Full Circle (Tangled Web #4) Read online

  Full Circle

  Book IV of the Tangled Web Series

  Reine Creole

  Copyright © 2019 L. Bhoolai

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 9781080424535

  1. A Kink in the Works

  ~Jaxon~

  I woke to the sound of Whitley banging on her crib with some toy. I looked down to find Cin spread across my chest and stomach. I kissed the top of her head and slipped from under her carefully. She sighed in her sleep and rolled over to lie on Ashton. His hand came up unconscientiously and pulled her to him gently. I watched as she snuggled into his side, her hand tangling itself in the fur on his chest. He was a hairy son of bitch, but Cin seemed to like it just as much as she likes my bare one. It was weird how she seemed content and completely at home with both.

  I couldn't believe we were here. All the shit we'd gone through in high school seemed silly now. All the fighting and pissing contests now seemed trivial. My wife had a boyfriend…how crazy was that? How crazy was it that I allowed it? I shook my head while grabbing some pants out the dresser drawer.

  I walked into Whit's room and she started jumping up and down in the crib. She needed a new bed. She was getting too big for the crib. I lifted her into my arms and gave a quick kiss on the head.

  "Morning darlin', do you need to go to the potty?" I asked.

  She nodded and we headed to her bathroom. I sat her down and we played the waiting game. When she was finished, we washed our hands and headed down for breakfast. I couldn't cook to save my life but I could scramble eggs and toast bread, so that's what I made.

  My cell started to ring and I groaned. It was Saturday, and the office was closed but the ranch never shut down. I looked at the clock on the microwave. It was ten a.m. and already they were calling for me. I picked up the phone without even bothering to check the caller ID.

  "What's up? What's wrong?" I answered, not bothering to say 'hello'.

  "Excuse me?" The voice said.

  "I'm sorry, who is this?" I asked.

  "Jax, this is Abe."

  "Abe, I thought you were someone else. Sorry about that." I laughed. "So…to what do I owe the pleasure?"

  "Are you and your wife having another child?" He asked.

  "Yeah, and I've been meaning to call you and have everything rewritten and set up for the boys but we don't have any names yet so I figured I'd wait until they were born," I said. "Hold on…how'd you know Cin was pregnant again? Did Gramps call you?"

  "Well, I don't exactly know how to ask you this."

  "Just ask me."

  "Well…umm…how well do you trust your wife?"

  "I trust her with my life, why?"

  "Because I think she's been unfaithful to you."

  "Unfaithful? Why would you think that?"

  "I got a letter today from an attorney named Eric Wilshire. His client is claiming to be the father of your wife's unborn baby and…"

  "Babies, she's having twin boys," I said. "And would this client's name happen to be Ashton Buchanan?"

  "Yes, it is actually. How did you know?"

  "He's a friend of ours and he, Cin and I…hell, I don’t know what we are. But we had a crazy night together and well…she got pregnant."

  "I see. So, he is the father of the children?"

  "He’s the father of one of them, the other is mine.” I replied.

  “Are you positive of that?”

  “Yes, we're positive. We've already had a DNA test performed. Why, what's up? Is he setting up a trust for the baby or something?"

  "No, Mr. Buchanan has filed for custody of the child."

  "Come again…" I looked at the phone.

  "He wants his paternal rights recognized, and he’s asked for custody."

  "Are you sure?"

  "I have the paper right here in my hands."

  "That motherfucker… Can he do this? Can he take our son?"

  "I thought you said the baby was his?"

  "He is, biologically, but he's also my and my wife's. I love him as well; he's my son's twin brother. This is going to kill Cin. That asshole!"

  "Asshole!" Whitley mocked. I went over to her and put my finger to my lips.

  "Don't say that baby or mommy will kill daddy." I shushed her.

  "I hate to tell you this, but yes he can do it if the child is his. He won't win full custody. The courts are not going to take a child from its mom unless she's horribly unfit. He will get shared custody though. This lawyer of his is top notch. The kid's really good and making quite the name for himself. It won't be an easy win."

