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RECAP: So Clara kinda dissed Natalie which made Natalie tell Alec about Jake and Clara's kiss. Clara still loves Alec but is confused about Jake and to top it all off Alec somehow knows that Conrad Henderson is his real father.

I QUITE TRULY APOLOGISE FOR THIS CHAPTER.

"For starters you can tell me if Conrad Henderson was my real father or not."

There were a lot of things I could have said at that moment of time and there were a lot of things I wished he would have said.

To be totally honest you've just got Punked! would have been my top choice but instead Alec just stood across me staring at me his face determined and expectant.

Well fuck.

How did he find out?

"What do you mean?" I finally manage to say,"W-Why me?

He scans my face and sighs and then reaches his jacket pocket an takes out an envelope.

A pink envelope.

That bloody bitch.

"Alec where did you get that?" My voice shakes despite myself.

"Read what's inside."

There is a note, of course written completely in pink.

Seems you've been having daddy issues lately, you're digging here and there and it's starting to get messy. Just ask you're pretty little blonde girlfriend instead won't you? Who knows what she may know?

P.S: I meant the uglier younger of the Wilson sisters, it gets really hard to keep track which one you're with right now.

I am going to kill her.

"During the reading of the will Mr Henderson left me quite a large sum of money." He starts,"For him maybe nothing but none the less large and with that a letter."

"Most of it I didn't understand at that time." Alec continues,"But he said that I was his son, a better son than Jake could be."

Bloody dickwad.

"I thought it may have been metaphorically But then he started talking about my mother, about how..." Alec broke off,"I didn't know what to think. So I went through my mothers things a few weeks back and I found this old envelope with a New York address which I checked was Conrad Henderson's old residence."

I keep quiet a billion things racing through my head.

"And then this letter came day before." He says,"I thought it was a joke for some time, but it isn't, is it?"

I look up at him trying to keep my face as steady as possible,"What else can it be?"

"Clara stop lying to me." His tone is harsh,"You owe me an answer."

"I'm not-"

"Clara!"

I jump back at his tone and I know he's angry, pissed even. Forget me cheating on him this was worse this was way way worse but this was not my secret to tell.

But it was his to know.

"I think you've lied enough to me." He says trying to control his anger,"Just for once, just tell me the truth."

"What, do you possibly want me to tell you?" I say,"The man is dead Alec-"

"I want you to tell me the truth." He says,"I want you to stop lying. I want you to stand there in front of me like the Clara I knew would and tell me the truth. She would know that you of all people have no right to keep this from me-"

"Yes!" I yell,"Yes Conrad Henderson is your biological father."

Alec takes a step back as if he's been shot. I try to reach him but he takes another step back and he looks hurt more than anything else.

"How long have you known?" He asks silently,"How do you know?"

I take a deep breath,"Alec let's talk about this-"

"I am not going anywhere until you tell me the truth."

"What truth do you want?" I say helplessly,"What-"

"I want you to tell me why you lied to me." He says,"I want you tell me why you cheated on me and most of all I want you to tell me why you didn't tell me about this when this was not your secret to keep."

"It's not my secret to tell either." I say quietly.

"It's him, isn't it?" He says,"Jake? He's the reason you haven't said anything. Did he ask you to hide this?"

Without even waiting for an answer Alec has already turned around. I'm frozen in shock staring after him unable to understand what exactly he was trying to do.

A wave of blind panic overwhelms me as I put two and two together and I force my feet forward catching up with Alec.

I grab Alec's wrist pulling him back,"Alec you can't." I say frantically,"You can't tell Jake, it will ruin him."

He laughs humourlessly,"Ruin him. Ruin him? It's not his world that's been turned upside down and yet all you can think about is him."

"That's not true." I say,"You have got to understand-"

"I don't understand." He interrupts,"My world around me is crumbling and the one person who I thought I could trust has been lying to me all this time. So tell me Clara what do you want me to understand?"

"I know Alec but I didn't have a choice." I continue helplessly,"How was I supposed to tell you? What was I supposed to tell you? Conrad Henderson may have been you're biological father but-"

"And who the hell are you to make that decision Clara?" He accuses and I flinch ,"Because it was not your decision to make and don't say you did this for me because you sure as hell did not."

