Relentless (Relentless #1)

by Alyson Reynolds

  A faint smile brushed my lips. It was his characters nickname for me, and it was Gage’s way of reassuring me. He would never understand the gratitude I had for him in that moment.

  Lexi brushed past Gage as she came rushing in to the ambulance. She spared one appreciative glance in his direction before she turned towards me.

  “What the hell girl? Seriously, you get knocked up and you don’t call me?”

  “Shit Lexi, I’m not sure the people at the next beach over heard you. Can you say that any louder?” Stephen admonished. Gage chuckled as he climbed out of the ambulance.

  “Sorry,” she winced. “Go away so I can talk to my patient.”

  Alexis took the paperwork from the EMT to glance over my stats without saying anything else. Stephen left in an exasperated huff. A faint smile played on my lips as we watched him go.

  As far as brother and sister went, they were close, not that you could tell it now. They butted heads all the time, but they loved one another fiercely. I was almost as close to Lexi as I was to Stephen, some days more. They were a package deal for me and it had broken my heart when she moved out to New York for her residency. Lexi leaned over and spoke to the EMT quietly. The woman went to the front of the ambulance and I faintly heard her talking on the radio.

  “Tell me what happened. Don’t leave anything out,” she winked. “Especially don’t leave out anything about that gorgeous hunk of a baby daddy.”

  So I told her everything. I started from the beginning, being cast as the lead and then I continued on to finding out I was pregnant, being blackmailed to go to the gala, the huge fight with Jax, calling Taylor bawling and asking her to come stay with me, seeing Scott again, and finally watching Jaxon punch Stephen. She asked how long I had been unconscious, but I didn’t have any idea. Then she asked how much water I had drunk throughout the day and I couldn’t answer that either. She moved to call Jax and Stephen over, but I stopped her.

  “Just wait for a few minutes, please. I’m not ready to talk to anyone yet. Do the rest of your exam, and then you can ask them anything else you need to know.”

  Lexi gave me a stern look, but agreed. Her fingers efficiently poked and prodded me. She seemed to think it was dehydration, but she was worried about how long I had been unconscious. Finally she asked, “Can I call them over yet? I need to ask them questions, plus I’m dying to meet Jaxon. If he got you to give it up, he’s got to be pretty special.”

  “You suck, you know that? He’s the dick that asked if it was his baby.”

  She grinned, but before she called out to the guys, hushed, angry whispering came from just outside the ambulance.

  “Jaxon your text said you needed someone to be here with you, but you’ve ignored me since I got here. Why did you even bother to ask me to come if you were going to act like I wasn’t here?” Silver whined. In the same breath she continued, practically purring, “I’m here for you, baby. Any way you need.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Silver. I meant to text John, not you.” He sighed and I could imagine him running his hand through his hair, tugging on the ends. “Look, I’m grateful you came to be here for me, but don’t make this about you.”

  “I know women like her, she’s lying. You’ll see, Jaxon. The slut probably isn’t pregnant, and if she is, it isn’t yours.”

  “Shut up. You know nothing about Violet or our relationship.”

  My jaw dropped in shock as we listened to their conversation. Silver was saying nasty things about me and we had never even met. I had passed out and scared the shit out of three grown men and she thought I was faking.

  What the hell?

  It made me even more upset that Jaxon had told her to come and be with him while I lay on the ground unconscious. Even though he said he had meant to text someone else, he had to have spoken to her at one point because she knew where to find us. Nothing made sense, he had cared enough to have Stephen call Lexi, but he still needed a shoulder to cry on? My head pounded as I tried to figure everything out.

  Lexi stormed out of the ambulance. Her face was barely visible as she said, “Jaxon, you need to get this nasty bitch out of here. I will kick her ass if you don’t. Then I’ll leave her bleeding on the ground and that goes against my oath as a doctor to do no harm. Make sure she doesn’t open her mouth about the pregnancy. Violet isn’t far enough along for anyone to find out if they do I’m sure she will miscarry from the stress. Silver, Violet can sue you for slander if you open your fat mouth. Jax, when you get done getting rid of this skank, I need to ask you some questions about the mother of your child.”

