I Want You Back

by Lorelei James

  “Jax,” Nolan said sharply.

  “What?”

  His expression said, “Take it down a notch,” but his mouth said, “Mimi asked you a question.”

  I unclenched my fist and my jaw and forced a smile to my lips. “Yes, sweets?”

  “Do you think I should call her on my new cell phone?”

  “Absolutely. But let’s text her first so she knows to answer when your number shows up.”

  Nolan muttered something that I ignored.

  “But . . . I don’t know how to text.”

  “It’s easy.” I scooted my chair closer. “I’ll show you. And you can even add these cool little pictures called emojis that’ll really get her attention.”

  Nolan pushed away from the table. “That’s it. I’m out.”

  I smiled at him. Must not have been my nicest smile, because the smarmy fucker took a step back. “But you’ll miss all of the fun.”

  He bent down and kissed the top of Mimi’s head. “Now you have my number, girlie-girl. Call me if you need me.”

  Mimi grunted her response and then exclaimed, “Is that a mermaid and a unicorn?”

  “It sure is.”

  Another gasp. “Daddy, there’s even a hockey stick and a hockey net on here!”

  “I know. You go ahead and use as many of those emojis as you want in your message.”

  “I’m sending it right now.”

  Nolan snagged his gym bag and scowled at me. “This antagonism will come back and bite you in the butt, Jax.”

  I lifted a brow. “And yet you’re the one bailing so you don’t have to face Lucy’s wrath about the little ‘safety device’ you gifted your niece.”

  He smirked. “I’ve perfected my timing for an exit strategy in all situations. Later.”

  “Okay, Daddy, she just sent this text back.”

  I peered over Mimi’s shoulder and saw a string of question marks. I didn’t bother to mask my grin when I said, “Go ahead and call her now.”

  Seven

  LUCY

  Normally I didn’t answer my cell phone during a dinner out.

  Then again, my normal wasn’t usually dinners out, without my daughter, on a date.

  But as a mother, I needed quick access to my phone in case Jax called, which was something Damon understood.

  Damon didn’t understand why I blurted out, “What the ever-loving fuck?” a little too loudly when a text message came through from my daughter, from her cell phone . . . because the girl didn’t have a cell phone. Or she hadn’t had one when I’d kissed her good-bye twenty-four hours ago.

  “I’m going to fucking kill him.”

  “Lucy?”

  “What?” I snapped as I typed a string of question marks in the text window.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “No, everything is absolutely not okay.”

  “Could you keep your voice down?”

  I glanced up at him, then at the tables next to us in the restaurant. No one paid attention to me as far as I could tell.

  Just then my phone rang in my hand, the Eminem “Lose Yourself” ring tone blaring, so then everyone did stare at us. I answered quickly and as quietly as I could manage. “Hello?”

  “Mommy! Guess what? I got a cell phone! And you’re the very first person that I called!”

  My temper rose and I knew I couldn’t keep my voice down. I said, “Wow, sweetheart, that’s really something. Hang on one second.” I looked at Damon apologetically and left the table, walking through the restaurant until I reached the waiting area, which, thankfully, was mostly empty.

  Mimi said, “Daddy helped me text you. Did you see the mermaid and unicorns in the message?”

  “Yes, I did. Very cool. It was nice of him to help you out. Could you hand your phone to your father, please?”

  “Don’t you want to talk to me?” she said with a pout in her voice.

  “Of course I do. As soon as I have a word with him.”

  “You’re gonna yell at him, aren’t you?”

  You bet your sweet ass I am.

  A clunk sounded on the other end, followed by muffled words. Then Jax’s deep voice drifted into my ear. “Now hold on, Lucy, it’s not what you think.”

  “Not what I think?” I hissed. “I think you bought our daughter a goddamned cell phone when I specifically forbade you to do just that, you jackass.”

  “She’s sitting right here, and if you keep up that kind of language, I will put you on speakerphone to stop it, understand?”

  God. I hated that I’d reverted to name-calling. What was wrong with me? “Sorry.”

  “That’s better. Are you calm enough to let me explain why Mimi has a cell phone?”

  “I’m not even fucking close to calm.”

  “I take it your date isn’t going well, then?”

  I held the phone out and glared at it, as if I could see Jax’s smarmy face to go with the smarmy tone I was hearing from him. “How in the hell did you know I was on a date?” I spun around. “Did you have someone follow me?”

  “Relax, Lucy Q. Mimi knew you were on a date and she told me.”

  “How did she know? I didn’t tell her.”

  “Might wanna remember that whole ‘little pitchers have big ears’ thing the next time you discuss your love life with your sister.”

  “I don’t have a love life—” Dammit, why had I admitted that? “Not that it’s any of your business if I did,” I retorted. “Leave it to you to wreck any potential love life with this stunt.”

  “Stunt? All I did was allow Mimi to call her mother when she had some exciting news to share with her. Not my fault if Pencil-Neck Geek boy can’t handle the fact you’ve been briefly interrupted by our daughter.”

