Chapter 12

The entire ride to the ranch Jasina was going over in her mind what she was going to say to Mark. She glanced over at the album Randy made, placing a hand on it, and wondered what the hell she was supposed to do. That kiss definitely awoke feelings inside of her she hadn't felt since she was with Mark, her feelings for Randy completely different.

Mark had her heart, Jasina always knew that, even though Randy had tried stealing it away and almost succeeded. She loved Randy and would never forget him, but Mark was her number one love and always had been. She just wasn't sure if she'd ever fully trust him after everything they'd been through together and vice versa. When Jasina pulled up to the ranch, she didn't get out of her car right away, simply staring straight ahead while slowly letting her hands slide from the wheel.

Mark heard her car idling out in the driveway from his spot in the garage, tinkering with his motorcycles, the garage bay door open. He didn't move, knowing going out there would probably make her shift into reverse and leave or something. She was going to have to come to him because when he took the lead...he messed up apparently.

After Arielle had ended their call, he had come out here to occupy his mind, having gotten very little sleep, worried out of his mind for Jasina, more specifically: her mindset. He had no idea where she would go, assuming Arie or Trish's, only to find out this morning that they hadn't heard from her. Now he knew where she had been, in her and Randy's old apartment.

Deciding this was ridiculous, Jasina cut the ignition of her car and stepped out, leaving the album behind for the time being. She still had on the tank dress and pumps, having brought all of her clothes to the ranch when she left the apartment four months ago. She pulled it down as far as it could go, without flashing her boobs, and headed into the garage, pumps clicking against the rocky pavement as classic rock blared throughout it. Maybe now wasn't a good time to talk to him.

Mark was sitting on the floor of the garage, several large pieces of cardboard beneath both the motorcycle he was working on and him. Wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a gray beater, his hair was pulled back from his face by a blue bandana. He looked up when he heard the clicking of her heels, his eyes level with...that dress and tilted his head back to look up at her.

"I'm sorry about last night, Jas." Mark said after a moment, figuring the best way to kick this conversation off was with an apology.

"There's no need to apologize, Mark." Jasina smiled down at him softly, trying not to notice the way his jeans hugged those muscular thighs and ass, or how the beater looked ready to shred off of his chest. Jasina was proud of herself for keeping her eyes on his face, clearing her throat. "Let's just pretend it never happened and...I'll try not to get you riled up anymore, okay?" She hoped that didn't sound mean and rude, because that wasn't Jasina's intentions, just wanting to make amends and move on.

"Sure, Jas." Mark agreed evenly, feeling proud of HIMSELF for how agreeable and neutral his tone of voice was.

He wasn't entirely sure if the word 'riled' was the appropriate term for what she had done to him last night. Rock hard might have better described the situation, but he wasn't going to provoke a fight or do anything else to make her uncomfortable. He now knew how that would turn out: With her heading back to the place she had been happy with her now dead boyfriend. That was a sharp reminder that she wasn't his, hadn't been in quite some time, and apparently Jasina still loved a dead man.

The even tone of his voice told Jasina that he definitely didn't like what she said, but respected it, nodding back at him. "Good, I'm gonna go shower."

She walked out of the garage and into the ranch, deciding she would be leaving as soon as possible, wondering why she suddenly felt a new hurt and urge to cry. It wasn't because of Randy this time either. Jasina blinked them away and headed upstairs to her room, pulling her pumps off and shut the bedroom door. First a shower, then she would be hunting for a new place to live until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.

Sighing, Mark leaned forward until his head was resting against the Titan's gas tank, knowing he wasn't going to be able to work anymore without screwing up the bike, which he'd later have to kill himself for if that happened. Pushing himself off the floor, Mark headed inside and glanced towards the stairs, knowing instinctively that she would be looking to leave. Whatever peace and pleasantness that had been between them before last night was gone and would probably never be recovered.

He had messed up.

~!~

For the next several weeks, Jasina threw herself into her work, trying to find a new place to live and Trish's wedding. Whatever Trish needed, Jasina was there. She spent a lot of time over at Trish and Steve's, deciding keeping her distance from Mark was the right thing to do and best for both of them. She was hardly there, only coming in late at night when he was either sleeping or working on his motorcycles, barely seeing him. Dinners were spent alone, there was no more sunbathing and no more taking advantage of a place that wasn't her home.

