Don't panic, I'm only changing all the Gray's to Gray from this point on. I like it to have an 'a' and that's how I'll be referring to him from now on.

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GRAY'S POV

"She did WHAT?!" I nearly scream in horror. Master Nightmare shrinks back in his chair as I stumble back. "How could she have gone to the mansion? That's the absolute last place she should be at! It's one of the deadliest estates!" From that trigger happy Elliot to those Bloody twins she'll be killed for sure.

And Blood ... I quickly block my thoughts from Nightmare's mind tightly gripping my fists until my knuckles turn white. I'll slaughter him for this! No doubt this is his doing, one way or another. Why else would she willingly go there?!

"Um, Gray ... ,"

"I - I - I mean, that's a terrible choice! Why would she do that? I-,"

"GRAY." Master Nightmare growls, catching my scattered attention. My head shoots up spying Nightmare's cool and collected gaze.

"What?" I breathe on the verge of tearing through the Hatter Mansion to save her. She's clearly not in the right frame of mind to go there!

"Jackie chose to go there on her own free will." Master

... What?

"But why?" I know why. She must have gone there to avoid me. A-After what I did to her - I couldn't help it! Once I learned that Blood kissed her I felt such a powerful rage and jealousy rip through me I lost it. After being so careful for so many years she alone made me lose it.

Why do I lose my composure so easily around her?

JACKIE'S POV

"Oh, Jackie dear can you go and wake up Master Dupre?" A maid asks as she helps me polish off the silverware. I nearly drop my spoon at the news.

"He's sleeping?" I ask, startled. What a lazy man sleeping in the middle of the day when there is so much work to get done!

"Yes. Master Dupre tends to sleep during the day." Since most of his business occurs at night. I glance out the window spying the sun high in the sky.

"So why wake him now?" It's still the Afternoon.

"You don't know? Master Dupre has a meeting to attend to over at Clover Tower." I stiffen at the reference. So soon?! No, no I shouldn't have to freak out at all. I don't even have to go to the stupid meeting.

"I didn't know that. Alright." I say setting the tableware aside as I head out of the kitchen. It's been hardly a dozen time changes and I already have to go back? UGH that's annoying. No, why do I keep thinking I have to go back? I can just stay here and manage more stupid tableware. Even though the tedious work is driving me nuts.

"Wake up, Blood." I call out knocking on his door. I wait for a response before peeking into the dark room spying his figure beneath the covers. Oh great he's going to make me go in? I heavily sigh and trot into the room heading straight to the curtains.

"Wake up lazy boy." I huff tossing the curtains back and let the light flood the room. Blood twitches on the bed before turning over, cracking his emerald green eye open.

"Ah, so my wake up maid has sent you? That's interesting." He sleepily hums before sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"Hmph." I grunt in annoyance. Just shut the heck up and go to your stupid meeting.

"Hm~ I could get used to a sight like this when I wake up."

"Don't hold your breath on it. I've already paid off a third of what I owe." After all I didn't spend almost $100 worth that he gave me in the first place, "besides you have a meeting to go to in Clover Tower." I snap as an automatic near sneer crosses my face. Just thinking about Clover Tower is making me mad. A dark chuckle slips by his lips as I more fully open the curtain hoping to blind the Mafia head in the blinding light.

"Do I?" He purrs, leaning back on the bed, "I suppose I do, don't I?"

"Don't you have pajamas sir?" I sourly ask as I spy his naked top. I doubt he's wearing anything beneath either. He smoothly rubs his eyes waking up as the lip of the covers slide down to his bare hips. Oh great I was right. This man likes to sleep free. I promptly look away as the covers rustle together, signaling Blood is on the move.

"Why should I when I usually have a guest over?" He pleasantly hums. Well he seems to be in a good mood. I've heard that he's actually pretty grumpy when he wakes up. Is he looking forward to something?

"True." I say as I head towards the door.

"Why aren't you wearing the maid's outfit I've lent you?"

"I don't like it so I'm wearing this." I answer back before slipping out of the door. I don't really like skirts. The black dress pants and top I have are just fine. I don't see anything wrong with the white blouse either.

"Miss Jackie are you trying to tell me that you want to go to the meeting by wearing such dashing clothing?" Blood's voice asks from behind. I glance back shocked to see him dressed and ready to go so quickly. It's astounding how fast this man can get ready for an event.

"Hm? No, not at all." I'm sure he's figured out what happened so why the heck ask me that? He thinks for a moment and taps his chin, the gears in his mind turning.

"Humor me then and come along. It's boring there in the meeting since we talk about everything and nothing gets done." He encourages tapping his cane against the floor. My eyes narrow.

"No." I immediately answer trying to walk away.

"Are you going to disobey me?" He asks, sounding almost excited by my defiance.

