I stand behind Jason as he rings the doorbell to Charlotte's house, my hands deep in my pockets and my face tucked into my scarf. We spent most of our morning sleeping, had a round of afternoon sex, lazed a bit more before deciding to head over here.

The door opens, Jax's face is the one to greet us and before he can say anything a small body pushes past him and Jason latching onto me.

"Oli," I chuckle as I hold onto him. "Let's get inside, you have no shoes on and the ground is cold," I tell him as he grabs my hand pulling me inside. I hear Jason behind me asking if he's now chopped liver, his own nephew forgetting about him.

"I didn't forget you uncle," Oli says looking back at him. "I like Tori more." Jason looks stupefied for a moment while Jax and I bite back our laughter.

"Oh really, do you want to be saying that?" Jason asks as he grabs him, flipping him upside down in his arms as he tickles him.

"You can go in Victoria, the rest are already here," Jax tells me and I take off my boots wondering who the 'rest' is. I walk into their house and find Charlotte and another woman surrounded by chaos.

"Victoria, you're here," Charlotte says when her eyes land on me. The other woman turns to face me and her eyes light up when she sees me. I look back at her and for some reason, a nostalgic feeling washes over me, but I can't put my finger on it. Oh well, maybe I'll remember later.

"Oh my gosh, you're Vicotria? I've heard so much about you from Charlotte and Oli. I'm Cleo, Charlotte's sister-in-law," the woman, Cleo eagerly tells me. "I'd get up to hug you but as you can see, getting anywhere right now is a problem for me. She places her hand on her very round and very big stomach.

"Nice to meet you," I chuckle as I sit beside her and she pulls me into a hug. "How many months along are you?"

"Eight months which means this one will be here pretty soon. I feel like my back is going to give out one of these days," she says with a wry smile. "I've been having contractions for the last five hours so I'd say they're coming either tonight or tomorrow."

"Oh, congratulations. I'm guessing the rest are yours?" I ask looking at boys and one girl playing a board game with Wren on the floor. "And you're keeping the sex of the baby a surprise?"

"Yeah, this is baby number five and I think they're going to be the last one," she chuckles.

"You said that after Alexa and look where that left you," Charlotte says in a deadpan voice looking at her bump.

"Well, this time I mean it," Cleo says with a pout. "And yes, it took everything in me to not find out what we're having. I think I'm having another boy and my husband says we're having a girl. Charlotte agrees with me but Jason and Jax are with Cody. It's basically a repeat of when Charlotte was pregnant."

"Boys versus girls?" I chuckle.

"Yes! But I know I'm right, mother's intuition," she tells me.

"And you said you're having contractions? You must have a pretty high pain tolerance. How many minutes apart are they?" I ask before realizing I've just gone into nurse mode. "Sorry, I work as a nurse so I can't help but ask."

"You work as a nurse? That's amazing and I don't mind. My contractions have started to come a little more frequently, every fifteen minutes. I was walking around before but I decided to take a break," she tells me. "But who cares about me, how's it going with Jason?" her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Things are going good," I say backing away from her slightly as she leans closer to me. She looks at me for a couple of seconds before nodding her head decidedly.

"You seem like a good pick for him," she declares and I look over at Charlotte and she mouths hormones to me and I hold back my laughter.

"Thank you, and I do like him, a lot I must say, him and Oli. So long as they want me in their lives, I don't plan to leave any time soon," I answer a sad smile as I think about my current troubles and the fact I'm dragging other people into it. Charlotte and Cleo look at one another before looking back at me.

"I don't think they're going to let you go anytime soon," Charlotte tells me as Oli runs over to where the rest of the kids are and Jason plus Jax step into our vicinity.

"Hey sweetheart, can we talk to you for a second?" Jason asks me. I hear Charlotte and Cleo squealing when they hear him call me sweetheart and I quickly leave following Jason and Jax to the kitchen before they can hold me back and ask me questions.

"They're really invested in your love life," I say under my breath to Jason as I step beside him. I hear him let out a small chuckle as he takes my hand linking our fingers together.

"They became my undeclared protectors after the whole thing with Kerri. Something along the lines of never letting a woman screw me over again," he answers.

"That's sweet," I laugh. "Do you think they'd really fight someone?"