  I wanted to scream. This man could rile me up in no time flat. And why had Mimi picked up on her aunt’s assessment of Damon and decided to share that with her father? Now Jaxson would think . . .

  Why do you care what Jaxson thinks about your date?

  Good question.

  “I hear you fuming, Luce. I bet you’ve got that cute little crease between your eyebrows as you’re silently cursing me.” He paused. “I hear your heels clicking, which means you’re pacing too.”

  I stopped moving. “This is just so typically you, Jaxson Lund.”

  “Throwing out bits of flattery when we fight? I’m touched you remember how we used to do this, babe.”

  Babe. That urge to scream arose again.

  “I’m not doing this with you, Jax. Be at my place, with Mimi, and that blasted cell phone, in half an hour. You can explain why she has it in person.”

  “You’re cutting your date short?”

  “Gee, do you think?”

  He chuckled and the sexy sound zipped down the right side of my body. “Pencil-Neck Geek boy can’t handle you when you’re like this, can he?”

  “That is none of your concern, Lund. Thirty minutes. Every minute you’re late, I will tear a new strip from you, understood?”

  “Understood. And maybe it makes me a masochist, but I look forward to it, Lucy Q.”

  He hung up.

  I let a little frustrated noise escape me. That conceited ass. When I got my hands on him . . .

  “Lucy?”

  I whirled around to see Damon staring at me with utter shock.

  “I’m sorry, Damon. Family emergency. I have to go.”

  “I understand. I’ll get my keys from the valet and take you home.”

  “No.” I sucked in a quick breath. Not cool snapping at him. “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll just grab a cab.” I managed a tight smile. “I’m sorry the evening ended up this way.”

  “Are you?” he said coolly.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I overheard your conversation, Lucy. In fact,
I’m pretty sure the entire restaurant did. Is this truly an emergency with your daughter?”

  My confused look wasn’t faked. “What else would it be?”

  “You tell me.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Because it sounded like you were talking to that former hockey player, Jaxson Lund. It sounded like you’re meeting him.”

  “I am meeting him,” I snapped, my patience gone. “He’s Mimi’s father.”

  His condescending look vanished. “I knew you worked at Lund Industries, but you never mentioned your intimate connection to the family.”

  “Why would that have mattered?”

  “I like to know everything about someone I’m getting involved with.”

  I poked the down button for the elevator, relieved when the doors immediately opened. I didn’t speak until I was inside it. “Well, it’s not something you need to worry about now, because we’re definitely not getting involved. Good-bye, Damon.”

  For once the universe had perfect timing and the door shut in his face before he could respond.

  * * *

  • • •

  Jax made it to my apartment with about thirty-five seconds to spare.

  Mimi wasn’t her usual exuberant self, but she did disappear into the kitchen for a snack after giving me a hug.

  As soon as she was out of earshot, Jax’s expression turned serious. “No name-calling. No swearing. No bringing up incidents or issues from our past. We keep this discussion polite and to the point. Agreed?”

  I almost snapped that he didn’t have to explain adult behavior to me, but that wasn’t exactly mature, was it? “Agreed.”

  His gaze moved over my face, down my neck, across my cleavage—twice—then dropped to my lower half before taking a leisurely track back up to meet my eyes. “I hope your date appreciated how beautiful you are.”

  “Do not think that compliments will soften me up.”

  “Because that would be unforgivable, would it? That I remind you that I still find you as hot and sexy as every other man in the world does?”

  Argh. What was wrong with him? “Jax. Focus.”

  “I am. I won’t let you goad me into a fight with you, because clearly you’re spoiling for one.” He set his hands on my shoulders and squeezed. “Go put on some comfy clothes, because I’ll be here awhile.”

  From the kitchen Mimi yelled, “Daddy? I poured your milk.”

  He smirked at me. “I was promised milk and cookies since we had to leave so abruptly before we had our dessert tonight.” Then he walked off without another word.

  In my bedroom I stripped out of my clothes and slipped on my satin pajama set with the full sleeves and long pants.

  They’d finished their snack by the time I returned. Jax gave Mimi a piggyback ride into the living room, and we spread out, with them on the couch, me in the opposite chair and Mimi’s cell phone on the coffee table between us.

  “First of all, I didn’t buy this for her. Nolan gave it to her only after Mimi found out Calder received a phone just like this today too. The phone is registered to the Lund Industries security division.”

  My heart raced. “Why?”

  He explained, and with each point I felt more fearful instead of relieved, but managed to keep Mimi from seeing my concern. What wasn’t LI security telling us? Were there threats against our daughter? I didn’t care that she couldn’t surf the Internet or use the device to play games or that none of her friends would have the phone number. I worried about why she needed a trackable safety device in the first place.

  When Mimi sighed for the third time, Jax told her to start her habit of plugging the phone into the charger before she went to bed, and Mimi happily escaped to her room, leaving us alone.

  That’s when Jax went into more details about why this was suddenly a necessity. After he finished speaking, we were both quiet for a few moments.

  “It’s just one of those things, Luce, given who she is.”

