Hold on Tight
Page 12
“Absolutely,” said Troy.
“No. I mean, I don’t want you guys getting involved.” Looking at Troy, too, she said, “Thank you both for caring, but it’s over.” She took a bite of her taco.
“It’s not over, Dani.”
“What’s not over, Daddy?” Kate piped up.
Saved by a three-year-old! “I don’t know, but my lunch is,” Dani said as she stood up. “I’ve got to get over to my next house. Troy, it was nice to meet you.”
“You too, Dani.”
“Bye, Kate,” she said as she gave the girl a hug.
“Let me walk you to your car. Troy, do you mind watching Kate?”
“Not at all.” He stood up and held out his hand to Kate. “Let’s throw away our trash and go look at the slide.”
The moment they were out of earshot, she said, “Jackson, you make me wish I never said a thing.”
“I’m glad you did.” After a pause, he said, “So what was the guy’s name?”
“I don’t want you calling him or going over there.”
“I’m going to find out. And I am going to talk to him.”
“What are you going to do, hit him?”
“No. But I am going to make sure he knows that you aren’t alone.”
“Jackson,” she whined.
He sighed next to her car. “What would Brian have done? Would he have simply just shrugged off the fact that some shit tried to force himself on you?”
She gasped. “I can’t believe you are bringing up my dead husband! That’s low.”
Jackson didn’t even look perturbed. “It’s not low. I’m doing whatever I can to help a friend of mine. Now, give me the truth. What would Brian have done?”
She didn’t even have to think about it. “Brian would’ve freaked out and gone to talk to him.” Honestly, she figured he might have even gotten in a fight with the guy. “But that doesn’t mean you need to do anything.”
“I’ve been around men like that.” Jackson frowned. “Not rapists, but guys who forget that there are rules, lines that men don’t cross. And, what I want you to know, is that men like that don’t make passes at women who they know have someone looking out for them. He pulled that shit because he knew you were a single woman with a kid to support.”
Maybe she was weak or shaken up, or simply figured Jackson was right, but she nodded. “I know.”
“Do you really want to think about how Jeremy would take this, knowing that some man tried to violate you today? Some man at his house that you were cleaning?”
“Don’t you tell Jeremy a thing. He’s got enough to worry about.”
His gaze sharpened on her. “Then let me help you.”
“Fine. His name is Reed Moore.”
“He lives here in Bridgeport?”
“Yes. But—”
He cut her off. “Kay. Thanks, Dani.”
“I don’t feel good about this. I just want to forget it.”
“I promise, you aren’t going to forget it until he’s dealt with. If you pretend it didn’t happen, all that’s going to happen is you’re going to worry in the middle of the night.”
She didn’t know if he was right or wrong. Maybe she would dream about Reed grabbing her. Maybe she wouldn’t. But she did have a feeling she was going to think about Jackson being determined to take care of her.
“Thanks,” she said at last.
Pulling her into his arms, he held her close and kissed her temple. “Thanks for letting me help you.”
“Will you call me later? I’m going to be worried about you.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” After kissing her temple again, he said, “Good luck with your next house. I’ll call you tonight.”
She drove away thinking that his promise to call sure sounded like a promise of something more.
CHAPTER 16
From Les Larke’s
You, Too, Can Host
a Poker Tourney:
On the other hand, the majority of your players may have only come for the beer.
“No judgments, but do you reckon we ought to do some thinking about this?” Troy asked as Jackson typed Reed Moore’s address into his phone.
Jackson looked over at him. “What’s there to think about? It seems fairly clear to me.”
Troy leaned back in his chair. “Well, one, maybe we ought to remember that Dani didn’t want us to get involved.”
“Someone needs to.”
Troy groaned. “Cookie …”
“No, I’m serious.” Every time Jackson thought about what she told them, he saw red. “He said inappropriate things to her. He grabbed her arm hard enough to form bruises. Dani was afraid he was going to do a whole lot worse. I think that about covers it, don’t you?”
Troy glanced over at Kate, who was playing with a pair of little boys on the jungle gym. “I’m not saying all that isn’t bad, but he didn’t actually hurt her.”
“She was scared enough to run out of there, Troy. She works damn hard and has obviously been putting up with his crap for a while now. At the very least, she needs to get paid.”
Troy sighed. “I agree. But maybe we need to get some reinforcements.”
“Like who?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Kurt. Ace.” He grinned. “Ace would be good. He’s still built like a wall and he constantly looks like he just rolled out of bed and is pissed off about it.”
Though Jackson didn’t disagree, he was a little offended that Troy didn’t think he was man enough to handle some rich jerk on his own. “Ace does have a scary look about him, but I’m not showing up at this guy’s house with a whole posse. I just want to talk to him.”
“And you think he’s going to give you the time of day?”
“What are you getting at? I’m not Ace’s size, but I can still handle myself. And I might only be a bartender now, but I used to have a pretty decent job, Troy.”
Troy blew out a breath. “Jeez. I ain’t talking about your size or your job.”
“What are you talking about then?”
“That the guy can just slam the door in your face.”
