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“Erm...” I mutter, not knowing how to start the conversation. I’m pretty sure it is him but what if it isn’t? I’ll look like a fool.
He leans his arm on the bar and smirks at something behind me. “Something you want?” he asks, completely full of himself. It occurs to me then that he thinks I’m hitting on him.
“Are you Jackson?” I finally manage to get out.
“I am.” He nods, leaning closer. “What can I do for you?”
“Elena and Trevor?” I ask watching as his eyes go wide and he pulls back. “They’re your parents, right?”
“What do you want to know for, huh?” I can see his walls go up and his eyes scan the room and settle on something behind me again, anger radiating off him at whatever he sees. “You trying to find out for him?” He tilts his head and I turn around and see Scott standing at the edge of the booth, Jess holding him back with a hand to his chest.
“What? No!” I say when I turn back around to Jackson. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and compose myself. “Okay, so maybe I should have started this differently.” Holding my hand out to him, I say, “My name’s Ava Johnson... I lived with your-”
“Holy fucking shit.” His brows fly up on his head and his lips spread into a wide grin. “You’re Ava? The... Ava?”
“Erm... the Ava?” I ask, confused.
“Holy shit, Ma talks about you all the time. I think I know everything about you, even your favorite food.” He chuckles and leans closer.
I find myself starting to relax around him and I have a feeling it’s because he’s so much like his brothers, Charlie and Ty.
“I didn’t know you worked this close to my campus, I wonder why Elena didn’t tell me,” I say the last part to myself, wondering aloud.
His chuckle brings my attention back to him and I smile at how much he looks like Trevor. Its feels like I’m home and even though this is the first time I’m meeting him I feel safe and secure, like I have my very own piece of home away from home.
“Yeah, she probably doesn’t want me to taint you.” He smirks, wagging his brows up and down.
Snorting, I smack him on the arm and pull my hand away like I just burnt it and stare down at it. “I... I...” I look from my hand up to Jackson but he’s not there and I start spinning on the spot to see where he’s gone.
Seeing Scott stare towards the end of the bar, I turn in that direction and watch as Jackson walks straight to me, as soon as he’s close enough his arms come out and he engulfs me in a hug, picking me up off the floor and spinning me around.
My body stiffens at first but after a couple of seconds I relax in his hold. To say I’m confused by the way I’m reacting to him is an understatement. I never react like this and the only thing I can put it down to is that I automatically trust him because of who he is.
“Ma is gonna hate this.” He chuckles in my ear. “I always begged her for a sister,” he says when he pulls back with a wide grin.
“Well, I’m not really your sister-”
“Bullshit,” he grunts. “Ty and Charlie always refer to you as sis.” He raises a brow and I snort.
“Yeah, but-”
“No buts.” He throws his arm over my shoulder and starts to pull me towards the main door. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to meet you, I mean, they kept me away from you for so long.”
I chuckle and my mind wonders to Charlie and Ty. There’s so much that they’ve done for me since I got out of that hellhole.
Charlie was the case detective and, from what I can gather, he didn’t like the idea of me moving in with Elena and Trevor at first. Now though, he’s the one who’s the most protective, he even calls me once a week on a Saturday just to check in to see how I’m doing.
I’m definitely closest with Charlie and I know that if I ever need anything, no matter how small, that he’ll be there in the blink of an eye. He’s done it often enough and has brought me back from the brink countless times but he doesn’t know half of the stuff that goes through my head on a daily basis.
“Where are you going?” Someone growls in my ear, catching me off guard. I squeak when a hand grips my arm and I turn to look into Scott’s blazing eyes, my heart hammering in my chest at the way he looks from me to Jackson and then back again.
“You have two seconds to get your hand off her before I break it,” Jackson growls, letting his arm slip from my shoulders and widening his stance.
Scott looks down, his eyes widening at his hand and let’s go when he realizes what he’s doing. “It’s a long story,” I tell him, aware that from his point of view this is random but also it’s really none of his business anyway. “I’ll explain later, just go sit back down.”
I look back up to Jackson and touch his arm, trying to tell him silently to back down too.
He doesn’t though, neither of them do, and I wince as they start to shout at each other with me caught in the middle. I can’t even understand half of what they’re saying with the bass of the music thumping throughout the bar.
