*Six's POV*
The relief I feel that they’re not taking Theo away from me is inconceivable. Just as Abigail is
about to go into her office, her pager beeps and she says, “It would seem your mother isawake.”We head upstairs and I leave Theo with Axle in the waiting room. I don’t want him to see her like this. I go to reception and tell them what Abigail said and one of the nurses escorts me to my mothers room.
When I walk in I see her looking very pale and there’s a sheen of sweat on her face.
“Hi mom.”
“What are you doing here?” She asks, blatant annoyance colouring her tone.
My heart clenches. “Do you not want me here?”
“I don’t want you to see me like this," she says, looking away from me.
My eyes sting as tears threaten to spill out. “Like what, Mom? This is no worse than seeing you
strung out on our couch. This is the first ti*Six's POV*When we get there, Jameson greets us at the door and fist bumps Theo. He likes Jameson a lotwhich is good considering it’s very probable that they’ll be spending a lot of time together in the future.As we head further into the house, I realize how nervous I’m getting. By the time we reach thekitchen, I feel like I’m noticeably shaking. Axle, however, does not seem to notice anything aswe reach his parents.“Mom, Dad, this is Six and Theo. Six, these are my parents. My mom, Irene who you’ve already met and my Dad, Jack.”“It’s nice to see you again,” Irene says and then Jack says, “It’s nice to finally meet you.”I see where Axle inherited his looks from. I would never guess that he’s got a 19 year old son. I shake both of their hands and Jack says, “Have we met before?” while tilting his head to theside.&ldquo
*Axle's POV*When I get back from grabbing my beer, I’m a little surprised when she wraps her arms aroundme. Don’t get me wrong, neither of us are opposed to PDA at school and elsewhere but I kind of expected her to be more stand off-ish around my parents. She did look pretty pale earlier and she turned down a beer. But she said she was fine. I make a mental note to ask her about it later.I see Theo swimming up beside her and she pulls away and looks at him as he places a handon her side and says, “You’re it!”“What?!” She says dramatically. “Not for long!” She says and ducks lower into the water, swimming behind him at a deliberately slow pace. When she gets close to where Jameson is, she shoots her hand out to hit him in the arm and says, “You’re it!” and dashes sideways before he can react. “Hey! Rude!”He darts after her but she’s fast. She heads my
*Six's POV*The second I get home, I tell Theo to go play in his room and run to my laptop. I log into mycamgirl account and see a message.JackDaddy21: You free tonight?It was sent shortly after I left their house. Does he know? Should I message him and ask? Should I just block his username from my content? Yes, that’s exactly what I need to do. Ipromptly block his account from my profile.My heart is hammering in my chest and I’m just praying to any God that’ll listen that he doesn’t know who I am. What would he even do if he did? I mean he can’t say anything right? That would completely destroy his marriage. I need to calm the fuck down and just pretend this never happened. Yes. That’s what I‘m gonna do.I calm myself down and then go get Theo ready for bed and prepare our lunches. I can’t bringmyself to go on cam because I feel like I might shit a literal brick so I call it a ni
*Six's POV*“Just forget about what?” Axel's voice pierces through me and I look at Jack, begging him not to say anything. “Dad? What are you doing here?”“I came because of Six," he says as though it's the most obvious thing in the world.Confusion takes over Axle’s face as I say, “Jack, don’t do this!”“Long before you were in the picture she was mine!” He growls out.“That’s not true! I was never yours!” I yell but he keeps going, “I paid her to get naked and touch herself for me on camera. And she willingly obliged. She’s been mine for so long I can’t even think about anyone else. I didn’t know who she was until you brought her over, but now, I have to have her. Your mother never satisfied me the way she does and I had never even seen her in person before Sunday!”“Six, is this true?”I can’t bring my
*Axle's POV*“Just forget about what?” I say when I find Six outside talking to someone. Not just anyone, Irealize. “Dad? What are you doing here?”“I came because of Six.” What the fuck does that mean?“Jack, don’t do this!”“Long before you were in the picture she was mine!” He growls out. What the hell?“That’s not true! I was never yours!” She yells out but he keeps talking, “I paid her to get naked and touch herself for me on camera. And she willingly obliged. She’s been mine for so long I can’t even think about anyone else. I didn’t know who she was until you brought her over, but now, I have to have her. Your mother never satisfied me the way she does and I had never even seen her in person before Sunday!”The words cut through me and my stomach twists itself into knots the more he says. No. There’s no way.
