7. Pickups + Poison

Part 2/3 for this update! Go back to chapter 6 if you haven't read it yet!

"What in the hell are you doing here?" Jayce's low, annoyed voice fills my ears.

My heart is pounding. I don't let go of the door handle and I refuse to turn around and look at him. I know myself well enough at this point to realize that any more glances of Jayce's shirtless body might cause a heart attack.

"I'm working," I reply flatly. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," he responds, scoffing at my ignorance. "Aimee is my cousin."

"You live here?" I finally turn around, just to see if he's lying, but his features remain stoic. He's facing away from me, standing over the sink and ringing water out of his shirt. I force my eyes to stay glued to his face, and not wander down his beautifully sculpted, bronze abdomen.

"I just said that I did," he says in what I would guess to be his famous asshole tone. He ruffles his hair and lays his shirt out on the counter, his eyes finally meeting mine.

His stare causes my breath to catch in my throat. He's absolutely, suffocatingly handsome. God, it's annoying.

I can feel my heart beating throughout my entire body as his gaze trails from my toes up to my face.

He opens his mouth to say something when Celeste bursts in from outside so suddenly that I'm barely able to jump out of the way of being slammed by the glass door.

"Oh, good! You've met," Celeste says in her perfect, Hispanic accent. "This is my son, Jayce."

Another wave of shock washes over me. There's no fucking way. Unless Celeste had Jayce at age 13, there's no way she's old enough to have a son in the 12th grade. She looks too damn good.

"Uhh, seriously?" I ask stupidly, unable to shake the shock.

Celeste laughs a brilliant, melodic laugh before pinching my cheek. "I like you, eh..." She trails off, realizing she doesn't know my name.

"Fallon," Jayce finishes for her, his eyes on me.

I have to keep myself from shivering when he says my name. I hate this. Why the fuck does he make me so weak?

"Such a beautiful name!" Celeste claps her hands together and regards me warmly. "What does it mean?"

That's a great fucking question. "I'm not too sure," I answer, suddenly feeling stupid for not knowing the answer.

Celeste frowns slightly, her accent bubbling out from between her plump lips, which are the same as Jayce's. "I love intentional names. Jayce's name is Greek, like his father. It means a healing."

I notice Jayce flinch slightly out of the corner of my eye and I look at him questioningly. He doesn't meet my gaze.

"Mi amor," Celeste then turns toward Jayce. "Your father's chauffeur broke down an hour away and all the other drivers are farther from him than we are. Will you go pick him up? ¿Por favor?" She tosses him some shiny keys from off the counter.

Jayce nods his head, smoothly snatching the keys out of the air with a tinkling sound. "For sure," he says, quickly looking at me with an unreadable expression before disappearing into the house, hopefully to put a damned shirt on.

"Gracias, mijo," Celeste calls after him.

She turns to me and I'm still staring at the doorway Jayce left through. When I look up at her, she's eyeing me with a curious expression.

"Do you know my son?" She asks in a vague voice.

"Sort of," I shrug, trying to seem indifferent. "We both go to GHS."

She raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow and a slight smile curls one corner of her lips. Now I know where Jayce's confident smirk comes from.

"He's very handsome, no?" She asks with a cheeky glint in her brown eyes.

My pulse picks up. Instead of thinking too much about Jayce's ridiculous level of attractiveness, I decide to focus on how I love the way Celeste says 'very.' It's more like 'berry.'

"Don't be worried, Fallon, I won't tell him." She says my name like 'Fah-lean.' "But, just so you know, you shouldn't bother with him. He's still figuring out what he wants in life. A beautiful girl like you should have a man who knows what he wants and doesn't let anything stop him."

I smile at her, grateful for the bit of motherly wisdom, even though I'm honestly a bit surprised that she would say that about her son. I hate that literally seconds after my conversation with Presley, my resolve was completely hijacked at the sight of Jayce's tousled hair and chiseled abs. I fucking hate how much he affects me. It's so bizarre. It's not like I haven't seen hot guys before, or slept with dudes with washboard abs.

"Shall we head back to the celebration?" Celeste smiles and gestures toward the door.

I nod and follow her out, wishing I had never bumped into Jayce on the first day of school.

The summery breeze washes over me as we step outside and I imagine it's cleansing me of any attachments to Jayce. I remember every interaction I've had with him and visualize it slipping away in the breeze, being carried far, far away from me.

I instantly feel lighter as I walk back on the manicured lawn to give a certain little girl the most memorable birthday she's ever had.

~

Around 7:30pm, I'm so fucking ready for bed. I've been playing games with Aimee, entertaining about 30 kids with singing and dancing and answering an endless array of questions like, "Where's Peter Pan?" and "Can you really fly??"

