Chapter Nineteen
Jaxon
“What!” Sabrina shrieks, her face as pale as my own because we both know how incredibly fucked-up this situation has gotten. This is bullshit at its best!
“I think I’m going to be sick!” I heave a little when I think of all the sex I had with Sabrina and the fact that she is pregnant with my child. “You mean to say it’s possible that I knocked up my half-sister?” I look between my mother and fa- well I guess I can’t call the good for nothing dick head father anymore. I should be ecstatic that he isn’t, but because of the situation I’m in at this point, I wish more than nothing that he could be my father.
How did this become my life?
“And you,” dad points at my mother, his face filled with disgust as he shakes his head. “Are sick enough to try and force your own child to date his half-sister! There is something seriously wrong with you Loretta, I think you need Jesus!” Every single person in Patty’s is staring at us; even the chefs have come out of the kitchen to watch the show.
“Ben… Jaxo-” My mother’s words are cut short when Sabrina slaps her hard across the face, her face red with anger. The slap was so hard that the sound resonated in the dead silent restaurant.
“How dare you, Loretta!” I don’t think I have ever seen Sabrina this pissed off. “You,” she pokes my mother in the chest. “You are the one who put it in my head that Jaxon and I belong together and that you will convince him to be with me!” Tears start streaming down her face as she glares at my ashen mother.
“You are the one that came up with the idea to vandalize Brianne and Olivia’s place because you said that she will back off and that will force Jaxon to be with me!” Sabrina is now so angry that her hands are shaking like she has a vibrator shoved up her ass at full blast.
“That was you?!” Brianne and I both glare at my mother.
“I can explain!” my mother cries.
“Oh, you have no idea what all she has convinced me of doing,” Sabrina says, this time bowing her head in shame.
“Maybe this is not the right place to be having these kinds of conversations,” Bri’s dad interjects, looking around at all the amused and horrified faces staring at our exchange.
“Loretta, did I sleep with my half-sister?” I ask because at this point this is the most important question. I need to know if I really got my sister pregnant.
“Jaxon, I said not here.” Brianne’s dad says in a stern voice that makes me cower a bit. He and Brianne’s mom could always put me in my place. “Now, let’s all meet at my house so that all this can be resolved.” He continues, but I’m not quite sure how the hell we can resolve me going to have a baby with my own blood.
“I can’t have one day out with my daughter without all kinds of shit happening. Unbelievable!” Brianne’s dad mumbles under his breath as he shoves out of his chair and throwing a few bills on the table. “Come on princess, let’s go.” He takes Bri’s hand, helping her stand from her seated position.
I only register now that Brianne has been quiet throughout this whole ordeal. Making me wonder what she’s thinking. I’ve already overheard her conversation with her father about leaving me; I’m terrified that this latest news will anchor her decision. I knew the day would come where Bri decided that enough is enough, that she couldn’t deal with all the bullshit and realize that I don’t deserve her. But dammit, I didn’t think it would be this soon. But I will be damned if I let her go without a fight.
Just as we make our way out of the restaurant, away from all the curious eyes, I hear Bri’s dad groan and curse under his breath. My eyes follow where he is fixed, and I freeze when I see who’s approaching us.
“Oh, dear God no!” my mother exclaims when she also sees who’s coming. She buries her head in her hands, and I can see her shoulders shaking from the silent sobs wrecking her body.
Well, I guess shit is about to get even more interesting.
“Oh Loretta, what’s wrong honey?” Mrs Ashwood wraps her arm around my mother as soon as she and the Mayor, her husband reach us. I don’t think she will be so concerned about my mother once she finds out that she’s been sleeping with her husband for years and even has a child with him.
“You home wrecking son-of-a-bitch!” Those are the words from my dad that lets all hell break loose. My dad doesn't even give the Mayor any time to respond. He charges toward Sabrina’s dad, tackling him to the ground before delivering blow after blow to his face. Blood starts spewing all over the place and now it's not only the people in the restaurant watching us but everyone who was on the street minding their own business is also now watching.
Oh, fuck my life!
