Chapter Five
Jaxon
I wake up groaning the following morning because of my phone’s persistent ringing. I really feel like just throwing the damn thing against the wall right now. I grab the damn loud phone from the bedside table and answer it without even checking the caller ID.
“Yeah?” I say.
“Where the hell did you disappear to last night?” Sabrina’s loud voice makes me cringe a bit. Damn, do I have a headache!
“Shit happened, and I had to leave,” I say as I sit up straight.
“Because of Brianne?” She sounds disgusted.
“It’s too early for this kind of conversation Sabrina, talk to you later.”
“Don’t you-” I press end on my phone, cutting off whatever it is she was about to say. I have a sledgehammer pounding in my head, and I’m not in the mood for her whining. When my phone rings again almost immediately, I ignore the call then proceed to switch it off.
I climb out of bed and make my way to Bri’s kitchen. Carson and Brianne insisted that I sleep here last night because I hit my head rather hard when I fainted - mother of God I still can’t believe I actually fucking fainted last night when Bri told me that I’m the father of those kids she’s carrying. In my defense, I think I fainted because the emotions were just too much. I mean from anger, to hurt to confusion and then bam after all that I find out I’m going to be a father. Shit, a father? I don’t know if I’m ready to be a damn father, I don’t think I can ever be ready to be a father. What if my own dad’s genes of being a deadbeat have rubbed off on me somehow? A shiver runs through my body at that unsettling thought. But I will be keeping my fears to myself, Bri doesn’t need any of that stress right now.
“Good, you’re awake,” Carson says when I step into the kitchen where he, Olivia and Bri are seated. I groan in appreciation at the divine smell of coffee that penetrates my nostrils and making my mouth water.
“Yeah,” I say taking a seat next to Olivia.
“And how are you feeling?” He asks.
“Yeah Jax, you went down like a ton of bricks last night,” Olivia says, laughing at my expense.
“The poor man was shocked, let him be,” Brianne defends, with laughing eyes. I can see that she’s trying hard not to laugh too.
“I need coffee,” I say standing up to pour myself a cup.
“So, how’s your head?” Carson asks when I walk past him.
“My head is fine; I’m fine,” I tell him starting to get irritated. Can’t they just forget about what happened last night? I’m already embarrassed enough as it is, there really is no need for them to be rubbing it in my face.
“Good,” He says before punching me square in the jaw, sending me to the hard, unforgiving tiled floor.
“Oh my God, Carson!” Bri shouts as she gets on her feet at the same time Olivia says; “Classic!” As she starts laughing harder.
“What the hell man?” I ask standing up and holding my jaw. Motherfucker, that hurt like a bitch!
“That’s for fucking my little sister, you jackass,” Carson says calmly like he didn’t just almost punch my lights out. “Now get your ass up,” he says casually sipping on his morning coffee before extending a hand to me to help me up.
“That was unnecessary Carson!” Bri says, glaring at her brother.
“Of course, it was necessary,” He shrugs. “He slept with my baby sister, and for that, he is supposed to get a beat down, he’s lucky it’s just a punch in the face,” he continues.
“Men are such kids sometimes,” Olivia says as she rolls her eyes.
The awkward silence that follows after that makes it known that there is a massive elephant in the room and I’m not sure what to do or say. I busy myself pouring my cup of coffee, all the while avoiding eye contact with Bri.
“Okay, that’s it!” Olivia exclaims as she jumps out of her seat. “Come on Carson, you and I need to go,” she continues.
“Where are you going? Are you going to bring some chocolate, preferably Lunch bar? Hmm, tell me you gonna bring me some chocolate woman!” Brianne says getting excited at the mention of chocolate.
“You two…” she points between me and Bri; “Need to talk about what’s going to happen next. This awkwardness is messing with my mood.” She says before practically dragging Carson out of the kitchen, leaving me and Bri alone for the first time since she got back.
“Don’t forget the chocolate!” Bri yells.
“Yeah. yeah. Now get talking!” Olivia yells back.
“So-” Bri and I say at the same time after a few minutes of silence. “I’m sorry-” we both say again. I chuckle under my breath. I swear, we are like two awkward teens who are about to have sex for the first time. No damn it, I shouldn’t think about sex with Bri, not now.
“You first,” I tell her as I awkwardly try to hide my hard-on. Luckily, she doesn’t notice.
She sighs before speaking. “Look, I know this is the last thing you expected, and I just want you to know that I don’t expect you to just drop everything just to be with me,” she looks down at her hands before continuing. “I know you have a life and I don’t want to take that away from you,”
“Brianne, I want to be with you,” I tell her honestly and I see tears shining in her eyes. Shit, what did I say to make her want to cry?
