AN: No Naley this chapter, but theres some Brucas and some Nathan/Brooke/Lucas interaction. Oh yeah, and some Jeyton. So... um, yeah. Please Read and review ::insert puppy dog eyes here::

Again, thank you for the amazing, amzing reviews. They rock my sock (singular, cos it doesn't rhyme otherwise)!

The Con

Chapter 4: Heating Up

Brooke Davis bit her lip as she surveyed the girl in front of her. "Huh huh, yeah could you just twist a little to the left please?" she said, her voice clear and authoritative. "Yeah, that's perfect. Great."

The photographer raised the camera to his eye and started snap, snap, snapping away.

"Perfect!" Brooke exclaimed as the model pulled a pose that would make Gisele Bunchden envious.

Leaving them to their own devices, Brooke walked over to the coffee machine. It had been a long day and she needed some caffeine fast. She was bringing out a catalogue for her new fashion line, and for the past week or so she'd been coming in to supervise. She was a perfectionist when it came to her job, and everything had to be just so.

"Hey pretty girl."

Brooke turned to see her fiancé, Lucas Scott approaching her. She grinned up at him as he leant down to kiss her. Brooke Davis wasn't exactly short, but next to Lucas she always felt absolutely tiny. She liked it. It made her feel protected. "Hmm, more like busy girl," she joked, pulling Lucas down and kissing him again. "I'm exhausted baby! I need sleep. Lots and lots of sleep."

Lucas laughed and pushed a strand of dark hair behind her ears. "Yeah well, do you think you could wait to sleep?"

"Why?" Brooke asked, looking suspicious. And she was suspicious. Lucas had that look on his face. That 'I don't know how you're going to react to what I have to say so I'm probably going to say it really fast and hope that you don't yell at me' look.

"I kind of promised Nathan that he could stay over tonight, and he said he'd bring some take out."

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, sure, that's fine," she said.

"Really?" Lucas asked. "I mean, you don't mind that I never asked?"

Brooke laughed. "I might mind if it was anyone else, but this is Nathan. You know I adore Nathan, he's like a puppy dog - lost, clueless and docile but completely adorable."

Lucas laughed. "Don't let Nathan hear you say that."

"It was supposed to be a compliment," Brooke said. "Look, I'm going to finish up here in about two hours, so I'll see you and Nathan at home around seven, okay?"

Lucas kissed her on the forehead. "See you later pretty girl."

"Bye hunky boy," Brooke said. She scrunched up her nose. "Nah, that doesn't work does it?"

"Not even slightly."

Balancing the take out bags in his arms, Nathan pushed the front door of his brothers apartment open with his back. "I got Chinese!" he yelled.

He was greeted with Lucas taking the bags off him and Brooke throwing her arms around him before he'd completely got his bearings. "Whoa, hey. Sorry I'm late," he said."

"Don't worry about it. I just got in myself. How have you been Nate?"

Nathan shrugged. "Good. Well, you know, as good as can be in a job I hate."

Lucas shouted from the kitchen where he was dishing out the Chinese. "Just quit man!"

Nathan shook his head and walked over to his brother. He leant on the kitchen counter and picked a bean sprout out of the sweet and sour sauce. "Yeah, Dad would love that."

"Well, he'd have to lump it. I mean, I quit and he hasn't disowned me or anything."

Nathan got a faraway look in his eyes but didn't say anything. The truth was, when Lucas had quit Dan had got a whole lot harder on Nathan, not that he would ever tell Lucas that. The guy had enough of a guilt complex without being given something to actually feel guilty about.

"Hmm, but you had your writing to fall back on. I don't think I've got anything if I quit. I mean, I had basketball but…" he let his sentence trail off. Basketball was something that wasn't really discussed in the Scott family.

"Ooh! Dirty Dancing is on!" Brooke shouted from the lounge. Nathan grimaced and Lucas threw him a sympathetic look.

"Sorry man, but we take it in turns. I made her watch 'A Beautiful Mind' last night so she gets to choose tonight."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "I'm guessing that a good old-fashioned action movie has never been shown in this house then, huh?"

Lucas laughed. "Help me take this stuff through."

The two men made there way into the lounge where Brooke was bobbing her head to the opening credits of Dirty Dancing. Nathan sat down on the armchair and Lucas sat on the floor beneath Brooke who immediately wrapped her arms around him.

"Lucas, I love you, but if Patrick Swayze circa. 1980-something ever offered, I'm afraid I couldn't really refuse."

Lucas laughed. "Gee thanks."

As the movie wore on and the food disappeared, Nathan found himself getting restless. The movie didn't suck as much as he thought it would, but he just couldn't get his mind off the girl from earlier. It was her eyes mostly. They had such an innocence to them that Nathan wanted to protect her. He couldn't remember the last time he had wanted to protect a girl. Actually, he could. It was with Peyton when her real mother died when they were both seventeen.