"I'm not disobeying you. You told me to do as the maids say and they say that I need to help polish the tableware."

"Let's make a deal then. I will cut your debt in half if you agree to come along." He purrs trying to make the offer more enticing for me.

"No way." I jumped in a freaking dumpster just to get away from the man and he thinks some money is going to make me go back?

"Big sister!" The bloody twins shout right on cue. I heavily sigh as they wrap their arms around me and pull me into a tight hug.

"Are you going to the meeting?"

"No."

"Awe~ pretty please, big sister?" Their voices drop as they grow larger, engulfing me in their arms. "Please?" They ask again with sparkling eyes. Yeah like that's going to work.

"No." I answer, grabbing their faces and push them away.

"Aw~! Big sister is mean!"

"Come with us it will be more fun!" They beg literally trying to tug me back towards the doors. My high heels make it nearly impossible to resist as I lean all my weight in the opposite direction. No means no!

"I have one last offer, Jackie." Blood offers, his wicked eyes glinting. Oh man what does he have up his sleeve now?

"What?" He's cutting into my work time what does he want now?

"I will take half the money off your debt and add it to the Bloody Twin's next pay check if you come along. Willingly or not." The twin's eyes immediately turn to gemstones as they look at me.

Balls.

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I can't believe he used the Bloody Twins against me! I angrily grumble as I sit in the front row of the Hatter's section, the only seat that was open. I'll bet he did this on purpose so he can mess with my from behind. I peek over my shoulder spying the Bloody Twins and a very tired looking Elliot on the point of passing out sitting all the way in the back row. Blood's set this up terribly. Now he can mess with me all he wants and not have the twins or Elliot distract him.

I glance up spying Gray enter the room with Nightmare close behind. Please just look over me and pretend I'm invisible. My heart jerks with angry little thumps, daring him to look at me with his topaz eyes so I have an excuse to claw his eyes out. Why am I so pissed off? I thought a few days off would help but it's only made it worse.

Gray's eyes drift over the crowds and directly looks over the Hatter's section before his topaz eyes latch onto mine. His eyes widen with shock before he conceals his emotions, putting his hands behind his back as if resisting the urge to come over to me. Nightmare glances up at me before locking eyes with Gray, who promptly tears his gaze from mine and looks nearly clear in the opposite direction. Nightmare's face visibly pales before he gulps, starting off the meeting with a very meek and weak voice.

I slump back in my seat trying to force myself to zone out. If I think too much I might just leap across the desk and try to round house kick Gray in the stupid head. My eyes drift over the vent above towards the top of the ceiling counting the rust spots I can see from here. That system looks pretty old school. I lightly tap my foot back touching the vent right by my feet. Hm ... this one isn't running. I glance over to the side watching as the pant legs of the servant sitting beside me lightly move with the air. Is mine broken?

My head slightly twitches as I feel a small tug on my hair. I ignore it before it persists, craning my head back to see Blood giving me a half lidded smile.

"What?" He was right about the meetings being boring but does he honestly have to be doing this to me?

"I just wanted to ask you. Black Tea or Herbal Tea?"

"Neither." I whisper back before sitting back up, trying not to be rude for Nightmare's sake. A few minutes later the tugging persists, not as hard but still present. I tilt my head back eying up his toothy smile. "What are you doing now?"

"Tying knots in your hair, my dear." Blood hums softly tugging a knot into my hair. He lets go watching as the strands simply fall apart. Nice try you can't really tie knots in my kind of hair.

"Stop bugging me."

"I can't help it. This meeting is draining my interest quite fast."

"True." I mutter back watching as Nightmare's eye twitches. I hold back a laugh before my face twists into a grimace from Blood dragging his fingers through my hair sending shivers down my spine. "Stop that."

"I'm bored and there is a stimulating woman before me. What else do you expect to happen?" He lightly teases as he twirls a strand around his finger. I let out a heavy sigh letting him play with my hair. As long as he doesn't try to rip a chunk out I don't care. I peek over to Gray noticing his head twitch away. Has he been watching? "You've noticed it too?"

"Noticed what?" I ask, never tearing my eyes off of Gray. What's going on with him? He was the reason I left and I'm sure he knows it but he's acting so strange. My chest thumps hard with guilt. Why am I feeling guilty? He was the one that did all that perverted stuff to me!

"Hm~ I wonder what will happen if I do this." Blood purrs as Nightmare asks, 'any questions about today's meeting?'. Blood roughly yanks back on my hair and cranes my head back, softly pressing his lips to mine.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

I shake as Blood pulls back with a chuckle, breathing over my face. My eyes drift to either side of his head spying the knives poking out from the framework not even an inch from his head.

