serene, the cities so full of life,
and at night...Paris at night was absolutely beautiful. Keesha sat
outside of the hotel, waiting for the parking attendant to pull up with
her rental car. She pulled her shades down from the top of her head
and slipped them on.
"Bonjour Mademoiselle." a soft voice whispered in her ear.
Keesha smiled, but didn't turn around. "Why Sir, I do believe you're
following me." she stated in her best Southern accent.
"That would be correct." Jax came from behind and sat down next to
her. "How has the trip been so far?"
Keesha looked over at him. "Magnifique. When did you get here?"
"Just an hour ago. I was thinking about Ned and..."
"Nope. Not right now. My ride is here."
"Ride? Where?"
"There." she pointed to the attendant getting out of her car as she
stood. "I am going to drive into town, park and take a nice long walk
around."
"We really do need to discuss this."
"I thought you decided it wasn't imperative to know who did what."
"That was until I realized Ned was involved."
"Fine. We can discuss it. Later. Right now, I'm going to go out and
enjoy myself."
"Keesha..." Jax began, exasperated.
"Jax, can't it keep? It can, I'm sure."
"Alright...when will you be back."
"Who knows."
"Keesha, I'm serious."
"So am I. I will be back when I get back and I swear the first thing I
will do is call your room, okay?"
"Then you're all mine, right?"
"I'm at your beck and call. I will not have fun for the rest of this
trip." Keesha swore teasingly as she held up her hand. Jax shook his
head and smiled at her as she went over to the attendant, tipping him.
She got into the car. Jax watched as she pulled off, furrowing his
brows as she stopped. She backed up and rolled down the window. "Come
on."
"Come on where?"
"To town. With me."
"Some people have work to do."
"Some people need to learn when to let something go and just have fun."
Jax sighed.
"Jax, in a couple of days our lives are going to be completely
different, and we will only have one goal." Getting rid of Sonny. "So
I suggest you take some time and relax, while you can. And what better
place to relax than here?"
Jax stared at Keesha for a moment. Finally he stood and came over to
the car. He bent down and looked inside the window. "Nice
selection...can I drive?"
"Nope. My car, I drive."
"Pushy aren't you?" Jax opened the door and got inside.
"Sometimes." Keesha admitted and they pulled off.
"Mind if I join you?"
Alexis looked up from the table and glanced at Jerry. "By all means."
she smiled as he sat down.
"I have a legal question."
"Okay, do you want to make an appointment?"
"No. This is simply hypothetical."
"Okay, what, hypothetically, do you want to know?"
"When does a lawyer's duty to his client end?"
"Pretty much when the relationship is terminated. However once you
take on a client, you do have a duty, even after the end of the
relationship, not to use to misuse any information. Basically you have
to remain competent."
"And if a lawyer wasn't competent, but the client was, for some reason
unable to complain herself, could someone else complain for her?"
"It depends. May I have details?"
Jerry *thought* for a moment. "No."
"Well since you obviously want an affirmative answer let's just say
that if the client has someone else who can complain on her behalf,
then the lawyer would be subject to the same punishment as if the
clinet herself had complained. In most instances....and sometimes an
incompetent lawyer affects more than his client anyway. In that case,
whoever was affected may have a case." she watched as Jerry's eyes lit
up. "Obviously that was the million dollar answer."
"Obviously. Thank you very much."
Jax thanked the cashier and left. He looked around and saw Keesha
looking into a small fountain. He jogged up to her. "I'm ready now,
we have everything."
"Great, I'm starved."
"What about over there?" Jax pointed to a small grassy knoll over at
the end of the square.
"Sounds good to me." she took a bag from him and followed.
"You see, Keesha. It's all about the cheese."
"It had better be. I can't beleive you had me drive 40 miles out of
the way just so you could go to a specific shop." Keesha opened the
bag and started taking out food, handing it to Jax who was already
sitting on the ground.
"Hey, I offered to drive." Jax started slicing the cheese.
Keesha sat down next to him. "That's not what I meant. I mean that
though cheese is not just cheese, granted, no cheese is worth going out
of your way..." she closed her mouth after Jax leaned over and popped a
small piece into he rmouth. She started chewing. "Oh my..."
"See?" Jax stated knowingly. "Told ya."
"Okay, this is wonderful, but..."
"Admit it. *Jax, you were right to force me to drive a little bit out
of the way for the best cheese in the world*."
"It is very good. I'll relent to that much."
"Well, get used to it, because I have some flown in weekly."
"You're kidding...no, you're not." Keesha had heard about Jax's
tendancy to fly food in from all over the world. She watched as Jax
leaned back on the ground and looked up at the sky.
"This was a good idea." he sighed and closed his eyes. "I needed some
time to myself."
Keesha laughed. "Should I be insulted?"
"Okay..." Jax turned over and laid on his stomach. "Don't even say
it...I am not alone, and I realize that. Trust me." he said to her
seriously as he stared up into her eyes. "I suppose I should have
said, that I needed to relax. Being here with you is very relaxing."
