Dressed in a tight red dress and heels, teamed with a matching red lipstick, and my blonde hair out and straight, I head downstairs and into the living room of my family home.

"Wow," Dad's eyes widen, as he watches me enter the room. "Who's the lucky guy?"

"I'm just going out for dinner with the girls," I shrug. "But I'll take that as a compliment, I think?"

"Of course it's a compliment, you look stunning honey," Mom smiles. "Do you have a lift home?"

"Yes, someone will bring me home."

"Alright well call us, or at the very least your brother, if you get stuck," Dad reminds, as he always does.

"I will, I better head off or I'll be late."

...

I arrive at the restaurant and find everyone already sitting at the table. To my surprise it's not just the girls at all, the boys are here as well.

I make my way over to the table, which consists of Marni and Ace, Millie and Riv, Aria and Logan, Zarah and Ruby (who have two of the Cobra boys sitting with them) and then Cody, who has a spare seat next to him.

"I didn't know you'd all be here," I smile, as I reach the table.

Cody looks me up and down, then rolls his bottom lip between his teeth. That look in his eye once more.

Choosing to ignore it, I make my way around the table and say my hellos to everyone. Then I make my way back over and sit in between Ruby and Cody

"Hey beautiful," Cody smiles.

"Hey, how have you been?" I ask politely.

"Well as you would know, I've been sitting around wondering if you were ever going to call me, after that kiss we shared."

"Oh uh, well I ..."

"I'm just kidding beautiful, relax," he places his hand on my bare back, between my shoulder blades and rubs it gently.

I look across at Millie, who is watching us and she winks at me, with a grin on her face.

...

As the night goes on, I'm starting to see exactly what's happening here. Millie is trying to set me up with Cody and Cody is all for it. All night the two of them have been taking a trip down memory lane. Talking about the time I went to prom with Cody, how cute we were and that we should 'totally start seeing each other.'

But the entire time all I'm thinking about is Jex. It kills me that I can't tell all of my friends and family that I'm seeing someone. That I can't introduce them to him. It kills me that I can't be with him in public and that I can't show him how proud I am to be with him.

"Bella, shots," Millie calls, as the waitress brings a tray of shots to our table.

"Uh, I'll be back in a moment. I just need some air," I stand to my feet and leave the room quickly, heading out the front door. I make my way to the end of the building and take a few deep breaths. I try to calm my nerves, along with the anxiety I'm feeling. How do I get out of this with Cody? Millie is already on to me.

"Bella?" I hear a farmilar voice and open my eyes looking up.

"Malcolm. Uh hi," I give him a soft smile.

"Are you okay? You look a little, uh, off?"

"Oh yeah I'm fine, it's just a little hot in there and I needed some air," I bite down on my bottom lip gently. "Uh, w-what are you doing here?"

It's hard to know how to act. Jex hasn't told his friends that we're together and I totally understand why, but what now? Am I meant to be scared of the Vipers? Am I meant to be scared of Malcolm? Or is he still my friend?"

"I'm just picking up some food."

"Oh, well I don't want to hold you up," I smile. "Say hello to Alyssa for me. That's uh, if you're allowed to, of course."

"Is there a problem here babe?" Cody appears from nowhere and wraps his arm around me.

"There's no problem. I'm just talking to an old friend," I give him a soft smile and attempt to pull my body away from him.

"Right, well; move along old friend," Cody then pulls me closer to him and presses a kiss to my head, as if to show Malcolm I belong to him.

I wait for Mal to enter the building and rip myself away from Cody. "What in the hell are you playing at?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Cody, you and I are not together. You do not get to touch me like that, kiss my head and act the way you just did. Don't you ever touch me like that again," I snap.
...

Jex's POV:

"What took you so long?" I question Malcolm, as he heads toward me with some take out bags.

"I ran into Bella out the front of the restaurant and I stopped to say hello."

"You saw Bella? H-how was she?" I act as if I haven't just seen her.

