A/N: If I don't have anyone reading this anymore, I really wouldn't be surprised! I can't apologise enough for the too long delay in updating this story. I've had a hell of a year since I last did. I finally got married, have moved and brought a house and unfortunately had some terrible news about my mum, as well as keep my head down at work. So time has been a precious commodity for me. But, now I'm settled in my house now, I've finally had a chance to start writing again. I promise, I will finish this story. Not only because I absolutely love it, but because I have a sequel I plan to do too. I also hear Meg has been to Carmel to research for another Mediator book; what more of an excuse do I need to keep going, knowing I get to add another book to, 'The Shock Of A Lifetime' series? ;) Now life has calmed for me (other than with my mum) updates will be a lot quicker again. It's what will keep me sane. :)

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the patience I've been given with this story! The love I have received for it so far has been what has kept me going, I promise! If you're interested there is a side story/missing scene for this story about Gina and Caden on my profile called, 'Losing To Nightmares'. Have a look if you like that couple. This chapter is a filler of sorts – again – but it starts to get exciting again after this one, so I hope you enjoy this none-the-less. Anonymous review replies are on my profile. Reviews are love and cookies for my muse. :) x

Gina, Jesse and Suze's POV.

Chapter Twenty-Six

I'm pretty sure my best friend is out to get me.

Lifting my head up off the back of the couch I was lounging back on, I sniffed the air; our whole apartment for the past two weeks, has smelt of nothing but baking, and it's been killing me! Suze has been putting so much pressure on herself to make sure Alisa's birthday cake is perfect that she's been baking loads in her spare time so she not only gets the sponge right, but the decoration too. If she hasn't nailed it by now, then she never will.

Groaning, because the smell of cake is really starting to put me off it all together now, I got up to my feet and stomped my way to the kitchen. I found Suze hunched over another freshly cooked, still hot sponge cake, meticulously trying to get it out of the crown shaped baking tin without leaving any behind. Arching an eyebrow I waited for her to put the sponge down on the cooling rack before I let her know I was there. She'd go nuts at me if I scared her and made her drop the cake on the floor.

"Please tell me that after today," I started, making her jump and fly around to face me where I was leaning across the breakfast bar. "This is going to be the last cake you make in forever? Not that I haven't been enjoying testing them out for you, but I'm starting to hate that our apartment smells like a bakery." I grumbled, propping my chin in my hand sulkily. I've been doing extra Zumba workouts in our living room too, just to burn off the extra cake. "Alisa's going to love it, Suze. Stop fussing." I prodded her, watching her examine the sponge again.

"I'm not fussing," She automatically replied, pulling herself away to organize, move and then re-shuffle again all the things she needed to make the icing and decoration for Alisa's crown cake she'd asked for. Seeing me pointedly watch her antsy movements she huffed and stood back to rest against the counter-top. "OK, fine, I'm fussing," She conceded, rolling her eyes at me. "I'm just nervous. I want it to be perfect for her and for Jesse. I don't want to screw this up. Don't look at me like that, I've still got time." She grumbled as I walked around the bar to join her, giving her a one armed hug.

"Suze, that little girl and her daddy adore you. I'm pretty sure there's nothing you could do that would make them look at you any different," I encouraged, squeezing her once before stepping away. "They'll love the cake, so stop worrying so much. Besides, Jesse's seen your test runs, right? So nothing to freak about; you've got this." I winked, pretending to nick a piece of the sponge cooling off. Suze was quick though and smacked my hand away.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," She laughed, moving the sponge out of my reach. "I just need to get it finished and delivered there. After that, I don't care."

"That's the spirit," I cheered, pulling myself up on to the counter-top, dangling my legs. I reached for the rolling pin lying beside me, moving it between my palms restlessly. "What?" I shrugged at my best friend, trying to dodge her eyebrow raise at me. I knew what she was going to say, but I tried to pretend like I didn't anyway. She was going to ask me about him.

Caden.

I felt my heart thump heavily in my chest at the thought of him.

