Forever and Always

Chapter Twenty Five: Archer

Archer

“You have to be kidding me!” I slammed my hand on the desk as Aiden and Gage looked at me with stone-cold looks. They were pissed as well, but they were better at hiding than I was, “Why wouldn’t he fix that crap twenty plus years ago? How does that stupid thing still work? He’s going to kick himself in the ass for what happened because, frankly, part of it is Tristian’s fault.”

“Hey, maybe he honestly forgot about it. A lot of crap has happened over the last twenty-five years or so and people can be forgetful. It comes with age.” Gage shrugged, “But damn, this is well-made, a little too well. Why did he not follow through with this?” he was going through the phone and looking at the coding for the app that was on there, “This s**t is genius.”

“Maybe he didn’t do s**t with is for this reason, but he’s going to be the only one that can tell us what’s going on. We know it wasn’t malicious, he would never do that and when he finds out he’s the reason why Jo was away for all this time, he’s going to kick himself in the ass.” Aiden kicked his feet on top of Gage’s desk, causing him to glare and then shove his feet off.

“Rude. Don't put your nasty ogre feet on my desk, you neanderthal.” He grumbled, “When are you going to talk to him about this?”

“The sooner, the better, but I have to talk to Jo about it first.” I sighed as I sat down, running my hand through my hair, “I just…I know it’s not his fault entirely, but if he would have just taken care of the damn thing back when Dylan was five, a lot of issues never would have happened. Hell, Jo would have been here with me the entire time and we probably would be married by now, living our best life.”

“You don’t know that.” Aiden shrugged, “From what you all tell me about this chick, if she didn’t have this help to tear you two apart, she would have done something else and who knows what she would have done and to what extreme. Honestly, we’re lucky she didn’t get pregnant by some poor sap and have her try to pass it off as yours. You’re lucky she was never pregnant to begin with. When it comes to psychotic women, and I say this from experience, the options are endless as to what they would do to get what they want.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I mumbled, shaking my head, “I’m going to head back to Jo’s and talk to her about what happened and see what she wants to say. It's already getting dark, and I want this conversation to happen sooner rather than later.”

“When you’re ready, let me know. I have all the documents and proof printed off. Tristian may be a genius, but I’m more smartical.” He laughed, “God, I’m funny.”

With a small chuckle, I walked out of the office and out the front door. As I made it to my jeep, I took my phone out and called my woman, needing to hear her voice.

“Hey Arch.” She said softly on the phone, “How did it go? Did you talk to her and tell her to back off?”

“Not exactly.” I sighed, “We do need to talk when I get home.” Her breath hitched, making my eyes widen, “Nothing bad about us, baby. I promise.”

“Oh, good. I hate that phrase. It usually almost ends badly.” She let out a sigh of relief. I instantly felt terrible about the phrase. f**k, I hated that damn phrase too.

“I’m sorry, baby. Are you home?”

“Yeah. Jamie is sleeping right now, and I’m just in the kitchen on the computer. What’s up?”

“I’ll be there soon. Gage figured some s**t out and I need your opinion on it.”

With her agreeing, I took off and made my way to her house. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Tara’s cousins said about everything. I wasn’t the only one she tried that s**t on, and it was disgusting. But I needed to find her and sort out this crap before she gets too out of hand. She needs to know what she did was fuckin’ unforgiveable and if she comes near my son again, I’ll make sure she suffers.

I’ll have to get the guys together and talk to them about our options. I don’t want to go to that damn strip club. I refuse and the idea of seeing any other woman besides mine dressed like that instantly makes my d**k suck in.

Once I reached her house, I rushed in, excited to see her, but was stopped in my tracks because right there, sitting at the counter with her was Tristian, Eli and dad. What the f**k were they doing here? I tried to keep calm as I walked towards them, but it was fuckin’ hard because I badly wanted to say something, but I knew if I didn’t calm down, it would cause a huge fuckin’ argument and that would lead to a bigger issue.

Look at me. Trying to grow the hell up and change. Because I will do anything I can for them. They’re my life now and nothing will change that.

