CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lennox
S
arah’s voice grates on my last damn nerve, her fake sweetness barely masking the manipulation underneath. She’s sitting in Avery’s house , spreading out ultrasound pictures on the coffee table like we’re supposed to gather around and coo over them. Like we’re some happy little family waiting to welcome a bundle of joy into the world.
She’s already mentioned, more than once, that she thinks it would be wise for her to move in with us for a while—at least until the baby is born.
I call bullshit .
There’s no way in hell she’s moving into this house.
I stare her down from where I’m perched on the arm of the couch, arms crossed, expression set. “Not happening.” My voice is hard, leaving no room for argument. “You’re not moving in here.”
She flicks her gaze to Jaxton, clearly expecting him to back her up. When he stays quiet, jaw tight and unreadable, she huffs and turns back to me. “It’s not your decision, Lennox,” she snaps. “This is Jax’s baby. Don’t you think it’s important for him to be involved? For him to be close?”
Jaxton drags a hand down his face, exhaling through his nose like he’s two seconds from losing his patience. “I will be involved,” he states firmly, his golden eyes sharp as they cut to hers. “But you are not moving in with us. That’s not up for discussion.”
Sarah’s nostrils flare, but she tries to school her features into something softer. “Jax, think about it,” she pleads, leaning forward, resting her hand on his knee. He immediately shifts away, and her expression twists in frustration. “It’s just for a little while. It’ll be easier this way. The baby will need stability, and I won’t have to drag them back and forth between homes all the time—”
“No.”
The single word, sharp as a blade, slices through her excuses.
Kamden leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, eyes locked on her like a predator watching its prey. “Let me make this real clear, Sarah,” he drawls, slow and deliberate. “We’re staying here . In Avery’s house . This is not your home, and it never will be. You don’t get to waltz in here and pretend like you belong.”
Sarah’s face twists with irritation, but before she can launch into another pathetic attempt to justify herself, Liam speaks up.
“And you sure as hell don’t get to pretend that you’re part of us anymore.”
She flinches at that, and it’s the first real emotion I’ve seen from her that isn’t calculated.
Jaxton leans forward, elbows resting on his knees, pinning her in place with a stare so intense even I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end. “I’ll be there for the baby,” he tells her, his voice a low rumble of finality. “I’ll do what I need to do as a father. But only me. My brothers are not part of this deal, and you damn sure aren’t getting back into our lives the way you want.”
Sarah’s lips part, like she’s going to argue, but Jaxton isn’t done.
“We love Avery,” he states with unwavering certainty. “We’ll always love Avery. We’re never coming back to you , Sarah. It’s time for you to move the fuck on.”
Silence blankets the room like a heavy fog.
Sarah’s hands tremble in her lap, whether from rage or humiliation, I don’t know. Her eyes scan each of our faces, searching for some kind of crack in our resolve. She finds nothing but solid walls of rejection.
Her face twists, and then—just like that—the sweetness, the pleading, the carefully constructed act, shatters .
“You’re all fucking pathetic,” she spits, standing so abruptly that the ultrasound photos scatter. “You’re wasting your lives pining over some dead girl !”
I lurch to my feet so fast the coffee table jerks forward. “ Watch your fucking mouth ,” I snarl, voice vibrating with fury.
Jaxton is on his feet too, his entire body coiled tight, fists clenched at his sides. Liam and Kamden don’t move, but the tension rolling off them is lethal.
Sarah’s chest heaves as she glares at us, but even she realizes she’s pushed too far. Her lips curl, and then she turns, storming toward the door. “Fuck all of you.”
The door slams so hard the walls shake.
Silence lingers in her wake, thick and suffocating.
No one moves. No one speaks.
Then, finally—Jaxton lets out a slow breath. “Well… that was a fucking disaster.”
Liam snorts, running a hand through his hair. “You expected anything else?”
Kamden shakes his head. “She’ll be back. She’s too fucking obsessed to walk away that easily.”
I drop onto the couch, staring at the ultrasound photos she left behind. My stomach twists. What if it is Jax’s kid?
What if we’re stuck with her forever?
I scrub my hands down my face, exhaling through my teeth. “We need to find Avery.”
The room stills, and then Jaxton nods.
“Yeah,” he murmurs. “We do .”
Exhaling a long, slow breath that does nothing to settle the storm brewing inside me, I glance at the guys. The weight of everything presses down, suffocating, relentless.
Sarah’s gone—for now—but the damage she’s left behind lingers like a stench that refuses to fade. Her words, her fucking manipulation, and worst of all… the possibility that Jaxton really is the father of her baby.
And when Avery comes home?
Fuck.
My stomach twists painfully as I imagine her reaction.
After everything she’s been through— whatever the hell she’s going through right now —she’s going to come back to this . To us telling her, Hey, baby, welcome home. We love you, we missed you… oh, by the way, our psycho ex is pregnant with Jax’s kid, and yeah, she’s the same one who staged that whole kissing scene just to fuck with your head. She’s still obsessed, by the way. But don’t worry, it’s fine.
She’s gonna be fucking livid.
And who could blame her?
We’ve only been together for a few months. Our love is real, raw, and deep, but time is a brutal motherfucker. The months she’s been missing surpass the time we actually had together. That’s not enough. Not for something this fucking huge.
What if she decides it’s too much? What if she chooses to walk away?
The thought of losing her—after all this—settles like ice in my veins.
I can’t do this right now.
I push to my feet, stretching out the tension in my shoulders. “I’m heading outside,” I mutter, already moving toward the back door.
Jaxton glances up from where he’s sitting on the couch, his hands running over his face like he’s trying to scrub away reality. “Lennox—”
I shake my head. “Don’t, man. I just—” I exhale roughly. “I need a fucking break.”
No one argues. They get it.
The yard has been my escape for months. If I can’t lose myself in the ocean, I lose myself in the dirt, in the tangible proof that I can build something— fix something—when everything else feels out of my control.
When we moved into Avery’s place, I threw myself into finishing her landscape design. She had a vision, sketches, half-finished projects, and I took it upon myself to complete them for her. Not just because I knew it would mean something to her, but because it kept me sane . It gave me purpose in a world that suddenly felt like it had been thrown off its axis.
The second I step outside, a sense of calm washes over me.
This is her space.
This is where I feel closest to her.
I let out a slow breath, dragging my fingers through my hair before grabbing a pair of weatherworn gloves from the workbench. The flower beds need fresh mulch, and the pathway she planned along the fence still isn’t finished. There’s always something to do.
I kneel down, pressing my palm against the cool earth, grounding myself in the reality that this is for her . Every stone I place, every plant I nurture, every bead of sweat I pour into this yard— it’s all for her .
And when she comes home— because she will come home —I want her to step into this yard and see the love we’ve poured into it.
I want her to know we never stopped thinking about her.
That we never gave up.
That we never fucking will .