*Axle's POV*The look of confusion on my mother’s face tells me she still hasn’t figured it out. “Who?”“My fucking girlfriend! Your husband paid my underage girlfriend to strip for him on camera! Multiple times!”“I didn’t know it was her until last weekend and then she blocked me!” he yells.“You sure as hell knew who she was when you tried to stake your claim and get her to leave me for you an hour ago!”“What?!” Jameson and my mom say at the same time. I’m surprised when he doesn’t try to deny it and even more surprised that he doesn’t even look like he feels guilty about it. My mom looks at him and slaps him across the face.“You piece of shit!” She yells and stands up off the bed.I see Jameson clench and unclench his fists as his face heats up. I can tell he’s trying to stophimself from hitting him when someth
*Six's POV*I feel Jordan stir underneath me and then he looks down when I adjust my head so that my chin is on his chest.“Morning beautiful,” he mumbles. He was never a morning person.“Morning,” I reply.“How are you feeling,” he asks me.“Honestly? I have no clue.”“Do you wanna talk about it?”“Not really no. Thank you, for being here though."“Always,” he says and bends down to kiss my forehead.“Coffee?” I ask him. He nods and we get up. I put on a pair of boyshort underwear and then pull Jordan’s t-shirt over my head, enjoying how his familiar scent makes me feel comforted. He throws on just his grey sweatpants and then wraps his arms around my waist and says, “Ialmost forgot how good you look wearing my clothes.” I smile and very quickly, our clothes endup on the floor again.After we ge
*Six's POV*When I make it downstairs, I find Axle leaning up against his car. I walk over to him and he stands up straight and he says, “Look, let me just start by saying that obviously I’m not happyabout seeing you with Jordan.” I go to cut him off but he says, "Just let me finish. I get it, I broke your heart and you needed someone. Literally anybody else would have been better, but I’m gonna let it go because this whole thing was my fault. I was pissed off at the whole situation and I took it out on you. I wasn’t thinking rationally. That was just too much information to process at once for me and I handled it like shit, and it took half a bottle of whiskey and a dose of reality check from a bartender of all people but I get it and I should have let you explain instead of just leaving you.”“Answer me this: If I had told you before the shit with your dad, would you have made mechoose between you and my job? Be h
*Six's POV**3 years later*After doing summer courses and studying my ass off, I’m finally graduating from nursing school in the top of my class and I already have job offers from the local hospitals. It’s been a hectic 3 years trying to keep up with school, Theo and Axle and spending time with our friends. We’re still really close to the whole high school group. Paradox took off faster than anyone was expecting so they’re busy constantly and have their first tour planned for next year.It's a little sad that I won't get to go with him because of Theo's school and my job and whatnot, but I'll use as many vacation days as I can and we'll fly to see each other as much as possible. It's definitely going to be difficult, but we've overcome so much shit together already that I don't think doing l
*Six's POV*About 15 minutes after the band leaves to go set up, we all head out to the dance floor right in front of the stage to secure our places before the hoard gets too large.The head of the prom committee comes on stage to introduce them and then the curtains open. Axle looks down and winks at me so I blow him a kiss back.They start their set and do several songs that are definitely more on the pop end of the spectrum than I’m used to hearing them play. That was probably intentional seeing as most people here would not be into hearing some of their more obscure music. I wonder if the committee had a say in these song choices.Everyone is singing along and dancing and at the end of one song, Axle goes right up to the mic and says, “Alright
*Axle's POV*In the last couple months since Laura died, things have been busy, but thankfully uneventful. Paradox has been practicing a lot and doing gigs all around town and everyone has been studying like crazy to make sure we all graduate, and for Six, to make sure she keeps her scholarship. We’ve all finished our exams and tonight is prom night, to be followed a few days after that by graduation.It’s decided that we’ll all get ready at my place and early afternoon everyone shows up and the girls retreat upstairs. Apparently hair and make up is a big production for them. My mom offered to let them all use her room and the ensuite and even said she would help them out. I think she secretly always hoped for a daughter. Her and Six have been getting really close, which makes them and me happy.
