Relentless (Relentless #1) (13 page)

The plane touched down six hours
later, and by the end I felt like I had been run over by a bus. Jaxon had called Alexis to warn her about our incoming flight. She said she would meet us at the airport just in case, but she didn’t expect complications. Lexi flew in from New York and planned on staying in Georgia as long as we did. Stephen and I still had filming to finish back home, so we were only able to be gone for a few days.

Jaxon told me everything he found out about Silver and the producers. The producer pushed him to get closer to Silver as soon as they started promo interviews, which sent up red flags. When Jaxon told him no, things hit the press that made it seem like they were together. Silver had been behind a lot of it from what he could find out. Her career wasn’t going in the direction she wanted, so she did everything possible to put herself in the tabloids. Jaxon didn’t know she had planned to push it so far, and he apologized again for not telling me sooner about her kissing him.

He had planned on making me sit down with him as soon as we got home to talk about everything that happened. It would have been the first time since the premiere he didn’t have to rush off. When he found our marriage license and my wedding rings sitting on top of the dresser, he knew he was too late. Watching the agony on his face killed me. I’d intentionally tried to hurt him by leaving the ring there for him to find.

I listened to him tell me how he walked into the nursery and sank down onto his knees sobbing because I had left him. He asked me if it was too late to save us and my breath caught in my chest. The last thing that I wanted was for our marriage to end. All I really wanted was to hurt Silver for allowing her to come between us.

He held me tightly in his arms, and for the first time in too long I felt like things would be okay. I think he was scared if he let go I would change my mind. Everything he said about Silver rang true, and I didn’t doubt what he told me. From the moment I had met Silver, I hadn’t liked her. Maybe it was woman’s intuition, but I understood the bitch was out to ruin me when she saw me as a threat. Jax didn’t know, but I vowed to myself to make her pay for losing even a second with him. I would never let her come between us again.

Lexi rode back with us to my parent’s house and I was thankful because I dreaded walking in the door. What we would find there wouldn’t be pretty and I was afraid of what might come out of my mouth. My mother was the reason my father was dead. Stephen and Taylor told me on the flight that my father had died in a car accident when he went to get my mother from the country club.

She was too drunk to drive and instead of calling a cab to take her home she called him out of bed to come get her. I already blamed her for so much, and now it felt like there was no way to salvage our relationship. As far as I was concerned, my mother could shoulder the blame for everything.

We walked into the grand entryway with Jaxon on one side of me and Taylor on the other. Stephen and Lexi stood behind us to offer their support. Nothing looked out of place. It was like my dad should be coming down the stairs at any second; calling me every flower he could think of other than Violet. My dad had odd ways to show us he loved us, but I would desperately miss it. I would do anything to have him do it one last time.

I buried my head into Jaxon’s shoulder. His hand stroked my hair as I choked back a sob. Taylor clutched my hand in hers tighter. Her body stiffened beside me and I knew without looking my mother had just walked into the room. Taking a deep breath, I braced myself for a fight that was too long in coming.

The woman in front of me was broken. She smelled like vodka and could barely stand on her own two feet. I closed my eyes, pained at the sight of her pathetic figure. As much as I wanted to scream and yell, she wasn’t in any shape for me to unleash my anger at her. Sighing, I took a step forward, pulling away from Jaxon. Taylor followed me, and we each took one of my mother’s arms. As we moved towards the stairs, I grabbed the vodka bottle out of her hands and set it on a side table.

Taylor and I made quick work of getting her showered and into bed. Neither of us wanted to be around her any more than necessary. I hoped my father had the good sense to leave a will that stated what he wanted done with every family heirloom or my mother would sell everything and drink away the money within a year. We quietly walked out of the room and shut the door behind us.

“I don’t think I’ll ever drink again,” Taylor whispered.

“We need to clean out the house. Probably before we even go lay down, otherwise we will have to deal with this all over again in the morning,” I said sighing. The house was huge, and I dreaded the daunting task ahead of us.

