Meanwhile, back at the Ackles house...
Rayne Saunders...
Juliette had confessed to me what had happened between her and Jeremy the other night. I watched as my best friend fell apart at the seams. I hated to see her so torn. I hated to see her mind being warped and twisted. I hated to see how one man could twist her soul around until she was in a tailspin. I watched her cry until she threw up – unsure of what she was going to do now that Jeremy had made his intentions known.
For 5 long years; I watched her lie in bed for days at a time. I watched her get angry at everyone around her. I watched her refuse to date for months after Jeremy first left. Hell, even now she refused to have sex with just anyone. A part of her was desperate to save herself for Jeremy; I don't know if he knows that or not – that she waited for him, that she always had this fantasy of him being her first and only.
It had taken me; every single one of those 5 years to get her to this point where she even looked at another man. Cal had been good for her - he brought her out of her shell, he showed her what it was like to have a man who wasn't afraid to own the way he felt about her. I had no doubt that he would take care of my friend if she would just let him. I want her to pick Cal, I want her to see that not all men are going to cut and run on her and I want her to see what a real man does when he is in love.
It isn't that I hate Jeremy. I mean, for the most part, he is a good guy. He was the type of man who would go out of his way to help you if you needed it. And honestly, I think I may have lost some of my respect for him if he had done things differently. I just hate that the right thing has caused my friend so much anguish and pain. I would give anything to make it all better for her.
My whole life - I have been one of those women who is loyal to a fault. I will always have my loved ones back, whether I think they are in the wrong or not. So, to see my best friend hurting so much over one guy - I felt powerless. I felt like I was helpless. I only wanted to make this better for her. I wanted to ease that pain for her. I wanted to show her that while Jeremy may have run from her but he had done it for the right reasons but there was no rationale in the throes of heart-break. And there was no room for anything other than complete loyalty when it came to being on my best friend's side.
This man has hurt her and until she told me otherwise, I would not make things easy for him.
What the fuck was he thinking by telling her he was in love with her?
What did he think that was going to accomplish when he could see that she was in a relationship?
"Do you think we should have a theme?" Jensen asked from my side as the 3 of us sat around discussing the party we were planning on throwing for Juliette's 21st birthday.
"You know Jules, she loves any excuse to dress up and Halloween is one of her fave holidays so, I think a theme would be a great idea!" I replied, smiling at my man.
My man. God, I never thought that we would be here again. I never thought that we would have another chance to make things right between us. Again, like Jeremy, Jensen had done what he felt was right. There was so much pressure on him to keep a roof over his and Juliette's head, to be her guardian - ensuring she was going to school, had all the things that she needed, he had to get a job on top of going to school, which is something that his parents never would have wanted for him but they were gone and he was fighting to keep what little family he had left together. I couldn't begrudge him that, I wouldn't.
All those years we were apart - I had hoped that maybe one day we would have another chance to make a go of things and when Alexander, my ex began to make things next to impossible to remain where I was, I made the decision to come home. This was where I felt the safest. This was where my family was. And Jensen and Juliette. I needed to be close to Jensen, even if things didn't work out between us, I knew that if I needed him, he would be right there for me.
"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.
Juliette would be far better just keeping her market stall and selling her work there - at least she gets to keep the full fee for herself, bar the stall rental fees.
My little sister is one of the most talented people I have ever met, there didn't seem to be anything that she couldn't master given time and the encouragement to do so. I have watched her for her whole life - that inquisitive nature of hers had begun at an early age - she always wanted to understand how things worked, and the minute she learned how to draw well that was it. It was amazing the way she would practice and practice until she had mastered one thing before moving onto something else. I swear her mind is one of the most unique I have ever seen at work.
Now she was one of those rare unknown talents that just needed one person to take a chance on her and when she mentioned the art gallery, I had kind of hoped that was her shot. But no, there is no way she can enter into any sort of binding contract with someone who wants almost half of every piece she sold.
When our parents died - I stepped up and committed myself to raising my little sister because the thought of losing her to some unknown foster family was more like losing yet another member of my family that I simply wouldn't agree to. So, I sacrificed things that I wanted, things that I thought I would do with my life, for the opportunity to raise a teenager. I sometimes wondered if I needed my, head read - especially when she was screaming at me about ruining her life or giving me the silent treatment when I told her that she wasn't doing something that she asked for. I tried to remember what it was like to be a young teenager being limited by rules and restrictions.