Jasina wore mostly short sleeved shirts and pants when she was in the ranch, not wanting to rile Mark up or be provocative in any way. They were not together and the more distance she put between them, the better off everything would be...even though Jasina felt more dead inside than ever. She was like a robot, though smiled whenever around people. As soon as Jasina was alone though late at night, in her cold empty bed, all she could do was cry and think about all the mistakes she made in her life.

"Just admit it, Jasi, you're still in love with him."

"Trish, not now okay?" Jasina had a really bad day and didn't need Trish telling her how she felt because she still wasn't sure of it herself. "I agreed to walk down the damn aisle with him at your wedding, what more do you want?"

"I want you to stop being stubborn and just tell him how you really feel." Trish stated, staring in the full length mirror with her wedding dress on, having lost all of the baby weight. "You need to do it soon, he won't wait on you forever."

"What makes you think I'm still in love with him anyway? Or that he feels even REMOTELY the same for me?" Jasina demanded, growling when Trish flashed a cocky smile.

"Simple, I know you better than you know yourself."

"I'm done discussing Mark with you."

"Oh come on Jasi, we're best friends and I know you're hurting and it's not because of Randy anymore." Trish stopped her friend from storming out of the store, turning her around. "I'm trying to help you, don't you see that?"

"You're not helping me by constantly telling me that I'm in love with him, when I don't know if I am!" Jasina snapped, tired of going around in circles with Trish, tears stinging her eyes. "I have way too much shit to worry about right now to deal with what I'm feeling inside, so please..."

Trish wanted to bite her tongue, but something forced her to continue. "Mark still loves you, Jasina." She watched Jasina freeze, slowly walking toward her still in the wedding dress. "Steve has been grinding into him for the past few weeks and Mark said he loves you, but he thinks you don't love him because of Randy. This isn't about Randy. You and Randy weren't meant to be obviously or he wouldn't have..."

"Have what?" Jasina whispered, not masking her hurt and slowly turned around to face her best friend. "Died? He wouldn't have died if we were meant to be? Is that what you were going to say?"

"No, but..."

"We're done here." Jasina walked out of the store.

~!~

"Might as well admit it, you still love her and she doesn't love you, so yer miserable and making me miserable too. Which is damn rude of you since I'm about to be married."

"Steve, I swear to God if you don't shut the fuck up and stop talkin' about Jasina and me, I will cram this wrench up your ass and these bolts down your throat."

"Just callin' it like I'm seeing it."

"Well stop fuckin' seeing! I admit it, I never stopped lovin' her, but she doesn't love me anymore and I'm not about to try to force her to, so back off man!"

Steve let out a low whistle. "Man, you are fucked."

He stood up with the wrench in one hand and the bolts in the other.

"You realize, if you cram that wrench up my ass, it'll make us late for the tux fittings, right?" Steve said, trying to sound serious but failing miserably, though he was backing away. Trish and Jasina were doing something involving their dresses and he and Mark had appointments for later. No rental tux for his best man, mostly because any suit Mark wore generally had to be custom fitted, kind of like Steve's. "All I'm sayin' is you love the woman-" He ducked when the wrench came flying at his head. "And she probably still loves you on some level, but she's also-"

Mark hurled the bolts.

"Probably thinks she's betrayin' Randy or something, or maybe she figures shit won't work with you, cause you're so damn-" Steve ducked again, dodging out of the way when the tire Mark had tossed rebounded off the wall behind him. "Violent."

Mark hurled a tire iron next.

"If you throw one more goddamn thing at me, Mark, I'mma fuck you up so bad we'll have to prop you up on a stick for the weddin'!"

Steve actually looked like he meant it and Mark hesitated, lowering the second tire he had grabbed.

Steve was ready when Mark threw it, not buying that 'thoughtful, maybe I shouldn't' look that had flickered across his friend's face. "Warned you, son, now it's on."

"Shit!" Mark grunted when Steve tackled him, both men crashing onto the garage floor, instantly beginning to tussle.

"Admit it, shithead, yer going to be stupid enough to let her walk away!"

"Fuck you!"

"You're like a damn kid! DON'T BITE!"

