We're almost there. The next three chapters will be filled with Jasper and Eleanor and then it's over. Really over. I had to tie up some loose ends (like Poppy and for some reason I completely forgot about Robbie's "date" with Jasper). Sorry if this feels like a bit of a filler or repetition, but I needed this to get us to the next part, the final part of this story. As always, thank you for reading!

Chapter 7. Hope

He stumbled into Poppy's house a little after four in the morning and she was just getting out of the shower, all ready to go to work. Some sort of emergency had come up and she'd been on call, but when he clumsily staggered through the doorway of her bedroom, she stopped whatever she was doing and she deftly caught him in her arms before he fell face forward to the floor.

He buried his nose in her neck, hot breath breathing words that were barely intelligible. She understood anyway.

I love her.

'Jasper,' she murmured soothingly, 'it's okay. It's going to be okay.'

And for fuck's sake, he was drunk. Beyond drunk, and she wondered briefly whether this was a male-thing, only being able to admit to feelings when they were intoxicated, but then decided it was simply a Jasper-thing.

Jasper and his things. Things that always revolved around the Princess.

He was heavy, but nothing she wasn't used to, though mostly she bore his weight in different ways, and with a mighty grunt she heaved his deadweight body onto her bed. She pulled off his slacks, pried open his shirt, but chose to leave his boxers on, before she threw a blanket over him.

'Sleep, you moron,' she said affectionately, kissing the side of his head. He murmured something slurred, but she was pretty certain it had something to do with Eleanor. Since he loved her. Finally, or perhaps infinitely.

Before she left, she placed a large glass of water and two paracetamols on the nightstand and a note telling him ice cubes were in the fridge – that eye looked like it wasn't going to open anytime soon – and she'd be seeing him when she got off work. She called Jonathan on her way to the office and bullied him into taking over Jasper's shift for the day.

True friendship, she couldn't help but think wryly.

The first thing Jasper noticed when he woke up, was the bed he was in. It wasn't his. He rolled over on his side, but before he had time to take in his surroundings, a strong surge of nausea accosted him and he scrambled to the edge of the bed.

Just in time, as he vomited over the white sheepskin floor cloth next to the bed.

Fuck.

He groaned, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and it hurt like hell. He fell back on his back, deciding it didn't matter whose bed he was in, as long as he could stay here, because he felt like shit and wasn't getting up anytime soon. His spew smelled, not particularly pleasant, but he had not the strength to clean it up at the moment. Later, all later.

Later turned out to be five in the afternoon, when Poppy slammed the front door shut behind her, to let him know she was home, effectively waking him up, still not sure of his surroundings. Until Poppy started yelling.

'The fuck, Frost?!' she exclaimed. 'My cloth, my bed, my fucking bedroom!'

And apparently, in his sleep, he had vomited some more, and for the love of god, he couldn't remember, but he was lying in his own puke and the room reeked of it.

'For fuck's sake,' he groaned. His head was pounding. He never got this drunk. And he certainly never puked, but perhaps it had something to do with receiving punches against the head and consuming copious amounts of alcohol afterwards.

'I leave you alone for half a day and this is what you do?'

Poppy sighed, ran a hand through her hair and then swiftly, in one motion, pulled the blankets off Jasper.

'Out,' she said irately. 'Out of my bed, out of my house. You need to go.'

Apparently, sometime during the few hours she had been out of the house, Jasper had deemed it necessary to remove his boxers.

'And put some fucking clothes on Frost, for Christ's sake.'

She found the pair on the floor and her anger was quick to fade when she chucked it at him, a smirk on her face. He smiled at her apologetically, but she rolled her eyes.

'Seriously, though,' she said. 'You need to get out, for real. Go home, take a shower, try to remember what you did last night and find someone to look at that eye of yours.'

'Can you hand me my pants?' he asked and his voice sounded grating.

Poppy shook her head.

'I'm not coming near nor throwing anything at your spew zone,' she said as she held her nose dramatically. 'The boxers were a one-time-deal. Now move. I need to mourn the loss of my sheep skin cloths and blankets.'

'How did I get-?' he started, but Poppy cut him off.

