Despite the fact that I had known Jacob my whole life I never would have guessed that he would be the one in the family to buy his own mansion. He's just not that type of a person, and I suppose that I never would have noticed if he was.

Jack kind of took up most of the room in my mind.

But, I had to admit as he led me through the house, I was flabbergasted. It was – in short – amazing. Everything was sleek and shiny, and when something wasn't covered in oak or leather, it was slathered with chrome. It looked like a bachelor pad, which it would be if he wasn't planning to share it with his fiancé Lisa. (After they got married, of course. Jacob's parents would never have approved otherwise.)

He finally stopped and gestured towards a seat as he took one himself.

"So what brings Kim Crawford here on this amazing morning?"

I laughed and leaned back on the couch. "Stupidity, ignorance, etcetera. You name it. I'm not the sharpest knife in the bunch."

I would have preferred him to laugh, but instead all I got was a deep, calculating look. My insincere giggles died awkwardly in my throat.

"I may have found Jack's note."

He blinked and sat back, his red shirt contrasting starkly with the black, and cleared his throat, "Well that explains your edginess. Though I assumed you would have come looking to talk to me about it months ago."

"Well I only got to read it today."

An eyebrow rose. "How could you have neglected to read a juicy note full of tantalizing secrets that long?"

"Your freaking cousin never gave it to me."

The silence spoke volumes.

Jake let out a whoosh of breath and sat back up, "Ok, that answers one question, but why are you here?"

I fixed him with a look. Shouldn't that be obvious?

"Ok," he stood up and walked around the back of the couch, "you definitely know that he cared about you. You must have deduced the time range that Jack wrote that, and know that it coincides with what he was doing during the time. The date, the whole fiasco with Catherine. But what that doesn't explain," his hands came to rest on the coffee table in front of me and his eyes bore into mine. "Is why you're here. You could be finding him now, but instead you're at my house. Why?"

My mouth opened to answer but before that was possible he was off again.

"Wait, he's not at his house, so you obviously came here. That's so like you. Instead of taking the easy route and checking Jack's Wikipedia page and fan sites, you track down his older brother and ask him. But, that's also smart, because who else knows where Jack is than family?" His caramel-colored lips twitched into a grin. I could feel the smugness flying off of him in waves. I decided it would be inconsiderate to tell him that it wasn't that hard to figure out.

"Yeah. So, if you would, an address, please?" Jake took my hand and pulled me up.

"Sure. Jack's in L.A. filming at some night club. I mean, it's a two hour drive to there, and then probably an hour to go and find Jack, but he's worth the time, yeah?" A piece of paper hit my palm and I allowed myself a small smile.

I whisked him into a hug. "Thanks Jacob."

"Hey, what're friends for? Now go get my baby brother."

The two and a half hour drive wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking as I thought it'd be. The fact that I was constantly playing upbeat pop songs might have been part of it. As the scenery swooped by my eyes were unwavering on the freeway, my mind focused on the task at hand. My emotions had gotten pushed into the back seat at some point and, frankly, I refused to bring them back up until I was standing right in front of the movie star. In past years when I thought about the direction our conversations might go it was always borderline-disastrous.

Keeping my mind carefully blank, I took in the numerous numbers of teens – most of them female – surrounding the night-club. Even though it was still mostly light outside the neon signs were flashing green and yellow against the brick building

I found a parking space a few blocks away and pulled my light jacket tighter against my body as I walked back towards the night club.

I tried to stand on my tippy-toes, but as soon as I did I was pushed down by girls doing the same. Over and over I was jostled around, until I finally decided that I had enough. Turning my body sideways I wormed my way through the ever increasing crowd of ecstatic teenagers.

I was almost to the front when all of the girls around me seemed to pop up and scream the same name; Jack.

Spurred on by the knowledge that he was ahead, I grasped at the railing between two girls and pulled myself flush against it. I could see him now, making his way from the black, sleek limo he apparently rode in now to the grungy sidewalk by the club entrance.

"Jack!" I screamed, knowing it was pretty pointless. Your voice isn't going to be noticed when two hundred high pitched girls are yelling the same name.

