He’d find me.
Somehow. Someway.
He stood across the casino floor looking like he was ready to rip his hair out, and when our eyes connected, it only took seconds for his arms to wrap fiercely around me.
“Avery,”I sighed into her hair, laying a firm kiss on her forehead, unable to take my hands off her.
“Spencer. You found me,” she cried into my shoulder.
“I would never let anything happen to you, Bella. Please tell me nothing happened to you.” I held her by the waist, stretching my arms out, so I could examine her from head to toe.
“I-I’m fine. Just rattled.” She shook her head. “Jax … He … He’s Jackson,” she stuttered the truth I didn’t want to admit myself.
Fuck, why did this have to be so messy?
“I know, baby. I just put the pieces together today. We have a lot to catch up on. But first, where the hell is he?” I looked behind her toward the area she had run from.
“I left him in the bathroom...”
The bathroom?
The questions were building up as time went on.
“I need to confront him. Come with me?—”
Her eyes widened.
“Wait … Spence, I need to tell you something.” She tugged on my arm, pulling me back from my mission to face Jackson.
“What is it, Bella? Can it wait?”
“No. I … I sort of got desperate. Being locked in the bathroom with Jax, I didn’t know what else to do…”
“Baby, you aren’t making any sense. What happened in there?” I peeked behind her; Jackson had yet to make his exit.
“The thing is … I had no ideawhatwas going to happen in there. What he planned to do. I had to take control of the situation. I convinced him to take his pants off?—”
“Youwhat?”
What did she mean they were in a bathroom together, and he took off his pants?
“I needed him vulnerable, Spence. Nothing happened. I just made him believe something was going to. But we didn’t kiss. He didn’t touch me. I definitely didnottouch him. The second his pants were around his ankles, I kicked him, weakening him long enough that I could escape.”
Naturally, I winced at the thought. But I trusted Avery. I knew how much she despised him; she would never physically be with him again. Especially after somehow finding out he was my son. She was desperate. And my girl was a fighter.
“Everything is going to be okay. Come on, I won’t let anything happen to you. Promise,” I assured her, nodding my head toward the bathrooms.
“He’s your son.” Avery dipped her head with a saddened expression.
“Honestly, after today, after the last … I don’t even know how fucking long, I don’t know what the hell he is to me.” I shrugged my shoulders, squeezed her hands in mine, and walked in the direction she’d come from just moments ago.
With a slight limp and an arrogant grin on his face, Jackson walked out of the bathroom and headed in our direction. Whenhe looked between the two of us and our interlocked fingers, he took the opportunity to get the first word in.
“Well, well, well. Should we all have a little family powwow at the nearest bar? Take shots to celebrate the happy couple?”
Jesus Christ.
The plan I thought I had when it came to confronting Jackson for the first time flew out the window. Just when I thought I could put my finger on the type of man my son was, he proved me wrong, showing me another side to him. After today, I realized I didn’t even know him in the slightest.
