A Vow of Silence

Chapter 11.

Nicole

I peeked outside the window to see if Jax had arrived home. I hadn't heard the sound of his bike, so I knew that there was no need to look. But I had been here all night and not a single person had come to relieve me of my duties. So, I had to spend the whole night here at Jax's home, which was completely out of the ordinary. Like, I was used to long nights because of Jax's job or lifestyle, but I naively thought that he was always bound to come home at some point.

Even now as I got Abel ready for preschool, not a single person showed. Gemma hadn't even bothered to call or text me, which was surprising because she practically did it every hour of every day. I had eventually gotten tired of her texts and calls, so I just started sending her unsolicited photos of the boys. It wasn't until she received five photos of Thomas eating that she finally got off my tail.

I looked down at my phone to see if I had any missed calls from my dad's nurse. I had to hire two, but even then the job was beginning to become too much. My dad was declining, and I made it clear that I valued my time with him before I'd eventually have to put him in a home. I wanted to go check on him as well as freshen up before I had to come back here to watch the boys again.

knock, knock.

The knock at the door pulled me out of my thoughts as I sprinted to go open it. But to my disappointment, the people standing there were Wendy and Ratboy. "Sorry Nicole," Wendy said as she walked in, "but it looks like we've run into a bit of a hiccup."

My brows furrowed, "what are you talking about? Aren't you here to trade off with me?"

"No, both of you have to come with me to Red Woody," Ratboy stated. I looked at him like he'd grown an extra head, but he just shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I have to go check on my dad and Abel has school in a few minutes! I can't just drop everything and come with you," I snapped at him.

"We are in lockdown. You have no choice," Ratboy stated.

"Lockdown?" I questioned.

"Jax wants everyone at Red Woody now, including you." I scoffed at Ratboy's words and moved Thomas to my other hip. Wendy could clearly see that Ratboy wasn't getting anywhere with me and intervened.

"Nicole, this lockdown is just for safety. Jax just wants everyone to be safe," she said rubbing a hand on my shoulder.

I pulled away from her, "Wendy, I can't just leave my dad and go on lockdown! I stayed here all night and I haven't gone home to check on him. I want to make sure he's okay."

"Okay, that's fine," Wendy nodded her head and then looked briefly in Rat's direction. "Ratboy can go check on your dad for you, but for now I'm going to need you to grab Abel and Thomas and come to Red Woody with us."

I looked between Ratboy and Wendy and sighed in defeat. These two weren't going to let up unless I went with them, and I'm sure Rat would have no problem calling Jax about my defiance. I didn't really want the headache of having to deal with Jax, because I knew right now he only had his mind focused on one thing. Safety. And even if I didn't agree with the lockdown, I needed to do my job and be there for Abel and Thomas.

Thomas was easy, he was still just a baby. But Abel was the one to worry about. Telling him that he wasn't going to preschool this morning confused and frustrated him. He was finally beginning to make friends and like his teacher, so throwing off his routine bruised him in a way others wouldn't understand.

For any other kid, missing a day of school sounded like a dream come true. But for a child that has been through as much as Abel Teller, it took away his sense of security.

I did my best to cheer him up and incorporate as much of his routine as I could at Red Woody. But Red Woody was a mess. People were crying and the kids that were there were far older than Abel. Abel was a smart kid, he knew when something was wrong, and the environment wasn't helping to negate his assumptions.

"Nicky, why is everyone crying?" I looked down at him and softly shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know honey, but as soon as I found out, you'll be the first person I talk to." Abel nodded his head in agreement and buried himself in my side.

"Does being here scare you, Abel?" I asked him gently.

He nodded his head, "I don't like it here Nicky. Did someone die?"

I furrowed my brows trying to remain as neutral as possible. "Why do you think someone died sweetheart?"

Abel shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "because, every time there are a lot of people, someone is hurt." I looked at Abel for a long moment as he looked off into space. I put two fingers under his chin to get him to look at me, "who is missing?" I asked him.

Abel looked around, "I don't know."

"Okay, so that means that we don't know for sure that someone is hurt. Right?"

Abel pondered this for a moment, "yeah."

"Okay, so as long as everybody here is safe, everything is going to be okay," Abel said nothing further to me as he leaned his head on my shoulder. I tried to read a book for him but all we ended up doing was flipping through the pages out of boredom.

I was thinking about contacting Jax about Abel, but then he walked into Red Woody all on his own. Wendy began talking to him, but I couldn't hear what they were saying since they were so far away. But then Jax locked eyes with me and walked over.

"I'm so sorry about dragging you here," he apologized, "but I need to make sure that everyone is okay."

I nodded my head and lowered my voice to an octave Abel couldn't hear. "Did something happen? Abel told me that he doesn't like being here. He's under the impression that someone died."

Jax flashed his eyes at Abel and then looked back at me. "something went wrong at Diosa. You'll see it in a newspaper or something, but for now, that's all I can tell you." I inhaled a sharp breath while nodding my head. "Alright, I can take that, but please talk to Abel. He needs clarity right now."

Jax nodded his head in agreement and I stepped away to let him talk privately to his son. I needed a cup of coffee anyway, something strong enough to help me get through whatever this was.

Chucky saw me coming from a distance and was ready with a fresh cup of coffee for me before I even asked. I smiled at him gratefully as I took a sip of the steaming cup. From my view, I could see Jax and Abel perfectly, and it was nice to see how much comfort Abel found in his father. He relaxed around him and every answer that Jax gave him seemed to satisfy his thirst to know everything.

When they were done, Jax stepped away and I took that as my cue to go rejoin Abel on the couch. But then Jax grabbed my hand and redirected me to a room in the back instead. This was probably where they did all of their business because there was an oval table with many chairs in the middle of the room.

Jax sat on the table and pulled me to stand in front of him. He looked down for a minute like he was contemplating something, "how successful were you as a detective?"

I took two steps back at the question, "I don't know, pretty good I guess. Why the sudden interest?"

Jax reached out for me again but this time he pulled out a chair for me to sit on. "I need to know which side you're on. I need to know who you work for."

I stared into Jax's eyes as I thought about what he was asking. He wanted to ensure that he didn't have a potential rat on his hands, or worse, a plant. I'm sure Patterson or one of her cronies had snooped around my employment with Jax. Probably filled up his head with whatever they could for his cooperation. But I was done with that life. When I needed them the most they failed me, they failed me in a irreversible way.

"Jackson, I work for you. I'm here to protect Abel and Thomas. That's it, nothing more, nothing less."

"Okay," Jax visibly relaxed at my decleration. "I'm going to need you to help me out with something."