Edmundo Duarte was a bulky man with a belly bulging out of his blouse. He had a slight herculean mien, though that was all quickly overruled by his hefty body. A thick cigar stuck out of his mouth and smoke surrounded him. He didn't appear to care about that. Edmundo wore multiple golden chains around his neck and wrists, and his fingers were encircled by colossal, outstanding rings.

Edmundo's eyebrows looked like they were permanently raised and the menacing scowl curling his lips was on the brink of frightening. His sausage-y fingers held the cigar and pulled it out, and then proceeded to return it to the spot in his mouth after he blew out more smoke.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" his voice was crass and unrefined.

"We're staying in Cancun. Just paying you a visit." Teo kept the smile on his face. Edmundo nodded, holding out his hand for Teo to shake. Teo immediately did so, never displaying an ounce of distrust.

"My condolences to you and your family. We will all miss her."

Jason couldn't gauge the man. It was unclear to him whether Edmundo was being sincere or not.

Teo's smile faltered and his eyes automatically hardened. "Thank you. We appreciate that."

Alexia stiffened and Jason softly squeezed her side. He may be a tad annoyed by what she'd told Gael, but that didn't stop him from trying to comfort her. She gratefully wrapped her own hand around his, taking deep breaths.

For the love of fucking God. How can she be so stupid? Being killed by Gael would've been better than to endure whatever was going to happen to Jason now. Gael promised, yes, but Jason had no reason to believe that man's word. He was convinced that in just a few hours everyone in the entire community would be aware of his and Alexia's relationship and he'd be slaughtered soon enough.

Jason was afraid. Jason had been afraid the entire time, he has been afraid since the minute he got beat up by a stranger, but now it was multiplied by a thousand times.

Nothing will happen, pussy.

Deep breaths, Jason.

Teo is here. Dominic and Stefano will protect you too, even when they're in New York.

He didn't doubt that.

"I need a drink." It slipped out. Everyone turned around, stupefaction evident on their faces. Even Teo furrowed his eyebrows as if saying, 'watch your mouth!' Jason didn't care.

He needed a drink.

"Felipa! I need drinks!" Edmundo didn't hesitate, in fact, he had yelled out the minute Jason finished speaking those words. With a wink, he blew out another blob of smoke.

"Everything for our guests. Especially special guests."

Oh, God.

Hurry the fuck up, Felipa.

✦ ✧

"Maya open the car, quick."

"On it."

Jason yanked himself free from Teo's and Alexia's hold, stumbling towards the car. He was slightly dizzy and felt a bit off-balance but sure as hell wasn't going to admit that as he let his weight lean against the car, regaining breath. "This is ridiculous. I can fucking walk on my own."

His words came out more slurred than he initially meant. Maybe he looked drunk from outside but he was still in his right God damned mind. Mentally, he was sober as fucking ever.

"Can you really?" this came from Maya, who was already seated shotgun and had her head sticking out of the car window. Jason sneered at her before grabbing the handle, clumsily opening the car door and climbing in. "Shut the fuck up. All you do is talk shit and make everyone feel uncomfortable."

Maya stayed silent and turned around in her seat, breaking their eye contact.

"And I fucking hate those assholes. All they do is brag about their obscene amount of fucking money and ogle my fucking girl. I should've kicked the shit out of them." Alexia and Teo got into the car as well, just in time to hear his slurs.

"I don't think you would've survived." Teo started the engine and the car came roaring to life as Alexia put on her seatbelt and leaned over to do the same for Jason. Jason pushed her away irritably, "I don't need a fucking seatbelt."

"Let me just fucking put this on for you." She snapped, trying again. Jason didn't struggle and laid back instead, closing his eyes. After the click of the seatbelt, Alexia went back to sit in her own seat and Jason frowned, opening his eyes.

"Didn't I say I didn't need a seatbelt? Huh?" he reached for the ends of the seatbelt by his side, opening it again.

