Jax's POV
I get home after saying a very warm goodbye with Alannah and Lara.
"Ah sweetie are you all packed?" Mom asks as I walk through the front door.
"I am everything is in my room. I'm just going to have a shower and get changed before I do anything." I say and she nods and kisses my cheek.
"Gianna and Alessandro will be here within the hour." She says and I nod.
I run up the stairs and then walk to my room. I make it to my room and have a shower.
Once I get out of the shower I put on some black jeans and a plain black t-shirt before heading into my room.
I walk into my room and Gio was sat at the foot of my bed.
"We're going to the Hamptons bitches." Gio exclaims and I sigh.
A knock on the door stops me mid eye roll.
"Come in." I shout and our butler Andrew came in.
"Is this to load into your car Mr Ricci?" He asks and I nod.
"What car?" He asks and I look at Gio.
"The Audi." We say in sync and he nods and heads out.
We head downstairs where our parents were talking in the living room.
"Awh Jax I feel like I don't see you anymore" Gianna (Gio's mom) says.
She stands up and walks over and brings me into a massive hug.
"Alright Gianna let the boy breathe." Alessandro (Gio's dad) says and she releases me from the hug.
"I know, we hardly see him anymore but check this out." Mom says and nudges Gio's mom.
"He's got a girlfriend now." Mom says and Gianna looks at me shocked.
"Woah, what's her name? How old is she? Can you show me a picture of her?" She bombards me with questions. Gio starts laughing from beside me which doesn't help.
"We can talk about this later, we need to get on the road." Dad says saving me.
Me and Gio get in my car whilst the adults all get in one if dad's SUVs that he drives from time to time.
"Two and a half hour roadtrip here we come." Gio shouts connecting his phone to the aux.
I quickly text Lara to tell her I'm leaving my house and we head off.
"How's the sleepovers with the girlfriend " Gio asks half way through our journey.
"They're good." I say focusing on the road.
"So what photo are you going to show my mom?" He asks and I shrug.
"I don't think I have any." I say and he grabs my phone and goes on it. Talk about invasion of privacy.
"What about this one?" He asks showing me a photo I took of Lara the other week. I glance at it before keeping my eyes on the road.
"She hates it." I say and he looks at me confused. "I took it a couple of mornings ago but she just hates it." I tell him and he nods.
"Have you guys done it yet?" He asks and I glance at him.
"Nope." I say and Gio turns and stares at me.
"You guys have been dating for like a month officially. You guys have also been close since your first date." He says and I shrug.
"I think she's a virgin." I tell him and he gasps.
"Its not hard to believe, chill out." I say and he shakes his head.
"You're going to get blue balls." He tells me and roll my eyes but focus on the road.
"No but seriously how do you know?" Gio asks.
"Think about it she never did it before she was sixteen because she didn't have a boyfriend. Then once Alannah was born she had no social life up until now with us. So unless she lost it to James which is just weird then shes still a virgin." I say and he shrugs.
I do not want to think about Lara losing her virginity to James. He's her best friend and I wouldn't be able to separate them. It would just be so weird. He's going to be with her later and she's my girlfriend not his.
"How is Alannah and Lara today anyway?" Gio asks going on his phone.
"They're good, Alannah cried when I left this morning." I tell him and he aw's in response.
"You guys are all extremely close." Gio points out and I nod.
"I'm really glad dominic bumped into them because I really like them." I admit and Gio laughs.
"You're getting soppy." Gio says and I roll my eyes.
****
We get to my aunties house around 5pm. Their house is a smaller then ours but who cares. My mom's side of the family have rich heritage.
The only person from my moms side of the family who doesnt act like a rich snob is my mom.
I get out of my car and Gio gets our luggage out of the trunk. I walk over to the door where our parents are.
My auntie greets us and we go into the foyer.
"Is that really you Jax?" Auntie v asks and I nod.
"Wow I really haven't seen you for years." She says bringing me into a tight hug.
What is it with people bringing me into tight hugs today? I hate it.
"I'm a busy person." I say.
When in reality me and my dad always get out of coming here because we hate it so much. The last time I came here, I was probably eighteen and it was for my cousins birthday.
