Relentless (Relentless #1)

by Alyson Reynolds

  Jaxon looked a little shell shocked. “I was, but you were there with Scott. I didn’t think you remembered.”

  “You almost came over to talk to me, but he walked back up before you could work up the nerve. I remember the look in your eyes.”

  Jaxon looked uncomfortable as he looked over at Scott, “That’s right. I left right after I saw him walk up to you and put his arm around your waist. I was frustrated because I thought you were there alone. Why are you asking about this now?”

  “I just remembered. It was the way you were holding your glass I think. At the cast party I kept thinking you looked so familiar, but I couldn’t place where I recognized you from.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay, love?”

  “That night I felt like I missed something important. Now I don’t have to worry about it; I finally found you.” I cupped his face with my hands and put my forehead to his. “I wanted to meet you that night. There was a pull between us I didn’t understand.”

  When I looked up, I realized that Scott had silently slipped out the backdoor. He gave us this moment. Maybe he felt like he had robbed us of that time together? He had cheated on me less than a week later. I’ll never know what he was thinking because all I was focused on was the beautiful emerald green of Jaxon’s eyes as he leaned down to kiss me.

  Biting my lip, I grabbed the door handle and looked out over the ocean before walking outside. Jaxon was supposed to be coming back soon. I reached back and grabbed the single calla lily sitting on the table. My feet sank into the sand as I walked down to where the tide was coming in. The ocean always calmed me, and my fluttering stomach could use some calm right about now.

  Two figures walked up from the distance and one had a familiar silhouette. The other I didn’t recognize, but I assumed it was the friend that Jaxon had told me about. He looked to be around the same age as Jax. He also had the same tanned, muscular, surfer body, so it was safe to assume this was Jaxon’s friend. John looked as comfortable as Jax and I did walking on the beach barefoot. We had both spent most of our time growing up on a beach somewhere in the world.

  Jaxon looked sexy in his lightweight khaki pants and white long sleeve button up shirt. His sleeves were rolled up just above his elbows and the sight of his forearms made me drool. Pregnancy hormones had taken over my body, and Jax didn’t mind one bit. My jaw went slack as the wind molded his loose clothes against his body. It was time to focus on what was going on in front of me, not mentally stripping the sexy man standing next to me.

  My long dress was blowing in the breeze coming off the ocean. The ivory lace stood out in stark comparison to the dark, damp sand around me. A beautiful smile covered Jaxon’s face as he looked up and saw me waiting for him. His step faltered as my dress came into view. As he joined me, I saw tears glistening in his striking emerald eyes.

  “You look amazing, love.”

  “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

  I reached out and took his hand in mine. He squeezed my fingers once and turned to his friend.

  “Violet, this is John. I’ve known him my whole life. We grew up together back in Australia. He’s been one of the only people I’ve ever been able to tell everything in my life. Besides Connor, he’s my best friend.”

  I read between the lines. What Jaxon was trying to tell me was that we could trust John with our secrets. It would be quite a relief to not have to watch what we said around him, or make sure I was sucking my stomach in at all times.

  Over the past few months, Jaxon and I had talked and argued several times about marriage after we found out I was pregnant. It didn’t matter to me if we were married or not, but Jax was surprisingly traditional when it came to certain aspects of our relationship. He wanted us to share a last name and he didn’t want his son or daughter to be born out of wedlock. We had agreed that if we got married, I would continue working under my maiden name, but in matters that counted I would be his. I was struck by his fierce determination to get me to agree to marry him.

  We lay in bed the morning after helping Stephen and Taylor move, wrapped up in each other’s arms, and he looked over at me and asked me to marry him again. He had already asked me several times, some jokingly, some not, but this time was different. At first I thought I had misunderstood him, but he leaned me back on the bed and reached into the nightstand. Jaxon looked deep into my eyes, and asked if I would marry him again. Confusion pulled at my brows, because I couldn’t figure out how long he had been hiding that ring in our bedroom. Of course that was what I needed to be most concerned about right at that moment.