Our friends were freaking amazing. They had already started the game of find the liquor. The huge pile of bottles sitting on the kitchen island, while impressive, wasn’t all that surprising. My mother wasn’t as discriminating in her liquor as I expected. Even as a teenager I wouldn’t have drank half the crap sitting in front of us.

“This would have been like hitting the jackpot for us in high school,” Stephen said laughing, as he placed another bottle on the counter. We had a few keggers in our day, but this lot would have kept us going for days. A small smile pulled at my lips as I looked back at him.

“You know, I still don’t get how we pulled off throwing so many parties.”

“Were you two party animals?” Jaxon asked.

“Eh, me not so much, but this one,” he said pointing at me. “She was wild.”

“You’re such a jerk,” I said giggling. “Every party we had started with a minute of silence around whatever trash can punch you were able to throw together. And that damn sure wasn’t
my
idea.”

“Alexis was the worst until Taylor was old enough to hang out with us. Then she put us all to shame,” he teased.

Jaxon laughed and looked from Alexis to Taylor.

“I could believe that.”

Flipping him off, Alexis said, “It’s not my fault you guys were lightweights. I would still drink you guys under the table.”

“I’m out of that challenge,” I said rubbing my huge belly.

Lexi came over and talked to my stomach.

“Your mommy’s just old, I promise Auntie Lexi won’t be as boring as mommy. She can’t keep up with us anymore.”

I laughed. Alexis was twenty-nine, two years older than me. It made me laugh even harder when the baby kicked at her hand. Even my little one wanted to stand up for it’s mommy.

“You know you’re a doctor right? Maybe you shouldn’t be encouraging your patients to be drinking, especially your pregnant patients.”

She waved me off. “You’re not drinking now. We’re fine.”

It took another two hours to finish scavenging the entire house. I was dead on my feet by the end. Jax asked Taylor which room was ours and carried me up there after I fell asleep on the couch curled against his side. Jaxon hadn’t had time to pack anything before we left, so he was still in his tux. As we cleaned up, my eyes kept drifting over to him. His white dress shirt with sleeves rolled up and untucked from his tuxedo pants was a very sexy sight. The sight of his tanned, muscled forearms was making me hot. My pregnancy hormones were going nuts. Mumbling something incoherent into the pillow about wanting to eat him up, I heard his deep throaty chuckle fill the room. Jaxon knew I was too tired to follow up on that no matter how much I missed him. I fell asleep as soon as he curled his large body around mine, his hand resting possessively over my bump.

“Sidney, what do you mean my dad left everything to me? What about Taylor and my mom?” Panic rose in my voice with each word.

“I shouldn’t have told you this until the reading, but your mom is going to lose her shit. Your dad left everything to you, but there is a huge envelope that I assume means there are further instructions. Your mom will try to contest the will, but its iron clad. He was careful about how we put everything together.”

Like things weren’t bad enough.

“Thanks for telling me, Sidney. I appreciate not being thrown under the bus. Seriously, what the hell was he thinking? Like things weren’t bad enough between me and my mom.”

“I know, Vi. That’s why I wanted to call and give you a heads up. I’ll see you in a few hours at the wake.”

I hung up the phone and turned back to Stephen and Jax. Their expressions mirrored identical copies of worry and concern. They heard my end of the conversation, but they waited patiently for the rest.

“It will be okay. My dad left me a letter.”

“The reading of the will is tomorrow, right?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah, I need to warn Taylor though. The only problem is that I don’t want my mom to lash out at her too if she thinks that she knew about it. Fucking a, we might as well give up any semblance of a family now,” I said putting my head in my hands. Jax ran his hands up and down my back trying to comfort me.

“Why don’t I tell her?” Stephen said. “Then technically you didn’t tell her and it keeps your mom out of the loop.”

His lopsided grin made me snicker. It was the same look he would get as a kid when he wanted to do something that would get us in trouble.

