“I don’t know, I swear to you, man,” Brody insisted, looking confused, an unfamiliar characteristic for his ruthless agent. He watched Brody mentally review the events in his head.
“Then who did?” he asked, his patience now shot. Somebody got a hold of those papers and somebody had them sent to Liv.
“The only people who have access to my office is the cleaning crew at night and-” Brody paused, looking back at him. It was as if he could read his mind.
“Vanessa.”
Jax saw red. This crossed the line. He knew when Brody told him that Vanessa was interning with him because she was “interested in the sports agent business” that it was a crock of shit and he should have made Brody choose right then, him or Vanessa.
“Where is she?” Jax growled, opening the glass office door. He hadn’t seen her when he stormed in, but he would find her.
Following him out the door, Brody called after him. “She said she was going to visit her father.”
It was all Jax heard as he headed down the hall, storming into the elevator. Pounding the buttons to the top floor, he resisted the urge to pound the metal door as it closed. Vanessa had done it again. She wasn’t scared of him and took his threats with a grain of salt, so he needed to pull the carpet out from under her the only way he knew how.
Through her father.
As far as fathers went, Simon Flynn wasn’t a very good one. Jax had distinctly remembered Vanessa admitting to having issues in her relationship with him. Simon Flynn was a fair man to work for as far as he had experienced, but Jax had also been more than fair with Vanessa’s behavior, making allowances because she was his boss’s daughter and he was afraid of getting traded and making Liv and the girls leave Charleston.
Feeling as if fire was coming from his head, he opened the thick glass door, almost ripping off the chrome handle.
“Mr. Monaghan.” Helen, Flynn’s secretary stood up quickly.
“Where is Flynn?” he barked, walking past her desk.
“Umm,” Helen stuttered, following him towards the back office door. “Mr. Monaghan, you can’t just-“
Charging into the office with a frantic Helen at his heels, he watched as two pairs of eyes stared back at him.
“Monaghan?” Flynn asked, looking up from his computer. Jax’s eyes darted beside him as Vanessa stood up taller from behind the wide desk smiling as if she hadn’t just tried to take his wife away from him…again.
“You,” he seethed, storming towards her stopping inches from her face, her smile quickly slipping. He wanted to scream. Why was she doing this? Why wouldn’t she just leave him alone?
“You did this,” he growled, looking down into her hollow face looking for any sign of remorse, but he knew better.
“Jax, sweetheart?” she asked, touching his arm gently, only agitating him further. “What is wrong? You’re so upset.”
“You sent Liv those divorce papers!” he yelled, realizing how ridiculous he sounded. “You stole them from Brody’s office and you had them sent!” he shook his head in disgust. “Leave me and my family alone,” he screamed, seeing Brody out of the corner of his eye walk into the office coming to a halt. He had been so wild once he learned it was Vanessa that he forgot to wait long enough for him to catch up.
“Monaghan!” Flynn stood, coming around his desk, his eyes narrowing on him. “You watch your tone and remember who you’re speaking to,” he said, standing between him and Vanessa who were now in a stare down.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Vanessa blinked back at him.
Closing his eyes he dropped his head. He was tired of this. Tired of her causing so many problems and then playing dumb when he confronted her. She had driven him to this point and he was done watching his actions.
“You heard her,” Flynn interrupted, wrapping his arm around his daughter. “She has no idea what you’re talking about.” He stood taller, the well-groomed older gentleman had no height and strength on Jax, but he was challenging him to take it further. Shifting his eyes to the doorway, he found Brody fidgeting nervously with his cell phone. Flynn had Brody by the balls, but in order to prove that he was right in his accusations, he needed Brody to confirm what happened. But for the first time since they began doing business together, he wasn’t so sure that Brody would have his back.
Shifting his weight back and forth, Brody cleared his throat looking at Vanessa because he was too much of a coward to look at Flynn.
“Private and confidential papers were taken from my office,” Brody said carefully, looking between them.
“And you think I took them?” Vanessa asked, pointing to herself as if an innocent bystander. The woman was the worst actress; she would never have made it in Hollywood.
“The only person who has access to my office,” Brody cleared his throat again, “is Vanessa.”
“This is insane.” She rolled her eyes. “I would never do that,” she said, her eyebrows drawing together and if he remembered accurately, the fake tears would begin shortly.
“Yes, you would,” he scoffed in disgust, beginning to pace. Although it didn’t matter if Vanessa admitted to sending the papers or not, it wouldn’t erase what happened. Erase the fact that Liv now knew he had contemplated leaving her for good.
“If she said she didn’t do it, Jax,” Flynn interrupted. “Then she didn’t do it.”
Standing beside his daughter, Flynn dared him to continue his accusations, but he was done playing nice guy. This was his family she was screwing with. His life.
“It’s bullshit,” he yelled, causing everyone in the room to jump. “I let it go when she broke into my house and I had them give you a slap on the wrist when she set me up with the photographer,” he continued, his chest heaving up and down. “I’m done!”