"Have you spoken to him?" Suze asked me, watching me closely. She doesn't know the full, detailed reasons for why I kicked him out of my life and I'm not about to tell her either. It's not between anyone but me and him. I love Suze like a sister, but there are some things I won't even tell her. "He's going to be there you know. He is Alisa's Godfather; you won't be able to avoid him forever."

"I know," I replied, staring down at the rolling pin in my hands. I didn't bother to tell her that I wasn't trying to avoid him. I had no intention of that, but I haven't exactly gone out of my way to try and get in touch with him either. I'm being the coward that I am and waiting until I see him face to face. But it's not just that, I need to see if the feelings are still there. Not just the fun and exciting feelings, but the fear too. I need to know if I can move past that and try again before I try and talk to him about everything. I've been a bitch and torn him apart once already, I'm not going to put him through that again and give him false hope. I don't think I can go through that again either.

It's been over a month since that night that I told him I couldn't cope with him and his problems. Just less than that since my best friend made me open my eyes a little more and re-think the way I reacted to everything he's done to me. Biting my lip I fought to keep myself from crying in front of Suze. At the time, I was so scared and tired and completely done in from the crap Caden's put me through that I just wanted him out of my life, I wanted to hate him for how he's made me feel so weak and defenceless. Broken.

But then I spoke to Suze and suddenly it was like I was waking up again.

Given some time and space from Caden, I could finally see where we went wrong. Where I went wrong. Not that I'm totally to blame for all of this, I'm not taking all the flack. He's the one who said he would get help again and again but never did. And I'm the girlfriend who didn't try and understand his 'issues' and help him either. Yep, we've both screwed this up big time.

I spent the better part of the week after our break-up working myself into the ground so I didn't have to think about it. But once Suze opened the flood gate that was it, I was drowning. Then it took me a couple more weeks to try and piece back together the pieces of my broken character before I could even think about looking up how I was going to help Caden and somehow, if he'll have me, win him back. The deeper I went into PTSD, the more I wanted to stop and just pretend nothing had happened. Just keep him out of my life and move on. But that isn't who I am; I don't give up, even if I had been pretty close with him. Some of the stories I read of other couples going through similar experiences was both scary as hell and found me closure too.

I wasn't as alone as I thought I was. And neither is Caden.

Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to break through that hard headed macho crap and get him to see that too.

If I'm going to piece myself back together then the first thing I need to do is something I hate and apologize to him. And then I'm going to be my true stubborn self and break through those mental barriers and help him fight away his demons. Because if we're going to make this work, then that's the first thing to change. He has to change if he wants to be with me. Which means he's getting help, like it or not.

"So," I forced myself to perk up, giving Suze a bright, albeit slightly wobbly smile. "What time does this shindig kick off?" I asked, referring to Alisa's fifth birthday party, Jesse was having at his house. "And am I going to need ear-plugs?" I quickly added, thinking of all the little children that will be running around the place. Suze laughed, any tension that had been hanging between us smoothed out as I jumped down off the counter and headed out of the kitchen. "You laugh now, Simon, but you and I both know this is going to be worse than that rave we went to back in college." I called out as I sashayed down the hall.

Her loud groan made me laugh back.

"You've got two hours before we have to leave," Suze shouted back to me just as I closed the door to my bedroom. Perfect amount of time to shower, primp and make myself look like a Goddess so that Caden would see exactly what it was he'd been missing out on the past month. I'm going to be apologizing; he doesn't need for me to look like I've missed him too. I give him an inch and he'll run a mile.

I used the two hours before we had to leave wisely. Long hot shower, followed by styling my hair and make-up carefully and then picking the perfect casual, but drop-dead gorgeous outfit I could pull together in a short amount of time. Lucky for me, as a personal stylist before I moved to Carmel with Suze, my closet is filled with lots of amazing things, so I was ready to go without needing Suze to prod me to move faster. I even had time to ooh and ahh over her last cake master-piece before we set out for Jesse's.

But that's when my nerves kicked in.

