Enjoy :)

Jessi spent her Saturday at the lake house before mustering up the courage to go the apartment on Sunday. She had to tell Alex, and explain to him exactly why she accepted and what her plans were. She wanted to avoid the situation as much as possible, entirely even...but she knew that hiding it would only cause everything to become worse. All she could do was hope that he would understand.

Her breathing felt increasingly constricted as she approached the door. She felt as if her heart was beating through her chest and her legs stiffened. Was she really able to do this? She stood in front of the door for several seconds before pulling her keys out of her purse.

She slipped the key into the lock and turned. This was it; she couldn't turn back. Telling Alex was going to happen whether she liked it or not. She opened the door to see the immediate area empty.

Nobody's home...

She moved through the apartment and to their bedroom, a numbness taking over her as she saw Alex still sleeping.

Am I really willing to let him go...?

She placed her purse on the floor next to her bedside table and crawled into bed, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her lips to his. He mumbled a little bit, waking up and wrapping his arms around her once he'd realized what was going on.

Maybe...in case it's the last time...

"Alex..." she whispered to him as her head rested on his chest and her arms wrapped around him.

"Yes?" he asked as he played with her hair.

"You know...I really do love you..."

"I love you too, babe. I do."

She took a breath and opened her mouth to say it, but nothing came out from her lips.

"Jess?"

She looked at him for several seconds before bursting out in tears, clinging on to him and burying her face in his chest.

"Jessi?! Baby what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Alex, he..."

"He? Who is he?"

"My father." she managed through her sobs.

"What did he do?"

She didn't tell him anything, only cried. He gave her the chance to get it out before asking her questions, holding her to him.

"I-I love you so much, Alex. You mean everything to me." she admitted.

"I love you too, babe."

"Alex...we..."

"We?"

"My father is..."

"Out with it, woman." he said, trying to encourage her to get it over and done with.

She composed herself as much as she could, "My father is forcing me to marry someone..." she let out before covering her face and continued crying.

Alex stared at her in shock. His heart began racing and he gulped.

"W-what?" he said, prying her off of him and standing up from the bed.

She stood up with him, walking to where he was, "I don't want to...I really don't. I want to be with you, and love you, and..." she couldn't finish her sentence, placing her face into her hands, sobbing.

"Who?"

"His name is Robert Cross..."

"How old is he?"

"Twenty-seven..."

"Twenty-seven?!"

"Yes..."

"Are you going to?"

"Alex...he said if I don't, I will lose my place in the Marines...he'll never let me join—he'll do everything to prevent it, and he wants me to join this other organization—it's all for an alliance between the two and they want a marriage to secure it or something."

Alex stayed silent, letting the information sink in.

"Cross said that he and I don't have to talk at all or even live together, and I can carry on my life and once I'm in the other organization and the alliance is finalized, we'll get divorced. He said I can stay with you."

"No."

"What?"

"You need to leave." he demanded, seemingly getting more pissed off as the seconds rolled by.

"Alex..."

"How could you do this?! You actually said 'yes'?!"

"It wasn't an easy decision! I was put on the spot, I probably won't even go through with—"

"The whole point is that you agreed to marry someone else that isn't your fucking boyfriend!"

"It's my career!"

"I could have taken care of you!"

"After everything I worked so hard for, you expect me to just throw it all away?! Give up school then, Alex!"

"It's not the same!"

"Yes, it is!"

"Just get out of my face, woman."

"Fine..." she said gently, getting dressed, picking up her purse and leaving with Sparkle.

Alex sat back down on the bed, running his hands through his curly, black hair.

She said yes...

He got up and in one swift movement, threw everything off his night stand, screaming in a fit of rage.

It should have been me...

He looked over to her nightstand where a picture with the two of them and Dana stood then back at his night stand. He looked back to his, opening the drawer and looking at a little box.

It was going to be me...

≺) [ṃȧƌạṁeḤuɲʈǝrr]