The Essential Jagged Ivory (Jagged Ivory Boxed Set)

by Lashell Collins

  He opened his mouth to comment just as the bathroom door opened and Mercy stepped out, pulling the sundress over her head as she did. She was smoothing the short dress over her hips when she looked up and froze.

  “Dad!”

  Mike stood stunned for a moment as he stared at her. Then he looked back at Noah with murder in his eyes.

  Noah raised his hands in a supplicating gesture. “Mike, just calm down a minute, alright? Mercy and I were just coming to find you so that we could talk about this.”

  “You son of a bitch!”

  It was the only comment Noah heard before the punch. And he staggered backward with the force of it.

  “No!”

  Mercy screamed, but it was too late. Mike had sucker-punched him in the face before launching himself forward. And Noah was left struggling to keep Mike off of him without hurting him in the process. He didn't want to fight Mike. He wanted to be able to talk about this like rational adults. But the man was making that impossible, and Noah had to defend himself. He didn't want to, but he swung. And his right hook connected with Mike's chin, knocking him backwards just as Cory, Buz and Joe came rushing in with security hot on their heels.

  The bodyguards quickly stepped in, separating the two men as the barrage of questions began. And as Mercy rushed to him, Noah could see Otis standing in the doorway with a broad smile on his face.

  “What the hell just happened?” Cory demanded to know, looking from one man to the other.

  “I am so sorry,” Mercy exclaimed tearfully as she gently touched Noah's lower lip where he was bleeding. “This is all my fault. Are you okay?”

  “I'm fine,” he said quietly, wiping the blood from his lip with his thumb as he held her with the other arm. He looked over at Mike as he stood angrily watching the two of them.

  “What is wrong with you?” Mercy shouted, turning her wrath on her father. “You can't just go around attacking people like some kind of lunatic!”

  “I was protecting you!”

  “Protecting me? From the kind, caring man I choose to be with?!”

  “Mike … Mercy and I were coming to talk to you about this. We wanted to be upfront with you. We didn't like sneaking around behind your back!”

  “Oh, yeah. I can see that,” Mike responded sarcastically. “You were so eager to be upfront with me that you blew me off a little while ago to come back here and take advantage of my daughter!”

  “That is not what's going on here!” Mercy shouted at him.

  “You know what? Save it! I don't want to hear what's going on here,” Mike yelled, breaking free from the men restraining him. “I just want you to stay the hell away from my daughter! Let's go, Mercy!”

  “I am not going anywhere with you,” she stated, wiping a few stray tears from her cheek. Mike glared from her to Noah. Then he turned and stormed out of the room, cursing under his breath as he went.

  Mercy turned back to Noah, reaching both hands up to caress his face. “I'm so sorry,” she whispered tearfully as she lightly traced her fingertips over his chin. “I should have listened to you. We should have gone to him much sooner!”

  Noah sighed heavily as he held her in his arms, finally not giving a damn that the other guys were watching their every move. He winced slightly when she applied a little pressure to the cut on his lip, then licked at it with the tip of his tongue. “It's alright, baby. It's out in the open. At least now maybe he can start to deal with it.” He was speaking of Mike but, his words were also meant for his brother, and Noah looked directly at him as he spoke.

  Otis laughed bitterly at his words and walked further into the room, planting himself on the couch and propping his feet up on the small table in front of it.

  “I should probably go and find him,” Mercy said softly. “I have a few things I need to say to him.”

  “Want me to come with you?” Noah asked, searching her eyes. But she shook her head.

  “No. I need to talk to him alone.”

  Noah caressed her face as he watched the tears swim in her eyes. “You sure?”

  “Mmm hmm.”

  “Okay.” Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her gently.

  She smiled apologetically at him and then turned around, facing the others. “I really am very sorry,” she said, addressing each one of them. Then she crossed the room to the door and was gone.

  Chapter Eleven

  The minute Mercy was out of earshot, Noah turned to Otis. “Did you do this?”

  Otis smiled at him from his tequila stupor, saying nothing.

