SWNOVELS Chapter 23
JAX
“OK. Stop laughing!” I groan and throw my head back on the back of the couch.
Audrey and Sophie can barely breathe as Sophie tells the embarrassing stories of my life that I’ve kept secret.
“No…wait…Ok…I got one. This is so good…”
I lift my head and whine to her. “Soph, please.”
I brought them back to my place while we wait for Finn and the others to show up. Audrey has to report the robbery and we need to determine why Vinnie would make such a risky move.
She drinks her beer and shakes her head. “Ok.” She grins as she points her bottle to me. “Your 16th birthday party.”
“God no!” I roll my head back and throw a pillow on my face.
“What? What happened?” Audrey asks.
“Sophie, don’t you fucking dare.” I grumble into the pillow.
She laughs. “Ok. So, Jaxton had all his friends over for his sweet 16. It was huge. Guess who wasn’t invited.”
“The sisters.” Audrey guesses.
“Yep. Made us stay upstairs. Well, we paid him back good. Didn’t we, Jacky?”
I drop the pillow. “Don’t call me Jacky.” I scowl.
She waves me off. “Anyway. Jaxton went to the bathroom and as he was walking back, Carly threw a pillowcase over his head…”
“Lenora. It was Lenora.” I lower my head and shake it.
“Right. Lenora…She bagged him then dragged him into her room where we all waited with make up and all kinds of glitter. He fought us, but you lost, didn’t you?”
I shook my head.
“Jax?” Audrey smirks.
“Ok, yes. A bunch of preteen girls subdued me and held me hostage.” I narrow my eyes at Sophie.
“We didn’t hold you hostage. Do you remember?” Sophie smirks.
“It’s burned in my brain. The most traumatic time in my life. Of course, I remember.” I scowl.
She laughs.
“What did you do?” Audrey raises her brow at me.
“They held me down, caked my face with makeup and bombed me with glitter.” I grumble.
Audrey throws a hand to her lips as he leans on her crossed knee.
I point to her. “Don’t. Don’t even.”
Sophie taps her. “That’s not even the worse part.”
I groan loud and fall onto the couch, burying myself in a pillow.
“After busting out the room, he comes face to face with who, Jax?”
“I’m gonna kill you!” I growl into the pillow.
“Tell me, Jaxton.” Audrey giggles.
I sit up and flop my back on the couch. “Ashley Preston.” My face pains and flushes with embarrassment as I see my 16 year old self face the biggest crush of my life before Audrey covered in pink and blue makeup and sparkling like a fucking disco ball.
“The love of his life!” Sophie squeals.
“No…oh God.” Audrey laughs.
I shoot daggers at Sophie as she cackles.
“YES! God, how long did the school stop talking?” Sophie asks me.
“Two years!!” I throw two fingers up and turn my back to her. I grab a pillow and hug it. “I never lived that down. I was the school joke!”
“Oh, come on, Mr. Popular. It wasn’t that bad.” Sophie grins.
I turn to her. “It took six months for them to stop leaving makeup in my locker with notes that said “Looking pretty, Sweetie.” I push my chin out at her.
“Kids are so cruel.” Audrey whines as she tries to stifle a laugh.
“Yeah well, I’m still owed some payback.” I narrow my eyes to my sister.
“Bring it, big bro.” She laughs hysterically.
“HONEY! I'M HOME!!”
We all turn to the front door as Marcus walks in and beeline it to the kitchen.
“Hey…” I start, but he completely cuts me off as he opens the fridge.
“So, I’m ready to kill someone. I was just minding my own, working on the code for the Mace tracker you wanted. I figured out the mace has to have some sort of signature, right? So, I’m running simulations and Finley wants to talk about some vamp army in the mountains. He got a call from Phoenix and I said I can develop something. He’s like, ‘We don’t need their headaches.’ I said, ‘We're all in this together. If I can find the Vamps, then why not try…”
Sophie whips her head to me and I shake mine as Marcus deepens his voice to imitate Finn sarcastically.
“He's like, ‘They aren’t helping us so fuck ‘em.’ I told him, ‘That’s not very leader like.’ He’s like, ‘That’s why you’re not the leader.’ And I’m all, ‘I could take your job in a second.’ He's all, ‘I’d like to see you try’…”
“Marcus…” I rub my nape as I try to get his attention. I glance at the girls and back at him.
He slams a six pack on the counter and pulls out a bottle. He pops the cap and raises it to his lips. “Long story short…Finley’s a pussy and I’m out of beer so…” He stops midsentence as he connects with Sophie.
He lowers his bottle and his face falls. “Oh my God…shit…I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were entertaining…” He smiles as he abandons his beer and beelines it to my sister. He holds out his hand with a flashy smile. “Marcus Cooper.”
Sophie giggles. “That was quite the story.” She takes his hand.
“Oh…yeah. I’m sorry you had to…you…have amazing eyes. I feel like I’ve seen them before. Have I?” He looks at her with quizzical look.
“Yeah…on me.” I mutter as I lean on the back of the couch.
He flicks his eyes between us and dismisses it. “Nah. What’s your name, pretty lady?”
I sigh and shake my head. Yeah, I’ll be cutting this conversation short.
“Sophie Dupree.” She answers.
“Sophie. My grandmother’s middle name was Sophie, God rest her soul.” He says. “Wait…” He points to Sophie and looks at me. “Cousin?”
“Sister.” I correct.
He whips his head to her and back at me. He steps back. “Uh…Jax?”
Sophie giggles. “Yep. Back from the dead.”
