You're the only one that I desire,
'Cause I love to play with fire.

Meiko - Bad Things

/

"Thanks for picking me up from the airport. I owe you." Jade said, pushing her key into the hole and turning it. She opened the door and walked into her apartment.

"No problem." Tyler replied, pulling Jade's key out of the door and picking her suitcase up. Jade was acting pretty spacey. She must've had jet lag. "You don't owe me anything. It's what siblings do."

Jade sighed and sat down. "You have no idea how happy I am to be home."

"I can see."

"I'm so exhausted." Jade pulled off her shoes, and put her feet up. "I could sleep for a week."

"So did you enjoy your time in New York?" Tyler asked.

"It was okay."

"Just okay?"

Jade shrugged noncommittally. She unzipped her hoodie. "Yeah."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing much."

Tyler groaned, "You're so boring. I am up to my ass in research papers and labs. I was planning on living vicariously through you."

"I'm sorry for not being as interesting as you want me to be."

Tyler zeroed in on Jade's neck as soon as she removed her hoodie. He smirked. "You're lying to me."

"What?"

"Your trip to east coast was more interesting than you're letting on. You have a hickey."

Jade's hand flew to her neck. "I do not!"

"I know what a hickey looks like, Jade. I was a teenager once and you have one."

Jade immediately flew off of the couch and walked towards her bedroom.

A few seconds later, Tyler heard a loud shriek of terror. He chuckled to himself.

Jade came flying back into the room. "Oh my God, I have a hickey! What is this, eighth grade? People still give and get these things?"

"I don't know, you tell me. You're the one who has it."

"Holy fucking hell!"

Tyler couldn't wipe the grin off of his face. This was just too good. "So, who's the guy that gave this to you?"

"No one."

"Come on, don't hold out on me now. We tell each other everything."

No one could know that Beck did this to her. It was one thing that would go to her grave. "Sorry, Tyler."

"Whoever it was, it can't be that bad." Tyler's eyebrow raised. "Was he ugly? Are you ashamed? Was he bald? Fat? Have a missing tooth? Did he have a drinking problem?"

"Tyler-"

"I've hooked up with some pretty unattractive people. It's okay."

"I'm keeping my mouth closed."

"You've never been ashamed of whoever your sex partners were. I mean the only time I've seen you even a little bit embarrassed was when it was Beck and you couldn't..." Tyler's voice trailed off as he started thinking. Jade could practically see the light bulb go off over his head. "Jade?"

"Yes?"

"Please tell that the guy I'm thinking of didn't do that to you." Tyler pleaded.

"Depends. Who are you thinking of?"

"I'm thinking of Beck Oliver." Jade looked down at her nails. "Jade?"

"I can't tell you that you're wrong." Jade muttered, not looking up to meet her brother's gaze.

"Oh no. No, Jade." Tyler ran his hand over his face and sighed. "You had sex with him?"

"No! No, I did not have sex with Beck. Almost, but you know almost doesn't count."

"This is a really big almost, Jade."

"I know. I know." Jade put her head in her hands. "Please don't lecture
me."

"You know I'm not the lecturing type." Tyler said. He walked over to Jade and put his hand on Jade's shoulder. "You call talk, I'll listen. What happened?"

"Nothing. Because I stopped everything before it could go any further."

"Okay well what happened?"

"We went to a wedding-" Tyler put his hand up to silence Jade.

"You guys went to a wedding together?"

"Yes."

Tyler shook his head, "That's like the kiss of death. Everyone hooks up after going to a wedding. There's way too much love in the air. It's inevitable!"

"Tyler, I'm stupid, I know."

"You aren't stupid. You just made a mistake."

"I feel horrible."

"Why?"

"He's married." Jade said. "And I know Beck doesn't have the best marriage in the world, but he's still married. His wife was probably at home while we were in that hotel room."

"Oh." Tyler silently mulled over the information his sister was giving him. "You're feeling guilty."

"Yeah. Yeah, and I told Beck that we would never be or do anything as long as his wife was under the impression that her husband was faithful to her."

"He wants to be with you? Seriously?"

"Beck is a lot like me because he's stubborn. He doesn't give me the impression that he's going to let this go. He's not going to let me go."

"Well how do you feel?" Tyler gently prodded. "If he's going to actively pursue you, what are you going to do?"

