I ended up sleeping with Jett that night.

In the literal sense - not the euphemism. No way. He might be unreasonably hot, but I have standards. He had his side of the bed, and I had mine. And, by God, it was the most awkward night I'd ever had. Every time he so much as moved, I froze, completely inert, barely breathing and certainly not sleeping. Much to my displeasure.

Fortunately for me, my discomfort could only keep me awake for so long.

At the first signs of light my eyes were so heavy that I couldn't fight back the weariness that came with lack of sleep. I needed slumber like a fish needs water and a drug addict needs his joint.

Within moments I was unconscious.


The following morning, Jett was in the kitchen with some more new faces. A strikingly beautiful brunette stood flanked by a man that closely resembled Jett; if you didn't notice the long, long black tresses he had pulled into an unruly ponytail, accompanied by a five o'clock shadow that actually looked alright.

As soon as I had stepped out of the bedroom, I regretted it.

They were speaking quietly and quickly, the woman not hesitating to send me a withering glance when she noticed me. Not good. I think she even raised her voice for my benefit. "You ignore us for at least three months and then when you finally grow the balls to invite us over, it's because of that." Said whilst gesturing rather unsubtly at me.

"Morning, Jade." Jett called obliviously from across the room, stooping over the cooker. Topless, again. It smelled like he was cooking bacon, but as all I could see was the well toned, muscular expanse of his back, I didn't care. He could have been cooking his neighbours entrails and I wouldn't have cared.

The woman with the short fuse caught me staring, sending me one of the most unfriendly glares I had seen in quite a long time.

"Her name is Jade?" I nodded stupidly at the look-a-like's question. His strong accent had distracted me completely, as hard as that was. He sounded nothing alike Jett, at all, and all I could do was reel off scenarios in my head.

I was a stranger, and their private lives were none of my business

But I couldn't help it. It was like a mystery that was desperately screaming at someone to solve it - and I was the lucky victim. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

His courtesy was counteracted by the loud, bordering not-so-playful slap that the nice woman had dealt him. Nice. Of course. "Now is not the time for niceties, Hayden." Maybe not, then.

"Why?" The reproachful tone in his voice made me flinch subconsciously, pressing myself closer against the doorframe. "She seems perfectly nice to me."

"I've already sacrificed my wardrobe to this free-loader, and I don't even get a thank you? I think that puts us past pleasantries."

"Don't blame her for it." Jett laughed, laying down two plates with quite an abundant what-I-assumed-was-breakfast on top of them. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. She literally just got here. Forgive me for deciding against bringing her to visit you within the first few hours of her arrival."

It took me about thirty seconds to realise that one of the plates was probably mine, when no one claimed it. Chuckling, Jett motioning me towards the empty space at the table with a tilt of his head.

"See? You've already made a bad impression because of your sour mood."

I hesitated, meeting the unfriendly, unfaltering grimace plastered on the woman's face. That was probably Ashley.

Jett affirmed this for me. "Jade, this is Ashley," her grimace darkened ten-fold, "and my brother Hayden. They are getting married in two months."

"A month and a half." She corrected bitterly.

"Oh really? Ha-ha. My bad." I sat there, immobile under the scrutiny of all three of them. How on earth could I touch my food when I wasn't even comfortable with twitching a finger? Shit. I wasn't even breathing.

"I do believe you have scared the living daylights out of her, cariña." Hayden slurred, watching with amusement as he leaned against the worktop, at a safe distance.

Jett was eating normally, watching me from the corner of his eyes with a carefulness that Ashley lacked.

As soon as I mustered the courage to look up, Hayden decided to fill the silence with the sound of his voice. "I can assure you it was not my intention to create such a distressing atmosphere when I suggested that we should visit. I was merely curious."

"Choose your words carefully, querido." Ashley snapped, crossing her arms beneath her chest. I couldn't tell whether she was intending to improve her cleavage by doing this or not. Maybe she felt threatened. Maybe I was flattering myself. "We've already received what we came here for, so we'll leave as soon as Hayden's done. I refuse to sit here any longer."

