Chapter 9：Some Things Never Change

The sun blasted through the windows causing Lana to groan and wince in pain. She couldn't remember when or how she got home last night. Her head was pounding and felt like it belonged to someone else. The room was spinning slightly and it hurt when she opened her eyes. Alcohol was bad. Especially when it was free.

She managed to drag herself out of bed and went to revive herself in the bathroom. After a cold shower, she felt a bit better, but her head was still hammering. She downed a few painkillers and made her way to the kitchen and bumped into a half-naked blonde standing by the kitchen sink.

"Hey." She said and scampered off.

Lana held her temples and took deep breaths. Her heart was being squeezed but she tried to tell herself that it didn't matter. What Jordan did or who he did didn't matter. But the more she tried to bury the pain the more evident it became. She steadied herself on the counter and drank a glass of water but the pain manifested its ugly head. She rushed out of the kitchen with tears streaming down her face but what she saw next only caused her more pain.

Jordan was standing just outside his bedroom door making out with the mystery blonde. She was clinging onto him like her life depended on it.

"You made my night sweets. Hope I run into you again next time I'm in the neighborhood." He said to her as he gave her a final peck.

"See you around JC." She crooned and blew him a kiss before descending the stairs.

Lana stood transfixed on the spot unable to move. Their eyes met and Jordan simply winked at her before closing the door in her face. She trudged back to her room and threw herself on the bed. Then she made a decision-she had to go back to the penthouse. There was no way she would stay under the same roof with Jordan while he continued to play ping-pong with her fragile heart.

"I can't do this anymore." She said to herself.

With her bag packed she hauled it downstairs and went in pursuit of Jones or any other driver that would take her back to the condo. She found Jones in the kitchen, giving the cook instructions to take breakfast up to her room.

"That won't be necessary Jones." She came up from behind. "I'm going back to the others-at the penthouse."

"Is JC aware of your intentions?" He quirked his eyebrow as he towered over her.

"Why would he even care?" She lashed out. "Sorry Jones. I shouldn't be-"

"That's quite all right Miss Logan. I know JC can be a bit too much to handle sometimes." He winked at her, his brown eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Do you want to leave now or after brunch?" He lifted her heavy luggage off the floor.

"Now please." She pleaded as she followed him out to the car.

"I'm risking a lot by taking you away without JC's knowledge. You do know that right?" He looked at her through the rear-view mirror.

"I know it may seem like he's a bit of a...jerk but he's under a lot of pressure. He doesn't have any real friends, except Preston maybe-but he's a good kid. Just be patient with him. He'll come around sooner than later." Jones was fiercely loyal to his boss.

"I'm sorry but I can't play his games anymore. It hurts too much. I just can't." Her voice broke.

"I understand," Jones replied.

"I can't allow my self to get in too deep. I might not make it back out. So it's better this way. I need to keep my distance." She croaked, fighting back tears.

"It's not a question about keeping your distance but about whether you two can stay away from each other," Jones stated.

"We've only known each other for less than two weeks. I'm sure we can manage." She bit her bottom lip and her heart leaped. Even she didn't believe that.

"If you insist," Jones said and began to hum tunelessly to himself.

Lana sighed and leaned her head back on the seat. She must have dozed off somewhere along the way because next thing she woke up in her room at the penthouse.

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Meanwhile, somewhere in Tarryton a grouchy Jordan had finally woken up and decided he wanted to take a certain doe-eyed raven beauty to a late lunch. But alas, when he opened her bedroom door he was met by a soft breeze that wafted through billowing curtains.

"Bambi?"He called out from the landing. No response. "Lana?" He made his way down the stairs and met with Jones who was sitting on a chair in the sitting room.

"She isn't here JC." He said from behind a newspaper.

"What? Where is she? Where did she go?" He grabbed the newspaper out of Jones' hands and scowled at him.

"No point in taking your frustrations out on me. You should blame yourself." Jones reprimanded him. He was the only one that could do that and get away with it.

"I don't want her to get too attached." He pulled on his hair and sat on the couch.

"You or her?" Jones raised his eyebrow.

"What? Her obviously!" He scoffed.

"Right. If you insist." Jones started to hum tunelessly, as he usually did when he wasn't buying a story.

"Stop that humming. It's working on my nerves." He snapped.

"If you really want to know she's back with the others at the penthouse."

"But the press is crawling all over that place. She should have stayed here. Why did you allow her to leave??" He demanded.

"Because she wanted to leave after seeing you with that-and I can't blame her," Jones grunted. "You should at least show her some respect."

"I promised to keep my hands off her so I needed a distraction." Jordan paced the room like a caged animal. He didn't consider how his actions would affect Lana, he was too self-absorbed for that.

"Your little stunt that you pulled on stage made it to the entertainment page. Evidently.." Jones cleared his throat and straightened the newspaper.

"Let me see that!"Jordan took the paper and there it was for all the world to see-him and Lana, their lips firmly glued together, her fingers buried in his golden locks. His blue orbs closed as if he was savoring the moment, not wanting it to end.

"You got what you wanted," Jones observed.

"I-not exactly...I was just caught up in the moment that's all." He put his hand behind his neck.

"Really JC? And you aimed straight for Lana's puckered lips. Interesting." He straightened out the paper and continued to read the article.

"Ryan is going to have a fit." Jordan sighed as he leaned back on the couch.

"So since it's official that you and Lana are an item-officially not unofficially. Then I think it's time to clean up your act." Jones put the paper aside and looked at Jordan intently.

"Yeah..for the first time you could be right." He said, thoughtfully weighing his options. "Truth of the matter is I'm a sex-addict Jay. I can't control it. Especially when hot, sexy girls throw themselves all over me.. I can't resist them." He shrugged helplessly.

"What a load of bull manure!" Jones spat out. "I don't believe that crap for one second." He said with distaste.

"It's true man..I have a problem.. a real problem" He expressed with his hands.

"Rubbish," Jones replied. "You need to stop making excuses for your bad behavior JC. The drugs, the alcohol, treating women like toilet paper, the bad attitude-IT needs to stop. Only you have the power to change it. No one else." Jones said with concern but he knew his sound counsel was falling on deaf ears.

"I need that in order to survive in this industry. You don't understand-forget it." He said with a wave of his hand.

"Actually I do. I'm 43 and I was your age once... I was once an addict and and alcoholic. My wife took my kids and left me. I hated her for a very long time but now I understand why she did it. It took me a while but I finally cleaned up my act. I did it for my family and most importantly I did it for myself. I needed to get clean and stay clean for me. I just hope you can do the same before it's too late." He stood up and walked out leaving Jordan to his thoughts.