She's His Everything (He's My Body Guard Sequel)

(11) New Introductions

I'd originally intended for Christmas to be one chapter but it got too long so two it is! 😂

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The tension was still present between Jackson and Rayner but they didn't speak about it to me or to each other even when I knew they were no longer wanting to rip each other's throats out for the time being. I'd told Rayner I'd spend Christmas with him but now that it was Christmas Eve, Eve I wasn't feeling right about leaving Jackson to sit in the apartment by himself on Christmas.

Rayner was currently making security arrangements for Eliza's trip back home while I gathered the courage to talk to Jackson about what he was doing for the holidays.

I entered the living room that was getting smaller and smaller the longer Jackson stayed with me, not that I minded much. He was folding his clean laundry and packing it away in his suitcase seeing as he didn't have a proper place to put it. I watched him as he wadded up his clothes cringing at the fold job predicting he was going to be wearing wrinkly clothes.

"Here." I sat beside him snatching the laundry from his hands and refolding what he'd already placed in his suitcase. He snickered at me rolling his eyes stretching out on the couch watching me. Probably reading me like a map like he tended to do. He was the only person I knew that could perceive any emotion I was feeling immediately as I felt it. He was a psychic, I was half convinced.

"Tori stop." I scrunched my eyes in confusion and stopped folding. "No, no, keep doing that." He'd earned an eye roll from me now and I continued to neatly stack his clothing. "Stop worrying about me." I sighed annoyed by his spot on detection of what I was feeling again.

"What are you doing for Christmas Jackson?" I ignored his previous statement entirely. He shrugged looking into space and I suddenly realized he hadn't even thought about it. I grumbled to myself feeling guilty once again for not bringing this up much much sooner.

"I guess see if Ramona needs me to work on anything...? Or hang around here...?" He was asking what I was doing with these questions. "Tori don't feel obligated to stay here with me, honestly I've had plenty of great Christmases and I stopped believing in Santa last year so don't feel the need to keep that tradition alive." I giggled at his silliness. "Really Tori, I don't even feel like celebrating this year and I won't be sad if you choose to go off to wherever Rayner takes you. As long as you come back because I need you to help with rent." His mouth quirked into his annoying sideways smile. I shoved his shoulder playfully feeling almost entirely guilt free.

"You can spend it with Kato?" I suggested and Kato's ears perked up at the sound of his name. Jackson's smiling face did not betray what he promised me and I hoped he wasn't just a really good liar.

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I packed a bag of clothing to get me by for a few days and Rayner came by and picked me up. I still wasn't sure about where we were going. "So where are you taking me?" He smirked at me.

"I want you to meet my family." My stomach bubbled with anxiousness. "I think they deserve to meet the woman I love don't you?" I looked at him wide eyed and swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Rayner!" I scolded him. "You could have mentally prepared me for this!" He laughed harder as I swatted his shoulder. "Don't let me forget to take my sleeping pills. I don't want them to think I'm some damaged weirdo." He shook his head amusedly at me.

"You are my damaged weirdo though." Rayner grinned stealing a kiss on the cheek swerving into the other lane slightly.

"I'm going to be extremely damaged if you don't pay attention." I reprimanded his reckless driving. He laced his fingers between mine and kept his eyes on the road obediently.