24

the next morning, jack wakes up in the same empty bed he fell asleep in. even thinking about last night makes him upset and gives him a headache. he has no idea what sierra and her friends did last night beyond the two instagram stories she posted that were so vague, he just gave up on trying to figure it out.

he stretches his stiff legs and cracks his back when as he stands up. he's still in his jeans from last night because when he got back to the room and didn't see sierra, he just forced himself to knock out.

jack grabs a pair of sweats from his suitcase and quickly changes his pants. he doesn't bother with his shirt, and then slips his feet into a pair of house shoes. jack grabs his phone from the bedside table and looks through all of his unanswered texts he sent to sierra.

jack: where did you go?8:21 pm

jack: can you just answer me8:56 pm

jack: bruh where did you go9:45 pm

jack: can you just let me know you're alright. 10:12 pm

it was honestly pathetic that he had to beg his supposed girlfriend for a response that he has yet to receive. it hasn't even been a full month since they rekindled their relationship and started over, and it's already starting off poorly.

jack grabs a jacket and the hotel key card before exiting his room and walking down to the end of the hallway to deja and jasmines room. he prays that they're all in there, and that somebody answers or he might freak out.

he knocks on the door and then puts his hands in his pockets. no shuffling is audible to him, so he knocks again, a little louder and more urgent. all he wants is to see sierra and know that she's okay.

jack is about to knock again when the door swings open to reveal an exhausted looking deja. she squints at him and then sighs when she realizes it's him. "i'll get her," she says, her voice raspy. jack only nods and waits at the door, slightly peeking his head in to see signs of something.

"tell him i'm not here," he hears faintly from the room. jack rolls his eyes and leans against the doorframe.

moments later, sierra trudges up to the front of the room in a tshirt and nothing else, and passes by jack without acknowledging him. he sighs heavily through his nose and follows after her to their suite.

sierra digs around in her purse in search of the keycard and jack moves around her. "watch out," he mumbles, swiping the card and unlocking the door. sierra follows him wordlessly into the room and he closes the door behind them. "so your phone don't work, or what? you cant answer texts?" he asks, crossing his arms over his chest as sierra crawls into the bed.

she doesn't respond to him and fixes her pillows, getting herself comfortable. "i'm talking to you, sierra," he says, irritation evident in his voice.

"you had breakfast yet?" she asks. she waits for jack to say 'no' before replying, "then it's too early to start with me."

jack shakes his head and drags a hand across his face. he picks up the hotel phone and dials the number for room service. she has a point, and if it takes him eating for them to get their mess sorted out, he'll do it.

he orders for the both of them, knowing what foods sierra likes to eat. she stirs in the bed and he glances at her. jack places the order and hangs up the phone and then takes a seat on the side of the bed. he has so much that he needs to say to her, but he really doesn't want to argue at 9 in the morning anymore.

a few minutes later, a knock sounds at the room door. jack gets up and opens it and thanks the hotel employee. he wheels the food cart inside and stops it at the end of the bed. jack taps sierra leg. "come eat," he says, pulling the lids off of the food.

sierra sits up and watches him dish out the food. he starts her plate, putting french toast, bacon, eggs, and potatoes on it and hands it to her with a fork and knife. she mumbles a thank you and starts digging into her food.

jack eats slowly, mostly focusing on her. everything he wants to say to her sits at the tip of his tongue, just waiting to he said. sierra pays him no mind and keeps her head in her plate, never looking up.

after urbans little soap box moment on the beach, he left her alone and she let herself cry. not bawl, but that tired, silent cry when you've just had enough. it didn't last long because her friends came looking for her, but it was therapeutic at the time. then, they went to three different clubs and finally got back to the hotel at 3am. she didn't drink enough to get severely hung over, but enough to ignore her problems with jack.

as badly as sierra wanted to hurt jack, she couldn't bring herself to do it. it's one of those things where she knows she'll just have to get over it, because it comes with his lifestyle, among many other things.

sierra wipes her hands on a napkin and sets her empty plate on the other bedside table. "you ready to talk?" jack says. sierra rolls her eyes and ignores him. frustrated, jack stands up from his chair and walks to the end of the bed and faces her. "i'm tired of this childish-ass attitude. i'm done begging you for a fucking response!" he exclaims.

