"What the fuck happened to you?!" asked Naomi as Jason collapsed in through the door of her hotel room and as she shut the door and sighed at the pathetic sight in front of her he brought his knees up to his chest and tried to stifle a sob
"I hate him so much"
"And I love him, so we have a problem don't we? "
Jason looked up, the bruise under his eye beginning to darken and the cut on his lip bleeding down over his chin
"So what happened to you, did Travis do this, was it about me?!" she asked with hopeful eyes
"Of course it wasn't about you!! Fuck, it was about Travis, it's always about Travis" he dropped his head into his hands and swallowed down another sob
"Well aren't we a big pile of mopey shit today?" she asked whilst walking around him, eyeing him like a predator would eye it's prey
"Well I think I have a right to be, unless you didn't notice I just got my ass kicked and the girl I want still wants my fuckin brother!!"
"No wonder, who would want a puddle of piss water like you when you can have someone strong and alpha like Travis?" Jason just shook his head and sniffed loudly "Girls don't want pansies tip toeing around them Jason, they want strong men that will grab them and make a woman of them, sometimes whether they ask for it or not" her shiny red lips curled into a smile as a plan formulated in her mind and Jason looked up at her from the ground, unsure of where this conversation was going but feeling more and more uneasy as the older woman circled him and spoke
"Here's the new plan, I'm going to go to Taylor and show her the video of Travis and I, she's going to cry her little teenage eyes out, doubt her boyfriend and their 'relationship' then you are going to turn up and pick up the pieces. None of this snivelling shit, you get dressed up, you turn up and then you pick her up when I have left her broken on the floor, and then, like the strong man I know you can be you take what you want and she won't deny you I guarantee it because deep down every girl wants her man to be dominant"
"Dominant?"
"For fuck sake do I have to spell it out to you Jason?! How are you and Travis even related? Are you sure you weren't the result of some sordid affair between your mother and some soft as shit mail man or something?"
Jasons mind went black and he suddenly saw nothing but his father, larger than life, his black hair, his tanned skin, the way he used to laugh as he threw Jason into the air, always catching him, always keeping him safe
" Christ" Naomi spat "What airy fairy image have I put into your mind now?" She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms impatiently
"My dad" Jasons voice was a whisper as he fought to remember his father tucking him in to bed and singing lullabies against his skin
"I bet even your dead father favoured Travis" She turned away and walked to her bedside table and picked up her phone, oblivious to the wound she had just inflicted.
Scott Swift had loved both of his sons, Jason had felt it every time his father looked at him but Travis was the first born, he looked just like his father and was a natural at everything his father loved.
Jason looked more like their mother and at the age of 5 had little interest in guitars or fast cars but Travis liked those things and Scott liked that Travis was a smaller version of himself.
Jason was the baby, constantly in his mother's arms, watching his father and his brother play and that was just one more reason he hated his brother and wanted him gone
************
"Taylor" Naomi's voice was soft as she approached the girl now stretching after a vigorous run
"Fuck off" came Taylors not so gentle reply
"Taylor, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot, I'm sure you can understand how hard it was turning up here and finding out my boyfriend had moved on
"Not as hard as it is for me to stand here listening to you without punching you in your elderly face" Taylor wiped her face with her towel and then looked back to Naomi who was obviously trying her hardest not to bite back "So come on then, you sought me out and you're putting on this little show for me, why don't you get to the point, what trouble are you attempting to cause in my relationship now?" Taylor took a sip of her water and then fixed Naomi with the most bored looking gaze that she could
" I didn't want to show you this"
"Liar"
"Okay, maybe I did, maybe I couldn't wait for you to see I was right all along, Travis belongs with me, not a little girl like you"
"Yeah, yeah" Taylor tried to remain cool but couldn't hide the way her hand trembled as she reached out and took the phone Naomi offered to her. Tensing her jaw and her spine, Taylor watched the images play and then replay across the screen.
Travis, her Travis with his ex-girlfriend draped all over him, her fingers on his skin, in his hair, her lips lingering just above the creamy flesh of his cheek.
Taylor knew how that skin felt, how it tasted and there was this disgusting cougar breathing on it and contaminating it.
Taking the phone, Taylor flung it hard into Naomi's face causing the redhead to stumble backwards slightly
"You bitch!" screamed Taylor and Naomi laughed loudly as she held her face and reached for her phone which was still playing the video, only this time through a shattered screen "You set him up"
Naomi's head snapped up as her brows knitted together and her cheeks reddened in confusion
"That's Northern Soul, all my friends hang out there, my mother drinks her coffee there, if Travis was going to cheat on me with his haggered ex, there's no way he would do it in such a public place. He's not an idiot... Unlike you!" Taylor turned, ready to go and find Travis and hear why he hadn't pulled away the second this wench laid a finger on him when Naomi grabbed her by the arm
" He could have pulled away but he didn't, he wanted me to touch him"
"You make me sick, your desperation is almost as disgusting as your dress sense. I'm sure you skipped all the way over here imagining the teenage tantrum I would throw when you showed me that but I'm sorry to disappoint you. Travis is mine, he's still mine and he will never be yours again, now if that can make it through your 10 layers of make up, maybe it will actually begin to sink in to your miniscule brain"
Pushing Naomi's hand from her arm, Taylor looked her up and down once before wrinkling her nose as though she smelt something decaying and then turned and headed as quickly as she could towards her car and her cellphone.
Travis had questions to answer and she was in no mood to wait
