Legally Bound 4: Allegations of Love (3 page)

Chapter 3

A week and five days later…

Marie was happy for all her friends. Pam and Nate deserve this day. The proposal was adorable and Pam and Nate looked so happy. Standing just inside the sliding glass doors of Marcus and Rita’s home Marie stares at the man she wants a happy ever after with.

Marie and Jasper had a special relationship. They had been friends for years and then things changed. Although he was two years older than her and Rita, he was always around. Marie couldn’t remember a time that Jasper wasn’t somewhere around.

She hadn’t meant for them to end up here. She had started dating Chad out of hurt. At the time he was there, he was handsome, and he gave her the attention she needed. It was only after she realized the hurt she caused Jasper that she considered the relationship a mistake, no matter how hurt she thought she had been. Then she learned just how big a mistake and misunderstanding it all had been.

Finding out that Chad was cheating on her with Whitney hadn’t been as devastating as she thought it would be. It only served to show her how hard she had been trying to make something work that was never meant to be. If she were honest, she had wanted to come home a long time ago.

Marie let her eyes roam over Jasper’s form. He had taken her breath away when he arrived for Bobby and Paige’s wedding. He took her breath away now. At six three Jasper is no longer the young boy she had secretly crushed on for so long or the young man she had shared a secret with.

He is now all muscle and all man. His broad shoulders and muscled arms stretch the t-shirt he has on and his jeans hug his tight ass to perfection. He now wears his blonde waves combed over to the right in a regal style with a part on the side and the left side cut just a bit lower, more flush to his tanned skin.

Like his father and uncle, he is just an olive version of Nate. The Briggs men are pure eye candy on any day of the week. There is just something about the way Jasper stands that makes Marie tingle between the legs.

~B
~

Marie knew the minute he touched her, her panties were going to be soaked. She had been drooling over him since he arrived two days ago. When Rita said she was going to Greece Marie had wanted to follow her, but she had already promised to join her family.

Truthfully, she wasn’t ready. All she had done, all she had been doing when no one was watching had been for Jasper. When Rita thought she was spending time with Chad, she was really doing what she had to. She wasn’t surprised to find out Chad was cheating, in the past two months she had given him plenty of time to.

All of it had an end result. She just wasn’t ready to face those results. What if Jasper didn’t want her? It had been almost seven years since he left for Greece. They were not the two dreamy eyed teenagers that made promises they couldn’t keep.

She may not have been ready, but her body told a different story once Jasper walked through those doors looking like sex on legs. She had spent the last two days avoiding him. It was just for the best. When she called her mentor, she had agreed. Marie just needed a little more time.

Time she learned soon enough that she didn’t have. Nervously, she stepped into place. Jasper stepped up to place his hand on her waist.
His green eyes locked with her grey ones and he gave her a sexy grin
.

“You’re mine now, Marie,” He murmured with such finality.

Marie just looked up at him in awe, and then nodded. It was not what she expected him to say. Her submission to his words had come so naturally.

She was confused. The last time they spoke, he was so angry with her. The things he had said had shown her that he was not the same Jas she had grown to love. She expected that she had hurt him, but she didn’t know how to explain it all to him, in his moment of fury. He didn’t know it, but she thought he had hurt her first.

Someone had sent her pictures of him and a beautiful woman. She was everything Marie wasn’t. It was then that she had decided she was tired of being lonely. Chad had already asked her out a few times. So when the pictures arrived and broke her heart, she accepted his offer for dinner that same night.

Nevertheless, Jas’s words had cut deep when he called her that night so long ago. He had shredded her with his final words. ‘
I guess this is for the best. We would never work. I’ve become someone else, someone you would never want anyway,’
Jas had breathed into the phone brokenly.
‘Goodbye.’

He had hung up the phone and she had sobbed her eyes out. So to stand here and have him declare she was his, after all she had done in secret, left her more than confused. She thought she would have a bigger fight on her hands. He said nothing else as his hand on her waist gave a slight possessive squeeze.

~B
~

Marie blinks the memory of Paige and Bobby’s wedding away. She could hardly believe it had been a year and a half ago. She brought her family so much hurt with her poor choices in friends. Sure she was still hurt that her best friend had lied to her for so long, but the real reason she hadn’t spoken to Rita until last night was because she was ashamed of how she had not seen Whitney for who she was.

Instead, Marie found time to spend with her mentor. It was harder now with Jasper around. If he wasn’t working, he was wherever she was. When he followed her and Rita to London, she’d avoided the talk they needed to have for a full three days before he cornered her.

