Inevitable (Stonewood Brothers, #1)

by Shain Rose

Jax freaking Stonewood. My walking, talking sex-on-a-stick neighbor always warmed my blood even though I’d never admit it. Jay, his younger brother by two years and my senior by one, did little to nothing for me, but he was my best friend.

“You guys, I need something! Anything!" Anything to make this look better. I felt control slipping through my fingertips. "Oh God. My father is going to kill my m—"

She knew the reason. Adults like Mrs. Stonewood were easy to read. They all held the same expression. The first time I encountered that look had been a day my mother picked me up from grade school. My teacher had seen a bruise on her arm when my mother reached for me. She had gasped and we both stiffened. My mother pulled down her sleeve quickly but my teacher’s eyes had already changed. They flicked to our car nervously, and she asked if everything was all right.

I pled with my self-control, begging it to help me stop shaking, to give me the courage to ask him again where he'd locked Mom up this time.

I wouldn’t find out that day because my father only sliced it fluidly across my braid. My hair unraveled and hung shoulder-length. He threw my twelve inches of braid into the trash and the knife into the sink.

My father, such a smart man. He never hit us where it would leave a mark for anyone to see.

Jax whispered so softly that I barely heard it, “Your hair, Peaches, what happened to your beautiful hair?”

“I think I like you. I think we’re going to be really good fucking friends. So, I’ll tell you a secret. I’ve been in foster care for a long time, seen a lot of shitty things, and I can tell when something is wrong with someone the moment I meet them.”

“I told you not to fuck with her.” Jay pointed to me, and it seemed everyone’s heads in the lunchroom turned my way. “You gave me your word.”

“Well, I’m sorry, Jay. Didn’t know the little pixie was so important to you. If you’d have told me you two had a thing—”

I confessed that the first time I remember my dad hitting my mom, I did nothing. Every time after, nothing. I ended my excruciatingly long confession with the shame of still not doing anything every time he hit her.

Jay asked about my hair, and I told him I deserved it and that I should have hidden it better because my mom paid a price for my negligence later on. He looked mortified, but Katie nodded her head solemnly, like she completely understood.

That Sophomore Kill Day prank caused something to happen to my relationship with Aubrey. I saw her for more than just the little girl my brother hung out with and as part of my life.

So, when I turned the corner to our block and hit the gas full speed—not thinking about whether or not I’d crash or worrying about rocks flying up and denting the metal—it was for a damn good reason. I saw fire. Fire dancing like a tyrant taking over Aubrey’s house. Red. Scorching. Burning. Fire.

I took my shirt off, put it over my nose and ran back to the locked door. I unlocked it and shoved it open. She was curled up by the door, her face too swollen to even see her eyes. Her mother’s face was worse, if possible. I picked Peaches up and whispered, “I got you.” Then to her mother, I yelled, “Let’s go!”

That was the day I realized I’d do anything for that girl. It was the day I realized I loved her.

And right there, in that car, I fell tragically in love with him.

But in that moment, Jax Stonewood’s lips tasted mine, explored them, breathed life back into them. I tasted his usual mint in a whole new way, and I clung to that taste, to him.

Some runs, we talked about our lives. Other days, we’d run and then he’d grab his guitar from his room to take me down to the lake in his backyard. There, he’d sing songs for me that he’d written and claimed to have never shared with anyone else. Those days, I wondered if I was as special to him as he was to me.

One day, he found out I loved watching Disney movies. By that night, he’d gotten ahold of Beauty and the Beast and watched me while I watched it. Another day, I found out he hated everything about school, that all of it bored him to death except his music and business classes.

Every run, he kissed me senseless. I didn’t ask him what we were. I didn’t even mention the kisses. I just took what Jax Stonewood was willing to give. I fell madly in love with him.

The night he took my virginity, he let me be awkward. He soothed every imperfection and worry I had, like he knew every one of them. He’d found every weakness of mine and made me feel like it was a strength. That night, he told me he needed me. There was a rarity in Jax Stonewood needing anything from anyone. I naively thought that would keep us together.

With me, he took his time. There was something gentle about the way he handled me. For once, I wanted to be the temptation he couldn’t resist, for his coiled restraint to snap. I needed him to see me not just as the girl he’d saved and needed to protect, but as the one he wanted. The only one.

I’d made up my mind when I grabbed her from the fire that day. I chose to leave her parents behind. I chose to leave my friends and everyone else who didn’t understand behind. I chose her and no one else. Life and death situations like that make things crystal clear.

It just hadn’t occurred to me that I wouldn’t have a say in moving on. Instead, the girl who reminded me I was capable of risking my life to save another and leaving someone for dead now lived with me.

I was fucking doomed when it came to her. She was the only thing I believed in. She was my heaven and hell.