"I swear to God Jase, put it on."

"Why the fuck would I? I'm not going to die because of a car accident!" this seemed so obvious to him. Somehow it made sense to him that because of the fact that a psychotic Latino wanted him dead, death by a car accident wasn't what God had in store for him.

"Put. It. On." She bend over again, forcefully grabbing the seatbelt and the snappy click galled through the car. Jason looked down at Alexia, his lips curling into a sexy grin. He liked having her that close to him. He liked having her that close to his dick. Fuck, she was really sexy.

"Stay here." He huskily whispered, and she immediately looked up. "Where?" but when she saw the grin on his face, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, smiling. "Behave."

"Just so you know," he mumbled, "I never put on a seatbelt."

"Okay babe." Alexia laughed, "You're a badass. Happy?"

"No, you're so far away from me baby." Jason pouted, knowing Alexia loved that. Her eyes lit up and she chuckled, putting off her seatbelt and repositioning herself in the seat in the middle. He licked his lips, pressing an open mouthed kiss on her cheek. "You are beautiful." His voice wasn't much more than a guttural whisper.

"Thank you." She laughed again, pecking his lips once before draping her legs over his lap. Jason winked, putting a hand on her thigh and giving it a firm squeeze. "Your legs are..."

"Hot?"

"Very."

"I thought so. Thanks again." A hint of amusement crossed Alexia's face and because Jason didn't understand it, he just ignored it, contently closing his eyes again. He was feeling exhausted now, his eyes heavy.

"I wasn't kidding about the seatbelt thing. I never wear one." He felt the need to address this. Alexia puffed out a breath, "One day you'll get in a car accident. What am I supposed to do then?"

"Visit me in the hospital?" he opened his eyes, smiling. Alexia smiled too but it faltered. "Not funny."

"I wasn't kidding."

"Jase," she sighed and frowned, gently grabbing his neck and pulling him closer in a way that he was forced to lean his head on her shoulder. "You're drunk, try to sleep, okay?"

"I'm not fucking drunk!" but he didn't move his head, snuggling up to her.

She smelled good, like strawberries.

"You smell good."

"Do I?"

"Yeah, strawberries. You always smell like strawberries."

"Is that a good thing or not?" she started playing with his hair and he knit his eyebrows together—though still tranquil—thinking about that question.

"Well it is now. I used to hate strawberries, because you left me when we were younger and strawberries reminded me of you."

She cleared her throat. Jason easily relaxed into her touch, softly moaning as she proceeded to massage his scalp. He didn't open his eyes anymore but he was still awake and wanted Alexia to keep talking to him.

"It's fine now, though. We're back, and I know you won't leave me."

"I won't."

"I know." And he did. "I am a lucky man." And he meant that.

"I'm a lucky woman." She whispered, kissing his forehead. Jason simpered, entirely fuzzy because of the way she'd kissed him. How the fuck did she make him feel so good?"

"You make me feel so good baby."

Alexia snickered, "That's my job. Now go sleep, Jase, you can't even open your eyes."

"But I can," he hissed, though he made no effort to prove that and kept himself safely tucked under her arms. He was safe there.

"Keep talking to me, babe." He ordered, so Alexia started talking about popcorn and Prada, and albeit he found everything interesting when it came out of her mouth, Jason gradually fell into a rapt sleep.

✦ ✧

Too much light, was the first thing that popped into Jason's mind once he was awake. He kept his eyes firmly closed, softly kicking the sheets away with his legs as he tried to move as little as possible. His forehead was damp, his chest was sticky and his ass crack felt sealed shut. He had a splitting head ache and his throat was bone-dry. And also, too much freaking light.

The smell of fresh bread and eggs quickly slipped into his nostrils and his mouth involuntarily watered, his stomach letting out a loud rumble. Boy, was he hungry.

A soft chuckle caused his ears to perk up. He carefully opened one eye to peek.

