It was slightly breezy. Alexia propped up the collar of her jacket and firmly kept stepping forwards on the sidewalk, clouds escaping her lips whenever she exhaled. The weather was inclement, completely ruthless. Although it was January, it was still cold like winter had just begun.

Her eyes trailed over her shoes as she walked; thinking about this whole situation. There was this Jason thing... Honestly she just simply could not ignore that man. She physically and mentally couldn't do it. Trying to ignore Jason was like pulling away from your only source of happiness, your only source of insurance. Surely it wasn't dramatic like that in reality, but there was still a similarity.

She'd lied to herself for the past years. She'd told herself she loved Damian and she wanted to marry him, and for a good while she believed it. But now, being faced with feelings that were a hundred times more intense, she realized she'd never loved him. Cared for him? Of course. Being that close to someone for such a long while did that. But love? Being in love?

Definitely not. Jason had her twirled around his finger without even trying. He could give her an indescribable feeling by kissing her, touching her or even just talking to her. His voice was like a drug—it calmed her down and made her believe everything would just be fine. But the minute Jason would leave, all the panic would start rushing back.

She needed Jason.

That thought kept repeating itself in her mind.

However, feelings or not, there was still a second problem.

Her wedding.

Alexia had never felt the pressure more than now, when she wanted nothing rather than to back out of it. She knew that Jason would try anything to help her, to make sure she had a choice... But how was he planning on doing that? In the end she was the only one who could do anything. What exactly could he do other than to try and persuade her into calling it quits?

Was it worth it? This wasn't only her breaking it off with Damian, this was her breaking it off with her entire family. What would she do without her dad? Her brothers? Catalina? Even Carina and baby Toby. It was a big risk to take. Was she willing to lose nearly all of the people that mattered to her the most?

A loud laughter erupted from behind her and Alexia chuckled humourlessly, not turning around. She was glad at least some people were enjoying this trip to the bridal salon.

"Are you okay sweetie?" Cat's voice popped next to her and she quickly looked up, curling her lips into a fake smile. "Yeah, I'm fine Cat."

Cat grabbed Alexia's hand and gently squeezed it.

"I can't believe my little sister is getting married!"

Alexia huffed. "I can't believe it either."

Cat didn't reply and pulled her beanie further over her head, muttering something about this God damned weather before she turned her attention back to her little sister, who was in deep thoughts again.

"Are you... nervous? You seem nervous." She said.

Alexia shrugged. "I guess."

She was extremely nervous. What the hell was she going to do? Was she going to choose a simple, not expensive dress? She had to keep in mind that there was a chance they may have to return the dress, for when the wedding doesn't go through.

On the other side... God she loved clothing. Dresses in particular. As a little girl she used to cut the widest, most princess like dresses out of bridal magazines and glue them to the walls everywhere, causing her mother to throw cutlery at her.

Besides, a princess dress? It reminded her of Jason.

Yeah, but you're not marrying him now, are you?

Ugh.

"Don't be nervous. We'll find the perfect dress for you, I promise." Cat spoke, but she quickly added, "unless you're nervous about something else."

Alexia really, really wanted to tell her big sister about this dilemma she was having. She was 100% sure Cat would support her no matter what would happen. Cat loved Jason and she adored him and Alexia together as a couple.

But Cat was known for not being able to shut her mouth, and Alexia could not risk this getting out.

"We'll find something. I'm not worried." She replied, trying to smile. Cat pulled up one eyebrow and nodded slowly.

"Cat? Was the divorce with... you know, hard?"

Cat had recently (or not so recently anymore) gotten a divorce from the man she was married to for two years. Poor Cat was devastated.

Cat sighed and looked at the sky. "God, yes."

She lowered her head back to normal and shook it, looking at Alexia. "I think I've never been in so much pain in my life. H-He was everything to me and I would've never imagined that we'd get a divorce."

Alexia furrowed her eyebrows. "Was it also hard with your first husband?"