"I'm not going to do anything. The ball is in his court." Jade said matter-of-factly. "I don't think I'm comfortable with intruding in someone else's marriage."

Tyler could tell by his sister's tone that she meant business. He also knew that she wasn't going to be like their stepmother.

"What do you want? You can tell me what you aren't going to do until you are blue in the face, but what do you want? Do you want to be with Beck?"

"I want to be with an emotionally available man." Jade answered.

"What if he already is?"

"He isn't." Jade argued. "This conversation is over."

Tyler nodded, "Fine."

"Now if you'll excuse me," Jade stood, "I'm going to wash that flight off of me and take a nap."

"Do you ever stop being stubborn? Do you ever just stop listening to your head?"

"More than once, and trust me, things usually go horribly wrong when that happens."

"I hate you." Was the first thing André said to Jade as soon as she answered her phone.

"What?"

"I hate you." André repeated.

Jade scratched her head in confusion, "Did I crash your car? Did I kill your dog?"

"You left me here with Tori." André replied.

Jade gasped, "Tori Vega Harris? No! I left you with your wife? God forbid. I'm such a horrible person, André, I see why you hate me."

"Do you want to know what we did yesterday and today?"

"What?"

"We went to go see a Broadway musical. Wicked, in case you were wondering. And then we went to The Met. And I think we're going to the ballet tonight."

"That stuff doesn't sound so bad."

"Yeah, because it was stuff you were supposed to do with Tori, not me! I had plans to go to a basketball game and work. Now I'm being dragged around New York, like this is Sex and The City."

"If this is Sex and The City, who would be Carrie?" Jade teased. Because you, Cat, and Tori are all Charlottes and I'm one hundred percent Samantha."

"Jade-"

Jade didn't listen. She just continued to ramble "I take back my previous statement. I think you could be a Miranda, but not too much."

"You're so funny." André deadpanned. "Why'd you leave anyway?" He asked, bringing her back on the subject.

"I just wanted to leave."

"Why? We were in New York!"

"I couldn't stay out there."

"You are giving me the most vague answers." André pointed out. "Now we were supposed to go to a party in the Hamptons tonight and Jade West does not leave before she gets to go to a great party. There has to be a really good reason for you to leave, and I want to know it."

"Have fun." Jade said, dodging André's interrogation. "Drink expensive champagne, dance with gorgeous models, and sex on the beach."

"So do everything you would do?"

"Exactly."

"Deal. Are you going to do anything worth my envy tonight?"

"I'm going to eat a tub of ice cream, drink a bottle of red wine, and watch Pretty Woman on loop until I fall asleep."

"No horror movies?"

"I feel like being a cliché and a romantic comedy is the way to go."

André chuckled, "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. Tell Tori I say hi."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye."

Jade hung up the phone and sat down on her bed. She picked up her phone and dumped out the contents. She spotted Beck's black American Express in the pile. Dammit. In her rush to get out of New York, she had completely forgotten to give it to him. That meant she would have to give it back to him. And that meant seeing him. That was the last thing Jade wanted to do.

Jade knew she was going to have to put on her big girl panties and face Beck eventually, but right now, she wanted to hide. She did not have enough resolve to face him at the moment.

What happened in New York still felt like some sort of dream or out of body experience. Thinking about it made Jade's head spin, so she tried not to think about it, but that easier said than done.

Beck Oliver was stuck in her head. And she didn't like it. No guy had ever been stuck in her head like this. Ever. It was something Jade prided herself in.

Her phone buzzed again. She looked at it and saw Ryder's picture.

"Hi, Ryder." Jade greeted after answering.

"Jade, guess where I am."

"Have you been fast tracked to hell?"

"If that were the case, we'd be there together." Ryder quipped.

"Touché. But where are you?"

"I'm in Los Angeles!"

"Really?"

"Yup. Now get your ass into the tightest dress you own, doll face. We're going out and getting drunk."

"Can I take a rain check?"

"Why?"

"Because I just got home from out of town a few hours ago and I would like to stay in tonight."

"Jade, you know the only reason I love you is because you're always down to party."

"If you want to come over to my house and hang out with me, you can."

"What will we be doing at your condo?"

"We'll be watching movies."

"Can I at least pick a movie?"

"No."

