Chapter 22

Jon had been pacing back and forth in front of Zelia's hotel room, trying to go over exactly what he wanted to say to her in his head. He'd smoked 3 cigarettes downstairs before finally finding the courage to come up to her room, only to find her gone. So he decided to wait for her, having a feeling she was with Valisa since he spotted Glen and Bryan in the hotel lobby upon arrival. Zelia was nowhere to be found and apparently had left the arena early to come back to the hotel. He stopped pacing at the sight of her stepping off of the elevator and felt the breath leave his body. She was stunning from head to toe, the wine color of her top really bringing out her jade eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Zelia asked, hesitantly walking up to him holding her key card and didn't open the door, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"I need to talk to you." Jon replied, seeing the hesitation in her eyes and honestly didn't blame her. What kind of reception did he honestly expect after all the horrible things he said to her? "Let me in, I don't want to do this out in the hallway."

Chewing her bottom lip nervously, Zelia wasn't sure if that was the best thing to do and lowered her eyes from his. "I don't think that's a good idea." She murmured quietly, flipping the key card in her hand repeatedly to try to get her nerves under control.

Jon sighed heavily and closed the distance between them, lifting her chin with his strong hand until watery jade eyes met his. He sucked in a sharp breath at all the pain flooding through them and knew most of it was his fault. Calling her a whore and accusing her of sleeping with two married men had definitely taken its toll on her. All Jon wanted to do was take that pain away and tell her how he felt, but it looked as though Zelia didn't want to hear anything he had to say.

"Just 5 minutes. Please." He quietly pleaded, keeping his bluish grey eyes locked with hers and reached his hand down to slip the key card out of her hand.

Zelia had no choice and knew she'd given Jon her answer the moment he slipped the key card out of her hand, stepping aside while he slid it in the slot. She opened the door and walked inside, already knowing Jon would follow, setting her purse down on the nightstand. It was a standard hotel room with one bed, a bathroom and microwave, nothing fancy. Zelia kicked her shoes off and headed over to close the curtains since they were wide open, checking the heater to make sure it worked. There were a few times she'd walked into hotel rooms that didn't have working furnaces, so it was one of the first things she checked out.

"What do you wanna talk about?" She asked, grabbing her bag to put it on the bed so she could pick out something more comfortable to wear.

Jon moved to stand directly behind her, gently resting his hands on her hips and felt her tense instantly. "Us." His tone was soft and low, not wanting to scare her off.

"There is no us, Jon. You made that perfectly clear." Zelia stated, pulling stuff out of her bag and tried not to pay attention to the fact Jon's hands were searing her sides.

Her attitude did not surprise him because he had been a royal dick to her, but Jon refused to give up and pressed his forehead against the back of her neck. "I don't want to fight with you anymore, Zelia. I just wanna forget everything that's happened to start over. I miss you." He began massaging her sides in circles with his thumbs, pulling her closer to him.

As wonderful as it felt being this close to Jon again, Zelia couldn't forget everything that happened and pulled away from him, shaking her head. "Well I can't, Jon." She moved to stand on the other side of the bed, giving them both some space and continued looking through her bag. "Being called a whore and accused of sleeping with married men doesn't just roll off my shoulders. I have a thick skin, but not that thick."

Jon tore both hands through his dishwater curly blonde hair, gripping it in his fingers because of how frustrated he was. "I'm trying to make things right between us. I just – What I mean to say – Fuck!" He hated it when his stuttering kicked in, his nerves getting the better of him at the moment. "Damn it…"

"You really hurt me, Jon." Zelia's voice cracked and as soon as she blinked, tears slid down her cheeks freely. "You called me possibly the worst thing imaginable when you called me a whore because you should know me better than that! And then you thought I was fucking both Glen and Mark? Just get out. Get out and leave me alone. I can't deal with this right now."