That conversation led them to where they were now in their relationship. In the beginning, the decision they made was what they needed. Now it just left her confused and frustrated. She knew she was a part of the problem. Her secret was consuming her and she didn’t know how, if, or when to reveal it.

What once was a good idea now left her feeling like she had betrayed him all over again. Marie knew she couldn’t survive losing him altogether. It had always been Jasper for her.

“Girl you are staring a hole through that man. I still for the life of me can’t understand why you two dance around each other the way you do,” Pam says from beside Marie with an amused smile.

Marie jumps not having realized that anyone had even entered the room. Turning she finds not just Pam, but all her sisters in law and Camille watching her.
How had she missed them all entering the house?

“Marie, I just got engaged and you’re in here like a stalker watching Jas,” Pam laughs.

“Did you see her face? You really didn’t see us coming,” Rita snorts. “I know my cousin is fine as hell, but damn, Pooh Bear.”

Marie sighs running a hand over her hair. What could she say, she had been caught? With a full out blush on her face, she pulls her bottom lip into her mouth.

“Fine is not the word,” Pam snorts. “Jas is a little hottie. Is it me or did his ass put on more muscle in the last few months?”

“Yeah, I’ve been in the gym with him and the new recruits a few times lately. He has definitely put on more muscle. I was teasing him about it. I think he is working off his sexual frustration,” Rita laughs.

“Okay, I for one have had enough of this,” Paige says, with a hand on her hip. “Are you going to tell us the truth finally on why you won’t just give into that man? Has he not shown you that he is head over heels for you?”

“Really Paige,” Cam snorts.

“Whatever, it took me some time, but I got my shit together. And it didn’t take a whole year,” Paige huffs. “The looks he gives her makes me want to find my husband and jump his bones.”

“Okay, so since I’m not family I am just going to be frank,” Camille says, with a straight face. “There is no way this is because you are a virgin and too scared to lose your virginity. That man is sexy as sin, but he can’t intimidate you that much. You can save that one and tell us the real reason.”

“Camille,” Paige and Pam hiss in unison.

Rita looks at all the women with an open mouth. “Oh my God, those men talk more than we do,” she groans.

Marie sighs. “It wouldn’t be right for me to tell you all before I tell him,” Marie replies, sounding honestly regretful.

“Well, when are you going to tell him so you two can get on with it,” Camille asks with a lifted brow.

“I agree, Marie. Whatever it is, its time you get it out of the way,” Ellen finally chimes in.

Marie turns to look out at Jas once again. This time, when her eyes meet him, their eyes lock. He is giving her that heated stare Paige was just referring too. They were right. She was finally ready and there was nothing she could do, but tell him the truth and set them both free.

“Time to shit or get off the pot,” Rita says crossing her arms over her chest. She and Jas are so close and she knew it was killing him to do this dance with Marie.

Marie turns back to the women, reluctantly breaking eye contact with Jas. Looking at each of them, they are all so happy with the exception of Camille. Happiness had been all Marie ever wanted. It was what she had been promised if she took this route.

With new confidence, her decision was made. Marie was tired of running and tired of hiding. If Jas was ready, she was too. She just hoped he was ready for what would she reveal.

“Okay,” Marie nods at the women.

Pam gives a secret smile. The ladies had just made her job easier. All she would do now is set the stage just as her future Uncle in law asked her to do.

Chapter 4

Jas was still letting his Uncle’s words play over in his head as he stood talking to Nate while holding little Peyton in his arms. He couldn’t help, but feel a ping in his chest. Sure he was the youngest out of the guys, but he wanted a family of his own as well.

Jas had held every baby at the party in his arms at some point throughout the day. Even now he was nuzzling the baby’s little cheek and placing his face in Peyton’s hair to inhale his scent. Whatever Paige used on the boys made them smell so good. It’s a comforting scent that made Jasper think of simpler times in his life.

He wondered what his children would look and smell like. He wondered if Marie would find out what Paige uses to give the Twins such a welcoming smell. Kelly had had her first baby last year. His niece was gorgeous, just perfect in his eyes. She had come out darker than they thought she would with her white father and Kelly, like Jas, being fairer skinned. His niece, Ava was a light cinnamon color with his mother’s green eyes. 

What many people didn’t know was that Nate and Rita’s mom was Jasper’s mother’s twin. Aunt Raquel had taken her birth mother’s darker skin and Caitronia, Jasper’s mother, had been much lighter. The Marinos sister’s story had been one of much heartbreak.