  I slammed my fist into the counter.

  "I'm going to strangle him in his sleep!"

  "I wouldn't advise that. It's very important that you keep your cool, son. You don't want to give them any ammo."

  "Ammo…the asshole is trying to take my kid!"

  "He won't win."

  "You don't understand. This runs a whole lot deeper than that. I trusted him. I'm going to fucking kill him," I said seriously. "Can you fax me the documents?"

  "I'm working on that as we speak," he said. I walked into my office cursing and heard the machine spewing out the papers. I paced the floor, waiting for the machine to stop.

  "I'm glad this guy lives in Chicago." Abe huffed.

  "Chicago…" I laughed darkly, "…that fucker's upstairs in my bed right now."

  "In your bed?"

  "Yeah…"

  It finally clicked for Abe.

  "Oh…oh, I didn't know you were…"

  "I'm not, Abe. I don't fuck Ashton, and he doesn't fuck me." I interrupted.

  "I was going to say a swinger. I've known you since you were born, Jax. I know you're not gay. Then again…I never thought you'd be a swinger either."

  "I'm really not. I don't go around fucking strange women and I don't let strange men fuck my wife. We have a lot of history. We were best friends as children and…fuck…its complicated okay. Ugh, I wish you would've called me yesterday. It would've saved me a whole lot of trouble," I said, getting upset. How could Ashton do this to us knowing what we were offering him?

  The fax shut off and I grabbed the papers.

  "Look Abe, I need to go. I've got an ass to kick. Thanks for the heads up and please call me if there's anything else."

  "I will. But do I need to call Monty and have him come pull you off of Mr. Buchanan? You cannot get in any trouble."

  "He won't call the cops. He'll take his ass whooping like a man."

  I hung up and looked over the papers as I made my way back to the kitchen. I picked Bee up and out of her seat and kissed her forehead.

  "Honey, Daddy needs you to play in your room like a big girl while I talk to mommy. Can you do that darlin'?"

  She nodded and I took her to her room. She began to pull all the damn toys out the toy box. I put the safety gate in place and headed to my room.

  0**************0

  I opened the door and looked over the two sleeping figures in my bed. The sheet covered their lower halves but left nothing to the imagination. Cin had her leg thrown over his and her hand was resting on his stomach. Her face and belly were pressed into his side. His left arm was over his head, making room for her, and the right one was across his stomach holding her forearm snugly. Even in his sleep he was possessive of her. I didn't get how he could love her the way I knew he did and constantly hurt her.

  With that thought I felt my temper flaring. Not only was he hurting her this time, he was hurting me. I had finally let my guard down with him and this was what I got for it. I wouldn't let my guard down again though, lesson learned.

  I walked to the bed and threw the sheets back roughly.

  "GET YOUR ASS UP!" I yelled.

&nbsp
; Cin startled awake but he barely moved.

  "Jax, why are you hollering?" Cin asked drearily.

  "Get off of him, Jacinda!" I growled.

  "Why, what's wrong?"

  "Just get up!" I told her roughly.

  She rolled away from him and that woke him up.

  "What’s going on?" He asked without opening his eyes.

  I grabbed him by the neck and snatched him up. He stumbled to his feet.

  "Jaxon, what are you doing?" Cin yelled running around the bed toward us.

  I held my hand up.

  "Stay back!" I yelled at her and Ashton slapped my hands away.

  "What the fuck?" He yelled, fully awake now.

  "You lying, conniving, sneaky, son of bitch!" I shouted in his face. "I want you out of my house and away from my family!"

  "Jax, stop it! What's wrong with you?" Jacinda cried, stepping in front of me.

  "Move, and put something on," I said, looking over Ashton's shoulder at her.

  Ashton was looking shocked and confused, but more so he looked defensive. He backed up and put Jacinda behind him protectively.

  "Stay behind me, love."

  "No Ashton…move! Something's wrong. Let me talk to him."

