Avery’s phone continued to ring, going straight to voicemail. Pausing, I gave Jackson’s number a try. When he didn’t answer, it only confirmed what I already knew. It was the last clue I needed to put this puzzle together.
Jackson was without a doubt not the person I believed him to be. He had been trouble since I met him. But even if I had a lifetime of parenting on my resume, no parent could ever be prepared for something as big as this.
My mind ran a mile a minute with every worst-case scenario. And the more time that passed without being able to get ahold of her, I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Avery.
After leaving the RV park,getting to Spencer’s penthouse was the only thing taking up space in my mind. Everything that Jax said hadn’t really hit me yet. For years now, I’d been dealing with him and his dickish behavior.
It was routine at this point.
It was only as of lately, when I started paying him extra, that he increased his asshole tendencies. Once he could feel the official end of us coming, he dialed up the nasty texts, the random visits to where I lived, and made the creeping feeling of his presence known.
He claimed he didn’t want me in his life. That I was a bother and a cock block. That I was only good for sex—and apparently, money—but now, that was all over. He’d been paid and he was having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that he couldn’t use me as his toy anymore.
The RV park was only a mile or so off the Strip, and I used the extra steps to clear my head before getting to Spencer. I didn’t want to risk being a total mess when I saw him.
With it being the tail end of summer in late September, the heat was still brutal. I ditched the outdoors and made my way through the connected casinos to cool off.
The relief from the air conditioning and knowing I was only one building over from Spencer’s stirred up flutters in my stomach I hadn’t felt before. Every step closer, I swore I could smell his musky scent—even through the cigarette smoke that filled the casino.
I imagined walking through the elevator doors, Spencer wrapping me up in his strong embrace, and all my problems from the day melting away with his touch alone.
As I shifted my bag to my other shoulder, I’d accidentally bumped into the person walking the opposite direction. “Oh! I’m so sor—” I cut myself off as a pair of haunting brown eyes looked back into mine.
“What are the fucking odds?” Jax latched his hand around my arm.
“Jax, let go of me.” My voice cracked when I tried to pull my arm from his grip.
I’d spent my entire walk here shaking off the remnants of how Jax made me feel. My mood was finally starting to shift from feeling at an all-time low, to walking on sunshine. I flipped from thinking about all of the degrading thoughts he drilled into my head, to a whirlwind of praise and admiration that Spencer never went a day without giving to me. When I felt my lowest, I always had Spencer’s words to fall back on. Fast forward to now, for all of that to be shut down the moment Jax made himself present.
“Nah. It’s about time we talked about why you’ve been fucking my dad to pay me off.”
Dad?
Blood drained from my face and my jaw popped open.
Had his dad paid me one night when I was escorting? How did he know?
“Let go of me, you fucking stalker,” I spat, trying once more to wiggle free.
“Tsk, tsk, Avery. Here I thought you would try to deny it.” His voice had that evil, condescending tone that seemed to be more permanent these days.
Jax continued to pull me through the casino, his grip tightening around my arm with every step. And that’s when it hit me.
Jackson Russo? I shook my head because, no—that was wrong.
He didn’t grow up as Jackson Russo. He never knew his dad, so he shared his last name with his mother.
For as long as I’d known him, since we were just kids, he went by Jax. Kids at school, his mom, teachers, everyone referred to him as Jax. Obviously, I’d known his name was Jackson; I even shared that bit of information with Spencer. But what were the fucking odds thathis Jacksonandmy Jacksonwere the same person? Out of all the Jackson’s in the world it seemed damn near impossible … yet here we were.
As we road tripped from California to Vegas, Jax told me how eager he was to hopefully meet his father once we moved to Vegas. But that was so fucking long ago…
Could it really be Spencer?
How the fuck had it all not clicked until this very moment?
Our relationship only lasted three months once we moved here. When shit went down with the video, and him cheating on me, I had to spend years being an escort, trying my best to block everything out that tied back to Jax. I never even thought about him finally meeting his dad. I didn’t care.
But it was all making sense now.
