The big house on the BC campus.
And it’s busy.
There’s people on the sidewalk, in the grass, on the porch.
Aric is at the top step with his arm around someone.
When he sees me, he shakes his head.
“I feel like I’m looking at a ghost,” he says.
“Boo,” I say. “Where is he?”
Aric looks at Les.
I have a sinking feeling going through me.
I walk up the porch steps with Les behind me.
When I enter the house, it’s noisy.
Voices. Music. Laughter. Yelling.
I look forward and see Taz.
His eyes meet mine and he barrels forward.
With his wide shoulders, he just knocks people out of the way. And anyone he bumps into, they don’t say a thing to him about it.
“What the fuck are you doing here, darling?” Taz asks.
Les is then at my side.
“You didn’t,” Taz says.
“I had to, bro,” Les says.
“Where’s Mac?” I ask.
“Look, Jolie, let me do it,” Taz says. “Let me handle it.”
“Handle what?” I ask.
“He’s out back,” Les says. “He’s chilling. He’s got company though.”
“Fuck,” Taz says. “I guess we’re in it now…”
“Company,” I say. “He’s with someone else. That quick?”
“It’s not love,” Taz says.
“Of course not,” I say. I look at Les. “This is what you were talking about. Destroying things…”
“Yeah,” Les says.
“Everyone get out of my way,” I say.
I push by Taz and work my way through the crowd.
I know both Taz and Les are right behind me.
It’s takes me way too long to get to the door.
I look through the glass and that’s when I see Mac.
Sitting in a chair.
Some girl on his lap.
She’s curled up sideways, her hands all over him.
His right hand touching her lower back.
This bitch is smoking a cigarette.
Oh, and get this…
She takes a drag and then gives the cigarette to Mac.
Then she takes it back.
They’re looking at each other.
She’s smiling.
He looks angry.
“Trust me, Jolie, this is nothing,” Les says. “He’s hiding it all.”
“It’s his version of a drug,” Taz says. “It’s how he copes. He loves you.”
“Yeah, he looks like he loves me,” I say.
I turn and walk away.
“Don’t give up that easily,” Les says.
“I’m not giving up,” I say.
I push my way into the kitchen and open the cabinets until I find what I’m looking for.
I grab the coffee mug by the handle and work my way back to the door.
“Shit,” Taz says.
I rip open the door.
The bitch on Mac is now facing him.
She flicks the cigarette away.
Her hands touch his shoulders.
She looks ready to dry hump him.
The fire burning inside of me can take down the world.
Instead of that, I just want to take down this bitch.
When I get close enough, I swing the coffee mug and smash it off her head.
That makes Mac jump.
The girl screams and falls off Mac’s lap.
She touches her head and turns to face me.
She’s a little taller than me but I don’t care.
Her eyes are filled with tears.
“You better remember who the fuck I am,” I tell her.
I drop what’s left of the mug and I grab her shirt and throw her out of the way.
Mac is then standing there.
Staring at me with his lip curled.
“You hit her in the head with a coffee mug,” he says.
“That’s my thing, remember?” I ask.
“How did you know I was here?”
“You fucking live here, Mac.”
“Right. And what do you want?”
“I wanted to tell you that I hate you. That you messed up my entire life. That you messed me up. That because of you, I lost everything in my life. Everything.”
“That’s fine,” he says. “Blame me all you want, sweetie.”
“I’m not blaming you,” I say. I swallow hard. “I wanted it. All of it, Mac. And I would make the same choice over and over. So stop being such a fucking idiot.”
He steps toward me. “That’s really what you want to say?”
“I already said it,” I say. “Now what?”
“My fucking head is bleeding,” the bitch yells from behind me.
I turn around and take a step. “Next time I’ll cut your fucking tongue out. Get the fuck out of here.”
She hurries down the steps and disappears into the night.
When I turn back around, Mac’s hands touch my face.
His lips touch mine.
I lose my breath, the feeling in my legs…
I grab for his shirt.
His hands move around my body and he picks me up and sits me on the railing.
I move my hands and dig at his face.
“You’re such an asshole, Mac,” I say in between kisses.
“I know,” he says. “I’m not going to change.”
“Good. Don’t.”
We kiss again.
Then he breaks the kiss. “I love you, Jolie.”
“I love you too,” I say. “I know what I want. I’m not afraid of it.”
“Like I told you before… you should be afraid.”
He kisses me again.
I wrap my legs around him.
I don’t give a damn who’s watching. I don’t give a damn that Taz is making noises and comments.
I don’t give a damn about anything.
It’s just me and Mac.
Mac and I.
Mac and me.
However you want to say it.
