Tribulation and Truths

by L A Cotton

  ~

  My hand moved to my head. The pounding was disorientating.

  “Wha-what happened?”

  “You passed out, kid.” Frankie’s voice cut through the pain.

  “Passed out? Fuck.”

  “Happens to the best of us. If it makes you feel any better, you got two good shots in. The second knocked him clean out.”

  I might have felt something, anything, at that knowledge if it wasn’t for the pounding, but as it was, I just felt like my head might explode at any second.

  “Dan, give him some water.”

  I clutched the bottle and drank down most of it.

  “Easy, kid. Don’t want you passing out again.” Dan said while Frankie looked down at me. I was seated in some kind of old chair.

  “Where is he?” I started to rise, not really sure of where I was going, but I just felt an overwhelming need to check on Marcus. To make sure it was reality; that tonight had really happened. That I’d finally been able to pull the plug on the lies and secrets that had haunted me for the last eight months.

  To reveal the truth.

  Frankie’s lips pulled into a tight line. “Your side of the deal is fulfilled. Now it’s time to keep mine.”

  “But, Marcus, what happens to Marcus?” I asked a little too hastily. I sounded almost desperate, and I hated it. Hated that, even now, he still had some kind of hold over me.

  “Some things are better unknown. This is your out, Jackson. Your one-time free pass. I suggest you take it.”

  A car was approaching; I could hear its tires crunching over the rocky road up to the cabin.

  “That’s it, just like that?”

  Frankie extended his hand and I took it, letting him yank me up out of the chair. He regarded me for a second before saying, “Just like that. Now go. Your car is waiting.”

  “My car, huh, what?” The confusion started to set in again and everything started to spin.

  “Dan, he’s going again, grab him.”

  “No, no.” I reached out my hand to steady myself forcing myself to take some deep breaths. “Fine, I’m fine.”

  “You sure?” Dan asked.

  I nodded, moving slowly to the door. It seemed too good to be true that Frankie was just letting me walk away. Even after I went to him with the truth about Marcus and Raine, Marcus and my father, it still didn’t seem possible.

  I reached the door and stalled. I couldn’t just leave things like this. Over the last few weeks, Frankie had become an unexpected ally… a friend. I turned back.

  “Were you really going to let me kill him?”

  Frankie smiled sadly. “We both know you were never going to pull that trigger.” He hesitated. “Jackson, losing Michael was hard on everyone. He was a great man and so are you. I’m sorry we didn’t get to meet under better circumstances. Now get out of here and don’t ever come back.”

  We stood regarding each other for a few seconds, silently acknowledging the events that had brought us to this point. Frankie’s eyes softened for a split second and his lips tugged up into a slight smile. He was saying goodbye.

  I turned and walked out of the cabin away from my past and toward my future.

  ~

  One of Frankie’s men was leaned up against my car, dangling my keys in his fingers. “I believe this belongs to you.”

  I nodded, snatching the keys from him. “Thanks.”

  “I just follow orders, kid.” He walked away. I wasted no time, sliding my hand under the handle and the car door swung open. Ana’s head whipped up to meet mine and our eyes collided.

  Home.

  I was home.

  “You’re okay.” She sighed, sinking back into the seat. Her head twisted to look at me as I raked a hand over my head and tried to focus on the task at hand.

  Start the fucking engine.

  The car purred to life, and I knocked her into reverse. It wasn’t easy. I didn’t want to take my eyes off Ana, but reversing down a dark country path was virtually impossible and I had to keep my eyes on the road.

  When the main road finally came into view, I hit the brakes and pulled Ana to me. A strained cry escaped her lips as she nestled into my neck and clung onto me.

  “That was the hardest six weeks of my life.”

  “I’m sorry; I’m so sorry I had to put you through that.”

  It wasn’t enough time. We needed to leave now, but all I could think about was the weeks spent without touching her skin, kissing her lips, loving every inch of her.

  Giving in to my need, my lips found hers, hard and demanding, desperate and needy.

