There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate (Jesse's POV)

Jesse's POV (30)

"You sound like him," she glowered, jabbing a thumb in Alex's direction. As she put it on, she stopped for a brief moment to ask me a question. "Actually... Can I wear one of your shirts?"

Alex whistled from behind, causing me to grab a pillow and throw it at him. It hit him right in the head as I grabbed one of my shirts.

"Here," I repeated, handing it to her. I teased, "You want to wear my boxers again, too?"

"Sure," Jordan shrugged, sounding serious.

"Okay," Alex covered his ears with his hands. "Too much information for me."

"Fine," she sighed, pulling on my shirt. "My shorts will do, I guess."

When she stood up, the shirt fell down so it covered up her shorts, making it seem she wasn't wearing anything underneath. Jordan blushed at this, making Alex began to tease.

"Aw, Jordan's blushing," he said, still standing by his desk. "How cute."

I rolled my eyes once again at his immaturity, waving him over. He looked unsure at first, but walked over to me anyway.

"We're going to have to teach Jordan how to fight," I said to him, not caring much if Jordan heard it or not.

"I agree with you, but she looked scared out of her mind after you said that," Alex chuckled, crossing his arms and cocking his head toward Jordan. "I don't think she's that up for it."

I turned toward her, putting my hands on her hips and pulling her against me. "It's for your safety," I told her. "If anyone like Erica comes after you again, you'll know what to do. Even if Hunter sends one of his goons after you, you'll have a better chance of getting away..."

"That's not very encouraging," Jordan said flatly, making a grin appear on my face. "But, I guess I'll do it anyway."

"There's a punching bag down in the weight room," Alex suggested, pointing toward the door. "We could use that to teach her."

"Sounds good," I nodded.

"But first," Alex said as he ran up to Jordan and pulled her away from me. "I want you to hit me in the face as hard as you can."

"What?" Jordan asked, taking a step away. "I'm not going to hit you!"

"Come on," Alex grinned, motioning for her to hit him. If she did, it's not like it'd hurt him. And I was sure Alex had a trick up his sleeve. "Don't be a chicken."

"I'm not being a chicken!" Jordan defended herself, taking another step away from him. "I just don't want to hurt you!"

Alex gave her a flat look.

"You won't be able to hurt him," I said, entering the conversation, in case they had forgotten that I was still there with them. I stood up and walked toward the door, wanting to get started. "But could you hurry this up? I want to get to the punching bag and see how well you can punch."

Jordan still looked like she didn't want to do it, but I was sure Alex wouldn't let her leave unless she hit him.

"Punch me," Alex grabbed her hand, balling it into a fist. "Punchy punch."

Again, such a child.

"You're so weird," Jordan said, taking back her hand.

"Thank you."

"Just punch him and get it over with," I called over from the door, growing impatient. "He won't give up until you punch him."

Jordan let out a sigh, staring at Alex's face. "Fine, I guess," she muttered, balling her hand into a proper fist. She raised her arm, throwing it in the direction of his face. At the last second, Alex grabbed her fist, twisting her arm around her back. I knew he'd do something.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Jordan shouted, trying to get out of his grip. "Let me go!"

"Okay, the objective of this is to teach her how to fight, not break her arm before she can even be taught," I gave up, walking over to my girlfriend and the idiot I called my best friend. Alex let her go before I got there, knowing that I'd probably hit him on the back of the head again.

"Well, at least we know she can form a proper fist," Alex shrugged, ignoring all the death glares Jordan was giving him. "Now we just need to know how hard she can hit."

"Which is why we should get down to the weight room so she can hit the punching bag," I sighed, turning around and heading toward the door once again. "So hurry up and let's go."

"Great, I get beat up and learn how to fight on my birthday," Jordan grumbled as she walked past me and down the steps. I seemed to have forgotten her birthday, because all of a sudden, I remembered that I hadn't gotten her anything.

Damn.

The three of us walked to the weight room which was completely bare. Alex guided Jordan in front of one of the punching bags.

"Just give it a good whack," he said to her, motioning to the punching bag. Before I could stop her, Jordan punched it as hard as she could.

She shrieked, making Alex start laughing so hard I thought he might pass out. I raised my hands, burying my face in them.

"You need a glove for that punching bag," I explained, glaring at Alex after he stopped laughing. I took a few steps closer to Jordan, who was cradling her wrist. "You could have broken your hand. Let me see it..."

She let go of her wrist, letting me hold and examine it. Nothing seemed wrong, so I let it go. Jordan looked alright, as well.

"It's fine," I sighed, turning to the side and punching Alex in the stomach. It didn't affect him like I thought it would, but I knew he got the message. "Don't make her do something like that again, you idiot."

Alex wiped a tear out of his eye. "Sorry, Jordan. That was just too funny. Sorry..."

She rolled her eyes, and I guided her toward a smaller punching bag. "This doesn't require you to wear gloves. Just hit it a few times," I said, backing up so she could hit it.

Jordan did as she was told, punching around the bag a few times. Her right wrist wasn't doing as well, but it was because of Alex's stupid joke.

"Okay, you can stop now," I said, allowing her to give her wrist a break.

"Man, I can hear Eye of the Tiger playing in my head," Alex grinned, causing Jordan to roll her eyes.

All though we were teaching Jordan how to fight, I hoped she'd never have to use it. I'd never want to see her fighting for her life, and I hoped she never would.