Arielle almost shouted 'WHAT THE HELL' when she seen her Uncle Steve and Daddy rolling around on the dirty garage floor, throwing punches at each other, Steve shouting something about Mark being a shithead. Her eyes nearly dropped out of her skull when her Dad actually went low and dirty and tried biting Steve. Hiding a smirk, she whipped out her cell phone and set it to record.

"NOT THE BALLS! THAT'S A BITCH MOVE!"

"YOU BIT ME, YOU PATHETIC LOVE-STRUCK LOSER!"

Mark bit him again.

"CUNT! PUSSY! JUST ADMIT IT, YOU LOVE HER! STOP BITING!" Steve kneed him again.

They were fighting like…girls.

Arielle had retreated to the office, waiting patiently and listening as her Dad and Steve cursed each other out, while also patching each other up. When they walked into the office, she smiled sweetly at them. "Hi guys, you missed your fittin', did you know that?"

Steve looked at the clock on the wall, letting out a string of curses before smacking Mark between his shoulder blades. "See what you did?!"

"It's not MY weddin', jackass." Mark muttered, busy daubing a paper towel against his split lip. "How long you been here, darlin'?"

"Oh...not long."

Trish was sitting at home with Stevie JR and Emily, trying to get them both to lay down for bed, wondering why Steve was so late from getting home from the shop. She heard her cell phone go off and thought it was Jasina, only for a video to start loading via text. "What the hell?!" She practically shouted, groaning when Emily began crying in her pack-n-play while Stevie kept coming out of his room every five minutes. All Trish could do was sit there and stare at the video of Mark and Steve fighting like...little school girls, barely making out what they were saying. "Oh my god..." Now she was pissed and immediately dialed her fiancé's number, lips pursed tightly together.

Steve's cell phone went off and as soon as he answered it, he groaned when his fiancée began screaming at him at the top of her lungs.

"STEVE AUSTIN, YOU GET YOUR ASS HOME RIGHT FUCKING NOW! MR. PATCHES JUST CALLED AND TOLD ME YOU MISSED YOUR DAMN TUX FITTING AND NOW YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO DO IT UNTIL TWO DAYS BEFORE THE DAMN WEDDING! TWO DAYS! YOU GET YOUR ASS HOME RIGHT NOW AND YOU TELL MARK THAT IF HE DOESN'T GET HIS HEAD OUT OF HIS ASS AND MAKE THINGS RIGHT WITH JASINA, I'M GOING TO BEAT THE HELL OUT OF HIM! AND DON'T EVEN THINK I WON'T BECAUSE I WILL! I SAW HOW YOU TWO FOUGHT LIKE TWO LITTLE PANSIES, GET YOUR ASS HOME RIGHT NOW AND HELP ME WITH THESE KIDS, FUCKER!" She hung up.

Arielle had heard every word and bolted out of the shop.

Steve dropped the phone and took off after Arielle. "GET BACK HERE TRAITOR!"

"It was too good to pass up, Uncle Stevie!" Arielle threw over her shoulder, heading straight for her SUV.

Mark chased after them, not very fast since he had been kneed in the balls a couple of times. "Don't touch my kid, pansy!"

"I'm gonna break her fingers!"

"I'll tell Trish!"

Steve came to a halt suddenly, groaning when Mark plowed into him from behind, both men toppling.

Arielle snapped a picture before sliding into the vehicle, waving at them from behind the glass before starting The Beast up and driving off. She went straight home, knowing Gary was waiting for her, not surprised when she pulled up to the apartment complex and he was waiting for her outside. She hadn't texted him the video, deciding it would be better to show him in person and smirked at the thought.

Her father and Uncle Steve would NEVER live this down and Arielle would use the video as blackmail if necessary. She greeted Gary with their usual kiss and then told him to sit down while whipping her cell phone out, not even giving him a chance to say anything. Once the video finished playing, all Gary could do was gawk at his girlfriend in shock, eyeballs about ready to pop out of his skull or so it seemed.

"You WHAT?" Gary was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down his cheeks as he stared at the picture Arielle showed him. "It looks like they're humping each other, baby doll!"

"I know." Arielle grinned, then flipped her phone up so Gary could watch the video again.

Gary was on the ground rolling by the time the video ended for the second time, requesting a third replay.