Chapter Eight

Taylor’s Point of View

I watched as Claire bought probably three dozen chocolate chip muffins and stood there waiting for them to box it up. It amazed me how oblivious she was to the fact that every man she walks by basically falls to his knees.

She was gorgeous, that was for sure, but she was too kind, too selfless, too perfect. And that’s why she couldn’t be with Jesse. He was wrong for her on so many levels. He wanted her because he liked that she was so innocent. Of course, I don’t know if she was sexually innocent, but just her personality made you think she was wasn’t real. I have never met anyone in this world that was as sweet as her. This is why Jesse has to be stopped.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I glanced at my phone and immediately answered it when I looked at the name that appeared. “Melody,” I greeted.

“What do you have for me, Taylor?”

“He took down every damn person in that club last night. He even killed Jack and he’s the gang’s bartender. He’d use him when he needed to roofie someone’s drink,” I told her. She sighed.

“Dammit. And you made sure that the Clover girl couldn’t leave right?” she questioned me and I smirked.

“Of course. I made all of her and her husband’s bank accounts show a balance of zero dollars. But the plane she was still planning to go on is still chipped and has explosives in one of the bags someone was bringing on,” I told her. Melody sighed, sounding stressed.

“Jesse is definitely stepping up his game. I’ll get someone to handle that. You need to worry about keeping Claire and Clover out of trouble,” she said.

I almost groaned out loud. I don’t know why she has to remind me 100 times every phone call.

“Yeah, I got it, but you should know something Mel,” I said, watching as Claire stuffed half a muffin in her mouth. “Agents from the EA agency arrived.”

“Of course they did,” she muttered. “Well, don’t let them know who you really are Taylor. No matter what, keep your identity a secret.”

“I know, but hey I have to go, Claire’s on the move,” I said, watching as she struggled to carry her boxes from out of the small bakery.

“Okay, stick with the plan Jones,” she said before hanging up. I stuffed my phone in my suit pocket and slowly followed her.

“Damn!” she yelled when she tripped over a dip in the sidewalk and her boxes of muffins fell on the ground.

“Hey are you okay?” I asked her.

“Are you following me?” she retorted.

I shook my head.

“No, I’m out doing something for Jesse.” I lied easily.

“Which is following me?”

“Jesse has his mind on more important things right now.” She rolled her eyes before picking up her sealed muffin boxes.

“It’s disgusting how sick you all are. I mean he was about to rape a woman right in front of you and you just sat there,” she said with disgust written on her face as she continued to walk.

“I don’t agree with what he does, but I have to follow him or else I’ll end up dead, and you know that. The only reason Caiden isn’t dead is because Jesse doesn’t want you to hate him,” I said.

“Well, pass this message on to Jesse. I’ll never like him if he wants to spend his life trying to ruin everyone else’s,” she said. I clenched my teeth together.

“You and Caiden broke up,” I stated as I continued to walk next to her.

She narrowed her eyes.

“That doesn’t concern you, Taylor,” she said. If she wasn’t with Caiden anymore like she claimed, then that means that Jesse will take things to a new level, to a new type of game.

“Just be careful tonight at your little fancy work party thing,” I told her. She raised an eyebrow.

“How the hell do you know about that?” she demanded, stopping and looking at me.

“Sweetheart, it’s one of my many jobs in the gang. I know everything,” I told her.

She scowled.

“Just like it’s your job to sit back and watch while Jesse does all the wrong things,” she retorted.

“I don’t even agree with half of the shit he does, but it’s either listen to him or get killed.”

She sighed thinking over my words for a few minutes.

“I’m sorry,” she replied softly.

I looked at her completely confused. I never noticed that she could be so bipolar.

“For what?”

“I judged you without even knowing you,” Claire responded.

I stared at her, shocked.

“It’s cool you wouldn’t be the first,” I told her with a small fake smile. Everyone judges me from the start, so of course I’m used to it. She shouldn’t apologize cause I’m over it. I mean it’s not like I’m going to fucking cry about it.

“No, I am truly sorry. I shouldn’t have judged you so fast, you obviously aren’t the bad guy here. You’re just a guy who was at the wrong place at the wrong time and Jesse took advantage of it,” she said as she stopped outside of a wedding store to look at a wedding dress.