She moaned and I went on. “That’s evidence that I remember. I remember the first time with you, taking what was mine, is mine, and will always be mine. Fucking you is all I think about.”

“You asked for this, and fuck it, you’re mine. I’m starting to realize I don’t treat what’s mine gently. I push them over the edge.”

“So small. I could break you ... Break you, and you’d still be mine. Fuck, sweet as sin. Sweet, sweet sin.”

Beside that lake, I did the most selfish thing I could have ever done. I fucked her, branded her as mine, and took everything I could, knowing I would break her by leaving her behind that night. I just didn’t know I’d be breaking myself too.

That summer was filled with sorrow, pain, and handling legalities after I left her that night. Going to live with my father—hours away from my mother, little brother, and Aubrey—had always been my plan. I didn’t want to stick around and go to college like every other person in that small town. I wanted and needed more.

“Sweet Sin, Sweet Sin. You pulled me in. Taste of cinnamon, Sweet as ever and mine forever Sweet Sin, Sweet Sin, I can’t avoid this now Meant to be waking up and sleeping next to me.”

I wouldn’t enable her or myself any longer. We needed to heal from the tragedy we’d both experienced. She needed to learn I wasn’t there to save her, and I needed to learn what fucked-up emotion I was dealing with when I looked at her.

More than that, I needed to protect her. I could do that from farther away. I’d do that by doing the one damn thing she was sure to never forgive me for. I’d do it by leaving her and by visiting the damn man that lit her life on fire.

“Ah, you understand.” Frank smiled at me, teeth so white and perfect, they just called to be knocked out. “So, you see why we’ll be working together. You can’t possibly be all right with me telling my daughter she’s spending your parents’ hard-earned money. That trust fund is a little lie they spun to make sure she was comfortable.”

I walked out that day in my own personal lockup, chained to a monster that happened to be the father of the girl I loved.

Voice mail: “Peaches ... Damn, I miss your voice. I ... things are fucked up. I shouldn’t be calling, but I ... well, Dad had me meet with a record label, and it went well. It went so well, Peaches, and the only person I wanted to talk to was you. I know it doesn’t make sense. I know you’re mad. You sounded so damn mad. I wasn’t gonna call. I shouldn’t be calling this late after, well, I don’t have a right to anymore. You’re back in school and I’ll be here and I know this isn’t right but ... I love you. So fuckin’ much it hurts. Peaches, you’re still mine. You’ll always be mine. Remember that.”

He’d abandoned me just as Rome had been abandoned after he’d shared his fucked-up life with someone too.

We’d complicated things so much already by sleeping together for so long, because what else does a person do when they’re broken? They find solace in another broken person. Misery loves the miserable.

Their usual stare down happened. Rome raked his eyes over her body like he did with every woman, and honestly, Katie could have a sign that said Keep Away or I’ll Shoot You on her shirt with holstered guns strapped to her, and men would still look.

“Brey, I’ll stop if you want. We do it because it’s a release for both of us. I care about you and you know that, but I can’t do relationships. Every girl I sleep with knows that. If you’re thinking that you want a relationship ...”

Rome’s arm snaked around my shoulder and he pulled me into him. My support and my comfort. I sank into him, knowing he was my anchor, the one who would keep me grounded through this. “Whatever Brey wants, I give her.”

“She wants Jay happy for the night,” he shrugged his shoulders like it was no skin off his nose. “They’ve been talking about this premiere night for a year. They’ll kill us if we don’t show. Right, babe?”

Jax’s eyes were glued to Rome’s arm until Rome called me babe. He looked at me. The relaxing Caribbean Sea turned into the Ar...

“Well, everyone calls me that now, Jax.” She may not have meant it as an insult but her grouping me in with everyone else felt like a sucker punch to the gut. I wasn’t supposed to be everyone. I was supposed to be the only one.

I didn’t come here expecting anything with us. The plans I’d made were to come to this town and support my brother while looking into my app launch. If I got to explore the remnants of our relationship in the meantime, that was a bonus. And I needed to make sure she’d be fine through the shit I was about to stir up with her father.

“This will be your way of getting out of going to my premiere with me.” Before I could make an excuse, he just waved it off. “I want you there, Brey. This is me making it, me being where I want to be, and I want my best friend there.”

“You know I love you, Brey.”

“Falling in love sneaks up on you. You don’t stand at the edge and decide to jump. Someone, probably the person you’re about to fall for, pushes you over the edge with a little gesture, a little hint, a subconscious action. Then it’s all over. You’re falling and humans can’t fly. We don’t get a shot to catch ourselves mid fall. I don’t want to fall for you, and you don’t want to fall for me.”

“Remind us, how long have you known each other?” Since two blue-eyed, dark-haired devils tackled me for my candy right after they’d moved in years ago. Of course, Mrs. Stonewood made them apologize, and we became fast friends. Best friends. Inseparable, really.