'Your car isn't outside, you have no wallet with you and I already checked your pockets for money, because I felt like you owed me something for letting you stay, considering the miserable state you were in, so I have no idea how you got here,' she said.

'It's a bit of a blow to every girl's ego when a sexually irresistible fella storms through the door in the middle of the night, spouting love confessions,' she said. 'Love confessions to another girl, might I add. I believe she goes by "Princess"?'

She winked at Jasper and he wasn't that hungover to not see it coming.

'I told you so.'

And there it was.

He grabbed the first thing in sight, a turquoise pillow, and perhaps he had been drooling on it or maybe something more, but that didn't stop him from hurling it at her.

And she screeched bloody murder, because yes, he might've puked on it, and yes, he was bloody disgusting. She permitted him to take a shower before he left and she joined him after a few minutes, but there was nothing sexual about it and it felt nice to have her scrub his back and in return wash her hair.

Afterwards, she ordered him an Uber and waited with him in front of her door, the two of them sharing a fag.

'This is good, you know,' she said.

Jasper looked at her from the corner of his eye, unimpressed.

'I mean,' she grinned. 'Not the black eye, of course. Nor the massive hangover and the killer headache which is surely accompanying the first. Nor the fact that you decided to have a fucking vomit-fest in my bedroom.'

She chuckled.

'But the rest is good.'

She nudged his shoulder and he turned to look at her.

'You're good,' she said. 'Better than before anyway. So it's good.'

He didn't smile, but instead leaned to the side, kissed the top of her head.

'I love you too, Pops,' he said, and he rubbed his cheek against her hair reassuringly.

'I know,' she agreed. 'But just not the way we both wanted you to.'

He had no answer to that.

When he arrived home, a black Range Rover was parked at the beginning of his street and instantly it all came rushing back.

Robbie. Six p.m.

Shit.

His front door was unlocked, so he wasn't surprised to find Robbie already sitting in his living room. Not surprised, just slightly annoyed.

'It's considered impolite to enter people's homes without their permission,' he said and maybe he was more than just slightly annoyed. He walked towards his refrigerator and grabbed himself a beer. He would've offered Robbie one, had the man not already helped himself.

'It's also considered impolite to let your Prince wait for more than half an hour,' Robbie countered.

'I'm American, remember,' Jasper said, jaw clenched. 'I don't have a Prince.'

'And you're in the United Kingdom now so it'd be wise for you to shut your mouth.'

They glared at each other, but Jasper backed down first. All he wanted was to crawl into his bed and sleep. He was exhausted, his face hurt, his head was throbbing and he felt like he needed to brush his teeth at least twice more to get the sour taste of vomit out of his mouth.

He didn't think Robert would feel very sorry for him, but he could care less. He was this close to kicking that pompous dick out of his house.

He looked at the bottle of beer in his hand - felt a bit nauseous just looking at it -, set it down on the counter and started preparing a pot of coffee. He hadn't done that in a long time, prepare his own coffee, but right now was a good enough time to start, because Poppy wouldn't be doing it anymore. Not on a regular basis anyway.

And the Princess only drinks tea.

'How's the eye?' Robbie asked when he returned to the living room. Jasper deliberately sat across from the Prince to show him. He glared at him for good measure.

'Suits you,' Robbie smirked.

'So,' Robbie started. 'Liam says I ought to apologize to you, which, of course, I am not going to do. Because first of all, I am not sorry and second of all, I am not sorry. I'm surprised no one in the Palace knocked you on your ass sooner.'

'Liam did,' Jasper said and Robbie raised an eyebrow. Apparently the twins hadn't told him that.

'When?' Robbie asked surprised. 'What did you do?'

'When Len told him what she told you.'

Robert took a gulp from his beer, seemingly satisfied and Jasper just hoped all of this wouldn't take too long. The Prince had said something about going for a ride?

'You don't seem to be particularly fit today,' Robbie observed. 'Sporting a similar hangover to Liam?'

'If Liam feels like he's dying, then yes,' Jasper replied. He almost felt like strangling Robert, hide his body in the attic and just go the fuck to sleep, because he was so bloody tired.

'Liam believes he's died and gone to Hell,' Robbie said and his voice irritated Jasper for no sensible reason at all, 'so I reckon you got the better part of the deal.'