I’m not going to lie to you or myself and say this is right. Or that we’re going to live happily ever after.
But with his lips against mine and my body against his…
At least for tonight we are both happy together.
Epilogue
MAC
MONTHS LATER
My hands run down the sides of her body, fighting with the shower water.
She gently rubs her ass against me, teasing me.
Not that I need any more teasing or temptation to get hard again.
If Jolie thinks she can drain me, she’s fucking wrong.
My hands stop at her hips and I keep her body tight against mine.
I lean forward and down and kiss the back of her neck.
My tongue inches along her smooth neck, around and up until she turns her head and meets me for a kiss.
There is nothing like kissing her.
Each time we kiss, it’s loud and messy thanks to the water.
I finally turn her around.
My hands have no choice but to introduce themselves to her breasts again.
I can live a life of crime. I can live a life where I may have to hurt or kill someone.
But a life where I have the chance to touch Jolie’s chest and I don’t?
That’s a sin.
And I won’t sin with her. Ever.
Jolie puts her hands to my chest and pushes at me.
“Get out,” she says. “I have to get cleaned up and out of here.”
“Sure you do.”
“You have work to do.”
“So do you,” I say.
“Exactly,” she says.
I step out of the shower and wrap a towel around my body.
I leave the bathroom and walk through the massive studio apartment to the sliding glass doors.
Out on the deck, I stare out to the ocean.
Sho
rtly after Jolie’s father got arrested on a long list of charges, she got a letter in the mail. It was from her mother about her father. Apparently Jeff wasn’t as slimy as everyone thought. His legit money had been hidden too. And that money was split fifty-fifty between Jolie and her mother.
Jeff is in jail for the rest of his life.
Purposely designed that way.
The guy is a scumbag rat.
His entire existence is to be a piece of shit.
But at least he can’t hurt anyone any more, right?
Jolie insisted on renting this apartment for a year.
With the rest of the money she decided to become an investor.
No fucking lie.
This beautiful and smart woman of mine is now killing it with investments.
What kind?
I don’t know and don’t care.
It’s her business and I love hearing her talk about it even if I don’t understand it.
As far as my business goes… it’s the same.
I have to take it all on head first and then leave Taz and Les to handle what I used to do.
Things are smooth.
It’s a solid operation.
Is it a lifelong career?
Nope.
But for now, it works.
Jolie and I made the promise to each other to just take off for now.
No future planning.
No thinking about next year. Or even next week.
If that was the last lesson Mama could teach us, it was a good one.
I hate to say it, but she’s getting worse each day.
I think moving out of the house really did it for her. She admitted to herself and the world that she was sick and by doing that, she collapsed into herself.
It kills me a little inside when I think about it.
I told her a while ago to move back into the house. That we’d get her care at home.
But her eyes… it’s always in her eyes… one second she’s there, the next second she’s not.
Last time I saw her, we talked about the skatepark. And the beach. She started telling me stories of thirty years ago and what it was like then. How things got out of hand and then smoothed out.
Then in a split second, she was gone again.
She thought I was some guy named Robby. She thought I stole money from her.
She grabbed a pen and tried to attack me with it.
I had to fucking watch as nurses rushed into the room and had to hold her down and sedate her.
Each time I left from visiting her, I told myself I would never go again.
But I always showed up again.
If there was a single chance that I could see Mama and she was normal, I’d risk her stabbing me with a pen.
I rub my chin as I blink fast.
I love being out on the deck.
Facing the ocean.
Hiding from the world.
I take a deep breath and go back inside.
I drop my towel and get dressed.
I open the nightstand drawer and get my gun.
In the back of the drawer I notice something.
A folded piece of paper.
When I open it and see Ado’s face, I shake my head.
He’s still missing.
And any attempt of finding him is long gone now.
Ado is gone.
Gone for good.
I keep the paper as a reminder of a lot of things.
I fold the paper and put it into the drawer and slide it shut.
“Hey, did I tell you my mother sent us a Christmas card?” Jolie asks.
I turn and she’s in a towel.
I smile. “No…”
“Yeah,” she says. “It was her and her boyfriend and their dog. She’s dating a guy named Jeff.”
“Seriously?” I ask.
“Yeah. Weird, right? Their dog is named Bullet. This big boxer looking dog.”
“Wasn’t Bullet the name of the guy she was fucking?”
Jolie nods.
“So she can run and hide and pretend to be someone else… but she can’t let go of the past…”
“I guess not.”
“At least you heard from her,” I say. “That’s a good sign.”
“I don’t really care, Mac,” Jolie says.
She’s beautiful and tough.
So fucking tough.
She walks across the apartment to the desk and turns on the computer screen.