  “Stay behind me!" He yelled at her, watching my every move, ready to spring if I moved a muscle.

  He thought I flipped my wig and he was ready to protect her, even fight me completely naked if need be.

  I looked him in the eye so he could see I wasn't losing it. "I'm not crazy asshole! I'm pissed!"

  "Why, what's wrong?" Cin said from behind Ashton, who visibly relaxed but moved in front of Cin when she tried to come to me.

  "Move your ass, Buchanan! Right now!"

  He sidestepped and Jacinda ran to me. She had put on the first thing she saw which was Ashton's button up. I wrapped her in my arms and she squeezed me tightly.

  "What's going on with you? Why are you tripping? Have you changed your mind?" she asked.

  "Yes, I have."

  "What? Why?" Ashton yelled grabbing his boxers.

  "Because you're a conniving sack of shit!" I said, throwing the papers at him.

  He grabbed some of the papers off the floor and skimmed through them quickly. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead like he was in pain.

  "Let me explain…" he started.

  "Explain what? How could you? We trusted you…let you into our lives…our bed!" I yelled at him.

  "What are those papers?" Cin asked.

  "They're custody papers. Ashton here, wants to take our son away from us."

  "That's not it…" he started but I interrupted again.

  "That is, it! That's what they are, aren't they, papers asking for full custody of the baby?"

  Jacinda looked at Ashton then snatched the paper from his hands. She skimmed them over quickly and tears started to fall from her eyes. He stepped closer to her and she stepped back.

  "What's going on, Ashton? Are you trying to take my baby?"

  "No…"

  "Yes, you are, so stop fucking lying!" I shouted.

  "I'm not! Will you just shut up and fucking listen!" He shouted back at me before turning to Jacinda.

  "I wasn't trying to take him, Cin. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't taken away from me."

  "What are you talking about? You know I wouldn't take him from you," Cin said.

  "How do I know you won't do that, Jacinda? Every time you and Jax talk about the twins, it's our babies this, and our babies that, but they're my babies too damn it! My son's in there too! How come I'm not including in the decision making? How come I have no say in how he's going to be raised!"

  Cin stepped closer to him.

  "You should know because you trust and love me. And when we say 'our' Ashton, we mean all of us. Not just Jaxon and I. And you do have a say, I've tried to include you in all the discussions, but that’s not that easy to do with a phone call."

  "Just because I live in Chicago doesn't mean I don't love those babies. It doesn't mean that I don't want to be here with them or with you, because I do. And what I have to say about them and how they're cared for should matter," he said, looking at me.

  "I know that, and it does. Why would you think that your input didn't matter?" She asked, looking at me too.

  He didn't say anything.

  "I may have told him that." I confessed.

  "Oh Jax…why would you say something like that? These babies are as much his as they are yours. What he says does matter."

  "I was pissed. He was trying to tell me how to raise my family and…"

  "Our family Jax…it's our family. And like it or not Ashton is a part of it now." She shook her head at me.

  "I told you I didn't mean to offend you. I was worried about Jacinda being here alone, at night, with three babies," he said.

  "And I told you she won't be alone. I mean hell, you're not too worried about it, Ashton. You can talk all the shit you want to from Chicago. If you were that worried about it, you'd have your ass down here with her and our kids."

  He looked down at the papers scattered across the floor.

  "You're right..." he whispered.

  "I know." I rolled my eyes.

  "I'm sorry about this. I didn't ask him to send these yet. There must have been a mix up." He held up the papers.

  "Doesn't matter, you thought about it long and hard enough to have the papers drawn up," I said.

  "Damn it Jax, I made a mistake! I didn't want to be excluded from my son's life. I was afraid I'd lose him. I know I should've spoken with you and Jacinda first…I fucked up and I'm sorry. I'll call Eric today and withdraw the petition. Can you forgive me?"

  Cin walked over to him and hugged him.

  "Of course, Ashton, I forgive you."

  I looked at her.

  "He tried to take our baby! How can you possibly trust him after that!?"

