Forced To Love My Enemy

Bonding.

After that night just a few days ago I’ve found myself awaiting night fall to talk to Jess. He’s been coming to my room every night and talking to me about our lives. At first it was out of spite but we have found ourselves bonding over the life we have lived. Though completely separate still very similar. The only difference is his dad didn’t start acting weird until he was 10. Where as my mother never even wanted me, and he doesn’t have a twin. The more we talk the more we have in common and it’s weird how he acts when we are alone rather then when people are around us. He hates me when we are around other people but at night he talks to me like I’m a person and he makes me feel alive.

“Lorelei!” Alex yelled as stormed into my room.

“what’s wrong?” I asked confused

“Your dad” Alex sighed

“What about my dad Alex?!” I yelled panicked

“Lorelei calm down” Jess said calmly as he walked into my room.

“What’s going on?” I sighed

“Your dad was in a car accident but it’s okay. He’s okay. Just a few scrapes and bruises but he will be fine” Jess explained

“Your sure?” I felt my heart beat faster and slower at the same time.

“I talked to the doctor myself.” Jess stated.

“Okay” I sighed.

“I am getting the private plane ready now and then you and I will head out” he explained

“Where?” I asked confused

“To California” he smiled.

“Oh thank you Jess!” I jumped on top of him.

“Your welcome. Pack enough for the weekend only please” He smiled and left the room.

“WAY TO SCARE ME LIKE THAT BOND!!” I yelled at Alex.

“Well you needed to know and I ran up 2 flights of steps for you.” Alex sighed.

“It’s only one flight of steps” I laughed

“Yeah from downstairs to your room. I was in the basement” he sighed

“Why?” I asked curiously

“Mafia stuff” Alex shrugged.

“Mind helping me pack?” I asked sweetly.

“Never again” he laughed and walked out the door.

Sometimes I think everyone here seriously hates me and other times they act like the family I never had. Jess can be sweet at night but a d**k when we are around other people. His sister Sam is super sweet and she’s only 17 so we are Definitely closer in age and his other sister Sasha is 22 so she’s in college in a completely different state. His mom and dad are super nice to me and treat me like one of their own. His mom has been getting me everything I need feminine wise and I haven’t really heard much more about Alexis since I got here that day, I never saw her or even know what she sounds like. I just heard about her from his sister Sam.

From what I know Jess and Alexis have a friends with benefits relationship. She wanted more but Jess could never commit to her. They come from the same Mafia but different worlds. Jess told Sam that Alexis asked him to be her boyfriend and he laughed and completely ignored it, for whatever reason Jess has made it clear he doesn’t like commitment. As Sam believes being with someone forever scares him and upon getting to know Jess a little more I kind of believe that as well.

“Ready?” Jess asked as I walked down the steps.

“Yeah” I smiled and walked towards the door.

“Have fun you two” John smiled as we walked out of the door.

“Have fun?” I asked confused

“He thinks we are going on a vacation to get to know each other better” Jess explained as he we got in the car.

“So you didn’t tell him we are going to see my dad?” I asked confused

“No, he didn’t want you to know about your dad.” He explained.

“Why?” I asked again. Not that I was confused but I just wanted an answer

“He thought you’d want to go home and call off the arrangement.” He answered

“I wouldn’t call off the arrangement. It’s only been a week and things aren’t horrible.” I explained

“He doesn’t see things that way” Jess answered

“Okay” I said in a confused tone

“It’s better if you don’t ask questions” he smiled as we pulled up to the plane.

As we sat on the plane it was silent for the most part. It was just him and I and usually he’s open with me when we are alone but tonight he was quite, deep in thought maybe. Tonight was different but I couldn’t tell what was wrong with Jess. Did he think I would call off the arrangement as well?

“Everything okay?” I asked quickly before my mind told me it was a mistake.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” He said I a cold tone.

“Are you sure?” I asked quietly

“Listen I just don’t want to talk tonight okay.” He snapped at me.

“Okay” I sighed and sat back in my seat.

After a few minutes I sat there wondering if everything we had talked about was a lie or if he even meant anything he had said over the past few days I’ve been around.

“I’m sorry” he mumbled

“What?” I asked confused

“I'm sorry” he sighed

“For what?” I asked confused

“For snapping at you.” He answered lowly.

“It’s fine” I brushed it off.