"It was Conrad Henderson who told me, okay?" I say,"And even if I wanted to tell you I couldn't. He had made it very clear that if I opened mouth I wouldn't like the consequences."

He steps back so shocked that it completely wipes the anger from his face replacing it with utter confusion. I take advantage if that and grab his hand,"Alec please, I did it to protect you."

He rips his hands from mine,"Protect me? Are you even listening to yourself? Don't even start on this excuse. We both know if you really cared about me then you would have told me."

"That's not true-"

"Yes, it's true Clara." He says,"Don't lie to me. You did this for him, you're still doing this for him because once again you've chosen him over me."

"I chose you! I chose you!" I yell,"I couldn't tell you this because I was scared of what it would do to you Alec. I did this because I love you."

"I'm having a hard time believing that."

"Don't you dare." I say trying to control the tears that were threatening to spill out,"You can accuse me of lying and a lot of other things but don't you for a second think that you have the right of accusing me of not loving you."

We stare at each other silently his jaw set and his face torn between anger and pure despair.

"Then how could you do this?" He says softly,"How could you lie to me? How could you cheat on me?"

I look down unable to meet his eyes. We both stand in the heavy silence trying out best not to drown in it.

"He's been dead for a while now." Alec says,"Why didn't you tell me then? Why didn't you just tell me?"

I stay quiet staring at the floor.

"Do you know who sent this letter?" His voice is hoarse as if he barely has the energy to speak.

I close my eyes and give a small nod.

"Will you tell me?"

I shut my eyes and clench my fist tightly so much so that my nails dig into my palm.

"I-I cant."

He throws the letter on the floor and I flinch stepping back, my eyes still on the floor. He turns around promptly to walk away when I call out softly,"Alec, please."

He stops but doesn't turn around.

"You can't tell him." I say trying to keep my voice steady,"He doesn't know anything about this and he won't- he won't be able to handle it. If you love me-"

I pause for a second before taking a deep breath.

"If you still love me." I continue,"You will hate me for this, not him and not yourself. I can't tell you the whole truth even if I want to.If you love me even a little bit you'll just blame me and hate me for that. Just leave him out of this."

He stands there silently before finally saying,"I want to hate you, I want to hate you so so much but I can't. I can't because I'm in love with a girl called Clara Wilson. She's funny, she's smart and she was the one person I could depend on through everything. So I'll do it for her. I won't tell him for her sake, for the sake of the girl I fell in love with not for you because your are sure as hell not her. And until you find her and bring her back to me I can't even bare to look at you anymore."

This time when he walks away he doesn't stop even once. Mostly because I can't bring myself to ask him to.

________________

I'm surprisingly calm for the remainder of the day. Everyone steers clear of me in school clearly talking about me behind my back about the Natalie incident.

It's nothing short of a miracle that no one heard the conversation I had with Alec. No one suspected why he skipped the last two periods.

Although if I'm being perfectly honest I doubt their guesses would involve it was because he just found that his girlfriends ex who happens to be his step brother in reality is his actual half brother and his girlfriend knew all this while.

I answered all the questions thrown my way, I said yes to the two girls I've never known invite me to their party because all of a sudden I'm their new queen after Natalie got dethroned.

After school I went and asked Samantha for a ride.

She looked nothing short of shell shocked but she agreed. Rebecca was going to sit and watch Jeremy practice so Samantha could use the company, at least that's what she said.

It looked like if she had a choice she would have run away from me. Not that I blame her. I would have run away from me. But if I had that luxury I would have done it ages ago.

"So what's up with the pink envelope?"

I break out of my thoughts startled as I look at Samantha.

She juts her chin out pointing to the envelope which I had been subsequently crumpling and smoothing in my hands.

"Nah, it's nothing." I say.

Samantha nods getting the hint. That's what differentiated Rebecca and Samantha so much and at that moment I couldn't have been happier at that difference right now.

"So are you going to the game tomorrow?" She asks her eyes still focused on the road,"I hear it's a big game for Alec."

