the anatomy of love [BxB] COMPLETED

34

At his lunch break, Jackson joins Jack at a new sandwich shop that cropped up walking distance from the office. The nice thing about Portland is the mix of food, aesthetic, and hippie charm combined into small, trendy businesses that appeal to a person's secret yet profound desire to pursue a quiet life in a secluded cabin in the woods in search of the truth of Nature without getting their hands dirty. A pretty compromise, if you ask Jackson.

"So," Jack begins with a mouthful of sandwich, "sounded like you and the Ice Princess were getting busy."

Jackson rolls his eyes recalling his shouting match with Sofia de Luca. Honestly, if someone told him at the beginning of the internship that he would end up fighting so carelessly with the secretary of Connelly Enterprises, he wouldn't believe them.

"We just had a disagreement," Jackson reassures him. Disagreement? More like war. Sofia, true to her word, had sent Jackson on errand after errand, then grinding him into dust with the most menial, repetitive tasks. But this wouldn't have thrown Jackson over the edge if Sofia hadn't also brought up Wes again. It didn't help that Wes had failed to contact Jackson in any way, and it took all of Jackson's strength not to dwell on what that meant.

Sofia had asked, point blank, "What will it take for you to stop seeing Wes?"

"Save your bribes, Sofia, I'm not changing my mind," Jackson replied. He was just finishing replying to emails of inquiry that Sofia didn't feel like answering. Let's just say he wasn't in the best mood.

"You are jeopardizing this entire company," Sofia gritted out. "And for what?"

"To fuck Wes, obviously," Jackson said with a malicious drawl, but Sofia only arched an eyebrow. So she wasn't going to back down just yet.
"You could have anybody," Sofia said. "Why does it have to be Wes? If you're going to put all our hard work at risk, then at least come up with a better reason."

"I already told you my reason." Jackson tried to sound bored, but he just sounded petulant. Sofia smiled, then, and it was like staring down the barrel of a gun.

"You really love him," Sofia said, laughing. Jackson stood up abruptly, his blood simmering. "You fell for–for Weston fucking Sawyer. Christ, I can't believe it. He could have anyone, and he chose you of all people to fuck around with. Even after everything we went through...Pathetic."

"Shut the fuck up!" Jackson shouted. "You don't know anything about me! You think you know shit but you don't! I'm not forcing him to do anything, so stop blaming me because Wes can't keep his dick in his pants!"

"Don't talk about Wes like that!" Sofia screamed, throwing a cup full of pens, which Jackson ducked from just in time. They hit the wall and scattered across the floor.

"You bitch!"

"Slut!"

"Go ahead! Fire me!" Jackson shoved all the papers on his desk to the ground. He laughed when Sofia's mouth tightened into a grimace. "But you won't, will you?" He took a deep breath, hoping Wes wasn't in his office and hearing all of this. "I'm going to leave." It was almost their lunch break anyway.

As he left the office, Sofia shouted after him, "And don't come back!"

Jackson had ignored the crowd that had gathered from the commotion, beelining it outside, only texting Jack about lunch when he was a few blocks away.

"Must've been a hell of a disagreement," Jack says, raising an eyebrow. "What was it about?"

Oh, you know, that I'm fucking our boss. "My...performance."

"Is she gonna fire you?" Jack asks, his original teasing tone sounding slightly concerned. But Jackson smiles, and it's a smile with a secret hidden in the corner.