  "I love him. I know his heart and how he thinks. He wasn't going to take our son from us. Ashton does stupid shit when he thinks he's backed into a corner. The bottom line is that these boys need both of their fathers and so do I. I know you're pissed at him and I am too, but it was a misunderstanding, and we will have those. This relationship will be hard enough without you two tearing us down from the inside. Outsiders will judge us, people will talk behind our backs, so we need to stay strong and support each other. Don't you two understand that?

  "The love and happiness the three of us are capable of is immeasurable. I want that with you two, but I can't make this work by myself. I love and trust both of you. You two need to do the same with me and each other."

  I sighed and looked at Ashton. He was looking at me.

  "She's right, if I can't trust you with her and our children Ashton, this isn't going to work. I can't be worrying that you're going to pull some underhanded shit on me to take what I'm willingly sharing with you. I don't have to do this," I said.

  "I know and you can trust me. I made a mistake and I apologize, but I'm human. I will make mistakes and so will you and Jacinda. This is new to all of us and we're learning as we go," he said.

  I took in a deep breath.

  "No more secrets then. Cin and I don't do secrets. If something's bothering you then you need to put it on the table. I know you like to keep shit bottled up but that's not going to work in this relationship. You need to know that you can trust us with anything and we need to know that we can trust you too."

  "You can trust me. I understand that this isn't just about me and Jacinda or you and Jacinda. We're all in this together."

  "Exactly."

  "Look, I know I can't do much from Chicago. But since we're really going to try this…relationship slash family thing…" he smiled, "…I think I should be here with you. So how do you feel about me moving to Houston?"

  Cin squealed.

  "Really Ash, you'll move down here?" She was damn near hopping.

  "I'd do anything for you and my son, Jacinda."

  She pulled him into a kiss. r />
  "You can stay here with Jax and I and…"

  "Wait love… slow down a little bit. I'm not moving in here with you and Jax. Not yet anyway. I need my own space and you two need yours. I'd like to keep my room here, but I want my own house."

  "But, I thought you wanted to be with us?"

  "I do and I will, eventually. In all honesty, I'll probably be here most of the time. But we need to start out slow. I need a place that I can go to and veg out in peace sometime. You understand?"

  She nodded and smiled but I could tell she wasn't completely happy with the idea.

  "What about school?" I asked him.

  "I'll transfer and go to school with Cin. I'll finish this year out in Chicago then transfer over the summer. Can I stay here if I can't find a place right away?"

  "Of course," Cin said eagerly.

  "Make sure you call your dog off." I told him.

  "I will, and I’m sorry. I didn't mean to hurt either of you," he said to me and I looked at him.

  "Fine… just don't fuck up again."

  He nodded and released Jacinda.

  "I should check on Whitley. There's eggs and toast downstairs," I said kissing Cin.

  "You cooked?"

  "Yep, it's not too bad either."

  She laughed.

  "Come on Ashton, I need someone there to spot me in case I keel over."

  "Whatever, go eat."

  We started down the hallway and I saw Whitley's head peeking over the safety gate. I ran and grabbed her up swinging her around. She laughed loudly and we started toward the stairs.

  I followed Cin and Ashton into the kitchen. They both made plates and sat down. I stood Whit up and she took off to the family room to watch cartoons. I made a cup of coffee and sat at the table.

  I watched as Cin and Ashton played with each other's food and laughed. We talked about Ashton moving to Texas and what parts of the city would be best for him to find a house in. We talked about Jacinda's upcoming doctor's visit and setting up a new nursery for the boys. We also talked about our new found relationship, what we expected from one another.

  Jacinda was beyond happy that we were both in her life. Ashton was happy and believe it or not, grateful for the opportunity of love and companionship Cin and I had given to him by asking him to join us. I was happy too, happy that my wife had a constant smile on her face. I was also grateful for my family and the prospect of having a brother that I could share everything with. For the first time I could see the happiness that this could bring to all of us if we could make it work.