Which I may have just potentially ruined with a shake of my head.

"I'm not sure." I finally say,"I've been sick these past few days and I don't know if I'll be able to make the two hour journey there. Forget actually have it in me to cheer of anything."

And obviously there is the fact that Alec would probably throw a football at me if I do go, he probably wouldn't but if I had been his place I would.

"I think you should go for Alec." She says,"But I feel you, I hate football."

"I know." I say,"It was at the top of the list of reason why I should stop pining after Alec."

"Huh?" She says clearly taken aback.

"Yeah I think it was somewhere in third position after the reasons, Michella and Natalie, I don't know which one came first though." I say.

"Well things change, don't they?" She says,"You're with Alec and you just decimated any social standing Natalie had claiming the queen bee title of our school."

"Huh?"

"That's all everyone could talk about after the entire incident." She says,"They worship you, all of them. I was actually asked thrice what colour lipgloss you use."

We both stare at each other before we burst out laughing.

"Good god." I say relieved that some of the pressure on my chest has lifted,"I hope you said, black. Black like my soul."

"Please if I said that the emo kids would have become all to happy." She says,"I think I said something along the lines of Sparkling fuscia."

"Sparkling fuscia?"

"Sparkling fuscia." She says,"To be honest I was tempted to it take any random lip gloss out and start selling it. Trust me it would be the easiest 100 bucks I would have ever made."

"Now that's pushing it."

"Our school is filled with rich petty girls who want to be anyone but themselves." She says,"And currently they all want to be you. I mean who wouldn't? You've got the money. You've got the brains. If you actually make an attempt you could probably put all the plastics to shame and not to mention you've got the hot billionaire ex. And the cherry on top that you snatched Natalie's position as well as her boyfriend. And not only any boyfriend but our schools quarterback Alec Evans.So yeah I'm pretty sure I would have easily made a hundred bucks."

The slight resentment in her tone stings and I have to look out to try to make an attempt to calm myself.

"What are you telling me that I'm wrong?" She challenges her sudden mood swing starting to annoy me.

"Yes you are." I say.

She snorts,"Clara it's not exactly a bad thing-"

"You hate those things Samantha." I say,"So don't tell me that when you said all of that you didn't mean it as an insult."

"Okay maybe I did." She shrugs,"So what?"

"Is that why you've been acting so weird lately?" I ask,"Because you've been jealous?"

Her face goes green and she shakes her head,"I'm not jealous of your popularity, Clara."

"Are you sure about that?" I say,"Because you want the damn thing you can have it. I don't want to be popular. I don't care. I just want to be left alone."

"God, you think you're all that don't you?" She says,"The holier than thou person who thinks she's too good for all of us."

I'm too stunned to react as she continues,"This is exactly what drives me nuts. It's like you think you're better than everyone with your whole I don't care about popularity-"

"Why do care that I'm popular?It's ludicrous" I interrupt trying not to delve into just how ridiculous this entire conversation was,"You don't care what people think -"

"I lie." She says,"I lie, I do care okay! I do care what people think about me."

And them suddenly everything clicks to place. Her awkwardness, her avoiding me and her resentment.

She was acting exactly like me, the old me.

"People or person?"I ask quietly despite myself as she finally stops the car in front of my house.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"When you say you're jealous of my popularity you mean to say that you're jealous of all the attention in getting, mainly from a boy who I didn't get it from before."

We stay there in silence when I finally ask,"How long?"

"How long what?" Her voice is shaky.

"Just how long have you been in love with Alec?"

The silence in the car is almost deafening.

"The n-night I came crying to you." She starts,"I told you that I slept with Jeremy. I lied."

Okay now I was actually going to be physically sick. I open the door of her car getting out of it and almost sinking to my knees on the driveway.

"Y-you slept with Alec?" I say and then I shake my head,"You lost your virginity to Alec?"

"I couldn't tell you so I told you Jeremy." She says,"And the reason I wanted Rebecca to stay away from him was because he was the only other person who knew and-"

She cuts off seeing my face which probably displayed the mix of emotions that was running on fast forward in my mind.