All four women scream for the fight to stop as Mr Ashwood’s bodyguards come rushing towards us. Brianne’s father is trying to get my dad off of the mayor while I just watch the fuckedupness that is my life. At what point did things escalate to this?
“Now, how about you start acting like grown-ups and follow me to my damn house?!” Bri’s dad says a soon as he and the bodyguards get my dad off the mayor with the bloodied face.
“What the hell is wrong with you Ben, has the alcohol fried whatever brain cells you had left?” Mrs Ashwood yells as she rushes to be beside her fallen husband. “We will be pressing charges!” she glares up at my father.
“I’m going to say this for the last time, everyone meet me at my house in fifteen. All of you!” Brianne’s dad sound pissed off at this point.
We all get into our separates rides in silence and head toward the Bentley’s. Well then, I guess this is going to be one hell of an interesting day. When I woke up this morning, I had my day all planned out. Go work half day, go to the Jewelers and find the perfect ring, grab lunch with Carson at Patty’s, go to the gym to work off my greasy lunch and then go talk to Mr. Bentley about having his daughter’s hand in marriage and then go out with Carson to celebrate the yes, his dad would have given me. Well, I hoped it would have been a yes.
Never in a million years did I think this day would turn out this shitty.
“Hey Jax, you okay?” Carson asks as we stop in front of his childhood home.
I sigh before looking over at him. “Yeah, I guess I’m fine,” I answer.
“You didn’t look or sound very surprised when Ben told you that he wasn’t your father,” Carson frowns as he asks this.
“Because I wasn’t,” he takes a sharp intake of breath at my answer. “I was never hundred percent sure, but I’ve known since I was fourteen that he wasn’t my father.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, one night I overheard him talking to himself while drunk, saying that he will teach the bitch and her bastard child a lesson.” I shake my head at the memory. “At first, I was confused and didn’t know what he was talking about but the more I thought about it, the more it made more and more sense to me that I wasn’t his kid. But these were just assumptions, I didn’t have the facts or proof, so I never questioned it.”
“Damn Jaxon, why didn’t you come talk to me?”
“As I said, no fact and no proof,” I say. “Now let’s get inside, I’m sure your dad is waiting for us,” I tell him.
“Actually, dad texted me just now said that I’m not really needed in there. So, I’m just gonna drop you off and then I need to go pick up my mom from the airport she’s coming back today from her few days visit at my aunt’s in Georgia.”
Well damn, guess I’ll be on my own in there. I was hoping that my best friend would at least be there, but I guess his dad is right, this meeting or whatever should only consist of the people involved.
“Alright then, I’ll see you later,” I say opening the door to his truck.
“Yeah, a bit later, I’ll be going to help Liv after getting my mom,”
“Olivia?” I ask, tilting my head. “Since when are you and Liv on a help basis? You two can’t stand each other.”
“Yeah, um look; I’ll talk to you later man, good luck in there.” He says this so fast that I start wondering if the words burned his tongue on the way out.
“Sure, laters!” I say confused before closing the truck door and making my way toward the house. I guess I can't dwell too much on Olivia and Carson at the moment; I have my own shit to sort out.
The door to the house is open, so I walk right in and make my way to the living room where I hear people talking amongst themselves. As soon as I walk in, everyone looks at me with annoyance; they were probably wondering what took me so long.
“Jaxon, good you are here.” Mr B says as I take a seat next to Brianne before taking her hand in mine. She gives my hand a light squeeze of reassurance causing me to get an overwhelming urge to kiss her for being so perfect but instead, I give her hand a squeeze back.
“Jaxon is here; now someone explain to me why that maniac assaulted my husband like that!” Mrs Ashwood demands as she glares at Ben who is glaring at Mr Ashwood with so much hate that it’s scary.
“I don’t see why this was necessary, let’s just forget today happened and move on!” My mom says in a trembling voice.
“You sure would love that, wouldn’t you Loretta?” Dad says, shifting his glare to my mother whose tears have started falling again.
“What the hell is going on here!?” Mrs Ashwood is starting to get annoyed with this being in the dark.
“Loretta, I think you should be the one to explain to Sophia why your ex-husband beat her husband almost to a pulp.” Mr B says as he takes a seat.
