All Chapters of Jaded: Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

SicilySicily pressed a cold rag to her face as she leaned over and studied herself in the mirror. Maybe Drake had left her in Chicago because he'd realized after losing his mother that his life was there. D needed him, which was obvious. Maybe having her and the gym wasn't enough?"Let it go. He said he would be back today. Stop unwinding every good thing that's happened between you. The man cares for you and was talking about houses and babies to his dying mom." Sicily moved back and turned in the mirror, comparing herself to Izzy and coming up lacking – severely."I'm off to show a house. You sure you're okay?" Lisa poked her head into the bedroom and lifted her eyebrow at Sicily. "Get that cardigan off. You look great. Stop hiding behind your clothing.""Do you think people can change? Like really stave off their pasts and become entirely new people?" Sicily turned and pressed her butt against the counter."God, I hope so. Otherwise Marc and I are in a world of trouble." Lisa smil

Six Weeks LaterSicily"Do we really need two cups of sugar in this pie? Can't we work on making our recipes a little healthier?" Drake glanced over at Sicily as they worked to wrap up their holiday baking. He had agreed to work the bakery with her from five in the morning to two in the afternoon, and then they would work at the gym together until the evening shift.It was a lot of time around each other, but he couldn't seem to get enough of her. He'd asked her to move in with him, but she wasn't ready for that just yet. After Christmas... that's what she had promised. It was almost Thanksgiving and he was counting down the days."Yes, baby. Stop trying to jack with my recipes. Do you want me to go remove some of the bolts on your exercise machines?" She passed by him and swatted his ass – hard.He groaned and turned to go after her as she yelped and ran for the back of the store. "If you remove a bolt, you could kill someone.""If you don't add the sugar to a pecan pie, you can..."

Kari"So you excited about going to Texas?" Lisa moved up beside Kari and wrapped her arms around the top of Kari's shoulders."Yes. Very." She reached down and picked up a blank canvas pad as they stood in the small art store in the center of town. "I really want to start doodling again, but I don't want to dream too big, you know?""Dream too big?" Sicily moved up beside them and picked up a pack of colored pencils. "Is there such a thing?"Kari smiled. "This coming from the girl that was terrified to move to Maine and start her bakery. And now it's doing great.""Fear is always a sign of moving in the right direction. If it wasn't a little hard, we would all be doing it." Lisa released her and snatched the pad from Kari's hands. "Let me get this for you. I don't have a gift picked out for you yet.""That's just asinine." Sicily leaned around Kari and gave Lisa a motherly look. "She's right here. At least put it down and we'll come back and get it. Christmas is supposed to be filled

Jake"All right. The tree is stable." Marc moved back, his hands lifted in the air as everyone else lounged on the couches around him."It's leaning a little to the left," Drake mumbled.Sicily popped him on the chest as she snuggled beside him. "You're going to be leaning a little to the left if you don't watch it.""The girls are getting sweet on Marc." Jake ran his hand down the side of Kari's arm as she curled up around him. "We're just jealous, hm?""Absolutely you guys are." Marc turned and smiled. "And you should be. I'm the baby around here.""Oh brother." Kari moved to the edge of the couch and stood. "I have some of the decorations in the car. I'll grab them and we'll get the tree decorated.""Who's staying here at the house? We haven't finalized anything other than you and Jake leaving tomorrow for New York and then Texas in a few days." Lisa stood up and walked toward the tree, yanking on it to get it to stand up straight.Jake glanced over at Sicily and Drake as they turn

JakeJake moved up behind Kari after getting their bags from the trunk. Something was nagging at him as they walked up the overgrown brush towards Ms. Martin's house. The house was old and far too rundown for someone to enjoy living in it."Kari." He reached up and gripped her shoulder, stopping her."Yeah?" She glanced back, a smile on her beautiful face. "What's wrong?" She turned to face him."What does your mom do for a living?" He moved his attention down from the house to rest on his girl. The list of projects on fixing the place up were already running through his mind."She's a nurse, but my dad left her with a lot of debt. The place is in bad shape on the outside, but the inside is nice. I promise.""We need to do something about this. I know New York is expensive, but we need to get her a new place or maybe just come up here for the week after New Year’s and do a major overhaul." He ran his hand down the side of her face. "I'll get everyone to help out. This isn't okay."Her