"You can't judge me on that" she replies,"You slept with Jake-"

"Yes! Yes! I fucking slept with Jake Henderson because I was in love with him." I yell,"Get over it."

"You clearly haven't." She states.

I sigh,"Is this where you're going to give me a lecture saying how you deserve Alec more than i-"

"Don't be stupid." She I interrupts,"If I really thought that then I would have told you this long ago. Cause you and Alec are effing perfect for each other. No wait- you're perfect for everyone aren't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like." She snaps,"How can anyone even compare to you? The smart, pretty, rich blonde? I didn't tell you because I knew it wouldn't mean anything to him. After all you've loved him for so long and it was only a matter of time before you got together."

"Pushing you towards Alec was the only way I can convince myself that I can't compare myself to you. That the two of you are perfect so I'll get over him because I don't stand a chance."

"But you're not all as holy and virtuous as you're decked up to be are you?" She accuses,"You're a lying cheating whore and you're so clearly using Alec that everyone can see it except you and him."

Her eyes are blazing and I can see that she mirrors the exact same expression Alec did. Disappointment and rage.

"You were better Clara." She says,"That's the reason that night when I came to crying I wanted to tell you everything but I couldn't."

"But now that you're with him and I can barely look at you at times knowing just what a bitch you are." She says and then laughs with no humour,"But he's still in love with you."

I can't wrap my head around just how messed up this exactly is.

She's in love with Alec.

She deserves Alec.

I don't.

"What exactly are you trying to prove Samantha?" I ask coldly,"That you deserve him more than me and like some crazed girl you're going to take him from me just because you slept with him once? Seems kind of pathetic doesn't it?"

Her mouth turns into a smile but it's anything but friendly,"Yeah it seems like I'm pulling a Clara Wilson here. But unlike her I don't get things as easy."

The words hit me so hard that I almost stumble back. I have to physically keeps self from bawling on my driveway while collapsing into a big mess.

She echoes everything Natalie has said to me almost word to word and I realise just how angry I am.I had come to my tipping point. It wasn't because she was in love with Alec in fact I was disturbingly okay with it in fact at this point the fact that she slept with Alec is not even that shocking.

It's almost as if I expect him to do it, first my ex best friend, then my sister. I mean statistically Samantha has a special spot reserved on that list.

But I was still mad and it was the fact that she had the guts to come up to my face and tell me that I had it perfect and easy.

That I got everything I got everything I wanted.

I was angry because I knew exactly how untrue that was.

"Yes Samantha I do have the perfect life." I say coldly and rather stiffly and somehow the next words that follow aren't quite mine,"And I want you to get the hell out ofit."

I don't tell her just how much I need her to be there.Just how far from perfect my life really was but I didn't care at that point.

I never had my parents but I had lost Natalie, my sister, I had lost Jake, I've almost most definitely lost Alec so it was only fitting that Samantha would follow and maybe after a while Rebecca.

So this time I was not going to fight it, I was going to leave the door wide open and then kick her out.

She steps back trying to mask her sudden hurt and shock but she regains her cool quickly,"Gladly Clara, have fun pretending that what you're doing is okay."

If I don't then I'll fall apart at the seams and this time there would be no one to help me stitch myself back together.

So I stand there in my driveway unmoving as Samantha speeds away.

And then I somehow tell my feet to work and take me towards the house. I open the door much more violently than needed and slam it shut with a loud bang.

My eyes then travel to my hand in which I had tightly clutched the pink envelope and then I reached for my mobile.

At that point I would have done anything to crawl under my bed sheet and never come out again.

But I couldn't do that to Alec.

I sigh as I dial a number I wish I had never saved.

"Well, I was starting to wonder when you would call me." The voice on the other end drawled,"I was starting to think that blondie would keep his mouth shut. He doesn't look too smart. I mean I just don't get how you can go from Ja-"

"Cut the crap Spencer." I interrupt drily,"Why did you send the note?"

[To all those who don't remember who Spencer is, she's the girl who Clara had met in New York, who loves pink and also happens to be Eric's sister. Eric is the guy who Jake got tangled with to supposedly kill his father.]