"Is there something wrong, Mister Ringmarc?" He dangerously purrs looking up to confront the livid lizard. It takes a moment before Gray is able to tightly seal his rage leaving only his blazing topaz eyes boring into Blood.

"Meeting is adjourned." Gray coolly responds before stiffly heading out the side door. Nightmare stumbles after him with a pale face, hardly believing what just happened.

Did Gray just ... lose his cool?

"Hah~ looks like nothing was accomplished today." A maid sighs slipping to her feet.

"Since when does anything actually get accomplished?" Peter huffs, "let's just hurry back before the germs of this place get to me."

"Wow! I like seeing Mr. Lizard get angry~," Ace hums staring after the door Gray vanished behind. I nervously gulp and softly touch my neck, staring at the well placed knives. Scary~!

"Are you alright, Jackie?" Blood calmly croons with a cool victorious smile.

"Did you know he was going to do that?"

"I actually expected him to drive a knife through my head. It's a shame he has such an excellent reign on his emotions." Dupre sadly sighs waving off his underling's concern for him. I stare at the door Gray left through half expecting him to come bursting through with a giant knife with Blood's name written on it. I think ... Gray is jealous. But, really, jealous? Of all things it could possibly be? And how he reacted when he found out Blood kissed me was definitely a surprise. And the distance he gave me afterwards was because he was embarrassed of his actions. A faint touch of pink colors my cheeks.

I think I'm starting to figure it out.

"Let's hurry up and depart. We have other business to attend to." Blood says as he gets up. Elliot slumps out of the room with the two twins pestering him, following the rest of the faceless out.

"You go on ahead. I'll catch up later." I say over my shoulder, still staring at the door.

"My dear, are you sure you want to enter the lion's den at the moment?" Blood laughs under his breath as he pauses by the door.

"Nope. I'm entering a bear's den." I correct, hesitating before forging ahead.

"If that is your choice. I'll sent some servants later to pick up your corpse." A shiver runs down my spine at the note as I lightly touch the handle. No.

With the mood I'm in its Gray who better watch out! He thinks he's the only one that's pissed off here? I'm furious that he's being so wishy washy and won't come out and tell me what's wrong ... although I'm sure it's what I'm thinking.

I slowly breathe out as I deafly step over the floor boards. I wonder where he and Nightmare went? Nightmare is probably in his office and so is Gray. I stalk up the stairs as quietly as I can not wanting to be noticed just yet. I don't want Gray running away when I want to get to the bottom of this. I slowly approach Nightmare's door creaking it open without knocking.

"Nightmare?" I quietly call staring into the empty room. Where did they go? The light outside suddenly shudders, turning right to midnight and skips over dusk. Well that's not appropriate at all. Murders do often happen at night. I turn to leave pausing as I catch sight of something caught in the closet. I roll my eyes and trot into the room, pulling back the doors to find Nightmare in his fetal position.

"Where's Gray?"

"A-Ah ... r-room. In h-his secret room hidden behind his bookcase. Don't tell him I told you he is already in a terrifying mood! S-So many bloody thoughts - !" He cries with tears dabbing his eyes. He pushes my hands away from the doors before yanking them back in, almost as if trying to drown out whatever thoughts he is listening to. I nervously swallow before hesitatingly slipping into the hallway.

I have a feeling this is going to be a little more dangerous than I was imagining it to bed. But Gray won't hurt me, right? He so sweet and gentle ... until he gets pissed off then he is terrifying. I pause before his door, swaying back on my feet. Maybe I should wait until he cools down? I shakily exhale. No, I won't. If I do I might not even come back at all.

The door ominously creaks open as I step inside cautiously looking around the dark room. Books scatter the ground with an overturned bookcase laying on the wood floor. Shattered glass decorate the floor offering a variety of challenges to come in slowly. I clench my teeth, slowly exhaling. I hate how everything gets scarier at night.

"Um, Gray?" I nervously say staring into the dark room of his 'secret' room which was left half way open. My gosh it seriously looks like an angry mama bear tore through here! My heart pounds hard as I slowly draw closer cracking some of the glass as I step on a larger piece. "Gray, are you in here?"

THUMP

"Eek-!" I squeal, unable to hold back my shock as a knife sticks out of the ground right beside my foot. He actually threw a knife at me? My fear starts to boil down to annoyance. I refuse to be treated like this.

"I'm coming in, Gray." I shakily say, trying to sound confident but fail miserably. This can go two very different ways at this point. I side step the blade and lightly touch the door's frame staring into the practically pitch black room. Gray sat in the center of the strange room so his back is facing me, staring out the window. I nervously gulp and carefully step inside taking care to make sure he knows I'm approaching. My body aches as my heart constricts. Why am I feeling so ... what is this emotion? Guilt? Sympathy? Oh I have no idea!