Meeting and marrying the Briggs brothers had changed their lives. Jasper always wanted a love like his parents and Aunt and Uncle had. He knew in his heart Marie was that for him.

Jasper wondered if Marie would give him a baby that would testify to his mixed blood. Would their children take on more Italian traits from the Mairetties and his father’s mix of Italian and Greek blood? Would they carry any of his mother’s African American traits?

One thing Jas knew was that they would be stunning just like their mother. Now if he could just get her to open up to him.
‘She stops running today.’
Uncle Thomas’s words ring in his ears once again. He didn’t know what the three old men had planned, but he would do anything to get out of this hole he and Marie had put themselves in.

~B
~

Jasper had many regrets when it came to Marie. One being the night Olivia turned her back on him. When he stormed from his apartment he knew, Olivia was right. He would never be able to give her what she wanted and needed, just like he had failed Marie.

Knowing that didn’t make the pain any less. It was times like this Jas wished he had done like his cousin Kevin and just walked away from the family business. The Briggs in New York were not the only ones that carried on the family business.

His cousin in California had chosen to follow his dream of being a chef and owning a chain of restaurants. Sure he had wealthy friends to back his decision, but Jas always knew Kevin would find a way out. If Jas would have just said no to the Greece assignment things could have worked out differently.

Marie would be with him. They would be celebrating her modeling career at the moment. Jasper snorted at his thoughts as he drunkenly pushed his way into his apartment. Olivia’s scent met him, pissing him off all over again.

She was only supposed to be traveling to London for a few weeks. Olivia had asked him to go along with her, but he couldn’t take the time away. Jasper also thought it was playing with fire. London may be a large enough place, but in his gut, Jas knew if he went there with another woman he would somehow cross Marie’s path.

He’s seen the crestfallen look on Olivia’s face when he told her he couldn’t go. They may not have talked about Marie much, but Olivia was a very smart woman. She had known he was in love with someone else from the beginning and had told him so.

Why did the women in his life always give up on him when he needed them most? What Marie had done had come at a turning point in his life. Back then he was riddled with guilt for sleeping with Olivia. It had been just then that he had a taste of what Olivia could offer him, but she hadn’t taken him to the point of no return yet.

Olivia had actually started a relationship around that time. Their private trysts were strictly for Olivia to make good on her promise to teach him pleasure, as both a giver and receiver. He’d met the man she’d called her new beau and hadn’t cared much for him. Jasper had been sure the feeling was mutual. Jasper had a feeling the man knew he was fucking Olivia.

She’d taken Jas on a trip on her private yacht, a few days after he met her boyfriend. He and Olivia spent two weeks behaving as if the world did not exist. It was her way of getting him to release his guilt and just enjoy what she was giving him.

A week after that trip he found out through a Briggs Security report that Marie was dating some asshat named Chad. It had crushed him, but he felt like it was his fault. He thought it was karma, so he hadn’t confronted Marie, not until now. Now, his cell phone burned a hole in his hand.

Jasper stumbled to the nearest seat and tried to flop into it. He missed it and landed on the floor, right on his ass. Grunting into the room he focused his eyes on the phone and dialed Marie. After a few rings, the line picked up.

“Jas,” Marie said groggily into the phone.

“You knew how much I loved you,” he snapped into the phone.

“Jasper, what’s wrong,” Marie could hear the bitterness in is voice, sending a sharp pain through her heart.

Jasper snorted drunkenly. “What’s wrong,” he slurred. “You gave up on me. You tore my heart out and didn’t look back. You promised me if you were going to start a relationship we would talk to each other. You didn’t come to me!”

Jasper knew he was shouting, but he felt so betrayed. He heard Marie sniffle and it just enraged him more. She had no right to cry she had done this to them.

“I watched you go to prom without me, I watched you let other guys take you out on dates. I never said anything because one, I was older. Our timing was so wrong. I knew I would have to leave, but the real reason was because I loved you and I thought what we shared in secret was so special. It didn’t matter who you dated in public, I knew I had your heart in private in a way no one else would,” Jasper shouted some more as Marie sobbed into the phone.

“You told me to go to prom with someone else. You told me to go on those dates. I never wanted any of that. You said it was for the best. First, you said it would keep you with me if they didn’t know you were emotionally attached to me. Then you said it was for the best because you would be leaving me,” Marie whisper yelled back.

Why was she whispering?
The thought drove him over the edge. Was her boyfriend there in bed with her? Had she given herself to him? They had been together for some time now. Whatever made him think she wouldn’t? Hadn’t he jumped in bed with Olivia, knowing what he made Marie promise him?

