Relentless (Relentless #1) (9 page)

Jaxon stayed at my beach house more often than not. Every night for the past three weeks, he had followed me out to my little beach oasis. Everyone knew where he went, but no one said a word to him as he packed up and left with me every night. Stephen and Taylor were both still living at the beach house, but because it was so huge, we never actually ran into them unless it was intentional. I tried to spend a few nights a week hanging out with Taylor. She spent most of her nights with Stephen when we weren’t together. It was funny to watch them together and it reminded me of being back home.

I crunched into an apple and stared at the stormy ocean through the open back door. Taylor came into the kitchen and shifted her weight from foot to foot babbling about anything she could think of. Eyeing her suspiciously, I waited for her to tell me what she wanted to say.

“Stephen and I are moving into a house a little further down the beach. You guys need your privacy.”

“But Taylor, I still need you here,” I whined. “You promised you would stay with me. What happens when the baby gets here?”

“Seriously, Vi. Pull it together. I’ll be less than two miles away. I can still come over here and eat your food every day and make fun of your Aussie boy toy. Stephen and I think you guys need some space. Plus the baby won’t be here for another six months.”

“There’s plenty of space here. I never see you guys as it is.” My tears weren’t working to manipulate my sister into changing her mind, but maybe guilt would work. “I’m going to miss you. I can’t believe you’ll miss so much from the pregnancy. You’ll be gone as soon as I have the baby.”

“Who said I was leaving?” she asked with a noticeable edge to her voice.

“You kept saying it over and over again when you first got here.”

“Well, things change.”

“Are you saying you might stay?”

“I’m going to try.” She smiled at me and I responded by wiping away a tear. “I love you, but the answer is no. I’m not staying here. I don’t want to listen to you guys having sex anymore. It’s gross hearing you two going at it every night. The house might be huge, but it needs some serious soundproofing. Besides, we signed the lease yesterday.”

“You signed a lease without telling me first?”

“That’s the part you focused on? Not that we can hear him screwing your brains out every night? And we bought a house, not rented.”

“You’re leaving! That’s where my focus is right now. Taylor you have a tendency to get restless and leave. It sounds like you already have one foot out the door,” I griped. “Don’t worry about my sex life B.T.W.; maybe you should work on getting some so you aren’t so grumpy.” I sighed dramatically and tried to stare down my little sister, but it wasn’t working. She was serious about moving out. Taylor might be flighty sometimes, but when she made her mind up, you couldn’t change it.

“Fine. When are you guys moving out?” I asked.

“Stephen moved his clothes over this morning. I lost the coin toss, so I was the one that had to tell you.”

“You guys are assholes. I know I’m a basket case because I’m knocked up, but seriously?”

Taylor grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter and bit into it. She chewed and swallowed then started towards the door, “Yeah, but at least we don’t have to hear you guys screwing around anymore! Oh Jaxon!” she fake moaned.

I grabbed a dish towel from the counter and snapped it at her as she ducked out the door laughing. If I thought about it, I wasn’t too surprised they were moving out, but it made me sad they wouldn’t be living here anymore. This house had become a home while they were here. It was time for me to pull up my big girl panties and deal with the fact that I would live here with my baby daddy alone.

I watched the guys carry the last of the furniture into Taylor and Stephen’s new house. Jaxon, Gage and Scott were helping Stephen move the heavy pieces today. The whole cast had come to help them out. As much as I hated to admit it, the house would be perfect for the two of them.

Taylor had asked Amanda and me if we would help her plan a cookout to thank everyone for coming to help them move. She emptied the last of the grocery bags and leaned against the counter. Stephen grabbed a dish towel, popped her on the butt, and took off running outside. An ear piercing shriek filled the air, and she chased after him. Amanda looked over at me with a smile and a raised eyebrow; I shrugged.

“It’s been like that for years. I’ve quit asking. Those two are hot and cold all the time, so I don’t even try to figure it out anymore.”

“They seem pretty cozy moving in together,” Amanda said smirking.

“Who knows? I’m staying the hell out of it. My best friend and my baby sister?” I paused, “Yeah, definitely staying the hell out of that one.”

Jax lit the grill while Stephen and Taylor chased each other in the sand. We watched as Taylor lured him into the tide. She tripped him, sending him flying into the salty water, and then ran victoriously up to the deck. Stephen sputtered as he came up from where he landed; Taylor and I laughed hysterically as we watched him flop around in the sand.