Her sister snickered. "You make me sound like such a diva. I've already been divorced twice and I'm not even in my thirties! But to answer your question; no. He was not a good man and the only reason I married him in the first place was because mom," she rolled her eyes, "thought we were a good match. I thought I loved him—don't get me wrong. I wouldn't marry him otherwise. But the shit he did to me? I honestly felt like I was married to a stranger. Men change when you're married. It's like, they've already got you, so why would they make any effort to make you feel happy or something like that?"

Alexia thought about that. "So you were not hurt at all?"

"No I was, but that's just the drama that comes with a divorce. You've seen how much people discussed my divorce for nearly a year. In our community we can't afford doing stuff like that. I mean obviously I was a tiny bit hurt that my marriage had failed, but in the end I felt nothing but relief." Cat shrugged.

"And fortunately Stefano and Teo beat the guy up afterwards." Alexia started laughing, remembering how her brothers had come back home with straggly hair and angry faces.

Cat's laugh was loud and overpowering, earning the attention of the posse that was following them to the bridal store. "Fortunately." She hiccupped, clearly remembering that day.

After a few minutes they arrived to the store and Alexia bravely walked inside like there was nothing to be scared of.

The second she saw all the white, her legs turned mushy and her lips parted both in awe and disgust. Awe because, duh, wedding dresses, and disgust because she was buying a dress for a wedding she didn't want to be a part of.

Alexia had brought her mother, Damian's mother, Cat, Chloe and Damian's sisters. They were both conniving bitches that were loving this wedding. Damian being the leader of the business? It would rank them number one in the social list and also get them all the money they wanted.

Alexia stayed nice though, she was just as conniving herself.

She chuckled softly at the thought and shook it off, her gaze trailing through the store. It was big and had few dresses hung up, but she was sure they had an entire empire in the back.

A short lady walked up to them and stuck out her hand. "My name is Pam. Is one of you Alexia Valdez, perhaps?"

Alexia took a deep breath and stepped forwards, shaking Pam's hands. "That would be me."

"Hello Alexia! Congratulations," She exclaimed. Alexia dismissively thanked her. Pam led them to a sitting area somewhere in the gigantic store and left everyone she'd taken with her on the couches.

"I'm taking you to fit some dresses. Are you ready?"

NO.

Alexia smiled sweetly. "Yes."

Pam clapped her hands. "Alright! What about you guys? Are you ready?" She looked at the six people on the couches. They all excitedly nodded and Pam took a hold of Alexia's hands, pulling her away from her squad.

Pam talked a lot. She must have switched the subject not less than seven times before they reached a changing room, ordering Alexia to undress and wear the robe they'd put out for her. "Before I go," she muttered, "do you have any idea what kind of dress you want?"

Alexia thought about it. Tight, or not? A-line? Ballroom? With or without trail?

Damian would love a tight, long dress. That's for sure.

"I have no idea, surprise me." She smiled stiffly and Pam took that as her cue to leave, mumbling something inaudible under her breath. Alexia sighed and grabbed the robe, undressing.

She couldn't help but wonder... what would Jason want to see her in? In what dress would his eyes pop?

Her body burned longingly and she let herself fall down on the chair, staring at herself in the mirror. Without even realizing it, she grabbed her phone and called Jason.

It rung three times before he answered. "Hey. What's up?"

God, his voice is so raspy.

She instantly felt exhilarated. Hearing his voice was like being home.

"Just... wanted to call you." Alexia muttered sheepishly. Jason hummed on the other side of the line, breathing out an "Ah..."

"So what are you doing?" She tried giving the conversation a go. He was silent for a short while before he replied. "I'm a little tiny tiny super little bit high right now. Thought I'd pay my old pal Bumper a visit. He always has the best stuff for me." He let out a strange sound. Was that, was that a giggle?

Alexia chuckled. "Just a tiny bit though?"

"Just a tiny bit." He mumbled funnily, causing her to laugh.

"Uhuh.."

"I swear to God, Alexia."

"Okay, okay! I believe you." She defensively exclaimed, listening to the noises in the background. Her heart sunk into her chest when she heard a female voice call his name.

Jason murmured something she couldn't quite catch.

"What was that?" Alexia snapped sharply.

"That? Oh nothing." Jason said, and he said it in a way that definitely made it seem like it was nothing. She didn't buy it and clenched her teeth in irritation, crossing her legs.

