Relentless (Relentless #1)

by Alyson Reynolds

  “To talk to my wife; not that it’s any of your business. I didn’t know you two were even talking again. Weren’t you being a dick and avoiding her months?”

  Stephen’s heart raced in his chest. Pulling back, I looked at Jaxon. He looked awful.

  “Now’s not a good time,” Stephen said. “Just leave us to deal with this.”

  “Not gonna happen, mate.”

  “Violet’s not staying with you. She’s leaving with us. We have family matters that we need to go take care of.”

  “She is my family,” he growled.

  Stephen tugged me along towards the exit and I didn’t look back. I was having a hard time keeping up in my heels and Taylor wasn’t doing much better. He finally stopped as I tugged on his arms and stopped abruptly.

  “I’m almost eight months pregnant; you can’t drag me along like that. Even Taylor is having a hard time keeping up with you. I understand you want to get out of here, but slow down. If Jaxon follows us, I’ll deal with him,” I paused for a moment. “As much as I can’t stand him, I should still tell him where I’m going. Even if our marriage is over, he’s still my husband. I need to be the bigger person.”

  “You think it’s over?” Stephen asked quietly.

  “I can’t talk about this right now. My dad just died and I have to see my mother for the first time in almost four years. Let’s not delve into the issues with my marriage right now, please.”

  Jaxon’s voice filled the air as we started towards the exit again. I turned and saw him standing there like a lost, hurt little boy. It made my heart ache in my chest.

  “I’ve been going over and over what I should say up here, and the only thing that needs to be said is that I love my beautiful wife. She’s always supported me no matter what. We’ve been through hell these past few months. It was difficult never seeing each other, being in different time zones, and I’m an idiot for letting her stay here by herself.”

  I took a step forward and when he saw me, he visibly relaxed.

  “You and the baby are the best things that have ever happened to me. Violet, you are the love of my life and I don’t know how to continue living without you. You are my reason for waking up in the morning. We kept our relationship secret for several reasons, and people tried to take advantage of that fact. I hope you realize I never once regretted us.”

  He took a deep breath and stared into my eyes. “You are my inspiration, and my best friend. You are the only woman I have ever fully let into my heart. Violet, you were relentless at making me fall in love with you. You did it without even realizing what you were doing. It was effortless to give my heart to you.”

  Tears pricked at my eyes as he continued, “It terrified me when you collapsed. I was afraid I had lost you and the baby forever. Seeing you on the ground was as bad as it was placing my father into it. I never want to go through that again, but if God forbid I do, I know I’m a better man for loving you. I’ll never love anyone else like I love you, Violet.”

  I took a few steps towards him and he started down the stairs towards me. Something in my heart shifted.

  “I found out that Silver was trying to hurt you at the premiere only minutes before it happened. Everything was leaked before I had the chance to talk to you about what she was planning. Nothing was how it seemed, you have my word. I never kissed Silver, she kissed me and hired a sleazy photographer to catch it on camera. I’m sorry to tell you this now, in this way, but love, you didn’t give me much choice.”

  The magnetic pull I always felt for Jaxon urged me towards him. He was telling the truth. My pride kept me from allowing him to explain everything. Short of coming in and trying to kidnap me, he’d had little choice in the matter. Jaxon had never lied to me and he promised me a long time ago he never would.

  “Violet, please forgive me,” he whispered when he was right in front of me. “I’m so sorry for not telling you sooner, but I wanted to tell you face to face. I thought I could stop it.”

  “I’m so sorry I was so selfish. Pregnancy hormones are making me crazy and I hate this. Just promise me you’re coming home.”

  Tears streamed down my face, and I was never so thankful for waterproof mascara. I reached for Jaxon and he pulled me into his arms. His lips met mine for the first time in over three months. My forehead rested against his and the applause coming from around us surprised me. A laugh bubbled up as a blush crept over my cheeks.

  We stayed there for a few minutes before Stephen walked up and placed his hand on my shoulder. Softly he said, “Vi, we need to go. The plane is waiting.”

  The smile dropped from my face and I clutched Jaxon’s hand.

  “What about the rest of your speech?”

  Jaxon shrugged. “Who cares? The only reason I agreed to do this was because of the publicity it generated for the movie and you liked the charity. They tried to fuck up our marriage by encouraging Silver’s antics. For some reason I don’t feel so obligated to help anymore. You need me and I’m not leaving your side.” I tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace. “Violet. I love you.”

  “We still have a lot to talk about, but I love you too.”

  “Where are we going?” he asked as we trailed behind Stephen.

  “Home.”

  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 sh
oulder 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.”

&
nbsp; “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.”