25. Contracts + Confessions

I'm back, y'all 😘 I recommend re-reading the last few paragraphs of the last chapter to get re-oriented! Also, I left you an update at the end of this chapter, so make sure to read that

~

We're standing in front the doorway to the second most memorable room in Jayce's house: the office.

Turns out, it's his dad's. Which is a little strange to think about, considering what was happening the last time Jayce and I were in here, but whatever.

"I want to find the contract he re-wrote," Jayce struts over to a black safe the size of a refrigerator. "I'm wondering what other answers Jeffers twisted."

His eyes narrow in thought as he focuses in on the safe's numbered keypad, clearly trying to figure out what code his dad would use to keep his valuables from falling into the wrong hands.

I watch him think for several tense, silent moments. There's a crease in between his eyebrows and he looks extremely determined and extremely handsome, of fucking course.

He steps forward and hits the numbers of the keypad, every selection causing a small beep to cut the silence in the office.

The lock flashes with a red error message.

He tries again.

Error.

He exhales sharply in frustration. Running his fingers through his curls, he bites down on his bottom lip as he tries one more combination.

Beeeeeep. The light flashes green and the sound of the bolt sliding open greets my eager ears. Add Alexei's safe to the list of things I've been involved in breaking into since meeting Jayce.

"His combination was my birthday?" Jayce breathes under his breath, looking very confused indeed.

I don't blame him. I'm surprised that Alexei would have a single ounce of anything sentimental in his entire body. Even if it is a lock combination.

Jayce moves the large, thick door open and instantly begins rustling through its contents. I think I hear him gasp a little and I try to get a good look inside, curiosity zipping through my brain, but my view is pretty well blocked by Jayce's damn muscles and broad shoulders.

"I'm looking for stuff from fourteen years ago, yeah?"

"That's what Jeffers said," I raise onto my tiptoes, itching to see what Alexei Solis keeps locked away. "Finding anything?"

"I think so..." Jayce mumbles before turning around with a thick file in his hand.

I take my chance and glance inside the safe... which is disappointingly unsuspicious. Files. Stacks of papers. Several piles of cash. A few bottles of wine. At the very top, I spy some framed photos that look like they're of a family of four, but I can't get a good enough look at them before Jayce pushes the safe door mostly closed.

He drops the file on the desk and flips it open, hunching over to flick through the papers.

I stand there awkwardly, unsure of what to do with myself. My damn brain only seems to be capable of thinking about what was going on the last time I was in this room... the last time Jayce was doing something on this desk.

Ugh.

I try to push the thoughts to the back of my head, but fail entirely in that endeavor.

Luckily, before I can become completely inebriated with thoughts of me and Jayce's moments together, he stands up straight, holding a sizable stack of papers that's secured with a binder clip.

"Found it," he turns to me with an excited twinkle in his eye.

I'm still not sure how he went from being so damn seductive, to acting like Sherlock fucking Holmes in 0.02 seconds flat. Aren't guys supposed to have way more sex drive than girls? And yet, here I am, still fantasizing while he's being all responsible and shit. Get yourself together, sis.

"You take half and I take half?" He smiles at me and pulls the binder clip off, dividing the papers into two stacks and offering one to me.

This wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my Sunday.

I heave a sigh, realizing that even though all I want to do is go back up to Jayce's room and screw until we're drenched in sweat and on the verge of passing out... That this is an amazing chance to get to the bottom of everything that's going on with our parents and Jeffers.

My expression must have somehow conveyed all these thoughts because Jayce speaks again.

"I know it's not exactly what either of us want to be doing right now..." He gives me a boyish smile and I can't help but giggle. "But I'll order us lots of pizza?"

I mean, if you can't have sex, might as well have pizza, right?

"Fine," I roll my eyes and flip my head upside-down, pulling my hair into a messy bun. "Let's do this."

~

Three hours and a lot of pizza later, my brain is complete mush. I've taken to laying poolside on one of the chairs, convinced I'm just giving myself a quick break and will go back inside soon, even though I've already been out here for about 45 minutes.

I think I've Googled every legal term known to man, and I'm probably only keeping up with about half of the shit this contract is saying.