"Why, you hurt my feelings." She says,"Here I thought I was having a conversation with my bestie catching up on the latest episode of Keeping Up with Clara Wilson."

"Oh and do you want me to come over and braid your hair too while you're at it?" I offer sarcastically.

She giggles,"No need to get so touchy, like I said I did it to get your attention."

"Well you certainly got it." I respond.

"I take it from your tone that blondie didn't react well?" She says,"I mean sure you guys maybe a cute couple and all but you look like siblings. If I really wanted to see that Id just watch Game of Thrones."

"Get to the fucking point."

"Fine." She says,"Your boyfriend, the blonde Henderson has been searching for the truth, for some time now and he's starting to get messy."

I scrunch up my eyebrows confused. He made it sound like a hunch or a speculative guess when he asked me about Conrad Henderson then what in the name was Spencer trying to say.

"Him getting messy means that people are starting to get suspicious." She says,"Meaning suspicious enough to connect the dots as to who exactly he is."

"What people?"

"The kind who would like to watch a billion dollar company crumple to it's knees." She says.

"Sounds like your charming brother."

She stays quiet for a second contemplating as to what she's going to say next.

"Point is that Alec is not only is Daddy Henderson's son, but he's an older son." She continues,"Not that it would matter that much because Jake's named in the will."

"Then what's the problem?"

"The Board of directors are not a hundred percent sure of Jake." She starts.

"And how do you know that?"

"I know everything." She says,"And it was all over the papers. Although Jake holds majority of the shares his father was adamant that he can't take over before he's twenty unless of course the board thinks he's ready."

"Which they obviously won't."

"Of course not." She says,"As long as Jake is out of the picture they have the power."

"How does Alec fit in?"

"If they can prove Jake unreliable enough then they can put Alec in his position instead without causing to much upheaval because he is in fact a Henderson ." Spencer's says,"I'm sure pretty blondie may have some amount of brains but they are basically going to use him as a puppet. Which is why you need to stop him from digging around. "

I stay quiet for sometime to choose my next words carefuly,"Have you ever considered that maybe that's exactly what Jake needs an out from the destiny that has been chosen for him?"

My mind briefly flashes to the time when I had quiet cut my finger and he had carefully wrapped it up. I had teased him about being a doctor to which he had said that it was ludicrous for him to even think about something apart from being the next heir to his fathers company.

"The last time Jake tried to go down this particular rabbit hole, that is this business with his fathers other son he got involved with a gang to hatch a plan to kill his father."

"His father is dead."

She stays silent for some time,"But ironically it wasn't Jake's fault. Conrad thought he had the entire game in his hands but one stupid move and sheer dumb luck and he ended up losing big time. It wasn't Jake's fault."

"He thinks it is though, doesn't he?" I ask.

"I'm not sure but I think he's more rattled by the fact that the hit that was meant for him got his father killed instead."

It was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

"W-What do you m-m-mean by that?" My voice was shaking so badly that I can barely understand what I was saying.

She seemed to get it though,"So I get it that he didn't tell you. Haven't you ever wondered why I asked you that night where Jake was? Why I was so frantic about him? It was because Jake was supposed to be in the car going with his father to Prague. No one knew Conrad Henderson was in the car. It was assumed that Jake-"

My breath hitched,"But he wasn't."

"Because he was with you apparently, last minute plans I suppose." She finishes.

I let that sink in.

It doesn't.

"Eric had a vendetta and I pushed him the wrong way. So he turned the tables onto Jake instead. There was no special intel required for Jake." She says,"When he saw he couldn't sink his claws into Daddy Warbucks he decided to go for Junior. Its what he saw as fair."

"I didn't hear about it until later." She says her voice much quieter,"And I thought..."

She didn't have to complete the sentence.

"So believe it or not you answering the phone in that high pitched completely oblivious voice of yours was actually a relief." She completes.

"Is Eric still after Jake?"

"As if." Spencer retorts,"He's not going to threaten Jake at least not yet. Our father doesn't need the upheaval that comes with displacing Jake. Eric won't threaten Jake directly as long as he's favoured by daddy. Daddy's already pissed with the fact that Eric almost killed Jake."

