Thanks for the reviews! They really helped me to continue this story. I have a lot of ideas and I'm trying to figure out how to piece most of them together into one story. This chapter is quite a bit shorter than the last one but I didn't really have anywhere else to go and I wanted it to end smoothly.

….

Eleanor may be used to an elegant comfortable lifestyle, but that didn't mean she was exempt from feeling pain. She has dealt with a lot of pain in her own life, things not even Liam knew about, but nothing stirs her emotions more than realizing the pain of others.

She took a few deep breaths to disguise the hurt she felt for him. "I'm so sorry, Jasper," she finally breathed. She knew that it wouldn't take away his pain, but she didn't know what else to say.

"It's not your fault," he said sternly. "I didn't tell you that story so you would feel bad for me. I don't want you to pity me, Eleanor, and I don't want you to think that this is an excuse for the things I have put you through. I just wanted you to know. I've never shared that with anyone before. But I trust you. I just want to give you the opportunity to really trust me, and you can't do that without knowing my story."

"Thank you," she whispered. "I know that I didn't make things easy for you Jasper. I'm sure by now you've heard that most people consider the position as my security detail to be a temporary position…." She trailed off, trying to refocus her point. "When I went into high school, it became a game to me, getting them fired….seeing who could deal with my shit the longest, seeing just how far I could push them before they ran off on their own accord. I'm not saying that it's okay, what you did to me, blackmailing me for sex, but I know why you did it. I conned you into sleeping with me and then threatened to have you fired. That's pretty fucked up."

"That's not-"

She cut him off "I…I want to forgive you. I really do. But…..I feel I should be honest with you because I know you're hoping for something more than friendship eventually…and I just don't know if I will ever be able to completely let go of our past. It's true that I feel a very strong attraction to you but we've done nothing but hurt each other. It's not healthy. And besides…..I'm damaged goods Jasper. You don't know the half of it. I may only be the Princess of England, but you know just as well as I do, that I'm the bloody Queen of self-destruction."

"That's not exactly true," Jasper argued.

"If it weren't," she sighed choosing her words carefully, "you would have been gone a long time ago. A healthy, level headed person never would have let a stranger black mail her for sex." Jasper felt a pang of guilt at her words. "You were right though. I liked it. I thrive on being controlled because my whole life has been controlled. I don't really know how to be my own person. But I want to change that. James has been helping me to remove all the toxic things from my life." She hesitated before continuing because she knew what she was about to say was going to cut Jasper pretty deep. "One of those things….it's you Jasper. I can't effectively move forward with you in my life. The things I let you do to me, were not okay. I want to be strong enough to stop people from taking advantage of me. I have to start by letting go of those who have."

Jasper was at a loss for words. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes. Just when he thought they might work things out, she's pretty much telling him that he's a toxic thorn in her side and she wants to remove him from her life…..again.

"I'm…so…sorry…" he managed to choke out.

Again she cut him off, "I told you I don't want to lose you from my life, Jasper. I won't cut you out, because as far as I can see, you are a different person. I'm letting go of the old, toxic Jasper because I know you have as well. After the year I've had, I want to move forward with my life. I want to be happy and healthy. I deserve that chance."

"Eleanor, all I want is to see you happy. I would do anything you ask me to if it would make you happy."

"Well," she sighed, "coincidentally there is something you can do….and you kinda already agreed to it. Liam thinks I need a friend, and I don't disagree. I need someone to be there for me, someone I can talk to when I can't talk to my family. Show me I can trust you Jasper. And promise me you'll be there when I need you."

"I will. I promise I will go to the ends of the Earth to prove you can trust me."

"Okay..." she smiled into the phone.

"Okay," he repeated her. "It's getting late. I should probably turn in. Thank you for giving me another chance. You won't regret this."

"Alright. We'll be in touch. And by the way, if you need anything from me, I'm hear as well. Goodnight Jasper."

"Goodnight princess." He hung up the phone "I love you."

Eleanor laid back on her bed. She had just had a real conversation with Jasper for the first time. She had known very little about him before tonight. She wasn't in the business of getting to know the help. That humanized them and that was not something she was willing to do….until James became her security detail. He gave her space and helped her grow. He was a good man. She hadn't trusted a body guard as much as James, not since….well since she was fourteen.

Flashback:

It was the summer before she went into high school. At the time, Gemma was her best friend. Their families had been friends long before her and Liam ever dated. They were a lot alike in those days, Eleanor and Gemma. They shared many interests and both loved pestering her brothers.

They had been out riding for a couple hours before they eventually retired to the kitchen for a snack…Eleanor's favorite, coconut cream pie. The two of them sat opposite each other at the counter, discussing their next prank against her brothers when Will walked in. He had been Eleanor's night body guard for about six months at the time and often helped her and Gemma pull off their pranks. She considered him a friend, even though he was six years older than her.

'Will is kind of cute, don't you think?' Gemma said, eyeing him like a piece of meat.