Jayce somehow seems to be having much better luck understanding it all. He seems to be convinced that if Jeffers was deceptive about one thing, there had to have been more that he was lying about. I didn't think we'd find anything, but even if we did, I figured we wouldn't be able to understand what it meant.

It seems like a pointless endeavor, but I'm sure as hell not going to ask him to take me home. That's the last place I want to be right now.

"Tink!" I hear Jayce roar excitedly.

I turn my head and see him jogging across the yard with a paper in his hand. His curls bounce as he makes his way to me in a bright white shirt with "Winner!" written across the chest and dark jeans, his tan, perfectly muscled figure practically shining like gold in the late afternoon sun.

Oof.

I see the giddiness in his eyes as he lifts my legs up and sits on the pool recliner, dropping my legs back on his lap.

"Read this paragraph," hands me the paper, pointing to a lump of text about a third of the way down the page.

I do my best to read and understand it, but between my brain refusing to think anymore and the fact that Jayce is staring at me intently, I have no clue what I'm supposed to be discovering right now.

I glance up at Jayce questioningly and hand the paper back to him. "I have no fucking clue what that means."

"With a lot of confusing words, it's basically saying that for every sale that Duende makes, a fraction of the profit would be transferred to another company... It all seems very under-the-table, almost like it was trying to be hidden."

"What? Why the hell would that be in there?"

Jayce shrugs, his eyes still alight. "I have no idea, but it's pretty strange, don't you think? Why the hell would my dad sign something like this? He would never willingly give a portion of his profits to another place."

"What's the company the money's going to?"

Jayce looks rather distraught at my question. He runs his hands through his hair and chews on his lower lip.

"What company is it?"

His brown eyes stare into mine and he looks almost pleading. "I don't think you're to blame, Fallon. I don't want you to take any of this on–"

"–Tell me the company, Jayce," I order as my pulse quickens with anxiety.

He lets out a loud breath, reading the name from the paper. "Rhodes Holdings, LLC."

What?

"Rhodes as in..." My heart sinks to the ground. "As in my family."

Jayce nods solemnly, peering at me with sadness in his brown eyes.

"Well, I guess it's no wonder that your dad hates me, if my dad was taking money from him," my world feels completely shattered. "Especially after he said he'd give your dad everything." Now I understand now why Alexei had called me those names last night.

I drop my head as tears brim my eyes. I'd always seen my dad as a hero, an amazing, brave man who fought for what was right.

But I guess he was a thief.

A thief who betrayed his best friend.

"Yes, but listen," Jayce lightly places his thumb under my chin and lifts my face, empathy pouring from his expression. "There has to be an explanation. There's no way my dad would have actually signed with this in here. He's very thorough, and he wouldn't have missed a section that gives away his money."Jayce shakes his head, his curls falling in front of his eyes as he regards me with a comforting smile. "I don't think your dad is behind this."

I blink back my tears and exhale.

"Thanks... I hope you're right. After the day I've had," I sit up in the chair, dangling my legs over the same side as Jayce's. "It would really fucking suck to have my childhood hero turn out to be a villain."

"Yeah, what exactly was going on when I picked you up?" Jayce asks, scooting a bit closer as a chilly breeze ruffles our hair and fills my nostrils with clove and perique. "You seemed really upset."

The same anger I felt earlier today burns against my mom, but it's more muted now. It's more akin to a candle flame than a wildfire.

"My mom told me she's going to get clean," I tell him, glancing up to see confusion in his eyes.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

I let out a long, slow sigh. Now I have to face the emotions that caused me to practically run out of the house before I punched something. "Yeah, it's great. I'm really proud of her and I hope that she actually ends up doing it... I guess I'm just still mad at her for taking eleven years to finally chose her own kids over drugs. I know she lost her true love when my dad died, but even that much heartbreak doesn't mean so many years of neglect can suddenly be okay as soon as she decides she's had enough."

"God, I'm so sorry, Tink," Jayce runs his fingers through his hair, slowly shaking his head back and forth.

I shrug, "It's whatever, I guess. We'll see if she actually cares enough to do it. I just had to get out of there. Had to process."

He studies me for a moment. "Don't you think it would be a good idea to be supportive of her? Let her know that you're there for her and happy she decided to get sober?"

"No shit," I look at him pointedly. "I'm going to support her, I just needed to sort through my anger... away from her."