  I wished I could have seen the look on Silver’s face when Alexis had called her a nasty bitch and a skank. The thing about Lexi is you don’t mess with her people. She’s extremely devoted to her friends and she would do anything for them. Turning on her heel, she climbed back inside the ambulance. The only other time I had seen such determination in her eye was when she told Stephen about her residency in New York. A pissed off Lexi shouldn’t be taken lightly, Jaxon should be scared.

  Tears clouded my vision as I looked up at Alexis. She still looked irritated, but I knew she would help me. The emotions welling up inside from the day had built up until I couldn’t take it anymore. I was ready to shatter into a million little pieces.

  “Lexi, get me out of here,” I whispered.

  “We’re leaving right now, honey.”

  Five minutes later, we pulled up in front of my beach house. I was lucky enough to wake up to the sound of crashing waves every morning. It was perfect for me and I couldn’t imagine not living here now, even after such a short period of time.

  To my surprise another car pulled in behind us. Stephen was behind the wheel, but Jaxon sat in the passenger seat. I shot a glare at Stephen, but he just shrugged. Lexi grabbed my arm and helped me climb up the stairs to the deck. Taylor was sitting in the kitchen when we walked in. She jumped up when she noticed the group of us walking in the door.

  “What the hell happened?” she demanded.

  “Just a small incident. Don’t worry about it, Taylor,” I started.

  “She’s lying. Don’t listen to her. She passed out on the beach so we called an ambulance, and Lexi,” Stephen explained as he went over to give her a hug. “Vi didn’t tell me you were in town. Staying at the house. With us,” He emphasized.

  She gave him a tight lipped smile. “Us? Violet didn’t mention you were living here. It was a last minute trip and I got here late last night.” Turning towards me she changed the subject, “Way to scare me, sis. I love having a huge welcoming party, but could you have warned me first?”

  Her gaze travelled through the group of people standing in my kitchen. She did a double take as she spotted Jaxon. Taylor raised one eyebrow, and walked over to him.

  “I’m Magnolia, Violet’s sister, but everyone calls me Taylor.”

  “This is Jax,” I said cutting off any answer he might have given. He reached out and shook the hand she extended. Hopefully she would keep her mouth shut about my breakdown last night. She took his hand, but gave him a hard look and walked back over to Lexi.

  “What do we need to do for the patient?” she asked Lexi.

  “Let’s get her resting and drinking some fluids. Then I’ll decide if she needs to go to the hospital.” Lexi motioned towards the living room through the open entryway.

  “I am right here you know. You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not even in the room.”

  Jax walked up from behind and scooped me up in his arms to carry me to the couch. I made a disapproving grunt in the back of my throat. Ignoring my protests, he sat down on the couch with me on his lap.

  What the actual fuck?

  “Obviously Violet and I need to talk. So, can everyone give us some privacy? Lexi, I’ll make sure she’s drinking and resting. She won’t get up from this couch, and I’ll try to keep the stress to a minimum. Stephen, I will figure everything out so you don’t hate me. Taylor, I’m assuming she called you after my major
fuck up last night. I’ll take care of our girl and get shit figured out.”

  Lexi sent a reproving look his way and Taylor looked like she wanted to punch him for suggesting they leave us alone, but I stopped them from saying anything else. “It’s time guys. I’ll call if I need anything. Stephen hand me my phone, please. Why don’t you take the girls to the pizza place you found down on the boardwalk?”

  It was surprising they left so easily. Weariness shaded my expression as I looked over at Jaxon, reluctant to start the conversation. The last time this hadn’t gone so well. I maneuvered myself to the other side of the couch, so I faced him without touching.

  “So what do you need to say, Jaxon? You said quite enough last night, but if you want to call me a slut again, go right ahead.”

