Page 11 of Only for Tonight (Only For #1)

nine

Jaxon

T he door slams shut, and I stay frozen almost in time.

More time than I should stay frozen, that’s for sure.

But my head is reeling, ever since I opened the fucking door and saw her standing there.

Her hair was different than it was that night, not curled and perfectly styled.

No, this time it was still flowing loose as it blew softly in the wind, and my thumb and forefinger rubbed together as I remember how silky it felt in my hands.

My eyes went straight to the best feature on her face, her eyes.

Fuck, her whole face could be covered and I would know her just by her eyes.

“Jaxon,” Tiffany calls my name, and I look from the empty doorway to her.

Her arms are folded under her chest. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Her voice comes out shakily.

I know just by her tone that a drama fit is coming, and I know it’s about to get a whole lot worse by the time she leaves here.

Especially with what I’m going to tell her.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” I turn to the side when the sound of the oven beeps as I try to calm down.

Ariella was here, in my house. The only thing going through my head is how the fuck did she find me?

Not only that, but she also just ran out of the house and I didn’t fucking chase her.

What is up with that? The first thing I should have done was call her name and tell her to stop and come back.

But I had to handle Tiffany first, and I don’t think Ariella needed to see this.

“You can’t honestly be fucking serious right now!

” she shrieks as I grab an oven mitt and take my meal out of the oven.

“Who the fuck was that girl?” Her voice goes so loud that if we were in one of the cartoon movies, the glass would crack and the steam would be coming out of her ears as she rocked from side to side.

I put the tray down on the top of the stove before taking off the mitt and tossing it to the side, and I turn around and look at her.

“No one.” I lean back on the counter as she raises her eyebrows.

There is no way in fuck I’m going to tell her who Ariella is or what she is to me.

Besides the fact it’s none of her business, the last thing I want is for her to do anything to Ariella.

I’m going to protect her at all drama that Tiffany is.

“Are you really fucking doing this?” She slaps her hand on the counter, her eyes in slits.

“I’m not doing anything.” I remain calm, calmer than I have been in a while, even though I know she’s about to blow her fucking lid.

“You are just going to bring some random girl in here”—her voice goes higher and higher—“and not expect me to say something to you? Some fucking puck bunny.” Her words coming out show you how disgusted she is by that word.

“Okay.” I hold up my hand. “That’s enough.

I’m going to stop this right now before you say something that is really going to piss me off, and I say things that I’ll regret later.

” My voice rises more than it ever has in our relationship.

When we would fight, I never raised my voice.

It’s something I got from my father. I wouldn’t let her words get to me, but calling Ariella a puck bunny was pushing it too fucking far.

“Oh, it’s enough now, is it?” She shakes her head as if in disbelief. “Now it’s enough, after I insult that?—”

She stops talking when I take a step toward the counter in between us. “Listen, Tiffany.” I put my hands on the counter in front of me, outstretched to the side.

“No, you listen here, Jaxon Stevenson. I’ve put up with a lot of shit from you.” Her words almost make me burst out laughing. I look at her for a second before I talk.

“From me?” I point to myself; now I’m the one in disbelief. “What the fuck have I ever done to you?” My finger points to her.

“You haven’t even acknowledged our relationship.” She points between the two of us.

“That’s because we don’t have a relationship,” I declare and she gasps, putting her hand in front of her mouth. “We haven’t had one in a while.”

“What are you talking about? I stood by you through all of it.”

“Through what?” I question, getting pissed, the calm out the window now.

“When you were all sulking over last season.” She rolls her eyes.

“You mean when I was holed up because I had surgery,” I snort, “and I was in rehab doing physical therapy? When I had to slowly work my way back up to skating?”

“Yes, that.” She points at me. “You were all ‘woe is me.’ Do you know how much it took to stay with you?”

“No, how much?” I ask her, not really giving a shit. This conversation is so over, it was over before it even started.