"So Jake is safe?" I ask slowly.

"Unless he dies of alcohol poisoning then yes." She says,"He was a tank when he I found him."

"Y-you found him?" I ask confused.

"Yes. About three weeks back after he did the disappeared off the face of the earth stunt." She says,"Very very drunk."

If someone had tried to kill me I would be to. If my father had died instead I would have been worse.

"Look the thing is Clara." She says,"It's Jake's choice to give up the thing that his father left for him but more than that if blondie's secret leaks out and he takes over instead Eric has a free reign because then Jake is not our fathers concern."

"Eric will kill him?" I can barely hear my own voice. My mouth was getting drier and drier.

"Debatable." She says,"I think he rather kill you though. He doesn't like you very much, apparently you really ticked him off and the plus point is that Jake who he hates even more than you is willing to go to almost any length for you.Jake is terrified about you mainly. That since he escaped Eric will take it out on you instead. He probably will.Why else do you think Jake was killing himself slowly with alcohol all that while?"

I dropped the phone, I quite literally and dramatically dropped the phone staring ahead.

That's not my problem, that's what he had old me the day he left me.

What a fucking liar.

I picked up the phone again taking a deep breath composing myself.

"Okay Spencer what do you need me to do?" I ask.

I can almost hear the smile on her face,"Tell blondie to stop digging and keep his mouth shut."

"You do know that may not be possible, right?"

"And why is that?"

Because I fucked up with Alec really bad and he deserves to know.

"He won't agree."

I definitely wouldn't.

"Then get creative." She says,"Or else it's just a matter of time this comes out. And if it does.. Well then everything goes to hell."

I'm barely hearing her now my mind nagging on to one question.

"What's stopping Eric from doing it right now? Killing me?" I challenge. For some reason I'm beyond caring about the fact that I'm not even the slightest bit disturbed by the fact that I was being threatened.

Spencer actually pauses for a second,"Because Eric isn't sure about your attachment to Jake anymore and as much as he would liked to, he can't just kill you for no reason because you're not all that unimportant either. But I've made a deal with Eric about you, he won't touch you as of now. That was the only way to get Jake back from drinking himself to an early death."

"So all you need to do is tell your pretty blonde boyfriend to back off," she continues,"Tell him the truth for all I care."

"I can't tell him that." I hiss,"If he comes to know about all of this. He will get himself into this mess."

She pauses and then starts,"Oh yeah he will probably get himself killed the first second he tries to anything. As many people want Alec to displace Jake almost as many if not more want Jake to be on top. Conrad Henderson was a very thorough man. He made sure that his life's work would be protected even after his death. Safe in Jake's hands."

"So you're going to have to put someone up for slaughter," She says,"Give you're dear Alec answers about his family then you're potentially signing off Jake losing everything. All because you were to scared to break apart your dear boyfriends twisted version of a fairy tale where he finds all the answers about the evil king, gets the girl, slays the ridiculously hot black haired green eyes dragon and lives happily ever after . To be honest I don't even see how this is a choice."

"It's not." I breath surprising myself,"but how do you propose me to-"

"Jake has made it quite literal to Eric that he will probably take a bullet for you that night in the hotel room. You know it, I know it. " She says,"So are you tell me that you can't fucking find a way your boyfriend to push away his daddy issues aside? From what I have read I assure you that he's had a better relationship with his parents than all the rest of us."

"He has the-"

"I don't care." She says,"See Clara I can't give two shits about you or pretty boy there. I'm doing this for Jake so usually I wouldn't even courtesy call and wipe out the problem as in blondie but I owed you one."

"How-"

"Well if it hadn't been your stupid act of being a needy girlfriend Jake Henderson would be buried seven feet into the ground."

I gulp. Losing Jake like that..

Suddenly I didn't feel so good.

That's been happening a lot lately. But this was much worse.

"I'm telling you this in simple terms Clara."she says,"You have to tell him to stop and it's your job to keep the name Alec Henderson being uttered to anyone because if it does come out it will ruin Jake and like I said I only give a shit about him."

