SaraIt was strange to think this woman whom I hadn’t known most of my life, that I thought was dead most of my life would come to be so important to me. I almost felt relieved driving home knowing that my mom would be waiting at the house for me. It made me laugh and a little nervous that she wanted to cook for me. I wasn’t sure how great she was at cooking–if it was anything like me, I was glad I had DoorDash. I pulled into the garage to see that Jaxon's car was already there. I stopped and left my car running for a moment, remembering when we would drive to work together. There was no need for separate cars, and I knew his schedule because it was in sync with mine. The thought of those days being behind me made my heart sink. Now he was inside with my mom, hopefully not causing a problem or being a jerk to her. I rolled my eyes already tired and exhausted from a future argument. How had our lives become this? I turned off the car and dragged myself out. I walked slowly to
JaxonI screamed in the car and banged hard on the steering wheel. Everything in me felt raw and broken. How could she think I would want anything to do with Sloan? How could she think I would do something like that to hurt her? The answers came like waves and started to make me sick. Of course, she would think that. Of course, she would doubt anything I have to say right now. I wasn’t sure what else I could possibly do to encourage her to trust me anymore. I drove too fast and parked in the office space open for me. I stopped up the stairs and into the elevator. I wanted to run back out and into my car and drive until all of this went away. Of course, I knew that wasn’t realistic. That wasn’t going to happen. I tapped my foot against the floor of the elevator as it moved upward. I leaned back against the wall and wished that today would go smoothly. As the doors opened I wanted to stay in the elevator alone. I didn’t want to get out and join the group of bustling people out
JaxonMy voice was raw from having spent the last few hours yelling at lawyers and doctors about my overwhelming situation. I wanted to choke out the next person who told me there was ‘nothing they could do.’ I sat at my desk feeling defeated with my head in my hands. I felt like I had no comfort–no safe space and no solution. Sloan was always at home, always seeming to flirt, no matter how cold I was. Sara always looked overwhelmed and upset and no words I had could comfort her. Here in the office, I spent more time trying to find solutions than actually doing any work. I was angry and burnt out. I hardly noticed the phone ringing next to me. It had been a while since someone called me on my office phone. "Jaxon Deverioux," I answered blandly. Whatever this was would have to wait. I was in no mood to deal with picky advertisers and platform hosts. "Yes, Mr. Deverioux, it’s Doctor Renfield. I’m so sorry it took me so long to get back to you with the results. Our equipment
Sara"Are you going to eat?" Jaxon asked with a laugh.I tore my eyes away from the paternity results with a sheepish smile and carefully placed the paper beside me. I'd been reading the results over and over since we'd sat down to eat. I just couldn't believe it–the relief I felt was indescribable. "I'm just… I'm feeling a lot of different things right now," I explained as I dug into my dinner with a happy moan."I'm glad that the truth is out now and there isn't anything between us," Jaxon said with a sincere smile. "I'm so sorry for the turmoil you've been going through."I nodded at him, with my mouth full, feeling the most content I'd felt in a while. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders but it was a lot to process all at once. It was exactly what I'd wanted but I hadn't actually thought it would happen. I'd been resigned to my fate.My heart felt full knowing that Jaxon hadn't betrayed me at all–he hadn't slept with Cynthia before our wed
SaraI jumped in surprise as I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I relaxed when I heard Jaxon's familiar chuckle in my ear, turning in his embrace to smile up at him."Welcome home," I whispered against his lips as I wound my arms around his neck."You're making dinner today too?" he asked as we pulled apart.I nodded and shrugged with a cheeky smile, "I'm still in the mood to apologize to you.""I already told you that you have nothing to apologize for," Jaxon insisted as he let me go and went in search of a drink."I know what you said, but I want you to know how much I love and appreciate you," I answered smartly as I turned my attention back to my bubbling pot.Jaxon came out of the pantry with two beers in hand, popping them both open before handing me one and sitting at the kitchen island."I can't argue with that, but let's just eat in here," Jaxon suggested in a firm tone. "No more work for you other than cooking."I laughed and raised my hands in s
Jaxon I sipped my coffee with a smile. Last night had been fucking incredible. Sara was the best thing that ever happened to me. And as anybody who knew me would know, I was not exactly given to sentimentality. But this girl, this woman, she was something else. I never thought I could feel this way. Most people in my line of work had wives, sure. And girlfriends on the side. I didn't judge. You never really knew what was going on in someone else’s marriage. Fuck, for a while there I wasn’t even sure what was going on in my own. But anyway, Sara, she was different. Special. I didn’t deserve her, a man like me. If she knew half of the shit I did, would she still want to be with me? I didn’t know. I never wanted to know. But I would have killed to protect her. To protect what we had. It was precious. It was fucking everything to me. Which of course, begged the question, what the fuck was I supposed to do about my bitch ex-wife? The person who tried to fuck it all up. Christ, if s
SaraWhen I woke up this morning, Jaxon had already gone to work. He left me a note, telling me that he’d left me a surprise downstairs. I smiled when I saw it. I’d already been given a great surprise. The baby wasn’t Jaxon’s. He didn’t betray me. His crazy bitch of an ex-wife was lying after all. As I wrapped myself in a robe and made my way downstairs in pursuit of coffee, my initial feeling was relief. I wanted Cynthia in our lives forever about as much as I wanted another concussion. And now that I knew for sure that Jaxon hadn’t betrayed our relationship and that he didn’t somehow want to be with her, maybe we could actually begin to move forward. My surprise was in the kitchen. A new state-of-the-art espresso machine gleamed on the countertop. A bag of espresso beans and a new coffee grinder sat next to a pastry box full of chocolate croissants from Castellano’s, my favorite bakery. A handwritten note was written in Jaxon’s signature script on the top of the box: *To a
Jaxon That fucking bitch wasn’t going to get away with this. I had had it up to here with her fucking bullshit. It wasn’t enough that my asshole ex-wife tried to destroy my marriage with her bullshit baby lie. Now she was telling my people that I was losing money on my investments. I was the king of the fucking underworld. "People in my world, they don’t take it so well when they think they’re about to lose money. They don’t exactly lodge a complaint to human resources, if you know what I mean. That crazy bitch is trying to get me clipped. And that ain’t happening." "Calm down Jaxon, you’re going to give yourself a heart attack," Eli said to me over lunch at Rastelli’s. "Nobody but nobody would believe a word that bitch says. She’s got no credibility on the street, not where it matters." I hoped to Christ that was true. I had enough to worry about with the Board members of my legit business breathing down my neck. Cynthia had been running her mouth again about how I was not