Page 60 of Thrown Off Balance

“Baby-”

“No! He’s right. We need to do something. We can’t spend the rest of our lives behind gates and locked doors. We’re barely living. This isn’t fair to anyone.” She glances over at Jax and her eyes soften.

She feels so bad that his life has been put on hold because of Jude. She wants to give him the chance to go out with our friends again. To be the massive extrovert he is.

“Sloan, you don’t need to do this.” Jax flips off the couch before taking a seat on the cushion like a normal person.

“I do though. Don’t you all get that? I'm tired of being scared of him. I want to be able to get married and have kids, I can’t do any of that with Jude breathing down our backs. I'm so tired of it. If he’s going to hurt me, I’d rather get it over with. This is stupid.”

“I'm not going to let him hurt you,” Uncle Mason growls.

“You can’t guarantee that.” Sloan rolls her eyes. “And I don’t want Peck here.” She points in his direction like we don’t all know who Peck is.

“What the heck?” Peck rears back.

“No, I don’t want to risk something happening to you. You just started your life with Sophia. I’d never be able to live with myself if something happened to you and your babies had to grow up without their daddy.” She shakes her head as tears fill her eyes.

“Cool, she’s ok with the rest of us getting hurt,” Pauly chuckles.

“I'm not-”

“He’s teasing you. I get it. I wasn’t going to let Peck be here either. The last thing I need is an upset Sophia Pecker. That woman will bite my head off if anything happens to her husband.” Maddox shakes his head. “That tiny woman scares me just as much as Kelsey.”

“It’s the Robinson genes.” Uncle Mason smirks. “You don’t mess with them or they’ll rip you apart.”

“Yet you expect me to be ok with this,” I scoff, sitting back in my seat.

“I don’t expect you to be ok with it, but we’re running out of options. The longer this goes on, the more relaxed everyone is going to get. You’re already used to having a stalker and him following you everywhere you go. What happens when you let your guard down? What happens when you try to use your hot tub or go out back and relax around the pool? The first few times nothing might happen, but eventually he’ll notice and he’ll strike. The danger is letting you get used to this. The second you relax, he’ll blindside you.”

“So… How do we do this?” Sloan asks.

“I don’t like this,” I murmur, holding Sloan a little tighter.

“I know, but I need to do this. I need him to be gone once and for all.” She runs her hand back and forth along my forearm.

We’re lying on the couch pretending to watch a movie. I don’t think either one of us even knows what’s playing on the TV, but I don’t care. I just want to lay with my girl in my arms.

“What if something happens?”

“Something will happen, but at least this way we’re prepared and it’s on our terms.”

“I don’t understand how you’re this calm.”

“I'm not. I'm scared to death, but I’ve been scared for weeks. At this point I just want it to be over. No matter what, tomorrow Jude won't be a problem anymore.”

“Unless he doesn’t take the bait.”

“He will. He’s so angry about losing Jax as a friend. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such hatred in someone’s eyes as the night he got kicked off of Mulberry Lane. I'm sure time has only fueled that hatred. He sees me with you everywhere you go. He knows I'm spending time with you and Jax instead of him. He won't hesitate to come after me when he thinks I'm alone,” she whispers, running her fingers up and down my forearm.

I hate the idea of this. Of putting my girl in jeopardy just so we can have a little bit of freedom again, but she’s right. We’re not living. We don’t do anything outside of work and this is slowly killing us. It would be impossible for us to go out on a date or get married. There’s no way either one of us would want to have kids with a crazy stalker following our every move. I don’t even want to think about what he might do to our kids.

“We’re going to park around the corner at Wheeler’s house and jump the fence to come in the back door. We won't be away from you for more than five minutes.” I hold her a little closer.

“No! I don’t want to risk something happening to you.”

“I don’t really care. I'm not leaving you for any longer than I have to. If I thought I could stay with you the entire time, I would. I won't let you get hurt, Sloan. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and the only way to do that is to get through tomorrow.”

Chapter 36