Courtney could not believe the nerve of Jasper Jacks to invite her to Bermuda, to make it sound as if she was the only one he wanted to be there with, and then to shack up with the next available body because she showed up a day late! And to add insult to injury, that woman had looked a hell of a lot like herself! "If he thinks he can replace me so easily, then he thought wrong! I'm not something you can use when you want to and then throw away when you're done with me!" she said angrily to herself.
"What did you say?" Diego asked, coming into the kitchen and watching her curiously. "Nothing," she said quickly, turning away so that he wouldn't see her puffy red eyes. She had spent the entire plane trip back crying her eyes out for being so stupid to fall for Jasper Jacks' slick moves. She knew what he was like, had warned herself in the beginning, Hell, everyone else did too but did she listen? No! She had thought him different and this is what she gets. She had thought she felt miserable yesterday seeing Jason with Sam but today was a thousand times worse. Her heart broke when she saw that blonde walk out of the shower. He didn't even seem excited to see me, she thought painfully to herself. She quickly wiped her eyes as she felt the tears starting to fall again. Sniffling, she resumed cleaning up the kitchen.
Diego watched her nervously. He had no idea what to do with sensitive women, and especially not when they were crying. But Courtney Matthews had been extremely kind to him and he didn't want to see her like this. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked quietly. Courtney turned and flashed him a tearful smile. "Thanks Diego, but I will be fine. Don't worry about it," she said reassuringly, even though her heart told her that it was going to take a very long time to get over Jasper Jacks. She didn't know why she felt that way but she knew it was true. She wasn't going to have someone there making her days bright and cheery anymore and she was going to have to deal with that. She was going to have to do it herself. But I don't know how, she thought brokenly. Her eyes welled up again as the tears began falling freely. She covered her face with her hands and wept. She missed Jax.
Diego didn't know what to say so he walked over and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm not trying to make a move, I promise," he said jokingly and she laughed through her tears. "Who hurt you? Why are you so sad?" he asked, feeling a sudden surge of protection. Courtney hadn't given up on him or kicked him out when he deserved it. She was a good, kind person and whoever did this to her was going to have to answer to him.
There was a knock on the door and Courtney extracted herself from his arms and wiped her face. "Can you answer that? I'm going to clean myself up real quick," she said as he nodded. He watched her walk into the bathroom and went to open the door, coming face to face with Jax. "What are you doing here?" Diego asked, annoyed that this man was showing up again. "I'm looking for Courtney," Jax said quietly.
Diego stared at him in shock because it was the first time Jax had spoken to him without any annoyance in his voice. "She's in the bathroom cleaning her face," Diego told him and he stepped aside to let Jax in. "That's probably my fault," Jax replied regretfully. Diego's eyes flared in anger as it finally hit him that Jax was to blame for Courtney's misery. "It's your fault she's been crying her eyes out ever since she got home this morning?" Diego demanded, clenching his fist. "It's a misunderstanding," Jax explained. "I don't believe you! You hurt her when she's done nothing but be nice to you!" Diego yelled, pushing Jax back. Jax stared at his irate face and tried to say calmly, "I didn't-" but Diego pushed him harder this time, forcing him to take a few steps back. "Look, okay, you don't know what the hell you're doing," Jax said, beginning to get frustrated. "I know that you don't care about her, all you want is to sleep with her!" Diego yelled recklessly. His words sparked anger in Jax. "I care too damn much!" he yelled back, unable to stand the being accused of not caring about her. "Like hell you do!" Diego yelled and before Jax knew what was happening, he had thrown a punch that landed squarely in Jax's jaw. With lightening fast reaction, Jax felt his fist swing in a wide arc and connected right in the center of Diego's stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"Jax, what the hell do you think you're doing!" Courtney screamed as she ran over to pick up Diego from the floor. "Are you okay?" she asked in concern as Diego looked up at Jax in contempt. "He hit me like a man so I hit him like a bigger man," Jax said, but couldn't help feeling guilty at what he had done. Diego's punch had landed painfully and for a split second, Jax had forgotten that he was a mere seventeen year old. His reflex had taken over and he had punched back. He was angry now that he couldn't control his temper. "I apologize," he said quietly as Diego stood up and continued to glare at him. "You deserve that punch, you hurt her!" he said contemptuously. "That's enough!" Courtney interceded, looking at the both of them. "Diego, I need to speak with Jax alone," she said and took out some money from her purse, handing it to him. "Take this and go grab us some dinner at Kelly's," she ordered and watched him rake one last accusing look at Jax before leaving.