I didn’t respond and only silently watched her as she gazed at the puffy wedding dress. Why was everyone so interested in Claire Martez? The answer was right here. She’s probably one of the most amazing girls you can meet. She’s nice, compassionate, kind-hearted, and cool, yet she’s with a man with one of the darkest hearts of us all. But the funny thing is somehow they work, and I don’t know why anyone would want to ruin someone’s happiness. I mean that fucking man beat the impossible here.

***

Clover’s Point of View

“You’re back? I thought you were going home early?” Jasmin asked, standing up from the couch in the penthouse we were all staying in.

“Some asshole stole all of our money,” Andrew hissed, dropping his luggage straight on the ground. I followed his lead and then sat next to Jas on the couch.

“What do you mean?” Jasmin asked with narrowed eyes.

“We have like nothing in our accounts!” I exclaimed.

“Of course, that happens when you finally get ready to leave this crazy place,” Chris said, walking into the room with a Pepsi in his hand.

“I bet it was that Jesse guy,” Andrew said, shaking his head.

“I don’t think so,” Jasmin said. We all looked at her.

“This guy is trying to kill me. Of course, he’d stop me from going home or else he wouldn’t have succeeded,” I said.

Jasmin shrugged.

“He seems like he would have followed you either way,” she said. Before I could respond, Andrew cut in.

“How would you know? You’ve never even met the ass.”

I silently wondered the same thing. Out of all of us, I was the only one who actually met him, and trust me when I said they aren’t missing out on anything special. But still there’s been something off about Jas ever since we got here.

“Oh, you know I think that just because of how you described him,” she said, her eyes twinkling with a look I couldn’t describe.

“Well, I think we should call the cops and report an identity theft,” Andrew interrupted.

I shook my head.

“No, I need to go talk to Claire first. She may know what’s going on,” I said.

After hesitating for a minute, he agreed.

“Fine, but I’m going with you. I don’t like this whole being left in the dark shit. Especially because last time you almost got yourself killed by the bastard,” Andrew said seriously.

I nodded. I’d feel better if Andrew was with me anyways.

“Hey Clover?” Chris called.

“Yeah?”

“We have to be out of here by eleven.”

We all looked at him.

“And? It’s ten thirty. I can just pay them for some extra days,” I told him.

He rolled his eyes.

“No, Clove I don’t think you realize. You have no money in your accounts, and we don’t have enough to pay for all of us to stay somewhere else in Seattle.”

Suddenly it was like a brick hit me.

“Oh my gosh. Oh my freaking gosh. Andrew, we’re actually broke,” I said, staring at him blankly.

He nodded slowly.

“Clo, honey, we discussed this already. Some asshole robbed us,” he said.

I threw a pillow from the couch at him.

“We can’t afford anything now. We can’t even afford a ride, let alone a room,” I said.

“Where are we all gonna stay?!” Chris asked.

I paced back and fourth, trying to think.

“I could ask Claire,” I said.

Andrew scrunched up his nose.

“She pretty much hates you half the time.”

“We fixed things!” I said, sending him a glare.

“What about Tori?” Jasmin asked us and I immediately shook my head.

“She already left. She had to get back to her family,” I told her.

She shrugged.

“Hmm, I guess Claire’s our only option then. Do you think she’d really let us stay with her?”

I didn’t comment about the glint in her eyes, but something about it made me feel uneasy.

“Possibly. I’ll talk to her about it,” I told her.

She smiled and clapped her hands.

“Great!”

“Well, on the bright side you already paid for this place ahead of time. The downside though is we need to get out of here in the next twenty minutes before we get kicked out,” Chris said.

I nodded in agreement.

“I’ll call Claire now and figure everything out,” I said, taking out my phone and looking for her contact.

***

Claire’s Point of View

“Fuck no,” Caiden hissed.

I narrowed my eyes.

“Caiden, they can’t just live on the streets! She’ll be eatn alive out there. I mean she’s a celebrity for heaven’s sake!” I told him, throwing my hands in the air.

He sent me a dark glare.

“I don’t want that stuck up bitch in our house,” he grumbled.

I rolled my eyes.

“Caiden, can you stop being an ass for ten seconds. If it was us, I’m sure she wouldn’t hesitate to take us in. There’s only four of them and we have two extra bedrooms!” I said.