“Really?” He asked shocked.

“Yeah, I’m used to people taking their problems out on me Jess.” I answered honestly.

“That’s not fair Lorelei” He said in an annoyed tone.

“You snapped at me for whatever reason, I don’t think you get to decide what’s fair Jess.” I answered honestly.

“You have no idea what’s going on in my head” He scoffed.

“That’s because unless it’s under the cover of nightfall all you do is ignore me or treat me badly!” I yelled.

“Well I can’t let my dad know I’m becoming okay with this arrangement!” he hissed.

“You don’t even tell me anything that is happening. How would I know what you are okay with and what you aren’t!” I yelled again.

“I’m just worried about meeting your parents Rory!” He snapped at me again.

“Okay, Why?” I asked confused.

“What do you mean why? I’m supposed to be your fiancé but I know nothing about you or your family” he scoffed.

“Jess I know nothing about you or your family either. We were getting to know each other, that’s the whole point. This wasn’t something I wanted either remember?” I sighed

“I know. But you’ve met my family.” He shrugged.

“I was thrown into a different house let alone a different state. I only knew one person there. And Alex has barley talked to me since I got here, I can at least give you a little insight on my family” I said quietly.

“Okay, you tell me more about your family and how I can make them like me. And I’ll tell you why Alex isn’t talking to you much” he smiled.

“Okay, my dad’s really easy. Treat me right and there won’t be a fight. My brother Axeton is kind of annoying anymore. He used to ignore me all the time but before I left he started to stick up for me and look out for me, my little brother’s Jayce and Jake are fairly easy, and there is no pleasing my mom, at least not for me. But we already talked about that.” I explained.

“Anyone else I should know about?” He asked suspicious.

“Alex, my best friend will probably want to see me but she’s okay with pretty much anything, my uncle Benny is protective to say the least but I think that’s it. For anyone who may be around.” I smiled thinking about seeing all my friends and family again.

“Okay, Alex isn’t talking to you because I told him not to.” He answered swiftly.

“What why?!” I yelled confused and infuriating.

“You guys were really close and it looked like you liked Alex and that bothered me.” he answered honestly.

“Jess I don’t like Alex like that. Yeah he’s nice and we have an inside joke or two but we are just friends and we get along great.” I explained.

“I know this now. But at first it looked like flirting and the inside jokes seemed like more. I’ll tell Alex he can talk to you again.” He smiled.

“Thank you. But I’m still mad” I scoffed in irritation.

“You aren’t allowed to be mad” he smirked

“And why not?” I rolled my eyes.

“Because we are finally in LA” he smiled pointing out of the small window towards the skyline as we made our decent.

I was quite. Thinking about all the ways this could go seriously wrong or really great. Somehow my mind always made it back to seriously wrong. It’s only been a week and that’s not long enough for anyone to get used to the fact that I’m gone. As we got out if the plane and loaded into a car Jess stood outside talking to one of the guys what were there, I couldn’t hear anything but it just made me feel uneasy about the whole thing. Something about this trip made me feel uneasy.

“Ready?” Jess smiled at me as he got in the car.

“As I’ll ever be” I smiled back to him. The trip was short and quite, as we entered my neighborhood I smiled watching the car pass houses I’ve been to a million times for different reasons. We passed one house that caught my attention. Ashley’s.

“Looks like a party” I scoffed.

“You know whose house that is?” Jess asked as the driver slowed down.

“Yeah” I rolled my eyes.

“Then let’s stop.” Jess smiled.

“What why?” I asked confused as the car came to a stop.

“You have to have a friend or two in that party?” Jess smiled.

“Fine. But you need to change out of that tux” I laughed.

“Okay” he shrugged reaching into the back grabbing a bag with clothes in it.

“You need to change out of those pjs” he smirked handing me a bag with clothes in it.

“Ugh fine” I scoffed.

I took the clothes and changed in the back of the car, while Jess also changed. He had much less to cover but still put up the privacy glass so the driver wouldn’t see me change.

“Ready?” He smirked as he got out of the car.

“I guess” I smirked and got out of the car. I walked over to the house and inside when people gasped as I walked in.

“Lorelei?” Ashley scoffed.

“Hey Ashley” I smiled. Knowing she was staring at Jess.

“Whose this?” she asked in a flirtatious voice.