Alexia was seated on the bed wearing her grey PJ's, her legs crossed and a weary smile curling her lips. She held a tray full of food.

He swiftly closed his eye again, desperately wishing she hadn't seen him peeking.

"I literally just saw your eye open, you can't fool me Jase."

Damn it.

Slowly, Jason opened both of his eyes and fake yawned, even stretching to inflate his feigning. Moving that much caused thunder to bolt in his head and he groaned loudly, stressing a "Fuck..."

"You are such a phony, Jason McCann." Alexia laughed and grabbed a plate off the tray, placing it on his lap. "Eat."

"I'm not a phony!" he growled, sitting up as he gladly took the cutlery from his girlfriend and started digging into his breakfast. The sweet and smothery texture of the syrup was enough for him to silently moan, and she laughed again.

"I bet you're having the worst hangover ever." She looked at him as he ate.

Jason nodded. "I do." He answered with a full mouth.

Alexia started eating too. "I've never seen you that drunk."

Oh-oh. She didn't sound happy, but then again, Jason did get drunk as hell while they were at the Duarte's place. Not exactly the best place for him to get all liquored up, regardless of the events of yesterday's evening. Whether he was pissed because of Alexia exclaiming that he was her boyfriend to Gael or not, this was important and he made himself look bad.

His heart sank to his stomach and Jason paused, guilt rushing through his veins. He put his fork down and looked at Alexia, slightly squinting his eyes until he got used to the sunlight. "Shit. I'm sorry, babe."

"No, no it's fine." She dismissively shook her head, "I didn't mean it like that. I would get drunk too if you'd done to me what I had done to you. Teo is pissed though, you should apologize to him later."

"Did Edmundo say anything?"

"The man can't say shit, even if he wanted to. He's below our family, he's forced to like everything we do. You're good, Jase."

Jason exhaled in relief and returned his attention to his food, now eating at a slow pace. The air was thick and they both felt it, but nobody addressed the floating issue yet as they continued to eat in silence.

Alexia was the first to speak. "God, I'm so extremely sorry Jason! I feel so stupid, I shouldn't have said that. I know how dangerous it is and we were walking on thin ice already when we took you to the Duarte's, but then my big mouth had to say that and Damian most likely has already found out and I'm so sorry, you know I would never purposely endanger you—"

"Of course not, I would never think that, stupid."

"—I'm just sorry."

"Lex, don't worry," he put his cutlery down again and scooted closer to her, carefully putting the plates and the tray on the ground before wrapping his arms around her petite posture and burying her head in his chest. She wasn't crying, but Jason knew she was blaming herself already for whatever would happen to him, and he wasn't having it. Alexia would never be the reason for any pain happening to him, in fact, she was one of the only reasons he still considered himself lucky after everything that has happened. "You're fucking amazing. And yes, I was annoyed for a while, but if you hadn't said anything that psycho would've just killed me. You saved me. You save me over and over again."

"I didn't do anything useful, and now Damian will just be more aggravated." She sighed, tightening her arms around his chest.

"You call me not choking not useful?"

She snickered, pinching his skin. "Shut up."

"Make me."

Without hesitation, Alexia sat up straighter and put her lips on Jason's, straddling his lap. He grinned wickedly, eagerly kissing her back until she pulled away. "You taste like bacon."

"So do you." He countered, biting her lower lip. Alexia laughed, playfully shoving him before getting off him. "You need to eat, you're hungover, remember?"

Jason rolled his eyes and as if on cue, another thunderbolt jolted through his head. "How can I forget?"

They proceeded to eat.

"So... does this mean you'll have to tell your dad when you get back home?" he wasn't keen on keeping this subject up, but he knew they had to discuss this. Alexia uncomfortably swallowed her food and nodded. "I'll have to, right?"

Jason shrugged, "I don't know."