He steps up and squats to her, leaning his arms on the back of the couch. “Wow! This is…I really don’t know what…”
“It’s OK. I get that reaction a lot.” She glances at me.
“You know what I think?” He smiles.
“What?” She tilts her head.
“I think we need to celebrate. I know this cute little place in Central Park that over looks the whole park. It’s amazing. We could have a…back from the dead party. Whattya say?” He flashes a charming smile.
“Oh…um…that sounds…”
I stand up. “Marcus, can I talk to you in the hall?”
“Can’t it wait?” He doesn’t take his eyes off my sister.
“Now.” I grit.
“Jaxton…” Audrey starts, but I cut her off with a finger.
He looks at me. “Ok, fine.” He turns back to Sophie. “Don’t go away.”
“I won’t.” She blushes.
He stands and I push him to the door. “Get going.” I clench.
I shove him out into the hall and close the door behind me. “No, Marcus! No way.”
“What?” His brows go up.
“You were not just hitting on my sister just now." I point to the door.
He crosses his arms. “You never told me I couldn’t date your sister."
My aggravation boils. “Marcus! Why the hell would I tell you that?! Up until a few hours ago, I didn’t know I had one!”
He gets a smug look in his face. “Not my problem, you didn’t read the fine print.”
“What? What fine print?” Confusion fills my face.
“The Bro Code. You didn’t cover the bases.” He grins as he places a hand on his chest. “Take me…I told you, you can’t sleep with my sister and that includes surprise, illegitimate half-sisters and…those who were previously living impaired. You failed to make that clear at the start of the friendship, ergo…said sister…is free game and said bro…” He motions to me. “Needs to shut his yap and hand over the number.”
He smiles at me, dripping with cockiness.
I glare into his eyes, take a solid, deep breath in…press my lips together…
I have no leg to stand on. Damn technicalities.
“I hate you.” I grind.
He give me a big grin. “I know you do. We wouldn’t be best friends if you didn’t. Now…You can send Sophie’s number to my private phone…If you please.”
He taps my arm as he cackles to the door.
My fist ball at my sides and I clench my teeth. “Stupid fine print.” I grind as I follow him back into my penthouse.
The women are giggling when we walk in.
“Ladies! Who would like a beer?” Marcus announces as he pulls out bottles from the six pack.
I really, really hate him. I want a divorce.
****
“Alphas. What I’m about to tell you cannot make it to the public. We cannot have Jaxtium fall into more wrong hands than it already has.” Audrey starts as she stands in front of the guys who fill my sitting room.
“Jaxtium.” Eddie chuckles.
“Shut up.” I grumble.
Audrey smiles. “It was fitting, Jaxton.”
“I’m honored…I think.” I shake my head at having a metal named after me.
“Where did you find it?” Finn asks.
“Mount Brynja. The epicenter of the Eternity attack.” She informs.
“It’s in the mountain?” Noah asks.
She nods. “When Eternity used his energy to land on the earth, this caused the metals in the rock to fuse and create a substance stronger than anything on the planet. At least that’s what we suspect, but at all the epicenters we’ve search, Jaxtium sat in the ground below.” She floats her eyes around all the Alphas.
“Ok. So what can it do?” Griffin asks as he leans back.
“Well…it’s stronger than steel and titanium combined. Lasts immeasurably long and can be used for practically anything.” She says. “Our advantage is, unless they have scientists around them, they won’t know how to process it without ruining the whole thing. It’s very delicate and can actually be explosive if not done right.”
“Explosive?” Marcus arches a brow.
Audrey nods. “It seems that each molecule pockets a tiny piece of Eternity’s energy. If not bypassed properly, that energy is released.”
“A cosmic time bomb.” I mumble.
“At the nuclear level if enough is messed with. This is time sensitive, gentlemen. If we don’t get the Jaxtium back, thousands could be hurt.” She warns.
“Why would Vinnie take it? Lycans aren’t up on specialized weaponry.” Finn says as he rubs his chin.
She flops her arms to the side and shakes her head. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe the Black Mace knows.” I eye Audrey and her eye meets mine.
“Why would he know?” Eddie asks.
I shrug. “He seems to know a lot more than we do so, let’s ask him.”
“I don’t think…” Audrey starts.
“It’s worth a shot.” I interrupt.
“Ok. Jax…you find the Mace and ask, we will try to get surveillance on Vinnie and set up the game plan.” Finn instructs.
“Do you even know where to look?” Noah asks as they all stand and walk to the door.
“I have a feeling he'll meet me.” I say as I clap his back.
“Alright…while you guys do that, I am taking Miss Sophie to a ball game.” He grins as he wraps his arm around Sophie’s neck.
My gut twists and I glare at him. “Marcus.”
He holds up a finger to me. “Eh…fine print.”
I breath hard through my nostrils.
Sophie looks up at him. “Fine print?”
“Jax knows. Let’s go.” He escorts her to the door.
Smoke rises from my ears as Audrey steps to my side. “She’ll be fine. Maybe she’ll like him"
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” I clench.
She giggles. She grabs my attention with a kiss that melts my anger. I moan as she softly holds my cheeks. “I need to head back to the office to assess the damage. I’ll meet you for dinner?”
I rub my nape. “Yeah. I need to meet up with Cy. I’ve been completely MIA this week. I have to see if I even have a team left."
“I’m sure you'll be fine, Captain.” She kisses my cheek and walks out.
Wow.
I don’t know what to think. Sophie, the rocks and Audrey forgiving me…
I really hope I don’t fuck this up.