Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(46)

“Not all of it. The fact that Nave Anikin is in the hospital with his jaw wired shut and several broken body parts is a fact. It is believed Jax Stone beat him within an inch of his life, but he isn’t talking. He refuses to press charges.”

I dropped my head into my hands and sighed. “What did you do, Jax?” I muttered to myself.

“You gonna call him and explain this?” Jessica asked me.

No, I wasn’t. I should have been given that option before Jax beat Nave to a bloody pulp and tossed me out. Now it was too late.

I shook my head. “If he wants to believe the media, then let him. He doesn’t want me to explain. If he did, he’d have let me before he ended things.”

Jessica handed me the cup of coffee. “You’re right, of course, but you love him, Sadie, and you’re pregnant with his baby.”

I would have to tell him eventually. But I needed my space first.

“I’ll probably always love him. Doesn’t mean I can ever trust him again. That doesn’t make a relationship.”

Jessica’s shoulders fell. “Yeah. I guess that’s true. But it still sucks.”

“I need some alone time. I’ll be out in a little bit. Let me know if we get media outside. I don’t know how I’ll handle it without Jax’s help, but we will figure something out.”

She nodded and stood up. “I’ll go kick their asses. I don’t need no stinking Jax Stone to keep my girl safe,” she said, before walking out of the room and closing my door behind her.

By the time I had finished my coffee, I heard the first car doors. Peeking out my window, I saw a representative from every news channel in Alabama and the surrounding states, and national ones too. They knocked on the door and rang the doorbell. I was thankful Sam was already at school. This madness would have to end, though. Even if I had to go get a hotel room to move the focus off my mom’s house.

I changed into some jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, then brushed my hair and pulled it into a ponytail before opening my bedroom door. Mom was in the kitchen, looking out the window with the phone to her ear. “Yes, she’s here. Get your asses here and get them off my property before I have them all thrown in jail for trespassing. Y’all don’t have enough room in your jail for all this shit. Do something about this now.”

She was talking to the police. That would help some and for a while. But this would be an ongoing battle. I wasn’t sure how to defuse the situation.

Mom hung up and turned to look at me. “It’s started,” she said, with an apologetic frown.

“Yeah, it has,” I replied, sinking into the kitchen chair and wondering how my life had gone so wrong.

Jax

When my jet landed at the Sea Breeze private airport, there was security everywhere. I stepped out of the plane and was immediately surrounded by large guards. “Evening, sir. Most of the media is camped out at Miss White’s mother’s house, but we do have some hanging out like scum around the property line here. We wanted to get you to the car and out of the vicinity safely,” one of the men waiting for me explained.

Shit. They were already after Sadie. She didn’t have me there to help.

“Get them away from Jessica White’s house. Now,” I demanded, stalking toward the waiting black SUV.

“Yes, sir,” the man replied.

“Where’s my usual driver?” I asked when a man I didn’t recognize opened the door for me.

“He, uh, quit, sir,” the guy replied.

“What?”

“He quit, sir. This morning,” he repeated.

I didn’t have to ask why. It was because of Sadie. Even though there was a photo of her kissing my f**king drummer all over the news, they still took her side. The fear that I was the only idiot who hadn’t trusted her and believed in her was growing worse. Why hadn’t I given her a chance to explain? Because the image of Nave’s hands on her and his lips on hers had made me so crazy I lost my mind. I couldn’t think straight from the anger and pain pumping through my veins.

I got into the SUV and glared straight ahead. “Take me to Sadie.”

He had music playing, and one of the songs I had written for Sadie came on the radio. “Turn off the radio,” I barked.

He quickly shut it off, and I leaned back in my seat, trying to figure out how I would handle it if she had an explanation for this. If I had been wrong and jumped to conclusions. Even if she didn’t have an explanation . . . what if she was pregnant? With my baby? What the hell would I do then? I wasn’t going to leave her and let her figure it out. As much as I hated that picture, I loved her. God, I’d always f**king love her.

The driver pulled us into the driveway of the house I’d bought for Jessica and Sam. Jessica’s Honda was parked outside, and so were several police cruisers. My army of protection pulled in around us, and I didn’t wait for them to secure things before I slung open the door and stalked to the house.

I didn’t even knock before Jessica opened the door and her eyes shot hot daggers of hate at me. “What the hell are you doing here? You don’t think you’ve done enough? You tossed her out like trash, and she’s done with you. So go back to your fancy house and fancy life, and leave my baby girl the f**k alone!”

Never had Jessica ever spoken to me this way. I was shocked, but her reaction only made my fear that I’d completely messed up more real. But with that fear was a hope that my Sadie was still the same girl I had thought she was until I’d seen that picture.