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	How utterly pathetic that Jackson must have sounded. Talking to this stranger about Ash. This man, who stood a few inches taller than him, eyes greener than his, clothing much more expensive than his, looked at Jackson with a smile. For all he knew, this man was just humoring Jackson’s rambling thoughts. Maybe he was just waiting for Jackson to finish talking, or maybe he was being polite. Whichever was the case, whichever was true or false, Jackson had finished speaking, ending the note on one of the best memories he made with Ash. That’s not counting the many kisses after the fact that they shared. They say you always remembered your first of everything—well, that extended to his first kiss with Ash too.

	Jackson thought the man would have said something by now. A full minute went by, and he just looked at Jackson. What was he waiting for? Come on man, say something at least. Come on—and then he did. Jackson’s mouth kind of dropped—well, it opened wide, but close enough. His entire world just crumbled a bit. Ash didn’t live here. Or maybe she wasn’t home, but the man in front of him looked like a decent enough of a guy to tell him the truth. So, then he was most likely telling the truth. Ash wasn’t there. She didn’t live with this man. She didn’t live in this fancy house. She wasn’t on this street, block, or maybe, possibly the city. Shit.

	Jackson went a few rounds of silently cursing himself. The first round was at the length in time that he took to seek out Ash. It had been five years since he last saw her, three years since he graduated High School. Why couldn’t he have gone to seek her out then? Sure, he had no money, no car, no means of getting there, and didn’t know where she might be living. One source would have told him New York and one source Los Angeles. How was he to know exactly where she lived? That’s the thing: he didn’t. So, he waited until he got all of the things that he needed. He got a car—well, Adielle’s car—but essentially the same thing. He waited until he got the funds: he got a job as a mixed martial arts fighter in Los Angeles. And then he got the place where she was living. Sure, it took him five years, but he finally had the means and funds to find her. 

	Just one problem.

	He was too late - and by quite a bit it seemed.

	Fuck.

	[color=crimson]“It’s whatever man. Thanks for keeping it real.”[/color] Though he probably didn’t do it in return, Jackson pounded the man’s half-opened palm with his own closed fist. It was called a bro-fist. 

	Jackson took the trek down the long parking lot feeling like a load of shit. He was beating himself up for not being able to get to Ash quick enough. He lost her due to waiting too long. He had 100% confidence in himself that she lived here, but obviously was just too fucking late. He had to take those extra couple of years shacking it up with Elijah and Adielle, didn’t he? Sure, it was fun getting to know those two in the last two years of camp. He hooked up Adielle a few times, and they bonded. Still, it wasn’t like it was with Ash. With Adi, it was all fun and games, but it wasn’t serious. With Ash, she always kept him in line. Adi enabled his stupid stunts, hence how he came to shack it up with her and Elijah for the summer of 2020. 

	When he got back to the car, Adielle was smiling at Jackson until he looked up at her. She saw that him being back wasn’t so good. [color=hotpink]“Hun, what’s wrong?”[/color] she asked him.

	[color=crimson]“Seems like it’s the wrong house. Or it was the right one, and we just got here too late. That guy over there said so himself.”[/color] Jackson said sighing, pointing to the man standing outside the house. He leaned against the front of the car.

	[color=hotpink]“Oh Jacky..”[/color] Adielle’s hand landed on his shoulder. [color=hotpink]“Let’s go do something, you and I, to get your mind off this.”[/color] Adi’s hand was starting to sensually massage him. Jackson denied it.

	[color=crimson]“Not right now. I just want to lay down. Can you take us back to my apartment?”[/color] Jackson asked. He didn’t even wait for her to get back at him with a response. He was already in the back seat, laying down, and about to fall asleep.

	[color=hotpink]“Sure..[/color]” Adielle was sad. When Jackson was sad, she was sad, and when she was sad — well, let’s just say that Adielle doesn’t think so clearly.

	When Adielle would get into the driver’s seat, and would about to start to pull out, she heard the sound of another car pull out. Jackson didn’t see it cause he was already laying down, but Adielle saw it. More importantly, she saw [I]who[/I] was driving it. [color=hotpink][I]That bastard. He lied to you.[/I][/color] Adielle would not let her Jacky-Bear be sad anymore not when Ash Hawthrone had just drove past them. She would make it her mission to follow. And so she did. Putting her foot on the accelerator, she went full-speed ahead, following Ash in her white Mercedes. Wherever Aisling Hawthrone was going so was Adielle Hart, but most importantly, so was Jackson Drake ..even if he didn't know it yet.