But you are going to be noticed when the boy your shouting at turns and looks through the crowd. And then his chocolate eyes stop. Right on you.

And then they widen.

I did my best "we need to talk" face but I'm sure it only conveyed how desperate I felt. Digging in my jean pocket I pulled out the notebook paper that he had scribbled his heart and soul out on and waved it at him.

His eyes narrowed. Turning to one of the guards positioned by the door he waved towards me and then proceeded to go in the door.

Ah great, I thought, panicking as two burly guys with a buzz cuts came walking towards me. We're definitely not talking now.

But as soon as the first guard reached the gate he opened it slightly and motioned me forward, the other guard discouraging any thirteen-year-olds from getting any ideas and making a run for it.

As soon as I put my right foot outside of the gate he slammed it shut, smacking my left heel so hard my whole leg shuddered. I glared at his back but he took no notice. He also totally ignored the fact that he was leading me towards my destiny.

Ok, so maybe that's a little dramatic. I mean, so what if Jack rejects me? I'm a strong, independent, legal adult, and I've been taking care of myself for two years without him in my life, thank you very much. I'll be fine.

But even I can tell when I'm lying to myself. I desperately hoped that it would work out. That maybe, just maybe, he won't want to strangle me. Heck, maybe he had a realization that giving the note to Jessica wasn't a good idea, and already knew why I was absent from his star-filled life for about two years.

Ha. Yeahright.

Despite the fact that I had specifically told myself that I was not going to let my emotions run rampant, they did against my wishes anyway. Nerves were scrambling my insides together and winding them into tight knots.

We arrived at a door. The guards started ushering me in. I thought I was going to be sick.

In the end they succeeded and slammed the door shut behind them, causing me to flinch. And then I looked up and flinched again. He was watching me from where he sat across the room with shadowed eyes. I twisted my hands together anxiously.

We stayed like that for quite a while. I couldn't tell if it had been a long couple of minutes or a short half an hour. Finally his long frame got to its feet and stalked forwards. I leaned back against the door as he came closer.

"So, Kimberly," he drawled. "How have you been?"

He went on before I could answer.

"I imagine well. How's the dojo? How are the guys? Jerry? Eddie? Milton? Or do you even keep up with them anymore?"

I was speechless. I couldn't fathom where he was headed with this. What was the point of asking me?

Finally I croaked out, "They're-they're good."

A slow smile crept across his face. I suppose it would look comforting any other place, but alone with him in a semi-dark room with him advancing on me like he was a caged animal recently let loose, I was more than a little frightened by the grin.

"That's nice. That's really good."

He slowly crept one hand around my neck to rest on the door behind me. All the while keeping that same, dangerous smile.

"And what about your family? Your sisters good? Safe?"

The way he said it, as if there was a hidden threat in his words, made my head spin, as did his close proximity. Though neither of those things made my head spin in a good way.

"Yeah." I swallowed, my throat dry.

"Good," he whispered, his voice velvet. His other arm had crept around the other side of me, making my body press itself more effectively against the door in an attempt to get away. He had an almost animalistic quality in the way he talked to me, and my body was screaming at me to run, to save myself. But I couldn't. He'd trapped me in and even if I could duck out of the cage he had made he would still be pushing against the door, and he would grab me before I could see if there were any windows. I was, for the time being, stuck in the lion's den.

"Now that those pleasantries are over," Jack's voice hardened. "I have a couple of questions."

I opened my mouth to add that I had questions too when he suddenly leaned towards me, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Why are you here, Kim Crawford." Shivers traveled down my spine and I closed my eyes and shied away. He needed to take a step back and take some deep breaths to calm down or something.

"Come to mock me now that I'm a big star? Did you come to leech fame and fortune from me and my family? I never pegged you as a gold digger Kim, but then again I didn't really know you."

"You did know me." I said, my voice finding strength in my bewilderment. It was horrible that he thought that I would hurt him like that, let alone his family. The Brewers were and would always be family to me, even if after this Jack decided to hate me. Well. Hate me more than he already does.