"-Oh, before you go," Jett interjected, having almost finished a portion large enough to satisfy about three people. "I had a request for you, Ashley, if you don't mind." Even with his attempt to be polite, the direction of the conversation set me on edge.

Ashley's reaction was predictable. Blatantly, she didn't like beeing the bossee, instead of the bossy-boots. "I owe you nothing." She snarled. Some part of my brain registered the sound at the end of the utterance as inhuman, but I ignored it. I was just a bit tense. That could affect me in several, horrid ways.

"Do you want me to list all the times I helped you out selflessly? I think I can even recall you promising to repay me once or twice." I also tried to ignore the growl, too, but that was difficult. It's in your head, I told myself again and again, all in your head.

"What do you want?" As expected, she sounded so terribly pleased. Not.

"Seeing as you clearly don't want to be here, then it might actually be a good thing."

"You're stalling, Jett. On purpose. Don't think my temper won't spike, and I won't hurt you." My eyes widened in that innocent way a child's will when they discover that the world can be a very, very bad place. This wasn't even bad, but it was unnerving.

The smugness on Jett's face made things low inside of me tighten. Gradually, I was discovering that he had no unattractive expression. "After your complaints about sharing your wardrobe, I thought it might be an idea for you to take the guest of honour out shopping. You might even get along." Both our faces paled considerably. I didn't even try to hide the fear in my eyes. I didn't want to do this.

"Jett…" I mumbled with a hint of uncertainty, scrunching the hem of my shirt into fists. My eyebrows were creased with worry.

"She finally speaks." Ashley hissed, her glower even darker than before. The combination of poisonous words and the lethal glower was barely manageable now. A few more hours would be torture. "If you treasure your guests, you would understand the fatal error here."

"I'm sorry, Jade." Jett began, blanking a now very vexed sister-in-law-to-be. "I would go with you but there are certain things I have to do today that I can't put off. It's either this or we wait while Ashley sacrifices more of her clothes to you."

"From one goddess to another." Hayden teased.

Meanwhile, Ashley looked as if she was actually going blue with rage. I had seen red before, white even, but blue was impressive. "Don't you dare!" She had finally cracked. It was going to happen anyway, but it had to happen now of all times, didn't it? Right when I was feeling insecure and unstable. "Don't you even think about placating me with pretty words, Hayden! And you," she turned on Jett now, still seething. "How dare you treat me like I'm not here! That is no way to ask for a favour. But, you know what? It doesn't matter anyway, because even if you got on your knees and grovelled like a pathetic idiot, my answer would still be 'no fucking way'."

Jett blinked slowly, speechless. It was her husband that ventured to ask: "and why is that, mi corazón?"

"I will not associate myself with one of your brothers whores!" Hayden spluttered into his coffee, Jett remained silent, pensive even. Then there was me, clenching my hands on my thighs to stop myself from screaming at her.

"I don't mean to rain on your parade… but… err… I'm actually-" at that moment, both brothers had redirected their attention to me. Seeing the amusement twinkle in Jett's eyes made me stop mid-sentence, stammering like an idiot.

"You're actually…?" Ashley urged impatiently, her scowl burning holes through me.

I closed my eyes. It was impossible to meet anyone's gaze, glare or suspicious grins; I would end up making a fool of myself "A… virgin..." I was mistaken if, by admitting it, I thought it was helping my case.

Ashley sat there in utter disbelief.

I think Hayden nearly dropped the coffee mug this time.

And Jett… he just laughed, loud and honest, and completely shameless while I tried to hide my face behind my hair. I actually felt like I was on fire. "Wow, that's…"

The heavy sigh that left Ashley's lips wasn't half as unfriendly as she had been up until now. I'm guessing that, up until now, this had been a complete misunderstanding. "So you haven't…"

I looked at Jett, because I didn't trust myself. I didn't trust myself to sound convincing. "No, Ashley. Just because there is a girl in my house does not mean I have to fuck her." I paled. I could have said it better, though, I guess she'd take his word over mine. But still… I hadn't expected him to be so… crude.

"Well I'm sorry for putting two and two together." She grumbled, glaring at me. "It's not entirely my fault for thinking that way." Because it's so totally my fault that I hadn't straddled him the first moment I saw him. Just the thought of it made me dizzy. No, the closest I had gotten to a sexual relationship was…

… Heath.