Jon's heart broke as soon as Zelia began crying and knew he deserved everything she said to him. His eyes went wide when she demanded him to get out of her hotel room, feeling his own heart plummet to his stomach. She meant it. She really didn't want to hear anything he had to say and, normally, Jon would've left. But this situation was different and this woman was worth fighting for. Valisa had said things that really made him think long and hard about everything that happened with Zelia. She loved him – he hadn't missed that confession from Valisa either. So no, there was no way on god's green earth Jon was walking out that door, not until he told Zelia how he really felt about her. He gritted his teeth and closed the distance between them, yanking her flush against his muscular body by her upper arms, ignoring her protesting.

"Let go of me!" Zelia cried out softly, hating that she was breaking down in front of Jon and letting him see all of the pain he caused her over the past few months. "Just leave! Get out! You don't want me and you've made that perfectly fucking clear! Why are you even here? Are you going to torture me more? Maybe call me a slut along with being a whore? WHAT?!"

Jon growled and suddenly cupped her face somewhat harshly in his hands, forcing her to shut up for a couple seconds so he could say his piece. "Damn it, shut up for 2 seconds and let me talk, woman!" He hadn't meant to raise his voice with her, but Zelia had pushed his buttons. His hands began trembling against her face, his nose practically touching hers as her tears flooded down his fingers. "J-Just give me a minute…fuck." Jon pressed his forehead to hers, her crying completely shattering him because it felt like her soul was being ripped from her body.

When Jon didn't say anything for a minute and held her still, Zelia tried pulling away from him again, crying harder. "Please stop…" She whispered pleadingly, gripping his t-shirt in her own shaking hands. "You don't want me and I get it. No matter what I do or say, you'll see me the way you want to and nothing will change your mind. Just let me go. Let me go, Jon…"

"I can't…" Jon gritted out, the words bubbling up inside of him and knew if he didn't tell her now, he'd lose her forever.

"Why not?" Zelia whispered, seeing the intensity in his eyes and felt her breath catch in her throat, her heart nearly stopping.

"Because I fucking love you." Jon stated, so much emotion and heartache his voice that it physically hurt Zelia, his grip on her not faltering for a second. "I love you and I'm fucking in love with you, Zelia Bell, and if you think for one goddamn second I'm letting you go without the fight of my life, you've got another thing fucking coming!"

Did he just – did he really – Zelia's brain couldn't form a single coherent question as Jon's words replayed in her head repeatedly, fresh tears sliding down her cheeks. "You do?" She squeaked out, trembling from head to toe when he nodded and swallowed hard, breathing turning heavy. "B-But you said…"

"Fuck what I said." Jon cut her off, releasing her face only to grip her hips, lifting her up and felt her legs wrap instinctively around his waist, wanting her as close to him as possible. "I didn't mean any of it. I know you're not a whore and I know you're not sleeping with those old men." He smirked when she glared at him, their lips mere inches apart. "I was a dick, Zel – a jealous, raging dick and I'm going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you however I can. But you're not pushing me away because I know something you don't."

"What is that?" Zelia couldn't help asking, wrapping her arms around his neck and knew he would never drop her, trusting him fully.

Jon smirked, running a finger down her cheek and brushed a raven strand away from her cheek. "You love me too. And now I want to hear you say it. AND I want to know how long you've felt this way about me."

"Demanding little shit." She muttered, lowering her eyes from his and sighed when his finger once again hooked beneath her chin, forcing her eyes to remain locked with his.

"There's nothing little about me, baby. Now tell me." He rumbled, tightening his arm around her so she couldn't go anywhere and cupped her face with his strong hand. "Say it, Zelia."

How could she deny him the obvious truth? Zelia couldn't, all of her resolve melting away into a vapor. "I love you, Jon." She began crying again, feeling him walk over to sit on the bed so they could be more comfortable and pressed her forehead against his. "I've loved you since HWA. When I met you, you were unlike any man I've ever met in my life and my feelings for you grew. Our friendship became very important to me and I didn't want to ruin anything, so I kept my feelings for you to myself. And then I was fired from the company because they were going down the tubes, left you high and dry and I thought I'd never see you again. You have no idea how sorry I am about leaving you that night. If I could go back-" Jon's finger pressed against her mouth, stopping Zelia from talking and once again cupped her face in his strong hands.