  “Did you send Mike up here?” Noah repeated, a little louder this time. “How long have you known, huh? Have you just been sitting back, waiting for the worst possible moment to spring it on him?”

  “You know, you have way too much faith in my wickedness, little brother,” Otis laughed. “Always so eager to believe the worst about me! Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I haven't been plotting and scheming to bring down your little romance. Hell, I didn't even know that you and Mercy were making the beast with two backs until today at lunch. You did a damn fine job of hiding it; my hat's off to you both! And here I was beginning to think she was just a frigid bitch.”

  He knew Otis was just trying to bait him, but he didn't care. Bait taken. He lunged at him with everything he had, and he really regretted the fact that Cory and Buz jumped in, stopping him from reaching his target and wrapping his hands around Otis' neck.

  “Ooh! Did I hit a nerve, lover boy?” Otis taunted him, getting to his feet. “Jeez, Mr. Perfect is sensitive today!”

  “Oh, here we go with the 'Mr. Perfect' shit! You starting your pity party crap all over again O?” Noah yelled at him. “You're like a fucking broken record with your Noah's perfect, Noah's the golden boy, Noah got everything handed to him bullshit! Noah worked for everything he ever got! If things came easier for me it was because I never looked at the world like it owed me something! I don't go through life with a giant chip on my shoulder, always wanting what some other poor bastard has.”

  “Chip on my shoulder? You think I got a chip on my shoulder?” Otis yelled back.

  “Yes!”

  “Well, you're right! I got a Noah-sized chip on my shoulder, and I been carrying it around for the past twenty-eight fucking years! All my life you've been breathing down my neck, wanting what I've got! You wanted my grades, my car, my position on the basketball team.”

  “We were kids, Otis! You're talking about high school shit,” Noah yelled at him. “Grow the fuck up already!”

  “I did grow up, you asshole,” Otis shot back. “And nothing's changed. You still want every fucking thing I've got! My band, my Grammy, my girl!”

  “Our band! Our Grammy! You want the fucking statue so badly, you can have it!”

  Otis laughed out loud. “I notice you didn't add our girl.”

  “Fuck you, Otis,” Noah said dismissively, turning to retreat to the bathroom. But he thought better of it, and turned back toward him. “No. You know what? I'm done with this shit. All my life, I have had to apologize to you for being who I am! For doing things that just came naturally to me. I have tried to fit into my allotted space for you and take a back seat so that I don't step on your toes at all. But I am done with that! It ends now,” Noah said fiercely, glaring at his brother.

  “Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute,” Cory spoke up as he stepped between them. The alarm was written all over his face. “What are you saying, Noah? Are you talking about leaving Jagged Ivory?”

  Noah looked at Cory with a confused frown.

  “No, he's not,” Otis said evenly. “I am.”

  There was dead silence as they all turned and looked at Otis in shocked disbelief.

  “No one is leaving Jagged Ivory,” Noah shouted, glaring at his brother once more as his booming voice shattered the silence. “That is not what I meant! We are more than a band, remember? This is a family! You and me … we're family. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you! We built this d
ream together. And we have come this far together! We won that Grammy as a team, and the sooner you get that through your thick skull, the better off we'll all be! A band to be reckoned with. Remember?”

  Otis frowned, nodding slightly as he looked at him in bewilderment.

  “Well then … what did you mean when you said you were done, Noah?” Buzzy asked quietly.

  “All I meant, is that I am done taking Otis' shit. Always putting my desires on a back burner to keep the peace. I'm not doing that anymore. Not with the band and not with Mercy. I know how you feel about her, O,” he said, turning to look his brother in the eye once more. “And I know that it goes way beyond just wanting to get in her pants. I know you want her to think that's all it is but … I know better. I know you. And I can see that you have a real thing for her. And I understand it completely because she is so easy to love. But I'm not backing down this time, Otis. I am not walking away because she means more to me than you know.”

  “What are you talking about?” Otis asked, still frowning.

  “Tell him, Noah,” Cory coaxed after a slight pause. “If you don't, man … I swear, I will. This has gone on long enough.”