“Jax, buddy,” Brody said, taking a step towards him. The way he was feeling about his agent at the moment, it would have been in Brody’s best interest to not take a single step closer. “Why don’t we just calm down a bit.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Jax growled, his nostrils flaring. Holding his hand out to stop Brody in his place.
“I’m only going to say this one more time to you so you had better listen,” Jax seethed between his teeth, stepping closer to Vanessa. Putting his hand up on Jax’s chest, Flynn stopped him from getting any closer.
“You stay away from me. You stay away from my girls. And you sure as hell stay away from my wife.” he screamed the last sentence, his voice bouncing off the walls of the glass office. For the first time since he met her, Vanessa actually seemed nervous.
“Monaghan,” Flynn threatened, stepping in front of Vanessa. “Don’t force me to do something that you will regret.”
Flynn was the only one who had the power to single handedly destroy Jax’s career with the Mavericks. Franchise player didn’t mean shit when the owner wanted you gone, finding any reason to keep him on the bench before bringing up some hungry rookie looking to replace him.
“Don’t threaten me, Flynn.” He didn’t care what he had to say. Not anymore. He wanted Vanessa far away from his family.
“It’s not a threat,” Flynn raised his eyebrow. “You can leave now. I think you said what you needed to say,” he pointed to the door past Brody and a very nervous Helen.
Watching him a moment, he could tell Flynn was serious. But so was he. Looking at Brody who nodded in agreement, he could see he was on his own. Nobody was going to believe him that Vanessa was going to do whatever she had to do to destroy him until he agreed to be with her again. Inching closer, Flynn stopped him in front of a now crying Vanessa. Yep, the fake tears.
“We will never be together again,” Jax stared into her glossy eyes. “Never,” he yelled, causing her to jump. “I love Liv,” he said unwavering, “Until the last breath I take, I will love her.”
Holding her gaze a moment, he watched the pitiful fake crying shift to anger. Career or no career, Mavericks or no Mavericks, he was not going to allow this woman to
destroy his family.
“You need to get her professional help,” he said pointing the papers at Flynn.
Without another word he turned towards the office door.
“I’m sorry, Helen,” he said, passing by the poor woman he knew he scared half to death.
Closing his eyes, he pushed the elevator door pulling out his phone hoping to see a missed call or a text message response to all the calls and texts that he had sent Liv since she stormed out of the house.
But nothing.
Vanessa was a problem and the cause of all of this, but he was also mad as hell at how Liv just shut him out. She didn’t even let him explain. He had worked like hell to make things between them better and now he was right back where he started. As painful as it was walking away the first time, he found some solace in it because he thought at the time, it was what was best. But now, there was no comfort. Liv was shutting him out and the hole in his chest seemed to be growing wider with each floor he passed on the elevator.
He couldn’t lose her.
Not like this.
Not again.
19
“Have a good day, munchkins.” Alivia bent down stealing quick kisses and hugs from each of the girls before they ran off onto the playground with a few other children.
Thanking their teacher, she handed over their book bags and watched them another minute. Gaining the energy to even walk back to the car, she selfishly wanted to keep the girls home from school. And that scared her. She needed to be tough. To keep herself from falling apart like she had done last year. But all she really wanted to do was stay in bed and hold them in her arms just as she had the night before, allowing their sweet chatter to drown out the constant reminder that she was played like a fool by their daddy. She refused to sleep in her bed. It held too many memories of laying with Jax, listening to his heartbeat underneath her ear as she rested against his chest when he fell asleep first, laughing over jokes only they would understand and the lovemaking.
All the gosh darn lovemaking.
So she did what any mother who was avoiding her bed would do, she convinced the girls, with very little effort, to set up a fort made of every bedsheet, blanket, and pillow they could find in the house. By the time they were finished, the downstairs looked like a castle and they had spent the rest of the night giggling and reading books about ballerinas and baby bears. It was a perfect evening tainted by the enormous hole in her heart that Jax had left behind.
Closing her eyes tight enough she was still able to remember each of the candles flaming around them and the delicate scent all the roses from the night they had celebrated Valentine’s Day. She could still feel the powerful pull between them when she not only forgave him for leaving, but also fell even more in love with him at the most vulnerable she had ever seen him. Walking down the long hallway of parents and children bustling around her, she forced the memory of that night deep down inside. That night had been extraordinarily special to her, one she vowed to never forget, and one she didn’t want to tarnish. As pathetic as it was, she wanted to remember how special that night had been for them. To her.
Getting into her car, she looked down at her phone in the cup holder grabbing it as she eased out of the parking lot. Stopping at the red light, she glanced down watching the screen blaze off text messages, missed calls, and emails. Missed calls from Jax, texts from Chelsea, more missed calls from Jax and a slew of phone calls and desperate emails from Ross. She shouldn’t have avoided her friends, but she wasn’t in the mood to answer all the hard and fast questions she knew would be thrown her way, especially since she hadn’t wrapped her own mind around any of it yet. She also knew she would have to see Jax at some point. She had a feeling that he wasn’t going anywhere that easily this time. Pushing a voicemail message from a number in Georgia, assuming it was Chelsea’s mama, the sounds of Mrs. Shaw’s whispered voice filled her car as she paralleled parked in front of her office.
