It was a mad-house, of course; the paparazzi was out at the club entrance in full force. With Jasper Jax as the financial backer for Club 101 --  now there's an original name, Alexis couldn't help but thinking -- there was an influx of influential people who otherwise would not have bothered themselves to step foot in the place. And where they went, the media trailed like a pack of hungry hounds. So here she was, caught in a crush, flashbulbs exploding in her face like a thousand tiny stars. Fighting their way through the crowd, it was with a real sense of relief that they finally made their way inside. Alexis and Kristina paused just before the stairway, letting their eyes adjust to the lighting.  The music was pulsating and the gathering seemed to be happy enough. It seemed to be a nice turnout. Jax – and Carly – should be pleased.
Speaking of the little woman, here she comes. Unconsciously, Alexis stiffened. Kristina noticed the movement, and following Alexis' gaze, saw Carly bearing down on them through the crowd. Instinctively, she moved to a spot that put her in Carly's path.
 

 "What are you doing here?" Carly hissed at Alexis, ignoring Kristina. "My opening night was by invitation ONLY."


         Kristina was the one who answered before Alexis could so much as open her mouth. She took great delight in waving two embossed slips of paper at Carly. "And here are our invitations. Jax personally invited us as his personal guests."
 Carly tried to move around her, but Kristina moved with her, determined not to let the other get within arm's reach of Alexis. It didn't stop Carly from speaking her mind – such as it was.


         "I'm sure that's the excuse Alexis is using, isn't it, Alexis?" Carly made an exaggerated motion of looking around her. "No Sonny in sight? Aren't you feeling a little lost without your leash and collar? The truth is, Sonny is here for me tonight. Me…and not you. If he'd wanted you to be here, he'd have asked you, wouldn't he?"

 
         Alexis refused to answer, and Carly mistook her lack of response as thinking that she'd gotten to her. The other woman's silence only encouraged her to keep at her. "After all, since I've been gone, you've been following him around like such a good little puppy. Sonny doesn't need a lapdog, Alexis. So why don't you just go home now and curl up on the couch and wait for the next time he asks for your legal expertise, because that's the only bone he'll throw you."


          Alexis only looked back at Carly with outward calm. Normally, Alexis was well able to ignore Carly. Her insecurities and petty jealousies were more annoying and alternately entertaining in a sick fascinated kind of way, the way one looks at a big ugly bug crossing your path, than anything. But in light of what had been going on the past forty-eight hours of Alexis' life,  her nerves were just a little sensitive and Alexis didn't trust herself not to keep herself under control. And then Miss Carly might not know what hit her. Deny it all she did, Alexis was a Cassidine, and every once in a great while, she could be provoked into showing it. "I'm not going there with you, Carly. Just enjoy your night. Why don't you just leave it alone?"


         "Why can't you just leave us alone?"


         Kristina, protective as ever, was more than happy to jump in. "If you're talking about you and Sonny, there isn't an 'us' as far and you and he are concerned, isn't that right? Sonny threw you out of his penthouse and out of his life. We're here because of Jax…not you, and definitely not Sonny."


         "Peddle it somewhere else, Alexis." Carly ignored Kristina. "You knew he would be here, but you couldn't let him come and be with me alone. You had to once again, stick your nose in where it doesn't belong. You're here, with your sister as your 'date' because Sonny would have never invited you, because he doesn't look at you that way - date material, I mean." Carly's words were meant to hurt. And in spite of everything that had happened in the last little while, Alexis felt the stab of her words in her heart. But Alexis wouldn't let anything show on her face. "So you make up any excuse to get yourself anywhere where Sonny might be… how pathetic can you be…you'll even use your friend Jax. So why don't you just quit the lies and admit the to the truth?"


