Forever and Always

Chapter Twenty Six: Tristian/Jo

Tristian

Coffee.

I need coffee and need it now.

I went over to the counter, popped in a k-cup and pressed the damn button, only to find out the stupid machine was out of water. After refilling the water and pushing the button again, it didn’t work. Why was it not working? Why won’t the stupid machine make the stupid coffee before I lose my stupid mind? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I pushed the button again, this time a bit harder than before, and nothing. I'm going crazy. I need coffee. I need it to help me stay up.

My elbows were on the counter as the palms of my hands rubbed my tired eyes, trying to make the blurriness go away as I tried to make just one more cup of coffee. I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, shaking my head to keep myself from falling asleep. A splash of cold water should help, and I did just that, but nope, not a damn thing. I didn't help. If anything, I feel more aggravated than before because it didn't work. I felt like I could pass out right on the floor with no care in the damn world, but I need to fix this. I need a plan and need it now.

“Tristian?” Sarah’s voice rang behind me, “What are you doing? It’s three in the morning, and you’re exhausted. You can’t keep doing this to yourself.” She came over to me and hugged me from behind. My hands held hers as she squeezed around my stomach and rested her head on my back, “I’m worried about you.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, but I need to figure this out.” I mumbled with a yawn, “I have to fix it.”

“You never told me what happened?” she whispered, placing a soft kiss in the center of my back, “Come and sit down. Talk to me. Explain to me what happened on Wednesday, because regardless of what happened, we need you well rested for Sawyer and Ivy’s birthday party tomorrow before you burn the house down when you fall asleep at the grill and smoker.” She chuckled, making me smile just a bit.

She was right.

I needed sleep, but I needed to clear my consciousness even more than I needed sleep. I needed to fix this before they never forgive me. They have to forgive me.

She sat on the couch and motioned for me to lay my head in her lap and I did just that. I snuggled into her thighs as she started to run her fingers through my hair, using her nails to lightly scratch the scalp, making it feel fuckin’ amazing. I closed my eyes and let out a small moan at the sensation as she continued to make me relax.

It felt fuckin’ wonderful.

“Talk to me.” She whispered, looking down at me with a soft, sad smile, “You’re stressed and what you’re doing isn’t healthy, sweetheart.”

“I know.” I grumbled, closing my eyes, “I just, I messed up big time, Sarah, and I need to fix it so Archer and Jo can forgive me. I can't lose them because of my stupid mistake.”

“I’m sure whatever you did, they will forgive you and you won't lose them. Never. You’re Archer’s uncle and Jo’s, well, in a sense, father to her, and you brought her back here to protect her from that guy who escaped. You are someone they look up to, same with all the kids and grandbabies they have.” She smiled down at me as I gave her a small nod.

“Yeah, but I’m the reason they didn’t see each other for five and a half years. I’m the reason why they didn’t talk to each other and how they missed out on their time as a family.”

“Trist, I’m sure that’s not true. You are the most stand-up guy I ever met, even more than Phil before he passed and that’s saying something.”

“About thirty years ago, when I was still in college, I was going for computer science. Over the years, I taught myself a lot of coding and started to develop simple apps as cell phone became this huge thing. It started off as simple games and simple messaging apps, but as time went on, and the more experience I got, I started to create more advanced applications, but they never came out of the testing phase. I didn't want them to. It was just a hobby that I loved at the time.”

“That’s truly amazing.” She smiled down at me, “Who knew my husband was a young computer genius?”

“You’re making me blush.” I chuckled, “But yeah, I worked a lot while in school with different tech companies creating applications for them and working on my coding while working with my dad before his business went bankrupt. I decided to go off on my own and create an app on my own with the idea of launching it for myself under my own name. I wanted to make a name for myself. It was a messaging app where you could message someone as someone else, and it was hard to trace back to the original source. It was in testing, and it was successful. There were even talks with different agencies who wanted to pick it up to help with investigations once the bugs got worked out, but all that stopped because of all the crap that happened with Austin and Hannah.”

“That was when he found out about Dylan, right?”

“Yeah.” I yawned as she continued to run her fingers through my hair, “It was a s**t show, but I forgot all about the app when everything went down, and then Austin changed the company to Locke and Brothers, and we started to expand and life happened.”

“What happened with the app?”

“I was the only one who had the original coding, and it was a secure app. The only way to mess with the coding was to have the password, but it’s a fifteen-digit password with random numbers and letters, so it was almost impossible to hack and even if someone did, there were other preventable measures to mess with.”

“Okay, but what about right now? Is this app the reason why you’re losing sleep?”

“Yeah. This was the app that was used five and a half years ago by Tara, who pretended to be Archer and messaged all those nasty things to Jo about how he was going to be with Tara and start a family with her and s**t. Gage was able to get into the app and track it back to her and Archer told me about it and, since then, I’ve been going crazy.”

“What exactly has happened that’s been making you go crazy? Explain to me, what are your thoughts?”

