Chapter 24
Georgie
“Stop! Please, Mom!”
She halts and turns around slowly. With tears in her eyes she opens her arms to me. It may be the shock, but I run to her and into her open arms. We hold on for dear life, as if we believe the other’s going to disappear.
My ears hear the sound of heavy footsteps until they’re upon us.
“What the hell Georgie? What’s going on?” Jayden questions.
I pull away from my mom and wipe at my eyes unsure of how to explain to him what’s going on. When I feel warmth on my arm, my eyes close trying to comprehend the last several minutes.
“Baby, you’re scaring me.” He crouches to my level, searching my eyes once I look at him.
As I look back to my mom, I don’t know how to explain it, but everything just feels right. Like everything is going to be okay.
“Jayden, this is my mom.”
In an instant I’m pulled behind his back and shielded from her view.
“Wait, stop. It’s not Gwen, my real mom.”
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in jail?”
“I was released. That’s why I came here, to explain things. But, who are you?” When I look around Jayden her eyes are narrowed on him.
“Mom, this is my boyfriend Jayden Cage. Jayden, this is my mom Isabelle McNamara.” He looks at me for a beat before reaching out and shaking hands with my mom. From the few stories I’ve told him, he knows I love my mom dearly, no matter what’s happened in my life or how many times she hadn’t stood up for me.
“You were released? What does that mean? Does that mean…” No, I cannot deal with seeing my father or Gwen again.
“No sweetie. Mine was the only release. Your father finally did the right thing for once in his life and told the truth. The truth about how I was just as much a prisoner as you were. I see we don’t have enough time for all of that right now. I just… I needed to see my baby girl get married. It was in the newspaper you know.” She looks proud.
“I’m not sure now is the best time to tell her you’re here.”
“No, don’t. I watched from afar and that was good enough for me. I promise, we’ll catch up soon but you need to get back to your sister. Seeing you two together…” She looks away and sobs.
“Promise me you won’t leave town before we talk.” I beg.
“I’m not leaving. You girls need me and I’m going to be here for you. My next stop is my mother’s house.”
“Good luck.” Jayden mumbles under his breath.
“I see you’re acquainted with my mother.” She chuckles then walks up to me. Placing both hands on either side of my face, she smiles at me. “Stay safe baby, I’ll be talking to you soon okay?”
I nod my head before she exits the yard and disappears.
Jayden blows out a breath of air. “Well, can’t say I expected that today.”
Quickly, my hands wipe under my eyes trying to make sure I don’t look like a raccoon. “Do I look okay? I’m not a complete mess, right?”
He places his hands on my hips and laughs. “Baby, you’re never a mess.”
“Please don’t tell Ash. I don’t know how she’ll react and I don’t want to ruin her wedding day.”
“I hear ya, this is kind of fucked up.”
A lot fucked up, and maybe my guard should be up a little more. But when I saw my mom everything just clicked, like she was meant to be here.
***
Jayden
Just keep smiling Jay, don’t think about tonight. I keep chanting this over and over in my head as I watch Jack twirl Savvy around the dance floor. This wedding was truly the best I’ve ever been to and I’m glad I got to enjoy it… up until five minutes ago.
“Here’s to the old ball and chain!” I shout as me and my brothers pound back shots of tequila. We’re at the bar giving the ladies a chance to shake their asses with a bunch of their friends. Pulling Josh away from his new bride proved to be quite the challenge. He eventually agreed to one shot, no more.
Today has been fantastic. Getting ready with my brothers and shooting the shit, it’s moments like these I thank my lucky stars I was blessed with my family. I wouldn’t change a single thing about them and I’m ecstatic my brother got to marry the girl of his dreams today.
I feel a vibration in my pocket and pull out my phone. My blood runs cold when I see a blocked caller, one I’ve been dreading to show up for way too long. It’s been so long since the night Kyle got jumped and Georgie got kidnapped, I was almost hoping all was forgotten.
Zander eyes me and I shrug my shoulders and tell him Georgie’s calling. Stupid excuse I know seeing as she’s currently on the dance floor. As I jog through the house and out the front door to get some privacy, I answer the call.
“Good boy. I’m glad you learned your lesson.”
“Cut to the chase Skid.” I growl.
“Eleven tonight at the old Warehouse off of Perry. And Jay, if you don’t show up you won’t like what happens.”
“I’ll be there.” Then I hang up the phone and try to even out my breathing. Fuck me, today’s Josh’s wedding day. There’s no way I can tell him it’s going down tonight when he should be spending his wedding night banging his new bride.
