Chapter 11.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty" said Becca as she opened the curtains. "Damnit Becca" I said, throwing one of my pillows at her. "You know you love me" shouted Becca while brushing her teeth. "Whatever" I said as I rolled out of the blankets. I put on a pair of shorts, and an oversized t-shirt, and left the room without Becca noticing. I snuck downstairs to see if Jesse was in the gym. I looked through the window and saw Jesse, shirtless, lifting a giant barbell. I opened the glass door, and walked in. Without looking up I heard Jesse say, "Good morning sunshine". Effortlessly, he picked up the massive weight, and re-racked it.

"Jesse…" I started. "I'm going to stop you right there," said Jesse. "Let's go for a walk". "Okay, where are we going?" I said. "Let's go to the beach," said Jesse. Jesse grabbed his shirt off of a chair and wiped the sweat from his face. Jesse put his hand on my back and walked me up the stairs.

Once we got upstairs, Becca and Lacy were both in the kitchen. "What are you two doing?" said Becca. "We're going for a walk," said Jesse. "We won't be gone too long". "Okay…" said Lacy. Jesse opened the door for me, and we walked outside. We made it down to the beach and started walking along the shore line. "So Jenny, what do you want to know?" said Jesse. "Everything" I said, not really knowing if I wanted to know the answer. "Be more specific Jenny, there's a lot to it," said Jesse. "Okay, what does my father have to do with this?" I asked. "Your father is one of my business partners," said Jesse. "What kind of business?" I said. "We work in the trading business," said Jesse. "Are you all criminals?" I asked, not holding back. "No Jenny, we're not criminals. We do have enemy companies, but we're not criminals" said Jesse. "Then why did you kill that man?" I said, stopping. "Why do you have all of those guns out in the barn?". "Jenny, he was a spy. He has been watching you since New York, and who knows how long before. We have to protect those who are involved with us" said Jesse.

"Okay, why did the man say, the infamous Andi Marinos before Andi shot him?" I said. "Andi is my best fighter. She is known throughout the world for her skills, people come from all over to find her, and pick a fight with her. Andi is considered the deadliest woman in the world." said Jesse. "What about the rest of them, what do they do?" I said. "Luka, he's my right hand, and our driver. He helps me with anything and everything. Lacy, she's a chemical engineer, she basically makes chemical concoctions to blow things up. Conner is my head of security; he deals with my computers and analytics. Elena, she is one of the sharpest shooters in the United States. Claire is our spy; she goes to other businesses and speaks in our interest" said Jesse.

"So, you're like a gang?" I asked. "Not quite, we just enforce what's in the best interest of our business" said Jesse. "I understand," I said. "You guys aren't going to kill Becca and I… are you?". "Jenny, why would you think that?" said Jesse, stopping in his tracks. "Listen to me Jenny, we would never hurt you." He paused. "I would never hurt you… I promise" said Jesse, touching my face. "The safest place you could be right now is here, with us." "Jesse, I honestly have no idea what to say. This is all so overwhelming" I said. "Come on," said Jesse, "I want to show you something".

We walked to the end of the beach. A giant pier was stationed on the beach, extending into the water. Jesse jumped up on the wood, extending his hand for me. "Jesse, where are we going?" I asked. "Do you trust me?" said Jesse. "Uh… yeah?" I said, questioning even myself. Jesse held my hand as we walked down the pier. The sun hadn't fully rose yet, it was still pretty early in the morning. Once we got to the end, Jesse sat down, and put his feet in the water. "Come here Jenny" said Jesse and he motioned for me to sit down. I went over and sat next to Jesse.

I put my feet in the water, quickly inhaling as the cold water hit my skin. "This is my favorite place to go when I need to just get away," said Jesse. "It's beautiful," I said, staring at the sun as it slowly started to appear over the horizon. "Do you ever get tired of it? I mean, being here all the time" I asked Jesse. "No, not really. I'm surrounded by my favorite people, so I'm happy" said Jesse, turning to me.

The sun had finally crossed the horizon, exposing its vast enormity. "We should probably head back, Lacy will be mad if we miss breakfast" said Jesse, standing up. "I guess so," I said. Jesse extended his hand for me, helping me to get to my feet. We started to walk back to the house, when two giant birds started to fly towards us. Panicking, I jumped on Jesse's back. "Jesse, run!" I shouted. Laughing at me, Jesse grabbed the back of my legs, and took off. "Jenny, hold on!" Jesse shouted, laughing. Effortlessly, he sprinted across the beach, as if nothing were holding him back.

We were almost to the house when Jesse asked me, "Jenny are they chasing us anymore?". I turned around, not seeing them. "Just because I cannot see them, doesn't mean they're not there!" I shouted. "Keep running!". The truth was, I didn't really want to walk. We got back to the house much faster with Jesse running rather than walking.

When we got to the front door, Jesse put me down. "Phew, I'm going to feel that later" said Jesse, laughing at me. "Ouch!" I said, punching him in the arm. "That was rude". Jesse looked at me and smiled. Not just his normal, sexy Jesse smile. It was a true smile of pure happiness. Just then, Lacy opened the door, unfortunately spoiling the moment. "Are you guys coming in?" said Lacy, whisking a bowl of pancake batter. "Yeah we're coming" said Jesse. Jesse held the door open, and we walked in.