  When I realized Jaxon was the man I missed meeting two years ago, it completely changed my outlook on our relationship. I never wanted to miss a second with this man again.

  “We’ve talked about this and I don’t want to get married just because I’m pregnant.”

  “I’m not asking because you’re pregnant, love. I want to take care of you and I want the three of us to be a family. It’s happening faster than we planned, but that’s not a bad thing. When we get married I don’t want it to be some media circus. Hell Violet, we won’t be able to escape the press as soon as our relationship breaks. I want this to be for us.”

  “Jaxon, we will be a family regardless of if you and I get married or not. I love you and I want to get married, but why is this so important to you now?”

  Jaxon shrugged. “It would have been important to my dad.”

  My heart broke. We didn’t speak about his father often, but I knew he missed him and thought of him every day.

  “Yes.”

  “Yes?”

  “As long as you are asking because you want to get married, and because you love me.”

  “I love you more than life itself, Violet. Please marry me?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Within a week Jaxon had our wedding planned. He told me he would take care of everything and I wasn’t about to argue. The only thing I requested was that it just be us. I wanted something to bond us together because I felt robbed of the time we should have had the pregnancy to ourselves. We would tell our family and friends in a few weeks when everything was settled, but it was important to me that we were able to keep this secret.

  The sun cast dazzling pinks and oranges across the sky as it lowered to the horizon. We walked closer to the water and turned to face one another. This section of beach wasn’t well known by tourists and it was private property. Jaxon was certain we wouldn’t be discovered while we exchanged vows. Our vows were beautiful and his words were my undoing. This man was perfect for me, but underneath it all I was still scared to death to get married again.

  We stared into each other’s eyes as John pronounced us husband and wife. Jax noticed a couple off in the distance and he ran over with our marriage certificate clutched in his hand. John and I watched as the man and woman signed the paper. Our witnesses. Jax shook their hands and started back with a proud expression on his face.

  “You’ve got to admit, he’s resourceful. I also think he doesn’t want to give you a way out of this marriage,” John said winking at me. “Jaxon loves you, I hope you know that. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him this happy.”

  My cheeks flushed. Jax looked at us questioningly as he joined us again. I shook my head as a smirking John took the paper from Jaxon. He told us he would file the certificate first thing in the morning. Lucky for us, John would help keep everything as quiet as possible. The men made plans to meet up soon, and with a hug and kiss on the cheek for me John left. We stood in the sand at the bottom of our deck, staring at one another and grinning like fools.

  My head rested on Jaxon’s chest listening to his heart beat in his chest. Our legs were intertwined and his fingers were playing in my hair. Every few minutes he would run his hand down to my tiny bump. We had the window open, and the sound of the ocean filtered through to our room. It was a rare day that we were both off work and had the opportunity to just lounge around in bed all day, enjoying the peace and quiet
. I thought Jax had drifted off to sleep, but he opened one eye and tilted his head at me. “Would you choose Greyson or Brandon if you were Harper?”

  “I’m supposed to say Brandon, but it would always be Greyson for me. I was so torn the first time I read the book. It was obvious that Harper had screwed up when she didn’t give Greyson the opportunity to prove himself to her. She never gave herself the chance to let Greyson prove his love for her. Harper pushed him away until he was gone forever and I hated that for them.”

  Jaxon kissed my forehead and settled his chin on my head, seemingly satisfied with my answer. I grinned. “Was that a test Jaxon Garrett?”

  “Of course not, but you passed with flying colors.”

  His deep chuckle filled my ears. I reached up and patted his chest while I giggled.

  “You terrify me in the best way possible, Violet.” I gave him a look and he chuckled before continuing. “You push every boundary I’ve ever put up and I don’t even mind. I’m so head over heels for you I would do anything you asked me. Finding out about the baby was the best thing that ever happened because it let me open myself up to loving you.”