"I have to." She frowned, "Besides, it's time, isn't it? This has been going on for too long, it's been four months of Damian trying to hurt you and I'm done. I'll go straight to my dad when I'm home." She looked down and held out her hand. Jason first thought he was supposed to hold it, but what she then did amazed him.

Without thinking twice, Alexia slid the gigantic rock off her finger and threw it on the ground, where it landed with a faint thump.

Jason didn't try to hide his smile. "Really?"

"Really." A flicker of determination crossed her face.

Jason was reeling with euphoria, grinning from ear to ear. He subconsciously had known all along that the only way they could make this work was if she told her parents—and now only her father. Now that her brothers were aware of the schizoid that was Damian Albarran, it wouldn't be too hard for them to take her side and try to convince Emilio.

Maybe this was all over soon. Maybe, in two weeks, Jason would be back on campus, going to lectures and hanging out with Ryan and Chaz. Maybe he'd be home, playing with Jazzy and Jaxon whilst listening to his parents nagging.

It seemed surreal, but with Alexia's recent decision, he believed he could go back home soon.

"I should've done this a long time ago, way before it all got so far out of hand." She shrugged, but Jason noticed the little glimmer of hope in her eyes. He barked out a laugh, roughly pulling her closer. They both lied down and Alexia climbed on top of him, wrapping her legs around his waist. "I'm sorry it took me this long to find my courage."

Jason kissed her. He knew how difficult it was for her to stand up to her family, yet she was going to do it. For him.

"You're so happy." She giggled. He rolled his eyes. "Duh."

Alexia laughed at his response, "Why am I suddenly looking forward to going back to New York?"

"Because it's all over, soon."

She puffed out a shaky breath, cupping his face. "Soon."

Jason closed his eyes, letting the emotions freely flow throughout his body. All of his worries, pain and exhaustion would be gone. He wouldn't have to worry about standing out, about people recognizing him. He wouldn't have to be afraid of being executed, drowned or shot. His life would go back to normal.

With Alexia by his side.

Not opening his eyes, Jason cocked his head, placing a tender kiss on the palm of her hand. The word had given him enough hope to survive another couple of weeks in Burlington, apart from everyone. "Soon, baby."

✦ ✧

Jason, Alexia, Teo and Maya were sprawled on the beach, the smell of alcohol, sweat and salt water crashing into them like a barrier. Partygoers around them were already three sheets to the wind, shimmying to the music. After Jason had apologized to Teo and Maya, apparently he'd been a dick to her, they went to the beach.

Jason wasn't planning on drinking, though. He's had enough of that.

Besides, alcohol wasn't needed to have a fun day. He was over the moon and he didn't need intoxicants to remain happy.

Alexia made him happy. Their conversation this morning made him happy. That was all he needed.

"What are you thinking about?" Alexia propped herself up against her elbows, kicking her legs in the air. Jason slowly raked her body with his eyes, fully taking in her white bikini before smiling and shaking his head. "Nothing. Just that I'm happy."

She looked surprised, her lips curling into the same smile. "You don't know how glad I am to hear that."

"You guys are so cute." Maya chimed in, sliding her big sunglasses into her hair. She wore her blonde hair in a messy bun and had put her towel right next to Teo's, claiming 'it's more fun to have one big towel!'

Teo hadn't complained. It occurred Jason that Teo was more head over heels for her than he had expected.

"I bet your boyfriend thinks otherwise." Alexia smirked, raising her eyebrows. Teo snorted, keeping his hand on Maya's thigh. "Babe? Did you also hear that annoying buzzing?"

Maya laughed and rolled her eyes, smacking his chest. "Don't be rude. They're cute, right Teo?"

Teo purposely stayed silent, earning another glare from his girlfriend. "Teo," she hissed, "I will cut them off, just like I discussed with you earlier."

"Fine! They're cute!"

Maya smiled sweetly, kissing his cheek. "That's my boy."

Jason and Alexia both laughed as Jason exclaimed, "Teo, man, you are whipped!"