When I turn around I’m caught off guard when I see Z standing in the doorway with his arms crossed leveling me with a look of sympathy.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Fuck.” He runs his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“We can’t tell him. I won’t do that to him on his wedding day.”
“I agree. We can get Kyle alone and break the news after we get back in there. I know you didn’t want him involved but I think having numbers on our side may be pivotal.”
“No, he needs to stay with Georgie in case something happens. What if Skid tries to pull a fast one and come for her?”
“I don’t like it, but okay. I’ll fill him in on what’s going on.”
I look down and try to take a deep breath. Physically I’ve got this. I’ve scouted the guy I’m fighting. He’s almost identical to me body wise, but where I’m technical he’s a loose cannon. There are no rules and in my investigations, I’ve seen him use anything and everything to win his matches. He clocked some poor guy over the head with a 2x4 to win a fight. Cheating isn’t in my nature, but I am willing to do anything to get home to my girl. I had a vision of her walking to me on a beach in a gorgeous white dress earlier and I’m going to fucking get that.
“The wedding should be done before we need to head out, so we don’t need to worry about sneaking out. We just need to let the girls know what’s going on.”
“No, absolutely not. Georgie isn’t gonna know where I’m going when we leave. I’ll think something up, but she’s not coming with us. If we tell her, she’ll fight tooth and nail to come along.”
“That’s not going to go over well.” Zander rubs the back of his neck feeling uncomfortable with the idea.
“But she’ll be okay. I can’t be worrying about her when I need my head in the game.”
“I hear you. Okay, I won’t tell Georgie, but I will be telling Savvy. I’ll make sure she doesn’t tell your girl and I’ll even get her to distract her so we can get out.”
“Fine.” I’m feeling like a caged beast and I need to tamp down the crazy before I go back into the reception.
“I know it’s hard, but you need to shove thoughts of the fight to the back of your mind to get through this today. Josh is your twin, sometimes you guys freak me the fuck out. If you act weird he’s gonna know somethings up. I’m gonna head back in, take a few minutes to gather your composure.” He pats me on the shoulder and goes back into the room.
How the fuck am I supposed to push this to the back of my mind? Go in there and joke around. Dance the night away with the love of my life, all while knowing that tonight very well could be the last time I hold her in my arms.
I’m taken from my thoughts when I see Georgie walking towards me. Awe slams into my chest at the thought that this gorgeous woman is it for me. She chose me and thank Christ for that. She’s my world, my motivation.
“Hey stranger, is this seat taken?” She winks.
“I was waiting for my beautiful girlfriend, but you can have the seat.”
“Your girlfriend huh? I thought Jayden Cage didn’t do girlfriends?”
“I didn’t until she crashed into my life.”
“Suck up.”
I pull her into my lap and wrap my arms around her. “How are you dealing with everything? Your mom being in town?”
“Okay. I’m not going to worry about it until I hear her out.”
“Liar.” I bite at her ear. “What are they odds that I can talk you into letting me eat your pussy over by those bushes?” I point to a shrub set back in the yard.
“Not likely. I know everyone here.” She giggles then promises me to get down to business later, which I know can’t happen as my thoughts drift to my fight.
“Do you know what I thought the first time I ever saw you?”
“What a weirdo?”
I laugh. “No. The first time I saw you was at Josh’s surprise birthday party when you first showed up in town.”
“You were there? I guess everything was so hectic, that whole day was a blur to me.”
“I was forced into decorating and then you appeared. I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I over filled a few balloons making them pop. Zander was getting so annoyed with me.” I laugh. “You were the single most gorgeous thing I had ever seen and you knocked me on my ass that day. Something spoke to me and I knew I needed to get to know you. It freaked me the fuck out, but I’m glad we’re here today.”
“That’s completely making the butterflies flap around in my belly, but there’s no way that was your first thought of me.” She laughs and it shows how well she knows me.
“Fine, I was hoping you were one of the wait staff for the party so we could role play in the back office. Sexy waitress and disgruntled customer. Shit, I’m getting hard. Stop wiggling. Oh, and your tits were almost visible through the thin white top you had on. Definitely wanted to suck on those bad boys if I’m being honest.”
“I love you Jayden Carlisle Cage.”
“And I love you Georgie Francis McNamara.”
As I glance down at my watch I realize I need to make my exit. Sneaking outs for the best. Georgie will only worry and there’s no way she’s coming with me and Z. After excusing myself to the bathroom, I look back at my girl one more time trying to soak her in.
Here we go.