“Hey son.” Dad smiled as he came over to me and pulled me into a small hug, “You look really good, actually.”

“Hey. Thanks.” I mumbled, “I thought you and mom were going to California to take care of the house and stuff?” I asked as I sat down next to Jo, giving her a quick peck on the lips.

“Well, I see things between you two are going well.” Eli chuckled, “You owe me fifty.” He grinned at Tristian.

“You bet on us?” Jo asked, a bit taken back, “That’s a bit rude.”

“Well, I figured you two would take longer to reconcile.” Tristian shrugged as he took out his

Wallet, “s**t. I only have a hundred.” He mumbled, taking it out, but before Eli could grab it, Jo snatched it right out of his hands and grinned.

“Thanks.” She laughed, “This will let us have a nice dinner out as a family without you guys.” She winked, “So, what brings you guys here and what did you need to talk to us about?”

“Well, I was talking to Sarah, Tristian and Hannah, and well…”

But I cut dad off.

“We need to talk, first, before you get to whatever you came here for.”

“Okay?” Tristian questioned as he looked at me strangely, “Is everything okay?”

“No.” I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest, “No, not everything is okay.”

“Archer, what happened?” Jo asked, “I know you went to Tara’s with Aiden and Gage. Did something happen?”

“Woah, what? You went to that b***h’s house? Are you fuckin’ crazy? Archer, what the hell were you thinking?” Dad stood up and slammed his hands on the counter, “Didn’t you learn from your mistake years ago when you woke up in a damn bed with her? What is possibly running through your damn head?”

“Dad, you don’t understand…” I started to say but he cut me off again. f**k.

“No. I don’t think you understand what could have happened if you saw her!”

“Stop.” I yelled, “You have no idea what the hell happened and why I went there.” I snapped as I felt a hand grab mine and tug a bit. I looked over and Jo had tears in her eyes, shaking her head and mouthing ‘calm down, please’ to me. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before opening my eyes to see my girl wrapping her arms around me, hugging me with enough pressure to try to calm me down before she spoke.

“There is a reason he went there and I was okay with it.” She whispered, “Me, Ava, and Ollie were at the park with the kids. We were talking and looked away for not even two minutes and all three of the young ones were gone. We looked everywhere for almost an hour, and we couldn’t find them until they walked through the gate with ice cream cones and Jamie was holding a picture.”

“What?” Austin gasped, “Why didn’t you call us?”

“That was the last thing on our minds.” I said, shaking my head, “But that wasn’t the worst part.

Jamie gave us the picture and it was a crayon drawing of me, him and a dark-haired woman, Tara, that said soon at the top of the picture.”

“Jamie told us this lady said we were friends and said it was okay for them to go get ice-cream. We had already talked to Jamie as well as Ava and Ollie talked to theirs, so they now knew the dangers that could have happened, but we needed to know what the hell she was thinking.” Jo’s lips started to tremble as she held me tighter.

“So, Gage and Aiden were able to pull up the footage from the park and the ice cream parlor and got confirmation it was Tara. So, we went to her last known address so we could confront her and warn her to stay away otherwise she would suffer the consequences. I also planned on getting orders of protection for Jamie and Jo as well, to help at least in paper in case she came around. But then, when we got there, she wasn’t home…”

And that’s when I told them about what her cousin and husband told me and the guys. I told them all the details about what happened and where she was right now. I told them about where she was working and how she’s crazier than we thought she was before.

“And if we don’t do something soon, I’m afraid she’s going to do worse next time. But, there is something else we found out that Gage brought to my attention not long ago and it was the reason why all this happened in the first place.”

“The reason why you woke up in bed with her?” Eli asked and I shot him a glare.

“No. But I’m sure there is a reason for that and it wasn’t because I wanted a quick lay.” I rolled my eyes, “Anyway, Gage was able to get into Jo’s phone and realize there was something wrong with the message app she was using. Years back, there was a message that was sent from an unknown number that you never saved.” I said to Jo as she nodded, “And in that message was a link that led to a site that you were using for a school project.”