"watch your mouth," she says, fluffing her pillows. jack scoffs.

"why you couldnt answer the phone?" he asks, running a hand through his flat hair.

"i didn't want to talk," she says simply. jack laughs, dropping his hands at his sides. he can't believe what he's hearing. "i dont really think i 'owe' you shit after how you embarrassed me yesterday." sierra says, her voice extremely calm.

"it's for a video, sierra! a fucking video! it doesn't mean shit!" he says, his voice going up a few notches.

sierra frowns at him. "stop yelling and cussing at me. act like you have some sense," she says, her patience running thin. "and i don't care what it's for. why would you bring me there and force me to see that? you think i want to see some bitch throwing ass on you like that? do you?" she questions, sitting up on her knees.  "i wouldn't do no shit like that to you, and you know it." sierra says, her voice wavering.

jack looks down guiltily. he didn't expect her to walk into the shoot at that particular moment. he expected her to be there from the jump so he could explain before anything even happened, that way she would be mad but at least she would've known beforehand.

"i'm sorry," he says at last.

"you always are."

-

jack and sierra sit on opposite ends of the yacht; partially on purpose and the other half because the girls migrated to the deck while the guys stayed in the shade. every few seconds, he can't help but look across the boat at her. he feels like shit and he misses her, and isn't sure how to make it right. he can't cancel the video shoot, or go back in time to change what he did. but he would if he could. 

"oh shit!" one of his friends say as tyler, the forward for the miami heat, and his girlfriend, katya, emerge from the bottom of the boat where there's a kitchen, a bathroom, and a few bedrooms.

tyler's face only turns red and katya smirks up at him before kissing his cheek and walking to where all of the other girls are. "chill," tyler says to their friend, but daps him up anyway. there's a red scratch on his shoulder that peeks out of his tank top.

jack takes a sip of his drink and takes a moment to look over at sierra again. she sits on beach towel, now out of her jean shorts and in a white o-ring bikini. any other time, he'd be all over her, and he wants to be. he sighs and shakes his head at himself.

sierra knots a blue coverup at her hip and grabs jasmines hand as they walk over to the stairs to get another drink from below the boat. she doesn't really want to go because shes semi avoiding jack, but the margarita she just had was too good to pass up on.

she keeps her gaze averted from jack as she passes him and climbs down the steps. jasmine follows behind her and sierra blows out a breath. "what?" jasmine asks.

"nothing," sierra says, grabbing a plastic cup and pouring margarita mix into it. she pours a cup for jasmine and they cheers before taking a drink. they both make faces at the tequila and jasmine follows it with a slice of lime.

footsteps sound at the stairs and sierra turns to look to see who it is. jack. she takes another big sip of her drink because she needs it, and grabs a lime and some salt. "you racing, or something?" he jokes, stopping at the other side of the island counter.

jasmine nods and downs the rest of her drink, tossing the cup in the trash. "byeee!" she says in a sing song voice. sierra widens her eyes at her friend. what are you doing?

jasmine only raises her eyebrows. not my business! sierra rolls her eyes and sighs as jasmine heads back up the way he just came from. 

"can you stop avoiding me? i dont like when we fight," jack says. sierra rolls her neck and looks at him with a blank expression. "i'm sorry, and i miss you, sierra." he says shamelessly.

a smirk tugs at the corner of her lips and he scoffs. "if you wanted to hear that, you could've just said that," jack replies.