“Oh this is Jess, my boyfriend.” I smirked as I watched the smile fall off of her face.

“LORELEI!!!” Alex yelled pushing everyone out of the way.

“ALEX!!” I smiled as she picked me up.

“Slow down!!” I heard Jackson’s voice from the distance.

“Lorelei!” Jackson yelled as he wrapped his arms around me and Alex.

“Hey Jackson!” I smiled.

“Is that Lorelei?!” a bunch of people yelled as I walked through the house with Jess’s hand in mine.

“Who’s the guy?!” whispers erupted throughout the house.

“KAS!” I yelled and let go of Jess’s hand as I ran into the back yard.

“LORELEI!!” Kas yelled as she passed the blunt to someone else and ran at me. It would’ve been something like a slowmo romance thing if I wouldn’t have tripped and fell directly on my face.

“Oh my God Lorelei are you okay?!” Kas started laughing.

“I’m good” I laughed as Jess helped me up.

“whose the hunk?” Kas asked making eyes at him.

“This is Jess. My fiancé.” I smirked.

“How’s the s*x?” Kas asked without skipping a beat making Jess turn 3 shades of red.

“That hasn’t happened yet” I smirked. Looking back at Jess.

“Sorry I should’ve warned you about Kas.” I smiled.

“Would’ve been nice” he smiled.

“Okay so what all has happened?!” Kas smirked.

“Nothing, we barley know anything about each other” I shrugged it off as we went to sit down.

“You guys are sitting all wrong.” Kas scoffed. Pulling me from my chair making Jess sit and pushing me down onto his lap.

“If you want anyone here to believe you are even a couple you need to act like one, or Ashley will have her claws in Jess by the end of the night” Kas scoffed.

“Thanks for the tip” I smirked.

“Also you barley knew Jackson either but that happened” Kas scoffed.

“That was a one time thing” I defended.

“Still happened.” Kas rolled her eyes at me as I felt Jess tense under me.

“It was a hookup. Nothing more.” I scoffed.

“Yeah but” Kas started to say and slowly drifted off seeing Jess’s hand tighten around the arm of the chair.

“But it was at a party which counts as basically nothing” Kas finished.

“Exactly. And it only happened because I caught Cory and Josh.” I rolled my eyes as Jess traveled his hand up my back.

“Well enough about that night. Why are you back?” Alex asked seeing the tension in the room.

“My dad was in a car accident.” I explained.

“Oh yeah, Axeton was supposed to have his party tomorrow.” Robbie chimed in.

“Is he still?” I asked

“Maybe. No one has heard much from him” he continued.

“I have” I heard a familiar voice come from behind me.

“Jay?” I turned around.

“That’s me” he smiled.

“And me Lolo.” James said kind of offended I ignored him.

“Stop calling me Lolo and maybe I’ll pay attention to you” I scoffed.

“Fine. Lorelei” James smirked.

“Hello James” I smiled.

“So your back?” Jay asked confused.

“Only for a few days.” I explained.

“How is college treating you?” James asked.

“It’s good. This is my boyfriend Jess” I smiled.

“Boyfriend?” James said shocked.

“Yeah” I nodded.

“Weird” Jay said.

“Why is it weird?” Jess asked confused.

“After what happened with Josh I didn’t see Lorelei having a boyfriend for a while” James explained.

“What happened with Josh?” Jess asked confused.

“Nothing. We should get going” I smiled pulling Jess up.

“but I wanna know” he interjected.

“No you really don’t.” I scoffed and tried pulling him towards the door.

“Oh come on Lorelei. He’s going to find out sooner or later.” Josh said as he walked outside.

“Yeah I was hoping later for your sake” I sighed.

“You don’t want to lie to him like you lied to everyone else?” Josh laughed.

“I’m pretty sure the pictures of the marks aren’t lies Josh.” Alex stepped between us.

“She gave them to herself.” Josh defended.

“Whoa. What happened?!” Jess demanded.

“It was a long time ago Jess. Let’s just go.” I defended.

“Not until someone tells me what happened.” Jess demanded again.

“She accused me of beating her.” Josh stated.

“That was stupid.” I mumbled.

“Why? What’s pretty boy going to do?” Josh laughed as a couple of his friends walked outside.

“Jess please” I begged.

“I want to see where this goes.” He smiled.

