CHAPTER 4:

The night outside the Asphalt Cafe was dark, lit only by the lights from nearby buildings. Jade arrived at the spot where Beck had asked her to meet, and she found him waiting.

"Hi," Jade muttered.

"Jade," Beck said, as he turned to face her.

Even with the dim light, Jade could plainly see his black eye."Babe, you're hurt," she said, reaching over to his bruised face.

"It's nothing," Beck said. There was silence for a bit, and then they started to talk in unison.

"You first," Jade insisted.

"No; you," Beck said back.

"Beck," Jade told him firmly.

"Fine. I just want you to know that it's not your fault for what happened. Blake… he's got a long history."

"He does?" Jade asked him curiously.

"Yep. So what happened there was not your fault," Beck clarified.

"But I feel so bad," Jade admitted. "I thought he was you. He wore that same cologne."

"That's just what he was trying to do," Beck said. "Even though he's my brother, he's always had it in for me. He's been jealous."

"Jealous?" Jade asked. "Jealous of what?"

Beck shrugged. Jade had her hand in her pocket, fingering the small box containing the ring. But before she could speak, or act, Beck got down one knee and pulled out a small box of his own. "Jade West, will you please marry me?" he asked.

"Yes," Jade said almost at once, taking her hand from her pocket. Beck had been planning to ask all along He put the ring onto her finger, and Jade examined it carefully. It was a lovely golden ring with a jade gem in the middle. A ring in her name. It was too sweet to be true.

"I almost thought…" Jade whispered, as tears brimmed to her eyes. She quickly brushed them away. "I thought you'd hate me because of what I did."

"Hate you? Look, Jade," he told her, turning her face to him. "I know we have our moments and all, but I know my brother. He can be tricky like that sometimes."

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea," Jade said, finding the words a bit difficult to say.

"It wasn't your fault," Beck spoke again. "You don't have to be sorry." With the worst possible timing, a text from Tori arrived on Beck's phone, disturbing the loving moment between the newly engaged couple Beck sighed and pulled out the phone. He read aloud, "Tell Jade that she's under fire for unfairly kicking people out of our house."

"What?" Jade asked quickly when she saw her fiance smirk. She took his phone and looked at his text messages. "Ah. Even Vega knows I'm not afraid of threats."

"You should be. Her dad's a cop, and if you get served with a trespass order like that, you could face legal trouble," Beck explained.

"I never thought of it like that," Jade thought.

"But, speaking of which, I got some business to deal with. Come on," Beck added in.

"Are you going to tell your brother to stay away from me?" Jade asked. "You do know I can take care of myself. But you should tell him anyway.."

"Of course you can take care of yourself," Beck agreed. "But it's still something I need to sort out with him. And when I'm done, maybe we can think up a way to get back at him."

"Would love to," Jade said with a smirk.

Jade updated her status on the Slap which read: "Is that a ring on my finger? Why yes, I think it is - MOOD = Ecstatic".

THE END!