We take our things up to our rooms. Once I get into the guest room I'll be staying in I flop down on the bed and text Lara.
About five minutes after texting her I facetime Alannah.
"Look at my drawing." She says showing me a photo.
"Woah what is it?" I ask. It's very bright.
"Its us at the carnival last week. Look that's me." She says pointing to what I assume to be her. "That's you and mommy." She says pointing to something else. "Then there's Gio." She adds smiling.
Gio walks in at that exact time and says that it looks wonderful.
"Do you miss me yet Jax?" She asks whilst colouring.
Lara's phone was leaning against a glass so that it could stand up without Alannah holding it.
"Of course I miss you." I say and she giggles.
"I miss you too." She says. And I smile. She is adorable, the cutest ever.
"Where's my favourite girls?" Someone shouts.
"James!" You can hear Lara shouting.
They're my favourite girls but we won't get into that right now.
"Why don't you go and see James?" I ask Alannah and she looks down at the floor then back to the phone.
"I'm sat on a stool and I can't get down." She admits and continues to draw.
"Muma I can't get down." She says looking away from the camera.
"Alright go and talk to James and I'll speak to you later." I say and she nods and quickly says goodbye before ending the call.
I lie back on the bed and Gio copys my actions. "I'm starving." He says and I laugh.
"Yeah same but I hope auntie v ain't cooking because she can't cook for shit." I say and he laughs.
"Do you think they'll notice if we go out and get food?" He asks and I nod. He groans causing me to laugh.
****
Once we had dinner which I can confirm auntie V did not cook we go into the living room.
I quickly check my phone and sigh when I see I didn't have any texts from Lara.
Oh god this is exactly how I didn't want to feel. I'm so incredibly needy right now. I've been away from her for a few hours and I need to see her right now.
"What's wrong Jax?" Mom asks.
"Hmm? Oh nothing." I say and she raises an eyebrow.
"His girlfriend isn't texting him back." Gio says and I roll my eyes.
"Wait you haven't told me about her yet." Gianna says.
"I will another time." I say and she nods. I don't really want everyone to get involved.
My phone starts buzzing. I pick it up to see a facetime call from Lara.
Yes! Thank god!
"Alright I'll be back in a minute." I say and head to the kitchen.
I sit on a stool and answer the call.
"Jax." Alannah squeals and I smile.
"What's up?" I ask and she yawns.
"Mommy let me ring you before I go to bed." She tells me.
"Wow, I'm happy I get to talk to you before bed." I say gaining the biggest smile from her.
"I miss you already." She says with the cutest pout.
"I miss you too, I'll be there on Saturday as long as it doesn't interfere with your plans." I say.
"Its fine I'm sure James and mommy won't mind." She says and I nod.
"Alright but you should get some sleep now for all the food you're going to eat tomorrow." I say and she giggles.
"Goodnight Jax I love you." She says and tries to kiss the screen. My heart just melted for the first time ever.
"I love you to Alannah, Goodnight." I say and then I'm suddenly met with Lara's face.
"I'll facetime you later." She smiles and I nod.
I end the call and walk back into the living room.
"You didn't tell me Lara had a daughter. Mom says as I step outside of the kitchen.
Fucking hell. Was she really just listening through the door?
"She doesn't." I say and she looks at me confused.
"Jax I just heard you on the phone." She says and I sigh.
"She has a sister, you know that." I say and she signals for me to keep going.
"Her mom never cared for Alannah so Lara dropped everything to bring her up." I say and she aw's.
We head back into the living room where Gio hands me a whiskey.
"Who do I look like my dad?" I question and he laughs.
"A bit yeah." He says and I sigh.
I'm going to need more than this to get through the god damm evening. I just want to get into bed beside Lara right now.
****
I finally gave in when Gianna asked me for the millionth time about Lara.
I showed her a picture and told her about Lara. She got really excited and now wants me to bring Lara to meet her.
But I quickly changed the subject and joked about Gio not having a girlfriend.
I'm now stood with my dad, Gio, his dad and my uncle and my cousins Corbyn and Sarah. My auntie and uncle have 4 children. 3 girls and 1 boy.
