“Who the do you think you are?”

The voice comes from JB. I don't expect it honestly but JB looks like a dog with a bone. He stares Jackson down with this vicious look. At times I see JB as this charming prince but times like now I can see the animal inside. He was a prince but he was still a vampire and right now the darkness is all around him.

“I'm sure Captain Jackson has an explanation for the words he said,” King Ecbert states.

There is a pause in the room. Everyone is staring at Jackson. He was the more vocal out of the two of us in that video. He was calling the king mediocre and talking about how he wanted me to come live with him. This looks bad. It's taking everything out of me not to go ahead and just tell everyone exactly who Jackson is to me.

Jackson doesn't defend himself. He puts on that cold, 'too cool for school' face that he always has. It's almost like he's above defending himself. He is looking at everyone in the room like 'so the what'. The elder vampires are judging. They are looking at Jackson and whispering amongst themselves. No one is flaming...no one except JB.

I struggle with the thought but decide against it instead just saying, “Me and Jackson are just friends.”

“He disrespects our relationship He disrespects his king!” JB snarls.

JB spits at Jackson's feet. I have to admit it's kind of y to see JB so pissed off at Jackson. Don't get me wrong. I don't want him to do anything crazy but you can't fake the outrage that JB is showing. If ever we were pretending to have a fake relationship, it didn't matter. That ship had long sailed. JB is pissed and I have a feeling there is a lot of built up frustration. No matter how much I don't want JB to be crazy it kind of feels good to know that he cares.

King Ecbert surprisingly seems not as angry as I think he would be. He is actually trying to calm down JB, “JB we don't need your reaction right now.”

Drama. I can see the noble vampires. They were getting their daily dose of the drama and they were loving every moment of it. A part of me just wants to pull Jackson out of the room, or pull JB out of the room, but I don't know which to do.

“Aren't you going to do something?” JB asks the king, “He disrespected you in front of the entire kingdom.

King Ecbert looks at Jackson, “Captain do you have a response.”

“My conversation with my friend was in private,” Jackson responds, “I apologize for anything I've done to upset...the king. I'll go on television first thing and apologize to any remarks that I said negatively about...King Ecbert. It was not intentional.”

Jesus Christ. The way that Jackson is talking is damn near a slap to JB's face. I want to damn near fight Jackson now. He is doing it on purpose. He's stressing the word friend as though making it sound like bull. He's making sure to emphasize the fact that he is only trying to apologize to what he said about the king. All the while Jackson is staring JB down. I mean he is staring bullets into JB's eyes.

You can cut the tension with a ing knife.

My face blushes red. Jackson gives little to no s about offending JB and whatever he is doing is working. JB is getting worked up. He's flexing. His muscles are popping out under the tight gold button up he has on. JB looks like he wants to throw down with Jackson right now. And as y as he is I'm no longer amused. I'm a little worried.

We are just friends,” I try to fix things, “Mino's video was taken way out of context. We're just friends. Right Jackson?”

Jackson gets silent. . He's not helping this at all. I don't know who I'm trying to convince but no one seems to be buying what the is coming out of my mouth. Jackson being silent like he is, just seems to be bringing about more tension between him and JB. The king isn't helping. He's just a bystander at this point.

Finally, after the longest most awkward pause Jackson opens his mouth.

The words are like knives, “Yeah. We are friends... for now.”

A smile sneaks up in the corner of Jackson's face. It's damn near menacing the way he says it. I want to cry. I swear to God I want to cry. He is pissing JB off and ruining a good thing that I have with him. He's doing it on purpose. My ing father is insinuating something really is happening between us. I can't ing believe him right now.

“Nothing is going on,” I beg.

No one hears me. I might as well have not said anything at all.

JB is pacing back and forth. “Aren't you going do something?” JB asks King Ecbert. Back and forth. Back and forth, “This...man...is disrespecting us to our face...”

“He apologized to me,” King Ecbert states before shaking his head, “You'll be king one day JB. You need to learn how to be a man and fight your own battles.”

King Ecbert might as well walked over to JB and pulled down his pants in front of everyone. It would be the same level of embarrassment. I felt for JB at this moment. I can't believe that my ing father is being so nasty. I can't believe that my father is actually going out of his way to pull some like this. What the is he really getting out of this?

What does he think is going to happen?

JB's face gets so red that I forget he's a vampire. His silver eyes I swear almost go completely white. He looks over at King Ecbert speechless, then looks over at Jackson and lastly just turns around and storms out of the ing room.

I look at Jackson. I can't believe him.

“Thanks. Thank you very much,” I tell him

***

“I told you. I'm not mad,”

JB telling me that is the worst thing that I can imagine. He's steaming. He doesn't go to homeroom for the rest of the week. He is avoiding Jackson. What's worse is that JB is spending all of his time in the gym. I don't know what that means but it scares the out of me. I don't know what's going to happen but the tension is in the air and it's worse than before.

Before it was a game. Now JB...JB was pissed.

“Nothing is happening between him and me,” I tell him.

JB and I are in the gym after our classes for the week. I go in there to practice some combat moves for the upcoming midterms. JB doesn't need practice. He's just in there punching a bag. The aggression in his punches is something scary as .

“Ok,” he tells me.