“I…” My mother starts but is cut off by a hiccup. “I don’t… I can’t… I’m so sorry,” she cries because she is unable to tell her best friend that she has been sleeping with her husband for years.
“I’ll tell you why I did that Sophia because I can promise you that Loretta is too chicken shit to tell you the truth.” Dad points at my mother. “I beat the shit out of Henry because the fucker is a homewrecker!” he’s getting angrier by the minute.
“What? How is it my husband’s fault that you are a good for nothing who beat up his wife and kid?” It looks like Mrs Ashwood is struggling to contain her own anger.
“I know what I did was wrong, I know I should have just taken my shit and left, but I didn’t, and for that, I’m truly sorry.” Dad pauses as he looks over at me. “But that is not what I’m talking about Sophia; I’m talking about the fact that your husband has been fucking my wife all these years, it’s even possible that they have a child!” The sincerity from a moment ago has vanished from his voice, replaced by the hatred I saw in his glare earlier.
“You are lying, Ben! Just because you fucked up your own marriage don’t attempt to ruin mine!” Mrs Ashwood’s chest rises up and down in quick succession like she is hyperventilating. “Loretta has been my best friend for years; she would never. And there was a point when you and my husband were the best of friends, why the hell would he do that to you?”
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this Sophia but it’s true, Henry has been having an affair with my wife- well ex-wife for years, and Jaxon isn’t my son, it’s possible that he is his.”
Loud, heart-breaking sobs echo through the house as Mrs Ashwood buries her face in her husband’s chest. “Say it isn’t so Henry,” She says looking up at the Mayor.
“I…” Mr Ashwood struggles to finish his sentence, so my dad does it for him.
“Oh, it’s true alright!”
I’m expecting Mrs Ashwood to shoot up and try killing my mother, but it doesn’t happen. Instead, she stands from beside her husband and takes the seat beside her daughter. Her eyes widen when she takes a look at Sabrina.
“Oh God baby, no!” she says. I’m sure it’s finally hit her that Sabrina is pregnant with my child. Sabrina doesn’t say anything; she just bows her head in shame.
“You see the mess you have made, ma,” I speak up for the first time, causing everyone in the room to look at me. I take a deep breath, ready to ask her who my father really is, because she hasn’t confirmed that it really is the Mayor and dad said that he knows of one, meaning that there might be someone else. I sure hope to God that it’s someone else.
“Now tell me, who the hell is my-”
“I’m just happy that I’m not really pregnant,” Sabrina cuts me off, whispering just loud enough for us to hear her.
What the fuck!
“What the hell do you mean?” Brianne speaks for the first time. I can feel her body radiating anger. And quite frankly, I don’t blame her because that same anger is running through my veins.
“Loretta made me do it!” She points at the conniving woman that is my mother.
“I’m sorry,” Sabrina starts crying. Her tears are just pissing me off even more. She may point at my mother saying that she made her do it, but it doesn’t change the fact that she actually did it!
“She told me to fake a pregnancy, said that it would open Jaxon’s eyes that we belong together.” Sabrina sniffs before continuing. “She even paid off the doctor who did the test to confirm my pregnancy.”
“You little bitch,” Brianne hisses as she lets go of my hand. “What did I ever do to you to deserve so much heartache? God, what the hell did Jaxon do to you?” Bri’s getting worked up, and I’m trying to calm her down, but she’s on a roll. “And you, Loretta. What kind of mother doesn’t want her son to be happy? What kind of mother tries to force her son to get together with his sister?!” Bri has started shouting, and I worry that this could be bad for our unborn kids.
“Half-sister!” Sabrina groans as it the half part actually makes a difference.
“Half or not, you are still his damn sister!” Bri is seething.
“Jaxon isn’t Henry’s, he’s Jacob’s!” My mother yells through sobs.
What the hell? Did I just hear her correctly?
“Wait, the pastor?” Mr Bentley is the one to ask out loud. “You mean Jaxon is Pastor Jacob Lonnergan’s?” He buries his face in his hands. “Goddammit Loretta, what the hell is it with you and married men?”
Well, fuck me! How the hell did this become my life?