I tried really hard to keep my hands from shaking on the steering wheel as we drove the fifteen minutes it took to get to Jesse's house. Suze didn't notice my jitters because she was just as nervous herself, but for totally different reasons. "Will you relax," I laughed, focusing on her problems, instead of mine. "You're not going to drop the cake from the car to the house." I snuck glances over at her where she was holding the tub the cake was safe in, as if her life depended on it. "What are you doing?" I frowned, catching her wrinkling her nose like a bunny.

"I've got an itch on my nose, but I don't want to let the cake go," Suze muttered, crossing her eyes to see the end of her nose as if that would take the itch away.

"For crying out loud," I laughed, taking one hand off the wheel, but trying to keep my eyes on the road as I reached across and poked her in the eye. "Oops, sorry! I don't want us to crash," I grinned as I aimed again, ignoring her muttering that I'd poked her in the eye on purpose and itched the end of her nose for her. "Better?" I asked, taking her sigh of contentment that it was. "The things I do for you, woman." I laughed again, turning on to Jesse's street. I'd been so busy spending the last part of the car ride concentrating on scratching my best friend's nose that I'd completely forgotten I was going to be coming face to face with Caden in a matter of minutes. But it all came back to me in a rush; the butterflies fluttering around my stomach making me feel sick.

'Ah crap, he we go,' I thought to myself as I sucked up my courage, ignoring his truck in Jesse's drive-way and helped Suze get out of the car and not drop the precious cargo along the way.

I went up Jesse's path first, kicking any stray toys out of Suze's path, just in case. Looking back over my shoulder I realized it was better that I had, as her attention was so focused on the tub in her hands, she wasn't really looking where she was going anyway. "Eyes up, Suze!" I called out, looking behind me at her as I climbed up the few steps to Jesse's porch.

"Gina, you're - " Suze started to say, her eyes widening in surprise, unable to gesture with her arms, so she just stood there, wiggling about stupidly. But I soon figured out what it was she was going to say the moment I walked straight into something hard, immovable and smelling suspiciously like my ex boyfriend. "Going to walk into Caden." Suze finished lamely.

I'd bounced off him and was about to lose my footing when his strong hands reached out and steadied me, turning me to face him whether I was ready to or not. His touch did multiple things to me where he held my upper arms. For a split second, one of them things was an ice-cold fear spreading across my whole body. But just as fast as that flush came, the burning hot fever swept in next as I looked up into his eyes; the past month gone as if it never happened with just one glance. I instantly relaxed in his grip, his eyes that had clouded the split second I momentarily tensed and was over-come with fear, cleared too when he felt me melt under his hands.

I guess I found my answer about whether or not I could get past my fear of him.

"I'll go find, Jesse." Suze said, moving around us still stuck on the porch and disappearing through the open front door. Neither of us said anything, but Caden let me go and turned around to follow her.

Before I thought about it, I skipped around him and stood in his way, placing my hands against his strong chest, stopping him. Taking a deep breath and swallowing loudly, I dropped my hands. "We have stuff to talk about." I said quietly, turning away from him just long enough to pull the front door closed behind me, looking back to Caden's raised eyebrows.

Here goes nothing.

xXx

"Jesse?!" Susannah called out to me as she walked down my hallway towards the back of my house where I was fixing the buffet for Alisa's birthday party. My hope was to keep it contained to my garden; stopping any wayward children from sneaking around the rest of the house. I looked up as Susannah slowly walked in, her eyes fixed on the large tub in her hands, her steps careful and nervous. "I've got the cake; where do you want me to put it?" She asked me, her eyes still riveted to her accomplishment.

Dropping the Disney inspired serviettes I was holding I dashed forward and took the tub out of Susannah's hands and carefully slid it on to my counter-top. "Don't worry, you can breathe now." I chuckled as I turned away from the safely deposited cake and accepted Susannah into my arms tenderly. I know just how hard she has been working at making my daughter a perfect cake for her birthday and I had every confidence that the final cake would be just as incredible as the first four she practiced with.