He scowled.

“When are we ever going to clean out that room for the baby if someone’s sleeping in it?”

“I’ve been wanting to clean that room out for two days now and all you’ve done is work,” I yelled.

He scoffed.

“That’s all you do too. How the hell do you expect us to have time for a baby if we can’t even find time for ourselves,” he yelled.

“So that’s how you feel? Something told me you wouldn’t be able to handle this, and everything's been such an act lately,” I said, shaking my head. The door bell rang and I walked towards it. Who cares what the ass has to say? It’s my house too.

“Claire, can I just thank you so much,” Clover said, trying to bring me into a hug, but I stepped back.

“This is Andrew, Jasmin, and Chris,” she introduced.

I sent them all a friendly smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Chris said, sending me a charming smile, I simply nodded in agreement.

“It’s not to meet all of you. This is my boyfriend Caiden. Feel free to stay as long as you need to.” I told them and Caiden grunted in disagreement, causing me to elbow his hard chest. Yeah, in case you were wondering that did hurt me more then it hurt him.

“Let me show you guys to your rooms.”

I lead them all upstairs and put two in each room.

“I noticed Caiden was in a nice tux – are you two going somewhere special?” Clover asked me, sending me a wink.

I nodded smiling.

“I have an important charity event tonight. If you want you could all come,” I told them.

“As great as that sounds, it would probably be best if we stayed here for the night,” Clover replied.

As soon as I was away from Clover’s room, Caiden tried grabbing my waist. “Claire,” he called, but I quickly moved to the side and headed back downstairs and sat on the couch.

“You’re mad.”

I’d say that’s an understatement.

“C’mon, baby doll. Listen I’m sorry, but it’s great. Between me working full-time and you working full-time, this baby is gonna end up growing up with babysitters,” he said sitting next to me, but I still refused to look at him.

“I can quit my job.”

“That’s your own company.”

“I’ll sell the whole place. We’ll be rich for years,” I replied.

“Stop being dramatic and actually work with me on this,” he said, irritation behind his words.

“I don’t know what you want me to say Caiden! It’s starting to sound like you don’t want the baby! So make up your mind. If you can’t handle this commitment, then tell me now before we go even deeper into this relationship.” The thing that had to hurt the most was he stayed silent for a minute.

And I just sat in silence.

Really? Now was not the time.

“Claire, you’re killing me here.” He clenches his hair with his hands. “I love you, okay? To this day you are still my everything, and I don’t want you to think for one second that you’re not. I just need sometime to get used to the fact that this is all real.”

“Claire?” Chris called.

I gave Caiden one more look before plastering a fake smile on my face.

“Yes?” I asked turning around.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt but I think one of your guy’s phone is ringing,” he said, holding up my cell that showed an unknown number. I quickly thanked him and grabbed it.

“Claire Martez,” I answered immediately, putting my work/serious voice on.

“Please tell me you’re on your way,” a soft voice asked me from the other side of the line.

“Elena?”

“Yes, it’s me. Things are getting weird here. A bunch of random guys showed up,” she whispered into the line.

My eyebrows furrowed.

“Elena, are you sure they aren’t just from other companies?” I asked, heading up stairs.

“Yes!” she said immediately. “They refused to sign in with their company name and they all just give me a bad vibe. Even security has been watching them carefully.”

“I want you to check if they’ve made a donation. I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” I told her as I entered my room.

“Okay, see you soon,” she said before hanging up.

I was planning to go to this since it is mine, but I didn’t mind showing up late. It only started a half an hour ago. I quickly grabbed a dress and changed. The white dress with its little detailed designs looked great on me. This whole pregnancy hasn’t really taken its toll on me yet (well, beside the hormones and fake contractions). But I guess those are pretty normal when you’re almost four months pregnant. Yeah, you must think I’m crazy for not noticing it sooner, but you’d completely understand if you were in my situation. I mean I thought it was close to impossible to be pregnant, but now I know that I didn’t just randomly start gaining weight.

I looked in the mirror at myself and smoothed out my wavy hair and reapplied my lipstick. It was going to be a good night.

Caiden entered our room with his hair no longer sticking up in different directions – it was gelled down.