“I’m sorry Jaxon, but we can’t,” she says just as one of the tears fall down her cheek. What the hell? “You’re just saying this because you feel obliged to be with me because of the pregnancy,” the tears are now streaming down her face. Well shit, what the hell do I do now? Bri doesn’t usually cry so easily. I’ve heard that pregnancy hormones can cause this, so maybe that’s why she cries so easily?
“No Bri, that’s not why I’m saying I want to be with you,” I tell her as I take a step towards her. She takes a step back and holds her hand up in a stop motion.
“No, Jax.”
“Yes, the news came as a shock to me, but I promise that’s not the only reason I want to be with you Brianne,” I say as I brush my fingers through my hair. How can I convince her that I really do want to be with her? That this pregnancy is not the only reason, I want this.
“Jaxon, if this pregnancy isn’t the reason, then you would have told me this a long time ago.”
Well shit! Now, how do I get out of this without sounding like a pussy? I never told Brianne how I felt about her for two reasons. One, I’ve always been scared that she would reject me because she just doesn’t feel the same way. I mean, she’s never shown any signs that she might be attracted to me. And Second, that ass Ethan has always been in the picture, and apparently, women don’t get over their firsts easily.
“But Bri I-”
“I’m sorry Jax, but we can’t be together,” She says with such finality that it shuts me up.
Fine, if she doesn’t believe that I want to be with her then I’ll just have to prove it to her someway. And I will fucking prove it; even if it’s the last thing I do, I will prove it!
“So, when did you screw my little sister and why the hell didn’t you tell me?” Carson asks out of breath as he lifts those weights like he’s trying to show me just how strong he is.
“Really, you want me to tell you that I fucked your sister?” I raise my eyebrow at him. What are we, women?
“Next you gonna say let's braid each other’s hair while I give you details of exactly how I took her from-”
“I swear to God this weight is going to land on your fucking head if you even dare to finish that sentence,” He warns, glaring at me like he is about to actually throw that thing at me. “I never said I want details you ass, but you always tell me about the girls you sleep with. How come you didn’t tell me about her?”
“Why, so you could punch me for it?” I say absentmindedly touching where he punched me this morning. I can’t blame him for punching me though, I would have done the exact same thing if I had a sister, and my best friend went on and slept with her. “And Brianne is not just some girl I fucked to get rid of the itch Carson. She’s not just another name under my belt; she’s way more than that, she’s special.” I continue as I start lifting a weight of my own and working one arm.
“You’re damn right she’s fucking special,” he nods. “You know your whoring has got to stop now right? Because if you hurt my baby sister, I will break your face, best friend or not,”
“Are you giving me the talk?” I smile at him. “Because if you are, you are way too fucking late man, your dad beat you to it earlier this afternoon. Shit man, he threatened to cut my dick off then shoot it in front of me if I ever hurt her.” The bastard laughs at my horrified expression as I cup my crotch with my free hand.
“I’ll help him hold you down,” he says between snickers.
“I bet you would; you damn people are crazy,” I say putting my weight down. “But on a serious note, I really like your sister, and I want to be there for her and those kids,”
“And how long have you really liked my sister?”
“Let’s just say long enough,” I say. I’m not about to tell him that the only reason I started hanging out with him back then was because I wanted to be close to her. That would surely earn me another punch in the face. Don’t get me wrong, now I love Carson like a brother, and he really is my best friend, but back then when this friendship started, it was solely to see if I could get in his sister’s pants.
“Fine, so what did you two decide this morning?” He asks.
“Well I told her that I wanted to be with her and she told me no.”
“Huh?” he says, he looks as confused as I was this morning. I really thought Bri would give us a chance, no questions asked.
“Yeah, she doesn’t believe me.”
“Well, I don’t believe you either so…”
“You are not helping jackass!” I tell him, and he just shrugs. “But I’m not giving up,”
“You better not. If I know my mother at all, she’s already planning a damn wedding for the two of you,” at that, I pale. Fucking shit, one thing at a time. No one said anything about marriage; I haven’t even gotten her to be mine yet, although I’m acting cool about the babies, I’m actually freaking the hell out, I’m not ready to become a dad. And there are already talks of wedding bells? Shit!
“I’m going to need your help,” I say.
“With what?!” His horrified expression makes me laugh.
“Getting your sister. You are about to be my secret weapon in operation get Brianne!”
“Do you have to drag me into this?” He groans.
“Dude, not so long ago you wanted to know about my fucking her, you can handle helping me get her to be my girl.”
“Oh man, why do I get a feeling I’m going to regret getting involved in this shit?”
I smirk as I pick the weights back up. “Are you in or out man?” I ask as I watch him roll his eyes so hard I’m afraid they’re gonna get stuck at the back of his head.
“What if I say I’m out?” He asks.
“Then I’ll just get Olivia to irritate the shit out of you,”
He groans. “I’m going to regret this but fine I’m in,” he answers.
“Awesome!” I grin at him.
Well, this is it, the beginning of operation ‘get the girl I’ve been in love with for ages’ is about to take off!