"… Jade? I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be insulting." I could hear him, but the words seemed to be going in one ear and out the other. "Are you okay?"

I blinked once, twice, and then realised that everyone had noticed the sudden change in my thought track. I couldn't help it though. Every time I remembered what had happened with Heath, it became more vivid. More terrifying. So sue me for being a little edgy.

"Look, I've said I'm sorry." Ashley sighed, getting to her feet. "-But whether or not you two are doing the dirty, I doubt I have the patience to put up with her. My job doesn't exactly make it easy either."

"If you have such a great aversion to me, then I think I'll survive without going with you. You don't have to list off excuses, I get it." Jett gave me a disbelieving look. "I've had bigger problems than a clean change of clothes."

"My God, what third world dust bin did you pick her out of?" I tried not to blush at the blatant insult, even if it was difficult keeping my emotions in check. I wasn't in the best of places at the moment, especially now that my mind kept straying back to the ghosts of my past.

Jett still watched me pensively, his expression unchanging since I had spaced out. I looked at him then, realising I had said to much. The look pleaded: don't tell.

"Fine. You're free, Ashley." Jett surrendered.

"If you think I'm going to thank you, then forget it." Were her parting words. Hayden stayed, finishing his coffee.

"I'll take her." He said. The nonchalance in his voice wasn't half as unsettling as Ashley's temper, but there was something about them - about all of them, even Jett - that made me wonder what I had gotten myself into.

My gut said: trouble.


The car engine started to life with a loud roar. It was a gas-guzzling, massive saloon car. It was a very nice car. Well furnished, air-conditioned with DAB Radio and a CD player. But we weren't listening to music. We were listening to the engine, now on mute, as if sound were optional. What a shame.

"Are you comfortable?" What a silly question to ask.

"How could I be uncomfortable?" I caught the edges of a smirk in the rear view mirror. "This car seems to be too expensive for anything but luxury."

Hayden paused for a moment, thinking something over, before he began talking. "You've just been very quiet for the most of the journey."

"It's been a very long journey." I said, not sure I could think of any other way to respond to the remark he had just made. "I don't tend to talk in car journeys. I get too distracted by my thoughts."

"As long as it's nothing that I can't fix." It was nice how he thought he could fix an awkward silence. Some silences weren't meant to be fixed, but I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that, because I didn't want to crush his ego.

"The trees are dispersing." Hayden nodded.

"We're almost there."

I stared at the massive sign for the turn off, through the water-studded window, through my ghost-like reflection. "Where is there exactly?"

"A shopping centre." I licked my lips, tilting my head against the glass pane. I hadn't been out in a really long time. I hadn't seen a shopping centre in longer. It was difficult to remember… sometimes. My life prior to everything else seemed so far away that I had even begun to accept the idea that it might never have existed.

Seeing the bright lights, the towering modern structure that looked so out of place, I realised that I was wrong. It had always been very real. What was most likely was that there had just been no point in trying to hold on to a part of my past that seemed so insignificant.

But now I realised how much I had missed it.

"Are we going inside before it starts pouring again, or are we going to gawp at the outside of the building? I did promised that we would come back with something tangible."

"It's alright, is it?" He arched a brow in confusion. "I mean… it's alright that I…? I mean, I have no money."

"That is not a problem. You're just making it a problem by worrying about it." I frowned, unable to argue with him.

So I followed him inside, shoving any stray anxieties back into the caverns of my mind.


A/N: sorry for the late update - getting into exam season - my spanish oral on monday! *shrieks* it's at 9.30am! I think I might die. Then art on Wednesday to Thursday.

That's going to be sooooo fun.

so yeah. What do you think? Do you miss the vampires? I might include them in the next chapter :P a little snippet of them doing what they do best - but only if you want that. You might want to see the aftermath of the shopping trip :S oooh what fun.

So yeah. Exciiiiting stuff.

Do not hesitate to criticise - but nothing to hurtful, please. I bruise easily.

THANK YOU FOR READING! :D :D :D