Working on instinct I slowly kneel behind him and wrap my arms around his shoulders. I stay silent carefully listening to his steady breathing. What is going through his head right now? I slightly tense as I feel his hand swallow mine up, gingerly holding them with his warm hand. After a few more moments he heavily exhales, leaning back so the back of his head is resting just between my collarbones.

"I've been acting like a child." He begins, softly rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb. I shift my legs letting him lay against me as I lean back, my back laying against a plush wall. Plush?

"Yeah." I numbly agree resting my cheek on his head. And all the while I've been doing tailspins trying to figure out just what the heck happened. He closes his topaz eyes, smoothly breathing in and out as he tries to stay calm.

"Blood kissed you in the middle of the meeting." He states as his grip tightens. "I didn't like that."

"I think everyone could tell." I'll bet Blood was doing that on purpose. He realized Gray had feelings for me before I did and took advantage of it. Now I kind of want to go beat the stupid out of him.

"Are you and Blood together?"

"Not at all. He's with Alice remember?" His eyebrows came together as he continues to stroke my hand with his thumb.

"He kissed you to get under my skin, then." Gray mutters, visibly clenching his jaw. My eyes soften over the hard working man as I slide one of my hands free cupping his cheek.

"And why would that get under your skin?" I ask as my heart begins to pound. Say it. Please, say it. A faint blush touches my face. I ... really like Gray too. He's strong, dependable, and smart. I can't believe it's taken me until he threw the knives at Blood to figure it out.

"It's because I love you." He finally answers cracking his eyes open. A shiver runs down my spine. It's a bit early to say 'love' isn't it? My heart jerks in place as I softly rub his jaw watching as he closes his eyes again. He's so cute. Heh ... going from hating his guts one moment to thinking he's cute? Now that's a real accomplishment.

"I understand if you despise me. If you hate my guts. I can accept that. But if you go off to Hatter's again I-," I lean down, bravely and softly pressing my lips to his. His mouth freezes, measuring truth from reality, before carefully pushing back. I smile and pull away watching as his eyes hungrily open.

"I don't hate you, Gray. And I don't like Blood or anyone else more than you." Wow that's a terrible hint that I like him back. Despite my round about answer his lips curl into a gentle smile. He reaches up softly touching the back of my neck.

"Thank you, Jackie." He sweetly says before softly pushing his lips to mine. My heart throbs as I hesitantly push back. Am I at the right angle or am I going to hurt his neck doing this? I remain stiff, trying to match him as he expertly moves about my mouth, a hum building up in the back of his throat. Oh heck I don't even know what I'm doing right now! I've never really kissed a guy I like before. Gray's cheek twitches into a smile as if reading my stiff movements. He pulls back before sitting up, twisting around and pulls me into his lap without so much as a little bit of hesitation. I suck in a quick breath, startled as he rests his arms around my waist and leans back against the lumpy plush wall.

"Don't go back to Hatter's." He murmurs skimming his nose along my jaw.

"I-I left my stuff there." I nervously stutter, shivering as his lips brush against my neck.

"I'll go get it. Just stay here." Gray whispers in a deeper voice, kissing the corner of my jaw. Wow. He really didn't hesitate to get a little hands on with me. I rest my head on his shoulder trying to get out of his lip's reach. I-It's intimidating that he went straight for my mouth. Maybe I'm just being a bit sensitive.

"N-No, I'll go-,"

"Stay." He seductively mutters in a convincing purr, pressing his lips to my neck. I shakily inhale as I grip his shoulders. My blood boils as he lightly sucks on the skin, my eyes rolling back. I-It's honestly freaking me out how forward he is but more so how I'm reacting to it!

"F-F-Fine." I stutter watching as he pulls back with a cool smile.

"Good." He hums, popping forward before kissing my forehead. "Go to your room. I'll be there shortly." He softly hums leaving a final kiss on my forehead. I flinch at the show of affection before he stands up, trotting over towards the window. He unlocks it before smoothly jumping out, vanishing into the darkness in an instant. My heart leaps into my mouth. We're on the top floor-! I dart to the window barely catching myself as I scan the ground for him. A dark figure easily loops along the roof's edge smoothly gliding down from one to another before safely landing on the ground, jumping into the nearby woods. I shakily exhale and drop to my feet, clutching my pounding heart.

Oh my gosh so fast!

The second I said I liked him he was all over me! B-B-But my blood is boiling, my heart pumping with wild hornets stinging my stomach. W-Wow ... How could he possibly have made me feel this way so fast if I didn't like him?!

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Well it took a while but here it is~ how do you think Blood is going to react finding all of Jackie's stuff gone? And what is Gray going to do when he gets back? Oh~ things are coming up really fast for the little engineer! 10 REVIEWS for the next chapter~