  “Tell me what?”

  Noah took a deep breath, looking from Cory back to Otis. “Mercy. The girl from the songs. The girl from four years ago, who I write the songs about. It was Mercy.”

  Otis stared at him for a beat before letting out a defeated sigh. He took a few steps backward and plopped down onto the couch once more. And he shook his head slightly, already regretting the eight tequila shots that he knew he was going to hate himself for shortly.

  “Oh, wow! No shit, man?” Buzzy asked, looking at Noah with a cheesy grin. Noah smiled slightly and nodded at him. Buz laughed. “That had to fucking blow your mind!”

  “Yeah, that's an understatement,” Noah mumbled, feeling somewhat grateful for Buzzy's enthusiasm.

  “Well that explains all the weird tension between you two from the minute she got here,” Buz muttered, still smiling to himself. “And the tension between the two of you,” he added, pointing to Noah and Otis.

  Noah smirked at his observation and looked back at Otis. He still hadn't said anything, and Noah wondered what was going on in his mind. Finally, he couldn't take the silence anymore. “Are you going to say anything?”

  Otis looked up at him mutely for several seconds. “What do you expect me to say?”

  They stared at one another as the air between them grew thick. “Nothing,” Noah said finally. “I don't expect you to say a damn thing.” He turned to walk away once again, feeling disgusted with the whole exchange.

  “I knew.”

  Noah stopped and turned to look at him with a frown.

  “That she was into you,” Otis clarified, looking down at the floor. “I knew. But I kept chasing her anyway. I thought … well, it doesn't matter what I thought. The point is … I knew she wanted you, not me. But I didn't care.” He looked up and met Noah's gaze as he said, “I didn't know that she was your mystery girl. If I had known that … I never would have gone after her. I know you and I have squabbled over some pretty petty shit over the years, and I know that's mostly my fault. But I would never intentionally try to steal your girl. I hope you know that.”

  Noah was silent for a long moment. Then he nodded his head. “When she first joined the tour she wasn't my girl,” he said quietly.

  “Still. I know how you felt about … her. Back when you didn't know who she was, so she should have been off limits. You should have told me the minute you recognized who she was. We could have avoided all of this bullshit if you had just told me!”

  “We could have avoided all this bullshit if you weren't always so focused on chasing tail,” Noah shot back.

  “Hey, guys … come on. You've made a whole lot of progress here. Don't ruin it by tossing in stupid accusations, alright?” Cory said, playing the mediator, as usual. It was a roll he had been playing in the lives of the Ivory brothers since high school. And one he knew he'd probably be playing for years to come.

  *****

  Mike sat disgustedly staring out into space. It was his own fault, he knew. He simply should have known better. What the hell had he been thinking, bringing his daughter out here on the road with a bunch of pampered, self-important, sex-crazed rock stars? How did he ever envision this ending in a positive way? Of course she was going to get involved with one of them. She had been telling him for the past four years what a huge fan she was.

  He shook his head at the realization that he was an idiot. He had basically placed his sweet little girl in a den of wolves and expected them not to ravage her. He should have kept a better eye on her, kept her closer to him at all times. But she had begged him for a little more freedom, and she made such a good argument. Just like any good lawyer would. And he had been so damn proud of the way she had stood up for herself. But he never should have listened to her. He never should have given in.

  “I hope you're sitting here thinking about what an ass you made of yourself back there,” Mercy said angrily. Mike turned around to see her standing in the doorway, and he sighed.

  “Mercy, we can't talk about this until you calm down. You're obviously not seeing things clearly right now.”

  “No, you've got that wrong, Mike. I'm seeing things perfectly. You're the one with the skewed perception of reality here.”

  Mercy could hear the blood rushing in her ears as her heart pounded. She was so angry right now, and so scared. She hated fighting with Mike. And it really didn't happen often. They bickered occasionally, about her studies or other minutia. But it was always lighthearted and good-natured, and more often than not, they would end up laughing about it. They rarely had a real knock-down, drag-out sort of argument. But Mercy knew that this was going to be one of those rare times.