"i like when you grovel," she says with a shrug. "it's more fun when you work for it."

she's crazy, jack thinks. but shes his.

jack circles the counter and stands in front of her. she takes a step away from him and he sucks his teeth. "don't be like that," he says, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her close to him. he leans in to kiss her and she turns her head, his lips connecting with her cheek. "what the fuck?"

sierra makes an 'eek' expression and pulls herself out of his hold, downing the rest of her drink and quickly running up the stairs. she hears jack behind her and she quickly passes by all of the guys.

"you too?" sierra hears urban say suggestively to jack. she whips around and makes a face.

"he wishes!" sierra says, before jack can lie to kick it. his friends laugh and she continues making her way back to the deck.

she unties her coverup and drops down onto her towel next  to jasmine. "girl, fuck you for real for that," sierra says, shoving her friend in the shoulder.

"look, i wasnt staying around for anything that i didn't want to be brought into," she says. sierra waves her off and leans back, propping herself up on her elbows.

sierra closes her eyes and tilts her face up to the sun. besides jacks ambush a few minutes ago, her day is going better than she had expected. she honestly didn't think jack was going to ask her if she wanted to go on the boat with him today, and she considered passing him up on it but there was really no point. it's a free day on the boat, in miami.

-

"and that's a wrap!" the director says, turning off the cameras. everyone on set claps and shouts noises of applause. a bottle of champagne is popped and then thrusted into jacks hands. he puts the bottle up to his lips and drinks before passing it to the nearest person to him.

another bottle of liquor is opened, and jack motions for all of the girls to line up. one by one, he pours the alcohol into their mouths. they giddily walk up to him with wide open jaws and their heads tilted back.

jack pours the brown liquor down the throat of a short, brown skin girl with curly hair. some dribbles down her chin, and she wipes it off, licking it off of her fingers, her eyes never leaving jack's. he licks his lips and clears his throat awkwardly. "one more," she says.

"you sure?" jack asks, an amused smile on his face. she nods.

"i can take it."

he pours another shot into her mouth and she swallows it and walks away, a smile on her face. jack can't help but turn around and watch her walk, and she's already turned around to look back at him. his eyes flick down her figure before landing back on her face. she smirks at him and turns away, her hips swaying as she walks off the set.

jack looks down at the sand and blows out a breath, his mind going back to sierra. he suddenly regrets his decisions made in the last ten minutes, but he turns back around and finishes off the last ten girls in line.

afterwards, he daps up chris and his crew one more time. "yo, we're going out. you down?" chris asks. jack rubs his chin, stressing out about sierra. "come on, bro. invite your girl if you're worried." he says, a sly smile on his face.

jack can't help but laugh, his facing turning red out of embarrassment. "alright, man. i'm down," he says.

"cool. it's 'vice city'," chris says. jack nods and they shake each other up one more time and chris and his crew leave. jack walks over to his belongings and sits down in the makeup chair and pulls out his phone.

texts from sierra about the miami heat vs. milwaukee bucks game fill up his screen.

sierra: they up 10 at half8:02 pm

sierra: down 58:37 pm

sierra: tied 929:02 pm

jack: is the game over?

sierra: yes

sierra: they won :)

jack smiles to himself and calls her. he's glad that she texted him game updates when she didn't have to—technically he was supposed to be at the game to support his friends, but he had to get this video done.

sierra picks up after a few rings. "whats up?" she says, her voice much more pleasant than it's been all day.

"hey, baby. what was the score?" he asks.

"116 to 102. tyler had 24 points," she says. "and your other friend on the bucks was asking about you. i don't remember his name." sierra adds.

"jordan?" he asks.

"mhm. he told me to tell you to 'hit him up' when you get the chance," sierra says. jack nods even though she can't see him.

"what are you doing tonight?" he asks, resting the side of his head in the palm of his hand.

"i don't know. we're going back to the hotel right now, though," she says. overlapping voices can be heard in the back, but he can't make our anything they're saying.

"i'll see you there?"

