Later that night

"We're uh... We're here..." I listened as Jackson's soft voice finally broke the silence between us that had lasted the duration of the car ride here. I kept my eyes closed as the car came to a stop, my body refusing to move from its current position.

After having that overwhelming spike of energy that caused my body to react the way it did earlier, it was clear that my body was doing the complete opposite now. My system was entirely drained of energy but the pain and nauseousness seemed to be a little less unbearable than what it had felt like earlier. Which, could be a sign of improvement...

"Are you feeling okay...?" My eyes opened to look at Jackson's hand on my knee as he asked that. I then turned my eyes to look at him, seeing the slightly concerned look on his face.

I nodded to his question, "I'm having a blast, thanks for asking..." I told him sarcastically, my voice sounding raspier now than before.

He smiled with a small shake of his head, "I'll walk you inside." He told me as he soon opened his door and climbed out.

I let out a deep sigh before I opened my door as well, feeling a little light-headed when I sat up. I'll admit, I thought what had happened earlier was only a panic attack from all of the fret that spurred up my overthinking but never had I felt so weak and sick afterward... I might be actually coming down with something.

"Easy now," Jackson whispered as he helped me out of the car. My hands immediately held tightly onto one of his arms as the ground below my feet swayed from left to right before finally meeting together and becoming still again.

"Good?" He asked and I took a moment to rub the soreness pounding my skull then soon answered him by uttering, "Yeah..." which cued us to start moving.

We began to take slow steps towards his home and all I could think about was how out of place I felt. Like time for me was slowed down while everything around me continued on in fast motion. Even my thoughts became disorganized and there were moments where I suddenly forget how we ended up here and had to remind myself of everything that took place leading up to now.

I watched as Jackson pulled out his keys to unlock the door. As he searched for the right key on the ring, I weakly rested my head on his shoulder, my eyelids weighing down over my eyes as I began to quickly feel sleepier.

And his pleasant scent certainly wasn't helping me stay awake...

I listened as he opened the door and felt when his hand tapped my cheek a few times to keep me awake, his voice telling me, "Hey. Go ahead and rest on the couch, I'll get started on something that should help you feel better."

I groaned with a hand rubbing over my eyes to keep them open as we headed in. I almost made my way over to the couch but watching as Jackson headed for the kitchen made me crave something to eat now.

I stopped and shot a glance at the fridge then turned my eyes to Jackson... Then back at the fridge again, this time saying out loud, "I kinda want something to eat." as I followed after him.

"Ah..." He chuckled as he washed his hands in the sink, "Grab whatever you like, just don't eat too fast. You'll get a stomachache."

You had me at the first four words.

I smiled to myself as I headed straight there, quickly taking notice of now dim this area of his home was. It made me rather uncomfortable as I approached the fridge, it was like blindly walking right for the pit of an endless, black abyss...

Gradually and suddenly, my eyes rolled back and I felt myself stumble against the fridge door, hitting my head in the process which quickly brought my awareness back.

As well as the bright lights of the kitchen that immediately stung my eyes.

Fuck... I took a moment to collect myself as my vision stabled.

Hoping he hadn't just witnessed that, I turned to look back at Jackson who was whistling a tune to himself as he dried his hands.

Thankfully...

When I reached out to grab the fridge handle, my eyes widened and almost crossed as the one handle gradually became three. I blinked a few times to clear up my vision before I grabbed the handle and pulled it open to look into the fridge, the first things that caught my eyes were the packs of protein pudding cups.

Vanilla... Chocolate...

Strawberry!

I squinted my eyes as I reached for the only pink cup, moving my hand around until I eventually grabbed it. I then turned back to Jackson to show him what I've chosen.

He nodded as he tossed the towel aside, "That's fine..." He then nodded me over and I walked towards him as he said, "I want to ask you about your condition."

"Okay," I responded and took a seat on the kitchen counter as I listened.

"After having that drink at the bar, did you taste anything salty or bitter at all?" He asked and I only shrugged.

