Chapter 127: For Good?

Jaxir had no idea what these so-called beauty rankings were supposed to be, but if one existed, Jahbri being first seemed obvious. Who would they dare put above her, exactly?

He turned his head enough to give Nick a flat look, unsure what reaction the man had expected from him after announcing something Jaxir could have told him years ago. Nick caught the look and chuckled, apparently enjoying himself too much to care.

"You know she’s also the third ranker in the entire country, too, right?" Nick shifted his weight onto one elbow while he watched for another reaction, and this time Jaxir only shrugged.

That surprised him even less than the beauty ranking. Jahbri had never been the type to remain mediocre at anything once she decided she cared about it.

The first thing that came to mind was an arcade they had gone to years ago, where Jaxir had destroyed her in one of those basketball games with the moving hoop and cheap rubber balls.

Jahbri had barely known how to shoot and lost badly enough that she refused to speak to him for the rest of the afternoon, only to show up the next week and inform him they were going back. By the time they finished their rematch, Jaxir had only beaten her by a few points, and her shooting form already looked cleaner than his probably ever had.

After that, she started to win a few here and there until their records were pretty much sitting at 50/50 at this point.

She had always been even more competitive than him, which was impressive considering Jaxir had once spent six hours learning a card trick purely because Lue told him he couldn’t do it.

Jahbri losing bothered her in a way that made her study whatever had beaten her until it stopped happening, and Divinity wouldn’t have changed that part of her. If anything, the only strange part was hearing that she ranked third instead of first.

Nick seemed to read that much from his face and snorted before looking back toward the sky.

"She made the same stupid choice you’re about to make and joined the government faction, so that probably doesn’t help her ranking, especially when she’s a healer. If it wasn’t for those two things, first probably wouldn’t be out of reach, and she’s still one of the only healers in the game people don’t want to meet even in a one-on-one fight."

Jaxir turned his head toward him, and whatever Nick saw in his eyes made the man’s shoulders tighten before a faint chill ran through him. Nick raised both hands in surrender and corrected himself without losing the grin on his face.

"Right, right, the pretty princess doesn’t make stupid mistakes, my apologies, my liege."

Jaxir shook his head and returned his attention to the sky, deciding that throwing Nick off the roof would probably create more trouble than it was worth.

"I didn’t even know that goddess had dated anyone before," Nick continued after a moment, apparently incapable of leaving dangerous topics alone for more than thirty seconds. "With her background, dating the scion of Chance Corporation should’ve been pretty big news, and I think her dad just got nominated for the Supreme Court too, didn’t he?"

The last part caught Jaxir’s attention despite himself, though he kept his eyes on the clouds drifting overhead.

Nick seemed not to notice the slight tightening in his expression as he kept going.

"His hearing should be coming up soon, and if Congress passes him, he’ll probably be sworn in within a month or two, so you two would’ve made one hell of a power couple. Which makes me wonder why nobody ever talks about you."

"Is that so?" Jaxir let the question hang for a moment while something uncomfortable settled beneath his ribs, then added, "Good for him."

Jahbri’s father had already been a successful lawyer when Jaxir first met him, then climbed into a federal judgeship while they were still together, so another step upward wasn’t difficult to believe.

The man had always been moving toward something, and Jaxir remembered how often Jahbri’s life would become a mess of interviews, dinners, campaign events and people suddenly pretending they had known her family for twenty years whenever her father pursued another position. Jaxir had hated most of it, while Jahbri had hated how much it affected everyone around her even more.

Nick watched him for a few seconds, but for once seemed to recognize a question that wasn’t going to be answered and left the subject of their relationship alone.

"From what I’ve heard, people think getting him onto the Court could help reverse some precedents that keep the government from getting more involved with Divinity, so there are a lot of people pushing hard against the nomination. With how much money and power is tied up in the game now, nobody wants the rules changing unless they’re the ones writing them."

Jaxir gave a small nod while old memories began fitting themselves around the new information. Jahbri had always carried her father’s ambitions as though they were partly her responsibility, even when she complained about them, and every campaign or appointment had brought months where strangers examined their family for anything useful.

Now her father was aiming at the Supreme Court while the entire country argued over how much power the government should have inside Divinity, which meant the attention around them was probably worse than anything Jaxir remembered.

The thought left a sour taste in his mouth because some part of him immediately believed he should be there with her. He should have been helping Jahbri through it, listening while she complained about reporters camping outside somewhere or laughing when she threatened to throw her father’s phone into a lake, but instead he had spent years becoming someone she probably wouldn’t recognize.

Even now, after finally dragging himself forward again, he still wasn’t anywhere close to being the person he thought he needed to be before standing in front of her.

Then the colder part of his mind cut through that thought and asked what his presence would accomplish besides making everything harder.

Confirmation hearings were usually more formality than execution, but the process existed so that opposition could dig, question and attack until something broke, and Jaxir Chance appearing beside the nominee’s daughter would give them plenty to work with.

Between his parents, Chance Corporation, his uncle, and whatever political fight was building around Divinity, reconnecting with Jahbri right now could turn him into ammunition against her father before Jaxir even understood what battle they were fighting.

That didn’t even mention the fact that the Chance Corporation had definitely approached him for a reason. If Jahbri was found to have such a deep relationship with the scion of the family who helped create the game, and now her father might act to allow the government to intervene, that would instantly become a whirlwind of conflicts of interest.

That made the answer simple even if he hated it. Staying away was something he could actually do for her, and until he understood more, doing nothing was better than barging back into Jahbri’s life because he suddenly decided he was ready.

Jaxir folded his hands more firmly behind his head and stared upward, while beside him Niri continued copying his position with enough concentration that she seemed determined to out-relax him.

Nick let the silence sit for a while before pushing himself upright and resting his forearms across his knees. Whatever amusement remained in his expression faded as he studied Jaxir from the side, returning at last to the reason they had all gathered here in the first place.

"So, are you done with the government for good now?"