The Bad Boy • Jonah Marais

Season 3: Part 4

I brought my legs up and started to hyperventilate. My parents are my sponsors, that's why they were so quick to get me to L.A.! They needed another moneymaker. My parents were smart and took some part in every world of business. Now that they're in the business one, it makes things harder for me. It makes sense how they found out about me and jumped on the boat so quickly. I rocked back and forth, "This is all a bad dream." I'm not sure what Jonah was doing but before I knew it, Daniel was getting into the car and we were heading back to my apartment.

Things just sort of spiraled. Maybe this is all just a really bad dream. I was gonna wake up at any minute and I'm gonna wake up back at home and Axel will be there and I'll be back in high school and everything will go back to the way it was in high school when nothing was confusing. Back to when Tate would talk to me and I didn't break Kenny's trust and life was simple.

I looked at Jonah and regretted those thoughts instantly. If nothing happened, I wouldn't have the best thing that ever happened to me. I bit my lip, I do miss Kenny so much, we still talk though. I wish Tate would give me the time of day but she blocked me before I even got a chance to call her. If there was someone I missed the most. it was Axel, the one who stuck with me.

A hand touches my own and I flinch, I look to see Jonah who just parked at the apartment. "Hey, calm down baby." Jonah undid my seatbelt and led me out of the car.

We walked into my apartment and Jonah brings me to the couch. I grab the nearest pillow and and bring it to my chest and hug it as tight as I can. I hear the boys awkwardly shuffle in the background and all of a sudden, the In-N-Out bags are on my coffee table and Jonah sits next to me and turns the TV on, "What are we watching today babe? The Office? Friends? Whatever you want."

I bit my lip and just blankly stared at the carpet on the ground, I never noticed how shaggy it was. I tried to keep focusing on it but I couldn't stop thinking about how much my cheek hurt and then the images of my parents kept flashing through my mind and I started to panic. They know where I stay, they could kick me out, they could charge me more, they could show up at any moment. All of these different scenarios and possibilities kept rushing through my mind and I began to hyperventilate again while I rocked back and forth trying to calm down but I couldn't.

"Oh shit!" Jonah said and tried to rip the pillow out of my arms but I didn't let him. "Ava." He tries to hold me but my constant rocking wouldn't stop. Then he cradles me like a baby and for the first time since we walked into the building I looked into his eyes and I started to calm down.

Tears ran down my face, "Jonah, I can't keep being under their control." I said as my breathing started to get heavier, "I can't." My head shook violently. "I need to get out of this."

Jonah hesitated, "Babe, you signed a contract, you don't have the money to get out of it."

"I'll find the money!" I say desperately.

"Shh." He rubs my back soothingly, "We will find a way around this, for now let's just keep them happy."

I sniffled, although I didn't want to give them the satisfaction, Jonah was right. I was going to try to find the money to get out of it or else it's two years of my parents having literal control over me.