"I don't know," I said as I tried to get the pudding cup open. I honestly didn't even remember what it was I was drinking at the time.

He began to ask something else as I squinted my eyes while trying to coordinate the seven fingers on my hand to get the lid off.

Wait... 1, 2, 3, 4... Woah...

I turned my attention to the palm of my blurry hand, my head throbbing in pain as I tried to figure out which fingers were real and which were my hallucinations.

This is... Bizarre...

Suddenly, the pudding cup was taken out of my hand and I quickly turned to Jackson who easily opened it and handed it back to me.

"Nick, has anyone other than the bartender been in contact with the cup you drank from?" He asked as if he had repeated that before.

"Oh, I... I don't know. I don't think so." I told him, "I wasn't really paying attention."

He sighed, "At least tell me you remembered what you ordered."

"I didn't order anything..." I ate a spoonful of pudding. "The bartender gave me something I hadn't asked for... Said someone bought it for me."

He furrowed his brows at me, "And you drank it? Without asking what it was?"

"I didn't really think of any of that stuff. I had a lot going on in here..." I pointed a lazy finger to my head.

I knew I was completely guilty of letting my mind flood with things I shouldn't have been thinking but it was almost impossible to keep all of those scenarios away when Jaden's worst habits were not anything new. Him being home alone while I was away for so long only made me wonder what he could possibly be doing with all this time on his hands. At this point, I was beginning to feel that life would be easier if I just gave up on him and went back to working on my own.

At least it would be easier if I hadn't already fallen so deep for him... What sucks even more is that I continue to feel unconvinced that he'd ever feel the same while my feelings for him could only do nothing else but strengthen.

Jackson nodded after hearing my comment, "It was at that moment, you felt sick, wasn't it...?"

"I felt sick even before then..." I told him, poking my spoon in the cup, "Sick of wasting my time with bullshit, sick of worrying about people who never gave a damn about anything or... Anyone..." I said.

He watched as I raised the spoon to my lips and only licked the pudding off of the tip. I couldn't even think about eating any more of this, I'm quickly beginning to feel that nauseousness again.

"Hmm..." He sighed. "I'm just gonna take a wild guess and assume by 'people', you mean your partner."

"What are you some kind of mind reader now...?" I scoffed and he shook his head, his expression becoming more annoyed than concerned.

He ignored my comment, "Now would be a good time for us to talk." He said, "About your partner... And I mean this in the most respectful way but, I don't like this guy. At all."

I flinched at that, almost caught by surprise by those words until I remembered the way Jackson's whole demeanor changes whenever he lays eyes on Jaden. Now's my chance to ask him to explain what the beef between them was about.

"Sorry." He ruffled his hair after observing my expression then leaned with his hands on the counter, "Look, what I'm trying to say is that he's... He's no good. Especially, for you."

I raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think you have a say on what's good or not for me?"

He tipped his head to the side before turning to me and saying, "I know I don't have a place on telling you what to do but when something isn't right, I gotta speak up about it."

That was something I liked most about Jackson. He was never one to hide anything when something doesn't feel right and he is often correct with those predictions but what made this a little more skeptical for me was the fact that he doesn't know much about Jaden other than the things he's witnessed from the sidelines. I wasn't fully convinced that he could develop such strong opinions against someone he's barely spoken to.

I listened as he continued.

"I just don't trust him. You two are getting real close and, I don't know if you know this but, he's most likely just trying to get in your pants." He crossed his arms.

I rolled my eyes at that, "Is this something he's told you because I've never seen you two engage in actual conversation..."

"Knowing Jaden and that big mouth of his, there is no need to speak directly with him to know what his intentions are..." He told me. "I don't want to see anything bad happen to you and if you make yourself so easy to grab, he'll just add you as another number on his list."

Jaden wouldn't just do something like that... Yes, he's been with other girls and yes, he still talks to some of them. Hell, he's probably sleeping with one of them as we speak but that doesn't mean he's been planning on leaving me in a snap. What we had is entirely different from any casual affair he's had in the past.

