The Jaxon Effect

by KC Michaels

  She knew she was ranting in public, but she couldn’t help herself.

  “What are you talking about?!”

  “Don't play stupid with me,” she snapped. “I know about the other women you have been here with recently. I know you fucked Nikki in the bathroom last week. I know Jaxon. She told me everything.”

  Jaxon looked absolutely bewildered.

  “What the hell? I never…” He scanned the room and no one was paying attention to them except for Nikki. He spotted her watching them from across the room, and she was standing near the bathroom where Kate would have just come from.

  “That fucking bitch!” he barked. “Come.”

  He pulled Kate by the arm, straight to Nikki.

  “What the hell did you say to her?” His tone was dark and, actually, quite scary. Nikki backed up a few steps, like a coward because she was busted.

  “I…I was just kidding,” she tried to back pedal. She kept her focus on Kate, afraid to look at Jaxon. Kate didn’t blame her because he was downright intimidating when he was angry.

  “Tell her!” he shouted. Nikki jumped at the sound of his voice.

  “I'm sorry,” she apologized hurriedly. “Since I’ve known Jaxon you are the only woman he has ever brought here.”

  “And…?” Jaxon barked, trying really hard to control his temper. “Is there anything else?”

  Again, Nikki couldn’t look him in the eye. “I lied, he never slept with me. Despite how hard I have tried, he has never wanted me.”

  She was crushed and close to tears. Kate realized that the girl was possibly in love with him; but that was still no excuse for her behavior.

  “I'm sorry,” Nikki croaked with a small voice, Kate could tell the girl was trying desperately not to fall apart. “What are you going to do?” She finally spoke directly to Jaxon.

  “I should have you fired,” he replied. “If you ever fucking come near me again I will do just that. You will never talk to me, you will never smile at me, and you will never ever wait on me. Do you understand?”

  Nikki lost her resolve, and tears began streaming down her face.

  As much as Kate wanted to smack that girl in the face, she really did feel sorry for her too. Jaxon was being really harsh; he had so many different personalities.

  “Come on let's go,” he said his voice even toned as if none of that just happened.

  Kate had a feeling that there was a heck of a lot more to Jaxon than met the eye.

  Jaxon returned to his club after dropping Kate back home. He sat at his desk, scrubbing his face anxiously with his hands. He had made a huge mistake by allowing himself to lose his head over a woman. He was normally so calm and rational. He should not have lost it with Nikki like that, but when he saw how upset she’d made Kate, he just lost his cool. Kate seemed to turn him inside out sometimes. He really should have stuck to his original plan and made it a one shot deal. She was getting too far under his skin and he had to stop it now, before he did something really stupid—like let her right into his private world. He was safe there, by himself; contented in his emotional isolation. He couldn’t figure out what it was about her that kept sucking him in. He suddenly wanted things to be monogamous between them, for as long as they were together. What the fuck was that all about? He really needed to figure out what the hell was happening to him. He belonged to a sex club for Christ sake. There was no monogamy in that!

  Jaxon hadn’t had a monogamous relationship since he dropped out of college and became a dancer for Bruno the Bastard, his old employer. In fact, in that relationship, he’d turned out to be the only one who was monogamous—it hadn’t even been a real relationship. His ex, Cassie Winter, had been playing a game, leading him along for her own amusement. She hadn’t really been into him at all; she hadn’t loved him. He’d been a pawn, for her own benefit. She had made him fall for her; part of an organized rouse to help her lover—Bruno—keep a steady supply of young male dancers working at his club.

  Jaxon had been a junior in college when Cassie had walked into his life and changed his destiny forever.

  “Is this seat taken?”

  “No,” the very shy Jaxon Remington replied, looking up at the very pretty fiery redhead standing across the table from him.

  “Great,” she dropped her backpack on the floor next to the empty chair. “I'm just going to order myself a drink. Do you mind watching my stuff until I get back?”

  “Okay,” he answered, barely looking her in the eye. He wasn’t used to talking to girls. They made him nervous. With a sly smile and a flick of her hair, she flitted away leaving him staring after her.

  Jaxon put his head into his book, trying—unsuccessfully— to get back to his research, for a term paper. He glanced up at her occasionally; she was so pretty. Her hair was long and it hung straight down her back until it reached the top of her shapely behind. She was wearing tight blue jeans and a baggy grey sweat shirt that fell off her shoulders and it wasn’t quite long enough to cover her navel. He watched her red lips move as she placed her order with the girl behind the counter. He shook his head. A girl like her would never be interested in doing anything more than sharing a table in a busy coffee shop with a guy like him. He put his focus back into his work.

  “Gosh, it's busy today."

  The redhead was back. She had pretty green eyes that sparkled when she smiled and adorable freckles on her face that were mostly concealed with makeup.

  “I'm Cassie Winter,” she said casually.

  He offered her a cautious smile. Cassie was a pretty name.

  “And you are?”

  “Sorry um, I'm Jaxon.”

  “Do you have a last name, Jaxon?”

  “Remington.”

  “Jaxon Remington,” she repeated. “I like it.”