"I heard a female voice."

There was some shuffling before he answered. "Yeah, that was just Tori."

"And that is..."

Jason laughed loudly. "I have no clue."

Alexia rolled her eyes dramatically, mimicking his words. I have no clue? As if! Every woman on the planet was after him, she's sure Tori is his new sex toy. What was he even doing having sex with women? Didn't he have more important things to do? Like study? Or hang out with his best friends?

Or have sex with Alexia?

"You don't believe me, huh?" He remarked. She scoffed. "Of course I don't."

"Well you should. You know I'd rather be with you than with her, right? If I could, I'd come right over to your house so we could-"

Jason cut himself off and left Alexia to think about what he was going to say. She frowned. "So we could what Jason?"

He groaned lowly. "Make the lovin'."

A faint blush rushed up her cheeks as she suppressed a small giggle, unable to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Jason never talked like that. To be quite honest, nobody talks like that.

"Make the lovin'? You're out of your mind." She tittered, peering at herself in the mirror again. It was a big mirror, kind of hard to not look at it.

"Maybe. Honestly Alexia, I want to fuck you so hard you won't be able to walk for three days straight." He gruffly mumbled. Once again she felt her body heat up and she awkwardly cleared her throat, crossing her legs some more. She wished she felt uncomfortable by this, but the only thing this comment caused was a pounding feeling in her lower stomach. For fuck's sake, who was she fooling? She wanted to be fucked hard by him.

"Yeah?" She let out croakily, closing her eyes. She tried very hard to not think about it, but the image of Jason caressing her body, their legs intertwined, sweating, moaning, panting...

Jason purred in response, his voice darker than usual. "Yeah baby, I do, fuck, I really do. Do you know how much strength it took me to not push you against the wall and pound my cock into you repetitively when we were on vacation?"

"No." Alexia breathed.

"It took everything inside of me to keep myself from doing it."

"Oh..."

He crooned, "It doesn't matter, I would've been satisfied by only finger fucking you. You like that, don't you? I know you do."

Her breathing faltered and she coughed, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"You know, seeing your tan, smooth thighs... I just wanted to bury my head between them. I want to taste you, baby."

The pounding in her stomach became stronger, her hand twitching with the ache to just get rid of the feeling herself. She swiftly repositioned herself, trying to ignore the arousing feeling she felt around her nipples and the throbbing downstairs.

"Jason..." She murmured, biting her lip. She could not do this right now. She was about to fit wedding dresses, God damned!

His breathing was deep. "Yeah, princess?"

"Do you know why I called?" Yes, she was about to ruin the mood, no, she didn't feel the least bit guilty.

"No?" He answered. Alexia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I, um, I needed advice.."

Jason snickered. "Advice?"

She decided to just spit it out. "I'mfittingweddingdressesandIdon'tknowwhattochoose."

He let out a grunt. "What? Alexia I didn't understand a word. Wedding dresses? You're fitting them? What? You know I fucking hate mumbling."

"Yeah."

It was silent. She could hear him breathing on the other side of the line, until he hung up.

She kept sitting on the stool, her phone in her hands and her legs crossed. The phone rang and she immediately picked up without saying a word. Jason was still breathing loudly.

"You should have a princess dress." He whispered.

Alexia swallowed, a hollow feeling in her abdomen. "Like, a ball gown?"

"I guess."

"Okay."

-

The anticipation was real. Alexia looked at the people on the couches hopefully, her hands nervously playing with the tulle of the skirt. She and Pam had found the perfect dress, one that made her look like an actual princess, and she'd fallen in love with it from the moment she'd laid her eyes on it.

All there was left was the approval of her family and friends.

Her mother was squinting her eyes, trying to take in every detail of the dress before she made a comment. Chloe was the first to break the silence, letting out a squeal.

"Alex! This is... beautiful." She smiled widely. Alexia couldn't help but grin, thanking her. Cat let out a sniff, wiping her eyes with a tissue. Alexia's mouth fell open. "Cat! Are you crying?"

"I can't help it! Jeez, you look better than I did. On both weddings." She brushed a perfectly manicured nail underneath her eye, getting rid of another tear.

Alexia gaped at her sister.

