“Mom!” Jag shouts before he rushes up to me and I pick him up. “Axe was just showing me this.”
“Awesome.” I laugh out loud. “Why don’t you go wash your hands.” I tell him as I see he’s completely covered in dirt, and he nods quickly. Turning, I look at Axe and smile. “I thought I may need to go make an introduction to Dax before he gets blindsided in front of everyone. Since, technically, he’s my godfather and all.” He nods. “Unless you want to?”
“Nah, I prefer to not get punched in the face today.” He laughs before he leans in and whispers to me. “Plus, I kind of like this whole you’re the bad guy and everyone feels sorry for me. It’s a strange, new dynamic.” And it makes me laugh because I can tell that he is mostly joking, but him being this close to me again instantly brings back all the emotions I have stuffed away.
“Do you want to come over with us?” I ask him and he shakes his head again.
“No,”
“Oh, okay.” I mumble before I turn around.
“El,” he calls as his hand clasps my arm and stops me. As I turn to look at him, I can see the concern in his eyes. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I just don’t want everyone to assume that we’re back together because…” thewe have a kid together,is implied.
“I understand.” I quickly turn as Jag comes out of the house and I push him out the front door.
“Where are we going?” He asks me.
“To meet one of your uncles.” And his eyes light up. “He has a daughter who is a couple of years older than you.”
“A girl. Ew.” He says, causing me to laugh.
“Knock knock.” I shout out as I push the back door open and walk inside. Because just like it’s always been, the door here is never locked, even before the old house was burned to the ground. The only time that the door was ever locked was when there was a threat.
“Ella!” I hear Billie gasp as she turns the corner from the hallway and then she yells, “Dax, come here. Oh my god, you’re back?” She nearly shouts at me, but I watch her face quickly change as she comes around the counter and sees us standing there.
“Ella? Ash went and got you, didn’t he?” I hear my godfather ask me and I smile at him as he moves through the kitchen and comes around the counter. His eyes widening as he can now see Jagger and it stops him in place. “Ella.” His voice drops as he looks at him.
“You want to introduce yourself?” Jag nods his head as he steps up and juts his hand out.
“I’m Jagger Davis, but everyone calls me Jag” Dax reaches out and shakes his tiny hand. Similar to how Ash did the other day, Dax squats down to his eye level and shakes his hand.
“Daxton Wessex, but everyone calls me Khan. These two beautiful women are the only ones who call me Dax.” He tells him honestly.
“Khan?” Jag asks him and he laughs.
“Yup, I’ll tell you that story one day, but not today.” He pauses as he looks at him again. “Tell me Jag. How old are you?”
“I’m 3.” Dax and Billie both look up at me and I slowly nod my head.
“Does he know?” Billie whispers to me as I quickly nod my head and Dax catches her question.
“How do you like staying with your Uncle Ash?” Dax asks Jagger.
“Oh, it’s been great.” I answer for him. “In 24 hours, Ash has taught him how to make fart noises with his armpit and The F-Word.” Both of them just laugh along with me.
“Jag, you want to come and meet Liv?” Billie asks him as he looks up at me and I nod my head.
“I don’t like girls.” He tells her.
“It’s not about her being a girl but your cousin.”
“Fine.” He groans before he follows Billie further into the house. I can tell that it isn’t really just to meet Liv, but so that Dax and I can talk privately for a minute.
“How’d he take it?” Dax asks me.
“Better than I expected him to.” I slowly nod my head.
“Really?” He looks shocked and then my nod slows down more.