“Yeah. It was a message from one of the girls I was partnered with, and the site worked. It looked legit and when I mentioned it to her, she seemed confused at first, but I shrugged it off to her messaging me during a drunken phase.” Jo shrugged, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Did she ever message you back from that number?” I asked and she shook her head.

“No. She didn’t, but I just assumed she changed it. She was telling me something about her ex constantly messaging her when she wanted him to stop and how she was thinking about changing her number, so I figured that’s what happened. We weren’t friends or anything, so I didn’t think to ask her about it.”

“Well, that link was a virus that downloaded a code into the phone behind the notes app and who wants to take a guess where that virus led to?” I glared at Tristian and his eyes went wide, “And Gage was able to trace the trail of a certain virus, although it was hard because it was so old, to a certain phone, that had an app on it that someone could use to text another under someone else’s phone number’…” I turned and looked down at Jo, who's eyes were just as wide with surprise as the rest of them, “and this caused a bunch of bullshit drama that kept, let’s say, families a part for years, causing them heartache and pain.”

“What the hell!” Eli snapped, glaring at Tristian, “I thought you destroyed that app years ago!”

“Please, tell me you got rid of the damn thing. Tell me what he's saying isn't true Trist, because if that app still fuckin' works because you never destroyed it...” Dad said, a bit too calmly.

“I um, well, you see, I was what, a little older than you when that app was in the works. It was in the beta phase of testing and it was working great, but then Amber happened and Austin found out about Hannah and Dylan and all that bullshit drama happened. I was so focused on that whole thing and helping them out, I forgot about the app for years.” He shook his head and looked down, “f**k. This is all my fault. I fuckin’ did this. I tore you guys apart. If I would have done what I was supposed to do, this never would have happened. Jo would have been home the entire time and…”

Jo let go of me and went to Tristian, pulling him into her arms.

“Hey. It’s not entirely your fault.” She said as she kissed his cheek, “Yeah, you should have gotten rid of the app, but the question is, how did Tara get a hold of it? Also, I could have been less emotional during the whole thing and came home anyway and confronted Archer.”

“Yeah. You could have.” Eli winked, “So in reality, this is all your fault.” He laughed, “Just kidding. Well, now we know what the hell happened in that scenario, I am taking these two dimwits home to figure out what we’re going to do to fix this mess.”

“Well, before you guys do that, and because of your terrible, absolutely terrible track record, you have to come talk to us before you plan anything to make sure it goes off without a hitch, because if you don’t, something bad is going to happen like it always does.” I pointed at them. They looked at me like I was a monster.

“We are not that bad,” Eli gasped.

“Yes, you are actually.” Jo laughed, “So, I agree with Archer. You have to tell them what you’re planning so they can help.”

“Whatever. Gang up on us.” Eli mumbled as he got off the chair and headed out the door.

Dad came over to us, hugged us and told us that him and mom would talk to us during Sawyer and Ivy’s coming birthdays because what he wanted to talk to us about was important. And then that just left us with Tristian. He still looked flushed and like he was going to throw up.

“Tristian?” I asked. He slowly looked up and he had tears welling in his eyes, shocking me. He isn’t one to try or show emotion. He’s usually so stoic, but I guess ever since the whole Sarah and her cancer thing, he’s been showing more emotion. I’m just not used to it, but I know for sure Jo isn’t because her face was pure shock.

“Tristian.” She whispered, coming to him and hugging him, “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay though.” He mumbled, hugging her with dear life, “Because of my stupidness, you were kept away from here for so long. You could have been home the entire time. You guys could have been a family and this wouldn’t be happening. If I would have just done what I was supposed to do, everything would be okay.” He pulled her off and shook his head, “I’m going to fix this.” He mumbled and started to the door.

“Tristian, wait…” I said, but he shook his head.

“I’m going to fix this. I’m going to fix everything and soon, you all will forgive me.”

“We do forgive you!” Jo yelled, making Tristian look at her, “I forgive you.”