“Ready?” he said.

I gave him a short nod, turning away from the mirror, and grabbed my purse.

“We’re heading out. Feel free to eat anything in the fridge,” I yelled before we left. The limo I called was sitting out front, patiently waiting for us. As soon as we got in, he closed the door behind us, which I thanked him for, and he got in himself before quickly speeding off.

Soon enough we pulled in front of the large building. A small red carpet led to the door, and little ropes kept the paparazzi to the side.

The driver opened the door, and I took a stepped out, letting my black heels touch the bright red carpet.

“Claire over here!”

“Which charity is all the money going to tonight?”

“How much money do you hope to raise?”

“Are the rumors true that you’re pregnant?”

“Look this way!”

The paparazzi tried to get my attention, but I only smiled and let them take pictures of me and some with Caiden too before going inside.

My assistant Elena gasped, “Claire, thank God you’re here.”

“What’s the situation with those guys?” I asked immediately, and she quickly pointed them out.

“I checked the donation list and they donated about 5,000 tonight.”

My eyes widened.

“That’s great. I’m gonna go speak with them and see who they are exactly,” I told her, narrowing my eyes at the guys, and she nodded.

“You should get security to kick them out,” Caiden hissed.

I shook my head.

“If they donated anything, it would be rude to do that,” I responded, sending fake smiles to people who greeted me.

“They’re fucking murderers,” he said, causing people to glance over here.

I scowled at him.

“Can you watch your mouth? This is an important event with very big people here,” I told him. He just shook his head.

“Claire, it’s a pleasure. I had no idea you’d be here,” Jesse said with a smirk as soon as we stopped right in front of him.

“It’s my event,” I said dryly.

“Cut the shit,” Caiden hissed.

Jesse sneered at him.

“I thought you dropped this ass.”

“That really isn’t your concern, Jesse,” I retorted. “Just tell me why you’re here.”

“I just wanted to donate some money for charity, and you know maybe stay a while, have some champagne,” Jesse said, his voice heavily laced with sarcasm.

“Oh Jesse, is this the Claire Martez?” a guy asked, walking up to us. He was handsome with his dark hair and tanned skin.

“Who are you?” Caiden demanded. “Did you bring your whole gang here?”

“Shh, Caiden, no need for the dramatics,” Jax said.

Caiden sneered.

“I’m Jacob. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve definitely heard lots about you,” Jacob winked, shaking my hand.

I quickly removed mine.

“Don’t touch me,” I snapped quietly.

“Ooh feisty. Now I see the interest in her Jess.”

“Why does everyone have this strange interest in me?” I asked, honestly confused. I mean I knew I definitely wasn’t ugly but it’s not like I’m Angelina Jolie. I mean Angelina is absolutely stunning.

“Because your looks, innocence, and personality all make you so much more appealing,” Taylor replied smirking.

“Well, as lovely as this conversation has been, I have a job to do, so if you’ll just excuse me,” I said, turning away from the group of men.

“As do we,” Jesse replie,d leaving me with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Claire, it’s such a pleasure to see you,” A woman said, doing the little fake kisses thing.

“Yes, thank you so much for coming. I hope you enjoy everything that’s planned for the night,” I told her with a polite smile. Many people seemed to like the symphony orchestra, which sounded beautiful as it played The Planets.

“You have your speech in ten minutes,” Elena told me. I thanked her. My eyes skimmed the room for Caiden, and I sighed in relief when I caught him talking to an acquaintance instead of beating Jesse to death.

“Claire, you look lovely,” a guy named Damien told me. I sent him a huge smile.

“Damien Richards. Wow, I honestly can’t believe it’s you. How’s the modeling life going?” I asked.

“It’s been better.”

“Don’t forget you are always welcome to model some of my designs. Just give me a call sometime,” I told him. He sent me a charming smile.

“Thanks,” he said before waving over a girl.

“Claire, I’d like you to meet my wife Katy.”

“It’s nice to meet you, and I love that dress. It’s absolutely gorgeous on you,” I said.

She smiled, thanking me.

I decided to excuse myself to go get a drink and hoped that I wouldn’t get disturbed this time. I was used to these kind of events. I always had to talk to everyone and thank them and listen to what’s new in their lives. I grabbed a glass of champagne from one of the servers trays and took a seat at one of the many tables.