  Nervously, he put his head down to read his book again. He was out of his element when it came to girls and he couldn’t seem to find the courage to look at her. He certainly couldn’t speak to her; as it was, he could only manage single word answers to her questions. What if she asked him something that required him to string several words into a sentence? He hoped she would take the hint and realize that he was not interested in a conversation—not that he didn’t love sitting near her. He could spend all day watching her sexy red lips move as she spoke, he just didn’t want to look like a fool as he struggled to appear unaffected by her presence.

  Cassie shifted in her chair, running her fingers through her hair. The motion caused her sweatshirt to fall even further off her shoulder. He could now see the top of her breast peeking out; she wasn’t wearing a bra.

  He stared down at his book again, his eyes darting up every now and then to sneak a peek at her breast. Cassie pasted a knowing smile on her face.

  “So you hungry?” she finally asked him.

  “Maybe.”

  “Want to go get a pizza?”

  “Sure,” he said, unable to believe that he had actually accepted her proposal.

  It was a moment that he would regret for the rest of his life. He should have known based on how his parents relationship ended that relationships were paths to self-destruction. Had he said no to Cassie that day, he could have saved himself from the awful events that followed and the guilt that was now buried deep inside his soul. It was a guilt that led him to claim Grayson as his own son, even though he—biologically—belonged to another man. Jaxon owed the kid that much, although it did nothing to change the fact that Jaxon blamed himself for the untimely death of the young man from the Bronx, Grayson’s biological father Pete; a man who never had the chance to be the father Grayson deserved.

  Kate was turning into a very real threat. Letting another woman into his psyche was causing him to lose his detached edge, but Jaxon knew exactly what he had to do to fix it. He had to prove to himself that he was still the same strong, self-assured man he had been before he met Kate. As if on cue, his cell phone vibrated. He pulled it out of his pocket. He had to be sure that he wasn’t losing his edge, so he’
d better get himself in check. A session was exactly what he needed.

  He replied to the text.

  On my way.

  ***

  CHAPTER 13

  The following morning, Kate woke feeling bereft. There was no Jaxon lying next to her and she felt hollow inside. After they had left the restaurant he became really quiet. He barely said two words to her the entire car ride back to her house. She had invited him in, but he’d declined, saying he had to go to the club to deal with something he forgot about. She knew it wasn't true, but she hadn’t called him on it. There wouldn’t have been any point as she noticed he hadn’t even said when or if he wanted to see her again. After the incident with Nikki, Jaxon had transformed into a complete introvert. He had shut down all forms of communication with her both physically and verbally. She had a nagging feeling that she wasn’t going to hear from him again anytime soon. She was already getting in too deep.

  A busy morning in the ER had Kate moving from room to room, treating patient after patient for several hours without a break. The influx of new patience had finally slowed down mid-afternoon which timed itself perfectly with a message she had just received that Jade had finally come out of the coma she was in.

  “Dr. Kate Sims,” she said, pointing to her hospital ID badge. “You’ll find me on the list of approved visitors.”

  “Of course, Dr. Sims,” the police officer who was guarding Jade’s hospital room replied. “I remember you,” he said. “Go on in.”

  Kate knocked lightly on the door pushing it open slowly. Jade was sitting up in her bed, looking so much better than the last time Kate saw her. The bruises that marred her body had mostly faded and the swelling had receded substantially. The stitched gash above her eye tugged at Kate’s heart. The depth of the cut would definitely leave a scar; and though it might fade with time, it would likely never go away completely. It saddened her to think that Jade would look into the mirror every day—for the rest of her life—and see a constant reminder of what had happened to her. How would she ever be able to move on from it all? Here she was wallowing in her comparatively trivial problems with Jaxon, while Jade was living with the very real nightmare that her fiancé—the man she loved and trusted—had tried to murder her. Kate needed to get over herself.

  “Hey, Kate, I was wondering when I would see you.” Jade said as soon as she saw her at the door. “Come in.”

  “Hi love,” Kate replied, moving in to give her a gentle hug.

  “If I am interrupting something I can come back later,” she apologized when she spotted Detective Ramirez sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. “I just wanted to see for myself, that you were okay.”

  “No, of course you aren’t interrupting.” Jade told her. “I’m glad you are here.”

  “Actually I have to get going anyway,” the detective added. “It was nice to see you again, doctor. Jade, if you need to talk, you have my number.”

  “Thanks Maria, I really appreciate it.”

  Maria gave Jade a small hug before taking her leave.

  “I will likely see you again soon doctor.”

  “Please call me Kate,” she insisted thinking to herself that this woman looked more like a beautiful exotic model than a police officer.

  “Can do,” the detective replied with a smile, “Please call me, Maria.”

  She left the room closing the door behind her.

  “She's been really great,” Jade added. “She was a victim herself, you know.”

  “Really—Maria?” Kate knew she shouldn’t be surprised. Victims of abuse came from all walks of life, but she still hadn’t expected to hear that about Detective Ramirez.

  “She seems so confident.”

  “I know right. I don’t know if I could ever be that strong,” Jade admitted solemnly.

  “I understand it might seem that way now sweetie, it’s going to take time.”

  “You are beginning to sound like Maria.”

  “Well she’s right,” Kate stated.

