CHAOS (Beneath The Secrets Book 1)

The driveway alert dings onto my phone, and I get up to meet Lara at the door.

She’s becoming a good friend, and it’s nice to have someone to talk to who is familiar with the work that Jax, and the rest, do.

“Hey! Come in, I have coffee going.” I give her a quick hug as she enters.

Her blonde hair is pulled back in a tight braid today, it makes her look younger than me.

“That is the biggest smile I’ve seen from you in a long time. Things going better?” She drops her bag by the couch and squats next to Maeve to give her a light kiss on the top of her head. “How is my May-May?”

“La-la!” Maeve’s drooling grin brightens her face. She grabs the book she was reading upside-down and hands it to Lara.

“Okay, I’ll read while I talk to your mommy.” She sits cross-legged next to Maeve and starts slowly turning the pages.

“I think things are going better. Jax is out picking up his Lambo from the shop, but he should be back in a bit.” I pour two cups and carry hers over to set on the table.

“Oh, yea. I heard you did a number on his car. He deserved it. Men. They can be so tupoy.” She turns another page and looks down at Maeve. “If you get a brother, make sure you keep him in line like I keep my brothers, okay?” Her Russian accent is nearly lost in Maeve’s curly hair.

“What does that mean?” I forgot to add milk, so get back up from the couch and head to the kitchen.

“Dense. Men have such a hard time seeing what is in front of them. Now that you’ve knocked some sense into Jax, he should be better. I had to knock Niki and Mikhail around a few times. Niki I know is better with women. He was very good with Katerina. But, Mikhail, it remains to be seen.” She takes a careful sip from her coffee and sets the mug back down where Maeve can’t reach it.

She’s so good with Maeve. I wonder if she plans on kids?

I’m almost tempted to ask, but my phone rings, vibrating across the kitchen island.

It takes me a moment of staring at it to register the caller ID.

No way.

“Hello?” Do I really want to do this?

“Hey, stranger! How are you?” Anna’s voice comes across extra chipper.

I haven’t talked to her in weeks.

“I’m fine. What’s up?” Definitely a mistake to answer. All I feel is awkward.

“Well, I feel bad for how things went down the last time I saw you. I was out of line. So, I was wondering if I could take you out for a drink? You know, catch up?” There’s a hopeful lilt in there.

A knot of doubt forms. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as I remember? I guess she really was trying to make sure Maeve’s financial needs were met.

“Yea, I guess we could maybe next month? I’m kinda staying close to home.” I want to stay near Jax. It’s taking a lot to keep him out of his darkness, and I don’t want to leave him alone too long.

There’s a pause. “Oh. Why keep yourself locked up all alone? Come on, it’d be fun to go out. You can bring Maeve.”

“I’m not by myself.” That’s weird of her to say. “I just want to spend some extra time with Jax. I can meet up with you, but later.”

I can hear her take a deep breath. “You’re still with him? I thought you guys split after he slept with Stacy? That’s why I was thinking maybe you would need someone to talk to.”

“We had some things to work out, but, no, we didn’t break up.” Why would she care? I’m not asking her for money.

“I can’t believe you’d go back to him after he did that. You left Brody for the same thing.” Her snide attitude is starting to piss me off.

“Brody fucked around on me for a year. Jax got messed up once and doesn’t even remember her⁠—”

What?

“Wait, how the fuck do you know her name?” I can feel the heat of anger growing in me.

Jax had no idea who the girl was.

But, Anna knows?

“I-I think it is just a rumor. I mean, I don’t know for sure,” she stammers.

“What else aren’t you telling me, Anna? If our friendship has ever meant anything, you need to spill it.” I practically scream into the phone.

Lara’s eyes widen from the living room floor and Maeve stops to watch me.

“Nothing,” she says quietly. “I have to go.”

The click as the line goes dead echoes through me.

“Dare I ask?” Lara looks up at me.

Slumping into the chair, my hands are still shaking as the rage courses through me.

That bitch knew.

“I know where Jax was that night. I wish there was a way to see the camera feeds.” I remember Stacy bragging about big tips one night at the bar she worked at when she wasn’t dancing for Gil.

Lara looks lost in thought. Maeve crawls away to her pile of books and starts digging through for a new one.

“I have an idea.” Lara seems to snap out of her reverie.

“I’m all ears.”

“The boys all talk about this Enzo guy. He has access to everything. I can talk to Niki and have him do the research. What do you think you’ll learn?” Lara leans back, her head tilts with her brows furrowed.

“I want to find out exactly what happened that night. Something hasn’t sat right with me that Jax couldn’t remember anything. When I talked to him, he was saying he wanted to marry me, and sounded completely sober. Definitely not drunk enough to lose track of what he was doing and wake up in a strange bed. If you had just seen how broken up he was⁠—”

Lara holds up her hand. “I know. I smelled him. Men who are fine with being dogs don’t go a week without a shower.” Her nose wrinkles like she’s remembering. “Let me text my brother.”