The Bodyguard (discontinued)

21.

Ace wondered how it was possible to be physically close to someone, yet feel worlds away from them.

Their differences never really struck him prior. Which sounds ridiculous, considering how different Ace was from Jasper, but it was as if the contrast of their social upbringings were being exposed.

Because Jasper moved with grace. He fell into conversation with the people around him like it was second nature. Entertained whatever stories they told about their Ivy League education and how exhausting the upkeep was on their Hampton mansions. 

What a facade it was, because Ace knew what Jasper was really like. He was cruel, harsh and maybe heartless, yes. But he wasn't like them.

He didn't bask in the intricacies of being part of the 1 percent. If anything, he hated gross displays of wealth from his family and peers. He was modest in the way he didn't brag or boast. Jasper believe hubris was one of the most unattractive qualities a person could have.

But as Ace's eyes found Jasper across their table, long deft fingers wrapped around a glass of champagne, perfect laughter emitting from his lips at the jokes of those around him, and paying Ace no attention, the guard wondered how much he truly knew Jasper.

They were worlds away from the cocoon they'd curated in that hotel room. The blizzard only lasted two more nights before it was safe to fly back to New York.

As Ace expected, their veil of intimacy fell once they left that hotel room.

In between their constant traveling and Jasper's mom's incessant hovering, he hadn't touched Jasper since then and it was torture.

Not in the way that he was heartbroken, no.

In the way that watching Jasper seemingly so unaffected by what they did was disheartening and also confusing.

Which Ace felt he had no right to feel. As Jasper had no trouble reminding him, whatever happened between them was just sex, which he agreed to.

He just wished Jasper could give him even a semblance of an indication that it wasn't all in his head. That their relationship hadn't been diminished to those nights in their hotel room.

They were sequestered off in a more private section of the restaurant, but even then, the night bustled on around them.

Ace sat at the far end of the table, next to Jasper's mom and someone else who's name he couldn't quite recall.

Jasper was seated at the opposite end, in between some of his mom's colleagues and their acquaintances. In total, about 20 people filled up their table, all on Karla's campaign dime to celebrate everything they've accomplished so far.

And even in the midst of all the conversation, laughter, food and drinks, all Ace could focus on was Jasper from across the room.

He cursed himself for it. But he couldn't forget the four days he spent learning every turn, crevice and line of Jasper's body. The way it contorted in different ways to accommodate Ace.

He'd lost track of how many times they fucked after the third night, but he remembered Jasper's cries of pleasure through the night and how they spent days mapping out the parts of each other's body that were begging to be ruined.

Even now, Ace wondered if the fading bruises still littered Jasper's body underneath his clothing, serving as a constant reminder of their fervor at the slightest pressure.

Which is why this moment felt so surreal.

Because as Ace watched Jasper, his head thrown back in laughter every few moments exposing the places on his neck he'd kissed so eagerly before, the guard wondered what it would feel like to garner such a reaction.