"Don't give them any ideas Victoria," Jax say interrupting us. "I've only known the both of them for over a year and although I can see Cleo doing that, and even though Charlotte is level-headed, I know she'd be in step with Cleo," he sighs as I chuckle.

"Alright, I won't bring this up to them but what did you guys need to talk about?" I question.

"I'll get straight to the point. This morning we got a call in the precinct about a body found in a ditch and forensics called back saying that it was Cruz," Jax tells me. I feel my breath hitch, my hand unconsciously tightens around Jason's when I hear that. I wanted to make him pay for the harassment but I would never wish him dead.

"How long did they say he was dead?" I question Jax.

"They estimated it was between one and three in the morning on Thursday," he answers.

"Do you think Cruz is connected to them?" Jason asks as he turns to face me. "If he has connections all the way here."

"Who knows, I won't lie, he's a charismatic piece of shit; he fooled me after all," I sneer.

"Who are you talking about? What's going on?" Jax looks at both of us and Jason looks back at me in question.

"It's up to you Victoria if you want to share anything," he tells me. I keep silent for a moment as I debate in my head whether it's a good idea to tell Jax, but Jason trusts Jax, and Jason has shown I can trust him.

"Charlotte most likely told you but I'm currently staying with Jason and the reason I'm there is because I have the yakuza looking for me," I tell Jax. "They somehow got wind of where I live and they were at my apartment a couple of nights ago. Luckily I heard my neighbours talking about people they've never seen before driving flashy cars, suspiciously hang around the building and it wasn't hard to put the two together. I packed as much shit as I could when I heard and left."

"The yakuza? Why are they looking for you? When were you with them?" Jax questions.

"When I was sixteen I naively joined the yakuza, my boyfriend at the time, the heir to the group wanted me with him. Some things happened and I was arrested, was in jail for a year before they cleared me due to lack of evidence," I answer. "I was eighteen when I left and as soon as I was free, I left Quebec and came here. Why they're looking for me, I don't know." Jax opens his mouth to reply when we hear sniffling behind us and we turn to find a tearful Cleo and Charlotte with a grim face standing behind us.

"That's so sad," Cleo says as she waddles up to me and throws her arms around me. "You were on your own for years weren't you?" I feel a sharp pain in my heart, she's not wrong, I have been on my own for a long time. After getting to the city, I struggled with school and just staying alive each day, keeping to myself.

It wasn't until four years ago I met Cora when I was finishing school and she was my first real friend in years, well past tense now. I won't lie and say that somewhere in the back of my mind I always worried they'd find me, enraged that I left instead of coming back, but I always found comfort in the fact the city has millions of people and I'm just one person.

"Yeah, I was," I whisper, a soft smile on my lips.

"Victoria, we're here to help," Charlotte tells me as she goes to stand beside Jax.

"And I'll start looking into Cruz and see if he's affiliated with any type of gang," Jax adds.

"What, no. I can't drag you guys into this. You guys went through so much already, I can't bring you all into this," I say, disagreeing with what they're proposing. "In all honesty, I wasn't even planning to tell Jason, for a split second I thought of leaving the city, leaving the province never to be seen again but I knew in the back of my mind that even if I left, they'd still hunt me down."

I'm pretty sure they've been looking for me this last couple of years for whatever reason and now that they know that I'm alive and here, I'm within their grasp. I glance over at Jason and see his lips in a tight line, his hands gripping mine tightly.

"I'm glad you came to me, sweetheart. I'd rather you ask for help instead of disappearing," Jason tells me.

"Victoria, I consider you one of my friends already and you're also my best friend's girl, I want to help. You're not on your own anymore," Charlotte tells me gently.

"That's right, this group here sticks together. We've already experienced one round of craziness, what's the worst that could happen?" Cleo questions, looking at all of us. I look at them and I wonder how can people be so selfless and be willing to put themselves in danger.

"I doubt they're going to let you go, sweetheart," Jason says as he wraps an arm around my waist. He leans his head close, his mouth brushing my ear as he whispers, "And I don't plan to let you go either."

"Perfect, now that we all in agreement, Jax or Jason, could one of you please take me to the hospital," Cleo says to both men. "And Charlotte you'll need to clean your kitchen."

"Cleo, did your water just break?" Charlotte demands as she rounds the island to Cleo. I move from Jason and look at her, a wet puddle beneath her.