Ryder sighed, "I'll be there in half an hour."

Jade smiled at the victory, "Great."

/

"This is boring." Ryder groaned. "I didn't fly three thousand miles to watch movie from the early nineties."

"It's not like I begged you to come. You wanted to hang out with me."

"Yeah, because all of my other friends are in relationships. People in relationships aren't fun."

"You are preaching to the choir. I was in New York with Tori and André."

"Fun." Ryder said sarcastically.

"Yeah, it was super fun."

"Married people suck." Ryder let out.

"They do." Jade agreed, even though she had one specific married person on the brain. "They think they can just decided when they want to act married or not, and do the stuff us single people can do, and it's okay because they don't feel like acting married. Well it's not okay."

Ryder's eyebrow rose in confusion, "Careful, your daddy issues are showing."

"It's not my daddy issues. Well, maybe it is. I don't know. It might stem from that."

"I was just joking, but if I struck a nerve, pray tell."

"It's nothing, it's personal stuff."

Ryder rolled his eyes, "Too personal for me? Come on, I've seen you naked."

"There is a slight chance that I am falling for my boss."

"Wow, I turn my back for one second."

"Come on, I'm being serious."

"So am I. I thought you didn't even like your boss. What happened in these last few months?"

"I don't dislike him." Jade reassured. "He just annoyed me. And he still does. He is the most infuriating man I have ever met!"

"Are you guys sleeping together?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because he's married! I refuse to sleep with a married man."

"Oh yeah. Well, this sucks."

Jade playfully shoved Ryder, who shoved her back. "No fucking shit, Sherlock."

"Is this torrid love affair one-sided?" Ryder asked. "Or does your boss feel the same way?"

"He feels the same way."

"When did your life become such a soap opera?"

"Twenty five years ago. You know I've been dramatic since birth."

"I do know. We've been friends for years."

"My brain is just one big cloudy, jumbled mess right now and when it comes to Beck, I cannot think straight."

"Somebody's in looooove." Ryder sing-songed.

"I am not." Jade argued defensively.

"You want some sage advice?"

"If you have some."

"You need get out of here," Ryder tapped Jade's head, "and relax. Stop trying to be in control all the time."

"That's not going to happen."

"If you and your boss are meant to be, you will be. All the other stuff will get worked out. He and his wife will divorce and you'll be free to see each other. The heart wants what the heart wants and can only hold off for so long."

"I don't like when you have your wise moments, Daniels."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't enjoy it when other people are right."

"You're too stubborn, Jade West and that's not a good thing."

"I know."

Ryder frowned and slung his arm around Jade's shoulder. He pulled her in closer to him. "And I don't want you to find a guy and settle down. You're the female me. Outspoken, witty, fun, attractive and equipped with a liver of steel."

"Misery loves company, right?"

"Yes. We were supposed to be single together. What am I going to do without you?"

"I hope for your sake that you never have to find out."

Ryder nodded in agreement. He reached across Jade and grabbed the wine bottle that was sitting on her bedside table. He brought it to his lips and took a swig.

Jade hit him, "I gave you a glass, you barbarian."

"Shut up."

"You're gross."

"As gross as this?" Ryder licked the rim of the bottle, knowing it would piss Jade off.

"Ass."

"Bitch."

"Brute."

"Slut."

"Man whore."

Ryder broke out into a lopsided grin. He quickly kissed Jade's cheek, "God, I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"Never change, Miss West."

It was later that night when Beck came home and the first thing he noticed was Diana.

She was sitting in the living room, a throw blanket strewn across her legs, and she was flipping through the channels on the television.

"Diana!" Beck was truly shocked to see her. "You're home."

"Don't be so surprised, I do live here."

"Where are your parents?"

"On their flight back to Chicago."

"I wasn't expecting you home so soon."

"Yeah, my parents wanted to get home earlier than planned."

"How are they?"

"Same as always. They wanted to see you, but you were working." Diana shrugged. "Maybe next time."

Beck didn't really think there was going to be a next time. And if there was, Frank and Patricia Holloway would not be too happy to see him.

"Why are standing there like a statue?" Diana asked, snapping Beck out of this thoughts.

"I was just doing some thinking."

"Oh. Well go take a shower and get out of that suit. And get some rest. You have bags under your eyes. That's not an attractive look, darling."