He nods stiffly.

"Don't tell me you're going to lecture me about how we should be treating our parents, Mr. I-Punched-My-Father-In-The-Face," I challenge him, hoping he realizes that I'm not looking for someone to tell me what to do right now, or to try to "fix it" or "make me feel better." I just want to be heard.

Though I can think of one thing Jayce could do that would make me feel better...

I shake my head, clearing the thoughts and look back up at Jayce, who is smirking down at me with a shine in his eyes.

"I definitely shouldn't be giving advice about that," he chuckles and turns his gaze forward, scanning the horizon as the sun sinks in the sky. "But I do know a thing or two about regret, and about holding grudges."

"Who says I'm regretting or holding grudges?"

He regards me with with a glint of laughter in his eyes, "You don't need to be defensive, Fallon. I didn't say anything about you."

"You insinuated it."

"All I'm saying is that your mom wants to get better. She wants to be there for you and Haven, even if it took her eleven years. Might be a good idea to not take that for granted," he finishes, looking like he might crumble.

I know he's right. I know that I need to forgive her and not let myself be burdened by the past.

I also know that I want to hold and kiss Jayce right now. The look he's wearing is one I've seen before, one that looks like he's reliving his most painful memories... I've only seen it a few times, but it makes him look so damn fragile, like he might break into a thousand pieces. It's so crushing and I just want to hug the fuck out of him, make sure he's okay, be a safe place for him to confide in.

"Do you always have to know exactly what to say?" I grumble, a little salty that he's so fucking perfect all the damn time.

He lets out a cold chuckle. "If there's anything I know how to do, it's say the wrong thing. Or say nothing at all."

His pained expression deepens as he looks straight ahead, his eyebrows pressed together and his jaw locked. Even his arms and shoulders seem tense. I think about reaching out to touch him, try to comfort him, but he stands up before I can.

Kicking off his shoes and socks, he grabs his shirt at the back of his neck and rips it over his head in one swift motion, leaving me attempting to breathe at the sight of his chiseled torso. He then undoes his jeans, pushes them to the ground and wearing only his white Calvin Klein boxers, he sprints to the edge of the pool and cannonballs in, whooping as he does so.

I get splashed with a bit of the cool pool water, and it's a good thing, too, because I need to cool off after that little display. I giggle as Jayce pops out of the water, shaking his hair like a dog, water droplets flying everywhere.

"Wanna get wet?" He grins deviously, the famous Jayce Solis arrogance back in his tone.

Already am.

I internally groan at the fact that after eating an entire pizza, he still looks trim as fuck and I feel like a Teletubby. I hear Presley in my head telling me to take off my damn clothes right this second and get in the pool with the hot guy who wants to get you wet.

Heeding imaginary-Presley's demands, I lift my shirt over my head and shimmy out of my yoga pants, thankful that I had actually worn one of my cuter bras today. My thong doesn't match, but at least I wore underwear at all, honestly.

Adorably and somehow also disappointingly, Jayce has turned around so that his back (which looks even more tan, muscular and incredible with water droplets all over it) is facing me. I run to the edge of the pool and cannonball in, following his suit.

I revel in the nippy water for several moments before pushing against the bottom of the pool and launching myself back above the water level, wiping droplets away from my eyes when I resurface.

Jayce has a huge smile on his face as I swim toward him from the deep end. "You actually got in!"

"Duh," I scoff and roll my eyes. "I never turn down a chance to swim. I love the water."

"Good to know," his eyes are shining in a way I haven't seen before.

"What?" I question, wishing I could be in his head.

"Oh, it's nothing," he chuckles, lowering himself in the water so everything below his nose is submerged as he looks up at me with flirty eyes. His soaked curls are even darker than usual.

I can't help but laugh at him. He's way too fucking cute.

He suddenly pops up out of the water and sprays a mouthful of water in my face. I scream and try to cover it with my hands, but by the time I do, the damage is already done.

"Jayce!" I scream and laugh, swimming and jumping after him as his long, strong legs propel him through the water.

"You said you liked water!" He hollers, bounding up the pool steps just to run around to the deep end, cannonballing back in with another victorious whoop. Man child.