“It’s a fucking wonder I’m still here.” She can’t be serious with this, can she? But looking at her, she is one thousand percent serious about this conversation.

“For once, why aren’t you fucking honest, Tiffany?

” I watch her face. “You’re with me not because you want to be with me, but because of the perks you get to be with me.

” Her mouth opens and I am finally fucking done.

“The red-carpet events you're asked to attend because of me. The charity events you go to with the team because of who I am. It’s the jersey that gets you all hot and bothered, not the guy in the jersey.” Saying it out loud is almost as bad as someone kicking me in the balls because the truth of the matter is, I’ve ended up with someone exactly like my biological mother.

“Why, I have never”—she puts her hands to her chest, the tears starting to well up in her eyes—“been treated like this in my life.”

“And how is that?” I quickly ask her. “I treated you with kindness and respect, which if this conversation is anything to go by, you can’t say the same.”

She snatches up her purse in her hand. “I’m not going to stay here and be chastised by you because you got caught fucking a whore.”

“Get the fuck out.” I point to the door, my whole body shaking as I try to calm down. “And fucking stay out!”

“You’ll be fucking sorry, Jaxon,” she sneers my way.

“I don’t think I will,” I sing, turning back to the dish. “I think I’ll be okay.” I reach in the cabinet for a plate to put the food on.

I hear the sound of her huffing behind me as she walks to the door and slams it hard. “Well, I’m no expert, but I think that ship has sailed. It’s safe to say that it’s over.” I look down at the chicken.

I walk outside to eat, relieved to finally be done with that conversation, and pull out the chair before going back in for something to drink.

Grabbing a glass, I then fill it with ice and then some water.

“What the fuck was Ariella doing here?” I repeat the same question I had not too long ago.

Going outside, I sit down, putting the water next to my plate.

“Should I text her?” I cut a piece of chicken before getting back up and going in search of my phone.

Looking around the kitchen, I find it on the counter next to the fridge. I look down and see if maybe she tried to call me before coming here, but the last phone call was the one I made to my father. I pull up my texts and then scroll to type her name.

A picture of her on her eighteenth birthday is her profile picture. Walking back outside, I sit down and look down at the phone.

Me: Hey.

I’m about to press send, but then I delete it before I start typing something else.

Me: Where did you go? Are you okay?

“That sounds so dumb.” I shake my head, deleting it.

Me: Why don’t you come back?

“Do not send her that,” I tell myself, deleting it right away before I press send.

“The only reason you want her to come back is so you can have a repeat of that night. The night you’ve been trying to forget about, but surprise, surprise, it’s the one you can’t fucking forget.

” For the past fucking six weeks when it’s me and my hand in the shower or the bed, or whenever my cock wakes up, it’s fucking her I think about.

My cock stirs but then my phone rings in my hand, scaring the shit out of me.

Looking down, I wonder if I accidentally pressed send on the text.

My heart is beating so fast in my chest it’s making it hard for me to breathe.

The picture of my sister fills the screen with her name Favorite Little Sister with a pink heart beside it. Something she obviously programmed when she had my phone at one point or another in the thirty hours I was home.

“Hello.” I put the phone on speaker as I set it down beside my plate and eat at the same time.

“Oh, hello,” she greets, singing, “Jaxon.”

“What’s with the voice?” I ask and the phone rings again, and I see she’s trying to FaceTime me.

I pick it up and place it against the potted plant on the table.

Something my mother added the last time she was down here.

“I wanted to see your face when I told you this information.” She smiles as if she is a Cheshire cat who swallowed the bird. “It’s always fun this way.”

“What?” I ask her, confused on what she could possibly be calling me with.

“You really have no idea?” she asks me, laughing at the same time.

“I have no fucking clue what you are talking about,” I tell her, cutting a piece of chicken and popping it into my mouth.

“Mom just got a very interesting phone call.” The minute she says that, I think the blood drains from my whole body.

Surely, Ariella wouldn’t have called my mother to tell her anything.

