The Quiet Game (Pushed Aside Book 1) Read online

  “Wait, you want to marry me?”

  “Well, I was going to ask you first, but since you just so rudely beat me to it. Yes, Eliza Marie Parker, I want to marry you.”

  He’s looking at me in expectation, like he is waiting for me to say something in return but I can’t get a word out. I’m dizzy from the rollercoaster ride of emotions.

  “Eliza, I have loved you since I can remember. Of course, I loved you in a different way when we were children, but love has always been between us nevertheless. I never wanted anything more than to take care of you, love you, keep you safe, and make you happy. So, I’m asking you now, will you please marry me?”

  I think my heart is about to explode. A form of joy and happiness is spreading through my body like I’ve never known before. I feel a tear running down my face and I realize that for all the times I have cried, this is the first time in my life I’m crying because of happiness.

  “Yes, I want to marry you.” I can barely get out the words before Jaxon swoops me up into his arms.

  When he puts me back down, I look around to see Jen and Christine teared up. Brad is standing next to his wife with a relieved look on his face and Frederick already has some more papers in his hand, waiting on us to take them from him.

  I grab the stack and read the first page. It's a marriage license.

  “Like I said, we were ready for plan B,” he says proudly.

  They weren’t joking when they said they were ready for this. Apparently, I was the only one who didn’t know about plan B. Jen included a simple but elegant, white summer dress in her shopping spree that is neatly hanging in the back of Hunter’s truck. I change in the bathroom after we walk over to the courthouse next door. Jaxon was already wearing some dapper suit so he is ready to go. Frederick had made an appointment beforehand and we are in the courtroom to get married, before I can wrap my head around what’s happening.

  It might not be a fairy tale wedding to anyone looking in, but it is to me. All my hopes and dreams came true as soon as we exchanged our vows and the court official announces us husband and wife.

  I look at the silver diamond studded wedding band around my finger when we are walking outside hand in hand. Of course, he had thought about that as well. I wonder how long he had been planning this when Jen comes up by my side.

  “I’m so happy for you. Seriously, I’m a little jealous of course, but only like ten percent. Ninety percent of me is happy for you!” She says genuinely.

  Then she continues in a lower tone. “Hunter said that he will take me back home now.”

  I stop walking and look at Jen in surprise.

  “I really need to go back and I can’t stay with you guys on your wedding night,” she says with a wink.

  My wedding night?

  I’m pretty sure my cheeks just turned three shades redder than the blush Jen put on me this morning.

  When we get to the parking lot Jen gives me a long hug and tells me again how happy she is for me. Hunter and I share a rushed awkward hug before both of them get in his car and drive off leaving me and my new husband to start our new life together.

  We get in the car and start driving home. We are barely out of the parking lot when Jaxon starts asking me questions about the future.

  “Don’t you think the apartment is too small for two people? We could buy a nice little house with a backyard.”

  His sweet gesture makes me smile. Of course, he has been longing for a place to call home. A place to share with someone you love and who loves you back. I know exactly how he feels because I have been craving the same thing.

  “Your apartment is literally the nicest place I’ve ever stayed in, so I don’t mind living there, but I wouldn’t mind getting a house eventually. It does sound very nice. Honestly, I’ll be happy wherever we are, as long as you are there with me,” I tell him truthfully.

  “First of all, it is our apartment now, not mine. Second, you are right. I’ll be happy wherever we live, as long as we are together.”

  Then our conversation leads us to the club and how Jaxon wants to make some changes.

  “From now on, I won’t let anyone sell or use drugs at the Bunker. I will not allow prostitution either,” he tells me reassuringly.

  “What about the fighting?” He stills and I can see his knuckles whiten as his grip tightens on the steering wheel.

  “I’m not going to lie to you, Eliza, I don’t know if I can stop,” he admits. “It’s kind of an outlet for me.”

  “I just don’t want you to get hurt. I worry about you.” I try to voice my concern the best I can. I don’t want him to think I’m trying to tell him what to do; I’m just worried about him.

  He parks the car in front of our apartment complex and cuts off the engine. He turns to me and cups my face with both of his hands.

  “Let’s make another deal. I stop fighting, when you start talking.”

  “I do talk…to you.” I give him the sweetest smile I got, hoping to weasel my way out of this. Of course, I know exactly what he is saying. I’m just not sure if I’m ready to talk to everyone. Probably less ready than Jaxon is to give up fighting.

  We get out of the car and walk upstairs. I basically jump Jaxon as soon as we stepped into the apartment. I wrap my arms around him, pulling his face to mine. In between kisses he tells me, “you know we don’t have to do this, right?”

  “I want to do this!” I want to share everything with him. I want all of him and I want to give him all of me.