Yeah, that was quite a while ago.

"Hey Nate!" Brooke shouted. Nathan broke out of his reverie.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I know this isn't really your kind of movie, but do you have to look so obviously bored?" she asked.

Nathan shrugged. "Sorry, I just… I was just thinking about something. That's all."

Brooke pressed the mute button on the remote. "You want to talk about it?" Her dark green eyes registered something looking like sympathy, and Nathan shook his head.

"Nah, I'm fine."

Brooke nodded. "Fair enough. So, you got a skank to take to the Scott Corp. Ball then? Oh, sorry. Did I say skank? I meant date."

"Brooke," Lucas chastised. "Leave him alone."

"What? I was just remarking that Nathan usually dates girls that are… um, below him."

Nathan laughed despite himself. "You're hilarious Brooke, no really, you are," his voice dripped with sarcasm. The girl he had met in the café - Haley - definitely wasn't below him. "Besides, you know I'm going to have to go with Peyton. My Dad would have a fit if I went with anyone else."

Brooke narrowed her eyes and Nathan could read suspicion in them. "What?" he asked.

Brooke shrugged. "Nothing. I was just thinking that you normally don't look so disappointed that you have to take Peyton to big public events. You've always said that it saves you having to explain to skank-of-the-week… sorry, I mean your current girlfriend, why you're about to dump her."

"I'm not disappointed," Nathan protested, clearly disappointed. "I'm just… I guess I'm fed up. I'm sick of having to put on a show all the time."

Lucas, who had been watching the exchange in silence up to now, opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Brooke's squeal.

"Oh my God! You've met someone, haven't you? Who is she? Do I know her? Is she cute? No, wait, she's not a skank is she?"

Nathan had a confused expression on his face. "What are you talking about? I haven't met anyone. Well, not really."

Brooke looked like she'd just overdosed on Prozac. Coming from Nathan that was practically a confession. She sat up straighter on the couch. "Tell me everything Nathan Scott, and don't skip over the good bits."

"He said he hasn't met anyone," Lucas said, sounding confused.

Brooke rolled her eyes. God, boys were so clueless. "Well?" she prompted.

Nathan took a deep breath. God, why did Brooke always seem to see right through him? It was the same with Peyton. They may not have those kinds of feelings for each other - in fact, Nathan viewed Peyton as a little sister - but she could always tell when he was upset or hurting. It confused him no end, especially because he liked to keep to himself for the most part.

"Fine," he sighed. God, what the hell was he getting himself into? "Fine, I did meet someone today, but its no big deal. She was in Karen's Café today and she spilt coffee on me, rubbed it off…"

"She rubbed it off?" Brooke interrupted. "Wow, she sounds like a skank."

"She's not a skank!" Nathan exclaimed. Brooke's eyes widened and Lucas looked even more confused than he had done before. Nathan had never really snapped at Brooke before. He knew that she was a tease and he took it in his stride.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry," Brooke apologised, her voice softened. "So what's she called?"

"It doesn't matter," Nathan said. "She's living in Wilmington and I didn't even get her number. I'm not going to see her again so… there's no point dwelling on it."

Brooke nodded and turned the sound back on Dirty Dancing. Looked like this skank had Nathan wrapped around her little finger.

"There you go," Taylor snapped as she slammed a driving license down on the desk in front of Haley. "Haley Gregory. God Haley, what were you thinking?"

Haley rolled her eyes. If she had a dollar for every time Taylor had yelled at Haley for giving out her real name then she'd have… seventeen dollars. "It's not as if I gave him my full name," Haley groaned.

Taylor made a noise that was somewhere between a snort and a sigh. "Yeah, well… I bet you weren't far off from doing that too." She threw herself down on the bed and narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing?"

Haley didn't answer. Her eyes were narrowed as she read some of Nathan's more shady characteristics. She had always hated egotistical arrogant jerks and it certainly looked like Nathan was one of them. Of course, she couldn't quite match up the Nathan Scott from the gossip pages and the Nathan from the café. He'd been so sweet and charming, not at all like the womanising playboy she was reading about now.

It's probably just an act Haley, she told herself. Every time he gives you those gentle eyes or that lopsided smirk, just imagine him doing it to some Paris-Hilton-esque model with boobs bigger than her brain. That should work. She wouldn't let herself get to into this guy, and she had already persuaded herself that the major flippage that was going on in her stomach the last couple of days wasn't really anything special. It was just nerves. This was her first time being the primary, of course she was nervous.

"Hey Natash… sorry, I mean Haley," Taylor said sardonically, causing yet another eye roll from Haley. "What are you doing?"

"I'm researching. Did you know that Nathan goes to see the Tree Hill Ravens every Friday?" Haley asked, after reading a likes and dislikes article on him. God, there was some real junk on the internet.