  “Jac-Jackson,” she moaned against my mouth, which refused to let her up for air. “Weshouldgo.” It came out mumbled, lost on my tongue as it tangled with hers.

  But she was right, we needed to go.

  I pulled away, pressing my forehead to hers, needing a second to let everything sink in.

  We were free.

  ~

  “What do you think will happen to him?”

  We’d been driving for at least an hour, when Ana finally asked the question that was stained on my mind. A question that would probably haunt me forever.

  “I have no idea. We didn’t discuss the specifics.”

  “Explain it to me again. It all happened so fast and then we,” Ana’s voice trailed off and guilt coiled itself around my heart. “Well, you know what happened, but there are still some things I’m unclear about.”

  For the remainder of the journey to Portland, I explained the events that had taken place leading up to this night. Landon coming to me with proof that Marcus was working with Raine to supply and distribute the bad coke. Meeting O’Connor for the first time in Seattle and realizing that there was perhaps more to his relationship with Marcus and Dad—figuring out that I could use the intel on Marcus and Raine as leverage to get a meet with him. Landon had been more than willing to stake out Raine, taking the photos and dropping them at the club. It was a risk hoping that Frankie would take the bait and hear me out about Dad’s falsified accident, but being around the men who had once worked alongside Dad, I felt it. They respected him, loved him as one of their own, and Marcus resented that. I never did discover the exact reason he murdered Dad, but I had my closure.

  It was enough.

  It had to be.

  “I get all of that,” Ana said as I paused. “What I don’t understand still is that O’Connor made the deal, our freedom for Marcus, just like that. He must have people double cross him all the time.”

  “But it was personal. The intel that Marcus was behind the bad coke all along wasn’t enough to warrant our freedom, but Dad’s murder sealed the deal. Frankie cared about him, I could tell. When he and Annie invited me to stay with them for Christmas, they reminisced a lot about those days.” I gripped the wheel, following the signs for downtown Portland.

  “So much has happened. Some of it still doesn’t make sense to me.”

  I understood Ana’s frustrations. Since I’d been living it, I hadn’t had chance to really step back and view the bigger picture. But I was done looking back; I wanted to look forward.

  “Does it matter? We’re free, that’s all I care about. You and me, always, remember?”

  “I remember, but all that time apart, it almost killed me, Jackson.”

  “I know it did.”

  Because it killed me, too.

  “And what about our friends, Jackson? Otis and V, school, what happens now? We can’t ever go back, can we?”

  When I’d told Ana the final part of the plan, she’d hated it. Pretending to be separated to make Marcus think I was finally one hundred percent committed to the family while preparing to leave our lives in Chastity Falls behind. But, deep down, she knew it was the only way.

  Looking over at the girl who had stolen my heart and made me want a better life, I reached over for her hand and covered it with my own. “I can’t change what has happened, Ana, but I can promise you that I will never hurt you again. I know you thi
nk I did this just for closure, to find out the truth, but I also did it for us. I needed to lay this to rest to be able to move on with my life. Our life. I love you so much, Savanah Parry. It’s time we started living. Together.”

  Epilogue

  …four months later

  ~ ANA ~

  "It's so good to see you." I flung myself at Elena and she caught me in her arms, squeezing me tight.

  "Dios mìo, it's been too long, chica. I miss your face."

  "Just her face?" Tyson asked with a hint of amusement in his voice, from somewhere to the side of me. I couldn't see for the surge of tears filling my eyes.

  "No, all of her. I miss you so damn much. This sucks, you know that, right?" Elena stepped back holding me at arm’s length. "Don't you ever pull that crap again, got it?"

  I sniffled back a laugh. Even four months after Jackson and I up and left Chastity Falls, Elena had managed to make me feel like it was only yesterday.

  And I loved her for it.

  It meant nothing had changed between us. Yes, there were now whole states between us, but not even distance could take away our friendship.

  "Papi, Jackson, grab the luggage. Me and my girl have a lot of catching up to do."

  ~

  I sipped my cocktail, placed it back down on the table, and sighed. "This is the life."