But what if Jackson's right...?

Jaden has already made it clear to me about how much he cares but, for some bullshit reason, he does these things that make me question his words and makes me question if he was really just feeding me with lies the whole time, making me believe that he'll change when that was never the case. There has to be a reason for why he does what he does and that's exactly what I plan on finding out. I want to be patient with him but I barely have any of that and if I don't know soon, there would be no point in trying to stick with him, knowing that he's only going to hurt me if I try to hold on.

"Nick..." Jackson said with his eyes deep in mine, "Don't be the one to fall for it... Please."

I gazed into those sterling grey eyes for a moment, seeing the sincerity reflecting through his pupils. "You really must care about me," I said softly, realizing how much distrust he has for Jaden and how much concern he actually has for my well being. Jackson has never failed to show his devotion toward me in various ways. He's had my back since the beginning. He's a strong, earnest man who I could count on to be wherever, whenever I needed him. Even if Simon instructed him to be elsewhere... And he'd only do that for me...

Maybe I was doing this whole relationship thing incorrectly. Maybe Jackson was the one I wanted...

Or maybe none of these feelings were even real to begin with. This could all just be the deceiving works of hormones... But that would be pathetic. Perhaps, I never wanted nor needed anyone but Simon to care about me. Maybe, I was only attracted to the extent of trouble in which these guys go to show that, knowing that I could take care of myself and never needed them to begin with. I've told my therapist that I've always enjoyed being able to scare people but that wasn't the case with Jaden nor Jackson and maybe that intimidated me in a way. They weren't afraid of me, they've made it passed the locked chains to my self-centered circle which was probably a mistake for them. It made me realize now that I began to enjoy the attention they gave me when they entered it and that drove me to explore other ways to feel dominant.

"I do care about you... A lot actually..." Jackson replied to me. His eyes then moved down to my pudding and he chuckled before looking back up at me and added, "Enough for you to have my last strawberry cup."

I almost didn't catch what he had said and ended up laughing from it when I realized it, "Did you want it, ya big baby?" I asked.

He looked at it for a moment then he shook his head, "I have chocolate."

"But you want strawberry," I said and he gave me a humorous smile.

"Kinda." He admitted. "Just a spoon."

I wasn't in any mood of finishing this since nauseousness wouldn't allow me to do so without puking everywhere so I gladly held a spoonful up to his lips and watched as he playfully took the spoon into his mouth with a soft moan of pleasure from its taste.

I smiled as my eyes watched his lips while I pulled the spoon back, "You know... I don't need you to warn me about anything or anyone. I can handle myself. I'll know if something suspicious is going on and, when or if I do, I'll be the one to call it out."

He nodded as he licked the pudding from his lips, "I know." He said with his gentle gray eyes holding their gaze in mine. "I've known you long enough to know that you are strong... Smart..."

I nodded in agreement until he added, "Sometimes."

"Sometimes?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"That's right." He said, losing his small smile. "You're not 100 percent good at making the best decisions and this is one of them."

"Is that so...?"

He nodded and stood up straight to cross his arms, "Well, yeah. A slightly more intelligent person would have enough common sense to see who is or isn't deceiving them."

"Are you calling me stupid?" I asked, slightly offended by his words.

"I'm calling you blind." He replied immediately after. "By now, it should've been obvious that your partner is trying to get into your head only to use you up like he does everyone else. And you've been making that easy by slowly getting pulled into that trap of his every time you allow yourself to get closer to him."

"That's not true-"

"It's entirely true but you probably don't see it because you've already let your guard down, just like you did at the bar when you gave someone the perfect opportunity to spike your drink."

"I never let-" I paused as my brain replayed those words over again. "What...?"

Somebody messed with my drink...

"That's why you feel so sick." He told me. "You had a few drinks less than I did and your symptoms only made that more clear to me."

I bit my lip as I shook my head in disappointment and aggravation. In my mind I was angry... Furious! But I had very little energy to even show that. To even do anything about it.