  We move to the bedroom, somehow managing to not stop kissing on the way. We bump into the couch once and into a wall twice while we move closer to our destination. When we make it to the bedroom, I feel him grab the top of my zipper behind me. He slowly drags it down, skimming his fingers down my spine with it. The world could stop spinning right now and I would not notice. Some fire inside of me ignites and is now burning me up from the inside. It started in my belly but now it’s spreading throughout my body, reaching all the way to my fingertips. I have never felt so…just everything.

  My dress falls to the floor and I make a mental note to send Jen a gift basket for buying it for me and making me wear the new cute underwear set. I start to unbutton the top of his dress shirt but my inconsiderate fingers don’t work right. My mind and my body seem to be out of sync at the moment.

  Stupid buttons!

  I think Jaxon is enjoying me fumbling with his buttons until apparently, he gets inpatient as well. As soon as I managed to get the top button undone he grabs the hem of his shirt and pulls it over his head. I have seen him shirtless before but somehow this is different. I’m more aware now and this time we are shirtless together. We fall onto the bed together, his body covering mine. Pure bliss washes over me. I’ve never felt so content and unrestricted before.

  I thought I would be nervous tonight but I am not. Having sex turned out to be the least nerve-wracking thing that I have done in weeks. Like always, Jaxon makes me feel safe and comfortable. I don’t know how I was ever able to live without having him in my life.

  Epilogue

  Eliza

  It’s the first day after the summer break and I’m back at my old school. Most people ignore me and act like they don’t know me when I walk through the hallway. I’m perfectly fine with that. One or two girls look at me with a faint interest, but don’t approach me. I’m holding my book-bag tightly in front of my chest when I walk into my classroom ten minutes too early. I do that on purpose so I can take a seat in the very back of the room. I sit and wait for everybody else to get here. One by one my classmates stroll in, most of them visibly tired and annoyed to be back at school.

  I wish Jen was here, taking the seat next to me. She’d spent a lot of time with us this summer and we texted every day when she was not here, just like we promised each other. But she insisted on going back when school started. She said she didn’t want to be the third wheel and that was also the reason she would ask Hunter to pick her up and take her back for visits. Of course, I know
she had alternative motives with Hunter, but I sense that there is another reason she doesn’t want to move here for good. I just can’t figure out what it is yet.

  Finally, my English teacher Mrs. Gray comes in and gives everybody a friendly, upbeat greeting.

  “Eliza, it is so good to have you back this year,” she tells me when her eyes catch me in the back. Then she goes on to take attendance, the moment I have been dreading. Maybe no one will notice and not ask me a million questions.

  Mrs. Gray starts going through the names. Then she gets to my name.

  “Eliza Par…” She suddenly halts. “Oh Eliza, did you get adopted?” She asks me curiously. I shake my head.

  “Oh? How come your last name changed?” She looks at me with confusion clearly written all over her face, and very intrigued. Some other students look equally intrigued as they turn their heads to look at me.

  “I got married,” I answer in a quiet voice. That managed to grab everybody’s attention. Not a head in this classroom remains unturned. All eyes are on me. Some were searching my hand for a ring and their eyes widen even more when they spot the diamond band gracefully decorating my slender ring finger.

  There is a dead silence in the room until Mrs. Gray breaks it with a gasp. “Wow! Isn’t that something? Well, ah…congratulations,” she says and it almost sounds like a question.

  Then she continues down her list, still seeming a little flabbergasted by my announcement. I don’t really care what everybody thinks. They wouldn’t understand what Jaxon and I have anyways.

  I try to keep my head down the rest of the school day but the news of me being married spreads through the school like a wildfire. People would be less shocked about a pregnancy than a seventeen-year-old getting married. Especially here in a big city.

  Lots of people assume that I’m also knocked up; I learned that rumor from loud whispers through the hallway. I also catch people talking about my husband being some old ugly rich guy that promised me a better life. Apparently, the imagination knows no bounds regarding my situation. I don’t know how many people came up to me today trying to talk to me, but I can guarantee it is more today than in all of my past school years combined. Most are simply curious and want to know why, some express genuine concern and only few make actually smart-ass or mean comments to my face. My favorite so far “So is your husband going to come to parent-teacher conferences now?” I only find that one amusing because I can’t help imagining Jaxon showing up here to talk to a flustered Mrs. Gray about my grades.

  The bell finally rings at the end of the day, I gather my stuff and walk out the door. More people try to come up to me, asking me questions but I just keep walking, trying to wave them off or give them a nervous smile while shaking my head.

  As soon as I’m outside I can see Jaxon across the schoolyard, waiting for me, leaning against his car. I instantly feel a tad less stressed out about the whole day. I walk faster than my normal walking speed, trying to get to him and out of here as fast as possible. When I’m almost at the car he opens the passenger door for me and waves me inside with a bow.

  “Your carriage, My Lady,” he announces loudly.