"I'm getting flashbacks," I hear Jason groan beside me.

"This was more important Jason," Cleo chastises. "Who's driving me because I'm not having the baby here with eight children hanging around."

"I'll take you," Jason tells her. "Call her idiotic husband, where is he anyway?"

"He was called in for work," Cleo tells him. "Now let's go. Charlotte, call Cody for me." Jason holds out his arm for her to take as he leads her out of the kitchen.

"I think you should go with them to Victoria," Charlotte tells me. "You know more about this anyways."

"You're sure?" I ask. "She is your sister-in-law."

"I know but I can't also leave you to watch eight kids, two that are babies and one that's a toddler," she replies. "Between the of two us, I think you should go."

"Alright, I'll text you updates," I tell her as I jog out of the kitchen and grab my shoes before running out the door. Jason is backing out of the driveway but stops when he sees me.

"I'm coming along," I tell them as I hop into the back. In all honesty, this was the last thing I was expecting. People that I just met today and some I've only talked with a couple of times wanting to make sure no harm comes to me, you don't find many people like that.

✘✘

"So what did you mean when you said you were getting flashbacks?" I ask Jason as we wait in the waiting area of the maternity ward. As soon as Cleo was situated in her room her husband came bursting into the room like a hurricane and the two of us quietly slipped out.

"The day Charlotte went into labour I was with her. We were grabbing smoothies when she told me she had to go to the hospital but instead of leaving the smoothies, she insisted we wait for it to be done," he chuckles. "Her priorities weren't fucking straight."

"I won't lie, that's pretty funny," I laugh. We fall into silence, my brain still preoccupied with what happened earlier. I can't help but overthink things that I find troubling. In the last thirty minutes, it felt like everything was too much.

"What's going through your head sweetheart?" he asks as his fingers turn my face to look at him. I let out a sigh as my eyes divert from his, staring at my nails instead.

"Jason, I really don't want to drag Charlotte's family and Cleo's into my mess. It's bad enough I reached out to you but now I'm adding other people into this. Not to mention this is all so scary," my words coming out in a vomit.

"Look at me sweetheart, what's scary?" he asks, pressing for an answer.

"This," I say throwing my hands up. "You know at first this was just something casual. You're sexy, you're interesting and we have good chemistry. But now it's like I'm unravelling. You're the first person that truly knows what happened to me years ago. I learned the hard way not to trust people. Even Cora and Haruto who have known me for the last couple of years don't know every single detail except for my stepfamily."

"And I did say I'd let you break down my walls but now I'm starting to rely on you, rely on you to help me get out of a mistake I made when I was a teen not to mention your family wants to help me, someone they don't even know that well. And I think the scariest part of all is that somewhere in me knows I can trust you. It hasn't been that long but a small part in my head thinks that I can lay my soul bare and you would accept everything," I say trailing off into a whisper my hands covering my face. Jason takes my hands from my face and one his cups my cheek, his thumb brushing my skin ever so softly. 

"Sweetheart, let me tell you something. If you're scared, be scared. Maybe this situation is new to you, someone wanting to take care of you, help you make you feel safe," he says as he moves his hand to grasp the back of my head pressing our foreheads together.

"Just know, whatever crazy shit you bring I want to be there every step of the way. You did tell me to break down your walls and I've started chipping away and I know there's so much more, more demons you're probably hiding but that doesn't matter right now. Right now you're here with me and I want you here with me, okay?" he says looking at me.

"Okay," I reply and he lifts his head kissing my forehead before wrapping me in a hug. There's no time to look back now, the window for me to leave Jason long gone. I know I'll still have my doubts, I can't help it but it is comforting to know someone is willing to risk so much to save me.

✘✘

A/N So the book went through yet another cover change. Black and white sometimes can be so hard to work with but I think it came out pretty good and it has the same vibe as T.E.C [fixing the cover exhausted me more than writing the chapter XD] But what do you guys think of it?

We got to see a more vulnerable side to Victoria, trusting genuine people but we also saw a different side to Jason as well. What are your thoughts on the chapter? Be sure to leave your comments below!

Just a reminder you guys, I've been silent updating a lot, meaning I don't always announce on my message board so be sure to save the story in your library so you receive the notifications for new updates.