"Like hell I am!" he instantly countered, furrowing his eyebrows. Another laugh erupted from them again. Jason stifled it, "Don't pussy foot about it. Your sister has got me equally whipped, and I am proud."

More laughs.

"I guess," Teo shrugged and Jason acknowledged the blush on his cheeks.

"Aww Teodoro Javier! This is adorable!" Alexia hollered, jumping up and dashing forward over to her older brother. She collapsed on top of him, wrapping her arms around his wide stance. Teo acted like he was irritated by it but gratefully hugged Alexia back.

"Okay, okay, I think we get it." He murmured. Alexia winked, pulling herself off him. "You better keep his boxers in a twist, wear the pants." She looked at Maya. Maya chortled as if she was well aware of this fact.

"Alexia, honey, do you know me?"

"True."

Suddenly, a tiny, black puppy caught all of their attention as he stepped on Jason's towel, sniffed around and lied down.

Jason frowned, gently stroking the pup's back. The pup's ears were cropped and stood up tall, and his tail was nothing more than a puny blob of fur. He wasn't much bigger than Jason's hand and when Jason picked him up and put him in his lap, the dog didn't make a single sound.

"He's so cute..." Maya whispered, as if she was trying not to scare the puppy. Everyone agreed. Alexia caressed his scalp with one finger, "He looks beat, and also, newly born. He fits in your hand!"

"I know." Jason continued to pat his back until he felt something leathery, and when he narrowed his eyes and focused on it he noticed the burn wounds.

And his heart leapt.

"He's hurt." He mumbled, holding the pup. "Burned."

"We should bring him to a vet." Teo contemplated. Jason nodded, his heart lurching in his throat. He couldn't help but feel connected to the little puppy, being careful not to touch his poor wounds.

I've been there, buddy, Jason thought.

"I can't believe his ears and tail are cropped." Alexia snapped whilst getting up, "He's obviously too young. I hate people, they're way too fucking cruel."

"He's a Doberman too," Teo continued, getting up as well. They started packing their stuff and folding their towels, ready to go. "They always do this to the poor dogs, but what they did to this pup is torture. We have to get him to a vet."

"Poor guy." Jason whispered, keeping the little Doberman close to him. The wild dancing and drinking of everyone around them now seemed like a threat to the pup and he protectively held him with two hands.

"Here, let me hold him until you're done packing." Maya offered. Jason was reluctant, but Alexia saved him.

"It's fine, I'll get your stuff. You should go to the car."

"Thanks, Lex."

"Go."

Jason walked. He didn't understand why this puppy had such an impact on him, but the puppy did. Perhaps because he was wandering on his own, or perhaps because he had burn wounds and Jason related to that, but either way, Jason didn't want to let go of the puppy.

"Whose are you, baby?" he whispered to the puppy, not expecting an answer.

The puppy stayed silent, eyes closed.

"I'll get you home, okay? I promise."

What if he didn't have a home?

"And otherwise you can always crash at my place," Jason shrugged, "I'm alone too. And hurt. I know how you feel."

The puppy whimpered softly when Jason put him in the driver's seat to sit down shotgun and put on his seatbelt. He immediately put him back on his lap, never stopping the brushing of his hand.

"Shhh, you'll be okay."

"He's gone mental—he's talking to the dog." Maya's voice sounded. Jason glared at her but then turned his attention back to the puppy. "Don't listen to her, she's just jealous she didn't get to hold you."

"Damn right I am. I love dogs. Teo, should we get a dog?"

Teo and Alexia got into the car too. "No, Maya." Teo sighed, starting the engine.

And with that, they drove off, all four of them worried about the puppy's health.

-

(A/N): Hi! I know it's been long and I'm so so sorry but I've been really busy with school and everything ugh, anyway, don't forget to vote & comment! I know this probably sounds very annoying but not getting votes and comments is kind of demotivating. I hope you enjoyed it!!