His eyes bored into mine as I cautiously opened my mouth. "You did know me. And I'm the same girl you were talking to in your note."

"I wrote that two years ago. No one stays the same for two years, Kimmy. Believe me, I know. But you could easily be the same girl that I thought I loved two years ago. I just didn't know you." His mouth morphed into a grimace. "I was blind and stupid for falling for you."

I'm sure his words were meant to be scathing, but look at how casually he said that he had loved me, fell for me! Jack wasn't the type to tell anyone his intimate feelings without a serious reason behind it. (The note was proof of this fact.) Which meant either he had a long time to think about what he was going to say or that all he felt for me now was disgust. I found myself desperately hoping for the former. Either way this wasn't going to be easy. I was lucky that he even let me talk to him in the first place. But now that I had a smidgen of hope I wasn't going to waste it, no matter how threatening he seemed at the moment.

"Listen, Jack," I pleaded, "Listen. And then you can throw me out or whatever you'd like. I'll never bother you again. You can go on with your life and not have to worry that I'm going to pop up again. But you have to know that today was the first day that I saw that note. If I hadn't gone to Jessica's house to help her pack I wouldn't have known that it existed! I'm not sure why she never gave it to me – well, I can guess, but, but I never knew how you felt! Now that I do know I just wanted you to know that I–"

"Shut up."

My eyes widened. "What?"

"Just shut up. Shut up and leave."

Feet glued to the floor, I looked up into his stormy eyes in shock as he straightened up, the cage of his arms disappearing. He didn't… he didn't believe me.

"Would you just go?" He snarled, grabbing the note from my hands and ripping it to shreds. As I watched the delicate pieces fall to the ground I realized that my cheeks were wet.

Under Jack's glower I bent down and began to numbly gather the pieces of paper up, taking care that my tears didn't land on them and mar the writing. Cradling them to my chest I walked out with what little dignity I could muster.

"Hello?"

"Jessica."

My spine immediately straightened, whole body on red alert.

"Jack. What are you calling me for?"

"Because I need to make sure that I didn't just make a horrible mistake."

My tone was scathing, "Well whatever it was I'm sure you did."

"Jessica, I need you to shut your mouth and listen." His tone was hard. I sighed. That voice meant business.

"Make it quick."

"Yesterday Kim came to my set to talk to me."

I stiffened again. He continued, "She had the note that I gave to you. The one that you promised to give to her. She told me that she had found it earlier that day, and hadn't known about it until then." My pulse was hammering.

"And I yelled at her, found sadistic joy in her pain because well, how am I supposed to believe her after two years of hoping and hoping every day that she would visit me and give me a smile and being disappointed all the time? I wanted her to feel pain, wanted to her feel miniscule and unimportant because that's how I felt. But if she was telling the truth that means that you never gave it to her, and I made a horrible mistake. Again."

I was gasping by now. "I didn't mean to hurt you!" I burst out. "Either of you! But she was so broken! Every time she saw you she pretended to ignore you, to be indifferent, but everyone could tell that she hoped you would talk to her, smile at her. But you never did! I was up with her all night because she thought you hated her after your stupid kiss on that stupid rock! She was sobbing Jack! And then we were at the party and you just had to accidently start saying her name. And I thought, wow! Maybe this can actually work out! Then you had to go and say Catherine's instead! You don't even like her! But Kim thought that you did and she left a wreck and then you came over with this note that you thought was going to fix everything. And yeah, I thought that maybe it would've. But the chances were so slim, too slim. So many times you had led her on just to drop her again. And I know what I did was horrible and unforgivable but you weren't there when her heart broke over and over again. I just couldn't take that chance! I thought that maybe, if I could break the unhealthy cycle of her going back to you, then maybe she'd be alright. Be able to move on to someone who wouldn't cause her such pain." Sobs were wracking through me so hard that I could hardly breathe. "You're like poison to her, Jack. You're killing her, and one day there won't be enough of her left to come back to you."

After a few moments of silence he hung up and I let the phone slip from my grasp as I sank to my knees.