Shatter Me (The Jaded Series, #1) (21 page)

“No.”

“I won’t tell you about her. It’s not my place. He’ll tell you about her when he’s ready. But know this, Jaxon has a lot of pull in this town. You don’t give him the credit he deserves.”

I look at her and see sorrow in her eyes. Now, I’m curious as to what the story is behind this Kaylee person.

“He told me about your dad. I’m really sorry.” I tell her softly.

The sorrow that I saw a minute ago is quickly replaced by anger. The transformation is stunning. I swear I won’t be surprised if I see snakes popping out all over her head. Obviously, and with good reason, the subject of her dad is very touchy and still enrages her.

“That son of a bitch can burn in the deepest bowels of hell for all I care. And he can take that skank with him. Yes, it hurt Mia and I but it almost destroyed Jaxon what those two did. It changed him, made him jaded. Since that bitch did what she did he never stayed with any one woman more than a week or two. Until you. You bring out the protective, caring, and vulnerable side in him. He cares for you deeply, Bailey. Please don’t hurt him.” By the time she ends her rant the heat has left her eyes. Now, all I see is earnestness, like she begging me. She has no idea that I would give almost anything to not hurt Jaxon.

Not knowing what to say I just nod my head.

Anna watches me like she’s trying to gauge my reaction to her request. I hold her stare and after another minute she must like what she sees because she gives me a megawatt smile.

“Alrighty, enough with the heavy. I’ve decided that this is the outfit that I’m going to wear to rock Nick’s world.” She holds up the black nightie with the Rhine Stones.

“He won’t know what hit him.” I smile back at her.

“I’m going to go pay and then we’ll stop and get some ice cream before we head back! Are you sure you don’t want to get anything in here?”

I mentally shudder at the thought of wearing any of these outfits. “No, I’m good. You go pay.”

She turns around and bounces off the only way Anna can bounce. I chuckle at her excitement to get back to Nick and ‘rock his world’.

My laugh soon dies when I think about what Anna has told me today. As much as I don’t want to hurt Jaxon I know that eventually I will. I don’t know how deep his feelings for me run but for some reason both Anna and Andrew think that his feelings are pretty strong. If what they say is true when I leave, it’s bound to hurt him. I may not be aborting his baby, I swallow at the thought, or leaving with another man, much less his father, but I know that it’ll hurt regardless.

Of course, it’s going to almost kill
me
to leave him. I don’t know if what I’m feeling for him is love or not, my experience in that department is seriously lacking, but I do know that what I’m feeling is so much more than I’ve ever felt before. Even the thought of leaving sends a sharp pain in the area where my heart is.

––––––––

I
am a total wreck. Today is the day that I meet Jaxon’s mom. From what I gathered I know that Anna, Nick, and Mia will be there. His gram couldn’t make it because she’s needed at the diner. He said that his aunt, uncle, and cousins might be stopping by as well. I don’t know if it’s normal for his aunt, uncle, and cousins to attend the family dinners every week or if it’s because Jaxon has never brought any girls there before, except Cara of course. Either way just knowing that I’m going to meet his mom is making me jittery.

What does someone wear to things like this? Steven’s parents were both dead when we met and he had no other family. This is new for territory to me. Of course, my clothing selection is very limited and what I do have is nothing to write home about. My wardrobe consists of mostly jeans and t-shirts. Not very impressive.
Ugh!
I knew I should have bought something at the mall the other day!

Here’s another problem. How do I wear my hair? Should I leave it down to try and hide my scar? Or do I pull it back like I want to and not hide who I am? I don’t see Jaxon letting me get away with keeping it down. For some reason, he likes it when I pull it back, which I find slightly weird because my scar is hideous. I decide to pull it back. No sense in pretending to be someone I’m not.

With that decision made I walk to my closet and riffle through my clothes. Jeans, jeans, and more jeans. Just before I start pulling my hair out at my lack of finding something appropriate I hear a knock on my door.