  I swallowed around the lump in my throat. Jax always seemed to take my breath away when I least expected it. With him it was never a matter of if I fell for him, it was a matter of when.

  We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the baby and what we wanted for our future. My fingers traced the outlines of his tattoos and occasionally he would reach over and run his fingers over my ring. It was amazing to spend the entire day wrapped up in each other.

  Weeks turned into months as filming continued. My scenes with Jax changed to scenes with Gage. The guys were all taking care of me and being overprotective as usual. Jax was never far from me while we were on set. He was so attentive and affectionate. I had insane pregnancy cravings for anything and everything apple and he was constantly on the run to get me whatever I wanted at that moment.

  Stephen was still being weird. My pregnancy had thrown him for a loop and he was having a hard time figuring out how he fit into my life now. It was killing me because I missed my best friend. No matter what I said, he still pulled away from me.

  Although Jaxon and I had originally said we would only keep the marriage a secret for a few weeks, it had been almost two months. We were torn about telling our friends and family because we wanted to have this secret just between the two of us. It felt like us against the world. We never got the chance to keep the baby a secret, so this secret brought us closer together.

  No one else had found out about the baby, and everyone that knew was keeping quiet on the subject. I was a little more than four months along and luckily I still wasn’t showing. We needed to decide soon if we wanted to find out the sex of the baby. I was positive I didn’t want to know, but Jax was torn if he wanted to find out or not. He didn’t want to admit it, but I was sure I would get my way when it came time to find out.

  I almost passed out when we filmed the scene for the death of Jaxon’s character. The fake blood and scene of the accident freaked me out. Jax couldn’t say or do anything to make me feel better. His character had to die, and no amount of begging would change the script.

  Everything felt like an out of body experience that entire day. The mangled truck and blood looked so real I could easily imagine him being in a fatal car accident. The image of firemen dragging his lifeless body from the vehicle wouldn’t leave my head. Watching as his limp body hung over the steering wheel was what finally pushed me over the edge. Another sob overtook me and a scream ripped from my throat; from that point I wasn’t acting.

  It was terrifying to believe that I could lose Jaxon forever, just like Harper had lost the love of her life.

  Thank goodness Alexis was visiting the set, otherwise they would have sedated me. After they called the scene I couldn’t stop crying and shaking. My panic attack scared everyone, myself included. They all looked worried about me, but I couldn’t say anything to reassure them I was okay because I wasn’t.

  It took forever for Jaxon to be released from the stretcher so he was able to come over and convince me he was okay. I’m sure it was only a minute or two before they had him off, but when you keep seeing your husband dying over and over in your head, that’s a really damn long time to wait. Jaxon held me in his arms and softly stroked my hair to calm me down. He whispered over and over to me that everything was okay and he was fine, but the sight of the red, sticky fake blood had me crying all over again.

  Eventually Jax had to go shower, but he waited until he was so uncomfortable in the sticky concoction that he couldn’t stand it. When Jaxon stood up to leave he handed me off to Stephen. He looked so torn; he didn’t know if making me stay with Stephen or making me go with him was the better option. Stephen told him to go and that he and Lexi would help get me cleaned up. They all knew it would help calm me down when the blood was gone.

  Lexi drove us back to the beach house so I was able sit with Jaxon in the back seat on the way home. The further away from the set we drove, the better I felt. Stephen sat in the front seat with Lexi and he kept shooting concerned looks over his shoulder at me. He finally asked, “Are you going to be okay, Vi? You had everyone freaked out by the way you reacted. The director called off shooting for the rest of the day because he was so thrown by your reaction.”

  I squeezed Stephen’s hand and nodded. Taking a deep breath I looked at Jax, “I never want to see that edited scene. Don’t ever let me see it again, please. Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones that set me off, but I don’t want to find out. Please,” I begged. My voice was frantic and I sounded seconds away from another panic attack.

