ATSSCH20

Chapter 20

The next morning Alexis is in the kitchen getting a cup of coffee when Ned comes in.

"Good morning Sweetheart." He says giving her a kiss.

"Good morning" she replies kind of cold.

Ned looked over at her and sighs. "Okay I�m sorry about last night I shouldn�t of let Jax get to me that way."

"You know Ned I�m sorry I�m already running late and I really don�t want to talk about it right now."

"Fine." Ned says throwing his hands up in the air and changing the subject. Are you planning on staying in Albany tonight or would you like me to wait up for you?"

Alexis sighs heavily and then takes a sip of coffee. "I don�t know yet it depends on how well everything goes. I have some other matters to deal with as well, so it would be safe to say if I do make it back to town it will be rather late."

"Well if it gets to late, then I�d rather you stay over night." He says with concern as he kisses her forehead. "I don�t want you driving back home that late at night especially if you�re tired." He looks her in the eyes and kisses her lightly. "Just call me and let me know what you�re going to do."

"Alright I will and you call me and let me know if you have any problems with the leash agreement today." She says as she looks down at her watch and kisses him. "Listen I really have to go, love ya, bye."

"I love you to and be careful driving."

"I will" she hollers before shutting the door behind her.

"Where�s she off to in such a hurry?" V asked as she entered the kitchen.

"She�s late for a meeting, or at least she will be if she hits every traffic light there is." Ned replied. "So what are your plans for today?"

"Well I was going to see if Jax wanted to have lunch with me today, but when I called him he�s secretary told me he was out of town."

"Really, did she say where he went?"

"No but I take it he didn�t go to far because she did say that he should be back either some time tonight or early morning." She looked over at him and he had a strange look on his face. "Ned do yourself a favor and don�t even go there."

"V I trust Alexis really I do it�s just."

"Just what Ned?"

"I don�t know just this feeling I�ve got." He tries to blow it off. "Anyway I have to go out and I was wondering if you weren�t doing anything this morning if you�d mind watching the kids, for a few hours?"

"You�re not going after Alexis to check up on her are you?" V asked point blank.

Ned gave her a look. "Now does that seem like something I�d do?"

"Without a second thought." She immediately shot back.

"Okay fine you�re right I would but that�s not where I�m going. At least not right now."

"Ned Ashton you should be ashamed of yourself!" V yelled.

"I�m sorry V but she�d my wife and I just don�t like the idea of her going out of town while Jax is out of town." He snapped back.

"Trust me Ned going after her is the worst thing you can do. She�ll think you don�t trust her."

"Sometimes V I�m not really sure if I can."

"Then that�s your problem not hers." V said as she got up and walked out of the room.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Damn that Australian" Edward bellows. "What does he think, he�s dealing with an amateur or something?"

"More problems Edward or the same old ones?" Monica asked walking into the living room.

"What do you care?"

"Honestly I don�t, I for some strange reason was trying to be polite."

"Jasper Jax that�s the problem."

"What�s he done now?" Monica asked walking over to him.

"He�s trying to sabotage me that�s all." Edward yelled. "Nothing for you to worry about." He added with total sarcasm.

Monica gets up and walks out. "Well good then I�m going to the hospital."

"What" he yells, "doesn�t anyone in this family care about ELQ anymore?"

"Oh stop your bellowing already will you Grandfather?" Ned says as he comes through the patio doors.

"Thank god you�re here. Do you have any idea how we are going to stop him."

"We?" Ned asked.

"Now you listen to me Ned Jax must be stopped and you will do what you know is right. You aren�t honestly going to tell me that you are willing to just sit back and watch him destroy this family, or you?"

"I�m here aren�t I grandfather." Ned yelled.

"So what�s are first move?"

"Find out who on our payroll is working for him, then feed him false information. Don�t worry grandfather Jax will never know what hit him." Ned said with an evil grin. "Until it�s to late.

^^^^^^^^^^^

Alexis had just finishing up with her business meeting. Things hadn�t gone the way she had hope and decided what she needed was a hot bath and about two hours to herself. She was in her car heading to the hotel when her cell phone rang.

"Alexis Ashton"

"Well hello there beautiful."

Alexis� eyes lit up when she heard his voice. "Hi Jax, where are you?"

"I�m sitting on the couch in your hotel room waiting for you."