“Well, aren’t you just the master of loopholes? Although I don’t think it will matter to my mom.”

Stephen and I hadn’t found our old rhythm yet, but we were working on it. I missed my friend and having him here for me and Taylor meant the world to me.

“Baby, do you mind if I talk to Stephen for a little bit? I want to go get apple juice and I want him to drive me. Do you mind staying with Taylor?”

“Go ahead. Be safe,” he said kissing my forehead.

“Come on jeeves, the baby wants apples. Again.”

When we were settled in the car, I took a deep breath. “Stephen, I’m so sorry.”

At the same time he said, “I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick.”

We laughed, and it broke the tension filling the car.

“Stephen, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Jaxon and I got married. I never wanted to keep it from you. We needed time to get to know one another better. Everything happened so quickly, and I knew you would try to talk me out of it.”

“I was hurt and pissed and I took it out on you instead of telling you I was upset. I’m sorry I didn’t call after our fight. I planned to, but then I didn’t know what to say.”

“Jaxon tried to get me to call you too. I didn’t know what to say either. By the way, there is literally one picture from our ten minute wedding, so you didn’t miss much.”

He chuckled. “Vi, we’ve known each other for twenty-six years, and you are my best friend. I just want what’s best for you. I was all weirded out that you were having a baby; then you got married and didn’t tell me. It was like you were moving on and forgetting about me. I made it worse by acting like a dick.”

“The baby thing was a fluke. I planned on telling you on the car ride home from the beach, but obviously that didn’t happen.” A shiver ran up my spine as I remembered the dark feeling of unconsciousness. “I didn’t tell you the night before because I was too upset. I was freaking out because I was pregnant by a guy I had known for two minutes. Then he acted like an asshole when I talked to him about it. It was a freaking nightmare. You’ve always been there for me and I don’t thank you enough for it.”

He squeezed my hand and I continued, “Most people don’t understand us, but I’m thankful that Jaxon has done so well.”

“He impressed me yesterday. I never thought he would have the balls to get on that stage and call out Silver and the production team for their bullshit, but he did. It might make it hard for him to get work. Plus he declared his love for you in front of everyone; you better feel pretty damn special kid.”

“I’m happy with him. He keeps me in check. You’ve always been the one to keep me from being a hothead, but you finally get a break. Although, you might not have a long one if you’re changing Montgomery sisters.” I cast a look his way to see his reaction. He took a deep breath, but didn’t say anything. “I’m fine with it, but remember Taylor doesn’t stick around for long. She’s lived in ten different states since she turned eighteen,
and
she went backpacking around Europe for a year. I just don’t want you to see you hurt.”

“Taylor and I haven’t talked about what’s going on between us. I don’t want to jinx anything, but she plans on sticking around. She wants to be there for you and the baby. I think she’s trying to grow up. It might be the real thing this time.”

“That’s great Stephen, but I know my baby sister and the first time something freaks her out, she’s going to run. She always has the best intentions, but she has issues on the follow through. Just be careful.”

“It’ll all work out the way it’s supposed to. Now, let’s go get this kid some apple juice.” He shook his head. “I still can’t believe that you guys don’t want to find out what you’re having.”

I grinned at him and he laughed. We walked to the entrance with me tucked under his shoulder like old times. It was amazing to have my best friend back.

The funeral was a blur. People came and went, telling us how sorry they were for our loss. My mind was numb. I was so thankful that Jax was there because he was the only one responding for us. Gage and Amanda flew in for the service and I had a hard time telling them how much I appreciated it. Every time I tried a lump formed in my throat that I couldn’t swallow around.

Gage pulled me aside to tell me if I needed anything he was there for me. I fell apart, sobbing in his arms hysterically. Not just on this awful day, but everyday he took care of me just as much as Jax and Stephen. He had become one of my best friends without even trying. It was funny to think about how much we despised each other when we started this movie.

