Jasper pulls his Mercedes Benz into the driveway of my parents place.
The security guard steps out of his booth and he approaches the car.
I pull down my window. "Eric,"
A smile spreads across his face. "Miss Houston. It's good to see you. Who's car are you in?"
Jasper pulls his window down. "Hey, man. I'm Jasper Moretti and I'm a guest of Charlie's."
"Hi, Charlie." Eric blushes as he looks at my sister."
He's always had a crush on her. He gets hurt whenever he sees a new guy with her.
Eric looks at me. "You're parents are waiting for you." He opens the gate for us.
"Bye, Eric." I wave at him as the car pulls away from the gate.
When the car parks in front of the house Mom runs out the door screaming. "They're here."
Before I can open my door Mom has it open and she hugs. "Why are you excited to see me?" I ask her. Looking at Charlie and Jasper. "Shouldn't you be more excited about meeting your other daughter's boyfriend? Not the daughter that was shot a week and half ago."
Mom slaps my good shoulder. "You didn't visit me after you were discharged from the hospital."
"I was tired, Mom. Do you know how hard it is to sleep at the hospital? All night I had to listen to machines beeping and nurses waking us up so they could check on us."
Mom takes a step away from me. "I've never been in hospital for as long as you."
Charlie walks over to her and hugs her. "Hey, Mom." She holds her hand out to Jasper. "I want you to meet my boyfriend Jasper."
Jasper smiles at her. "Good evening, Mrs Houston." He extends his hand. "It's nice to meet you."
Mom ignores his hand and gives him a hug instead. "It's nice to meet you too." She looks between Charlie and him. "You make my daughter happy."
Jasper hugs Charlie to him. "She makes me happy."
Mom looks at me and I can tell that she wants to bring up what happened to me at his place, but she doesn't want him to think bad of her.
Dad walks outside and he greets Jasper.
Shawn and Bradley walk out of the house a little while later and they walk over to Jasper.
They introduce themselves to Jasper before the walk over to me.
Shawn pulls me into his side. "Where's Evan?"
"He's running late. It's not a five second job he does. To make a movie it takes a lot of time and effort."
"You sound like you have experience on a set."
I laugh. "No, I just listen to Evan complain about how many takes he needs to do until the scene in perfect on the directors eyes."
Mom ushers us inside the house and we sit in the living room as my parents ask Jasper questions.
Evan shows up at my parents just before dinner is served. He apologies to everyone for being late.
Shawn and Bradley share a look with him.
Shawn turns to Mom. "Can I be excused for a couple of minutes I need to talk to brad and Evan. It's important."
She looks at him. "Hurry back boys. I don't want you're dinner to get cold."
They run out of the room.
Charlie grabs my hand before I can stand up. "Stay put. I'm sure they don't want you to know what they found out."
Does Charlie know what's going on too?
Mom walks over with the food and she places it on the table in front of us. "Boys," she tells.
Shawn, Bradley and Evan walk back into the room.
Dad opens a bottle of red wine and he starts to pour everyone a glass.
Charlie looks at Dad and she says. "I can't drink."
Shawn has a surprised look on his face. "Are you..."
Mom cuts him off. "Pregnant?"
Charlie nods.
Mom screams and she hurries over to her. "I'm going to be a Nan?" she hugs Charlie and congratulates her.
Dad rises from his seat and he shakes Jasper's hand and congratulates him too.
"Sir," Jasper says. "Can I talk to you after dinner?"
A smile spreads across his face. "Yes, you can." He whispers something in Charlie's ear and she laughs.
I'm glad she's happy.
She looks at me and her smile disappears from her face, as she realises that there's a chance that I won't be in her life.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and I send a message to Jasper.
Charlie looks between Jasper and I. "What are you two doing?"
I slip my phone back into my bag. "Nothing, why would you think we're up to something little sis?"
She points at Jasper's phone. "Jasper had is phone tilted to the side so I couldn't read the message and you had your phone on the table. All I had to do was put two and two together, to figure out that the two of you are planning something that I won't like."
She's right. That's exactly what we're doing, but we can't have her staying in Los Angeles while my life is in danger, especially since the next three months is a crucial period for her being pregnant.
I finish the glass of wine in front of me and I pour myself another glass.
Evan looks at me. "You should slow down, Ari."
Turning towards him I say. "After the last two weeks I've had I deserve to let lose."
He sighs. "You're right. I just don't want to see you turn to alcohol to wash away you're problems."
"I won't." I point at his empty glass. "Do you want some more?"