"Jenny Marie" shouted Becca. "Oh no" I whispered, attempting to hide behind Jesse. "Don't you pull that crap on me! Where did you go? You totally ditched me" said Becca as she stormed in the kitchen. "Sorry Becca, I had something important to deal with," I said, looking at Jesse. Becca just stood there, wide-eyed staring at me. "Oh no…you two… you didn't?" stuttered Becca. "No Becca!" I shouted, plugging my ears, walking to my room.

"Becca did Elena fill you in?" said Jesse. "Yeah Jesse, she did," said Becca. "Are you okay?" asked Jesse. "I'm fine, and Jenny will be. It's just a big adjustment okay? Give her time" said Becca. "Oh, and if you break her heart, or hurt her in any way, you will suffer, huge!" said Becca, eyeing Jesse.

Once I got back to my room, I fixed my hair, being messy from the wind. I put on some Chapstick and left. Praying that Becca and Jesse were done talking about me. As I walked to the kitchen, Elena and Andi came upstairs. "Hey Jenny," said Elena. "What's up?". "Hey Elena… I'm just going to the kitchen to see if Lacy needs any help" I said. "I guarantee she won't need any… she tries to keep the number of people in the kitchen to a minimum" said Elena.

We got to the kitchen, seeing a giant plate towered with pancakes. "Lacy…" I asked. "Who's going to eat that many pancakes?". "Oh Jenny. Every now and then the boys have a pancake eating competition. The loser has to do the yard work until the next competition" said Lacy. "That's insane," I said. "Can I do it too?" said Becca, eyeing the plate. "Take it up with Luka, Becca. He started this game" said Lacy. Just then, Luka, Jesse, and Conner walked in. "Hey Luka, you have a new competitor," said Lacy. Jokingly, Luka said "Lacy, I think everyone knows Jenny won't eat that many pancakes". "Hey!" I shouted. "No dummy, Becca's in" said Lacy. "Finally, some female representation," said Andi. "Kick some ass Becca". "I for one, think Becca will totally smoke you Luka" said Jesse.

Just then, Claire came upstairs. "All of you people are disgusting. Fighting over pancakes? How stupid can you be?" said Claire, glaring at Becca. "Give it a rest Claire," said Jesse. "Whatever, I'm out" said Claire, going back downstairs. "The demon is going back to its hole of depression and suffering" I said, turning aside. Apparently, my humor was enough for everyone to burst out in laughter. "That was good Jenny," said Jesse. "Yeah, good one" said Elena, nearly spitting out her coffee.

Lacy put ten pancakes on four plates. "Whoever eats all of their pancakes first wins. The loser has to do all of the outside chores until next week" said Lacy. "Andi is standing by in case one of you losers chokes. I wouldn't suggest choking, she's not in a good mood". "I might break a rib this time," said Andi, cracking her knuckles. "Okay Becca don't go crazy" I said, talking in her ear. "Are you kidding? I'm winning this thing!" said Becca. Lacy, Andi, Elena, and I all stood next to the table, drinking our coffee, and eating our own plate of pancakes. "On your mark…" started Lacy. "You're going down, Marinos," said Becca. "Get set…" said Lacy. "Yeah right" said Jesse. "Go!" shouted Lacy.

Luka, Conner, Jesse, and Becca all shoved the pancakes down their throats. "Okay this is crazy" I said, watching the syrup run down their faces. Chunks of pancakes went everywhere. Elena, commenting on the competition, went down to each of the contestants' ears, trying to throw them off their game. "Becca only has five more Jesse," said Elena. "Becca, Jesse is halfway done". "Conner only has four left Luka".

"Done!" shouted Becca, finishing her last pancake. "Damnit!" shouted Jesse, still coming in second. "I'm done!" said Conner. Seconds later, Luka finished his last pancake. "Are you kidding me?" said Luka. "I lost last week too". "Well that sure does suck my friend" said Jesse, punching Luka in the shoulder.

We helped Lacy clean up the kitchen, all of the pancake crumbs, and the syrup splotches on the floor. "Man, you guys really take competitions seriously" I said, scrubbing some syrup off the floor. "Everyone likes to win Jenny," said Elena. By then it was just me, Andi, Lacy, Elena, and Becca in the kitchen. I turned to the sink to wash the syrup off my hand. Once I turned back around, the girls cornered me. "So, what happened this morning Jenny?" asked Elena. "Uh… nothing," I said, lying. "Girl, c'mon fill us in" said Lacy. "J, what did you and Jesse do?" said Becca. "Was it romantic?" asked Lacy. "Where'd he take you?" said Elena. "Guys please" I said. "It was nothing, we walked to the end of the beach, sat on the pier, and came back. No big deal" I said.

"What did you guys talk about?" said Andi. "Well, I know you're one of the biggest assassins in the world Andi. Elena, you're basically the best sniper in the world. Claire is a whore spy. Lacy, you build bombs for a living" I said. "So that's what he told you…" said Elena. "Interesting". "So now we can stop acting like it was such a big deal," said Andi. "She knows who we are, and what we do, and she's cool with it". "We just have to find a strong suit for you two" said Elena. "I'm gonna say…" started Elena. "No, you're not gonna say anything," said Andi. "If they don't want to be involved, then they don't have to be. Really, it's up to you two, and Jesse".