*Six's POV*“What now?” Axle asks me.“Home. I need to see Theo.” My car is still at school but I’ll deal with that later.He brings me to the apartment and when I knock on Shaunice’s door she’s obviously surprised to see me since I’m supposed to be at school for another 2 and half hours.She invites us in and then we hear little steps running down the hall and Theo launches himself at me so I pick him up and hold him tight, thanking anyone that’ll listen that I got custody of him before she died. I was worried for a long time that if I lost her it would mean losing him too. I hug him for longer than usual and he starts to squirm so I put him down and he runs off.
*Six's POV*When my phone starts ringing, I pull it out and see the caller ID and my stomach drops out of my body. They never call.“Hello?”“Hey, Six. It’s Pete. Can you come down the station as soon as possible?”“Did you find her?” He pauses and the dead air over the phone all but confirms my thoughts.“We think so. I can’t say much over the phone, though. Do you have someone who can come with you?”“Yeah," I say, completely numb to emotion.“Okay, see you soon," he tells me.
*Axle's POV*When I wake up in the morning, I realize I’m pressed very close to the wall and I understand why when I lift my head up to see Theo on the other side of Six, snuggled into her side. She did tell me he does this sometimes.I lie my head back down and attempt to go back to sleep, but not long after, I feel movement in the bed. Six feels pretty still so it must be Theo. I look over just in time to see him stretch and smack her right in the face with his hand by accident. She wakes up, startled and moves his hand back down to his side. I gently rub my hand up and down her leg and she says,”How long have you been up?”“Not long. Maybe 5 minutes. Just long enough to see him assault you in his sleep," I say jokingly.“Yeah, he ca
*Six's POV*A couple of weeks later, we get our court date and everything goes as planned and the judge decides to officially grant me legal guardianship of Theo, which, of course I’m ecstatic about. My mom has started to work part time as a cashier at a grocery store and has officially been out of rehab for a month. I'm really proud of all of the progress she's making and I'm starting to become hopeful that maybe it will be the time.A couple of weeks after that, Paradox hears back from the record label and Trevor wants to sign them on a recording contract to start after the school year ends. All of the guys decide to defer college a year to work on recording and do music full time. They all promise their parents that if it doesn't work out, they’ll reapply to colleges for next year.
*Six's POV*When my mom, Theo and I are at the lawyers office, all of our identification and important documents in tow, I’m getting more and more nervous the longer we sit in the waiting room. Idon’t know why though. It’s not like I really have anything to worry about.Before I can get too deep into my spiral, the secretary says, “Miss. Keller? Mr. Hawthorn will see you now.” I get up and take Theo’s hand, following the lady back to an office. I see James Hawthorn sitting behind his desk and he gives me a warm smile before saying, “Welcome, please have a seat.”My mom and I each take one of the chairs and I sit Theo on my lap.“Right, so as discussed, Miss Laura Keller will be relinquishing custody of Theo Keller to you. Is that still the case?”“Yes,” Mom and I say at the same time.“Good,” He says and shoves a stack of documents to us, explaining the
*Axle's POV*After exams and Christmas, which Six, Theo and I spend some of with her mother who got out of rehab and seems to be doing well and some with my family, not including my father, it’s the 3rd of January, and Six’s birthday is tomorrow.We still have a week left of Christmas break, thankfully, and I’ve planned a surprise party for her tonight with all of our friends and I even invited Alisha, Jordan and Shaunice. I know on her birthday, she made an appointment with my mother’s lawyer to sign and submit the paperwork for Theo’s guardianship and then have dinner with him so I had to do it the day before.Stan already said he would watch the kids since she still doesn’t want to leave Theo alone with Laura and I’ve told her that I want to have a pre-birthday celebration with just us so she agrees to come over to my place.When we drop off Theo, Stan says that Shaunice is “in the shower” when Six