"Really." She said with a huge smile on her face. "I happen to be on my way there."

"Great, have you had lunch yet? I�d be happy to order up room service."

"Actually no I haven�t eaten anything and I�m starving."

"Good then I�ll order lunch and see you in a few." Jax said hanging up.

Alexis sighed and sat back a moment before calling Ned and letting him now how things went.

"Ned Ashton." He answered sitting behind his desk at L&B.

"Hey how�d everything go with the lease this morning?"

"Good actually, everything is under control and we should be out of here and into our new building by the end of next week."

"That�s great." She mumbled.

"So how�d things go there?" he asked noticing the tension in her voice.

"Not as good I�m sorry. But all isn�t lost I gave him my final offer and he said he�d get back to me later on this evening."

"So I take it you�re not coming home tonight." Ned said in a rather sad tone.

"It doesn�t look that way, but I should be home in time for lunch tomorrow"

"Okay around two o�clock at the Grill?" He asked hopefully.

"Sounds perfect."

"Alexis?"

"Yea Ned."

He stopped and thought a moment about his conversation with V this morning and sighed. "Nothing really I just wanted to tell you I love you."

Alexis could feel that there was something wrong by the sound of his voice but she just blew it off. "I love you too, and I�ll see you tomorrow."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

About twenty minutes later Alexis is standing outside her hotel room door. She shook her head and closed her eyes. �What am I doing.� She thought to herself. �I can�t believe I agreed to have lunch with him and in my hotel room of all places. Oh god I�m just asking for trouble.� She took another deep breath and opened the door.

"Well hello there, lunch hasn�t arrived yet." Jax informed her while staring at her intensely.

Alexis began to blush and looked away from him. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Jax laughed. "You know you are by far the most beautiful, intelligent, sexy woman I�ve ever known."

With that he walks over to her and pulls her into a deep passionate kiss.

Alexis slightly pulls away. "I thought you wanted to talk Jax."

"I do." He says walking her over to the couch, and sitting down with her.

Alexis looks away uncomfortably. "This is just to weird, I mean I feel weird sitting on the couch with you like this."

"Were not doing anything wrong Alexis were just sitting here."

"I know. It�s just I don�t think being alone in a hotel with you, like this, is really a good idea."

"Why not?" He asked taking her hands in his. "Do you know how many times we have just sat around on my penthouse couch eating popcorn and watching old movies."

"Yea but that was different we were married and not in love with each other." Alexis closed her eyes and bite her bottom lip as the words came out of her mouth. "I mean you weren�t in love with me and I �"

Jax took her face in his hands and crashed his mouth onto hers. Alexis started to put her arms around him but then dropped them down as he continued to kiss her.

She slowly pulled away. "I�m sorry Jax but I just can�t do this."

"Relax Alexis I�m not going to make you do anything you don�t want to do."

"I know," she said breathless "the problem is I want to do it."

"Then just go with it." He said as his mouth once again over took hers. She snaked her arms around his neck and began to play with is hair as he trailed kisses down her neck. His hands made his way under her blouse and he gently rubbed her back. Alexis tensed slightly as he undid her bra and his hands made there way around to the front of her. He could feel how tense she was and he looked up into her eyes for a moment as to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. She relaxed a little and leaned forward to kiss him. He began to unbutton her blouse and she pulled away in order to pull his shirt over his head. He got up off the couch and took her hands. They walked into the other room and over to the edge of the bed. He pulled her into a deep kiss as he slid her blouse off of her. He pushed her head back and ran his tongue along her neckline and down to her chest. She sighed heavily at his touch and knew that she had reached the point of no return, she wanted him, and there was no turning back now. She knew Ned wasn�t going to come busting through the door and stop her from making one of the biggest mistakes in her life but for some reason unbeknown to her she didn�t care she wanted him and he wanted her. She began to unbuckle his pants as the tears slowly feel from her eyes. Jax stopped suddenly and looked up at her as a single teardrop hit his shoulder. The look on her face was one of utter mixture; it was a combination of both desire and fear. He loved her too much to see her this way; he slowly sat her down on the bed and held her tight.

"We don�t have to do this if you don�t want to Alexis."

She looked into his eyes a moment before she busted out in tears and threw her head on his bare chest. "I don�t know what I want Jax really I don�t. I want to make love to you so bad but there�s just something inside of me that I can�t shake. I�m sorry."

