Page 15 of Fight for You

Everyone goes back to talking amongst themselves and Jaxson leans towards me, dropping his hand on my knee and squeezing.

“Everything okay?” He asks, his eyes volleying back and forth between mine. I catch my lip with my teeth and his eyes drop to the movement.

“Fine, honey. Happy to be here with you and our friends and the kids.” I say and his shoulders relax just slightly, and he gives my knee another squeeze. Feeling more free in this moment than I have in the last four years of my life, be it from this man or the alcohol running through my system, I lean forward, stealing Jaxson’s lips in a searing kiss. He freezes momentarily but just for a split second and then he’s kissing me back, sliding his tongue between my lips. It dances with mine and he brings his hands up to either side of my face, sliding his fingers into my hair. Someone catcalls in the distance and I remember where we are at, pulling apart from him and trying to catch my breath. His eyes are darkened with desire and he presses one more quick kiss to my lips.

“We will finish that later,” he says with a smirk and suddenly, I can’t wait for our friends to leave.

****

“The answer is no, Genevieve. Stop asking.” I say for the tenth time.

“You’re impossible!” She yells, spinning on her heel and pounding her way up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door. I heave out a sigh and rake my fingers through my hair. Blake is at the table eating a snack, so I give him a forced smile and ruffle his hair when I walk past. Ripping the kitchen drawer open beside the sink, I dig around until I find the corkscrew.

Jaxson has a wine fridge in his walk-in pantry that he’s been keeping stocked for me and I help myself to a bottle, uncorking it and pouring myself a glass. I rest my back against the counter, taking a sip. Vie and I have been fighting non-stop all week and today is no exception. Apparently, there’s a senior she likes on the football team and he’s throwing a party tonight. She wants to go but his parents are out of town, and there’s no way I’m letting my baby sister go to a party, unsupervised. Christ, she’s only sixteen.

I hear the garage door rattle open and the low rumble of Jaxson’s Raptor as he pulls in. Knocking the rest of my wine back, I try to wipe the frustration and exhaustion off my face. It’s Friday, which means I was off from the office today, but I do have a shift at the bar that starts in an hour. The door to the mudroom creaks open and I can hear him toeing off his shoes. He rounds the hallway into the kitchen and his face lights up at the sight of me.

“Hey gorgeous. What’s the matter?” He asks, noting the exhaustion and frustration on my face and I feel tears pricking the back of my eyes, the stress of raising a teenager bubbling to the surface. I inhale deeply, choking back the tears.

“Just my fifth argument of the week with Genevieve,” I say as he saddles up behind me, hands rubbing the knots in my shoulders. “She wants to go to some party tonight, but there’s not going to be any parents, so obviously I said no.” He murmurs his agreement as he works the knots out of my neck, but he doesn’t say anything else. “Do you think I’m being too strict?” I ask, quietly.

“No, I think you’re being a concerned parent.”

“I know,” I sigh and drain the rest of my wine, sitting the glass back down on the counter. “I still find myself wishing I could be just the cool, older sister. The one that covers for her when she sneaks out or the one that picks her up from a party she shouldn’t have been at because she’s had too much to drink.” There are some days where I’m so angry with mama for saddling me with this life and then there are other days that I’m so grateful that I have the kids and we are all safe and happy.

“I’ll check on her later. She just needs some time to cool down, probably. One day she’s going to appreciate everything you’ve sacrificed for her,” Jaxson says, dropping a kiss on my cheek and handing me the keys to his truck. “I’m gonna change your oil while you’re at work.” I take the keys and give him a quick kiss before dropping a kiss on Blake’s cheek and telling him to be good. I think about going upstairs to say bye to Vie, but maybe Jax is right. She just needs some time.

****

“Thanks for comin’ in, y’all,'' I say to my table of six before making my way back to the bar. Our new bartender, Clay, is behind the bar tonight. He’s talking on the phone to somebody but his eyes are pointed at me.

“Yeah, she’s right here. No, I don’t think she had her phone on her,” he holds the phone out towards me, “it’s someone named Jaxson.” I take the cordless phone from him.

“Hello?” I say, an unease settling inside of me.

“Ace, check your phone. Has Genevieve texted you?” My gut sours as I scramble for my purse under the bar top. Pulling my phone out, there’s three missed calls from Jaxson and two texts, but nothing from Vie.

“No Jax, nothing. What’s going on?” He curses on the other end of the phone.

“I called her down for dinner but she said she wasn’t hungry. After I got Blake settled down, I went to check on her, but her room was empty. I’ve already got Zander’s team on it.” There are some deep voices in the background and then it quiets down. “Ace, she didn’t take her phone.” My heart starts to race.

“Oh my god, Jax. Do you think Hank...” I start but he abruptly shuts me down.

“Not a possibility. Zander’s had a guy on him all day and he’s currently at some seedy strip club a few towns over. I think she,” he pauses and heaves out a sigh, “Ace, I think she ran away.”

His words are like a punch to the stomach, everything inside of me seizing up. Why the fuck didn’t I just let her go to the party?

“This is not your fault, Avery, do you understand me? You were doing therightthing, the parental thing. She’s too young for parties like that.”

I ignore what he’s saying and hang up the phone, telling him I’ll be there soon before disconnecting. I’m grabbing my purse and jumping in the truck, the drive home nothing but a blur. How could she just leave without telling anybody? That’s not like Vie. We fight, she gets pissed, and then she gets over it. That’s the deal.

I whip the truck into Jaxson’s driveway after making the short drive from the bar to his place. Zander’s truck is parked out front, along with another pick up and a lowered Volkswagen. Jax meets me at the front door.

“We’ll find her,” he says, pressing a kiss to my temple and shutting the door behind me.

“We’ve got her on camera slipping out the front door,” is spoken from an exceptionally large man that I’ve never seen before. “Wood,” he introduces himself and pulls up the feed. There’s footage of Vie closing the door behind her quietly, dressed in black pants and a black hoodie, bookbag on her back. She runs down the steps and towards the driveway, out of range of the camera. He pulls another camera up that’s pointed towards the street and you can see her running towards the entrance of the driveway and what looks to be headlights illuminating the drive but whatever vehicle it is, is blocked by the trees at the end of Jaxson’s property.

“Did you check her tracker?” I ask and he nods his head, face grim.

---