After checking the peephole, I pull it open to see a smiling Anna on the other side. In her hands, she has two small duffle bags.

I frown at her and ask, “Are you moving in?”

She gives off a laugh and walks pass me straight to my room. By the time I walk in she’s set the two bags down and has already opened them, pulling out several pieces of clothing.

“Nope, I’ve come to save the day. I know you don’t have anything besides jeans and t-shirts. I also know you would be freaking out right about now because all you have is jeans and t-shirts. I know you’re nervous about meeting our mom and will want to try and impress her, which is totally unnecessary. But hey, we’re girls and it’s in our nature. Sooo...I’ve come bearing gifts! My clothes. Now, all we have to do is choose what you want to wear.”

By the time she gets done with her little speech she has all the clothes strewn across my bed. There’re bright colored dresses and skirts, blouses, and slacks in one bag. In the other are several pairs of shoes. Luckily, we both wear the same size shoes and are close in height and weight.

I’ve never had a girlfriend that I can share clothes with. Well, I had Chris but she’s a little taller and slimmer than me so we weren’t really able to wear each other’s clothes.

This is strange but nice.

I quickly grab Anna and give her a hug. “Thank you,” I say into her hair before pulling away. “I know it’s ridiculous but I really want your mom to like me. I’ve never had dinner with a guy’s family before. I’m so screwed up and I don’t want to give her anymore reason not to like me.”

She looks at me tenderly and rubs my back. “My mom is going to love you, Bailey. You’re crazy to think she won’t. There’s so much more to you than all the bad that’s happened.”

Her words touch something deep inside me. How did I get so lucky to stumble across this town and meet these amazing people? The longer I stay, the harder it’s going to get when I have to leave. Can I take a chance and stay? Can I stay even if Steven finds me? Can I be strong enough and fight against him? I know that it will be worth the risk of him finding me. The only thing holding me back is the possibility of Jaxon or anyone else getting hurt.

Anna interrupts my thoughts when she claps loudly and says, “Okay, let’s get started!”

In the end, we decide on an ankle length flowing violet skirt and a lime green off the shoulder blouse, with a white tank underneath. My shoes are an off-white pair of ballet shoes. I was worried that I would be too bright and colorful, but Anna insisted that it was perfect.

As I stand in front of the mirror, I have to admit she was right. I’m enthralled at how pretty I look. I compromised with myself on my hair. I left it down but pulled both sides back with clips.

I decide to put in a quick call to Chris before Jaxon is due to be here. We don’t talk long, just update each other on what’s happened since the last time we talked. I tell her about my impending visit to meet Jaxon’s mom. Of course, I don’t tell her it’s because Jaxon wants me too meet her, instead I say it was Anna’s idea. I still haven’t told her much about Jaxon and the guilt weighs on me. I hate keeping secrets from her.

A few minutes after I hang up with Chris, Jaxon knocks on my door and I grab my purse. He’s picking me up and we’re both heading to his mom’s house.

When I open the door, I’m struck dumb again by how good he looks. Tonight he’s wearing a pair of low slung hip hugging jeans, sans holes this time, and a dark green button up shirt. The sleeves are rolled up, revealing his colorful arms. His jet black hair is once again a sexy mess. He truly is a sight to behold.

We both stand there quietly in the entryway taking each other in. Jaxon is the first to break the silence. He takes a step through the door and grabs my hand, bringing the palm of it to his lips for a kiss.

“You look absolutely beautiful, Angel.” He says softly while gazing into my eyes.

I smile at him and respond with, “You look quite handsome yourself, Jaxon.”

He gently tugs me to him and wraps his arms around me. When he leans his head down for a kiss, I reach up on tippy toes to meet him halfway. The second his lips and tongue touch mine I feel the flutters in my stomach and the thought of meeting his mom drift away. This man does that to me. He makes me feel relaxed and okay with the world.