“I just…the app should have been obsolete. The app shouldn’t have worked with the current IOS programs because of how old it is. I never updated it, but someone did. Someone’s been working on the app and adding additional coding to make it as updated as it could be. I can’t figure out who did it. I can’t figure out the new coding and I can’t track where it’s coming from.” I sighed, covering my face with my hands, rubbing it before slamming them down on the couch, frustrated.

“Why won’t you ask one of the kids for help?” she asked so nonchalantly.

“I can’t. I messed up. I should have destroyed the app.” I sighed, looking up at her, “I need to fix it.”

“Sometimes, all you have to do is ask for a little bit of help.” She whispered, “There is no shame in asking, Tristian, no shame at all. You created something amazing years and years ago that shouldn’t have worked. That’s not on you. That’s not your fault, because guess what, there are dozens of newer apps out there that can do something similar, if not, better, than what you wanted to do. There are hundreds of people out there creating things just like that for different organizations or just for themselves. You can go online and take coding classes. Anyone has access to it and anyone can learn at any rate.” She reached out and grabbed my hand, bringing it to her soft, beautiful lips, “This isn’t on you and please, please ask one or more of the kids for help with this. I hate seeing you so burnt out.”

“I don’t know…” I sighed, closing my eyes. She went back to running her fingers through my hair, “Yeah…I think you’re right.” I groaned, sitting up and rubbing my eyes again. The dizziness wasn’t getting better, but I needed to get to work.

“Wow, can you say that again so I can record it?” Sarah laughed, making me smile. She stood up and walked in front of me, “Stay here, and I’ll make you a cup of coffee and something to eat. You can’t work when you’re in this state. It might be four in the morning, but I can tell you're determined.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I grinned with a wink, “I love you, so fuckin’ much.”

“And I love you. More than you will ever know.” She smiled, bent down and gave me a soft kiss, “Relax, and I’ll be back.”

And with a nod, I did just that. I rested my eyes just for a moment before she came back with my coffee and food, but of course, I passed the f**k out.

Jo

“Yes. I’ll talk to him and sort this out. I feel like a d**k with the way it happened. It just…it fuckin’ slipped.” Archer said on the phone as he was pulling at his hair, “Yeah. I’m so sorry, Sarah. I didn’t mean for it to come out so harsh. It all came out like word vomit, and I’m working on it.”

“I understand, Archer, I really do, and I have been seeing a change in you since Jo has come home, we all have. I know you didn’t mean it maliciously at all, but he's been up for over forty-eight hours working on this thing. I had to help him relax last night to get him to sleep, and he didn't sleep till almost four in the morning.” Sarah was being super kind about what happened, but we can all tell she was worried about Tristian. We were all after hearing what she was saying.

“Archer didn’t yell or anything at him. I just wanted to make sure that you knew. I don’t agree with the way Archer said it to him, but I can understand why he said what he did. It came as a shock, and he wanted answers sooner rather than later.” I tried to defend Archer without upsetting Sarah, “Is he okay?”

“He’s still asleep.” She said softly, “I had him relax with me on the couch and I ran my fingers through his hair, relaxing him to the point where he was able to get some rest. He’s been running on straight coffee. I found him trying to make a cup with the Keurig, not realizing it was unplugged because I had to move it when I cleaned the counters earlier. I thought he was going to break it.” She chuckled.

“That sounds like him. What can we do to help?” Archer asked. He looked at me with a sad smile, grabbing my hand, linked our fingers and brought it up to his lips, kissing it softly, “I can get Gage and Jo here to help me look into it. Us three together can figure it out, I’m sure.”

“Can you guys really do that?” Sarah questioned.

“Yeah. Gage is an expert hacker at this point.” He laughed, “There are things that man can do that I would only dream of, but Jo and I here were able to hack into the different school systems to help take down our old super. We know our way around computers, firewalls and know a bit about coding ourselves. We might be out of practice, but I’m sure we can figure something out.”

“I know a couple of guys,” Gage said as he came through the kitchen, holding a bottle of rootbeer he took from my stash. I glared at him and he just winked.

“Those are mine.” I mumbled.

“Sharing is caring, doll face. Besides, Taylor wanted to talk to you about something important, and I don’t think your boy is going to want to hear that.”

“f**k. What is it now?” Archer asked, snapping his head and glaring at Gage, “Every time that damn cousin of mine comes up with some sort of plan, I end up getting shafted one way or another, and I don’t feel like having that happen again anytime soon.”

“Language.” Sarah laughed, “I don’t even know why I bother. You men in this family make sailors blush with mouths like yours. But, Gage, you said you had a guy?”

“I do. I have a couple of buddies in New York that can help look into this. They are way better than me and, well, I can’t get into too many details right now, but they should be here, I want to say, the latest Monday, to help out.”

“Perfect. When Tristian wakes up, I’ll let him know the news so he can relax a bit. But please, if he wants to be included in this, let him?”

“No doubt. I wouldn’t dream of telling the man no.” Gage chuckled, “Get some rest yourself. It's only seven and you should be sleeping.”

"I have to head to Austin's to help set things up for tonight." She sighed, "Austin already has the smoker going but..."

