The Bodyguard (discontinued)

46.

The following night

Jasper sat up as straight as he could, his body stiff in the back of the sleek SUV. He fidgeted with his fingers, as if that would somehow silence the onslaught of thoughts, anxieties that swarmed his mind.

The car moved, he moved, but somehow still felt like his body was still. And his ears rang from the dull sounds he heard outside the window.

It was as if each one of his senses were heightened, and he couldn't silent them. He felt all too well the clothes on his skin, the hair at the nape of his neck and the jewelry surrounding his wrist, encircling his neck with perfect precision.

The car weaved comfortably between others on the highway, but this time it wasn't his, neither was the driver.

And it would've been completely undistinguished from any other he'd ridden in on the way to a fundraiser or gala, except for who was sitting right beside him.

He'd hoped there wouldn't be any awkwardness, and there wasn't — at first. But the longer they drove, the more Jasper could feel the tension between them. It wasn't necessarily good, or bad tension, but it still hung in the air and stuck to their skin, in a way that the senator's son especially hated.

August could sense it too, only, he thought Jasper was spiraling over the passionate night they shared less than a day ago, which was cut short when Jasper was whisked away by someone tall in the crowd.

If only Jasper could have been thinking about their kiss and nothing else, then he would've been a lot more calm. He would've been smug, in fact — teased August about it like he was so used to doing.

Instead, he played over and over the morning he had, when he'd woken up in a bed that wasn't his, with the guard who'd brought him there in the first place.

The conversation that followed was enough to leave him in an almost catatonic state, that he couldn't seem to shake the for the entire day.

And now, the two were on their way to an award ceremony, but this time, it had nothing to do with the Whites, and everything to do with August's family.

So, he'd mustered up the strength to get ready, to make a public appearance as a "couple" with August for an award he and his family most likely paid for.

And so of course, August thought Jasper was just nervous — nervous about the cameras and the night before and everything else.

He had no reason not to think that.

He had no idea that the person Jasper had left with last night wasn't just some guy on Karla White's payroll, but the love of his life.

And Jasper wanted to keep it that way. Because letting August think he was bashful or embarrassed about their kiss would've been easier to admit, easier to play along with as opposed to the alternative — the truth.

"Don't overthink it," August said softly, after more slightly uncomfortable silence.

And Jasper didn't know if he was referring to the kiss or the awards or both, but he tried to snap out of it the best he could. He masked his devastation with a calm, unassuming smile.

Jasper rested his hand on the arm rest and peeked out of the window to his right, before turning his attention back to August who looked handsome and charming, and everything that Jasper was supposed to like.

Karla certainly knew what she was doing when she concocted this whole arrangement in the first place, because to the outside eye, they looked perfect for one another.

He was the kind of boy Jasper had grown up surrounded by his entire life, so, the thought of them actually being together wasn't so far-fetched.

The problem was, Jasper couldn't get himself to feel anything other than dull, surface level attraction.