  The sun beat down on my warm skin, and I swear I soaked up each ray. I hadn't realized until now just how much I missed the warmth. Everything looked better in the sunlight.

  "Are you okay?" Jackson whispered over to me from his sun lounger and I moved my head closer to the edge to reply. "I'm great. Thank you for doing this."

  "Ana, you don't have to thank me. I want you to be happy. Always."

  When Elena had invited us to Tijuana to celebrate Tyson's graduation and their engagement, since we weren't around when Tyson proposed, I wasn’t sure if Jackson would agree. Since moving to Tampa, we had been laying low. It wasn't like we were on the run or anything, but only four months had passed since everything that happened and we were both still adjusting—learning to live in the light again.

  "I am very happy." I leaned over to press my lips to Jackson's, but an amused voice interrupted me and I glanced up at Elena.

  "Get a room, you two. Seriously, we were ever this bad?" She turned to Tyson and he smirked. "Oh, I think we were worse, baby."

  "And I'll be over at the bar." Jackson pushed off the lounger and stood up. "You guys want anything?"

  "I'll come with; I could do with a beer. Don't get into trouble while we're gone."

  Elena smiled and winked at her fiancé. "Me? Never."

  I watched them head to the bar. Jackson's board shorts hugged his tapered waist and the sun highlighted his broad shoulders. He looked good with a tan.

  "You're staring, chica," Elena said.

  "Hmm, mmm," I mumbled too entranced to tear my eyes away. When he finally disappeared out of sight, I blinked and refocused my attention on Elena. "Sorry, what?"

  She rolled her eyes at me. "Geez, you have it bad."

  A burst of heat colored my cheeks, but she was right. Since leaving Chastity Falls, our relationship had grown stronger.

  "Shh, enough about me. What about you, Mrs. Tyson Prescott to be?"

  Elena shrieked and clapped her hands together. "I can't wait to walk down that aisle. Is it totally inappropriate for the bride to jump the groom at the altar?"

  “Hmm, I think so, Elena. But seriously, engaged? I still can’t believe it.”

  “It’s been four months. Practically forever.”

  A pang of sadness filled my chest. Four months away from my friends, my life in Chastity Falls.

  “Have you guys talked dates yet?”

  Elena pulled her legs up on her lounger and crossed them in front of her. “A little. We want to wait until I graduate. Tyson is going to stay in Chastity Falls with me for the year and look for work in Portland. We’ll make it work. My dad almost had a heart attack though.”

  She took another sip of her cocktail and I did the same.

  “So how is everyone? I miss you guys.”

  Leaving everyone without explaining or saying goodbye was hard, but keeping it from Elena was the worst. The one person who had been there for me throughout everything. I’d wanted to tell her so many times about Jackson’s plan, but I knew I couldn’t.

  “Paul has a new girlfriend. Jenny. She’s nice. Reminds me a little of you actually. Okay, that sounded way less creepy in my head.”

  Laughter burst from me and I sprayed a mouthful of pina colada into the air. “Yeah, he told me. He emailed me last week. And Cassie and Dennis, how are they?”

  Elena shook her head. “I did not see that one coming. It’s so… I don’t know, not Cassie. They keep themselves to themselves mostly.”

  “Give it time. If it’s the real deal, then they’ll work it out.”

  Elena made a disapproving sound in her throat and I shot her a look. “Elena, it isn’t easy.”

  “Shit, I know. It’s just, I don’t know, you were in a different place.”

  “Just give them time.”

  I’d heard from Cassie via text now and again. She was finding her new relationship with Dennis difficult, but she loved him. I had suspicions that, like Jackson, Dennis had his own story, and part of me wanted to tell her to walk away. But I’d been there, and if someone had told me to walk away from Jackson, I wouldn’t have listened.

  And we’d survived, hadn’t we?

  Jackson and I had weathered the storm and escaped with our hearts intact.

  Elena spent the next half an hour filling me in on everyone’s lives. Nate and Lydia were about to face a test of their own with Nate moving back home to work at his dad’s business. They were going to attempt the long distance thing.