The girls are complete and utter spoilt brats. They get everything they want, anything and everything they want/own is designer. They are spoiled so bad.
Then the boy is seventeen and is the complete opposite. He's like OCDÂ he works hard at school, has good grades and everything. He's not so much into everything designer. He's not the type of person I'd hang around with but he's the most bearable.
My dad and uncle were talking about business and what not. I literally have never been so bored in my life.
This is why I hate coming to the Hamptons. They're so boring. All they talk about is work and money, like it's some sort of competition.
"What?" I moan when Gio nudges me again.
"Sarah is talking to you." He says and I roll my eyes and look at her.
"He's a bit snappy because his girlfriend is with her best friend and not giving Jax any attention right now." He says for me and I roll my eyes.
"I asked where you got your t-shirt from." She says and I shrug.
"I don't remember." I say and look at Gio.
"Jax stop being a dick." My dad before turning back to talk to my uncle.
"But yeah, Jax takes over in January which we're all looking forward to." Dad says talking to my uncle.
"Are you excited Jax? I know it can be quite intimidating. I remember when I took over from my father. Best day of my life." He says and I look at dad.
Did he actually just ask me that?
I've been waiting for this for years. I'm not scared and I'm more than ready.
"I can't wait actually, I've been ready to take over for years now." I say and he nods.
I left to ring Lara earlier because this just blows.
However, we only spoke for a minute or two as she was out with James.
So I went back downstairs to socialise with everyone. I can hear Gianna and my mom talking about Lara from here. Both telling each other bits of information. They are talking infront of auntie V and my two other cousins. I wouldn't mind except from the fact they're talking about Alannah as well.
As soon as Alannah was mentioned my cousin Riley looks over to us.
"Jax is this true?" She asks and I turn around to face her. Here we fucking go.
"Is what true?" I ask pretending I haven't been listening.
"Are you dating a girl who basically already has a kid?" She asks and I roll my eyes.
"Its got nothing to do with you." I tell her and she raises her eyebrows at me.
"Why would you date someone with a child when you can date someone and get your own blood related child?" She says, her tone full of disgust. I roll my eyes trying not to rise to it. I don't want to ruin this for my mom.
"You're quite stupid." She says and I continue to grip my glass.
"Alright Riley that's enough, if he wants to throw his life away he can." Her dad says.
Breathe. Just breathe.
Do it for your mom.
They all started stating their opinions and it was starting to get to me.
It wasn't just getting to me but Gio to. Gio and Lara had become good friends these past couple of weeks and what they were saying started to piss him off.
I make eye contact with my dad who was telling me to calm down with his eyes.
"Honestly I can't believe your throwing it all away just for some girl with a child." Riley says.
Gio hands me his glass before standing up.
"He's not throwing it away for just some girl with a child. Since he's been with Lara he's been working just as hard if not harder. Lara has no choice but to take care of her sister. She's dropped everything for that little girl because that's what family do." He shouts.
"Lara is the most sweetest girl you'll ever meet, she doesn't have a bad bone in her body. So don't stand here stating your opinions that no body asked for because to be fucking honest we don't care. If anything you should be happy that Jax is happy." He adds looking around at everyone.
Well, someone isn't getting invited back.
Lucky.
"Let's go." I say putting our glasses down and taking him up to our rooms.
"Jesus christ I did not think your family would be this bad." He says lying down.
"If I thought you were going to blow a fuse tonight I wouldn't have got so angry." I say and he scoffs.
"They hardly know me so it was better for me to get angry at them instead of you." He says and I smile.
A knock on the door catches our attention and we look at it and my mom and dad walk in.
My mom hugs Gio and asks him if he's okay. Once Gio says he's fine she tells him his parents are looking for him.
"Are you alright?" Dad asks looking at me as I lie on the bed.
"I'm fine." I say and mom hugs me then.
"I'm sorry, me and Gianna have agreed to stop talking about Lara now till after I meet her." She smiles softly and I nod.
"Can I go back home now?" I ask and dad laughs.
"If things turn south again tomorrow then you can leave then but as of now, no." She says and I sigh.
My phone starts ringing and its Lara.
"We'll leave you to rest." Dad says and takes mom's hand and leaves me alone to talk to Lara.