"Thank you for creating this for her, querida," I smiled before dipping my head to quickly capture her lips in a moment that felt as though time had come to a standstill. I breathed in the scent of her shampoo and perfume, my senses going in to over-ride just being able to press my lips to her soft mouth; to have my arms around her waist. I would have stayed there like that for as long as I could if Susannah hadn't stopped me.

"No problem," She grinned, her soft palm caressing my smooth, clean shaven cheek before she stepped away. I knew it was for the best that she had, Alisa and her best friend Kody had already been running back and forth through the house over excited and there was still a few things that needed to be done before the party guests started to arrive. "What do you need help with?" Susannah asked as she turned away and looked around; her eyes widening as she caught sight of my garden for the first time.

"Jesse, this place looks great!" She reverently said as she walked over to the French doors leading to my garden, admiring the streamers and bunting hanging from the trees and flowers; the helium balloons weighed down on the picnic tables strategically placed for any adults who were happy to just watch the fun. Loose balloons were floating around the grass, the inflatable castle pushed further back and a piñata was hanging from a tree ready to be broken open. Inside Caden and I had placed banners around the den, including a table filled with buffet food and crowns and tiaras for all the children.

My daughter was very specific about what she wished for and part of that meant for all the children to feel like prince and princesses, not just her.

My chest swelled with pride when I heard her selfless acknowledgment.

Turning to look at me, Susannah's eyes were glistening with un-shed tears. "You really are the most amazing dad, Jesse," Smiling a little self-consciously back, I raised my hand to rub the back of my neck, shrugging non-committed. I know in my heart I have done well to raise Alisa alone, but hearing it from others is always something that makes me slightly uncomfortable. Thankfully I was soon distracted by Alisa and Kody rushing down the stairs loudly, calling for Susannah. "Whoa, slow down," She laughed, crouching down to admire them both. "So who are you?" She asked Kody first, ruffling his curly blond hair.

"I'm Flynn Rider!" He replied proudly, puffing out his chest to look bigger. "And Lissy's Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, can you tell?"

Twirling around on the spot, Alisa showed off her gold, ruffled dress just as proudly as Kody had done his costume. "Do you like it, Sooze? Does I look like a princess now?" My sweet, beautiful daughter asked her, looking up at Susannah with wide eyed innocence. My heart swelled again and I wondered when my little princess had grown to be so big and so independent. It has felt as though the last five years have been a blur, the time passing so quickly, that I fear if it doesn't slow down, I might miss something. So over-come with emotion, I wanted to go over and scoop my daughter up in my arms and hold her for as long as possible.

But Susannah was doing it already.

Reaching forward, she had lifted my daughter up without much effort and held her tightly, Alisa returning her embrace back just as hard and unwilling to let go. Sighing with happiness I looked on, a smile so wide my jaw ached with the strain. "You're always a princess in mine and your dad's eyes, sweetie. It doesn't matter if you're not wearing a dress or a tiara, because you're the most special and beautiful princess, ever!" Tapping Alisa on the end of her nose, Susannah looked at my daughter with an open look of love and adoration that, once I was able to pull my eyes away quick enough, was mirrored on Alisa's face too.

Throwing her arms back around Susannah's neck, Alisa declared very loud and surprisingly, "I love you, Sooze!"

Sucking a breath in, my heart painfully racing in my chest, I met Susannah's shocked and watery eyes again; aware mine no doubt reflecting hers. "I love you too, sweetie." Susannah replied closing her eyes from me and ducking her head close to Alisa's as she held her for a few seconds more. Eventually they pulled apart, Alisa clearly unaware of the impact her statement had on Susannah and me. She was placed back down beside Kody where they took each other's hands and disappeared into the garden again, laughing together.

Moving out to stand by Susannah's side, I gently reached down to clasp her hand, raising it to my lips so I could kiss them tenderly. I tried to ignore the hard thump in my chest from seeing my daughter declare such a thing to the woman; I have yet to say that to, or even to admit to myself.

For seconds Susannah and I stood together, just looking into each other's eyes, our hands held tightly together, an unspoken acknowledgement of what Alisa said passing between us. Our looks questioning and answering without saying a word. I wanted to see if she was OK with Alisa saying that to her, aware that such a statement from a child can be seen as big a commitment as me saying it to her. Susannah's silent query was making sure I was OK with it being said too. We made quite a pair, when I thought about it.

