All Chapters of Festive Deception: A Jasmine For Christmas : Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Chad finally stepped out of the bathroom, he rubbed the towel over his wet hair. The lights in the room had been dimmed and so he looked at Jasmine on her bed. She had curled up on the bed, her breathing steady, an indication that she had fallen asleep. Who falls asleep so easily?, he thought. He stared at her and she looked so relaxed in a way he had never seen before. She looked peaceful. As Chad looked at her, his eyes lingered longer than they should have. For some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off her, watching her. Suddenly he reached for the blankets at the foot of our bed and carefully put it over. The action was against his better judgment but it felt right. “Sleep tight,” he murmured as he retreated to his own bed on the opposite end. He laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, replaying the night’s event in his mind. He still remembered Ava’s words, “I was young, I was foolish. I made mistakes Chad and I lost something precious to me. I lost you and I shouldn’

The hall was quiet except for the two of them, one would wonder why Alex was out of his room in the first place. Jasmine crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, her expression icy as Alex stood in front of her. “Well? Your clock is ticking.” Alex tried smiling hoping it would soften her but the eyes she had on him told him that his charm would get him next to nothing. “Fair enough,” he said. “I just wanted to see how you’re doing.” Jasmine tilted her head, she looked at him like he had just snuck out of a home for mentally disturbed people. “You have thirty seconds left.” He sighed, ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair. “Okay. I get it, Jasmine. I really do. But I was hoping we could actually talk. I mean I’m sure you didn’t tell your new fiancé about us… about the years we spent together.” Her eyes narrowed. This little shit, she thought. Of course he thinks he has some upper hand here. “Let me stop you right there…” she said sharply. “Chad knows everything includi

The waiting lounge was filled with a quiet but busy energy, Peter and Mary were now seated near the fireplace. Both of them were quiet, there was a tension there that Jasmine hadn’t noticed before, when people weren’t around them they were quiet, weirdly quiet. Lucien and Henri on the other end chatted amiably with the Volkovsky twins, Natalia and Valentina laughing at their private jokes ever so subtly. Jordan was leaning against one of the windows, looking outside and Renee sat in a corner, fiddling with the zipper on her jacket. Jasmine scanned the hallway impatiently, the sooner the rest got here, the sooner they’d start the hike. Ava left them waiting in the lounge for a short while, Peter chimed in. “How long does anyone reckon this hike would be?” “Depends on the distance we’re covering, how fast we’re moving and of course our weight.” Renee mumbled her answer before catching herself. “Well, we barely weigh a hundred kg each and our speed is at optimum level. Can you calcul