And perhaps this was it. Because last night Liam had basically giving his blessing, had told him he knew Poppy wasn't his girlfriend, knew his sister had still feelings for him and suspected – suspected, as if he didn't bloody know – that Jasper also had feelings for her. They had toasted, asked for more cocktails – while Liam loved his Guinness and Jasper considered himself a whiskey sort of bloke – and three glasses in they had been completely shitfaced. It had been entertaining and awful and nauseating and he – they – were still suffering the consequences, but at least it had been honest.

He cared about Eleanor – loved, loved her – and no matter the way, he was getting back into her life, because she had engraved herself completely into his. Liam already knew and after yesterday, there was no doubt she knew too, and this was his chance to let Robbie know. Perhaps his only chance.

Instead he was wasting it, feeling sorry for himself and getting angry at all the wrong people, while all he needed to do was throw his cards on the table.

Just throw his fucking cards on the table.

This was it.

'I love your sister.'

Robbie had been speaking and he had no fucking clue about what, but the moment those words had left his mouth, the Prince fell quiet.

'What?' he asked dumbfounded.

And maybe he did need that beer, Jasper decided, so he walked to the kitchen and got it.

'I love your sister,' he repeated. 'I am in love with your sister. Your sister I love. Whichever way you want to put it.'

He took a sip.

'I fucking love your sister.'

'Is this some sort of long-term con?' Robbie scoffed. 'Blackmail the fool, fuck her mom and then tell her you love her, so you can still escape with the jewellery? Because I don't care about jewels and diamonds and shit. You can have it all if you just leave Eleanor alone.'

He tried to look threateningly, but Jasper wasn't intimidated.

'I can't,' he said genuinely. 'I did that once, leave her alone, after the King's Cup, and now we're here in this shitstorm. And I'm still in love with her. So no, I cannot leave her alone. And there's nothing you can offer me, to make it so.'

'Tell me,' Robbie demanded. 'Tell me from the beginning and leave nothing out, because I swear, as God is my witness, I will bury your body, Jasper Frost, and nobody will ever find you nor care.'

And so he started at the beginning, the very start of it all, and he started talking.

'I was born just outside of Las Vegas…'

He told him everything. His parents, the grifters; the uncertainty; always looking over his shoulder; and eventually his banishment for sleeping with the daughter of the King of the Strip, and if Robbie saw similarities, he wisely kept his mouth shut.

He spoke about Samantha – of Mandy and selling his soul to the Devil – and she had been his only family after that. Had they ever truly believed they were in love? Perhaps he had, but she simply wanted to pull one final con to escape her father, the King.

The Koh-I-Noor.

And so he came to England, to Eleanor and into her bed.

He saw Robbie clench and unclench his fists, the tight set of the man's jaw, and he was grateful the Prince did not interrupt him and listened quietly. His body language, however.

'She was going to fire for sleeping with her,' he said softly. 'And then the con would've been over.'

He sighed, rubbed his nose and closed his eyes for a second. He heard Robbie get up, but wasn't threatened by the man's movements, even though he couldn't see them. A moment later Robbie returned, two glasses and a bottle of bourbon in his hand.

'I need something stronger,' he said and his hand was shaking slightly as he poured them both a glass.

'I'm not making up any excuses,' Jasper clarified before he continued, 'but you need to understand how it was for me, growing up with nothing. I was scared to death to go back to that. I couldn't go back there. So I came up with the sextape, told her I had it all on camera and if she fired me, I would release the video. She was already in enough trouble with the King and Helena, so I knew she would agree.'

'I... –'

He swallowed, breathed in deeply.

'Taking advantage of her, having sex with her after that first time, was my own selfishness.'

Robbie said nothing. His knuckles were white.

'This sounds so corny, but it's the truth,' Jasper continued.

Because he got to know her, that's what happens when you spend all of your time together, and the better he got to know her, the closer he wanted to be to her. Until the point where he realized he wanted to be with her.

But their entire relationship had been about control. Dominance and submission. He had tried to let her know that perhaps there was more between them, by admitting to not having a sextape, but then she had left for Monaco and he had been so angry. Angry and hurt, but only his anger he knew how to handle.

