Page 116 of Fierce-Jax

“Dad,” she said. “I was wrong to not tell Jax. I know that. Or at least tell him some of it.”

“And wrong not to tell us everything too. You made us believe that Alec’s parents knew about you and Gianna and didn’t want to get to know you. That doesn’t seem to be the case. They didn’t even know he died.”

“Alec was a lot of things,” she said. “But I don’t think he lied about what his childhood was like. I just don’t. He didn’t want that kind of abuse in Gianna’s life, and even if he did, I would have fought it.”

“You only have his word to go on and Alec’s word was meaningless.”

“There is no reason to remind me of that,” she said.

“Your phone is going off,” her mother said, bringing her purse into the living room where they were sitting. “I heard it beeping.”

If it was the on-call service her phone would ring.

When she looked at the text she saw it was from Jax asking if they could talk.

“Is it Jax?” her father asked.

“Yes,” she said. “He wants to talk.”

“Go see him,” her mother said. “While Gianna is watching a movie and is entertained. Get it over with. You’ll both feel better.”

Her parents were right. She couldn’t put this off any longer and replied that she’d be at his house within thirty minutes.

“I shouldn’t be dreading this, but it needs to be done.”

“Apologizing is never easy,” her mother said.

“No,” she said. “I’ll be back in a little bit. Just tell Gianna I had to run some errands.”

“She won’t ask,” her mother said.

Probably not because her daughter was as comfortable with her grandparents as she was with her mother.

She had a lot to be thankful for in life.

One of those things was her relationship with Jax and she would not throw it away.

“Hey,” he said when he opened the front door. “You didn’t need to knock.”

“I wasn’t sure,” she said.

“We have to talk,” he said. “I don’t like this silence between us. I don’t like the way it makes me feel.”

“Can I go first?” she asked.

He nodded.

She walked into his house and sat on the couch hoping he’d sit next to her, but he didn’t.

He went to a chair instead to face her.

If that move hurt her, she would have to endure it.

“Go on,” he said.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I’m going to explain why I did what I had and it might appear as excuses, but it’s all I’ve got. At the end of the day, it was a poor decision on my part to keep it all in. I’ve had time to tell you some of my and Alec’s relationship and took the easy way out and pretended he never existed.”

“That’s harsh,” he said, frowning.

---