The Devil is Marvelous

Chapter 20

-Ava's P.O.V-

Jaxon's body language while hugging his mom made me feel awkward, and I wasn't even apart of it. He looked so stiff, and Corinna wasn't even completely hugging him, her arms hovered slightly above his back.

She sat right back down again, continuing her conversation with Esther. Jaxon turned back to me, motioning to the hallway with his eyes. We started to creep away, but Esther coughed, loudly might I add. We peered over at her, and she was shooting us warning looks. Jaxon and I awkwardly stood by the hallway entrance, listening to Corinna and Esther's finance conversation.

Finally Corinna sighed, turning her head to look at Jaxon. I heard him gulp, and I wanted to place my hand on his arm for support, but I didn't dare with Penelope shooting eye daggers into me from the corner of the room.

"So Jaxon, how are your classes this year? Are you maintaining A's?"

"Classes are fine" Jaxon answered quietly, "They just started, I don't exactly have grades yet"

"And football?"

"Still a wide receiver. We won our first game." There was a bit of a silence before Esther spoke up. "Ava and Jaxon are in the same grade. I believe they have Honors English together?" We nodded and Corinna picked at her nails. She didn't seem interested at all.

"Where did you come back from ma'am?" I asked. Jaxon looked at me with wide eyes. Esther and Penelope were both staring at me. Was it something I said?

"I would like to advise you Miss Vexheart that I am not to be spoken to first unless it is an absolute emergency."

Well, that's awkward.

I nodded, but to my surprise she continued "I was at the IMG modeling agency headquarters in New York City. I am not sure if Esther or my son has mentioned it, but I am the CEO." [Just so you all know, this was made up for the sake of the story. There are co-CEO's for IMG in real life.]

"I was also a former model for IMG before I worked my way up in the ranks and got into business" she continued "I formerly went by Corinna Hampton before I married, perhaps you know the name."

I did. Corinna Hampton was one of my mom's favorite models. She idolized Corinna, she wanted to be Corinna. The fact I was meeting her now was quite disappointing. If only my mom knew how rude Corinna was then I knew she wouldn't have idolized her.

"You know" she said slowly. Her heels clicked as she walked up to me. Jaxon stepped closer to me and asked "What are you doing?"

"Hush boy" she snapped, looking me up and down. "You're much too short to model Ava, but you are an attractive young lady. You have flawless skin, beautiful hair. And your eyes" she leaned down, her eyes now at my level "they're quite nice, yes."

I heard Jaxon snort quietly. Apparently so did Corinna, for she shot him a death glare, one I had never seen a mother give her kid. She sat back down at the table, waving her hand at us. I felt Jaxon lightly grab my arm and pull me towards the hallway, until we heard footsteps. Jaxon hand tightened on my arm. I looked up at his face, his eyes were narrowed and jaw clenched.

Into the dining hall stepped an impossibly tall man in a black suit with an emerald tie. He had jet black hair that was gelled back. He had thin, piercing dark brown eyes. He did not smile, but he did not frown; this man held the blankest expression i'd ever seen.

Jaxon let go on my arm, stepping in front of me. "Dad" was all he said. Jaxon's father never responded. Instead, he walked around us over to his wife. "Dinner reservations are ready for tonight" he spoke calmly, helping her up. He nodded to Esther, then him and Corinna walked out without so much as a glance back.