'I was transferred to Queen Helena and she knew certain things about my past,' Jasper said. 'Things that could've gotten me arrested.'

Robbie scoffed.

'So you decided to shut my mother up by shoving your dick into her mouth. Cute.'

'I didn't do it for the con,' he defended himself. 'I did it because I did not want to leave your sister. I took a chance and hoped she wouldn't find out.'

'You do realize how sick that is?' Robbie questioned. 'Besides, she did find out.'

'She did,' Jasper confirmed. 'And she had me arrested.'

'After the twins were declared illegitimate, I followed her around the world,' Jasper sighed and Robbie muttered, 'Stalker, much', but had a tiny smile on his face. Perhaps Jasper had done something right in his eyes.

'Eventually she returned to the Palace and I thought that was it, but then Liam needed my help.'

And that had been his chance, his atonement, to make up for all his sins. If he found their father's killer, then perhaps she could forgive him. Not take him back, but simply forgive him. Because all he wanted was for her to be happy, whether that was with or without him.

But then Samantha had showed up.

'For fuck's sake,' Robbie exclaimed. 'The con was still running?'

'It wasn't,' Jasper said. 'Not for me, anyway.'

And he still remembered the night of the party, when finally, fucking finally, he had realized how deeply he was in love with the Princess. And that night had also been the last fucking nail on his coffin.

'And still we're sitting here,' Robbie said. 'So either you haven't been buried yet or you have nine fucking lives.'

'I'd settle for one life with her.'

Under any other circumstances they both would've laughed at that clichéd statement, but the truth behind it had their expressions solemn and both their heads heavy.

Or perhaps that was just the hangover.

'What is it you want from my sister now?' Robbie asked.

Jasper rubbed his temples, squared his shoulders. Looked him straight in the eye and bared it all, bared it all.

Because he wanted a life with her in it. Had tried to escape those feelings because he had been hurt by her dismissal. By her rejection. But hadn't he done the same to her? Hadn't he lied and rejected her time after time after time?

This was his last chance to make it right.

And so he said what truly came to mind.

'Everything.'

For the first time he wasn't ashamed to admit it.

He wanted it all.

'As long as she'll have me.'

Perhaps this was stupid, Robbie thought to himself. But it felt right. And if she didn't like the idea, was completely opposed to it, he could always cancel it. He was the Prince; he could do whatever he wanted. Still, he was nervous when he knocked on Eleanor's door.

'What do you want?' she sighed, a cigarette dangling from her fingers. She was sitting in her window, a half drunk bottle of wine on the sill. At least she wasn't high.

'I saw your ex-boyfriend today,' he started.

'Ex-bodyguard,' she corrected. 'Did you let him live?'

'Actually, I did,' Robbie said. 'He told me some interesting things. And I thought about it. He helped with Brandon, found our father's killer. Professionally speaking, I think he's a good guy to have around.'

She was in the middle of bringing the bottle to her mouth, but stopped halfway. Turned her head slowly towards Robbie.

'I wanted to let you know first,' he continued, 'since he's not your ex-boyfriend and all that. But I'm thinking of transferring Marcus back to Liam and reinstating Jasper. As my bodyguard.'

'I of course need to speak to Liam and James about it,' he said when she stayed silent, 'but I don't believe they will make a big deal out of it.'

The unspoken question was obvious.

Will you?

'Funny,' Eleanor said scathingly. 'You go from beating him up to offering him a job.'

'Haven't offered it to him yet,' Robbie said, 'but after our talk today, I am certain he will accept.'

He made to leave her room, but then stopped.

'Another thing, Len. I love you, but don't ever again use me to fight your battles. You'll have to face your demons eventually. And whether Jasper Frost is a demon or not, is up to you to decide.'

He blew her a kiss and closed the door behind him.

And there was that stupid feeling again. That feeling she'd had when she'd seen him at her birthday party, when he had followed her to the balcony. That feeling when Poppy told her they were not in a relationship. When he had texted her. Both times.

That feeling she so desperately tried to ignore.

But he was returning to the Palace. He was returning to her life.

And there was that feeling again. It made her feel pathetic for even daring to…

Hope.