For a second time in minutes, I was distracted from my thoughts from shouts outside.

"Where's the birthday girl?" We heard a female voice ask.

"Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a party?" Another called.

"The best aunts in the world have arrived, now it's a party!" Soon followed the previous two.

Surprised to be hearing my sisters' voices, Susannah and I stepped out in to the garden, watching Catalina, Mercedes and Marta all rushing to embrace their niece, my Madre and padre standing behind waiting their turn. I hadn't been expecting them until a lot later, so it was a pleasant surprise to find most of my family had been able to make it and get time alone with Alisa before her friends arrived.

I didn't have time to dwell on Susannah or Alisa after that. I made sure my family had precious time with Alisa whilst Susannah and I finished with last minute touches. "Where is Caden?" I questioned when I realized he had disappeared just after Susannah had arrived. We had been tag teaming all morning between occupying Alisa and Kody and finishing the decorating and food. I lost count how many times I had to tell him to stop sneaking the food when I wasn't looking, or throw both children on to the inflatable castle, which they had been asking him to do repeatedly until I stepped in.

The last thing I needed was for my daughter to hurt herself before the party had even begun.

"I think he's still outside with Gina." Susannah answered distractedly, re-arranging Alisa's presents into a neat pile.

"Nope, I'm right here," Caden remarked, walking into the den with Gina not long behind him. And another little person following her. "And your first little guest has arrived." He grinned, leading the child out into the garden, calling for Alisa. After that, my doorbell was constantly being rung as more children arrived and my garden filled with laughter, music and talking.

When the time came for her to blow out the candles on her cake and have everyone sing her happy birthday, I stopped and indulged myself with watching my beautiful daughters face light up with happiness. She looked up at me, her smile as bright as the sun as she blew me a kiss when they had finished. If there was ever a time that I felt most proud to have raised my daughter alone, that was it. Watching her surrounded by the people who love and adore her most, lavishing attention on her that she took with as much humbleness as a five year old possibly could. She is healthy, happy and loved. I couldn't be disappointed with anything I have done in that moment, stuck in time where everything was as perfect as it could be.

I held that moment close to my heart. I knew no-one would ever be able to take that away from me.

xXx

"Are kid's birthday parties always this tiring?" I asked Jesse's sister, Mercedes where we'd both somehow gotten a chance to sneak away to Jesse's kitchen and get a cold drink before we got thrown back into chaperone duties and making sure no kids got too hyper from the sugared treats laid out; or anyone getting hurt from the inflatable castle. Or which prince belonged with which princess. Owning a club is a doddle compared to the chaos that was running around Jesse's garden.

But I'd have done it all again in a heartbeat.

Sighing as she gathered her hair at the base of her neck before twisting and knotting it into a messy bun with a few bobby pins, Mercedes looked as worn out as I felt. "Afraid so," she answered, stretching the kinks out of her back before picking her drink back up and slumping across the kitchen counter again. "If she's anything like me, the next party will be even bigger than this one. Ever since I can remember I had the biggest, most ridiculous birthday bashes. If I didn't out-do myself each year then I made up for it with the next one." She grinned getting caught up in her memory.

I haven't known Mercedes that long; standing in Jesse's kitchen with her was only the second time we'd met and I could count on one hand how many conversations we've had in those two times. But hearing her talk about her own parties, it didn't surprise me. Jesse told me that what you see is what you get with this sister, with a few hidden surprises to add to the mix.

Sighing and ignoring the temptation to sneak upstairs for a quick nap, I finished my drink and took a deep breath. "We should get back out there and save them." I said, Mercedes groaning and sluggishly following me.

The party had been going on for a good hour, with only thirty minutes left before parents started coming to pick their kids up and I could feel my muscles starting to ache from all the running around I'd been doing. But Alisa was having the best time and it was hard for everyone else to not get caught up in the excitement of it all too. Jesse had done everything Alisa wanted and more and it'd been so worth the effort and time. She was lapping up the attention on her, never sticking with one set of kids, but spreading herself out to see everyone. For only five years old, she's pretty incredible, I thought for the hundredth time.

