Ryan shrugged. “It’s the truth.”
The more I heard, the harder it was to keep my emotions in check. Now I knew why I stayed away from football players. What made it worse was that my brother was one of them. The thought of him doing this to a girl made me livid.
Teeth clenched, I stared daggers at my brother and then at Jaxon. “You never answered the first question. Was it a joke to you?”
He stared at me for a second and then lowered his head. “At first it was.” I sucked in a breath and he lifted his gaze. “But then I got to know you and it turned into so much more. I’m in love with you, Bristol. Surely you must know that.”
I stood frozen, wondering if I’d heard him right. How could someone love me and yet deceive me the way he did? “No, I don’t know that,” I retorted. “I want you to leave.” Then I faced my brother. “Both of you. I don’t want to see either one of you right now.”
Turning on my heel, I raced out of the garage, the tears flowing like rivers down my cheeks. Jaxon and Ryan both hollered for me, Jaxon’s voice being the one that pierced my heart more. His betrayal struck deep, and I felt like an idiot for falling in love with him.
Chapter 18
Jaxon
Ryan stayed out of my way at practice and I stayed out of his, even though I wanted to beat the shit out of him for saying what he did to Bristol. However, I couldn’t blame him; he was just looking out for his sister. I would have done the same thing. It was my fault everything had gone to shit, not his. I was stupid for starting the whole thing with Bristol in the first place. Now I’d fucked up and she wanted nothing to do with me. Only I was in love with her, and there was no way in hell I was going to let her run away from me.
“Want to tell me where you got the black eye?” Derek asked, following me out to my car. The whole time at practice, everyone gave me a wide berth. They knew my mother had died and that I wasn’t in the mood to converse. Even Derek and Aaron treaded carefully around me. I stopped at my car and threw my bag on the backseat. After I shut the door, Derek leaned against it. “I couldn’t help but notice Delaney looked just as bad as you. Is there something you’re not telling me?”
I huffed. “We got in a fight.”
He burst out laughing. “Damn, Jax. What did he do this time?”
Ryan walked out of the training facility, glaring at me the entire time. I wondered if Bristol was still ignoring him like she was me. “It was more like what I did,” I explained regretfully. “Bristol found out what I did before I could tell her myself.”
“Uh-oh, that’s not good. Want to head over to my place and talk about it? I’m sure Hayden will be able to give you more insight on what to do.”
He slapped a hand on my shoulder and I nodded. “I’ll follow you there.”
I got in the car and called Bristol, but she didn’t pick up. It didn’t matter; I was going to try every day until I could get her to speak to me. Before practice, I had gone to her condo to see her, but was politely told I wasn’t allowed clearance until Bristol approved me. In other words, I was fucked. Derek and I pulled up at his house at the same time and I followed him inside.
“Honey, I’m home,” Derek called out teasingly.
A few minutes later, Hayden turned the corner, still dressed in a pair of blue uniform scrubs with her eyes half-lidded and sleepy. “Why did you wake me up? I was having a really good dream.”
Derek sat down at the kitchen table and she sat on his lap, laying her head on his shoulder. “Must be nice to have time to take a nap while the rest of us work,” I joked.
She snorted. “I’d like to see how you handle being pregnant. I’m sleepy all the time. I swear I can never stay awake.”
“Don’t I know it,” Derek said, laughing. “She nods off while I’m trying to bang her.”
Gasping, Hayden smacked him on the arm. “I do not. Stop being stupid.” Then she turned to me. “Don’t believe a word he says.” Derek chuckled and held her tight. I was never envious of their relationship until now. “I’m sorry about your mother, Jax,” she murmured sadly. “You must really miss her.”
I nodded. “I do. I took a week off and spent it with my brother. We cleaned out my mother’s house and sent a lot of her stuff to Goodwill. It’s what she wanted.”
I didn’t want to elaborate on the subject, and to my relief, Derek picked up on it. “Tell Hayden what happened with you and Bristol.”
Hayden’s eyes went wide. “Good or bad?”
“Worse than bad,” I said. “It’s a fucking nightmare. She found out from Ryan who I was before I could tell her.”
“I thought you were going to do that a long time ago,” Hayden replied.
I shrugged. “I was, but so many things got in the way. Now she won’t talk to me. I’m banned from her building and she’s ignoring my calls. I don’t know what else to do.”
Hayden shook her head and sighed. “Jax, you messed up, but it’s obvious you care about her. I’ve never seen you so worked up over a girl.”
“I love her, Hayden.”
She gasped and Derek sat there, slack-jawed. “Well, holy shit, that’s a first,” he said.
“Tell me about it,” I griped. “It’d be much easier if I didn’t care.”
Hayden smiled wide. “True, but at least we know you have a heart in that chest of yours.”
Chuckling, I flipped her off. “Stop joking and tell me what I need to do. I need another option besides calling her or waiting for her in the parking garage at her condo.”
“You can always show up at her work,” Hayden suggested before patting Derek on the shoulder. “It’s what this crazy man did when he wanted me back.”
“Really? What happened?”
Derek sighed. “It was the only way to get her to listen to me. When I found out I had feelings for her, I freaked out and left her the morning after our first night together. She was so pissed at me.”
Hayden nodded in agreement. “?‘Pissed’ doesn’t begin to cover it.”