He came up to the deck a few minutes later calling a truce. When I saw his eyebrows covered in sand, I started laughing again. He was covered from head to toe; damp sand clung to his white shirt and board shorts. Even Jax cracked up at Stephen’s disheveled appearance, and he had silently been rooting for him to win. Jax had shut up quickly when Taylor came back up to the deck gloating though. The man knew better than to make an enemy out of her.

We all sat down on the deck to eat when everything was ready to be served. Although we spent tons of time together on the set, it wasn’t often that we could spend an entire afternoon together without the added stress of work. As I looked down along the huge picnic table, I smiled. Gage was picking food off of Taylor’s plate; Stephen was pushing Scott for some stupid joke he had just told. Jaxon held a plate out for me. He kissed my neck as I took the plate from him. That man had even sliced an apple for me. Amanda smirked at Jax when she noticed. We were all one big, crazy, disheveled family.

I couldn’t describe how much I loved Jaxon if I tried. He took amazing care of me, and every decision he made was for the best interest of us as a family. A few days ago he told me about a role he turned down because he would either have to be away for a long period of time after the baby was born, or we would have to move. He hadn’t even told me about the role until after he turned it down. My eyes filled with tears as I remembered how he’d just shrugged when I asked why he had done it. Damn hormones.

“Love, what’s wrong?” Jaxon asked frowning.

“Nothing at all.” I smiled up at him.

His frowned deepened, but he didn’t question me any further.

“Thanks for helping us move in y’all,” Taylor called out to the group.

“I just expect a place to stay if I get drunk on the beach,” Gage joked.

Taylor flicked a baked bean at him and laughed. We finished up dinner and I carried in the leftovers from the deck. Scott grabbed a dish and followed me into the kitchen. He cast a glance over his shoulder.

“Vi, I just want to say thanks.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know what you said, but the guys aren’t treating me like such an outsider today. It’s been tense on set lately when I’ve had scenes with Gage. The last few days have been a lot better, so I just assumed you had something to do with it.”

I shook my head. “Nope, I didn’t say anything, but I’m glad it’s getting better.”

He took the dish I was carrying and set it down in the sink.

“You and Jax look good together. I’m happy for you.”

“We are happy. They have all been a little protective of me lately. To be completely honest with you, I expected it to be awkward when we started filming together, but you’ve helped keep it professional and I appreciate it.”

Scott dropped two more plates in the sink. “I promised you I would. Plus, you have enough pull that if you wanted me out of there, I would be on my ass in a second.”

He grinned at me and I saw a little bit of my old friend lurking around the edges.

“True story,” I smirked. “I never expected to date another actor after our disastrous attempt, but Jaxon is amazing. He takes such good care of me. Of us,” I said dropping my hand down to my stomach.

“No shit? Congratulations! You’re keeping it quiet?”

“Yeah, but I trust you not to say anything.”

I saw regret flash in the depths of his eyes, and I finally understood just how sorry he was for everything that he put me through. Pulling him to me, I gave him a quick reassuring hug.

“What are you two looking so serious about?” Jax came in and wrapped his arms around me. I leaned back into his embrace, and sighed in contentment.

“I was telling Scott about our secret.”

“Yeah, congratulations man, I’m happy for you guys,” Scott chimed in.

“Thanks. We’re excited, or we are now that the shock has worn off,” he winked over at Scott. It was surprising that he was being so relaxed. Jaxon made it clear from the first time he met Scott that he didn’t like him and fully planned on making his life a living hell on set. I leaned up and kissed Jax on the cheek.

Taylor called for me and I walked towards the living room. Turning to glance back at the two men, something about how they were standing or how Jaxon leaned against the counter, made a memory surface. It was vague, but the longer I looked at them the clearer it became. A gasp slipped from my throat as I realized why Jaxon had always looked so familiar.

“Love, are you okay?” Jax asked.

“You were there the night of the charity auction. It was in late December and you had on a bright green tie that matched your eyes.”

Jaxon looked a little shell shocked. “I was, but you were there with Scott. I didn’t think you remembered.”

“You almost came over to talk to me, but he walked back up before you could work up the nerve. I remember the look in your eyes.”

Jaxon looked uncomfortable as he looked over at Scott, “That’s right. I left right after I saw him walk up to you and put his arm around your waist. I was frustrated because I thought you were there alone. Why are you asking about this now?”