The thing is, despite all her bitching and grumping, Juliette knew why I was doing it. She knew that one wrong move and she would be taken away from me and placed in the system. We had all heard the horror stories of the foster care system - predators disguised as helpful, goody-two-shoes, abusive assholes only in it for the pay cheque they received for opening their homes to vulnerable kids. Neglect would be the least she might have experienced, rape the worst and there was no way I was allowing that to happen to my little sister. No matter how many times she screamed that she hated me. Our parents would never have forgiven me if I hadn't done everything in my power to keep us together.
"You're not doing it right?" I asked her, my eyes for a moment glaring at Cal who had his hand resting on her thigh.
I had to sometimes remind myself that now she was an adult, I couldn't bully every asshole that showed an interest in her. Besides, I liked Cal. Granted if Rayne hadn't vouched for him then I don't know that I would be as friendly towards him as I have been.
"No fucking way!" My sister growled, making me smile.
"Good,"
"I'm not working my ass off to create art for some snotty-nosed bitch to slide in and take almost half of my reward, if I want to get fucked, I will just take Cal to bed!"
"Jesus Christ!" I muttered, which of course made everyone laugh.
Well, everyone but Jeremy who was clenching his jaw so tightly that I was about to make an appointment at the dentist. He was seriously going to crack some teeth from the way he was grinding down. I figured he was finding it hard to get used to the fact that Juliette was now dating - her whole life, he had been like another brother towards her. I knew that I had picked the right best friend when he took my little sister under his wing and treated her like family, looking out for her and taking care of her when I couldn't.
The heavy rock beat of the 5FDP song that Juliette had assigned as her cell phone ringtone pierced through the chuckles around the room. "Hello..." my sister answered without checking the ID, "hello...? Is there anyone there-?" She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at the screen, then deciding to end the call, "must have been a butt-dial!" She dropped her phone to the sofa next to her as she snuggled into Cal's side.
My sister said it was a butt-dial, but I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. A feeling that she was wrong, that whoever that had been on the other end of the call had been listening to her, and not accidentally called her.
Rayne looked up at me from her spot on the floor by my legs, there was an ocean of emotion in those beautiful blue eyes of hers, she had the same feeling as I did - I knew my girl as well as I knew myself and she was trying to tell me that she felt weird about that call too.
When Rayne left, I sort of sunk into this pit of despair. I didn't know how to do this without her. I didn't know the first damn fucking thing about teenage girls and what they needed. I know that I had no one to blame but myself for her leaving. I had ended our relationship because I felt like I was being pulled in 100 different directions and as badly as I wanted to keep her, to have her at my side, I couldn't ask her to give up her time to help me raise my little sister. That was my job and my job alone.
Letting Rayne go was the hardest fucking thing I have ever done. I ached to just call her and tell her to come home; that we would figure it all out together.
"...so, who is cooking tonight?" My sister asked looking around the room, "not it!"
"Not it!" Rayne and I both said at the same time, "jinx!" Linking our pinkies, we each made a wish and then laughed.
"Not it!" Cal managed to get in just before Jeremy did.
"Fuck!" My friend growled, "alright, who wants takeaway?"
"Nice try, pretty-boy!" I laughed, "have a dig in the freezer, there is plenty stuff in there,"
"Sure," sighing he got up and left the room.
I don't know what is going on with my friend, but he is acting weird. There is this air of distraction surrounding him - I have caught him staring off into space far too often lately. I see the way he hasn't exactly taken to Cal either - is it really just because he doesn't know the guy, or is there something that he knows that he isn't sharing?
I have wished for my best friend to come home for long enough now, and now that he is here, I can see that he is not really here. It is as if he has a million other things on his mind.
Is he in trouble?
Did something happen when he was on the road?
Leaning down, I placed my lips to the back of Rayne's head then stood up and followed my best friend into the kitchen. Would he tell me what was wrong if I asked? I don't know but I was definitely going to try. We have never had secrets between us before - and he had come home, surely that meant that whatever was going on with him was something that could be shared.