Shadow of Secrets Pt. 11

**Disclaimer: All characters are 18+, no underage characters will ever be portrayed in any shape or form in this or any future stories.**

**Erik's point of view**

Erik was pouring himself a cup of coffee when he heard the door to his mother's room open. He was expecting his mom to come out so naturally he was slightly put off when he saw Jax turn around the corner and look at him with his dark eyes.

Just the way Jax looked at Erik sometimes with pure contempt and the way the cold eyes made Erik feel like a tiny bug in-front of this big man; it put Erik on the defensive. Today was no different as Erik started to sweat a bit just having Jax peer at him with those dark eyes. Then the most dreaded words came out of his mouth telling Erik that they needed to have a talk.

Erik wasn't sure what it was about but Jax never did anything nice for him so he didn't expect much from this talk. Wanting to sound and look more brave than he was feeling inside Erik put on a good front by faking confidence saying "what's this about?"

Jax only sneered at him and Erik could literally feel the loathing that was coming off of him. Jax held his ground firmly during the tension filled exchange with Erik. Jax sat down at the kitchen table so Erik followed him and sat in-front of him.

Before any more words were said Jax slammed the camera equipment he had found in Eva's room onto the table. Erik felt the ground shift beneath his feet and was glad he was sitting down or he would have given away his inner panic by his wobbly feet. After their initial confrontation, the two men sat in silence for several moments, eyeing each other warily, their postures mirroring a standoff. Both were determined, defiant. The air crackled with electricity.

Eventually, Jax broke the uneasy silence. "Okay, kid," he began gruffly.

"Let me explain something to you. Your little stunt with this camera has landed you in a big pile of shit. I haven't told Eva about this cause I don't want her to think of her son as a creep. Whatever this twisted thing is though.... It needs to stop. What the hell were you thinking putting that thing in there?" Jax questioned Erik heatedly.

Erik wasn't even sure how to respond now that he was caught by Jax. He was just glad that his mom hadn't found out about it yet. Though he shuddered at the thought of her finding out about this.

Erik meekly asked Jax "Can.... Can you not tell her about this? P-Please?"

Jax continued speaking, stern determination in his voice "Good! At least you understand what kinda shit you got yourself into. Now let's make a deal, alright? No more spying on mommy."

Erik nodded feverishly wanting to avoid facing his mom about this before saying "yeah sure! I don't know what I was thinking when I did it.... I wasn't thinking at all! I'm sorry Jax!"

A thin smile appeared on Jax's lips as he saw Erik grovelling like this. Waving a hand dismissively at Erik he said "I don't give a shit kid! I do so much as find you peeking now on and I'll tell Eva everything. I bet she would finally see my side of things and kick you out of her life for good!"

Jax paused for letting the gravity of situation sink in for Erik then went on in a calculated tone "But I'm in a generous mood today so I'm not gonna make things worse for you. In exchange for not ratting you out I want you to talk me up to your mom so she isn't doubting our relationship as much. And I was serious about you getting a job.... I think it's high time you get some money in to help Eva out. If you can't find a job you can ask Eva if you can work at the club too. I can get you a job there as a cleaner if she is okay with it."

Working for Jax was the last thing Erik needed but for now agreeing to his demands was the only thing that was in his cards. Erik nodded slightly saying "yeah I'm working on something to get money.... But if it doesn't pan out I'll talk to mom."

Erik was planning on asking Cindy if she could give him an internship or something at the news station but he wasn't going to tell that to Jax if he could help it. Erik didn't trust Jax so confiding in him his plans was out of the question.

Jax eyes him suspiciously but nodded finally before saying "now this camera... you can have it back once you actually get a job that you are saying is there. But right now I want you to show me if you have any footage captured.... I want everything gone."

Erik sighed and didn't object as he hadn't seen anything good on the footage he had captured anyway; though he hadn't checked last night's footage nor was he expecting anything groundbreaking. Erik led Jax into his room reluctantly but after opening his computer he showed him the folder he had the footage in.

Erik noticed a few new video files were in the folder probably from last night. He wanted to somehow save them and watch but Jax was breathing down his neck which meant it was impossible to do much about it. Erik deleted the whole folder and felt a gut wrenching loss when he heard the familiar paper crinkling sound of files being deleted. Was there a chance Jax had done something last night that he wasn't prepared for Erik to see? Had Erik just deleted his chance to throw Jax out of their lives by deleting those files? Surely not right?

Jax patted his back before saying "good boy! Now you better stick to your word or I'll make things very difficult for you, boy!" Erik just meekly nodded wondering if he had done the right thing or cowardly thing by just silently going along with this.

That was it and Jax left Erik's room with the camera equipment in his hand. Erik would have to come up with some excuse for not returning it to Cindy before asking her if he can have a job at her workplace. He sent her a quick text letting her know that he wanted to meet.

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Cindy's reply came the next day as she told him to come meet her at the park around noon where she was meeting someone else for work anyway. Erik plopped himself onto his bed he felt like he had dodged a bullet with Jax and his mom. He couldn't even imagine how angry and hurt his mom would have been if Jax had told her about the cameras.

He wanted Jax out of his mother's life but now no matter what he wanted he would have to take Jax's side in-front of her or risk Jax telling her everything. Best case scenario she would just be upset with him for a few weeks but at worst Jax would convince her to kick him out of the apartment which would be pretty bad. Erik still was struggling to come to terms about deleting files from his computer; maybe there could have been something he really could have used against Jax? Jax did seem like he was awfully glad to have caught the footage before Erik had managed to see it. But there was no way to get those files back without using some very advanced recovery software; those that were either criminally expensive or banned by the government.

Just then a ping on his cellphone broke Erik out of his thoughts. He checked to see what it was. It was a calendar notification reminding him it was Eva's birthday coming up next week. He needed to convince a Cindy to at least pay him for his help with the camera equipment so he would be able to get something nice for his mother on her birthday. Then an errant thought came to his mind which disturbed him to even think about; what would Jax get her for her birthday? The possibility that Jax might forget her birthday and cause a spat between them which eventually may lead to them splitting up came rushing to Erik's mind though considering how Erik's life was going he wasn't that optimistic.

TBC...