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Chapter Forty-Four
Baxter
Have to hand it to Ace, he did the impossible in getting us all here today. We’re all sat around the table uncomfortably ignoring one another when Thorn and Raven finally join us. Raven looks shaky on her feet, her lipgloss is gone and her lips are swollen from kissing.
Interesting.
Jealousy flickers through me but I dismiss it. If we manage to sort shit out today, there will be plenty of time for me to kiss her later. To be fair, I’m not mad at her; I’d kiss her now if I thought it wouldn't end in me getting a black eye. I’m not that stupid, I know I need to get her forgiveness first.
“Ace, why are we all here?”
“Sort problems,” he replies to Jax’s surly question. “Bigger problems to fix.”
Ah, so he knows what’s happening with Cordelia then. Good. If Raven has agreed to have us all round, then she must know we need to put up a united front to beat this bitch.
“Explain,” Jax barks.
God, he fucking annoys me. Just when I was starting to think he was alright, he reverts back to being a total arsehole. Who does he think he is to be making demands? Of all of us, he has the most grovelling to do. I decide to speak up.
“We have a new problem that needs sorting out,” I begin, before Jax interrupts.
“Besides her,” comes his scathing reply, “I can’t see what any of us have in common. And she is not my problem.”
Raven gives a sharp intake of breath and looks down at the table. Pretty sure it’s to hide tears at his harsh words. Dick. This better be a damn good defence mechanism because if he’s this much of a tool in real life, I don’t think I can stomach him long-term.
I throw him a withering glare that tells him exactly what I think, before continuing.
“We need some rules and I’m going with one: don’t interrupt. Two: be nice, and three: if at all possible, don’t be a fucking bellend.”
“Four: no drama. We deal with everything as fucking adults with Phoenix’s best interests at heart.” Rebel adds with some force.
“Harsh, but necessary,” Thorn chuckles. He’s in surprisingly good spirits. “Right, so let me get this straight...So we’re here to sort shit out so that we can move on and sort some new shit out.”
“Got it,” Ace replies. “Jax and Lizzie. Phoenix. Father test. What I did and…” he gives me a sideways glance and I nod for him to continue. “And Jax, Baxter and Tilly. Lot to cover.”
“Okay, let’s do this!” Thorn seems extremely keen to get going. I guess he has nothing to lose right now; unlike the rest of us.
“I need to hear about Tilly first,” Raven says. There’s a steel in her voice I haven’t heard in a while, and if it wasn’t aimed at me, I’d smile. Can still be proud of her though. “Jax?” she prompts.
He just scowls, unwilling to comment. I sigh at his immaturity and decide to take the reins.
“Okay, so, I know you saw my phone, Raven, and saw a load of messages and missed calls from Tilly. I need to explain what’s going on and you can ask questions or whatever, but please just hear me out, okay?”
“Fine,” is the only reply she gives.
“Jax approached me after they discovered you, and asked for my help in taking down Tilly.” I reach for my drink and take a sip. “I agreed because, babe, you know I’ve wanted to help you for years and you wouldn’t let me. Jax’s plan to bring Tilly down, by giving her a taste of her own medicine, appealed to my sense of chaos.”
“What do you mean, a taste of her own medicine?”
“Jax planned to get back in touch with Tilly and to seduce her,” I watch Raven’s reaction carefully. She blanches but otherwise stays strong.
“So what did he need you for?”
“The same. Once she met me, I was the trophy to be won. She wanted my name and prestige.”
“Why both of you?”
“Because,” Jax finally jumps in. “she needed to be destroyed. Annihilated for what she did.”