Thinking about that, Jackson smiled. “Even if he does that, at least he’ll know that someone is looking out for Dani.”
“That’s enough?”
Not really. Right now, what he really wanted to do was punch the guy hard enough to give him a couple of bruises of his own. “If that’s all that happens? I won’t be happy, but at least I did something.”
Since Troy still looked unhappy, Jackson realized that his buddy was in a much different place than he was. Troy had gone to college and been a college football star. Now he had a successful financial planning company and a lot of important clients. He probably couldn’t afford to do anything that might ruin his hard-fought reputation.
“Hey, I’m sorry. It just occurred to me that this might be a little too redneck for you.”
“Last I checked, we’re both from Spartan.”
“I know, but you’ve been here in Bridgeport for a while. You don’t have to go with me.”
Troy leaned forward. “You think I’m going to hang back and let you go on your own?”
“I’m trying to tell you that I wouldn’t blame you if you did. This isn’t your problem.”
“Is Dani your problem?”
“Yeah. I think she is.” Actually, he was sure of it.
“If some guy put his hands on Campbell and scared her, I wouldn’t even still be here talking. When do you want to go?”
“Right now. Since Dani left that house about an hour ago, the guy is probably still there.” Looking over at Kate, he realized that he didn’t have anywhere to take her. Kurt, Ace, and their girlfriends were all at work.
At another time, he might have asked Gen to watch her for an hour, but Gen was embroiled
in her whole Seth mess. Standing up, he said, “I’m going to have to leave Kate in the car while I handle this.”
“I’ll stay near the car so she doesn’t get scared.”
Feeling better about his plan—such that it was—Jackson stood up. “Let’s do this, then.”
Troy grinned. “I’ll go get your girl.”
After they gathered up Kate and loaded her up in his truck, Jackson clicked on the GPS and they headed out. Within five minutes, Kate was passed out in the back seat. Jackson was relieved about that. He actually didn’t want to get in a fight with the guy, just wanted to make sure he knew he couldn’t get away with treating Dani the way he did and then just go on with his life.
Beside him, Troy was texting like he was back in high school and had a hot date coming up.
“You doing work?”
“Heck, no. I’m texting Ace and Kurt and letting them know what we’re doing. Figured they ought to know in case everything goes south.”
“It won’t.”
“Just making sure someone else knows what we’re doing.”
Jackson rolled his eyes but knew he would’ve probably done the same thing if their positions were reversed. He was pretty riled up. It was good to have friends, and he had some of the best.
Five minutes later they pulled into the driveway of a nice home on the edge of Indian Hill, an affluent area just west of Bridgeport. The house was nice but nothing special. It looked like an average middle-class home.
“Huh,” Troy said. “I was imagining something fancier.”
“Me, too,” Jackson replied as he got out. “I’ll leave the car running for Kate.”
“I’ll stand out here. Let me know if you need me.”
“Thanks.” Not wanting to give what he was about to do another moment’s thought, he strode to the front door and rang the bell. After thirty seconds or so, the door opened, and he was looking at a man about his height and weight, wearing an aqua-blue nylon T-shirt and black shorts. He also had frosted blond tips on his hair and had obviously gotten his eyebrows waxed.
“Yeah?”
Jackson hated him on sight. “Are you Reed Moore?”
“I am,” he said impatiently. “You got a delivery for me or something?”
Suddenly, it was all Jackson could do to not grab the guy by the collar of his shiny shirt and slam him against the door. “I stopped by to talk to you about Dani Brown.”
“My maid? What about her?”
“Your maid is my girlfriend,” he ground out, not even caring that he was exaggerating his relationship with her a bit. “And she just told me about her morning with you.”
The guy’s expression tightened before it relaxed. “What about it?”
“I saw the bruises on her arm. She told me about your offer, too.”
“So what? You decided to come over here and give me a piece of your mind?” His voice was mocking.
And it grated on Jackson’s last nerve. Remembering that he had Kate in the car and reminding himself that this guy wasn’t anything to him, he placed his left hand on the door frame and stepped closer. “I came over to get her pay for today.”
“What? I paid her.”
Now he was just getting plain mad. “I wouldn’t start lying to me, Mr. Moore.”
“Or what?” He gestured toward Troy. “You going to get your buddy over here to talk to me, too?”
Almost before he realized he was doing it, Jackson had the guy pinned against the door. “Or I’m going to make sure you’re going to have a real good story to tell your wife when she gets home from work.”
The guy whimpered. “I’ve got her money in the kitchen.” After Jackson released him, he said, “I’ll be right back.”
Jackson smiled as he stepped inside. “We’re going to go together.”
“No. Wait. I mean, I have my wallet right here.” Next thing Jackson knew, he was slipping three twenties into his palm. “Here.”
He kept his palm out. “That’s it? Are you sure? Because if Dani says you usually pay her more, I’m going to be back tonight.”
“Fine. Here.” He held out two more twenties.
Jackson stared at him, feeling nothing but contempt for the man. Then he turned away and started walking back to his truck.
“Wait! That’s it?” Reed Moore called out.
“Yep,” Jackson said. He didn’t want to waste another word on the guy.