"She told me that you seemed like you needed this." I remember the bartender telling me after handing me the drink.

Son of a bitch, it was that girl... Who the hell was she and why the fuck would she screw around with my drink?!

Whatever, that wasn't important now. I could easily go back to the bar and demand surveillance images that'll help me track her down but right now, I had to address this dickhead in front of me who is accusing me of being stupid and blind enough to become someone's puppet.

I glared, looking sternly at him in the eyes, "I admit that I had let my guard down at the bar but don't assume that what Jaden and I have is anything more than a partnership and don't dare even think that he's brainwashing me in any way because that is, and never will be, the case."

"Is that what you want me to believe?" He asked, unconvinced.

I sneered, "It's... The truth."

He chuckled now, "You know I've never seen you make out with any of your previous partners, or let them take pictures of you... Flirt with you."

"You gotta be shitting me right now," I said through gritted teeth. "Are you jealous or something?"

"No... I just find it odd." He ruffled his hair in annoyance, "I've known you longer than him, Nick. What makes him so special?"

I gazed at him for a moment, almost becoming speechless and then, something in me changed... An amused smile quirked on my lips as I realized that he really was feeling envious and, instead of continuing to try and straighten this out, I became more curious as to how jealous he really was.

"You men are just like dogs." I chuckled humorlessly.

He cocked his head to the side at those words, resembling a confused mutt.

I shook my head at the poor guy, "You're just as thirsty for attention, aren't you?"

He sighed, "That is not... What I-"

"Would you rather be the one flirting me?" I teased with a hand grabbing his to pull him closer, "You want to feel special don't you?"

"Nick..." He pulled his hand back. "You know that's not what I mean-"

I grabbed him by his shirt and smiled as I yanked him closer, "I know exactly what you mean... You only want me to stay away from Jaden because he's getting in your way. Is that it?"

He gently grabbed my wrist as he tried to pull them away, "Nick-"

My fists tightened their grip on his shirt, "You're upset that we haven't been spending as much time together as we did when I had been working alone. You said it yourself at the bar, you've missed the old days."

He looked away, clenching his jaw and I moved to try and see his eyes, "You've only been using Jaden as an excuse to get me to open my eyes and see what you really wanted all this time..." I chuckled. "You're pathetic... Desperate..." I smirked as I moved a hand to his cheek and turned his face towards me, "If you had both of your testicles in your pants, you'd just tell me what you want." I glared at him now, "Instead, you chose to be a little, weak bitch who'd do something as pitiful as using someone else's weaknesses for your advantage."

I knew his behavior had been more than peculiar lately. I've always found it strange that he'd have such strong disapproval over someone who shouldn't have even been a concern to him. Turns out, it was just one, huge, shabby excuse.

He sneered, threatening me with his eyes as I released my hands from him, "Excuse me...?"

I hopped down from the counter and shoved him aside so I could walk around him. "I don't need to repeat anything to you. You're half the man I thought you were." I made my way towards his sofa, "Seriously, you've already managed to take me on a date and bring me to your home. Hell, you were probably the one who put drugs in my drink." I chuckled. "Your bedroom is right around the corner, might as well take me there now before I lose consciousness," I told him and before I could take a seat on the sofa, his large hand tightly gripped my wrist, hard enough to actually hurt me. I quickly turned to see a pissed Jackson. "Do you hear yourself right now...?" He asked, his voice low and dangerous. I quickly began to feel small standing in front of him. I've never seen him this angry, he almost seemed like a completely different person by the way he kept those menacing eyes on me. I stayed silent as he added, "How could you be so stupid?" He shook his head slowly, sizing me up and down. "It's like I'm speaking to a completely different person... You've changed." He gritted his teeth, tightening his hold on my wrist.

"Let go of me," I demanded in a low voice, mentally pleading him to stop hurting me.

My head began to spin as he gave me a humorless chuckle, "Of all people, you actually think I'd be one to delude you into believing something false just so I could have you for myself... Unbelievable." He sneered.