"And you think I don't?" I ask.

"I don't care." She says,"Like I said I only give a shit about him and he clearly gives more than shit about you. Which is why I'm doing this. Besides Jake's position is precarious as it is. He threw a fit to come back to you. Granted he did it smartly in a way no one can question him but that just pissed the old hags on the board even worse. They can't manipulate Jake which is why they are desperate to kick him out."

"He threw a fit to come back?"I say and Spencer lets out an irritated sigh.

"Yes, he did. He used this entire high school business and that Dassen girl, Leah was it? Whatever it was basically his means of displaying the pathetic loving from afar." She says,"Especially since he would know just how stupid it would be to have any sort of relationship with you right now."

"Oh goodie." I say drily.

That's why Jake left because he knew Eric would come after me and that's why he refuses to tell me the truth.

"Spencer?" I say cautiously,"Why exactly does Eric hate the Hendersons so much?"

"Conrad Henderson is the reason our mother is dead." She states emotionlessly,"Our father doesn't believe too much into revenge and to be honest he didn't care that much for her but Eric does."

"And you still help Jake?"

She laughs but this time it had no humour in it,"I don't hold anything against him. Even if I did it certainly wouldn't be the sins of a father he worked so hard to distance himself from."

"Wow and I thought I had family issues."

"Oh our families our connected in ways you can't imagine Clara dear." She says lightly and then adds" I hope you know that in order to save your ass as well as Jake's your not only going to have to tell blondie to stop but eventually you're going to have to tell Jake to come back to New York."

"So that he can be a sitting target in front of Eric?" I say,"No thank you."

"Good god how thick are you?" She says,"He's alive because my father wants him on the damn head of the company and he clearly can't do it if he's trying the entire Romeo angle with you."

I stop on my tracks.

"I don't care what you're going to do Clara, But for now I suppose this is it. I really do hope you stop blondie And clean up his mess because if it comes to a choice between them I know who I would choose."

"I hope you understand that Jake and you are probably never going to happen even if you manage to leave blondie so I really hope you manage to do what's right." She pauses," Because Dead girls make for shitty competition."

She giggles and them slams the phone down.

_____________________

"Clara what are you doing here?"

Yeah what was I doing here?

Right I was here to to break my heart into a zillion pieces, again.

It's Ashley who opens the door and asks me the question to which I smile or at least try to,"Hi Ashley, is Jake here? I need to talk to him."

She looks so shocked that I would laughed had it not been for the situation. I briefly wonder just how much she knew about what had passed between Jake and I.

"N- No he's not here." She says,"I don't know where he is. Or wait he did say something about football practice. If that's true he should be coming home soon."

Right. Football practice. Shit like football goes on while my world is quite literally falling to pieces, nice to know.

"What about Alec?" I ask carefully. I still wasn't two sure about their housing arrangements although as far as I could make out he came only came to this house for dinner and that also rarely.

"I don't think he's coming here today." She replies carefully.

"Okay."

I turn around to go back when she says,"Don't be silly come in, I've been dying to talk to you."

No, please let me go don't make me stay here, give me time so I can talk myself out what I'm about to do.

"You have?" I say softly.

"Yeah." She says,"Why do you seem so shocked?"

Cause lately whenever someone wanted to talk to me ended up dropping an atom bomb.

Ohmgeee I slept with your boyfriend and have been in love with him for two years.

Ohmgeee is my stepbrother who just happens to be your ex's father my real one?

Ohmgeee let me go stand in the middle of a fucking storm and declare that everything we shared was real despite walking out on you after we slept together.

And now I was probably going to stop the double patty whopper of bombs.

Good god my life was like a Burger King:unlimited refills of drama.

"yeah I'm sorry it's just that-"

Before I can finish the door opens revealing Jake looking completely disheveled and dirty.

And still he manages to look fucking perfect.

Almost immediately I have an urge to run away but I'm frozen on the spot.

I can't do this.

I can't do this.

I have to do this.

I can't, I can't, I can't.

