Jordan woke up slowly, getting through the first surprise that she was in a different room than her own. Then all last nights happenings came back to her; first the nice dinner, than the terrible fight, then making love to Justin…Or was it him making love to her…?

Oh, God, she could still feel him inside her body, the way he made her relax, the way he made her trust not only him, but herself as well. How could one night be the worst and the best of her life? And what did it all mean? And what on earth would this lead to?

She felt sick inside and she pulled the cover closer around her to stop her body from trembling. She let her hand stroke her own arm as if reliving his touches from last night. He had made her feel something she had never felt before, and she knew she needed to feel it again, soon. He was her saviour, her way out of a miserable life, her chance of happiness. But would he ever love her the way she loved him? The baggage she brought with her had been hidden from everybody her whole life, how could she even dream to ask him to get involved in something that was sure to cause him so much pain? How could she even daydream about running away with him, and live on a deserted island for the rest of their lives? He had wanted to be part of her life, but she knew he never expected everything that came with that. 

She got up from bed slowly and put on his t-shirt, and hoped he wouldn’t mind her borrowing one of his sweatpants as she decided to walk downstairs facing the aftermath of the previous night. She looked at her watch for the first time that morning and was surprised to see it was already noon; she never slept that late.

 She heard quiet voices from the living room and stood leaning against the door frame for a few seconds before they noticed her.

-“Jordan, sweetie, how are you?” Lynn asked sincerely and got up to give her a hug. She held her for a long time, stroking her back reassuringly.

-“I’m…Is Justin here?” She looked at Trace who looked very uncomfortable, his legs shifting and his mouth continuously opening and closing with no words coming out. She felt the nausea coming back. He had left, hadn’t he? Ran out on her?

-“He… He’s…in a business meeting…” Trace finally said, and she sighed as she understood what was going on. Was she really that romantically disillusioned that she had thought his heroism last night was something to bring them closer together?

-“A meeting about last night?” she whispered as she felt the tears threatening to run freely from her eyes.

Lynn nodded.-“He’s with his lawyer. They’re trying to make some kind of deal…”

-“With him? What is he…? Is he okay, is he….” She couldn’t hold it in no more and started sobbing, holding on to Lynn who guided her over to the couch and sat her down gently.

-“I’m going to be honest with you; things are not looking too good. He has a lot of cleaning up to do, a lot of damage control…”

-“Oh, God, I’m so sorry…” she interrupted, but Lynn took her hand and squeezed it lightly.

-“What he did last night was something he chose to do, it’s not your fault. You didn’t ask him to do this. Now he needs some time to fix it, but let that be his problem, you have enough to deal with as it is”

-“You want some breakfast? Coffee?” Trace asked in lack of anything else to say. She looked at him curiously as if she just noticed who he was.

-“I’ve heard a lot about you, Trace” she said in an attempt to introduce herself, even though they were a bit past that at this time, but it made him smile.

-“I’ve heard a lot about you too, Jordan. It’s nice to finally meet. It’s been awkward to be his best friend and room mate and never have met the woman who’s about to have his child.”

-“I wish we could have met under different circumstances”

-“So do I, but we make the best out of the cards we’ve been dealt, don’t we?” His warm smile got to her and she had to smile back.

-“I see why Justin is so fond of you.” She held his gaze and suddenly Trace understood what Justin had said about her mesmerizing eyes. They were full of sadness and beauty, and even he felt the need to protect this gorgeous creature.He shook himself out of the trance and kept smiling at her as he left the room to make some more coffee.  

-“Are you scared?” Gary asked putting a hand on his arm as they were in the elevator on their way to his office.

Justin nodded slowly.

-“We’ll fix this, Justin, don’t worry. I know his lawyer; I can eat him alive.”

Justin smiled at his confidence, but had to admit it made him more at ease.

-“Try not to look so nervous, and clench your fists together so they won’t notice your trembling hands” Gary continued. Justin nodded again.

He didn’t know what to expect when he sat down in the conference room waiting for Jordan’s father to arrive. He was scared of his own reaction and he was scared of the consequences. He fiddled with his hands trying hard to follow Gary’s advice.

-“Try to leave the talking up to me, don’t say anything to incriminate yourself. I’ve done this for years, I know what to be done”

-“Okay…”Justin barely whispered.

He jumped when the secretary opened the door and peeked in.

-“Mr Stiffleman; your appointment is here” She smiled at Justin and he tried to smile back, but it came out more as a grimace.

He stopped breathing when the two men entered the room; the first one a smug guy in a cheap suit, the second one the object of his hatred. The lawyers shook hands and introduced themselves.

-“Jason Jones”

-“Gary Stiffleman” Then Gary turned to Jones client and held out his hand, repeating his name.

-“Jeremy Callister”

Justin’s blood turned to ice when he heard his voice, and he sat back and stared at the floor, demonstratively refusing the introductions when Jones held out his hand.

-“I’d suggest losing the attitude, Mr Timberlake. You’re the one in trouble here” the smug motherfucking lawyer had the nerves to say. He felt the rage from last night coming back fast. He clenched his fists again, but now it wasn’t to calm the trembling anymore; he was ready for a fight.  

He finally looked up at Jeremy Callister only to notice a huge black eye and a bad bruise going from his lip all the way to his chin. For a moment he felt sick by the thought that he had done something like that to another human being, but it soon changed to a weird kind of pride that he had given the bastard what he deserved.

-“So, we all know why we’re here, so lets just get this started, all right?” Jones said, not losing that annoying smile. 

-“Why don’t you just humour us and tell us why?” Gary smiled back and Jones sighed.

-“Well, your client has attacked my client for no particular reason, and he wants to press charges against him. You called the meeting, Stiffleman, I’m guessing you want to get out of a trial. No judge likes blind violence, you know. So you better have a good offer to my client to make up for his physical and mental damages.”