And loving, I smiled as I stepped back out into the garden. Mercedes and I went our separate ways without a word.

I was so shocked and speechless when she told me she loved me earlier. She's never said that to me before and for a split second I was absolutely terrified. What if I screwed it up with me and Jesse? What if I accidentally did something to upset her? What if I couldn't live up to her dreams? But then I ignored all those stupid thoughts and just hugged her to me, telling her I loved her back. Why does it have to be such a big deal? Why can't it just be simple, because really, when you know you love someone, without restrictions and all that crap, then it really is the simplest thing?

So why can't I find the words to say them to Jesse?

Because it doesn't feel right yet.

I don't know when I realized I loved him. Hell, I don't even care and I don't know if he loves me back either. But then, that's never stopped me from saying it in the past. I'm not one of these girls who needs a man to tell me first. I don't even need to hear it back; I'm not needy, I just like to say how I feel. Like Alisa telling me, it's really a pretty simple emotion when you know it's real. But for some reason, some nagging feeling that I can't seem to shake off, I just know that it's not the right time for me to tell Jesse. It could be tomorrow, next week, or even months from now. But when I know - I'll know.

"Earth to, Suze?" Gina called, waving her hand up and down in front of my face to get my attention. "Where did you go?" She laughed when I snapped back to myself and blinked all the laughter and noise of the party flooding back to me in such a rush I swayed on my feet for a second.

"No-where," I said, taking in another deep breath, letting it go on a sigh. Gina frowned at me for a second, checking me out until she was obviously satisfied with what she saw. She looked away and scanned the party, her eyes stopping on Caden eventually. I took the chance to look at her back.

She looked . . . calmer. Before we'd left our apartment this morning, she was tense and restless, not the normal relaxed, easy-going woman she normally is. She'd had white lines etched around her mouth, her lips tight and eyes narrowed. But as soon as we'd gotten to Jesse's she'd disappeared with Caden and turned back up when Alisa's friends started coming. Standing with her then was the first opportunity I'd gotten to see her properly since we'd got there.

Licking my lips, I casually asked, "How did it go with, Caden?"

She didn't miss a beat, just gave me an easy shrug as if it wasn't something she'd been stressing about before. "Fine; we're meeting up later to talk." She casually replied, meeting my eyes for a second before looking away. Her tone and body-language told me to drop it, so I did because it wasn't the time or place to be having talking about their relationship. Or lack thereof. But it didn't mean she was getting off the hook that easily. "I think Jesse wants to do the piñata now, need some help?" She asked gesturing towards the swinging Disney Princess piñata Jesse had somehow managed to find.

It amazed me again just how much detail he'd gone to for Alisa.

"Definitely," I sighed again, nervously taking in all the children running around. Alisa's worth it, I reminded myself.

For the next ten minutes, Gina, Jesse, Caden and I rallied all the kids around who wanted to have a go at whacking the candy-filled piñata, and get them to stand in a line and tell them the rules. Caden looked so scary to them all that as soon as any of them stepped out of the line, or pushed and shoved, all he had to do was cross his arms and look at them, that they'd instantly stop. Alisa giggled at their reactions, laughing when he swung her up and over his shoulder to show the kids he was serious. We didn't hear a peep out of them after that.

Leaving us to it, Jesse went back to helping with other things while Gina and I took turns spinning the kids around a couple of times and cheering them on. Some kids completely missed it and others nearly took our legs out with the bat. But seeing them all having fun and getting competitive, Gina and I lost ourselves to the game too. Even Caden let his tough guy act fall a few times, laughing and playing around with the kids.

"Oh, look who we have next, Suze!" Gina whooped, distracting me from helping a little boy take his blindfold off and sulk back to the end of the queue. "It's the birthday, princess!" Alisa stepped forward, looking up at the piñata nervously, chewing her lower lip. "You can do it, Alisa! Can't she kids?" Gina cheered, getting the friends and other adults to join in, perking her up.