  “I get it. I see her as a normal little girl and forget that she’s got these other aspects of her parentage that take her out of the normal realm. I can’t let her ride her bike to a friend’s house or tell her to go play at the playground.” I looked at Jax, and in that moment our daughter’s resemblance to him was uncanny, which freaked me out because Mimi looked nothing like either of us, saving us from any “mini-me” comparisons.

  “We’re trying to give her as normal a childhood as we can. It was easier for the Lund family to keep their kids out of the spotlight before all this constant bombardment with fifty different types of social media.”

  I snickered. “You weren’t exactly the type to lay low, Lund. With your mad hockey skills from a young age putting you right in the spotlight.”

  He gave me a sheepish and utterly charming smile. “Only thing I cared about was advancing my skills so I could play more games at a higher level against better opponents.” Then his handsome face shuttered and he locked his gaze to mine. “Speaking of a young hockey player, Mimi told me that she wants to learn to play.”

  I laughed. “Of course she does . . . today. Tomorrow she’ll want to be a veterinarian. And the day after that she’ll talk about becoming a circus performer.”

  “This is different.”

  “How would you know?” slipped out before I could stop it. “She’s tried every sport—”

  “Except for hockey,” he interjected. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

  “What’s wrong is you pushing her into thinking she wants to play hockey.”

  He shook his head. “She told Nolan she wanted to play.” He paused, making sure he had my full attention. “Last year. And apparently when they’ve had free time together, she watches my old game tapes, and she convinced her uncle to take her to a few local girls’ hockey games.”

  My mouth dropped open. “He did that without asking me first?”

  “Mimi asked him to keep it from you because she knew you wouldn’t like it. So I’m not pushing her into a damn thing. But neither will I ignore her interest in it.”

  “Yes, you will.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  “She’s not playing hockey.”

  “Not at first, no. She needs to take a basic skills class to see if she’s suited for it. If she is . . .” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. “I’ll get her enrolled in a club. I’ll take her to practices and games. I’ll deal with her equipment until she’s old enough to do it herself.”

  I threw my hands up. “Dammit, Lund, you’ve already made your mind up that Mimi will be playing hockey! And you’ll just skate over any objections that I might have about my daughter involved in such a dangerous sport.”

  He flashed me a nasty smile. “She’s my daughter too. You don’t get the final say in everything she does.”

  Wanna bet? “She’s doing this to manipulate you.”

  “Bullshit. You’re saying no to manipulate her and me. You put your foot down and that’s the end of discussion and I’m just supposed to accept that. Not this time.”

  I glared at him.

  He glared back.

  “We’re done talking about this.”

  “We haven’t even started talking about this, baby, so settle in.”

  “Don’t call me baby, asshole.”

  “Ah. So we’re to the name-calling stage. Didn’t take you long to revert to your old habits, Lucille.”

  God I hated his pseudo calm tone of voice. “Don’t talk down to me, Jaxson Lund.”

  “Fine. Let’s dig in and get to the real problem. What is your biggest fear about Mimi playing? That she’ll naturally be good at it? That she’ll end up spending more time with me than with you?”

  “No, you idiot, I worry that she’ll get hurt! How many concussions have you had? How many teeth were knocked out? How many scars from stitches crisscross your body? How many t
imes have you had your nose broken? Or your fingers? Or your arm? Or your kneecap? How many muscles have you torn? How many black eyes? How many bruises from getting whacked repeatedly with a stick? Or taking a puck to the shin or the chin? Or getting the crap beat out of you when you’re repeatedly crashed into the boards during every single game!” My voice had escalated as I’d posed each injury question, and when I finished I realized I was on my feet, my hands fisted, my entire body shaking.

  “I had very few injuries when I started playing at age eight, so let’s focus on that, not what might happen years down the road. Now calm down and sit down.”

  “No, no and no.”

  Jaxson gave me a warning growl . . . which I ignored.

  “Mimi will not be a broken and scarred girl because she’s trying to ensure that you really love her and that you’ll stick around this time by getting involved in the one thing you’ve always loved above everything else! Hockey!”

  Jaxson jumped to his feet. “Goddammit, Lucy, that’s enough. Enough bullshit, enough playing the blame game. This is about what Mimi wants. But you’re too blinded by resentment for me to see that you’re projecting your fears onto her.”

  “And you’re projecting some twisted need to stay relevant through her by putting a freakin’ hockey stick in her hand!” I retorted.

  “Relevant? Christ, woman, the only thing that is relevant in this conversation is your continual state of denial when it comes to me asserting my rights as Mimi’s father.”

  “You have no right to put her in life-threatening situations.”

  “For the love of god, Lucy, what is wrong with you? You are being completely unreasonable!”

  “Unreasonable?” I repeated. “No, being unreasonable would be me denying you access to your daughter.”

  He snorted. “That’s gonna be hard to do, since in the next month or so I’ll be living in this building and she can come up and see me any goddamned time she wants!”

  Utter silence.

  “What did you say?”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face. “What is it about you that gets me so riled up I just blurt shit out without thinking?” He lowered his hands. “I didn’t mean for you to find out this way.”