  “I promise, love. I’ll do everything in my power to keep you from ever seeing it again.”

  My body shuddered against his chest and he wrapped his arms around me. The rest of the drive was quiet. I fell asleep sometime during the last few minutes of the short drive. Jaxon carried me in the house and laid me down on our bed so I could rest. I felt his lips brush my forehead, but I was too exhausted to get up. Right before I fell asleep, I realized Jaxon and the baby had become my whole life.

  If anything ever happened to them I would never be the same. I didn’t have two great loves in my life, there was only Jaxon. The years I spent with Aaron didn’t compare to my feelings for Jaxon. Somehow he had managed to get into my heart and place himself right in the center of it.

  Amanda and Taylorpacked a huge picnic basket full of food for our lunch. I was supposed to be helping, but I was watching instead. Stephen, Gage, and Jaxon left early that morning to go surfing, and we wanted to meet up with them and have lunch. Jaxon had already text me once saying they were starving and to bring as much food as possible.

  We all had the day off from shooting while the crew looked over the film, so we thought a day at the beach sounded fun. It would be the last time for a while I would be strutting around in a bikini. My bump was finally looking like a bump and not an extra ten pounds.

  “Make sure you get the apples in there Amanda, or Vi might go ballistic,” Taylor joked. Amanda smiled, but threw two more apples into the basket for good measure.

  “Taylor, just so you know, I’ll be telling your niece or nephew what a bitch you are. You won’t get a free pass.”

  “You love me.”

  She blew a kiss in my direction and I flipped her off. Amanda shook her head and laughed at us as she closed up the basket.

  Scanning the beach for the guys, I looked over and saw them surrounded by five teenage girls. I giggled because the guys looked so uncomfortable with the jailbait hanging around them. Even from the distance I could tell they wanted to run. Three hot movie stars hanging out at the beach was just asking for trouble. Amanda and Taylor followed my gaze and joined in laughing at their misery. Stephen shot us a death stare from across the beach and it made me laugh even harder.

  “Come on, let’s go save them,” I said through my giggles. We crossed the beach and when the guys saw us they b
olted from the little girls. Jaxon was signing something for one of them, but I could tell he was just as thankful for the intervention as Stephen and Gage had been. Grabbing his arm, I pulled him over to where Amanda and Taylor set up camp. As we walked up, I made the mistake of making eye contact with Amanda and we collapsed in giggles all over again.

  “You guys have to admit, you were terrified of those teeny boppers.” I clutched my stomach as I laughed. Jax lifted me up over his shoulder and carried me into the freezing water. I screeched and laughed even harder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gage throw Amanda over his shoulder and follow Jaxon’s lead. Taylor had a head start, but Stephen caught her easily and soon we were all splashing around in the water.

  After our water fight we lounged around in the sand. I leaned back into Jaxon’s chest and watched Stephen try to teach Taylor to surf for the millionth time. He had been trying since she was eight, but the girl was hopeless. They seemed a little more flirty than normal. Stephen had always had a crush on Taylor, not that he would ever admit it. It was nice to see them hanging out and having fun. The afternoon was calm and relaxing, definitely something we all needed.

  Jaxon brushed his fingers along the top of my bikini bottoms. The movement was driving me nuts and he knew it. I shot him a look because if anyone paid attention they would definitely notice my bump. He smirked and kissed my neck, but his hand continued the movement, ignoring my warning. Two could play this game; he was toast when we got back to the house.

  The longer we kept our marriage a secret, the worse I felt, but selfishly I still wanted that time for just the two of us. Sharing the secret made us feel closer. Jaxon and I constantly talked about how we would tell everyone, but each idea was as absurd as the next. We’d made our marriage a huge secret, when all we wanted was a few weeks of peace in the beginning. As soon as the tabloids found out, we wouldn’t be left alone for months. If the news of my pregnancy came out at the same time, we accepted it would be epically bad. Panic crept in each time I thought about what might happen.