Beneath the Surface

Jax

Carson walks back inside and Dillon and I exchange looks of confusion. “Man I thought you left. You said you were going to grab something out of your truck, but you were gone forty-five minutes.”

He shrugs at me as he opens my fridge and grabs a beer. “Ran into Lexie while I was out there.”

“And you what? Stared at her for forty-five minutes?” Dillon snorts next to me.

“Nah, we just talked shit for a little while.”

Hold the hell up. What? That makes no damn sense. Lexie seems to be almost as nervous around men as her sons are, except for the few times I caught her eyes lingering on me, but I refuse to even think about that. Plus, Carson is the least talkative person I know. What the hell could they have talked about? What the hell is going on? Does he like Lexie? A growl comes from deep in my chest and the asshole actually smirks at me before plopping down on the couch to watch TV. Where the hell did that come from? Why did I just growl like that without even meaning to? That’s never happened before, and I push it out of my head before I can think too much about it. “So, what did you talk about?”

He shrugs, the asshole sure does shrug a lot! “Oh you know. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. No big deal.” I glare at him as I get up and stomp into the kitchen to grab another beer. When I drop back down into my recliner I notice Dillon’s shoulders shaking with quiet laughter.

“What the hell is your problem?”

“Jealousy does not look good on you my friend.”

“I’m not jealous! I’m just curious that’s all.” they both grunt in response.

I’m not jealous! Am I? I don’t know what the hell I am, but I know I’m not jealous. Not at all! I don’t get jealous over woman, hell I don’t even like women anymore. Can’t stand them. I’m not jealous, Lexie can do whatever the hell she wants to.

Then why does the thought of Lexie with Carson make me want to puke?

November 6, 2011

Me and the guys are sitting on the front porch talking shit, and waiting for Dillon’s parents to get here. We’re all having dinner at my house tonight. By dinner I mean we’re all getting together and ordering pizza. I can’t cook for shit. As we talk about our week at work, a dark gray suburban pulls into Lexie’s driveway. I haven’t talked to her or the boys in two weeks. Not since I showed Jason how to make a fist and where to hit the bully. I catch myself looking out my window much more often than usual hoping to catch a glimpse of her. I will never admit that out loud though. We all turn to see who gets out of the large SUV. Maddie and Mason climb out of the front just as the front door opens and Lexie steps out.

“Y’all are here just in time to surprise the boys! They’ll be getting off the bus in about fifteen minutes. They won’t be here long though. Y’all can spend time with them tomorrow. They’re spending the night with a friend tonight. They should be picking them up in a couple hours.” She throws her arms in the air, “Can you say adult night?” She yells the end of that sentence and starts jumping around. I can’t help but smile at how carefree she seems to be feeling today. I don’t think she realizes we’re outside watching. “God, how long has it been since we had a kid’s free night together?”

Mason grins, “About two years. Hell yeah! I’m totally getting you drunk tonight.” He walks to the passenger side of the car and the three of them hug. I see movement out of the corner of my eye and look over. What the hell? Two other men and a woman are crouched down getting out of the back driver’s side door while mason has Lexie distracted on the passenger side. Who the hell is that? The blond headed one walks to the front of the car, Lexie still hasn’t seen him.

“You got room for all of us to spend the weekend?”

Lexie whirls around and lets out a high pitch scream as the hurls herself at the man, and almost tackles him to the ground. They turn just enough for me to catch a glimpse of his face and I realize this is her other brother, Shawn. He strongly resembles Mason and Maddie, but he is broader than mason, and his facial features are a little different but close enough to know they’re related. She sees the other man and woman by the car and the two women start jumping up and down doing that squeal thing women do when they’re way too excited. Me, Dillon, and Carson all chuckle quietly. The last man stands back with his hands in his pockets grinning at the pair. This one is not related to them. Unless he’s a cousin or something. Lexie hasn’t mentioned any other siblings before besides Maddie, Mason, and Shawn. Besides, this guy has short cropped black hair and his complexion is much darker than the siblings. Lexie turns to him and throws her arms around his neck as he picks her up and spins her around and I almost come up out of my chair before I catch myself. Who the hell is this guy? Is this her boyfriend from back home? Does she have a boyfriend from back home? How the hell do I not know that, and why do I care? I don’t. I don’t care, I remind myself once again.

The Johnson’s blue Honda civic pulls into my driveway, and the three of us stand up. Maddie and Mason wave so we wave back. Shawn is giving us all an assessing stare. Lexie’s cheeks have turned bright red.

“Y’all have been sitting there the whole time haven’t you?” We all grin and nod at her.

“Hey Jax, caught any paintballs lately?” I glare over at Mason before chuckling and shaking my head. Dillon bursts out laughing.

“Man that was the funniest shit I’ve seen in a long time!” Mason and Maddie start laughing with him while I cross my arms over my chest. “God y’all only saw the aftermath! I wish y’all could have seen his face when he realized what was happening!”

Shawn looks around confused, “What are y’all talking about?”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Lexie shakes her head laughing, “I’ll tell you later.”

Just as the Johnson’s open their doors and start to climb out the school bus comes around the corner. As soon as the door opens both boys come barreling out and straight at Shawn. He gets down on his knees and lets them tackle him to the ground, and they roll around for a couple seconds while we all watch. They jump up and run to Maddie and Mason hugging them both at once. Then they both hug the woman at the same time. They both run to the other man that I don’t know yet and throw themselves at him. He laughs and picks them up spinning them around just like he did Lexie. When he puts them down the boys look over at us.

Justin runs over and throws his arms around Carson’s middle, and everyone freezes in shock. Carson puts his arms around the boy, and I hear Mrs. Johnson’s gasp, and barely hold back my own. Carson doesn’t hug anyone. Not even Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. I look up at Lexie and she has a hand covering her mouth as she watches her son. Carson looks confused as to why he’s being hugged, but doesn’t seem to be really bothered by it. “Thank you, Carson.” Jason walks up behind Justin but doesn’t go for a hug. He looks up at Carson through his lashes, “Yeah. Thank you Carson, It’s worked so far.” he even gives a little smile.

As Justin pulls back Carson drops down on one knee and smiles at them, “I’m glad it’s helping, Jason.”

“I haven’t had one in almost two weeks. It usually happens at least once a week, but it hasn’t happened” he whispers, but we can all hear him. Him and Justin turn and run in the house while we all stand there wondering what the hell just happened.

As Carson stands back up Lexie walks up to him and puts a hand on his arm as she leans up and whispers something in his ear. He smiles at her and nods his head, and she turns around and walks to her house with her family following. I glare at Carson, “Just a little bit of this and a little bit of that huh?” He smirks at me, turns on his heel and jogs up the steps and into my house.

Me and Dillon turn to each other, “What the hell was that?” we ask at the same time.