| Shattered Chapter 1 |
| Skye lazily stretched as she woke up early Saturday morning, then groaned after glancing at the clock. “Why can’t I sleep in like a normal person on the weekends?” she grumbled. She lay under the warm comfort of the covers for a few moments, remembering the events that had transpired the previous night. It had been the night of Carly’s club opening, and it had been an extremely eventful evening. Skye blinked back tears as she recalled how she had almost told Jax that she had feelings for him, then discovered that he had sold her out by giving his proxy to Lila. When she confronted him about it in Carly’s office, Jax had cruelly told her that he did it to be rid of her for good. As if that weren’t enough to make her night complete, Skye then watched as AJ was punched out after making quite a scene by kissing Courtney. Skye rolled her eyes, remembering the look of loyalty toward AJ and hate toward Sonny in Courtney’s eyes. Skye only hoped that Courtney wouldn’t find out too soon about AJ’s games, because Skye knew from experience that it would break both Courtney and AJ’s hearts. Grabbing the remote, Skye turned on the TV and channel-surfed. “Ugh, nothing but cartoons,” she muttered in disgust, throwing the remote across the bed. She had never been a big fan of cartoons, not even when she was a child. Growing up with an alcoholic mother who became irate when awakened after a drinking binge, Skye didn’t dare turn on the TV on Saturday mornings when she was young. “Okay, time to get up.” Skye stretched again as she stood up, then picked up her evening bag that she had taken to the club. She dug through it, searching, then dumped the contents out onto the bed. “Oh, great – where is my cell?” Not seeing it on the bed, Skye slumped down on the bed and forced herself to remember when she had last used it. “Oh, no,” she groaned, recalling that she had taken her cell phone out to call Alan right after her fight with Jax, but then had heard the commotion caused by AJ and Courtney’s entrance and had run to the front part of the club, along with Jax and Carly. “Did I leave it there?” she pondered, frowning. “Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Thirty minutes later, Skye was heading toward the club in her green sports car. “Please, don’t let Jax be there,” she muttered. Skye sighed with relief when she pulled into the parking lot and didn’t see any other cars there. Hurrying to the side door, she was grateful to find it unlocked. Quietly, she let herself in, then made her way to Carly’s office. Upon entering the office, Skye noticed that Carly’s computer was on, but no one was there. She practically yelled with glee when she saw a box on a table marked ‘Lost and Found’. Rifling through it, Skye was overjoyed to find her cell phone. “Finally!” she whispered, a triumphant smile on her face. Turning quickly, Skye almost knocked over a pink vase. She cursed as she managed to catch the vase before it completely toppled over. Setting it back upright, Skye noticed that the vase had beautiful ivory roses in it, then noticed a card attached to the vase. Unable to stop herself, she quickly grabbed the card and read it: “Carly - Congratulations on a great opening. I couldn’t be prouder to be your partner. Jax.” Skye could feel the heat rising through her neck and into her cheeks. “Damn you, Jasper Jacks,” she choked out, trying to keep from crying. Suddenly seized with a fit of anger, Skye grabbed the vase without thinking and threw it across the room. She then watched in horror as the vase crashed into the computer monitor, raining shards of glass over the keyboard. “Oops,” she mumbled weakly, then turned to make a beeline for the door, but instead ran smack-dab into Jax. Startled at the intense look on anger on his face, Skye took a step backward. “You want to tell me what the hell it is that you’re doing in here?” Jax demanded, taking a step closer to Skye. Skye could feel her face burning from humiliation and anger. “I… I left my cell phone here accidentally last night. I needed to get it back,” she tried to explain. Jax crossed his arms and nodded toward the now-broken computer. “And tell me – how did throwing that vase of roses into Carly’s computer tie in with obtaining your cell phone exactly?” Skye had never seen Jax look quite so angry. “I… uh… it was an accident,” she stuttered, unable to meet Jax’s intense gaze. “An accident,” Jax repeated sarcastically. “Yes!” Skye didn’t know what else she could say to get out of the mess. Jax shook his head in amazement. “You never stop, do you? Why can’t you just, for once in your life, tell the truth?!?” He paused, waiting for a response, but didn’t get one. “What was I thinking – that you’d actually tell the truth. Haven’t I learned my lesson by now?” Skye looked up at Jax then, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “I guess not,” she spat out. “But I have, and that lesson is that you’re not worth my time or my energy, Mr. Jacks.” She motioned toward the computer. “Tell Carly I’ll send her more than enough to cover the cost of the computer. I wasn’t trying to intentionally break it.” Seeing the look of suspiciousness on Jax’s face, Skye threw her hands up in the air. “Forget it, don’t tell her anything. You and Carly and Sonny and others… you’ve already made up your mind about me. There’s nothing I can do about that, but I can certainly try to avoid you from now on.” “If that’s how you want it,” Jax said coolly. “Yes, that’s how I want it,” Skye replied, enraged that Jax could stand there and seem so unaffected. Without another word, she pushed past him and out the door. Jax let out a huge sigh after Skye left. He tried to pick up the pieces of the shattered vase, finally giving up after almost cutting himself on the sharp shards of glass. Frowning, Jax held up one of the broken pieces of the vase to the light. Even though it had been shattered, the pink glass was still beautiful as rays of light shone through it. “Just like Skye,” he mumbled, startling himself by the declaration. He had to admit it to himself – even though she was an expert liar and a manipulator, she had managed to worm her way into Jax’s heart, just when he didn’t think it could happen again. He shook his head and chuckled at the irony. Here he was, just realizing and accepting these feelings that he had for Skye, and she had just washed her hands of him. Now the question was – what was he going to do about it? ************************************************************************************************************ (to be continued...) |