"Yeah, we had a bit of a chat. She said to say hello to Alyssa and was friendly like she always has been," he shrugs and places the food bags down upon the table.

I open my drink and take a long sip.

"Her new boyfriend is a bit of a dick though," Malcolm adds.

I swallow hard, almost spitting out my drink. "New boyfriend?"

"Yeah, she was all dressed up, like she was on a date or something. Then this dickhead came out and asked if there was problem and was all over her. She didn't seem to like him touching her though. She seemed like she was pulling away but he'd pull her back. Then when I was leaving they were fighting out the front of the restaurant."

I'm so confused. I don't even know what to think right now. Was she really out on a date with someone? She wouldn't do that to me? Would she? Oh god, has she been playing me this entire time? Did I really fall into a trap?

"Did she seem like she was in some kind of trouble? I mean what happened after you saw them fighting?"

"She stormed off and he went back inside," he shrugs. "Why do you care so much?"

"I just, wouldn't want anything bad to happened to her. Cobra or not," I lie.

"Right," he nods slowly, not believing me. "Well I'm sure she's fine, so eat up and let's head home."

...

Bella's POV:

After a huge fight with Cody I decided to leave. Sure he's had a fair bit to drink tonight, but there's no excuse for him to be touching me and getting handsy. Even if I was single, he still has no right to touch me like that.

Waving down a taxi I give them Jex's address and after a twenty minute drive we arrive. I pay the driver and step out of the car, making my way to the front door.

As usual I unlock the door with my key and enter. "Jex, are you home?" I call.

"Living room," he calls back.

I make my way into the living room and he looks up at me from his stop on the couch. "How was your date?"

"D-date?" I stutter in utter confusion.

"Mal said he saw you tonight. You were on a date with some guy, who apparently treated you like shit and was handsy."

"Jex I was never on a date," I shake my head. "It was a misunderstanding."

"You look rather dressed up, for someone who wasn't on a date," he counters.

I shake my head, feeling angry at the idea of being accused of something I didn't do. "I'm sorry that Malcolm got the wrong idea and fed you the wrong information, but you don't get to be mad at me. I'm dressed up because I was planning on coming back here the entire time; and I wasn't with just one guy, I was with a table of people. I only saw Mal outside for a few minutes. At which point one of the drunk Cobra boys came out, acting all cave man protective. Yes he was getting a little close and no I didn't like it, as soon as Mal left I put him in his place. I told him outright not to touch me like that. We ended up in a big argument, because apparently I've been leading him on for years. It all ended in me telling him I have a boyfriend and I'm not interested."

"Well maybe you should be interested," Jex snaps.

"Excuse me?"

"Maybe it would be in your best interest if you were with a Cobra. At least then you'd be able to date him in the public eye, introduce him to your family and live happily ever after."

"Oh I get it. You're feeling sorry for yourself over something that didn't even happen," I raise my voice, now feeling angrier than before. "You're looking for an out, so this is what you're going to use against me."

"I'm not looking for an out Bella," he raises his voice back at me and stands to his feet. "Don't you get it? We can never live the life of a normal couple, who go places together and do things together. I can never meet your family, I can never sit at a table with your friends."

"You knew that from the beginning Jex, so did I and I still chose to be with you," I shake my head. "If you've changed your mind about us, then man up and say it. Break up with me, because I'm not leaving until you do," I cross my arms over my chest. "In fact, even if you do I probably still won't leave. Because I love you, even though sometimes I wonder why. You're so damn stubborn and ..."

He takes a step closer and places his hand under my chin, stopping me mid sentence. "Have I ever told you how sexy you are when you're mad?" He smirks and presses his lips to mine.

I huff and push him away gently, but he doesn't budge. "I'm mad at you."

"And I'm mad at you. So let's take it out on each other the best way we know how," he kisses up my jaw and to my ear. "In bed," he breathes in my ear.

Those two little words enough to send chills down my spine and ignite a fire in my core.

This chapter has been edited and proof read by ElleRWrites