I swallowed, feeling the vomit in my gut begin to rise but I attempted to not seem phased by him, "Jackson... Let go..." I warned him with my eyes. If he doesn't unhand me soon, I would not hesitate to stab him with his own kitchen knife. He doesn't know who he's messing with.

"How could you possibly look me in the eyes and tell me that you think this low of me? After all these years we've known each other!" He yanked me towards him when I tried to pull away. "I respected you, Nick, but obviously, you don't have that for me or yourself!" He shouted.

Oh my god...

I was actually beginning to fear him now. I was regretting everything I've said now and I knew that he could sense that. He knew but he didn't care. He seemed like he wanted to squash me more than anything.

I need to get away from him.

When I turned back to look at his kitchen, I noticed that everything beyond the counter was a hazy blur, I could barely see anything over 5 feet away and that almost made me panic. I was defenseless against him. I could barely think, I couldn't plan an escape from him.

He lowered his voice, but that sounded even more terrifying to me so I shut my eyes to keep from seeing his raging ones as he told me, "All I've done was look out for you... But you... You never saw it that way... You really convinced yourself that I'd be crazy enough to pull a stunt like drugging you just to get your attention...? Hearing that out loud, does it even make sense to you?"

"No..." I breathed out, anxiousness rapidly beginning to take over me as I saw the anger that reddened his skin. "Get away from me..."

He kept his piercing glare at me, "Have you always seen me as that type of lunatic or is this something you've always wanted." He scoffed, "Someone who'd be willing to do even the most twisted things just to win you over...? Tell me!"

"Let go of me you son of a bitch!" I demanded in a shout, trying to pull away from his grip, my chest heaving up and down as I tried not to panic.

He suddenly picked me up and threw me onto his shoulder, leading me away from his living room and taking me deeper into his home. That's when I broke into panic mode.

"JACKSON!" I screamed."I DON'T WANT THIS, STOP! PLEASE!"

He ignored my pleads, kicks, and screams as he kicked his way into a bedroom. I scratched and screamed, tears beginning to fall down my cheeks before I was roughly dropped onto a bed.

"Shut it!" He barked, pinning me down to the bed. After I complied, panting and slightly whimpering from my shortness of breath, he lowered his voice and told me, "I don't want to see your face for the rest of the night, you hear? Go... To sleep."

I panted, watching as he finally let go of me with a sneer before he slowly began to back away, sending me a thousand threats in just the way he looked at me.

Once he reached the doorway, he turned around and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

I stared at the door, feeling a number of overwhelmingly hysterical emotions all at once. I was terrified, angry, anxious, sheepish. The whole world seemed to be spinning around me, I began to feel dizzy, I began to hyperventilate.

I tried to tell myself to calm down but I wouldn't even listen to my own instructions. I let anxiety take over and control me!

"It's like I'm speaking to a completely different person..." Jackson's voice replayed endlessly in my mind.

I had completely lost my mind by saying what I said, I fucked up, this isn't who I am!

Where did all of that even come from?

I scooted back, watching the bedroom walls begin to cave in on me.

"I respected you, Nick but, obviously you don't have that for me or yourself!"

I pressed my back against the headboard as the voices in my head began to overlap each other. My heart racing irregularly, my body beginning to get moist with sweat.

What the hell is wrong with me?!

Shadows began to appear around me, standing still while the walls spun around us. They were scolding me, whispering to me and reminding me how much of a psycho I really am.

And I believed them.

I believed them because it was true! It has always been true!

I suddenly felt a violent twist in my gut, quickly recognizing the feeling.

Dammit!

I darted towards the door, bumping into the moving walls and trying to keep my footing until I stumbled against the door, my hands trembling as I fought to open the door.

LET ME OUT! I screamed internally at the shadows who only watched as I struggled.

As soon as I finally got the door to open, I quickly found the bathroom across the hall and barged in, dropping to my knees in front of the toilet, vomiting everything I had in my system into the bowl.