Juatin bit his lip to avoid saying something he shouldn’t, and Gary laughed a condescending laughter.

-“Cut the crap, Jones. We all know he’s not a victim of blind violence, and we all know he’s after money. So, what will it take to drop the charges?”

Jones took a deep breath for dramatic purpose.

-“One. Million. Dollar.”

Justin choke on his water and Gary laughed louder.

-“I think we’ll take our chances in court, then.”

-“Yeah? With what defence?”

Justin had the strong urge to wipe off that smug smile.

-“Well, my client, Mr Timberlake, handled in self-defence, and your client broke a restraining order. The only reason we are even talking right now instead of pressing charges against your client is to avoid the mental pressure of Mr Timberlake’s friend Miss Callister, who as you know happens to be Mr Callister’s daughter.”

-“Mr Callister was just on his way to have a nice dinner when Mr Timberlake came out of nowhere attacking him! He had no idea Miss Callister was even there! If you don’t agree, let’s watch the tape!” He pulled out his laptop, but Gary pushed it away.

-“We’ve seen the tape, all it shows is the fight, not what lead to it.”

-“A fight? That’s what you call it? I’d call it an attack”

-“So I hear you say, but we strongly disagree. Mr Timberlake feared for the safety of his friend and his unborn child, thus handling in self-defence”

Jones tilted his head to the side.

-“I have a feeling we’re getting nowhere here, Mr Stiffleman. I think we’ll have to see you in court. And when you loose, there will be a helluva lot more than a million dollar.” He grabbed his clients arm and they made their way towards the door.

-“Half a million!” Justin called out after them, making them stop and turn around.

-“Justin, don’t, let me handle this.” Gary said, putting a hand on his knee.

-“What did you say, Mr Timberlake?” Jones asked smiling.

-“Half a million dollar” he repeated, a bit more uncertain this time, holding Jones’s gaze.

-“See, now we’re negotiating! Seems your client is smarter than you, Stiffleman!”

They both sat down again and Justin shifted his gaze to Jordan’s father.

-“Justin, stop it.” Gary said through his teeth.

-“No, I want this over and done with!”

Jeremy Callister grinned and Justin noticed two of his teeth missing. Did I do that? He wondered. Those eyes that he remembered to be just like hers had coldness in contrast to her warmness. The ice blue colour shone of pure evil.

-“Half a million and you get her to drop the restraining order...”

-“This is not about her, this is you and me!”

-“Justin, this is crazy….” Gary started, but Justin shot him a look to make him shut up.

-“And I want visitation rights to my grandchild….” He leaned back and his grin grew wider.

-“You fucking son of a bitch!” Justin leaned forward, trying his best to intimidate him.

-“That’s my terms!” he shrugged. “Take it or leave it!”

Justin wasn’t scared anymore, he was on a roll, and he had to restrain himself from jumping over the table to kill this man.

-“Listen to me, you fucking scumbag! You go out of here with my fucking money, and you never return! You never contact me or her or our daughter, and you never ever come to a city we may be in! And if you ever do…” he shook his head.

-“Is that a threat Mr Timberlake?” Jones asked, but Justin kept looking at Jeremy Callister.

-“You want a threat? Okay, how about this; if you ever so much as breathe within a thousand miles distance from us, she’ll go straight to the police and tell them what kind of father you were.”

The bastard shook his head without losing his smile.

-“I don’t know what she told you, Justin, but my daughter is a disillusioned woman with a vivid imagination…”

Justin shot up from his chair and kept his hands on the table to steady himself, leaning further towards this man with the toothless grin. Gary put his hand on his shoulder to calm him down but he shook it off.

-“And I’m sure the police will be interested to know what she has to say about her mothers death too!”

He saw the man’s face turn pale for a moment before he quickly composed himself.

-“She’d never make up lies like that. She has too much to lose in her precious life” he spat.

-“Yeah?” Justin sat down again with a forced smile. “You don’t think she’d do that for me? Then you have no idea what power I have over her! She’ll do exactly what I tell her to do, trust me!”

-“This is starting to feel dangerously close to blackmail” Jones interrupted again, and Justin shifted his attention to him.

-“I think your fucking client is fucking close to blackmail asking for a million bucks!”

-“Guys, guys, guys!” Gary held his hands up to stop the talking. “I think we need a moment to ourselves to talk about this. You guys stay here, and Mr Timberlake and I will go to another office to discuss…”

-“Gary, shut up! I want this over with!” He turned back to his nemesis. “You know what? Fine! I’ll give you the fucking million as long as you agree to my terms! Okay?”

He heard his cold laugh as he reached out a hand towards Justin.

-“Nice doing business with you, Justin! Should we get the papers drawn straight away?”

Gary just shook his head and sighed, running a hand through his hair.

-“I’m not touching your fucking hand, asshole! We’ll get our lawyers to write the settlement, and when you step out of this office you’re out of our lives forever! Understood?”

Both Gary and Jones raised themselves from their chairs, making a move to get out and settle the agreement on paper. They talked silently by the door when Jeremy Callister suddenly leaned forward towards Justin and whispered.

-“She’s something special, isn’t she? That soft skin, that beautiful, toned body…I can see what you want from her…”

Without even thinking Justin got up again and grabbed his throat with both hands and screamed.

-“YOU FUCKING…”

Gary was there within a second pushing Justin off him with full force, landing him on the floor.

-“Justin, what the…”

Jeremy Callister got up and touched his bruised throat with his fingers.

-“That could have cost you another million, Justin” he smiled and walked out after his lawyer.

-“That was stupid, Justin!” Gary said after they closed the door behind them. “Real stupid…”