"Stop staring at me!" Cat snapped with a thick voice, trying to look angry. She couldn't and just ended up with a toothless smile, tears still streaming down her face.

Their mother shook her head. "Catalina! Behave." She hissed, as if Damian's mother and sisters weren't able to hear it. Alexia rolled her eyes and Cat did the same, looking at her mother in annoyance. "You should be the one crying."

"Why would I?"

Cat's eyes widened. "Your youngest daughter is getting married!"

Florencia merely shrugged, and turned away from Cat, looking at Alexia's dress again. Alexia clasped her teeth together. She hated her mother, but she still would've liked any kind of reaction.

"Are you nervous?" Alexia whispered, squeezing Jason's hand. He nodded, a steel look on his face as he took off his coat. She chuckled, also taking off her coat.

"What's so funny?" He hissed while looking around, his eyes wide at the beautiful interior. She softly nudged him with her elbow. "You being all nervous and stuff. It's cute."

Jason grunted, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

The door to the dining room smacked open and revealed an elegant woman in a purple dress, heels clicking on the marble floor as she neared the two. Alexia waved, adding a small "hey".

"Hey sissy!" Cat greeted, patting Alexia's shoulder, although her eyes were glued on Jason. "Who's this?"

Jason cleared his throat and put out his hand. "I'm Jason, Alexia's boyfriend." His voice shook slightly.

Cat shrieked. "Oh my God, you're Jason? Amazing! We don't shake hands, Jason, c'mere!" She pulled Jason into a tight hug, smelling his hair before she broke off the embrace, still smiling. He smiled back, but Alexia could tell he didn't know what to do.

"Jase, this is my sister Catalina. Cat for short." She introduced her sister. Jason nodded, still smiling. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too! Come on, let's go eat." Cat turned around and her heels clicked on the floor again. Alexia and Jason both followed her. Alexia leaned into his side as they walked.

"Enjoy this moment for as far as you can, my mother is in that room. This will not be a peaceful evening for you."

She didn't know why the hell she was remembering Jason's first time meeting her parents, but somehow the memory had slipped into her mind. Florencia had attacked poor 16-years old Jason the minute he'd walked in the dining room. He had properly introduced himself to everyone and gave Florencia the pie his own mom had made for her, and yet she was a criticising wench all the time, embarrassing even Emilio, who had apologized for his wife afterwards.

Alexia had always had no connection to her mother, but that evening was the final straw. It had torn her to pieces to see Jason's face when he kissed her good bye. He was unconvinced that Florencia just simply didn't like anyone and repeated the events of the dinner for weeks after, trying to find something he did wrong. After over a month he'd seen how she'd treated the girl Teo brought and he was over it. Over that one particular dinner, that is.

It seemed like he'd always been bothered by the fact that her mother didn't like him. Alexia knew where that came from. Jason totally adored his mother, and it hurt him that hers didn't even like him.

"I like it." Damian's mother remarked, her piercing eyes still burning holes through Alexia. She was surprised, Damian's mother (like her own) hated everything and everyone, including her son's fiancée. Alexia smiled. "Thank you."

"You'll have to lose some pounds to ultimately pull it off, though." The woman snarled, her feet impatiently wiggling. Alexia took a deep breath and ignored her. She knew it was too good to be true. Besides, it was a ball gown, no one would notice even if she lost twenty pounds.

"You have got to be kidding me! She looks perfect, Alexia is the thinnest person you know, for fuck's sake! Even your own daughters are bloated compared to her!" Cat exclaimed in disbelief.

Florencia gasped. "Catalina! You do not speak like that to Berta!" She turned around to meet Damian's mother's face, shooting an apologetic glance her way. "Let's go Berta, this is utmost crazy."

Both of the women stood up and walked away, like their daughter and daughter-in-law wasn't standing in front of them with a 200.000 dollars wedding dress on and her fists balled.

Damian's sisters, Katia and Lola sent daggers to Cat, also rising to their feet. "FYI, you called us 'bloated' compared to Alexia, but who has the fattest, disgusting ass out of all of us? I thought so." One of them snapped before exiting the sitting area.

Alexia snickered humourlessly and looked at Chloe, who seemed to be in shock. "Welcome to my life."