It took Eleanor off guard. She had never looked at him that way. 'I suppose he's alright, but he's twenty years old Gemma, you freak!'

He sauntered over and pulled up a seat by the girls. Gemma raised her eyebrows at Eleanor and began flirting with Will. She really just enjoyed making the help uncomfortable. Eleanor noticed that Will didn't seem the slightest bit uncomfortable as he flirted back with the thirteen year old girl. That was the first time he had done anything to make her feel uneasy.

Suddenly Will always seemed to be around the two girls, casually flirting with Gemma and even sometimes the Princess herself. Eleanor was glad school had started back up and they were often too busy with her studies for Will to hang around much. Gemma came over almost every Saturday though. On this particular one, they were running through the halls celebrating. They just pulled off a pretty bold prank against Liam. They rounded the corner toward her bedroom and found Will pacing outside her door. As he turned around and saw the girls, Eleanor was sure she caught a dangerous glint in his gray eyes and her heart started racing.

'Where have you been?!' he demanded.

'We were in Liam's room. We had to get him back for the bucket of water on my door last week….' she trailed off furrowing her brow at him. She wondered what had crawled up his ass.

'It is my job to know where you are at all times. Your constant sneaking around is getting a little old don't you think Princess?" he accused. The way he hissed the last word made her stomach churn.

In all reality she hadn't been sneaking around at all, she was just avoiding him because he seemed to be getting a little too comfortable around her and her friend. But she wasn't about to say anything to Ted. Will let her do as she pleased most of the time and wasn't one to tattle on her. Her last body guard had been bloody impossible to deal with. She would deal with a little bit of flirting, if it meant she had more freedom.

After dinner, Gemma went home and Eleanor retired to her room. She worked on homework for a couple hours before she decided to call it a night around 10pm. She was dead to the world when she was suddenly awoken three hours later to a hand covering her mouth. She opened her eyes and all she could see were his dark gray eyes staring right through her. She didn't try to scream because she knew it would be no use. Will was the only one that guarded her corridor, no one would hear her even if he didn't have her mouth covered. Instead she tried wriggling free, but his weight was crushing her. Tears started spilling out of her eyes, she knew what was happening and she could do nothing to stop it.

She didn't sleep a wink the rest of the night. She had taken six showers by dawn, each time scrubbing her whole body until her skin was raw. She felt disgusting. She waited until after 8 to leave her room, because she knew Andrew would be taking over as her day time body guard. She threw on a large red sweatshirt over her pajamas and went straight to Ted's quarters.

'What can I do for you Princess? I'm on a tight schedule.' Ted pressed.

'I want Will replaced. He's not body guard material.'

'It was my understanding that you two got along famously. What could have sparked this change in opinion?' Ted asked.

'Look, Mr. Price…I am the Princess. What I say goes. Shall I call my father to get involved in this or are you okay to take care of it on your own?' she demanded.

Ted was taken aback. Eleanor had never spoke to him like this before. She was generally very polite and well-mannered with all the staff. She was one of his favorite members of the family because of it.

'I will see that the issue is resolved right away your highness. But unless you give me a legitimate reason, Eleanor, Mr. Olson will be acceptable for rehire in the future.'

'If you must know, Ted, I caught him snooping through my room. He wouldn't tell me what he was looking for, and when I asked him to leave, he called me a bitch. I don't think it's wise to speak to a Princess that way. Do you?' She said as she walked out of the room.

Will was the first body guard she had fired. He was the reason she didn't like to humanize the help. He was the initial reason for her trust issues. And he had been what set her down the path of self-destruction. He was supposed to be there to protect her, to keep her from being taken advantage of. And he took her innocence, without her permission. What was the use of having a body guard if they couldn't protect her? For months all she could see was his stony gray eyes in every other body guard she had. No one lasted more than a couple weeks. She made excuse after excuse to get them fired, and everyone just blamed it on her free spirit.

She had never told anyone. She shut all her friends out. She shut her parents out. She relied only on her brothers because she knew she needed someone, but she still couldn't bear the thought of telling them what Will had done to her, what he took from her.

She felt dirty, broken…unworthy. She was sure no one would ever love her now…she was damaged goods. She was often so stressed that she couldn't eat or chose not to because she felt hideous. Hiding her secret became so unbearable that she turned to drinking at fifteen. When she became numb to alcohol by 18, she started doing drugs. At first it was just the occasional joint, but eventually she became numb to that as well. Before she knew it, she was doing all kinds of drugs. She barely remembered what it felt like to be sober.

The pain of the memory stung at the corners of her eyes. She allowed a single tear to fall before she rolled over hugging her pillow. She closed her eyes and willed herself to think of happy thoughts. She thought about Prince Rufus, the puppy she tried to steal during the charity tour last year. In his letter, Jasper had said it was then that he realized what a big heart she had and he couldn't follow through with the con. She sat up and pulled the letter out of the drawer of her nightstand. She knew she couldn't call him again. He'd gone to bed after they got off the phone an hour ago. Instead, she reread the letter twice before drifting off to sleep.