The Bodyguard

6.

"You're overreacting."

The quiet bustle of the bar was low around them. It was close to 1am now, but the 24 hour bar was lively with patrons and guests of the hotel.

They would check out tomorrow morning, but since their stay was complimentary, courtesy of the gala, they figured taking advantage of its amenities wouldn't hurt.

Lucas sat across from his younger brother, eyes tired from the previous night. It had been a mere twenty minutes after he received Jasper's text that they met at the bar of their hotel.

Lucas' mind kept flashing back to Bria, and the state he left them in. Guilt was an obvious emotion, and he knew Jasper could sense something was up.

Lucas hated that his younger brother was so good at reading people. You'd think that someone so emotionally detached would hate the prospect of uncovering people's emotions, but Jasper wasn't. The 24-year old tried reading his older brother the second Lucas sat down, but failed.

He figured it had something to do with his emotional attachment issues, which Jasper couldn't care less about, so he left it. For now.

"Of course you're siding with her," the younger brother scoffed. "I don't even know why I thought you'd be able to convince her."

"I think she wants to keep you safe."

"No, she wants to control me." Jasper deduced. The alcohol in his system was helping calm his temper a bit, but it would take a lot more than a couple of shots of Brandy for him to be relaxed.

Lucas sighed, rubbing his fingers on his temples. The fact that he could be having sex right now, and not be in a fight with Bria, made the idea of this conversation way less appealing.

"Jasper keeps you at his beck and call."

The older brother briefly remembers Bria's words from earlier. She was right, he knew that much. But Jasper had a shitty year prior, and Lucas regretted not being there for him when he needed it.

He vowed to change that, even if it meant staying up until 2 in the morning to listen to his younger brother rant.

"Okay, so she wants to control you," Lucas agreed. "We both know it's better than what you'd be doing if you weren't going with her."

Jasper clenched his jaw slowly, frigid at the mention of it. He absolutely hated admitting when Lucas was right, but this may very well be one of those times.

Jasper wasn't able to reply before he felt a hand graze his shoulder. A pair of lips whispered close to his ear before he had time to react.

"You know I would have ordered drinks to the room, if it meant you would've stayed in bed."

Jasper shuddered, instantly recognizing the voice. Seconds later, Blaise appeared from the left of him and sat down in between the two.

It earned a raised eyebrow and questioning glance from Lucas, and even though he didn't hear what Blaise said, he picked up on the suggestive touch.

"I'm Blaise," he smiled boyishly at Lucas and Jasper grimaced. He hated the idea of Blaise knowing anyone from his family, but the opportunity already presented itself.

"Lucas." He said, glancing toward Jasper in a what the fuck way, which Jasper blatantly ignored.

"We studied at Columbia together." Jasper said plainly, not wanting to give away anything else about the nature of their relationship.

There's no way that's all they did. Lucas thought to himself.

He knew his brother would never publicly date anyone, so the fact that Jasper was even allowing this interaction to take place was surprising.