By the time he buckled his seat belt, Troy was laughing. “For a minute there, I thought you were going to lay one on that guy.”
Now that they were driving back, Jackson grinned. “I almost did. He was a real jerk.”
“You get Dani’s money?”
“Oh, yeah.” He chuckled softly as he quietly told Troy what happened. By the time he dropped Troy off at his truck, Kate woke up.
“Daddy, are we going home now?”
“Yep. But first we’re going to pick up some ice cream and flowers for Miss Dani. We’re going to take them over to her tonight.”
“How come we’re gonna do that? Because she’s our friend?”
“Yep. Because she’s our friend.”
And because he was now sure that she was so much more.
* * *
Just after seven that night, Jackson had Kate by his side and they were knocking on Dani’s door. They had their hands full, too. He’d wanted to do something for Dani and figured that flowers and ice cream might do the trick. Beth had always appreciated both.
Jeremy opened the door. “Hey, Jackson. Hey, wait. Are those for Mom?”
Kate stepped forward, holding a plastic Kroger bag in both of her hands. “Uh-huh. Hi, Jeremy!”
He smiled. “Hey, Kate.” Looking back up at Jackson, the boy’s voice was noticeably cooler. “What are the flowers for?”
“I thought she might like them,” Jackson said, feeling strangely self-conscious. “Is she around?”
Jeremy was still looking at the flowers like they were squirming snakes. “Yeah.” He turned. “Mom? Jackson’s here!”
“And Kate! I’m here, too!” Kate called out.
Dani walked to the door. “Jeremy, why is everyone standing at the door? Let them inside.”
“Hi, Miss Dani! We brought you flowers and ice cream,” Katie said.
“You did?” she asked as Jeremy finally stepped backward and allowed Jackson in. After Dani gave Kate a hug and took the bag from her, she smiled tentatively at him. “What have you been doing?”
She looked so cute, Jackson allowed himself a moment to study her before replying. Tonight, she didn’t have a lick of makeup on and her thick blond hair was pulled up in one of those messy buns women wore. She also happened to be wearing pink pajama bottoms decorated with penguins holding umbrellas and a red tank top. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought she was about eighteen years old.
“Oh, nothing,” he teased. “Kate and I just thought we’d do something nice for you. Here,” he said, feeling awkward as hell. “I hope you like roses.”
Dani held them to her chest. “I do. Thank you.”
“Mom?” Jeremy said. “What’s going on?”
“Miss Dani had a real bad day,” Kate chirped. “My daddy wants to cheer her up.”
“What happened, Mom?”
Dani bit her bottom lip. “Oh, nothing for you to worry about. I better go put these in water.”
After she walked into the kitchen, Kate on her heels, Jeremy stared up at him. “What happened?”
Jackson was torn. Usually he would push off the question because it wasn’t his place to answer, but there was something in the boy’s expression that he knew not to ignore. “Your mom had some trouble at one of her houses today. I happened to see her right after, so it’s been on my mind.”
“I’m fine, Jeremy,” Dani called out.
&nb
sp; He walked right into the kitchen. “How come you didn’t tell me you had a bad day?” Jeremy asked. “It must have been real bad if you got flowers and ice cream.”
Dani put the flowers in a glass pitcher. “We’ll talk about it later, okay? Now, let me speak to Jackson for a moment before he leaves.” After Jeremy took Kate’s hand and walked into the living room, she said, “I wish you wouldn’t have said anything to him.”
“I know, but he cares about you ... and he’s not a little kid, Dani.”
She sighed. “I guess you’re right. So, do I even want to know what you did this afternoon? Did you go talk to Reed?”
He pulled out the five twenties from his back pocket and handed them to her. “I did. And I got your money.”
She took the money but frowned at him. “Do I want to know what happened when you went over there?”
His instinct was to tell her no, but he realized that she also didn’t need to be shielded. “All I did was let him know that you aren’t alone in the world and that someone has your back.”
Her brown eyes warmed. “You are something else, Jackson Koch.”
Feeling that warm connection that seemed to increase every time they were together, he inclined his head. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Now I’m gonna get on my way. I’ve got a Kate to put to bed.”
After he gathered up his little girl in his arms, she walked him to the door. “I guess I’ll see you soon?” Dani asked.
“Yes, ma’am.” Then, because he couldn’t help himself, he leaned over and pressed his lips to her brow. “Good night, Dan.”
As they walked downstairs, Kate murmured, “I like Miss Dani and Jeremy.”
“Me too, baby,” he replied, realizing that he was no longer wondering if their friendship was about to change.
It already had.
CHAPTER 17
From Les Larke’s
You, Too, Can Host
a Poker Tourney:
If the game is sure to be intense, it’s good to forewarn all newcomers that it’s going to be a serious game.
“Mom, what’s going on?” Jeremy asked as soon as they were alone again.
Dani’s stomach knotted. She’d known as soon as she saw his expression about the flowers that they were going to have to have a talk. She’d kind of hoped it would have been later, though. She was still wrapping her head around the fact that Jackson had not only taken on her problems as his own but had then gone out to buy her flowers and a treat.