I drop my purse and throw my arms around his neck to pull him closer to me. One of his hands travels down my back to rest right above my butt while the other goes into my hair and grips it lightly.

After several more minutes of our greeting, we slowly pull apart. Jaxon rests his forehead against mine.

“We gotta go. Mama is waiting for us. She’s anxious to me you.”

At the reminder, the butterflies make their way back into my stomach. Jaxon must notice because he cups my face and sweeps his thumb across my cheek.

“Hey, it’ll be okay, I promise.”

I take a deep breath and nod. Jaxon reaches down to grab my purse and hands it back to me. After grabbing my hand and taking my keys from me we walk out the door and he locks it.

Instead of the motorcycle that I expected to see we walk up to a big black truck. He opens the door and helps me climb inside. I secure my seatbelt while he walks around and gets in.

The drive to his mom’s house takes about ten minutes. I have to say that ten minutes is not long enough for me to get control of the nerves racking my body.

The house that we pull up to is not what I expected. Many of the houses that are in the area are big two story houses. The one we pull up to isn’t exactly small, but then again, it is compared to what I’ve seen so far.

It’s a light blue, almost white, with a front porch that runs the length of the front and one side. There’s a nice little porch swing at one end that also has two rocking chairs with a small table between them. It’s all very homey.

When Jaxon leads me up the stairs, the front door opens and a small petite woman steps outside. Her hair consists mostly of gray but I can tell it used to be a sandy blonde color. It’s swept up off her face in a messy bun in the back. I immediately know this is Jaxon’s mom. Not because they look alike but because she has the exact same eyes as Jaxon. Eyes that are watching me with open curiosity and adoration.

Jaxon lets go of my hand and envelopes her in a hug. She smacks her lips against his cheek and the sound brings a smile to my lips.

After they release each other Jaxon steps to the side and gestures for me to step forward. As soon as I do I’m wrapped in a warm embrace that smells like cinnamon cookies. I’m stunned at first but then wrap my arms around Jaxon’s mom and soak in the warmth and sweet smell. Then I feel soft lips on my cheek, right over my scar, and hear a loud smack.

I can’t help but release a little giggle at the smack.

We step apart from each other and with a smile Jaxon puts his arm around my waist.

“Bailey, I’d like you to meet my mom, Lillian. Mama, this is Bailey.”

“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” I greet her.

“Oh no, sugar, you call me Lilly or Mama. And I am so very excited to finally meet you.” She grabs my hand and pulls me away from Jaxon and leads me inside. “If I know my Jaxon then I would say he’s very hungry. That boy nearly ate me out of house and home when he was little. Dinner is almost ready.”

I hear a chuckle behind me and that says Jaxon is right behind us. I’m so overwhelmed and surprised by Lilly’s immediately acceptance of me that I willingly let her pull me along until we reach the kitchen.

The kitchen is just like I would have imagined a kitchen to look like if I had a normal happy family. It’s big. There’s a wooden table that seats six people. Next to it is a smaller table that looks to be for kids. All the appliances are stainless steel. Above the sink is a big planter window that holds a few small plants. Through the window, I can see a couple small children playing on a swing set.

Standing in front of the island is Anna smashing something in a bowl and Mia tossing a salad.

“Hey, Anna and Mia.” I greet them.

Anna drops whatever she is smashing and runs over to give me a hug. “I told you everything will be okay.” She whispers in my ear before stepping away again.

Mia looks over at me and quirks up her lips. “Hey, Bailey.”

I turn my head around and see Jaxon leaning against the doorway watching me. The expression on his face is content, like he enjoys seeing me in his mom’s kitchen.

I look to Lilly, who is grabbing a pitcher of tea out of the fridge. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Actually, if you wouldn’t mind you can set the table for me please.” She points to a stack of dishes sitting off to the side. I grab them and start laying them out on the table. There are three plastic plates and spoons for the kids and I set them down on the smaller table.