“I warned you,” Taylor said sitting in the seat next to me.

“What?”

“I warned you to be careful tonight,” Taylor repeated.

I studied his face carefully.

“Ms. Martez, can I get a picture if you two?” a reporter asked.

I hesitated before standing up and posing with Taylor. The reporter thanked us before moving on to a group of people.

“You did,” I agreed before continuing. “But that’s the thing I don’t understand. You’d only warn me if something was going to happen. So what is he planning?” I asked nonchalantly.

“It wouldn’t be fun if I told you everything now, would it,” he said, standing up.

“Taylor, I won’t beg you. But I’m warning you now, if you guys pull something at an event like this I won’t hesitate to—”

“You won’t hesitate to what call the police on us?” Jax interrupted. “I hate to break it to you, babe but that won’t do shit.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s time for your introduction,” Elena told me, nervously glancing at the guys around me.

“Thank you. I’ll go up now,” I responded. “But could you do me a favor and ask security to please escort these two men out and the three in the corner as well?”

She nodded and headed towards the front where security was.

“That’s a very stupid thing to do, Claire,” Jax said, shaking his head.

I raised on eyebrow and smirked.

“It was a very stupid thing to come here, Jax,” I replied in the same tone. “You and the rest of your gang think you can do whatever the hell you want, but feel free to pass my message along.”

“What message?”

“I’m not afraid of you, so bring it on.”

I walked away from the table with my head held high and a smug smile on my face.

I stepped on stage and walked to the podium, and everyone went silent. “Hello,” I said into the microphone. “I just wanted to give a quick thank you to everyone who has came here and donated money towards such a wonderful cause. This money won’t just go to one charity. It will be split and will go to multiple charities. So please feel free to participate in every activity there is. Our goal was $20,000 tonight, but if you look to the right where our chart is, you can see we are already at $28,658. That’s incredible! And in case you didn’t know, all the money from the raffles will be added to the chart at the end of the night too,” I said. Everyone clapped. “Oh, please don’t forget to help yourselves to the bar.” I finished and everyone cheered while the DJ replaced the orchestra and played music to dance to.

I decided to head to the bathroom, checking my hair and makeup before just staring at my reflection. It should be obvious to everyone by now that I was pregnant, but maybe they’re just thinking what I was thinking. I just didn’t keep up with my figure.

“Want to play a game?” Jesse whispered in my ear, moving my completely to my left shoulder. He was close, too close.

“This is the women’s bathroom and shouldn’t you be gone by now? I’m pretty sure I watched security escort your ass out.”

“Your security believed my men when they simply told them I left earlier,” he said, looking at me through the mirror.

“Okay, well I don’t have time for this.” I tried to move away from him, but Jesse placed his hand on my waist.

“Stop acting like I don’t affect you, Claire.” Jesse’s hand tightened and he placed his lips on my shoulder.

“Get off of me!” I yelled, attempting to push him off. He only turned me around and placed my back on the counter. I tried to scoot as far back as possible but his hands gripped my legs.

“I asked you if you wanted to play a game,” he hissed in my ear.

“I swear if you don’t let me go in the next five seconds.”

He smirked.

“Claire, baby, I think the fact that you’re threatening me makes you even hotter.”

“What makes you think—” Jesse was interrupted when the door banged open. Two people pushed their way into the bathroom basically eating each other’s faces off.

“Ah, look who it is. Nicolas.”

Nick pulled away from the girl with wide eyes.

“Katy?”

“Claire!”

“Jesse?”

“Now that we’ve gone through names, you two can stay for the show. Claire and I were just about to play a little game.”

“You’re cheating on Caiden?” Nick asked me.

I let the disgust show on my face.

“Of course not! If you paid close attention right now, then you’d notice I’m being sexually assaulted! Or if you came in a minute earlier you would have heard me scream for help.”

Nick narrowed his eyes.

“Back away from her Jesse,” Nick hissed, moving closer and Jesse made a tsk sound.

“Guess we have to change the rules to the game,” Jesse said.

Jesse pulled out a gun out of the back of his pants and smiled.

“I’ll keep the rules simple—”

Before he could finish, the door busted open for the second time.

“SPD. Put your hands up.”