Love me 'Til it Hurts

Chapter 13 - Clear as Day!

"But what theme?"

"How about Alice in Wonderland?" I suggested, "she just finished reading this series of a twisted, more adult version of the story and she has been raving about it for weeks now-" I suggested thinking of the way my friend had been talking non-stop about this series of books that she had just finished reading.

"It was always her favourite fairy-tale when she was growing up," Jensen mused, "but how would we make it work?"

"Well, I can skim the books for ideas, but she mentioned something about how the tea in the books was magically infused to give a high, so maybe we could make Long Island tea and other alcohol, based teas?"

"Sounds good," Jensen nodded as he typed out ideas and suggestions into his iPad.

"We could have the colour scheme all red, lots of hearts and make it almost like a tea-party?"

My eyes slid over to Jeremy; I could see the way he was trying hard to keep his feelings locked down. It was clearly difficult for him because he was chewing down on the inside of his cheek, his hands were gripping at the arm-rest of the huge plush chair.

I needed to get him alone at some point because I wanted to hear from him what he thought he was playing at.

Why now?

What was his end-game?

I mean, Juliette was happy. She was finally allowing a man to get close to her and from what I had witnessed, she had been slightly enamoured with Cal. Not that I could blame her - the guy was a dish and a half but for me, I had never felt any inkling of a sexual attraction towards him.

Callum had been Alexander's friend. That was how I met him. At the time, I didn't think that he and I would become as close as we had. Telling him what his friend had been up to behind closed doors had been hard because I had feared that he might not believe me. I really shouldn't have worried though because Cal was perceptive. The guy could read a room like he was reading a damn book and as much as it pained him to admit it, he saw that his friend's behaviour was becoming more and more erratic.

We continued for the following half hour going over the supplies that we would need before the sound of Cal's corvette rumbled loudly into the driveway, a perfect warning that they were back. Jensen shut down his iPad just as the door pushed open and Juliette breezed into the room.

"Hey kid, how'd it go?" Her brother enquired.

"Hated it. They wanted forty-fucking-five% of all possible earnings," she slumped down on to the sofa, slipping her feet out of the impossible heels she insisted on wearing, given that she was so small, they were a way to make her much taller than she really was, "don't get me wrong, I understand that they need to make money but 45% is a ridiculous number, and there was no way she was going to negotiate that price!"

Cal moved into the room and dropped into the space at her side, his hand resting on her thigh, his thumb stroking over the top of the material of her skirt. My eyes darted to Jeremy to see he was staring at that hand and quite literally tensing up harder than he had been before.

Jesus Christ. This was going to get 100 times more complicated before it was done. I just hoped that my friend could cope with it and find a way to make the best decision she could for herself without hurting someone too much because one thing about Juliette - she would rather hurt herself than hurt someone else, regardless of what they may have done to her.

Jensen Ackles...

Forty-fucking-five percent.

That is how much commission that damn gallery owner wanted from my sister. I understand that she is running a business and a service for artists but 45% is extortion at the very least. Criminal at worst.