  Changing the subject, she said, “No one talks about them, you know. Well, not in public.”

  My mouth opened ready to reply, but no words came out. Jackson and I had made a pact weeks ago never to mention them again. I should have known Elena would have questions. I had questions too; I just didn’t air mine anymore. There was no point.

  “I promised myself I wouldn’t ask, but now that you’re here, and well, you haven’t said a thing. Not one word. What the hell happened that night, Ana? I woke up to find you gone and them gone. Just like that.”

  “Elena,” I warned, shaking my head at her brazenness.

  “I know, I know. You can’t tell me, but that shit was crazy, chica. Marcus and Briony just disappeared off the face of the earth.”

  The words were on the tip of my tongue, but before I could say them, the guys returned with drinks and I pushed out any thoughts of them.

  “Did you manage to stay out of trouble?” Tyson wiggled his eyebrows at Elena, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

  Jackson lifted my legs up and sat down, laying them across his lap. “Everything good?”

  I smiled up at him erasing Elena’s words from only seconds earlier. “Everything is perfect.”

  And it was.

  For the first time in a really long time, it was.

  ~ JACKSON ~

  “Ana, we’re going to be late. What are you doing in there?” I checked my watch again.

  We were supposed to be meeting Elena and Tyson for dinner. That was five minutes ago, and Ana had still made no appearance from the bathroom.

  “I’m coming.”

  The door opened and the air sucked from my lungs. A floor-length green dress hugged Ana’s slender frame scooping low on her tits and clinging to her hips and ass. She’d curled her hair and pinned it loosely at the nape of her neck, and a few stray curls hung around her face.

  “Fuck, you look gorgeous.”

  Ana was always gorgeous, but seeing her like this, made up, took my breath away. No longer hiding under black jeans and hoodies, my girl had finally found herself again.

  My heart lodged in my throat as a shy smile broke over her face and she dropped her eyes. I stalked towa
rd her, brushing her jaw with my fingers and tilting her head up. “Don’t do that. You look amazing. You don’t need to hide from me. Ever.”

  I leaned in to press my lips to hers. Aware of the time, it was only supposed to be a quick kiss, but Ana swept her hands up my chest and looped her arms around my neck, deepening it. My pulse spiked, the way it did whenever we touched, and I lifted her closer to me. With Ana, it was never close enough. I couldn’t imagine not having her in my life.

  Always.

  When we’d first left Chastity Falls, it was hard. For both of us. Ana had to leave behind her friends, the people who had helped rebuild her life time and time again. Apart from Dennis, Otis, and Velma, I wasn’t as bothered about leaving the people in my life, but it wasn’t easy being somewhere new. Thousands of miles across the country in a new city, just to two of us.

  After Frankie had agreed to our freedom in exchange for Marcus, I’d talked to him about moving away and starting again. He’d suggested I get as far away as possible. I don’t know if he wanted me gone because he feared there might be repercussions for handing over Marcus to him, or he just wanted me to have a shot at a normal life away from Chastity Falls. Initially, I was going to take Ana back to Fort Pierce, to her home, but at the last minute, I changed my mind. Tampa was near enough to her aunt’s for her to try and rebuild a relationship with her family, but far enough that she could do it at her own pace. It turned out to be the right move. After finding an apartment and transferring to the University of Tampa, she had contacted her Aunt Betsy. Things weren’t totally healed yet, but they were getting there.

  Ana’s hands crept under my dress shirt pulling me from my thoughts. Her fingers inched up my chest and had my dick straining against my jeans.

  “Ana, keep doing that and we’re never going to make it.”

  “Maybe I’m not hungry anymore.” She rolled my nipple between the pads of her fingers and let out a breathy laugh.

  “Ana,” I warned.

  Ana pouted, looking up at me through her long lashes. “I want you, Jax.”

  Four words that would always have me on my knees. My heart pounded violently in my chest. She was playing unfair, but so could I. Taking control of the situation, I walked us backward until Ana’s back gently pressed against the wall. Her mouth formed an O just as I slammed my lips to hers.