"Jake don't you have a bath there?" Ashley comments,"You look like you got trampled over by a horde of pigs."

She stands up and goes closer to him and then makes a face,"Extremely dirty and smelly pigs at that."

Jake gives her his classic smug grin,"Please my manly scent has-"

His eyes widen and he cuts off as he notices me.

I manage a small smile,"Oh please go on about the intriguing tale about your manly scent."

Ashley rolls her eyes, she's about to say some thing but thinks otherwise and says awkwardly,"So I have things to do. I'll be going then."

Jake's still looking at me standing a few feet away from the door as Ashley exits.

He tears his gaze away setting his bags on the counter,"Alec didn't take it well. He was quite rage roller today. Hate to tell you but Prince Charming has a temper."

"Did he-" I swallow,"Do-"

"No. He avoided me." Jake replies keeping his tone even,"I was sure that he'd probably come punch me."

"If you were in his place what would you have done?"

"I'm not."

The silence is bearing heavily down us and I know what I have to say, what I have to do but I can't bring myself to do it.

I'm selfish.

I'm a coward.

"You didn't blame it completely on me did you?" He asks his tone light but there is something more behind it.

"No."

"Why?"

You have to leave him, that's your best option. That's what you've come to do.

It can never happen.

I take a step forward and then another until I'm so close to him that I can feel his breath on me.

And I open my mouth to do the right thing, to tell him to go away because it what the old Clara would have done. She would have been selfless and let them go.

But I'm not her.

She's not the one who Alec looked at with the kind of hatred that would have destroyed her, she's not the one who just lost the boy she loved forever.

She's not the one whose best friend hates her for being with the boy she loves and then breaking his heart.

I am.

And I know I need to tell him to go away, to push Jake Henderson out of my life for all our sakes.

Instead I kiss him.

___________

Author:*stands and slowly claps* this girl needs help, stat.

Spencer:Like your grammar.

Author:*rolls eyes* so anyway sorry guys for this really really really late update but I just couldn't figure out what to do with this chapter, like seriously it has so many plots unravelling at once that it's confusing. Plus I was on vacation for like two weeks. *fans self* thank you Spain and it's beaches. Seriously guys if you want to see hot guys go to Costa Costa Brava or Barcelona. Especially the beaches. *drools for some time until she figures out everyone is watching her so she clears her throat* Anyway I promise that the next update will be soon.

Clara: You said that the last time.

Author:Yeah well your life is messy, you try writing it.

Clara: I'm pretty sure Id do a better job.

Author:*narrows eyes* I'd like to see you try

Clara:Fine! *Holds up clapboard* Presenting Clara's version of the guy next door.

Jake: I want you.

Alec: I want you too.

Clara:*turns out to be a master assassin who kicks their ass and leaves them out in the dust and then becomes master of the universe*

THE END.

*Jake and Alec stare gape mouthed*

Jake:Is it really sad that I find that extremely hot?

Alec:*sighs and pats his back* There with you buddy

Clara:*rolls eyes* boys I tell you. Oh I forgot to tell you about the part where I steal both of your clothes and tie you guys together naked and leave you out in the desert.

*Alec and Jake both stare at each other awkwardly and then Alec withdraws hand and steps away. Both of them look awkwardly around whistling*

Author:*scratches non existent beard* I like it. I'll make sure to add it somewhere

Jake:Well if you incest. See what I did there?

*Everyone groans*

Alec: To soon.

Author: Now if that's done. Last time I'd asked everyone to write the cheesiest and lamest pick up line. So the award has to go to my friend Anna (Its_Called_Sarcasm and her does this smell like chloroform line. God I was laughing way to much that along with her my love is like diarrhoea in just can't hold it in and also to @laugh_it_up and her did you just fart? Because you blew me away line.

God if anyone falls for that get your head checked and as for the chloroform one, god help you.

Special mention to @kindlove706 and all her pick up lines most of which is actually really good.

Anyway I'll update soon I promise.

Dedication goes to the commentor who can come up with the best threat preferably funny to get me to update soon.

Jake:so don't forget to comment, vote and tell is what you think.

Author: love you guys until next time.

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