         "Alexis has no need to lie." Jax's smooth voice sounded behind them as he walked up on them unannounced. "She and her sister are my personal VIP guests." He beckoned to a nearby waiter. "Jackson, would you  please show my VIP guests to their reserved seating. I'd like you to be their personal server for the evening and anything they want tonight, is theirs – on me."  The waiter bowed, his smile gleaming against the dark chocolate complexion.  "Ladies…." Jax bowed his head to them, as polite as always, even as his eyes glinted angrily. "I'll join you in a moment, but you'll have to excuse me for a moment, as I need to confer with my partner." He took Carly by the arm in what seemed as a polite gesture, but was anything but.

***

         "We're going to have a few private words in the office." Jax spoke low but his voice was unmistakably hard in her ear. He began to propel her across the floor.  But Carly wasn't having it. She jerked free of his grip and whirled around to face him in the middle of the floor.


         "If you have something to say to me, then say it right here." Jax was reminded that Carly never was one to back away from a fight.  And she was a very – volatile – woman, with definite likes and dislikes. Something he should have remembered before he agreed to be her partner. But if she thought she was going to get the best of him, playing on his gentlemanly instincts and her feminine wiles, she thought wrong. Jax did have a leaning towards protecting women, but bottom line, business was business. If she wanted to call him out right here and now, so be it.


          "All right Carly." Jax said. "If that's the way you want it – fine. Let me remind you, the club's success depends on us treating our guests with respect. A bad reputation travels quickly. And I won't allow you to destroy the club's reputation on opening night."


          "And I have no intentions of doing that, Jax. I put too much of myself into this to even think about doing that!" Carly shot back. "You invite that…that woman into my club – what did you expect?"


          "Do I have to remind you that this isn't just your club, Carly?" Jax said. He'd been hoping that tonight would run smoothly, even though  he knew that it was a volatile mix, putting Alexis and Carly in the same room. He'd learned a lot about his partner; she was creative and filled with her vision for her club, but she was also volatile as fire and as changeable as water. She was also too prone to let her emotions rule her head and her heart. "You run the club, true, but you don't own it. And who I invite is my business."


          "Even if it's someone I don't want here?"


          "Even so." Jax answered her back evenly. "I won't allow you to destroy this club with your petty jealousies. To be manager of a successful club, you'll have to learn how to handle these situations. Think of it as a learning experience."


          Carly sputtered in rage. "My petty jealousies? You have no idea what you're talking about!" Her voice had raised enough that several patrons turned to look at them. She tossed her hair and Jax groaned as he recognized the glint in her eye.


         "We're business partners, Carly. Remember our agreement. No schemes, nothing. They'll be no second chances." He said shortly, trying to head off her impending tirade. "Don't confuse me with Corinthos."


         "You don't know anything about that!"


         "And I don't want to know about it either. Carly, don't do this, I mean it." Jax grasped her arm again and pulled her close. "This is your night. Your success. Enjoy it." She glared up at him, but Jax, surprisingly, couldn't read her. What was she thinking? More importantly, what was she planning?


          "So who you invite is your business? Well Jax, that works both ways." Her eyes flicked towards the staircase and Jax groaned inwardly. Speak of the devil and he appears. Sonny Corinthos stood at the head of the stairs, as dapper and groomed as any man here tonight; a surge of rage swept thru him and before he could hide his revulsion, it had been noticed.

          "If you can invite your own personal guests, well so can I, Jax." Carly said challengingly.


          Well, she had him there, as much as he hated to admit it. "Keep him on a short leash." Jax growled. "And keep the pyrotechnics down to a minimum"
          "Any pyrotechnics going on will be private…." Carly said. With one of  her mercurial changes in temperament, she grinned at him. "You handle your business, and I'll handle mine." She smiled all too nicely at him. 


          "Carly…."


           She smiled at him again, all too sure of her victory. "You go and deal with your VIP guests, and I'll deal with mine."


          Jax could only steam quietly as she crossed the room to her ex-husband.


         Sonny stood at the head of the stairs, bodyguards unobtrusively on alert, as he coolly looked around. His dark gaze missed nothing, not Carly as she moved towards him with a smile, or Jax as he scowled at him briefly, before turning away. He saw several other faces that he knew, but his gaze didn't rest until he found the one that mattered.


         Alexis.