AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He pours a generous amount into a clean shot glass and hands it to me. I throw it back and set the glass on the table.
“Another?” Jaxon asks.
“Yes,” I grunt.
Again, I throw it back. I welcome the burn coursing down my throat.
“One more,” I tell Jaxon, and he pours my third shot. After shooting that one back as well, I put down the shot glass and push it to the side, indicating I’m done.
Jaxon puts the stopper on the bottle and puts both his hands on his desk. Leaning forward, he growls, “Tell me what the fuck happened all those years ago, and why that bitch Tessa wants to hurt my sister.”
“Before I tell you, I want you to know that Mia has decided togive us another chance.” This is something I need him to know and understand before I tell him what happened. “I know you love your sister and are very protective of her, but I need you to know that I love her just the same. You know me almost as well as I know myself and should know I would never purposely hurt her. I’d give my life for her in a heartbeat, and after I tell you what I need to, I won’t have you interfering with our lives. I’ve finally gotten Mia back and nothing, and no one, is taking her away from me again.”
From the hard look in Jaxon’s eyes, I can tell he doesn’t like what I’ve said. I hold his gaze to let him know I’m deadly serious. I know I’m going to get what’s coming to me from Jaxon, but no way in hell am I going to let him manipulate Mia into leaving me.
He finally realizes the seriousness of my words and the determination in my eyes and gives a curt nod.
“I don’t know if you ever realize, but I’ve loved your sister way before we even got together. First as a sister, and then as something more. After we got together, I wanted to take things slow, to make sure I was what she wanted. Because of the age difference, we decided to wait until her eighteenth birthday before we had sex.” I stop to let Jaxon process that. His jaw ticks from the grinding of his teeth. I know he doesn’t want to hear about that part of our relationship, but it’s part of the reason why we split up and he needs to hear it in order to get the full story.
I continue after a few seconds. “We were both going to be the others’ first. I had waited years to be with her. I had planned this special evening in a hotel, but I wanted her to have her fun with her friends first.
“We were at a party when we somehow got split up. I only had a couple beers, knowing I was going to be driving later. I went to go look for her and couldn’t find her. Stacey came up to me and told me Mia was upstairs waiting for me. I had started feeling woozy and way off center as I made my way upstairs. I thought my body was reacting to the alcohol, even though I had drunk more than that before and was never affected like that.
“Anyway, I walked up the stairs, getting more dizzier as I went, and checked every room until I found Mia.”
I explain to him everything that happened in that room. How I thought the girl was Mia. How I tried stopping her, but ended up giving in because my body wouldn’t fight anymore. I told him I kept blacking out and waking up. Jaxon stands quietly while I tell him how Mia walked in the room, and it was only then that I realized it wasn’t Mia in the bed with me, but Tessa. I finish with telling him I tried getting up to go to her, but I couldn’t when I retched over the side of the bed and passed out until morning.
When I’m done, I look Jaxon right in the eye and wait for it to come. It doesn’t take long before Jaxon suddenly reaches across the desk, grabs my shirt, and lands a fist in my face.
I stumble back a step, but hold my ground and his gaze. A trickle of blood leaves the cut on my lip. I need this pain to help alleviate some of the pain in my heart for what we went through.
Jaxon rounds his desk and approaches me. He rears his fist back and slams it into my side. I hunch over a bit and suck in a sharp breath at the pain, but don’t give in to the need to grab my sore ribs. Again, my eyes stay locked with Jaxon’s multicolored ones. The blue in his eyes, which is normally a steel blue, is now stormy gray.
Jaxon once again brings his fist back and lands another punch to my jaw. My head jerks to the side and blood slings from between my lips, but I still bring my eyes back to his. Every instinct in me is screaming for me to fight back, but I force it down. The only way Jaxon will get through this, and in turn, Mia and me, is for him to quench the need to do some damage.
One of Jaxon’s hands reaches for my throat, and he pushes me back until I hit the wall. What he says has me seeing red and pushes my need to hurt Jaxon to the forefront.
“You think I’m going to let my sister be with a piece of shit like you?” he grates out in my face.
I’ve had it. It’s obvious Jaxon didn’t register the part where I was drugged and raped. All he heard was Tessa and I weretogether. I warned him that he, nor anyone else, is going to take her away from me again. Not in this fucking lifetime.
I reach up with one arm and bring it down fast on the arm that’s holding my throat. It breaks the hold he has on my neck. With my other arm, I swing with all my might and send my hand smashing into his face so hard he stumbles back into his desk. I land one more hit, this one to his stomach, just for good measure.
I take a couple of steps toward him and growl, “I fucking told you that I won’t let anyone keep her from me. She’s fucking mine, Jaxon, whether you like it or not. I was fucking raped you asshole!”
Jaxon reaches up and wipes his fingers through the blood that’s dripping from his own split lip. I feel both satisfaction and remorse at the sight of his damaged face. He’s my best friend, and I hate knowing we’ve come to this.
“Are you fucking done so I can finish?” I ask him sharply.
He stands back up to his full height with a glare. “Yes, I’m fucking done.”
We both look warily at each other while we catch our breaths. Once our breathing is under control, I tell Jaxon of my suspicions, and then confirmation, of me being drugged. I explain Tessa’s crazy obsession with me back then, and still today, and her plan to break Mia and me apart. I tell him everything, even about the tire and what Mia found in her house last night.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Mac. Why in the hell didn’t you ever go to the police?”
This is something I fought with myself over and over again. “Because I didn’t want to drag Mia into it. The whole town would have known what happened, and I couldn’t do that to her. I wanted her to know the truth but not be exposed to all the gossip that it would have brought if I went to the police. She had already been hurt enough. I couldn’t add more to it.”
He gives a nod, understanding my reasoning. “What are you currently doing about Tessa? And do you have any clue who this other person is?