“You don't believe me,” I respond.

JB eyes cut towards me, “Why wouldn't I believe you?”

“Because you're punching that bag like you want to kill it.”

“Naw...it's not the bag I want to kill,” JB tells me.

The look in his eyes is fierce to say the least. He turns back to the bag. For jabs. One hook. He delivers a heavy cross to the punching bag that causes the chain to rattle like a snake.

“You wish that bag was me?” I ask.

JB shakes his head, “Don't be stupid. I would never want to hurt you.”

“Then Jackson.”

Silence.

Bingo.

Other people are in the gym from other classes. It's usual that they stare but usually it's this star struck kind of stare. Like 'oh I really go to school with the prince' but this stare is different. People are judging. People are looking at us like we aren't and just trying to listen in so they can get some gossip that they'd probably run back to the media about. That's what the we'd been dealing with all week.

I went from the Golden boy of Eden to the boy who is cheating on Prince JB. I had no way of defending myself. I had no way of rebutting Mino's attack.

After a few more punches JB seems to be talking, “I'm tired of people sleeping on me. Thinking I'm some spoiled prince. I'm not that. It's not you. It's everyone else. It's my father. He thinks I'm weak. I can't go anywhere without a ing bodyguard. The nobles aren't much better. I hear them laughing at me. Then I hear Roman. I hear Jackson. I see them trying to get with the man that---”

He's breathing heavy. He doesn't finish his sentence. He is breathing so heavy that I don't think he could even if he wanted to.

“Don't you trust that nothing is going on between me and anyone else though?” I ask.

“But you said you were going to stay with him if you left school,” he responds.

I shake my head, “JB. I can't go back home. You know I can't. Stop playing this game like I have so many choices. I have nowhere to go. So yeah, if someone offers a plan B for me, I'll take it.”

“Why can't I be your Plan B?” he asks.

“Because you're my plan A,” I respond.

I'm trying to flirt with him. For a minute I swear that he is calming down. That is until Mino and Roman walk into the gym. God knows why they are there but seeing Mino seems to get JB all the way turned up to 100.

He delivers a solid kick to the bag and it busts wide open. The force damn near causes me to trip and fall backwards. JB is shirtless. He is dripping with sweat. The entire gym sees how powerful he is when he hits that bag. He's not playing no games and his eyes fall across the room to Mino and then to Roman. Oh yeah. That's where the anger is really coming from. It's not about the fact that Mino revealed that tape. He's still bothered by Roman. He still thinks something is going on between the two of us.

JB walks away at that moment. He storms off into the locker room followed closely by his bodyguard Youngjae.

A storm was brewing in JB and there was no way I could control it...

“I hope you’re happy,” I tell Mino.

Mino looks over at me before shaking his head, “You gave me no choice.”

“You could have come and talked to me instead of acting like a little and airing out my issues on television,” I respond to Mino, “Your issues are with me...not with JB.”

Mino isn't backing down, “If you were so concerned with JB you would stay the away from Roman...hoe.”

“Hoe?”

I take a step forward. I want this so bad. I want to fight Mino. I don't care if he's one of the best fighters in the class. I don't care that he used to be my best friend. I don't care that we actually aren't even fighting over the same person. He could mess with me all he wanted to but the fact that he dragged JB into this was crossing the line.

“Take a walk,” Roman standing between me and Mino.

“Me? Are you serious? I didn't say a word to him!” Mino responds.

“Mino...”

Roman gives him a stare. I wonder if they've talked about this before they came into the gym because they seem to be communicating something with that stare that I'm not aware of. It's almost like Roman saw this coming a mile away. Mino listens to him though and leaves the gym so that nothing escalates between the two of us.

I am staring at Roman at that moment and cross my arms.

“So which one are you?”

He looks around before he responds, “Roman...”

I'm actually surprised that Roman was actually the one able to put Mino into his place being that he was the one who was actually so in love with Mino. I am standing there with my arms crossed. I'm just mad at the world. I'm looking at the sand. was going so well with me and JB and then Mino had to come everything up.

“We need to come out and tell people.”

Roman's eyebrow lifts up, “Tell people what exactly.”

“That you have a twin. That Mino is acting like a little for no reason. How about tell people about who Jackson is...”

I'm louder than Roman likes because he grabs me by my arm and takes me behind the bleachers in the gym. This would probably look even more suspicious if JB came out of this locker rooms but hell I was already in the dog pound with him. I couldn't get any deeper. JB was pissed and everyday it got worse and worse.

“We can't do that. And you know why...” Roman tells me.

“I've never seen JB like this,” I warn Roman, “I think he's going to do something.”

“Something like what?”

“I don't know,” I explain shaking my head, “He's...different. Didn't you just see what he did to that punching bag?”

Roman has to see it. I know he does. He has to see it because he is hesitating more than he should.

Roman sighs loudly, “Jackson won't have it...not with a threat in Class O. It would compromise from our entire mission. If we come out the threat may know we are investigating them.”

“What threat? Who the is it?” I ask.

“We're not sure yet. We just narrowed it down to Class O. That's all we know so far.”

“So in the meantime I have to live in hell?” I ask.

Roman isn't skipping a beat in this argument, “You have to keep quiet about this.