"Are you in love with me?" That was the only thing Jon needed to know because there was a fine line between loving someone and being in love with them. "I want to hear you say it, Zelia. I need to hear it."

"I'm in love with you, Jonathan Good. So much it hurts." She admitted, running her nails gently down the side of his face to his stubble and sighed as soon as his mouth descended on hers.

That was all Jon needed to hear. All the pain and rage drained away as soon as he heard those sweet words come out of Zelia's mouth. He kissed her slow and passionately, pouring every single feeling into it he could muster up, leaving them both breathless. Just when Jon was about to pull back, Zelia shook her head and yanked on his t-shirt, forcing his lips to crash against hers again. Jon groaned from low in his throat, not expecting her to do that, but he definitely wasn't complaining.

"I-I think we have too many clothes on, Zel." He growled against her mouth, his hands running down her sides to bunch the material of her top and smirked when she merely raised her arms up in the air. "Good, glad you agree with me."

"Like I wouldn't?" Zelia retorted, immediately pushing Jon's t-shirt up over his head, the pile of clothes forming beside the bed. "Show me how much you love me, Jon."

He smirked, running his finger down her slightly swollen lips as his bluish grey eyes clouded over in a passion haze. "I plan on it, sweetheart, don't worry." He promised, capturing her mouth in another heart stopping kiss and stood from the bed, only to turn planting her back on the bed again. "This needs to go." He fingered her bra, loving how it clipped in the front instead of the back.

"Definitely, and so do these."

Zelia slid her hands down his muscular chest to unsnap his blue jeans, raising her feet up on either side to push them down his muscular long legs. He had incredible legs full of power. His boxers joined his jeans moments later and Zelia felt her mouth go dry at the sight of his swollen bulging girth. Jon unsnapped her red lace bra and pulled it off, tossing the material over his shoulder. He worked on her own jeans next, slipping them off her smooth beautiful legs along with her matching red lace boy cut panties. His strong hands glided up her outer thighs while kneeling between her thighs, his mouth descending on her breast. Zelia moaned out, arching her back as her nipples hardened when his cock brushed up against her wet sex. The contact sent tremors throughout her body as Zelia's fingers gripped Jon's hair while he continued assaulting her breasts with his mouth and tongue.

"Jon please…no foreplay, I need you inside of me…" Zelia wasn't above begging at this point, reaching down to grip his cock and whimpered when he gently smacked her hand away. "Jon…"

He loved hearing her moan and whimper his name, moving over to her other breast to torture her further. "Patience, baby." He growled against her skin, feeling her shiver against him and pulled back to plunder his mouth on hers. "You're mine now." As he said those words, his cock began pushing inside of her hot soaked folds, both of them groaning at the contact. "Do you understand me?" Jon gritted out, not stopping no matter how tight she was because he knew it would hurt worse if he stopped halfway.

"Y-Yes!" Zelia gasped out, never feeling so full in all of her life and couldn't believe how far she stretched to accommodate his size.

It was a miracle he was also to fit all of him inside of her small body, but Jon did it without any problems thankfully. Once Jon felt her completely acclimated to him, he experimentally pulled out of her and then snapped his hips forward, burying himself to the hilt inside her receptive body again. She definitely hadn't had sex in a while because she was tighter than a vise grip, her walls contracting around him almost painfully.

Gritting his teeth, Jon plunged through, burying his face in her neck while her hands caressed every part of his body she could reach. Zelia felt like she was home with Jon deep inside of her, meeting him for every thrust and let him take full control. He was dominate, but not to the point where it made her uncomfortable. Zelia relished in it and ended up screaming his name repeatedly that name as he filled her completely with his seed, giving them both what they craved for the past almost 7 years.