  He cringed and I watched him run his fingers through his hair and tug on the ends.

  “I don’t know how to tell you how sorry I am for last night. How I acted was unacceptable and it makes me sick to my stomach to realize I frightened you and treated you like that. Yes, I know I scared you, I noticed every time you took a step back.” I took in a sharp breath. It hadn’t occurred to me to hide that I was scared last night, but it was surprising he noticed as gone as he was. “I was drunk and thinking about things from my past that I had no business remembering. I took my anger and confusion out on you and I regret it. I’m so sorry, Violet. I’m so sorry that I fucked this all up. We should be overjoyed at this news, not fighting back old demons.”

  His accent grew thicker as his deep voice shook. He rubbed at his eyes and dropped his head into his hands as he continued, “I had an ex lie about being pregnant. She cheated on me and got knocked up by some guy, but she told me it was mine. She deceived me and I believed it because I loved her. I almost married her before I figured it out. Finding that test yesterday freaked me out. Everything I thought I had worked through came rushing back. You wouldn’t do that, we’ve talked about our pasts and I know how Aaron treated you. I feel like the biggest dick in the world right now for reacting like that.”

  This had to be the story that Taylor had told me last night. He brushed the high points, but there had to be more to the story. If this relationship went any further, I would have to make him tell me the whole story. I paused to gather my thoughts before I spoke.

  “I can accept the fact that you’re scared, because I sure as hell am too, but I can’t accept how you treated me. You were a different person, Jaxon. You scared me when you looked like you were going to rip the chair apart with your bare hands.” I took a deep breath before continuing.

  “It’s going to take a lot for me to forget the hatred in your eyes. I’ve never seen that side of you before, and I sure as fuck better not see it ever again if you want to be around your kid.” I sighed. “You aren’t the only one that fucked up though. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about the test when I took it. When it came back positive, I panicked. Some of my own stuff came flooding back that I had to deal with. I was planning on telling you last night, but Zac made me go to that awful charity gala and it took forever to get out of there. If I would have told you then, all this could have been avoided.”

  My eyes welled and I sniffed as the waterworks started again. I was so tired of crying. My body was exhausted from the past twenty-four hours. His gentle fingers wiped at my tears, and I felt his lips softly press against my temple.

  “I will make this up to you, and our baby, Violet. It kills me to think the first talk we had about him or her was so full of hate. I wouldn’t blame you if you want to walk away from me and just expect me to pay child support. That’s not what I want, but I don’t deserve anything I want right now. Even though you waited to tell me, I’m not sure my reaction would have been much better if you had told me as soon as you found out. I probably wouldn’t have been drunk, but it still wouldn’t have been pretty.”

  We sat there in the quiet. He pulled me back and my arms wrapped around him. I rested my head on his chest and listened to the steady beating of his heart.

  “I’m not ready for anyone to know, Jax. We need to keep this between us and the few people that have found out for now. The only person I’m scared will say anything is Silver.”

  “I’ll take care of it. She won’t say anything or I’ll make her regret it, but I believe our secret is safe. Lexi scared the shit out of her.”

  He called it our secret and it thawed my anger towards him a little bit. Jax looked like he wanted to ask something, but was struggling to decide if he wanted to or not. I smiled at him.

  “What? Just say it.”

  “How far along do you think you are?”

  “Maybe seven or eight weeks, it might have happened that night at the beach, so that would make it eight weeks. Remember? We didn’t have anything, but we still…” I trailed off.

  He grinned wickedly. “I remember. Vividly.”

  Blushing, I threw a pillow at him. He pulled me into his arms and this time I stayed there. We sat soaking in the quiet, my head resting on his shoulder and his hands rubbing up and down my arms in a soothing pattern.

  “Jaxon?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m not going anywhere, but you need to promise me you will talk. No secrets from each other.”

  “Done.”