His guilt and rage consumed him. He had lost her. They had both ruined something special. He had kept his end of the promise, but what he had done was still wrong.

“I guess this is for the best. We would never work. I’ve become someone else, someone you would never want anyway,” Jasper breathed into the phone brokenly. “Goodbye.”

~B
~

Jasper grimaced at the memory. He knew that call was the reason Marie had been skittish when they first arrived in London. They had been in London for three days and Marie had managed to avoid him for three days. He couldn’t take that shit any longer. He had already been away from her for almost seven years. He knew part of the problem was his fault.

That call haunted Jas dreams for years, almost three to be exact. It hadn’t solved anything. Olivia was gone and so was his Marie. That was until he heard about her break up and that piece of shit cheating on her.

Rita had to stop Jas from making a visit to that clown. Jasper wanted to hurt him for hurting his Marie. Instead, Jas showed up at Bobby’s wedding ready to claim what was his. He would fight his own personal demons for Marie. Their time had finally come or so he thought.

~B
~

“We need to talk,” Jasper said as he placed his arms on either side of Marie caging her in between him and the wall outside her bedroom.

Marie looked up into his eyes and his heart ached. It was like he could hear her cries from that call two years ago. Marie gave a silent nod.

Jasper cupped her face and dropped his eyes to her lips. He wanted to kiss her, but it was too soon. They had a lot to work out. Instead, he reached for Marie’s hand and led her into the bedroom. After closing the door behind him, he sat down and gently tugged her hand for her to hesitantly do the same.

Jasper searched her face for a while before he started to talk. “I have missed you so much,” he says reaching to run his hand over her hair. Marie closed her eyes and turned to nuzzle into his hand.

“I missed you too,” she said in a whisper. “I...”

“No, wait,” Jas cut her off. “I want to tell you how sorry I am about that night. I shouldn’t have called and not to say the things I did.”

“You were right,” Marie interrupted. “I broke us. I should have come to you.”

“Marie, I’m not perfect. I played a big part in losing you,” Jasper shook his head at her words, the guilt consuming him again.

Marie reached to cup his face. She now knew the mistake she had made. The damage had already been done when she did find out the truth. Shaking her head, this time, she locked eyes with Jas.

“How do we fix this? I lost a really good friend. We were a lot to each other, but you were always my friend. I have so much I have needed you for, but then I remember you don’t want to talk to me,” Marie says with trembling lips.

“There has never been a day that I haven’t wanted to talk to you. I crave hearing your voice,” Jasper threw his head back and blow out a heavy breath. This was not what he wanted, but it was what he needed to do.
Here goes,
he thought to himself. “We fix this by being friends, starting over. You need to get to know me and I need to get to know who you have become. If we can ever get back to who we were then, I will take that, but for now, we need to find our friendship again.”

Jasper swallowed hard as he watched Marie’s reaction. It stung him that she looked so relieved. Had he done that so damage that she no longer wanted him in the same way? He pushed down the hurt and vowed right then and there that he would work for her heart once again.

~B
~

“Hey, Jas did you hear anything I just said,” Bobby chuckles, bringing Jasper back to the present.

“Sorry, I was thinking about something,” Jasper murmurs kissing the top of Peyton’s head and handing him back to his father.

“I asked you if you wanted to talk about what is going on with you and Marie. I see the way you two look at each other. Maybe a fresh perspective will help you guys work things out,” Bobby says with a grin as he takes his son in his arms.

Jasper shakes his head. “I plan to fix that sooner than later,” Jasper replies thinking of his own plans he had been putting together.

He was surprised to receive a gift from Olivia. It made him smile. She really had been a friend. She knew him better than most. It was sort of eerie that she chose now to gift him with what she sent. Part of the gift he didn’t think he would ever use, but the ring. That he had plans for.

It was the same design she had caught him staring at on one of her shopping trips a little while after she lost the Baron. He couldn’t believe she remembered that. Jas had thought she was sending him a hint of what she wanted to happen between the two of them, but the letter that came with the gift had proved him wrong.

“Hey, Jas, Cousin, you okay,” Nate asks with expectant furrowed brows.

“Yeah, sorry,” Jasper rubs his forehead. “What happened?”

“I said Pam is waving us into the house. I don’t like that look on her face. Come on, let’s get to the bottom of this. She should not be stressed today of all days,” Nate threw over his shoulder as he already started for the house.