  Jade attempted a smile but it wasn’t very believable.

  “So you look good. How do you feel?” Hoping to lift Jade’s spirits.

  “Physically, I probably feel better than I look.”

  Kate noticed Jade failed to address her emotional state and she wished there was something she could do to take the pain away from her. If only she paid more attention maybe she would have realized what was going on—what was really going on. True she never really liked him much; he always gave her a bad vibe. She had always just figured it was her own bad experience with Eldon that caused her to feel that way; untrusting. Maybe she could have convinced Jade to leave him before it came to this. How could she have been so blind?

  “You know I’m here for you if you just need to talk.”

  Jaded nodded and Kate recognized the sadness in her eyes.

  Several minutes passed while Jade remained silent and Kate struggled to figure out the right thing to say or do next.

  “I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, like I should have been. I should have dropped by the house sooner, maybe I could have…” Kate started to choke up.

  “Kate, don’t do this. Don’t blame yourself for what Kenny did to me.”

  “Okay, you are right,” Kate replied even though she did blame herself and there was nothing Jade could say to change that.

  It was then that Kate noticed a beautiful bouquet of spider lilies, in a vase, on the window ledge. “Who are the flowers from?” she asked trying to lighten the mood.

  “Oh they are from Steven,” Jade answered, offering Kate a hint of a smile.

  “Steven Fisher?” Kate asked to make sure she’d heard Jade right.

  “Yeah, I guess he too feels partially responsible for what happened to me; as if he could have known that Kenny was pissed drunk, lurking in the shadow just waiting for me to come home. I told him, Kenny is the only one responsible for what happened to me that night.”

  Jade eyed Kate as if daring her to say different. Obviously she knew that Kate felt an extreme amount if guilt over the incident as well.

  “What did happen with you and Kenny, Jade?”

  Kate wished she hadn’t asked the question almost immediately after it was out of her mouth. She could feel Jade tense up instantly. She had probably already re-lived the whole thing for the police. It was unfair of Kate to ask her to go through it all again. She felt like a heel.

  “I’m sorry you don’t have to tell me.”

  “Listen Kate, don’t look at me like that,” Jade pleaded. “If you want to know the whole story, I'll tell you, but I don’t want you to feel anymore guilt than you already do. I am trying to spare you the gory details because I don’t want you to feel worse. It’s not your fault, Kate.”

  “You are trying to spare me?” Kate laughed in bewilderment. “Are you kidding me?”

  Even after she had been such a terrible friend, Jade was still looking out for her.

  “This was not your fault. It wasn’t the first time he hit me Kate. It began four years ago.”

  She closed her eyes squeezing them tight as if to force away the memories.

  “Jade, it’s okay,” Kate said gently, placing a comforting hand on her friend’s arm. “You don't have to tell me.”

  “No,” Jade said forcefully, opening her eyes fixing on Kate’s. “I have wanted to tell you for so long.”

  “It started around four years ago,” she began again. “Up till then Kenny had always been so sweet, so thoughtful and caring so when things started to change, I thought it was because he was stressed at work. I kept waiting for things to go back to normal, but they never did. Over time, they only got worse and worse. At first he began blaming me for little things; anything that wasn't perfect was my fault, even if it couldn't possibly have had anything to do with me. Mostly, it was things regarding work. He was having problems with his new boss. The owner of the company had retired and his son had taken over. Kenny loved the old man, but the son… not so much. I tried to c
onvince him to look for a new job, but he was too stubborn. He began calling me nasty names, sometimes just out of the blue. When we were in public he would treat me like I was a child, telling me I was stupid and that I shouldn't speak because I would only embarrass myself. After a while, when you hear stuff like that, you start to believe it. I started to withdraw from all of our friends. I knew they would notice the change in him.”

  Withdrawn? Kate had never felt that Jade was withdrawn.

  “One night we were at a dinner party, we were all sitting around having coffee after we finished the main meal. The night had been going well; he seemed relaxed, but then all of the sudden his personality changed. It was like he became someone else. Every time I tried to add to the conversation he would tell me to shut up. He said that no one wanted to hear my opinions. I knew, if I didn't comply, it would only get worse and I didn't want any further embarrassment, so I remained silent for the rest of the night. One of my friends pulled me aside as I was coming out of the bathroom and she asked me what was going on with Kenny. I could tell she was worried about me. I lied and told her everything was fine between us. That was the last time we ever did anything social. After that night, anytime one of our friends called to get together, I made excuses so we didn’t have to go. I knew if anyone had figured out what was going on they wouldn’t have looked the other way. Eventually the invites had stopped.

  Kate squeezed her hand. “Jade, if I had known he was doing this to you, I wouldn’t have looked the other way.”

  “I know, Kate,” Jade assured her. “That's why I tried so hard to keep it from you. You were the last friend I had left and you didn’t know the old Kenny. The man I fell in love with, so the change in him wasn’t as obvious to you. I know it sounds messed up but you have to realize that I was messed up. Anyway, the verbal and emotional abuse went on for about two years and then one day, he hit me. The first time was the worst—at least until this time—and I don't even remember why he did it. I think I’ve blacked it out.”