  We had so much to discuss, but now wasn’t the time. For now, we would be okay. Everything was forgiven, but not forgotten. I appreciated the fact that he had come clean about his ex, but it would be a long road back to where we were only a few days ago. When had life become so confusing? A few months ago, all I wanted was to apply to law school or land my next acting gig. Now my priorities had completely changed.

  Neither Stephen nor Taylor seemed surprised to see us sitting together when they came back from dinner. Stephen turned back towards the kitchen and I heard him mutter something under his breath about having to see us screw on the couch every night now. I burst out laughing and Jax tried to fight the smile that was forming on his lips. The look Stephen pinned us with made me laugh even harder. Taylor took his hand and led him into the kitchen.

  “Come on tiger; let’s go get you a drink.”

  The next morning I watched from just outside the door as Taylor sat down at the kitchen table and gave Jaxon the third degree. She might be my little sister, but she looked out for me just as fiercely as I looked out for her. As she ramped up her argument about why I needed to be treated like a queen, I decided it was time to intervene.

  “Taylor, stop. We’ve discussed it and its over.”

  She scowled at me from across the room, and I stuck my tongue out at her. A giggle escaped as I poured myself some coffee, without thinking I took a huge gulp. I took off running for the bathroom with Jax hot on my heels. He pulled my hair back while I threw up the breakfast I had just eaten an hour earlier. Groaning, I said, “Not coffee! It’s supposed to be my best friend. Why did it turn on me?”

  “I'm sorry, love.”

  My nausea went away after a few hours, but the only thing I could keep down all day was apple juice. I had only tried that out of desperation because I normally hated it. Apples in general weren’t my thing. If this kept up, I wouldn’t have to worry about hiding baby weight any time soon.

  Two days later, I was back on set filming. Gage had played off my absence as exhaustion and a touch of some virus going around. I owed him big time.

  Amanda walked up carrying my coffee and it took everything I had not to gag at the smell. She thrust it into my hands, and I grabbed it before it fell to the ground.

  “I appreciate that you brought me coffee this morning, my stomach isn’t up for it yet,” I said. As Stephen passed by, I handed it off to him. He grabbed it from me and shot Amanda a smile. She didn’t smile back.

  “Are you sure you don’t want a drink of mine? Just a sip?”

  She was fishing for a reaction from me, but I didn’t understand why. I took a step back to get away from the cup she tried to hand me.

  “No thanks,” I said gagging.
“I’m still not quite myself.” What the hell? Why was she still pushing? She took a huge gulp of coffee and my stomach turned just watching her. I normally enjoyed the smell of coffee, but I didn’t know how much more I could take.

  Amanda smacked her lips after taking a sip, and that was all it took. I ran towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. Everything I had eaten for breakfast came right back up. It took me a few minutes to wipe my face and rinse my mouth out before I left the bathroom. When I opened the door, Amanda stood there with her hands on her hips and she looked pissed.

  “I think it’s time we had a little chat, Violet. You’re pregnant.”

  “What? Why would you think that?” I hedged.

  My head whipped from side to side to make sure no one had overheard. She grabbed my arm and led me into one of the bedrooms, locking the door behind us.

  “Oh give it up, Vi. You were sick the day before we shot out at the beach, coffee set you off then too. When you walked out of the bathroom that day, you looked like you had seen a ghost. I went in after you came out and it’s a good thing I did because you left the top of the pregnancy test sitting on the floor next to the trash can. I wanted to talk to you the next day, but everything was so screwed up between you and Jaxon, I figured you needed a minute to take in the news. With how you guys acted with each other, I take it he didn’t take the news well?”

  “Everything is better now, but it didn’t start out that way. It was incredibly fucked up.”

  I ended up telling her how everything happened and how bad it got the night I told Jax. It was a relief to have another woman to talk to. As great as Taylor and Lexi were, sometimes I needed a new perspective. Most of the time I could tell what they would say before they even said it. Amanda promised to keep my secret and told me she supported me no matter what happened.