  My nostrils flare, I’m so mad at him right now. He knows I don't like any kind of scene that draws attention to me. I quickly get into the car and buckle up. He closes the door behind me. Just when I thought we couldn’t possible attract any more attention, he casually slides across the hood of the car like a movie action star. He lands smoothly on his feet, on the driver’s side of the car and gets in. I stare straight ahead, trying not to look back at all the people staring at us, while Jaxon gets in the driver’s seat.

  “Excuse me, did you not just see the awesome slide I did?” Jaxon asks me like he is in solemn disbelief.

  I try to hold back a smile, but the corners of my mouth go up uncontrollably. I look at him with a big stupid grin on my face now. He knew exactly what he was doing, like he always knows how to cheer me up and make me feel better. He leans in to give me a quick kiss on the lips and just like that all the nervous and uncomfortable feelings I’ve been dealing with all day are gone. He pulls away, but I grab his face, pulling him back to me to prolong the kiss. I don’t care anymore who is watching and what they are saying. I love this man, he is my husband, and I don’t want him to ever let me go.

  Extended Epilogue

  Colt

  I watch the water drip from the sink, sitting on the cot in my six by eight prison cell. There is no window, just a bed, a toilet, and a sink. The brick walls surrounding me are bare and the steel barred door has been tightly shut and locked from the outside for the last twenty-three hours.

  Someone should come and get me any minute now for my daily hour’s respite out of this hellhole. This has been my routine for the last few months and will be my routine for the rest of my life. The hatred for this world and everybody in it grows every day, some days I think it will consume me. Other days I think it already has.

  I would do anything to get out of this hell. Anything to be free again.

  I hear the sound of footsteps approaching from afar. As always, the footsteps are accompanied by the rattling of a large keychain. The noise abruptly stops in front of my cell door.

  Click, click…

  The door opens slowly with a loud squeak revealing a prison guard holding a pair of handcuffs on the other side.

  “Cuff up Inmate, you have a visitor.”

  What the hell? I don’t get visitors. They better not deduct this from my hour rec-time. I turn around and let the guard cuff me, then he leads me through the prison and into the visitor area I’ve never been to before. He brings me to a private room and cuffs me to the table. Someone is already sitting at the waiting for me. Someone I only know because he used to be one of my best customers.

  “What the hell are you doing here Coleman?”

  He smiles at me dryly and looks me straight in the eyes when he talks.

  “Well, I’m here to get you out of this shit hole.”

  “And why would you do that?”

  “You ever heard the expression the enemy of my enemy is my friend?”

  I nod as realization strikes me. I got a pretty good idea where he is going with this now.

  “It looks like your old pals, Jaxon and Hunter, are having a great life out there while you rot away in here. Now, that seems a little bit unfair, don’t you think?”

  Just hearing those names leaves a sour taste in my mouth. My friends…the people I’ve considered my family for so long. The same people who abandoned me when I needed them the most. My hatred for them has turned into sadness a long time ago. As much as I want to hate them, more than anything I’m sad and I miss my friends.

  “It does seem unfair.” I say in agreement. I don’t know what Coleman is trying to do, but I’m not wasting this opportunity to find out.

  A wicked smile spreads across his face.

  “Ok then, let us work on getting you out of here, so we can start on making things right for the both of us.”

  Thank You for reading The Quiet Game!

  The next book in this series is The Things We Hide,

  Jenna’s and Hunter’s Story.

  Next in this Series

  The Things We Hide

  Also by the Author

  CONTEMPORAY ROMANCE

  The Quiet Game

  The Things We Hide

  The Lies We Tell

  The Bet

  The Dare

  The Secret

  The Vow

  Bayshore Rivals

  (Reverse Harem Bully Romance)

  When Rivals Fall

  When Rivals Lose

  When Rivals Love

  ***

  DARK ROMANCE

  The Rossi Crime Family

  (Dark Mafia Romance)

  Convict Me

  Protect Me

  Keep Me

  Guard Me

  Tame Me

  Remember Me

  Hating You

  Break
ing You

  (Dark Bully Romance)

  ***

  EROTIC STANDALONES

  Runaway Bride

  FREE NOVELLA

  There Captive

  (A Dark Reverse Harem)

  Jenna Reed

  J.L. Beck & C. Hallman

  Upcoming release for our pen name Jenna Reed.

  Coming this December

  An Enemy to Lovers Christmas Novella

  I started disliking him in first grade when he threw a frog at me and called my pig tales stupid.

  When we were in middle school he called me four eyes and made fun of my freckles.

  Then in high school he did something so bad, I swore I’d never say his name again, look at his annoyingly handsome face, or even waste a single thought of him.

  And that worked out fine… mostly.

  Well, it did work out until he showed up at my families cabin for the holidays. Turns out his brother started dating my sister. Please, someone kill me now.

  To make matters worse, I’m stuck with him in one room, sleeping in a bunk bed… yeah, a freaking bunk bed.

  I haven’t made a wish list since I was a six, but I’m desperate, so I’m trying everything.