“Accused?” Jess laughed.

“There were no charges filed.” Josh stated.

I stood back and watched them argue, I watched Jess laugh in his face. Some of the things he said even I laughed at.

JESS’S. P.O.V.

“So you think it’s okay to leave marks on girls?” I laughed in amusement as the crowd gathered.

“No I never said that. I just said she asked for them before” Josh defended.

“Asked for them?!” Lorelei yelled.

“Yeah sweetheart.” Josh smirked.

“Did I ask for this?!” Lorelei yelled as she pulled out her phone. Turning it around and swiping through over a dozen pictures

“Those are all fake” Josh scoffed.

“Oh wait. Let me skip to the good one.” Lorelei laughed.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” I heard Alex whisper to Lorelei.

“I’m done being scared to tell people what happened.” Lorelei laughed.

“This one. Right here. Where you threw me threw a window.” Lorelei laughed again.

“That never happened” Josh laughed.

“Oh, then I guess this scar in the middle of my back is just a figment of my imagination” She laughed pulling the shirt up.

“No there’s a scar there. But it’s not from me.” He laughed again.

“Yeah, you think you are slick Josh but I was with you guys that night.” Alex stepped in between him and I.

“You shut your mouth Alex” Josh sneered.

“Or what” she scoffed.

“I’ll make sure you do.” He hissed.

“Actually you won’t be touching her. Or Lorelei. Ever again.” I stepped in between.

“Oooh the big bad boyfriend” he laughed.

“The big bad boyfriend you don’t have to worry about.” Lorelei laughed pushing herself between us.

“What’s that supposed to mean sweetheart?” Josh laughed.

“It means you stay far away from Alex and myself. Or we will have serious problems Josh.” She sneered in his face.

“You’ve never been able to take me down before, how do you think you got all those bruises” Josh laughed.

“Because I was a girl who didn’t understand the world. Now I know more then you think I would” She hissed.

“Why don’t you just go cry to Axeton” Josh hissed back.

“You know it’s funny you say that. But I could just break your arm” Lorelei laughed.

“You couldn’t fight back before. What makes you think you’d be able to do it now?” Josh laughed.

“Because now.” She hissed grabbing his arm and shoving him to the ground. “I can do this” she smirked as she twisted his arm behind his back until it cracked and his screams bellowed around us.

“What the f**k?!” he screamed in pain.

“Stop f*****g with me” She laughed droping his arm as he screamed louder.

“Man that looks bad” Alex laughed.

“You should probably go to the hospital” Lorelei smirked.

“You ready to go?” She asked as she walked to my side.

“Yeah” I smiled. I watched this 5’2 petite woman take down a grown man, and as it was happening I couldn’t help but smile.

As we exited the party Lorelei was on a whole different level of high, I couldn’t imagine having to face everyone like that and still be able to take down her abuser. This was the first time I have seen her in her own environment, I thought she would look or feel helpless but no she never once did. She was welcomed with open arms to that party and faced probably the worst thing she would have to. Now it's my turn.

Although I felt nervous about meeting her family, I felt a little better knowing she just stood tall to someone who once made her feel small.

“We’re here!” She screamed as we pulled in the driveway. She barely left the car stop before opening the door. I chuckled as I watched her excitement.

“Hey slow down” I yelled as I got out of the car.

“Sorry” She said sheepishly.

“No need to be sorry Lorelei I just don’t want to walk in alone” I smiled as she wrapped her arms around my arm.

“Yeah” she said lowly as I felt her body tense.

“You okay?” I asked concerned.

“I haven’t been back here in a week and although that doesn’t seem like long it could’ve been just long enough for everything to change” She confessed.

“I'm sure not much has changed. How much could change in a week?” I asked happily.

“You’ve never met my mother” she scoffed at the thought.

“Okay” I said lowly.

“Come on” She smiled and drug me inside.

As she opened the door she looked a little taller, and a little smaller as she walked in. This house was beautiful but the mystery was, was Crissy going to be worse now that I’m here? Or better because I’m here?

“Lorelei?” I heard a man’s voice say as we walked around the corner.

“Hey Axe” I could hear her voice crack a little.

“What’s going on?” Axeton asked confused.

“I’m not sure. But it’ll be okay” She answered her voice cracking more. I didn’t realize what was happening until I saw Axeton.