“I just remembered. It was the way you were holding your glass I think. At the cast party I kept thinking you looked so familiar, but I couldn’t place where I recognized you from.”

“Are you sure you’re okay, love?”

“That night I felt like I missed something important. Now I don’t have to worry about it; I finally found you.” I cupped his face with my hands and put my forehead to his. “I wanted to meet you that night. There was a pull between us I didn’t understand.”

When I looked up, I realized that Scott had silently slipped out the backdoor. He gave us this moment. Maybe he felt like he had robbed us of that time together? He
had
cheated on me less than a week later. I’ll never know what he was thinking because all I was focused on was the beautiful emerald green of Jaxon’s eyes as he leaned down to kiss me.

Biting my lip, I grabbed the door handle and looked out over the ocean before walking outside. Jaxon was supposed to be coming back soon. I reached back and grabbed the single calla lily sitting on the table. My feet sank into the sand as I walked down to where the tide was coming in. The ocean always calmed me, and my fluttering stomach could use some calm right about now.

Two figures walked up from the distance and one had a familiar silhouette. The other I didn’t recognize, but I assumed it was the friend that Jaxon had told me about. He looked to be around the same age as Jax. He also had the same tanned, muscular, surfer body, so it was safe to assume this was Jaxon’s friend. John looked as comfortable as Jax and I did walking on the beach barefoot. We had both spent most of our time growing up on a beach somewhere in the world.

Jaxon looked sexy in his lightweight khaki pants and white long sleeve button up shirt. His sleeves were rolled up just above his elbows and the sight of his forearms made me drool. Pregnancy hormones had taken over my body, and Jax didn’t mind one bit. My jaw went slack as the wind molded his loose clothes against his body. It was time to focus on what was going on in front of me, not mentally stripping the sexy man standing next to me.

My long dress was blowing in the breeze coming off the ocean. The ivory lace stood out in stark comparison to the dark, damp sand around me. A beautiful smile covered Jaxon’s face as he looked up and saw me waiting for him. His step faltered as my dress came into view. As he joined me, I saw tears glistening in his striking emerald eyes.

“You look amazing, love.”

“You don’t look so bad yourself.”

I reached out and took his hand in mine. He squeezed my fingers once and turned to his friend.

“Violet, this is John. I’ve known him my whole life. We grew up together back in Australia. He’s been one of the only people I’ve ever been able to tell everything in my life. Besides Connor, he’s my best friend.”

I read between the lines. What Jaxon was trying to tell me was that we could trust John with our secrets. It would be quite a relief to not have to watch what we said around him, or make sure I was sucking my stomach in at all times.

Over the past few months, Jaxon and I had talked and argued several times about marriage after we found out I was pregnant. It didn’t matter to me if we were married or not, but Jax was surprisingly traditional when it came to certain aspects of our relationship. He wanted us to share a last name and he didn’t want his son or daughter to be born out of wedlock. We had agreed that
if
we got married, I would continue working under my maiden name, but in matters that counted I would be his. I was struck by his fierce determination to get me to agree to marry him.

We lay in bed the morning after helping Stephen and Taylor move, wrapped up in each other’s arms, and he looked over at me and asked me to marry him again. He had already asked me several times, some jokingly, some not, but this time was different. At first I thought I had misunderstood him, but he leaned me back on the bed and reached into the nightstand. Jaxon looked deep into my eyes, and asked if I would marry him again. Confusion pulled at my brows, because I couldn’t figure out how long he had been hiding that ring in our bedroom. Of course that was what I needed to be most concerned about right at that moment.

When I realized Jaxon was the man I missed meeting two years ago, it completely changed my outlook on our relationship. I never wanted to miss a second with this man again.

“We’ve talked about this and I don’t want to get married just because I’m pregnant.”

“I’m not asking because you’re pregnant, love. I want to take care of you and I want the three of us to be a family. It’s happening faster than we planned, but that’s not a bad thing. When we get married I don’t want it to be some media circus. Hell Violet, we won’t be able to escape the press as soon as our relationship breaks. I want this to be for us.”

“Jaxon, we will be a family regardless of if you and I get married or not. I love you and I want to get married, but why is this so important to you
now
?”

Jaxon shrugged. “It would have been important to my dad.”

My heart broke. We didn’t speak about his father often, but I knew he missed him and thought of him every day.

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“As long as you are asking because you want to get married, and because you love me.”