“Alivia, it’s Mary,” she whispered almost inaudible. “Everything is set for tomorrow and we will see you here at five thirty,” she said, sounding almost excited, but still talking like she was on a CIA mission. “Good-bye darlin’.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle quietly; the woman always had a way of making her laugh, just like her daughter did. Grabbing her bags, she shut the door walking past her office to the coffee shop on the corner of the street. When she had made the decision to fly out and play “super event planner/best friend/matron of honor/wedding saver” it seemed like a good idea at the time, but with the impending intervention a mere twenty-four hours away, she had to wonder if she was in way over her head this time. It also didn’t help any that she wasn’t focused one lick on what she needed to do because every time she closed her eyes she saw Jax.
“The usual, beautiful?” the young barista behind the counter asked, refocusing her attention, reminding her to participate in real life.
“Yes, please,” she smiled politely, pulling out her wallet, giving her card to the cashier.
Glancing down inside her purse, her phone buzzed.
It was Jax.
Again.
The temptation was wearing on her. Every time the phone sat in her hand it felt like it was burning a hole through her palm, watching the picture of him with the girls on the giant slide at the carnival flash across the screen. She needed more time. More time to get herself together and figure out how she was going to, once again, deal with the crumbling of her marriage. Deal with failing her family and living every day without the man she loved so deeply. She would face the heartache and the betrayal head on, but not today. No, today she needed more time to wrestle her feelings because there would be no collapsing on the floor in tears at the thought of living the rest of her life without Jax. There would be no more days spent in bed because she would never feel him against her again and no more going to the dark place because he had abandoned her.
“Here sweetheart,” the barista winked, handing her the coffee carrier.
“Thanks,” she said walking out the door, holding it for an older couple. The woman was using a walker and going very slow, but she didn’t mind. She smiled softly, watching the man beside her, holding her arm, unrushed, not at all annoyed, and with nothing but adoration on his face.
True love.
The kind of love and devotion that no matter what happened in life; sickness or loss, hard times or obstacles, they would overcome it. Together. The kind of love she thought she had with Jax; but she didn’t have that because he had decided to leave…twice.
Making her way under the bright awnings that lined Front Street, she waved to Samantha wrestling with a mannequin in her boutique window front. Saying hello to Max, who opened his door to the hair salon next to Save the Date.
“Mornin’,” Alivia faked a smile, using all of her strength, silently praying that she didn’t have any clients to see throughout the day because she didn’t think she would make it through a single meeting being optimistic or reassuring.
“Morning pretty lady.” Max leaned in to kiss her cheek, grabbing the ends of her hair between his fingers. “Come in later and let me fix ya up,” he said, inspecting her neglected dead ends. Max had been her hairdresser since she moved to Charleston and he knew what she wanted and what she needed before she even sat in the chair.
“Maybe,” she said, sadly opening the glass door to her store.
“Well don’t come cryin’ to me when you got nothin’ but split ends and dry hair.” His brows snapped together. “And don’t you let it get as bad as it did last year,” he pointed his finger, warning her.
“Okay.”
All she wanted to do was lock herself in her office and bury herself elbow deep into the draft party plans just creating and designing until the tape of the past month stopped replaying in her head; or at the very least, paused. She didn’t want to talk to anybody and she didn’t want to be cordial, which was such a foreign feeling for her, a stark difference in how she had felt the past month. But w
alking into the office with six pairs of eyes staring back at her, she knew that just wasn’t going to happen.
“Mornin’,” she said quietly, placing the coffee carrier on Charlotte’s chaotic desk.
“Good mornin’!” Whitney stood from the sofa that sat on the side of the desk, her belly had grown since the last time Alivia had seen her at the beach, fearing she was going to go into early labor.
“Morning.” Ross studied her, an eerie silence falling between the four of them, making her skin crawl.
“What’s doing for today?” Alivia asked like she did every morning to catch everyone up to speed on who was coming and who was going throughout the office and where everyone had to be. Taking a slow sip of her cappuccino, she waited for Charlotte to begin. She knew they wanted to discuss and apologize and comfort her over Jax, and although it was all very sweet, there was no need to because she wasn’t allowing herself to break down no matter how badly her heart felt and how exhausted her mind was from running.
She would be fine this time.
End of story.
“Uh,” Charlotte muttered, fishing through papers and sketches, her bangle bracelets smacking together, creating the only sound inside the office.
“Mrs. Banks wants to come in to discuss a fiftieth birthday party that she is throwing for herself,” Charlotte read from the calendar in front of her. “And the mayor’s nephew and his new fiancée have made an appointment to discuss y’all planning their wedding next spring,” Charlotte finished, handing Alivia their files.
The mayor’s nephew? That was exciting. That certainly would provide her with the distraction she so desperately needed once Chelsea and Trevor were married.
False Start (Mavericks #1) Page 30