It's fucking exhausting, and coupled with the fact that I've been awake for nearly 32 hours, I'm the most ready to sleep I've been in a long ass time.

Celeste says goodbye to the last of the party-goers with an eloquent wave and carries a very worn out and very happy Aimee up the stairs for bedtime. I wonder where her parents are?

I wait awkwardly in the kitchen for Celeste to come back down and pay me so I can get the hell out of here and get some sleep.

I'm literally nodding off standing up when I hear voices and footsteps coming from somewhere in the house. A chill creeps up my spine and I strain my ears to listen.

"...Can't just be on fucking autopilot. You have to take the reins, son. Stop being a pussy."

I recognize the next voice that speaks to be Jayce's. He sounds pissed. "You might be able to control everything else in your life, but I'm not another one of your blind little puppets. I will move forward as I see fit, no matter what you say. I really don't give a shit about what you want."

The footsteps grow closer and louder and I feel like I should hide, but I'm too exhausted to think of where to go before Jayce storms into the kitchen with a tall, handsome man.

The man is a few inches taller than Jayce. He has dark, curly brown hair and striking green eyes. I remember Celeste mentioning that Jayce's father was Greek, and I can definitely tell. His exotic skin is rich and olive-colored, and he's dressed in a navy suit. He looks like a supermodel, honestly. Jayce bears a striking resemblance to his father, but his mouth and eyes are definitely his mom's.

Seeing his parents, Hispanic and Greek, Jayce's other-worldly good looks definitely make sense.

Their heated conversation is cut short when both of their eyes land on me. It's like a million spotlights pointed on me at the same time. I can't keep my cheeks from burning.

"Who in the he-?" The man starts, his green eyes still blazing from the argument.

"-Fallon," Jayce interrupts the man. "Thank you for doing this for Aimee. She really enjoyed herself," he says very matter-of-factly. It's sort of unnerving to hear such a professional tone coming out of his mouth. "How much do we owe you?"

"Um," I say stupidly, hating myself for being so damn out of it.

"Alexei, did I hear you come in, my love?" Celeste's angelic voice floats down from somewhere above our heads.

Alexei, who I'm guessing is the handsome man in navy, strolls out of the kitchen, leaving Jayce and I alone.

Jayce avoids my gaze by staring down at his shoes and not saying a word, which I'm actually grateful for. I stand, glued to the spot, my heart racing and my stomach twisting. I wish I could say something to dissolve the tension in the room. This is the most awkward thing ever.

Celeste and Alexei come back into the kitchen, arm in arm. Together with their pristine outfits and glossy hair, they look like a full on power couple. Jesus.

"Fallon," Celeste says in her amazing accent, "This is my husband and Jayce's father, Alexei. Cariño, this is Jayce's school friend. She has her own entertainment business and was willing to act as Tinkerbell for Aimee's birthday party."

Alexei extends his hand to me. I shake his hand, returning his solid grip.

"Good, firm handshake, young lady," Alexei says with a curt nod and a small smile. "What's your name?"

"Fallon," I say, trying to banish my exhaustion-induced head fog. "Fallon Rhodes."

Suddenly his green eyes harden into a glare so steely, the entire room seems to go cold. Jayce is still staring at his shoes. Even Celeste appears taken aback.

"I see," he says through a forced smile. His tone implies that I somehow did something wrong.

"Oh! Here's what we owe you, honey," Celeste, thank god, breaks the extremely weird and unexplained tension by handing me a wad of hundreds. There's got to be at least $700 in there.

"You actually only owe me $250," I don't know how to respond and my hands feel like they might catch on fire from all these hundys.

Celeste waves her hand like it's normal for her to pass out Benjamin Franklins. "Consider it a tip - it's the least I can do. You're a friend of my son's, and I like you," she gives me a smile that I swear could light up a cave. Damn, does she give all of Jayce's friends wads of cash? No wonder he has so many friends. I laugh internally at my lame joke.

Jayce finally raises his head and looks at his mom with surprise, his lips slightly parted.

"Well, thank you..." I say slowly, unsure of what to say or do next. I can feel Jayce's eyes burning into my face and now it's my turn to refuse to meet his stare. "I guess I'll be going now."

"That would be a good idea," Alexei bites with a hard, unrelenting expression.

I feel myself turn red at his distaste and hastily move out of the kitchen and through the front door. I glance back over my shoulder for only a moment before closing the large door behind me.

Celeste was smiling up at her husband, while Jayce and Alexei were both staring at me - Jayce looked sad, defeated and even longing; but Mr. Solis... I didn't understand why, but he looked at me with pure, white-hot fury in his green eyes.

~~~

TAP DAT ⭐️ if you're like WTFFFF and are going to the next chapter like rn !

This is part 2 of a 3 part update, so read on for chapter 8 cuties

And don't forget to leave me your thoughts!💬😘

♥️