24. Sloan
Sloan
“I'm so sorry,” I whisper as tears cloud my vision. They quickly fall down my cheeks and I don’t even bother trying to stop them. I know they’re going to keep coming for a long time.
“What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong.” Cody holds me even closer and softly kisses the top of my head. He’s such a sweetheart, but I don’t deserve any of this.
“This is all my fault. I'm the one that brought Jude into your lives.” I cover my face in my hands as my entire body shakes. I'm terrified of what’s going to happen next. Exactly how far is Jude willing to go to get Jax back in his life?
The couch dips on my left and another arm is wrapped around me.
“We’re not upset you brought a crazy guy into our lives. It happens.” Jax sounds so nonchalant, like we’re talking about Jude breaking something cheap and insignificant instead of Jude trying to stalk him.
“Oh, really? How often has your brother’s ex-girlfriend come back into your life and brought a bipolar stalker with psychotic features with her?” I stare at him like he’s insane.
“Never… but in my defense, you’re Cody’s only ex-girlfriend so there’s no one to compare to. It’s kinda unfair for you to pass judgements like that. Maybe this happens quite often.” Jax shrugs.
“I never should’ve come back into your life. This is a mistake. I should just go home.” I stand from the couch and glance around. I don’t even know if there’s anything here that’s mine. I think it’s just my phone, everything else Jax and Cody bought me.
“Sloan, stop it.” Cody reaches for my hand, but I pull away from him.
“No! I'm not letting something happen to one of you!”
“And we’re not letting anything happen to you.” Cody quickly stands and wraps me in his arms before I can move away from him.
“He’ll try to kill you, Sloan. Uncle Mason was too nice to say the words, but that’s what could happen,” Jax murmurs as he hugs me, turning this into a group hug.
“Stop being stubborn and let us love you and take care of you.”
A knock on the front door has us all jumping. My hands tremble as I grasp Cody’s shirt and hold him even tighter. We wait while Jax pulls out his phone and checks the camera.
“It’s Pauly.” He hurries to the door and opens it. “Man, Pauly, you about gave us all heart attacks. You could’ve called or texted to let us know you were coming to the door now.”
“I like the element of surprise.” He grins as he glances around the living room. “Mason gave me the general layout of the house. Do you mind if I explore and check some things out? I want to make sure I know exactly where possible weaknesses and entrances into the house are.”
“Mi casa es su casa.” Jax spreads his arms wide.
“Awesome. I hope you guys are ready for a new best friend because you can’t leave this house without me by your side.” Pauly smirks.
“Are you crazy? Because it turns out the last guy who thought we were best friends was and I don’t want a repeat performance. Zero out of ten, did not enjoy. Would not recommend.”
“Jax,” Cody groans and shakes his head.
“What? If you can’t laugh about it, it will make you cry. Look at Sloan, she took the second option and it doesn’t seem enjoyable either… On that sad note, I'm going to my room to talk to people who aren’t sad or my new best friend bodyguard.”
Jax spins on his heels and marches towards his bedroom. Pauly stares at us for a moment before he glances around uncomfortably.
“My room is at the end of that hallway.” Cody points in the direction of his room. “Sloan is staying in the room next to mine. Jax’s room is at the end of that hallway and your room is next to his.” He points to where Jax disappeared.
“Sounds good. I’ll check out your rooms first. That way you can go to bed whenever you’d like.”
“Thanks, Pauly.”
“Of course. If you guys need anything, find me and ask. I'm an extremely light sleeper and I’d rather you wake me up over nothing than something happens to you. Plus, we both know Mason will murder me if I don’t protect you.
” He grins. “I’ve beat death enough times, I really don’t want him to be the one to take me down. ”
“How many times has he almost been killed?” I ask softly as soon as Pauly heads out of eyesight.
“Well, Pauly’s family were the ones that kidnapped Aunt Kelsey. From what I’ve been told, they were going to kill Pauly the day Uncle Mason blew his cover to get Aunt Kelsey out of there. They both almost died trying to escape.”
“Wait… Is that the Pauly that saved Mason’s life?”
“Yes. He was lucky Pauly came back for him. Pauly’s a good guy and Mason trusts him. That’s why he’s with us and no one else.”
“I'm scared,” I whisper.
Cody tugs me over to the recliner. It’s wide enough for us to fit next to each other. He puts the feet up and relaxes back into the plush fabric.
“We’re going to be ok, Sloan. He doesn’t know where we live and you know Uncle Mason will stop at nothing to protect us. Look at Zoey. He protected her for years.”
“Wait… Is she back?” I whip my head around to face him.
“Yeah,” he chuckles at my reaction. “Actually, Peck was one of the guys who took down her ex. Sophia met Peck when she went to visit Zoey.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Seems like crazy situations run in this family.” He smirks.
Cody wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me down so my head is lying on his chest. I drape my arm over his stomach and breathe out a sigh. He turns something on the television, but I don’t pay attention to it.
“You don’t hate me for coming back and ruining your life?” I peek up at him a few minutes later.
“I never stopped loving you, sweetheart. The only way you could ruin my life is if you stayed away longer.” He nudges my chin a little higher and captures my lips in a slow kiss.
I melt into his arms as I think about the choices I’ve made in life.
When I came back to Rosewood, I didn’t think it was a good idea to contact Cody.
I figured he had moved on with his life and wouldn’t want to see me again.
If I had just called him… none of this would be happening right now and maybe we would’ve been dating for the past year.
“I love you,” I whisper when Cody pulls back. I stare into his bright blue eyes, wishing I could go back in time and fix all of this.
I’d do anything to give us the life we’ve always dreamed of. That’s the thing Cody doesn’t understand. I didn’t stay away from him because I didn’t want him. This is all I’ve ever wanted… I didn’t think I deserved him after I broke his heart when I moved.