  “Mercy …”

  “No! I'm going to talk, and you're going to listen,” she stated as she walked further into the room and stood before him.

  “Don't you speak to me that way, young lady! Who the hell do you think you are?”

  “I think I'm your daughter,” Mercy shouted, refusing to back down. “Your adult, grown up, fully of age daughter. You know … the one you humiliated and embarrassed back there when you attacked my boyfriend!”

  “Boyfriend?!”

  “Yes, Mike. Boyfriend. As in 'not just a fling.' As in 'he's important to me!' As in 'I think I'm in love with him!' Boyfriend! And I'm sorry if you have a problem with that. I really am. But I can't help how I feel, Mike!”

  He stared at her in disbelief, trying to wrap his head around what she was saying. Slowly he shook his head. “Honey, you don't know what you're saying. You're just infatuated with him. And I understand, sweetheart. I do! He's older, he's famous … hell, he's a real live rock star! I get how that can be exciting for a young girl. But you're not in love with him, Mercy! You are too young to even know what love is!”

  Mercy laughed tearfully. “You act like he's forty, Dad. He's twenty-eight. He's six years older than I am! How old do you think I have to be to know what love is? Twenty-five? Thirty? And yes, he is a famous rock star. And I know you don't believe this, but it wouldn't matter to me if he was a garbage man!”

  “Mercy … can't you understand that I just want what's best for you? And trust me sweetheart, the lifestyle that Noah Ivory lives is not what's best for you! You're smarter than this. You're better than this!”

  “Mike!” Mercy screamed in frustration. And it felt so good, she did it again, letting out a loud wail of aggravation, and he stared at her in wide-eyed horror. “You have got to let me decide what is best for me. Don't you get that?”

  He looked up at her from his seated position in the chair, feeling completely bewildered. Then he said softly, “Mercy … honey, I'm only trying to protect you. You are my little girl. My responsibility. You are my heart. And I couldn't stand it if you were hurt somehow, and I did nothing to stop it. It's my job to protect you from making a horrible mistake. Tha
t's all I'm trying to do. I don't want you to have to live through a nightmare relationship like your mother and I did.”

  Mercy's eyes welled with tears as she slowly sank to the floor in front of him. She wiped a few escaped teardrops as she said, “Daddy … it's not your job to protect me from making mistakes. Mistakes are a part of life, and we all have to make our own and learn to live through them. If Noah is a mistake, he's my mistake to make. I love the fact that you want to protect me. But I don't need you to protect me from love. And I know you probably don't want to hear this, but Noah and I have been on a collision course for a long, long time. We share a brief but powerful past. I don't think we could have stopped it if we'd tried.”

  Mike took in a deep breath and shook his head. “Noah Ivory,” he muttered to himself.

  “I don't know what your issues are with Noah, Dad. But I think you should know that keeping you in the dark was all my idea. Noah wanted to be honest with you from the beginning, but I begged him to keep our relationship a secret from everyone. When things got more serious between us, he insisted that we talk to you before we got in any deeper. He kept saying that he didn't like the idea of disrespecting you somehow. I don't know if you're aware of this but … he really thinks a lot of you. We really were coming to talk to you when you barged into his room earlier.”

  Mike said nothing as he listened with a frown. “I guess I need to apologize for attacking him,” he said softly.

  “That probably wouldn't be a bad idea,” Mercy commented.

  “I suppose that wasn't very smart of me,” Mike mumbled. “I may have just done irreparable damage to my relationship with Jagged Ivory.” He frowned once more as he thought about it. What the hell had he been thinking? Holland Management could lose one of its biggest clients over this. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath and ran a hand though his hair. How the hell was he going to fix this?

  “You should probably talk to him sooner rather than later,” Mercy offered, and Mike nodded his head.

  He fixed her with a rueful smile then. “I guess I need to apologize to you too. For treating you like a little girl. I know you hate that. But it's hard for me sometimes.”