The Grey's had decided to attempt to cheer Jade up after what had happened at the engagement party. She had taken it badly, retreating into herself again and was barely speaking to any of them.
Grace had made it clear that despite how incredibly angry she was with Christian for not only sleeping with one of her best friends- and for keeping it from her for so long- she didn't want Jade to suffer because of it. It was inherently Christian that had done wrong, Jade couldn't help it that he'd made the mistake of sleeping with her.
They had decided to have a family meal on Christian's boat a few days later, and Jade had begrudgingly agreed to meet them there- Luke had said he couldn't come because he was spending time with his little sister, though they knew it was because he was still on rocky ground with his wife.
Grace, Carrick, Mia, Elliot, Christian and Ana were walking along the dock as the sun was setting when they looked over at 'the Grace' and saw Jade.
She was sat with her legs dangling off the side of The Grace, wearing skinny jeans and a baggy top, staring vacantly off into the distance. She had a beer in hand as the Grey's came up nearer 'hey Jade, where's Faith?' she didn't really look up, sipping the drink in hand 'Rory's looking after her, I'm fairly sure he uses her to pick up women'.
Jade was clearly low, drinking the beer quickly as her family walked up the boat behind her. Elliot frowned
'Jade...how long have you been here?' she shrugged 'A while...' she glanced at her watch 'three hours'. They all glanced at each-other in surprise and Carrick murmured to them to let him have a word with Jade, and they all moved away.
Carrick sat down next to his Grandaughter, looking out over the water side.
'When Elliot and Grace told me about what happened at the engagement party I was furious. Not because Christian had slept with Elena when he was still a teenager, but because he had allowed her to be around our house all these years and around you when she'd abandoned you so disgustingly at our home. Christian shouldn't have been sleeping with Elena when he was sixteen but we've got you because of it- no matter the shock it caused us...we've got you and we've got Faith... That woman isn't going to be around our house anymore, if that's what you want?'.
Jade was silent for a long time, staring at the lapping water before she spoke. 'How come she never wanted me?'. Carrick was overcome with emotion seeing the fragility and hurt on Jade's face.
He pulled Jade into his chest and let her cry a little.
After a few minutes Jade had composed herself and they had joined the rest of the family on the top deck, where dinner was being laid out. They could all see that Jade had been crying but from the way she sat down silently, stating at the table and not meeting any of their eyes.
Mia and Carrick quickly struck up conversation with Grace, Elliot and Ana, which covered the silence from Jade. Christian was sat next to his daughter and was also silent, watching her out of the corner of his eye. He bent his head down a little and muttered to his daughter 'when was the last time you ate? You're only muscle and bone'.
It was true, Jade had been exercising furiously and barely eating. Since she'd moved Faith off from breast feeding, Jade had clearly stopped taking physical care of herself as everything was unravelling around her.
Jade said nothing back to her father and said nothing for the entire meal, looking sad and distant. The only thing that Jade said was a muttered 'bye' to everyone as they parted after the meal, and she eventually turned to Ana and Christian and spoke to them as they were left alone on the dock.
'Jose's got a small show on tomorrow night, he asked me to invite you both...seeing as you've both been busy he didn't want to intrude. It's at seven where I had my art show last year'. Christian nodded 'we'll be there'. Jade didn't say anything else to either of them and walked off back towards her car.
The next evening Christian and Ana were looking around the newest set of photos that Jose had done along with a large group of others people. Despite himself, Christian was quite impressed with the photos, sipping champagne and wandering around until he saw a large group of people around one particular canvas.
He knew immediately that is was his daughter.
Jade's hair was covering her face as she was turned to one side, her arms were against the wall, palms down. she had a small bandeau bra top on but even since the pregnancy Jade hadn't had much in the way of breasts anyway, so the bandeau was more for modesty, the image only showing to Jade's hips, no lower.
Her entire body was painted with a gold body paint, and somehow it seemed to highlight the tight, distorted, twisted skin on her scars at her abdomen and shoulder. It also showed Jade's small Hebrew tattoo on her left rib cage, and the network of tiny scratches and scars all over her body. Christian glanced at the title card next to the picture 'beautiful imperfections' was the title.
Christian felt his anger rising inside him slowly, looking around for Jose, eyes narrowed. Ana was staring at the photo, as was a growing amount of people 'Christian, I've got to say it's an amazing picture'. He grumbled something about his daughter being naked and she rolled her eyes
'no, Christian, she's not naked, she's not got her boobs out has she? It's a really stunning image...'. He turned and saw the expression she had as she stared at the image 'what's wrong?'. Ana sighed, eyes softening 'it really shows the full extent doesn't it...just how bad she's had it...'.
Christian couldn't find Jose -which was probably a good thing- but when Ana took him outside to get some air and calm down, he saw Jade standing out there, hanging up from a phone call.
Christian looked angry 'do you understand how many people I employ and work with? Hows it gonna look that you've got your tits out for Jose? Eh?'.
She rolled her eyes and Christian glared at Jade 'and when the fuck did you get a tattoo?'. She bristled with anger 'around the time I became an adult and it stopped being any of your fucking business'.
Christian's eyes flashed angrily but he kept his voice fairly level, though I was clearly a chore 'what does it mean?'.
Jade exhaled deeply 'you send your daughter to Hebrew school since she's three, hire tutors and send me to a Jewish school- and yet you never bothered to learn it yourself? Amazing. It's a prayer, a blessing of protection. I had it done in Israel'.
Christian glanced over her, 'I barely know who you are anymore'. Jade pulled her jacket tighter and her voice was icily cold, along with her eyes 'well I'm sorry to disappoint you yet again'.
She was gone before Christian could even attempt to follow.
Oh dear. Well, it's not gonna get much better any time soon. chapter 50 is where is really all goes down hill.
I'm on a week off from University so I'll be updating more regularly for this week- I've got two other fanfictions on my account, so if you want more regular reads then take a look at those two. I update on an alternating basis.
Review etc, please let me know what you think/want.
x