Taylor grasped my hand throughout the entire service while Stephen held her against his side. She looked shaken to her core, and I didn’t know what to do to make it better for her. My heart hurt for her; she had always been such a daddy’s girl. We kept my mother sober through the service and wake. As soon as she would sneak away one of us would have to go drag her back, taking a drink out of her hand as we rejoined the crowds. Most of the guests had already left when she started in on the vodka. Jax escorted her to her room before she could embarrass anyone in the family any further.

Jaxon was my rock. The time we spent apart didn’t matter, he was there for me now. He showed me how much he cared with everything he did for me and my family. I watched him pour himself a drink from across the room. He must have felt my gaze on him because he looked up and winked. Jax could make me relax without a word; he made me smile and forget the sadness for a minute. I couldn’t love this man anymore than I did in this moment.

Glancing up from my conversation with Emmy, I saw Aaron making his way over to Jax. I didn’t know who had let him in the door, but I planned on finding out and murdering them. Aaron had been drinking, but I didn’t expect him to be stupid enough to confront Jaxon.

However, Aaron
had
been stupid enough to corner me in the kitchen earlier and tell me to quit playing house with the Aussie loser and come back home to him. My skin crawled at the thought of him ever touching me again. Stephen had overheard him and saved me, so I’m sure he had passed on the information to Jaxon.

“So that is what’s going on in New York. Aaron had a lot to do with Mason giving me the ultimatum. He hated the fact that he was going to be single by himself and he wanted a wingman,” Emmy said sounding defeated.

“Oh shit,” I mumbled under my breath. Emmy looked up and her eyes flew to where Aaron cornered Jax.

“Oh shit is right,” she agreed.

Aaron leaned in towards Jax, saying something in his ear. Jaxon’s body tensed and his hand grasped his tumbler at whatever Aaron had said to him. I watched as Jax calmly set his drink down on the sideboard and turn back toward Aaron.

As his fist connected with Aaron’s face, the sound of flesh against bone filled the room. Several angry shouts called out, but as people realized what happened, they stepped back unwilling to help Aaron. He dropped to the floor, his hands covering his face as he lay there.

“Emmy, did that really just happen?”

“That is the best thing I’ve ever saw. Your husband is my new hero.”

“I’ve never been more turned on in my life,” I said gaping at Jaxon.

“Aaron fucking deserved it. It makes me incredibly happy that Jax was the one to take him down.”

Jaxon cleared his throat and looked around the room, clearly embarrassed. “I apologize for the disruption. For my lawyer and PR manager’s sake, let me say this in front of witnesses,” he looked down at Aaron. “I’ll pay for any damages you sustained in our altercation. Violet, love, I’m sorry.”

Everyone laughed quietly, and a couple of guys around Jaxon patted him on the back. Emmy shot me a look that said we would catch up later. I grinned back at her and crossed the room towards my sexy as hell husband.

“Are you pissed at me?” he asked nervously.

“Nope, definitely not pissed, but we need to find a coat closet,” I purred. “That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen you do.”

“I’m glad to know all it took was my right hook to turn you on, love.”

I pouted, hoping it would change his mind to drag me off and ravage me. Pregnancy was hell on my hormones and if I wasn’t hungry I was horny. The jerk wasn’t playing along even though I desperately wanted him to fuck me. I leaned in and kissed his jaw line. He took a step back from my eager lips.

“If we go find a closet now, people will notice.”

That perked me right up. He
was
taking me seriously. His hand travelled to my belly and caressed it as he said, “Love, we might need something bigger than a coat closet.” I punched him in the arm and he pretended I had hurt him. For just punching someone out, he was in a terrific mood.

“Don’t make fat jokes at your pregnant wife’s expense, asshole. It’s your fault I’m eight months pregnant.”

He lovingly rubbed my bump.

“You know I love how you look,” he whispered in my ear. “I can’t get enough of you.”

A shiver ran up my spine. It was definitely time to kick everyone out.