-

A heavy knock caused Alexia to eagerly get up from her desk and tiptoe to the door. She's been studying hard the entire day and any sort of distraction was enough for her to greedily take part in it –whatever it was.

Unless... It was Damian. Which it was.

"Hey Lex." He muttered, getting inside her room and closing the door behind him. She internally groaned and went back to the chair beside her desk, acting like she was really busy with studying.

She uncomfortably crossed her legs, annoyed with how he'd just walked in. It was true that she was wearing pyjamas, but still, they were kind of little.

Damian had of course noticed. "You're lucky I was at the door. What if it was one of your brothers? And they'd see you wearing that?"

Alexia pulled up her eyebrows and sat up straight, somehow not so bugged by her outfit anymore. "They're my brothers, they would, in no way, care about me wearing shorts and a shirt. All you can see are my legs."

He chuckled. "I can clearly see you're not wearing a bra."

"I'm at home, studying, why the hell would I wear a bra Damian?" She snapped, irritated. He was getting on her nerves already. He shrugged and she caught him sliding his eyes along her legs.

"That's not why I came here." He said, his eyes still shamelessly ogling her body. Alexia rolled her eyes since he couldn't see that anyway. "What do you want?"

"It's been so long..." Damian spoke, motioning for her to come over. She didn't acknowledge the little wave he did with his hands and forcefully stared at her book. Did she really have to reject him with another excuse again? It was getting tiring, and every time he nagged she felt less and less drawn to him. She was never extremely attracted to Damian anyway, but he was still a handsome man. Nonetheless, even that tiny sparkle of good-looking was blowing over, and all there was left was his money and his arrogance.

And it's not like she doesn't have enough of that.

"No Damian, I'm studying."

Damian snorted. "You always have an excuse. It's been like, what, four weeks? I'm getting blue balls!"

"I'm getting no sex either, dickwad." Alexia murmured under her breath, making sure he couldn't hear it. "What was that?" He questioned. "I couldn't hear you."

"I just said that I was busy and not in the mood for it. I have this huge project and exams are nearing and honestly I'm just busy." Her lame excuse was. She carefully took a peek at him, seeing how angry he was, so she decided to soften the excuse up for her own sake. Jeez, he looked like he was about to kill her. "I'm busy with planning the wedding, too."

That earned her a big smile from Damian, who got up off the bed and walked over to the door. "That's how I want to hear it, love. My wifey."

Alexia fake gagged when he walked out of the door and pushed her head against her desk, letting out all of the bottled up anger.

-

One hour later, Alexia was changed and ready to go to her dorm room. Somehow everyone was gathered in the living room, so she quickly said good bye to everyone and wanted to go outside, when her brother stopped her.

"I'm coming with you." Teo whispered, pushing her out of the house and closing the door after him. "Why are you looking at me like that? Quick, go! Go, go, go!" He ordered, pushing her towards her car while he grabbed the keys out of her hands.

"Why, if I may ask?" She wondered, getting inside her car while Teo took the driver's seat.

"I need to talk to Jason." He didn't look at her.

A smile crept up her lips. "Jason? That's a nice surprise. What, are you guys hanging out again or something like that?" She really hoped they were. Teodoro and Jason had turned into good friends ever since she first took him home with her. Whenever she was not with Jason he was most likely hanging out with Teo. Teo was just one year older than them, so it wasn't hard to keep up the friendship.

Teo was actually the first one to approve of her and Jason because he'd hung out with him enough times to realize Jason's intentions were good. And because Teo approved, he got Dominic and Stefano to accept their relationship as well. Although Dominic was protective but reasonable, Stefano was protective and completely ruthless. He hated it when men neared his sisters. It was hard to get him to like a guy her or Cat were seeing.

It obviously has to mean something that they're all so welcoming when it comes to Jason.

"Uhm... Something like that. I'm helping him." Teo mumbled, his eyes stuck to the road. Alexia decided not to push it and peacefully leaned her head against the window, staring at the passing trees.

She didn't notice how Teo was stressfully tensing his muscles with every mile they neared the dormitory.

Alexia was clueless. Entirely clueless.