"Can we talk first?"

"Go ahead."

Beck sat down across from Diana so that his thigh was touching her feet. He grabbed the remote from her hand and turned off the television.

"About that fight we had yesterday-"

"Thank you for bringing that up!" Diana said. "Because I have something to say as well. Can I go first?"

"Sure."

Diana took a deep breath, "I'm sorry."

Beck was shocked his jaw didn't hit the floor. Diana was apologizing? To him?

"I do not like arguing with you, but you can just be so aggravating. You can be really mean and it's like sometimes you go out of your way to hurt me. And you do it so much, and so often, I don't even think you realize what you say anymore. And I don't think I can do anything right in your eyes. I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't."

"I'm sorry." Beck said. "I'm sorry that I make you feel insignificant."

"Apology accepted." Diana said.

This was one of the very few moments where Beck was able to talk to Diana and she wasn't calculating her next move and they were actually able to talk. She was a genuine person somewhere under the heavy façade.

"I'm glad we got that out of the way." Diana continued. She grabbed Beck's hand. "I don't like being upset with you and I'm sure it's vice versa as well."

"It is."

"We're in this for the long haul, baby. And I'm not going anywhere. For better or worse, right?"

"Right. Diana, we're not-"

Diana grabbed Beck's face and gave him a kiss. She stood up. "Go take a shower, darling."

"But Diana, we aren't done talking."

"What else is there to say? The fight is over and we apologized."

Beck watched as Diana walked out of the living room and towards the kitchen. And just like that, the moment he thought they were going to have, was over. Diana was back to being cold and calculating.

And she made it very clear to him that she wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

Beck was screwed.

"Jade, how was your vacation?" Jill asked, smiling as the younger girl walked over to her desk. "Did you have a nice time?"

Jade nodded, "Yes I did. How was this place without me?"

"Boring." Jill answered. "And way too quiet."

"It makes me feel good to know that I am what keeps this office entertaining."

"Beck is in a meeting right now if you're looking for him, but I don't think he was expecting you today."

Jade reached into her purse and pulled out the tiny black piece of plastic. "Actually, I am off the clock today. But I had Beck's credit card and that needs to be returned. I was just going to drop it off in his office."

"Oh. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

The idea of Jade coming in to work the next day was highly unlikely, but Jade didn't correct her.

She was just walked into Beck's office. It was empty and it looked the same.

Jade turned to Beck's coat rack where he had a few coats hanging up. She was just going to slip his credit card into the pocket and leave. It would be like she was never even there.

She shook her head. Scratch that plan. She didn't really want to touch his stuff.

New plan: put the card on Beck's desk and just leave.

She wasn't expecting Beck to walk in at the same time.

"Jade! Hi."

"Hi." Jade greeted quickly. She quickly tossed Beck's credit card onto his desk. "I realized that I didn't give that back to you, so, there you go."

"I hadn't even noticed." Beck confessed. His credit card was the last thing on his mind. "It's not that important."

"You have too much money, you don't even care."

"Well, I'm sure I would have cared if I had noticed it, but it really hasn't been on my mind." Beck explained. "My thoughts have been elsewhere."

Jade knew what he meant. She knew because she felt the exact same way. "Okay, so now that you have your credit card, I'll just be leaving."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No, you aren't leaving."

Jade scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, last time I checked, I was an adult." She straightened her coat out and started towards the door when Beck grabbed her wrist. "Hey! Let me go."

"We're going to talk."

"No, we are not."

"I'm your boss. You're at work. You're gonna do what I say."

Jade's eyes got big and she felt pissed. How dare he use the boss card to try to control her. "Or what?" She challenged, knowing her disobedience was the easiest way to annoy him.

Beck shrugged, "You can get fired."

"I don't think so." Jade said. Beck would never fire her. "I'd get the pleasure of quitting and taking my new buddy, Thomas with me first before I would ever let you fire me."

"How are you going to do that?"

"The same way I got him to be on your side in the first place. I can be very charismatic and persuasive."

Beck let go of Jade's wrist. "You're something else."

"Goodbye, Beck." Jade tried to leave again, but Beck stopped her. Again.

"We have to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Really? Nothing? Because I can think of a few things I'd like to say."

"Why don't you say them some other time?" Jade suggested.