"What, he's a bird watcher? What a geek."

"No you idiot! The Tree Hill Ravens are a High School Basketball team. He was a player the year they first won the State Championships. He still goes to see them now."

"Wow, that is really, really… not at all interesting," Taylor said, feigning a yawn.

Haley sighed and turned to her older sister. "I'm just saying, this could be our next 'accidental' meeting, okay?"

"Whatever Haley. I'm going to bed, I've got an interview tomorrow."

"Yeah?" Haley asked. Taylor hadn't said anything to her about it. "Where?"

"Scott Corp. May as well start getting close to the player now, huh? Night Hales."

Haley ignored the weird taste at the back of her throat and choked back on her annoyance. It was only because Taylor hadn't told her anything before, of course.

Yeah, that was it. Nothing to do with Nathan himself. He was a jerk. Nothing but a mark to Haley.

Nothing but a mark.

"Good morning Miss, uh…" Jake Jagielski looked down at his notes quickly before returning to look at the red-head in front of him. "Miss Powell."

Taylor gave her most professional smile to the man interviewing her. Mr. Jagielski was the Marketing Director of Scott Corp. and Taylor was applying to be a Marketing Assistant. While it wouldn't get her close to Nathan on a day-to-day basis, she knew that he was a close friend of Jagielski, and getting close to him could definitely be beneficial.

"Hi, Nice to meet you Mr Jagielski, and please, call me Lisa."

Jake smiled, but he didn't seem to be falling for her charms in the way she would like. In fact, he seemed completely preoccupied. Well, at least she had a fake CV and a couple of fake references to get her through this. She wasn't a pro at the con for nothing.

"Well, I think that's everything Miss Powell," Jake said with a grin. The woman's credentials were definitely impressive. The most impressive so far for sure. "I'll be getting in touch with you within the next week."

"Great," Taylor said with yet another professional smile. She'd given up on charming Jake a long time ago. He was obviously gay. She'd just have to find another way to hook up with Nathan.

Standing up, Taylor smoothed down her grey pencil skirt and picked up her brief case. "It was great to meet you Mr. Jagielski." She walked out of the large office and as she was opening the door, she almost whacked a lanky blonde woman with curly hair and big hazel eyes.

"Oh! I'm sorry," she said apologetically. The woman's eyes widened and she laughed.

"Don't worry about it. Those doors are terrible. I'm always hitting Jake's secretary whenever I come out." Her smile dropped as if she had just said something she shouldn't. "Uh, I'm going to… I mean, I need to see Mr. Jagielski. Nice to meet you."

Taylor tried to hide her confusion and instead smiled before walking off.

Peyton pulled a face as the red-head walked off. Oh great, now she'd gone and put her foot in it. She shut the door behind her and smiled at the sight of Jake leaning over his desk. He always looked so uptight in business suits. Nothing like the carefree and fun-loving man she knew he was.

"Hey Jake," she greeted. Jake looked up and his face split into a wide grin.

"Peyton," he greeted, getting to his feet and walking over to her. He stopped just before reaching her and seemed to look over her head into the office of his secretary, making sure no one was there. As soon as his eyes cleared he leaned down and kissed Peyton on the lips. Soft and gentle.

Peyton wrapped her arms around Jake's neck and practically melted into him. She deepened the kiss and they went kissing across the room and onto the leather couch that rested against the far door. The one that had no view of the outer offices or anything else for that matter.

"God, I've missed doing that," Peyton whispered into Jake's hair as they pulled away for air.

"We could do it every day if you didn't insist on keeping everything so damn private," Jake replied, moving down to kiss her neck.

"You know that's not a possibility," Peyton whispered, in between moans. "My dad and Dan Scott would never let me or Nathan get serious about anyone. Nathan's allowed to play around as long as he comes back to me in the end."

"That sucks."

"Yeah. So lets not talk about it, huh?" Peyton said, loosening Jake's tie and undoing his buttons.

"Mmm," Jake couldn't reply, but Peyton guessed that she had got her way.

Taylor's eyebrows raised as she listened to the conversation going on inside the office she had just came out of. So that was Peyton Sawyer? The infamous on-off girlfriend of Nathan Scott, their mark?

"Can I help you miss?"

Taylor jumped a mile as she heard the brisk and sharp voice above her. She got up out of her hiding place and threw a bright smile at the old lady above her. "God, I'm sorry. I lost my contact lens. Don't you hate when that happens?"

She got out of there as soon as she could, a smirk playing on her lips. While Haley might not be able to win Nathan over, at least they had a bargaining chip now. Something to put Nathan off Jake.

She couldn't wait to watch the sparks fly if she ever got round to using it. A tiny part of her said that she wouldn't get to use it, that she was underestimating Haley. A bigger part of her still saw Haley as that lost little girl who had lost her parents, and that was the part that was winning.