Beneath the Surface

Lexie

They glare right back, “You hit Uncle Carson.” Jax blinks at them and Nina speaks up, “Uncle?”

Jason nods, “Mom says he’s her brother now, and that makes him our uncle. Kind of like Uncle Tyler, he’s our uncle too even though he’s not really related to us.” Carson raises an eyebrow at Jax. I don’t know what that look is about.

Dillon ruffles Jason’s hair, “when you put it like that it makes perfect sense.”

I wave at the boys to walk out, “We are going to go home now. Thanks Jax for getting the boys for me, and I’m sorry about the whole basement thing. I’ll talk to them about it when we get home.” He nods.

I walk over and hug Carson. “Thanks for everything, car, and I’m sorry about your tires.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s no big deal.”

“Yes it is. Let me know how much the new tires cost and I’ll pay for them.”

He’s already shaking his head before I finish, “Not a chance in hell. Call me if anything happens. I only live five minutes away.” He cuts his eyes towards Jax, “Are you okay after what happened today, or do you want me to bunk on the couch again tonight?”

I shake my head, “no I’ll be fine in the house with that awesome alarm you put in. Thanks though. I’ll talk to you later.” I turn and walk out as I wave at everyone else in the room.

*********

Jax

He slept on the couch? Why? Damn I feel bad for hitting him now. Dillon was right the other night. I should have called Carson to see what was going on before jumping to conclusions. Looking at his black eye I wish I would have listened to him.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

Brett is staring at Carson, “What’s that about son? You never let anyone get close to you besides Dillon and Jax, and you talked more with her here than I’ve ever heard you talk in one sitting. Her kids call you their Uncle? What’s going on?”

Carson looks down at his feet for a minute before looking back at Brett, “I don’t know how to explain it to you. It started when I saw one of the boys after he had a bad nightmare, Jax was there, he can tell you it was really bad. The boy was absolutely terrified, sobbing so hard I don’t know how he could breathe. I wanted to help, so I went over there about a week later, and gave the boys my dream catcher. Something happened while I was over there, and I won’t say what because I promised Lexie I wouldn’t. But it led to us sitting in the floor talking. I understand her. After that she just kinda claimed me as her brother, and I didn’t mind so I went along with it.” He shrugs his shoulders, “She’s like a sister to me. I’m not going into the whole story because it’s not mine to tell, but she has a stalker, that’s why she moved here, and he found her last week. He was inside her house while her and the boys slept. I put an alarm system in, but her first night back in the house she was scared, so I crashed on the couch to keep an eye on her and the boys” He looks at me, “I haven’t told Jax yet because next time I came over he hit me, but when we put the system in we did a sweep of the house, and we found cameras with audio all over the house. He couldn’t have done that while they were sleeping so he had to of been in the house before that night.”

Brett curses under his breathe, He walks over and puts a hand on Carson’s shoulder, “I’m proud of you son for helping someone who needed it, and for learning to let someone in. I’m real proud. She really just a sister to you or is there something else there?”

“No sir, she’s like a sister. I’m not interested. You know better than that. Besides, I’d rather Jax not hit me again.” He chuckles. “Plus it’s Jax that she has her eye on. Has been since she moved in.” He smirks at me.

Brett turns and raises an eyebrow at me, “You interested?”

“Nope”

Dillon snorts and Carson just shakes his head. “My eye says differently buddy.” I just shake my head and everyone lets it drop as I grab my phone to order some pizzas.