"They have it. Trust me. Get some sleep and head over there as soon as you both are up."

"Okay." she sighed, "I'll see you all later then."

“Bye Sarah, and tell Tristian we will be in touch.” Archer smiled before hanging up the phone. As soon as it was disconnected, Archer turned to Gage and glared again, “What the hell is Taylor up to now?”

“That, my friend, is a secret and later, a surprise for you.” He grinned as he turned to me, “She’s at our place, waiting for you with the girls.”

“But, Jamie and I…”

“We got the rugrat.” He chuckled.

“Call my son a rugrat again…” Archer rolled his eyes as he walked over to me, “Go. Have fun. I’ll see you later tonight. I need to finish this sauce for tonight and then, you're mine because mom and dad plan on taking Jamie for us.” he winked, and I instantly felt throbbing in my v****a. God, I needed him badly.

“You behave.” I winked, getting on my tip toes and placing a quick kiss on his lips, “Be nice and place nice.”

I walked into Taylor’s apartment and froze in my spot when I saw all the girls sitting there, looking confused as well. Taylor wasn’t in the room. “Um…where is she and what are we doing here?” I asked as I went and sat down next to Ava.

“I don’t know. She told us to wait in the living room while she finished setting up her surprise for us. She said something about killing three birds with one stone? I mean…I don’t know exactly what she means by that, but I’m scared.” Ray said as she looked over.

“Jo…you look good.” Summer smiled, “You look happy.”

“I am.” I smiled at her, “I am happier than I have ever been in a long time, if not ever. I feel like this is where I’m meant to be.”

“It is,” Ollie said, “And we can all see a difference in Archer. He’s not as angry anymore. I mean, even the kids noticed a difference. Now, they are bugging when to see him next when before, they would try to run when he was around.”

“Was he really that bad?” I asked.

“You have no idea,” Sawyer whispered, shaking her head, “He didn’t mean to be like that. It was just too much for him and…holy s**t Taylor.”

We all turned and looked at her as Taylor leaned against the door jamb in heels, knee-high stockings and some lingerie that covered what needed to be covered without being too revealing or racy.

“What the hell…I love you and you know you’re gorgeous. We know you’re into freaky s*x things, but I think I can speak for all of us, we kind of don’t swing like that.” Ava laughed, “Although, do a little dance for me and I might be persuaded. Lap dance?”

“You’re on the right track.” Taylor laughed, “Come with me. I want to show you guys something I had the guys install the other day, and I’ll explain everything.”

She turned around and we all got up and followed her light mosquitoes following the light before getting zapped. We were all curious as to what was going through her batshit crazy mind, but I was loving this, because I love her crazy ideas. It’s why we’re best friends. She comes up with the crazy and I go with it.

“Woah. I want one!” Summer jumped up and down, clapping her hands, “Jordan would love this!”

“Speak for yourself. I would fall and break my neck.” Sawyer laughed, “But…I mean…I want to try.” She grinned.

Taylor went over to the stripper pole that was in her bedroom and twirled around it, wrapping her leg around the pole as she did a little dance, laughing and smiling.

“I’ve been watching videos and it’s actually really easy.” She grinned.

“What are you thinking, crazy?” Ollie giggled.

“Well, Bird one is there is a certain fancy club that is having an amateur night where they are letting multiple people on the stage and dance so the guys and girls can vote who wins. The winner gets five thousand dollars.” She smiled as she kept twirling, “I mean, I know we don’t need the money, but I figured it could go to good use and we could have some fun doing this. It's not every day we get to act like strippers and dance.”

“Okay…” Ray said slowly, raising her brow, “I think we can all say we like bird one. We can use it for a vacation or something fun for all of us, so what is bird two?”

“Well, I think this would be a great way to spend time with our guys. What better way to be more mysterious than to dress up sexy like this and with masks and give our guys the time of their lives? Plus, this would be a fun birthday adventure for Sawyer.” Taylor grinned.

“I love it!” Sawyer beamed, “Which club?”

“Klassy Kat.” Taylor grinned right at me, “And you know who works at Klassy Kat?”

“Bird three.” I laughed, “What are you thinking, you nut job?”

“Since we will be in masks, I’m hoping she won’t recognize us. What better way to get into the mind of the psycho than talk to her ourselves and ask the questions we need the answers for. This way, we can see what we’re really up against and what she’s been doing, right from the source herself.”

“And what if she recognizes us?” Ava asked.

“I don’t think she will. It’s been five years and besides the masks, we’re going to be wearing wigs and everything, so there is no way.” Taylor said as she bounced on her bed and looked at each of us, “Gage and Drew are working on the guys as we speak, convincing them to go and have a night out and enjoy it. Gage is going to use a much-needed guys night as an excuse and not tell them until they're there. He has plans to convince them.”

“And what are we going to do when Tara goes out there? She’s going to recognize the guys, especially Archer.” I said softly, “I don’t want her to see him. I don’t want her around him and I know he wants the same thing I do.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that love.” Taylor grinned, “Because, I have a plan…”

And that is when I learned the mastermind, who was called Taylor.