"Not when it's being spat in my face!" I tell him when he resurfaces, still laughing as I devise ways to get back at him. Somehow, I don't think any of my attempts would be successful. "I save up, you know!"

"What?" He yells from the opposite end of the pool, dramatically placing a cupped hand around his ear like he can't hear me.

"I save up! You better watch yourself, Jayce Solis, I'll get you back when you least expect it!" I shout, grinning like a doofus the entire time.

"Is that so?" He muses as he swims back to the shallow end, his muscles looking way to fucking good as they glisten in the dimming sunlight.

"Mhmm," I nod, watching him as he stands up, the water barely reaching the top of his six pack. "So, you're really single?"

He smirks, "That's right."

"Interesting."

"Why is that interesting?"

"Because, here you are, a strapping single lad with practically no clothes on, and here I am, a lovely single girl, also with no clothes on. And that," I point over my shoulder, "Is a completely empty house."

Jayce's smirk deepens as hunger returns to his eyes. He peers down at me with a longing expression and all I can think about is wrapping my legs around him and coming undone beneath his touch.

He shakes his head softly. "You're different, Fallon." His voice is hitched.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that even though I want to carry you up to my room and fuck you until you can't see straight," he looks down and lets out a little laugh, biting on his lip like he's still contemplating the idea. I, on the other hand, shocked and turn the fuck on by his word choice, can't remember the last time I've been more ready than I am right now. He looks up and continues, "I don't want this to be like it is with everyone else."

I'm completely silent. I hate where he's going with this. Can we rewind to the part where you fuck me until I can't see straight? Thanks.

"I've already been through more with you than I have with any girl, ever. I trust you more than I've ever trusted a girl, shown you things I've never shown anyone, talked to you about things I've never shared," he runs his fingers through his wet curls. "I don't want us to just have sex because we can... I want it to be special. I want to make it special for you."

I think I turn into goo right then and there. My heart swells in my chest and my head begin to spin at the sweetness and sincerity in his words. "Special?"

He nods, a warm smile on his face, "I've been with a lot of girls. I don't want you to feel like you're just another one on the list... I want it to really mean something. I have mad respect for you."

Then I realize what he's saying. He doesn't want to sleep with me. My feminist heart wants to be like, "FUCK YEAH BITCH, THAT'S RIGHT, RESPECT ME!" But at the same time I want to beg that he would pleaseeeee disrespect me. Disrespect me all fucking night. Like, now.

But also, what the actual fuck? Since when are dudes the ones that say shit like that? Is it really so hard for the guy who has slept with probably half the school to imagine sleeping with me?

"I see," I turn around and head toward the pool steps, my romantic half in absolute awe over Jayce... while the other half is pissed the fuck off and extremely frustrated, if you know what I mean.

"Fallon, please don't be upset," he sounds pleading, but I continue up the steps and put my clothes on, not caring that they'll get soaked, since I haven't dried off. "I really do want you... Trust me, I fucking want you so bad it literally hurts."

I whirl around to face him and almost smack into his bare chest. "Then why won't you do anything about it, Jayce?"

"I just..." He shakes his head, his curls falling in front of his intense eyes, which are boring into mine. "When it happens, I just want to make sure you know how much I care about you. You mean more to me than anyone has before."

Again, half of me melts and half of me wishes he wasn't being so infuriatingly virtuous.

"Whatever," I stomp inside, feeling rejected, frustrated and cherished at the exact same time, which is an extremely strange blend, let me tell you. "You can take me home now."

~~~

So here's J in his white "Winner!" shirt from this chapter

Aaaand here he is when he's telling Fallon how bad he wants herrrr

AND ALSO HE WAS SHIRTLESS IN THIS CHAPTER SO HERE'S SHIRTLESS J APPRECIATION

I LOVE YOU and am already working on more for ya!!

If you want an update on my life, here it is: my husband and I were blessed enough to be able to purchase our first home about a month ago and have been working our asses off on getting it ready to move into. I've also been doing freelance work, assistant editing a film. Also been caring for one of our puppers, Gryffindor, post-operation. Combine that with my full-time job and also keeping my family first and you've got a busy ass Ray!

Anyway, my hubby realized I hadn't written in exactly 2 whole weeks and encouraged me to get back on it... so I did! So technically, you can thank him that I got around to writing this chapter 😉

Read on squad !