He shook his head, “You might, but I don’t forgive myself.” And he walked out the door, leaving us stunned for a moment before Jo turned to glare at me.

“What?”

“You could have done that a bit nicer, ya know?” she crossed her arms over her chest.

“I thought I was just fine.” She turned, shook her head and started up the stairs to her bedroom as I followed. I followed her like a lost puppy because now, she was upset with me and I actually can’t understand why. I didn’t yell. I didn’t scream. I didn’t punch anything. I just confronted him about the stupid app he created that caused this whole damn mess, “Jo, please stop.”

“No. You could have brought it up differently, a little bit nicer. The app he made was over twenty years old. It’s old as f**k and yeah, he should have destroyed it, but he didn’t and even if someone were to use it, it shouldn’t have worked. Because guess what you weren’t thinking about, Archer. What happens to an app if it isn’t consistently updated and worked on to get rid of the kinks and to go keep up with today’s expanding technology? Huh? What happens?”

“It becomes obsolete.” I mumbled, dropping my head, “Fuck.”

“Yeah. He hasn’t touched that damn app in over twenty years, so who the hell was keeping it up to date to the point it worked with today’s IOS and worked so damn well that Gage, someone who is a literal hacker and a genius one at that, had a hard time figuring it out and tracking it?”

“I…don’t know…” I threw my head back and groaned, “s**t. I’ll talk to them about this and get together with the guys and figure it out.”

“You better, because I never want to see that look on anyone’s faces ever again.”

“I agree. s**t. I should have talked to you first.”

She opened the door and stepped into her room. “Yes, you should have, because guess what? You’re not the only one with computer smarts in this group, and neither is Gage. You forgot who helped you hack into those school accounts all those years ago when we had that creep of a superintendent? You forgot who helped you do all that, huh? Did you forget who was the one who actually broke through the firewalls?”

“Yeah.” I mumbled, “I did forget, but how about I apologize to you in the best way possible.” I grinned, backing her up to the bed while pulling her flush to my body.

My c**k instantly sprang into action, wanting to be buried deep inside her warm p***y. My lips started to claim her neck as she threw her head back with a small moan before I pushed her on the bed. The sounds of her moans were fuckin' music to my ears and I craved it, every damn second of every day. I was going to do well on that promise and finish what we started. I'm literally aching for her, to feel her in every way possible to the point it hurts. It hurts so damn good.

And just as I was about to climb on top of her and take her mouth to mine, excited for what was about to come, literally, I looked up and there were familiar green eyes staring back at me, making me scream and jump back, turning around so he couldn’t see my boner and ask even more questions I’m not ready for. f**k. I cupped my d**k and willed it to go down so I could turn around face them, but it was no use. I'm either going to need a damn shower to relieve myself or this s**t is going to hurt like hell tomorrow.

“Daddy? What are you doing to mama?” Jamie asked, yawning. s**t. I forgot he was here sleeping.

“I’m just…trying to love her?” I said in more of a questioning tone as Jo just laughed from the bed. I looked over my shoulder and Jamie crawled to Jo and laid his head on her stomach.

“Oh. I love mama too but I missed you.” He smiled up at me, “Cuddle?”

With a purse of my lips and a small nod, I crawled into bed and laid on the other side of them, holding them both in my arms.

“You remember when I told you not to make promises you can’t keep?” she laughed, "I told you not to say that. If it's one thing you'll learn, it is to get creative."

“Shut up." I mumbled, "That wasn't nice. He scared the crap out of me."

"Get used to it, handsome." He leaned over and kissed me softly. I tried to deepen the kiss, but she wouldn't let me, making me fall back on the pillow and groan. f**k, this is torture.

"How about I put him in his room?" I grinned.

"Yeah. Good luck with that." she giggled, "You put him in his room and he will be right here again. It's weird, he has to fall asleep in his bed for him to stay there. If he doesn't then it's no use."

"Makes sense. I was the same way." I shrugged.

"So, it's your fault." she laughed.

"Sht up and go to sleep.” I groaned, falling asleep with a smile on my face, because who knows what tomorrow will bring except blue fuckin balls.