"Sure," he holds his glass out for me and I pour some more. "I don't have to be on set until 11pm, tomorrow night. The studio wants to do some night shoots for the movie."
"That's nice. You promised me that you would bring me onset."
He touches my hand. "I still will. My co-star is inviting her husband onset tomorrow night. Do you want to come with me?"
I nod. "It sounds like a date."
He laughs. "It will be date. In between takes we can go to my trailer and make-out."
My brothers pull a face and say. "We don't want to hear what you're going to do with our baby sister."
Shawn adds. "You'll have to be careful of her arm. She doesn't need her stitches to tear."
Jasper winces at that last part.
Turning to him I ask. "Why did you wince when they mentioned the part the stitches to tear?"
He undoes the top button of his shirt and he shows me the bullet wound on his shoulder. "It was a through and through shot like yours. I tore the stitches open when I helped my brothers go after someone that wanted to kill my family." He whispers, so my parents can't hear him. "I suggest you don't do any heavy lifting."
Leaning over the table I ask. "Did you have sex?"
He laughs. "Yeah, I just made sure she did all the work."
Of course he did.
Dad looks across the table at Jasper and he says. "What do you do for work, Jasper?"
Jasper shifts uncomfortable in his seat. "I'm the manager of one of my brothers company."
"Do I know the company?" Dad seems intrigued that he works for his brother.
"Moretti Holdings."
Dad's fork clutters against his plate. "Oh,"
Mom smiles. "I met your Mom once. She was a nice woman."
Jasper smiles. "Yes, she was. It's a shame she married an..."
"Asshole," Dad supplies. "He wasn't the nicest guy around. I worked closely with you're father for a couple months a long time ago. I even saw him beat one of his sons."
Jasper stiffens. "I remember that day. It was Knox that Dad beat up. He was the favourite son for beatings."
"How is your brother?"
"He's good, Sir."
"What about your other siblings. If I remember correctly there was nine kids?"
I see Jasper looking uncomfortable that I change the subject. "Evan, how was the scene you filmed today?"
A smile spread across his face. "It was great. They let me ride a Ducarti and I even had an action scene."
Crossing my arms I ask. "What happened to the romantic side of it?"
"The writers thought it would be cool if I did some action scenes it. I was riding the ducarti and I saw a woman and my eyes were trained on her as I run into the back of the car. I fly across the car and land in front her and I say. "Did you fall from heaven? Cause I see an angel in front of me."
Everyone at the laughs.
I shake my head. "I hope the audience will find that scene adorable."
"They will when they see me on the ground."
After dinner Evan and I say goodbye to my parents, brothers, Jasper and Charlie as we want to spend the day together without being interrupted by anyone.
***
The limo pulls in front of the house.
Evan takes my hand. "We're going to walk the rest of the way to the house. I want to spend more time with you before we do what we did in the limo."
I pick up the bottle of wine and I take a swig from it as we walk up the path that leads to the house.
Evan takes the bottle from me. "You need to share, beautiful."
I pout.
He laughs. "Don't give me that look. That doesn't work on me."
"It works on your brother."
He laughs. "Yeah, that's because he's a sucker for a beautiful woman." Evan wraps his arm around my shoulder. "Working on movies I had the time to study woman. They know how to manipulate men and I didn't want to fall for it. Then I wouldn't have you in my arms."
Looking at him I say. "You don't really have me. Bethany's still in the picture. I know you've tried to break it off with her and she doesn't want to have anything to do with it. Am I bad person for wanting to have sex with you?"
He shakes his head. "You're not a bad person. It's what two people that love each other does. It just sucks that I can't get Bethany out of our lives."
"Let's not worry about it and deal with the consequences when the time comes." I jump onto his back and he carries me to the house.
Passing the bottle to him; he takes a drink.
The door to the mansion opens and we see the Butler. He has a gun in his hand and he's aiming it at us. "Don't move."
"You can put the gun away. It's me Evan Wilson."
The Butler puts the gun away. "I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't know you were walking to the house. I didn't get a call from George. He's the one that's supposed to be at the gate."
I don't remember seeing anyone there.
Evan looks at me. "He wasn't there was he?"
I shake my head.
He pulls his phone out of his pocket and calls Knox. "Can you send someone to my place? I want someone to run the perimeter and make sure that no one has killed my security team."
There's silence for a moment before he hangs up the phone.
Evan carries me to the house. "No one is going to ruin the moment between us in the bedroom."
***
There's a mature scene for this chapter. You will be able to find it in my book called MATURE.
***