He rubbed her back gently as her tears soaked his chest and he closed his eyes. "Would you like me to leave?" he quietly asked not wanting her to answer.

"No." she said sharply but quickly. "Please don�t go, stay here with me, just for a little while at least."

Jax got up and walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on. Alexis fell back unto the bed and threw her hands over her face, as her tears started to subside.

Jax walked back over to her and held his hand out to her. "Come on why don�t you go take a shower, you might feel better."

Alexis took his hand and he pulled her to her feet.

"Will you still be here when I get out?"

There was a knock at the door. "Room service" a man yelled.

Jax put his hands on her face and kissed her lightly. "I�m not going anywhere I promise."

"Thank you." She said almost inaudible.

"For what?" he asked sincerely.

"For understanding."

He rubbed the side of her face as she walked away. "I told you Alexis I love you and the last thing I want you to do is something that you�ll regret."

"Room service." The man yelled again.

"Coming." Jax yelled back. "Go take a shower and then we�ll eat."

^^^^^^^^^^^

Jax went over and answered the door.

"Thank you bring it right in."

"If you�ll just sign here sir I�ll be on my way." The man said.

Jax signed the receipt, handed the man a tip, and walked over to the couch.

"Thank you sir." The man stated as he walked towards the door and opened it.

"Jax what you doing here?" Julia yelled as the man walked past her.

"What I�m I doing here, what are you doing here?" Jax yelled back.

"I came to see Alexis."

"Why!" Jax demanded.

"Mostly just to play with her head a little." Julia said with an evil smile on her face as she walked into the room and closed the door. "I called her office and they told me where I could find her."

"So you drove all the way to Albany just to�." Jax trailed off as Julia brushed by him and rubbed the side of his face.

"Don�t be sill I happen to be in the neighborhood taking care of business of my own and figured I drop by."

"Yea well now that you have why don�t you just leave." Jax said rather rude.

Julia ignored him and sat down on the couch. "Not till you tell me what you�re doing here with Ned� wife dressed like that."

Jax looked down at his attire and totally forget he wasn�t wearing a shirt. "Well it isn�t what you think Julia and you better not tell Ned I was here."

"Why not?" She asked with a smile on her face. "Afraid of what he might do to you if he found out that you and Alexis have been sleeping together all along."

"No" he said completely annoyed with her. "But if I were you I�d be afraid of what I might do to you if you tell Ashton I was here."

"Oh don�t worry Jax I have no intention of telling Ned anything. Although the fact that you are sleeping with his wife is a good thing."

Jax heard the shower turn off and he looked up a moment. "Get out now." He told her in a quite yet strong tone.

"Julia laughed. "Apparently you don�t plan on telling your mistress I was here either." Jax looked over at the bedroom door. "Don�t worry your� pretty little head Jax I�m leaving." She whispered as she got up and left.

"Who was that?" Alexis asked coming out of the room in nothing but a bathrobe.

"Nobody just room service." She looked at him strangely. "They forgot part of my order and just brought it up. Are you ready to eat? He asked kind of nervous.

"You know what maybe I should get dressed first."

"No don�t be still you look fine, besides the longer you take the colder your lunch is going to get."

"Okay so what did you order?" she asked sitting down at the table.

"Microwave popcorn." He said taking the lid off one of the plates.

Alexis laughed. "Oh yea and what�s under the other plates, two old movies?"

Jax laughed. "No but if I would have thought about it, it would have been. Actually under here is a cheeseburger and fries with all the trimmings."

"That looks good, I�m starved." She said picking up a fri and popping it in her mouth.

"I�m glad to see you�re feeling better."

"Much thank you." She said grabbing his hand. "Sit down and have lunch with me."

"I�d be honored my dear." He says bowing to her.

"You are something else Jasper Jax." She said throwing a hand full of popcorn at him.

"Oh so you want to play do you?" he asked as he grabbed her and tickled her.

"No Jax stop." She yelled as she fell off the chair and unto the ground.

"Not till you say uncle" he insisted.

"Uncle, uncle" she yelled as he continued to tickle her.

He stopped tickling her as their eyes meet and he leaned down and kissed her. A few seconds later he pulled back and grabbed her hands pulling her up to her feet. "What do you say we eat, before the food gets cold."