Page 112 of Fierce-Jax

“What’s going on?” Roni asked him on Sunday.

“Nothing more than me messing up my relationship,” Jax said.

Roni and Trent looked back and forth at each other. “I doubt you could do it,” she said. “Not my brother who listens to everyone’s side and then thinks of the positive.”

“Not this time,” he said. “I held in what I wanted to say and how I wanted to act as long as I could.”

No reason to admit that he was still lighter on Dillion than what was locked inside of him clawing its way out.

He’d come over to visit. Eli was at Jeff’s this weekend so he could have an adult conversation and not worry about guarding himself.

He shouldn’t be talking to them about this, but he had to talk to someone.

He hadn’t realized how hurt he could be hearing what Dillion had to say.

They hadn’t talked to each other since he left on Friday night and he knew that was a mistake on his part.

“You only do those things when someone you love is in trouble,” she said. “What happened to Dillion? Can you tell us?”

He snorted. “I’m not sure if she is in trouble. She’ll figure it out just fine like she always does. What about how I feel about what I found out?”

“Is she cheating on you?” Roni asked. “Because I just don’t believe that.”

“No,” he said firmly. “She’s been quiet for days and when I asked her what was going on, she said it was nothing with us or our relationship or how she feels about me.”

“That’s good to know,” Trent said. “So it can’t be that bad.”

“I realized that after I left on Friday night,” he said. “I was pissed at what she was saying and for once in my life failed to look at the bigger picture or what she might be going through. I made it all about me.”

“Love can and will do that,” Roni said. “Trent will be the first to say it’s happened to us. Both of us. We did it to the other. Can you tell us what is going on? You know you can trust us.”

“I can,” he said. “I’m going to just summarize it.”

“That’s fine,” Roni said. “We just want to understand. Maybe we’ll be mad at her too for you.”

Jax forced out a laugh. “I don’t want you to do that. I’m an asshole and I know it. If anything, you’ll be pissed at me.”

“I don’t know I’ve ever been pissed at you in my life,” Roni said. “Annoyed, sure, but not pissed.”

He told them what happened on Friday. He kept out the part about Alec being investigated for selling drugs. There was no reason to spread that speculation years later. Maybe the guy would have been found innocent. Jax didn’t stay around long enough to find out from Dillion if she believed Alec had done it.

Based on what they talked about, he was positive that Dillion knew Alec was guilty but didn’t want to admit it.

What would it matter at this point?

“I was a dick,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said what I had.”

“I would have,” Trent said. “You have a right to be hurt and that is what you were. Anyone who knows you understands that honesty and openness are your middle names. You care about people and you want to help them. But you don’t help those that can’t be honest either.”

“She’s going to claim she didn’t lie about anything,” Jax said. “And I can’t argue that. She didn’t.”

“She hid the truth for embarrassing reasons,” Roni said. “From a woman—a single mother—a person who would worry this could reflect poorly or negatively on me and my ability to provide for my child or even be a stigma for my child, I might have done the same thing.”

“And this is why I came to you both. Trent sees my side of it and you see Dillion’s.”

He had to admit his sister’s lack of support surprised him.

“I understand why you’re upset,” Roni said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying I can see why Dillion tried to put this behind her. In her mind, it should have stayed hidden. You’ve been dating a few months, you don’t know for a fact that she might not have told you more about her relationship with Alec in time. Have you asked?”