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.