"About New York-"

"Nothing happened." Jade cut in.

"Nothing physically, of course, but Jade, something did happen. You know it, and I know it."

"Beck-"

"Can you just shut up for like, one second! You talk too much." Beck snapped. "Has anyone ever told you that?"

"I've been told before." Jade admitted, stunned. He never yelled at her.

"You're too outspoken for your own good and you're too busy think of your response to even comprehend what I'm saying." Jade opened her mouth to speak, probably to defend herself, but Beck put his hand up to stop her talking. "You don't listen. You go out of your way to defy me at every turn. You have a horrible temper and I had to find out the hard way on our first day of knowing each other. You're impulsive and you never think about what you're doing until it's already done. But despite all of that, I am captivated by you. You're all I can think about."

Somewhere in that impassioned speech, they moved backwards. Jade was now trapped between the desk and Beck. And Jade did not like it one bit. He had too much control, but she didn't know how to level the playing field.

"You really feel like that?" Jade asked once she was finally able to form a sentence. This guy managed to make her speechless, even if it was only for a few seconds.

Beck's hand snaked around the back of Jade's head and his fingers found themselves entangled in his long hair. He buried his face in the crook of her neck.

Beck nodded and muttered a, "Yes."

"That's really sweet of you to say. Does your wife know? Have you talked to her?"

That brought Beck to reality. "We kind of talked."

"Kind of? How did that go?"

"Diana made it pretty clear to me with a few short sentences that she doesn't want a divorce. She isn't going to let me go."

Jade's stomach dropped. It wasn't what she wanted to hear, but she held her composure. "Well then you have to let me go."

"No." It sounded like such a definite statement, as if were never going to happen.

Jade took a deep breath and tried to think of a response, "Well you have a lot of thinking to do Beck Oliver, because you can't have a wife and a girlfriend at the same time."

Beck closed his eyes and tried to stop thinking for a second. He just focused on his breathing and the feel of Jade around him. She was as still as a statue, almost as if she was afraid to make any sudden movements. He also noticed she had goosebumps and he could feel her pulse beating erratically at the base of her neck. He took his hand and blindly found hers and intertwined their fingers.

"I'll get out of this. I promise."

"You promise?" Jade let out a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a strangled laugh. "That's pretty big."

"I promise." Beck repeated, with such confidence and conviction, Jade had no choice but to believe him. He moved his face from her neck to the side of her face and placed a kiss at her temple, then on her forehead, and a final one on the tip of her nose. "I'm going to be with you."

There was a knock at the door and the two broke apart like two teenagers about to get caught by their parents.

"Beck?" It was just Jill. "Beck, are you in there?"

"I'm here!" Beck replied. "What's up?"

"Your dad wants you in his office, ASAP."

"Thanks, Jill. I'll be out in a second."

When Jill didn't reply, Beck assumed she walked away.

Jade cleared her throat, "I have to go. I'll see you later."

"Jade, I meant what I said."

"Okay." Jade wrung her hands together and pulled the door open. "Goodbye."

Meanwhile in Bel-Air, Diana was at home, going through her closet to determine what things needed to be put in the dry cleaners or not.

Diana frowned when she moved over to Beck's side of the closet. It was too messy, in her opinion. He didn't care that he had silk shirts on wire hangers and shoes all over the place, and it drove her crazy.

She also noticed that he hadn't unpacked his suitcase yet. All of the clothes in there were going to get wrinkled beyond repair.

She opened the suitcase and started pulling out the articles of clothing, smoothing them out before she tossed them onto the chair in middle of the closet.

Diana almost didn't notice it. He almost got away with it.

She took out one of his dress shirts when she noticed the tiny smudge on the collar. She ran her fingers across the stain. Was that...makeup? Maybe concealer or foundation. Why would Beck have makeup on his shirt?

Her brain started moving a mile a minute as a ton of thoughts ran through her head. Was Beck sleeping with someone? Was it a random hooker in New York? Was this some simple misunderstanding?

Diana angrily bunched the shirt up in her hands, and then she smelled it. The faint scent of a woman's perfume still clung to the shirt. She knew the scent, but she couldn't really put the pieces together.

Suddenly, everything clicked. She knew the perfume because it was Sexy Amber. And she knew one woman who wore it.

Jade West.

Have a great weekend, guys!