Business Before Pleasure
"What
are you doing here?" Jax turned from the bar with a surprised but pleased look
on his face as Alexis entered the club. "I would have thought it would take a
pack of wild dogs to drive you in here again after the last time.." He said as
he crossed the room to meet Alexis halfway. He leaned down and brushed his lips
against her cheek. "But it's a pleasant and welcome surprise."
Alexis returned his kiss with one of her own. "It seems like you have a fan for the cuisine, at least. My client insisted on having our meeting here for our working lunch. And speaking of working," she asked, her gaze checking out the club's perimeters… "Where's your partner?"
"She's
not here, but I'm expecting her a little later on. We have some business to go
over."
Alexis hesitated. "Tell me the truth, Jax…how do you manage to work with her?"
"Carly's…well…complicated." Jax admitted. "I'm not blind to her faults; and I've made it clear that I won't put up with a single scam or scheme of hers. But beneath it all, she does have a very raw but astute business sense. She's one of those people who knows how to give the people what they want. Developing a club is an excellent choice for her – umm-- talents. Working with her is a challenge, but it's turning out to be an interesting one."
"Well as long
as you're enjoying yourself, who am I to complain?" Alexis said.
"Enjoying
myself...well that's one way of putting it." Jax said, with a enigmatic smile.
"Yes,
it is." Alexis agreed. She was hardly one to advise Jax about his business
partners, considering her own. Jax was as questionable about her choice of
partners - significantly, Sonny - as she was about his. In her opinion, Carly
was nothing more than a ticking time bomb waiting to explode his life apart…and
Skye was not much better. But again, who was she to judge? And she noticed that
neither one of them were eager about bringing up the night before. This was a
good thing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her client entering the club.
"On that note, Jax, I'll just say that I'll speak with you later.."
Alexis walked to the stairwell, extending her hand in greeting.. "Mr. Lane, my pleasure."
"Ms. Davis, the pleasure is all mine's." His eyes glanced over to the bar, where Jax had returned. He caught the other's man's gaze and nodded in recognition as Jax lifted a glass to him in greeting.
Alexis followed his gaze. "You know Jax?"
"We've crossed
paths." Mason replied as they began to walk to a nearby table. "Had a few
business dealings. Some were cordial…some were…not. You know Jasper Jax as
well?"
"We're
very close." Alexis said. "He's my ex-husband."
"And you've
remained close?"
"Best of friends. It was an amicable divorce." Since it had been a marriage only on paper, there was no reason for it to have been otherwise.
"Interesting." Mason said. His expression showed that he was intrigued. He pulled out the chair for Alexis to sit. Bending down, he murmured in her ear. "The more I learn about you, Ms. Davis, the more fascinated I am."
Alexis slanted her gaze up at him. His warm brown eyes twinkled done into hers with more than a touch of genuine interest. Yes, once upon a time, she would have been interested in his interest. Sorry, Mr. Lane, but your time truly…sucks. "Right now, let's turn that fascination to the papers I've brought for you to look over, shall we?"
***
In the meanwhile, a heated argument as taking place on the other side of town.
"Since
when does Sonny turn off his cell phone?…What do you mean he's incommunicado? I
want to speak to Sonny, and I want to speak to him right now! Look, Johnny, I'm
his wife and I have every right to know where he's at!"
There
was a long silence.
"All right,
ex-wife, Johnny. Fine!! But I'm still the mother of his child and that hasn't
changed…divorce or no divorce…. As soon as you hear from him, you make sure he
knows that I need to see him." Carly slammed the phone down. She hadn't lied….
She was still the mother of his child…what she wanted to talk abut had nothing
to do with Michael, but then again, she hadn't said it was, had she? Some sixth
sense was sending alarm signals off in her brain. Carly didn't know what it
was, but something inside of her was telling her to find Sonny. Now.
***
Inside
the penthouse, Sonny caught himself humming a tune to himself. He stopped I
surprised and then laughed softly to himself. It wasn't something he did
regularly, but today, why not? He had what he hoped would turn out to be a very
special date with a very special lady. Sonny picked up his cell phone and
slipped it into his jacket pocket. He patted his pocket with another smile. For
the first time in a long time, he had turned it off. Jason could handle things
for the next little while.
That was enjoyable, reminding the ex-Mrs.
Corinthos of her current status. Johnny carefully wiped the smile of
satisfaction from his face, replacing his cell phone to his inner jacket pocket
as the door to PH4 opened.
Sonny,
observant as always, noticed the movement. He nodded at Johnny. "Anything I
should know about?"
Johnny told the
truth with a straight face. "A minor annoyance; I took care of it. Nothing to
worry about."
"Good." Sonny
replied. "I've got plans and I don't want anything interrupting them."
"Not
to worry, Mr. Corinthos; you know you can depend on us. I know how important
your…plans are to you." He hesitated as Sonny's dark eyes fixed on him. There
was something unnerving about when Sonny Corinthos decided to fix his attention
on you. You knew it, without a doubt. Johnny swallowed almost nervously,
wondering if he'd crossed some imaginary line. He watched as Sonny crossed to
the elevator doors and punched the button, then swallowed again as Sonny turned
back to him.
"Do you,
Johnny?" Sonny asked, his voice oddly soft. "Do you, really?"
Johnny realized that it wasn't so much a question to him as it was to Sonny himself. He didn't think he needed to answer that. "I've spoken to Rodriguez and everything is in order and waiting for you…."
The elevator doors slid open. Sonny's eyes cleared. For a
moment, they'd been far, far away. Now some of the old fire was back in them.
"Fine. See you later, Johnny. Hold the fort."
Johnny
watched as Sonny stepped into the elevator. His step seemed to have more than
its regular bounce; at least more bounce to it than Johnny could remember
seeing in a long while. Thank YOU, Ms.
Davis, Johnny thought with a
sudden grin. The boss was back.