"mhm."

he wasn't expecting her neutral tone and answer, but he's getting ounces of faith in a civil conversation with her soon. the two of them say their goodbyes, and jack grabs his duffel bag and a few other items before heading off set. he shouts a goodbye to the crew that's cleaning up, and they wave.

walking off of the set, he notices the girl he poured two shots of liquor down her throat lingering on the beach. he runs a hand through his hair, his eyes raking down her curvy figure.

she turns around as if she could hear his footsteps on the sand, and shoots him a smile. her curly hair blows gently in the wind, and she hugs herself at the waist as she starts walking towards jack, meeting him halfway. he takes a step back and she tilts her head to the side. "i don't bite," she says.

"i don't believe you," jack replies, glancing behind her at the very short distance to the walkway that will take him away from her to sierra. "you need something?" he asks, clearing his throat.

she looks him up and down. "i can think of a few things. you going out with chris?" she asks. jack doesn't even know her name, which gives him more of a reason to get out of this compromising situation, but his feet stay rooted to the sand.

"maybe, i don't know," he says, rubbing his chin. he takes a few steps to the side, and they start walking over to the beach's exit.

"you should! it'll be fun," the girl says, gently elbowing him in the arm. jack can't help but give her a small smile.

they reach the parking lot, his car visible from where he's standing. "we'll see. get there safe," jack says because he's a gentleman. she nods and he walks off to his car. before getting in the back, he looks over his shoulder to see her piling into a sprinter. he sighs and gets in the car, greeting his driver with a noncommittal "hello" and leaning his head back against the seat, closing his eyes.

-

"hey," jack says, entering the hotel suite. sierra looks up from her phone and gives him a small wave.

"hey. all done?" she asks, setting her phone down on the bedside table and sitting up on her knees. jack nods, setting his bag down on the floor and walking over to the bed. he takes a seat at the end of sierras side, and she hesitantly crawls over to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

jack holds onto her forearm and and kisses the back of her hand. "you gon' be nice to me now?" he questions, his voice light. sierra sucks her teeth and lets go of him, rolling her eyes. "i'm just playing, come back!" he says, letting out a chuckle. he grabs her and pulls her into his lap, one arm around her waist and the other underneath her knees.

"i wasnt even being mean to you earlier," she says. jack drops his jaw and widens his eyes in shock at the lies she's spewing. "what? i wasnt mean for no reason!" sierra says, mocking his expression.

"yeah, okay," jack says, shaking his head.

"you are only to blame for that, by the way. don't act brand new," sierra says, rolling her eyes. he half expects her to remove herself from his hold, but she doesn't. he's glad. "deadass, though, we need to communicate better. this shit is going to get old quick, and i hate arguing with you. so whatever we need to get off of our chests, we should just do it now. i don't want to go back to atlanta on bad terms." she adds, putting one arm around his neck.

he nods and looks down at her legs. he should mention the girl from the video, but nothing even happened so there's no much to tell. "me neither. i'm sorry about the video, si. it's just business, though," he says. sierra looks up at the ceiling, stopping herself from rolling her eyes.

"alright, i guess," jack pinches her calf and she yelps. "fuck is wrong with you!?"

"now you know that didnt hurt, stop playing," he says. sierra pinches the back of his neck in retaliation, much harder than the way he pinched her. he hisses and glares at her, and she mimics his previous statement. "what is wrong with you?" he questions. sierra only shrugs, a small smile on her face.

jack looks at her lips and then averts his eyes back up to hers. he's wanted to kiss her all day, still hurt from how she blew him off earlier. sierra licks her lips and leans in and jack meets her halfway. sierra puts a hand on the side of his face, gently scratching at his beard. it tickles the sides of her face and she pulls back. "shave," she says, pushing his hair back.

jack rubs at his facial hair. "it hurts?" sierra nods and he nods back in understanding. "alright. i got you." he says, quickly pecking her lips before moving her off of his lap and going into the bathroom to trim his beard.

what she wants, she gets because he gives it to her regardless. the club would just have to wait.

——

jack is such a sorry ass man.. hate that for him

ending kinda boring.. sorry!