“I love you more than life itself, Violet. Please marry me?”

“Absolutely.”

Within a week Jaxon had our wedding planned. He told me he would take care of everything and I wasn’t about to argue. The only thing I requested was that it just be us. I wanted something to bond us together because I felt robbed of the time we should have had the pregnancy to ourselves. We would tell our family and friends in a few weeks when everything was settled, but it was important to me that we were able to keep this secret.

The sun cast dazzling pinks and oranges across the sky as it lowered to the horizon. We walked closer to the water and turned to face one another. This section of beach wasn’t well known by tourists and it was private property. Jaxon was certain we wouldn’t be discovered while we exchanged vows. Our vows were beautiful and his words were my undoing. This man was perfect for me, but underneath it all I was still scared to death to get married again.

We stared into each other’s eyes as John pronounced us husband and wife. Jax noticed a couple off in the distance and he ran over with our marriage certificate clutched in his hand. John and I watched as the man and woman signed the paper. Our witnesses. Jax shook their hands and started back with a proud expression on his face.

“You’ve got to admit, he’s resourceful. I also think he doesn’t want to give you a way out of this marriage,” John said winking at me. “Jaxon loves you, I hope you know that. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him this happy.”

My cheeks flushed. Jax looked at us questioningly as he joined us again. I shook my head as a smirking John took the paper from Jaxon. He told us he would file the certificate first thing in the morning. Lucky for us, John would help keep everything as quiet as possible. The men made plans to meet up soon, and with a hug and kiss on the cheek for me John left. We stood in the sand at the bottom of our deck, staring at one another and grinning like fools.

My head rested on Jaxon’s chest listening to his heart beat in his chest. Our legs were intertwined and his fingers were playing in my hair. Every few minutes he would run his hand down to my tiny bump. We had the window open, and the sound of the ocean filtered through to our room. It was a rare day that we were both off work and had the opportunity to just lounge around in bed all day, enjoying the peace and quiet. I thought Jax had drifted off to sleep, but he opened one eye and tilted his head at me. “Would you choose Greyson or Brandon if you were Harper?”

“I’m supposed to say Brandon, but it would always be Greyson for me. I was so torn the first time I read the book. It was obvious that Harper had screwed up when she didn’t give Greyson the opportunity to prove himself to her. She never gave herself the chance to let Greyson prove his love for her. Harper pushed him away until he was gone forever and I hated that for them.”

Jaxon kissed my forehead and settled his chin on my head, seemingly satisfied with my answer. I grinned. “Was that a test Jaxon Garrett?”

“Of course not, but you passed with flying colors.”

His deep chuckle filled my ears. I reached up and patted his chest while I giggled.

“You terrify me in the best way possible, Violet.” I gave him a look and he chuckled before continuing. “You push every boundary I’ve ever put up and I don’t even mind. I’m so head over heels for you I would do anything you asked me. Finding out about the baby was the best thing that ever happened because it let me open myself up to loving you.”

I swallowed around the lump in my throat. Jax always seemed to take my breath away when I least expected it. With him it was never a matter of if I fell for him, it was a matter of when.

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the baby and what we wanted for our future. My fingers traced the outlines of his tattoos and occasionally he would reach over and run his fingers over my ring. It was amazing to spend the entire day wrapped up in each other.

Weeks turned into months as filming continued. My scenes with Jax changed to scenes with Gage. The guys were all taking care of me and being overprotective as usual. Jax was never far from me while we were on set. He was so attentive and affectionate. I had insane pregnancy cravings for anything and everything apple and he was constantly on the run to get me whatever I wanted at that moment.

Stephen was still being weird. My pregnancy had thrown him for a loop and he was having a hard time figuring out how he fit into my life now. It was killing me because I missed my best friend. No matter what I said, he still pulled away from me.

Although Jaxon and I had originally said we would only keep the marriage a secret for a few weeks, it had been almost two months. We were torn about telling our friends and family because we wanted to have this secret just between the two of us. It felt like us against the world. We never got the chance to keep the baby a secret, so this secret brought us closer together.

No one else had found out about the baby, and everyone that knew was keeping quiet on the subject. I was a little more than four months along and luckily I still wasn’t showing. We needed to decide soon if we wanted to find out the sex of the baby. I was positive I didn’t want to know, but Jax was torn if he wanted to find out or not. He didn’t want to admit it, but I was sure I would get my way when it came time to find out.