I start to put my fork down or, better yet, the fork falls out of my limp hand, clanking down into the plate.

The chicken stays suspended in my mouth.

“Yeah that.” She points at me. “You’re lucky I’m giving you the heads-up. ”

I swallow down the piece of chicken, almost choking to death and then taking a sip of the water to help, coughing along the way. “I need you to tell me everything.”

“This serves you right.” She points at me, rolling her eyes as my hands start to shake when I think about my father finding out about Ariella and me.

The sound of my heart beating now fills my eardrums louder and louder.

“I don’t know why you thought it was a good idea.

” I can’t even imagine what this is going to do for my father and Ralph.

How the fuck am I going to face either of them?

Ralph is no doubt going to kick my ass and my father is going to be the one helping him.

I close my eyes, trying to get myself to calm down.

Even though I know it was a mistake, it is something I have to admit to myself, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Without a second thought, I would spend the night with her.

My stomach lurches to my throat. “Like, what were you even thinking?”

“Tori, enough,” I snap at her.

“Oh, now it’s enough,” she goads. “Why would you think it was a good idea to bring her to Christmas to begin with?”

“Wait.” I lean back in the chair. “What are you talking about?” I’m suddenly confused with this.

“I’m talking about Tiffany calling Mom right now, to go off about catching you fucking someone else.” The blood feels like it’s just drained from my whole body.

“She did what?” I roar out. “Tori. Get Mom, now!” I say between clenched teeth.

“Oh damn, you had no idea?” Her face fills with worry. “This is what happens when you bring a girl home who you’ve known for ten minutes for Christmas.” I see her walking through the house.

“You don’t know the whole story,” my father starts to say, and I calm down a bit, knowing my one night with Ariella is still a secret. At least for now.

“I come with the culprit,” Tori jokes, “he’s on the phone.” She turns me around as she sits next to my mother, who just shakes her head.

“Mom,” I say her name, “I’m so sorry.” I close my eyes.

“Okay, before you say you’re sorry.” My mother leans into the phone to look at me. “Did she really walk in on you in bed with someone else?” My mother looks like she’s going to be sick even saying those words. “I will say that isn’t the word she used.”

“Of course she didn’t.” Tori rolls her eyes.

I snort out, “No.” I shake my head. “Of course not.”

“Told you,” my father says, “he knows better than that.”

“Didn’t you sleep with Mom when you were married?” My sister Tori likes to bug my father about it all the time.

“We were separated,” he states between clenched teeth. “Give me that phone.” He grabs the phone from her.

“I don’t know what happened”—he holds up his hand when I’m about to talk—“but for now, we’re not meeting your girlfriends if it hasn’t been longer than six months.”

“A year,” my mother interjects, “with an intensive background check.”

“Deal,” I agree, knowing I won’t be getting involved with anyone anytime soon since my focus is my game. “I give you my word, I will not bring anyone else home unless she’s the one.”

I hear my mother groan in the background. “We should make a list,” Kiera says, “and he has to do a cross-check before he brings her home.”

“Enough,” my father tells her. “I suspect you and Tiffany are no longer an item?”

“Your suspicions would be correct,” I confirm with him.

“Well, we’ll let you go and I’ll go ahead and block her number on your mother’s phone.”

“I’m not blocking her number,” Tori declares and my father side-eyes her. “What?” she asks, shocked. “What if she has to shit-talk Jaxon?”

“You’re going to talk to her and shit-talk your brother?” my mother asks her, and I can see from her glare she isn’t happy with this.

“No, of course not, but if she’s doing it with me, she’s not doing it with anyone else, so we’re all winning.” She grabs the phone from my father. “I got you, bro,” she assures me and I can’t help but laugh.

“Thank you for all your help,” I speak into the phone and she disconnects. I look up at the ceiling and open my phone again, seeing it’s still on Ariella's name.

I start typing and don’t stop until I’ve pressed send. My heart is racing the whole time.

Me: Hey, give me a call, please.