Jesse came up then, helping me put Alisa's blindfold on and giving her quiet words of encouragement that made the nerves disappear instantly. Stepping back I let Jesse help her alone while I happily took the time to indulge in admiring how great his jeans looked on his long legs; his t-shirt pulled taut across his rippling back as he knelt down in front of his daughter. The sun made his dark wavy hair shine, my fingers twitching to run through it. Sensing me staring at him, he turned and shot me a very quick, heated grin before handing Alisa the bat.

'Kids present, Suze, calm down!'

As Jesse was carefully turning her around, a shadow caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I looked towards the open French doors, seeing a blonde haired woman standing there, watching Jesse and Alisa carefully. She was smartly dressed in cream slacks and a satin shimmering blouse, way over-dressed for a kid's party, so I guessed she was a parent to one of the kids. But she wasn't smiling as she watched them and a shiver of something bad ran down my spine uncomfortably. She lifted her chin, her large eyes roaming over everything and everyone, her full lips twisting like she had a bad taste in her mouth.

I didn't like her. Something about her just screamed of something wrong.

"Who's that?" Gina scowled, obviously getting the same impression of her that I'd done, and Gina's a pretty good judge of character.

Narrowing my eyes, I shrugged. "I have no idea. Must be one of the kids moms," Hearing us talk, Jesse glanced at us and then over to where we were staring, his dark eyes going impossibly wide, his breath sucked in quick, a curse slipping off soft lips. Jesse always looks like he's got a tan, but I swear right then all the color drained from his face as he looked between Alisa and the unknown woman standing at his doors. She had an unpleasant smile on her pretty face as she watched him. "Who is she?" I asked him, laying a hand on his tense forearm before he marched past me.

"Nombre de dios," He said again, his strides long, powerful and determined. The woman hitched her chin higher as Jesse walked up to her, not saying a word as he took her by the elbow and all but dragged her into his house and away from the garden. And I wasn't the only one who saw him do it; glancing at his parents and sisters, I saw them look just as shocked and angry as Jesse apparently was. His sister's looks livid, their mom and dad clearly saying something that made them sit back down in their seats before they could go after Jesse.

The bad feeling I had about the woman was getting stronger and stronger as the seconds ticked past.

"Keep an eye on, Alisa," I told Gina, sparing a glance at Jesse's princess, still trying to walk around and hit the piñata. I walked after Jesse, my feet carrying me whether I wanted to go or not. My heart thumped wildly in chest, all kinds of thoughts rushing through my mind as I stepped into the house. I tried telling myself that it could just be something innocent, to calm down and just find out what was happening. But I've always listened to my instincts and they were warning me loudly that something wasn't right with the picture.

I followed the scent of expensive perfume down the hallway to the formal living room Jesse never uses. I skidded to a stop when I walked in to find Jesse glowering down at the woman who looked a few inches taller than me, even with her heels. I hated to admit it, but she was just as beautiful to look at up close as she'd looked from afar. Her golden blonde hair fell in unnatural waves on her shoulders; it looked as expensive as her clothes did. But all the money and looks in the world can't make you a nice person.

"Jesse, what's going on?" I asked him, taking my eyes away from the woman who was unfazed by Jesse's very angry stare. She just smiled up at him like she'd won whatever unspoken argument was going on with them. I felt like the third wheel in the room, but moved forward anyway, watching Jesse. His whole body was riddled with tension, his hands in tight fists at his sides. He gave off an aura of hostility that if he was anyone else, I would have listened to and walked away from until he calmed down. But he's not just anyone, so I reached out a small hand to his tight shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Jesse?" I repeated.

Seeing that he wasn't going to give me an answer anytime soon, the woman took her eyes off him and gave me the once over with a thin arched eyebrow. Plastering a fake, unwelcome smile on her face she held her hand out to me to shake, her next words making my hands shake in shock.

"Hello I'm, Paige," She said silkily, her white teeth flashing at me. "Alisa's mother and Jesse's wife."