There’s all kinds of graphs and shit on the screen.
She bends forward to stare, pointing, whispering to herself.
My phone is on the bed and lights up with a text from Taz.
It’s a thumbs up emoji.
That’s all I need to see.
“Hey, sweetie,” I say. “I have the day off today. I’m thinking you should do the same. Fuck everything and everyone.”
“Maybe,” Jolie says.
I move across the apartment and put my hands to her sides and pull her against me again.
“Mac…”
“Shhh,” I whisper.
My hands move around and up to the top of the towel.
I playfully pull at it, opening it slowly.
It falls to the floor and Jolie turns around to face me.
She hugs me, her perfect breasts and body pressed against mine.
“This is the only thing you ever want to do, Mac,” she says.
“Is that so bad?”
“No.”
She looks up at me.
I kiss her.
She tastes even better out of the shower.
And speaking of tasting her…
I start to kiss down her body.
Inch by inch.
When my mouth moves over her left breast, she lets out a groan.
Her phone rings from across the room.
My mouth latches tighter against her chest.
“Mac, stop,” she whispers. “Fuck. I have to get that.”
“No, you don’t,” I say.
I latch onto her again.
She laughs and pulls at my hair to get me away from her.
She grabs her towel and wraps it back around herself and runs across the apartment.
I growl.
I’m hard as a rock again.
She looks at her phone.
“Fuck,” she says.
“What?”
Jolie looks back at me. “Violet.”
“Violet? Why the hell do we care about her right now?”
“I warned her, Mac.”
“You warned her about what?”
“This,” she says. Jolie shakes her phone and then tosses it toward the bed. “Fuck.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “Is she in trouble again? Let me guess… she lost her favorite hairbrush? Or did some guy at the gym tell her she has extra junk in the trunk…”
“That’s not funny,” Jolie says. “I’ll hurt you for saying that.”
“Sweetie, she texts when she stubs her toe,” I say.
“Stubbing your toe hurts,” Jolie throws back at me.
“I agree. But it’s… it’s annoying…”
“Yeah, well it’s going to get a lot worse now,” Jolie says.
I move closer to her again.
My hands can’t keep away from her.
I touch her face and smile. “Why is it going to get worse?”
“I told her to stay away,” Jolie whispers.
“From?”
“Taz and Les.”
“Damn,” I say. “How bad is it?”
“Look for yourself,” Jolie says.
I pull Jolie toward the bed and fall on it, taking her with me.
She’s on top of me and I make damn sure the towel on her opens again.
She puts her hands to the bed and smiles at me.
I reach for her phone.
I look at the picture Violet sent to her.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
“Yeah,” Jolie says. “Ready for things to get messy again, Ma
c?”
I drop the phone and stare into Jolie’s eyes.
With her, I’m ready for anything.
Brooks Crest
Darlin’ -
Thank you for reading the entire Brooks Crest trilogy. I had to leave that ending a little bit open, just in case I’m able to keep writing this series. I’ll leave that up to you to tell me… do you want more BC? Do you want to see what happens to Violet? Maybe a little ‘catch up’ with Mac and Jolie?
Do me a favor and shoot me an email. [email protected]. Tell me what you thought about Brooks Crest. And tell me if you want more.
If you’re looking for something else to read and haven’t checked it out yet… look up Hidden Creek High and Bay Falls High. Those two series along with Brooks Crest all are in the same world.
Much love,
- Jaxson
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Look for more heart wrenching, emotional upcoming novels including:
A LETTER TO DELILAH
THE WRONG SIDE
Other bestselling novels by Jaxson include:
5 Years Later
Somebody Else (& Nobody Else)
Dear Everly,
Imagine Us
Anna’s Dress
Let You Go
When I’m Gone
What You Don’t Know
Every Other Weekend
Check out the books here:
Jaxson’s Amazon Page
PLEASE NOTE DARLIN’ - DEPENDING YOUR DEVICE, SOME OF THE LINKS ABOVE MAY NOT BE SUPPORTED. IF YOU’RE READY TO READ MORE OF MY BOOKS, JUST JUMP OVER TO AMAZON.COM AND TYPE IN JAXSON KIDMAN INTO THE SEARCH BOX AND EVERYTHING WILL SHOW UP. FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME PERSONALLY AT [email protected] FOR ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, OR EVEN MY PERSONAL SUGGESTIONS OF WHAT TO READ NEXT!
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. (This also includes the cover image and/or cover model(s) appearing on the cover. The context of this book does not in any way depict the personal life of said cover model(s). Image is licensed and used purely for fictional purpose only.)
Mess Us Up (Brooks Crest Book 3) Page 21