"I'm glad." Keesha smiled softly. Jax continued to stare at her and
she had to force herself to look away. As soon as this was over, he
would go about his life, and she would go about hers. She had to fight
getting used to this-being around Jax. She cleared her throat and
stared off into the horizon. "Actually you forced me to drive out here
and chose this spot, so really you should take the credit."
"I'm always more relaxed around you. It doesn't matter where." Jax
admitted quietly and Keesha looked at him again. They gazed at each
other for a moment and then Jax turned back over, laying on his back
once more. He closed his eyes to the sky.
And Keesha continued staring at him.
"You gave the Rutherford account to Ned?!" AJ exclaimed to Edward.
"We needed something right away and you were too busy running around
after Keesha, Junior." Ned shook his head in discgust. "Too
emotional, especially over people who give a damn. *That's* why you'll
never be CEO."
"Enough Ned." Monica ordered. "Can't we have one peaceful evening?"
For her sake AJ bit his tongue. He sat down next to Emily and stared
at Ned's smug face. That was okay, he would get his eventually.
"Ned could be of use to us. That's why I want to know for sure if he
was the person." Jax closed the door to the patio fo Keesha's hotel
suite. He walked up and handed her the glass of wine.
"How could Ned be helpful?"
"Because Ned wants Sonny off the ELQ board."
"Obviously not, he's been there for years."
"Okay, so it's not a priority. But of he has the oppurtunity he'll
take it. But if it wasn't him , then I may just go over his head, to
Edward."
"Want one?" Keesha held out the box of chocolates.
"Thank you." Jax took one. "Why are you changing the subject?"
"I didn't say anything."
"That's the problem."
"Fine. I don't want to work with Ned. On anything." Keesha got up
from the deck chair and went to the patio door.
Jax watched as she went inside. After a second, he followed. "Why
not?"
"Why should we, when Edward is just as, if not more, useful?"
"Because Ned is more of a challenge. He's fun to work with."
"Only if you like him. I prefer to keep away from Ned."
"You still don't like Ned? Because of AJ?" Jax sat down next to
Keesha on the couch.
"Not because of AJ, because...I don't want to get into this. I don't
want to work with Ned and you do. But the point is moot if Ned wasn't
the person who wanted me on the board to begin with. So let's save
this for later, how's that?" she stood and Jax did also. "What?"
"You won't discuss AJ will you?"
"I prefer it that way."
"Why?"
"Because I don't like to talk about things or people who cause me pain,
alright." Keesha looked down. "When my...when my daddy died, all I
kept thinking was I needed AJ to come and be with me, I needed him
there. And not only didn't he come, he left me, in a letter....he
basically said everything he had said to me the last six months was a
lie..."
"AJ's a fool." There was no other excuse Jax could think of. He
couldn't imagine anyone who had the chance to be with Keesha, to have
Keesha in love with him...if he had that chance...Jax stopped his train
of thought.
"The thing is he was right to do it. I know that. He realized he
didn't love me, and ..."
"Don't make excuses for him. There is none. Everything he realized he
should have known before he wanted you back."
"I don't want to discuss this." Keesha's eyes started to well up with
tears as she thought of how empty and alone she had felt. And then her
mother killed herself. Then Justus died..."Damn it." she mumbled and
took a deep breath so she wouldn't break down right there. However, a
tear escaped and fell down her cheek.
But before she could, Jax reached out and wiped it away. Keesha looked
up into his eyes as his hand lingered on her cheek. "You still have
feelings for him."
"No."
"Keesha..."
"No, I don't. But I..."
Jax continued to stare at her. "Okay." he stroked her cheek and his
hand started to drift down as he watched her mind continue to turn with
thoughts of AJ and who knew what else.
Keesha wanted to tell him, for some reason, she needed to put into
words how alone she felt. "I..."
"It's okay.." Jax placed his fingers on her lips. "We won't discuss
him again. I'm..."
Jax ran his finger across the tip of Keesha's lips.
They were so soft...
Keesha closed her eyes, and as if instinctive to Jax's touch, her lips
parted with a small sigh.
A wave of desire ripped through Jax. He stepped closer...he only
wanted one...just one kiss.
Keesha opened her eyes and looked at him again.
And Jax remembered the tears that were just there a moment ago, when he
mentioned AJ.
She had to have feelings for him. No matter what she argued.
"I'm sorry." Jax dropped his hand. "We won't discuss him again.
Okay?"
Keesha blinked. "Right. Okay."
"Okay, I'm going to bed...I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay...right, you're sleeping here."
"On the sofa. It would be kind of pointless for me to sleep in my own
hotel room if we want people to beleive we're lovers."
"Right." That and *okay* seemed to be the only words Keesha could form
right now. She tried again. "Upstairs...I'm going upstairs....good
night."
Jax watched as she went up the few stairs to the bedroom, shutting the
door.
He sat down on the couch and took a deep breath.
Thank goodness he had stopped himself. Getting involved with Keesha
physically would be a bad idea.
Because was slowly realizing it wouldn't stop there.
Shani
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