The McKays Box Set - To Kill For, Blood Sport, Hard Time & Gang Land

by A. J. Carella

  “Are you okay?”

  He didn’t trust himself to answer, so he just shook his head and concentrated on his breathing.

  “Come back in. Please.”

  “It’s just like my birthday, isn’t it?” he said, when he found his voice at last. “The bastard’s done it yet again.”

  When he’d been fifteen, all he’d wanted for his sixteenth birthday had been a car. He dreamed about it, about the freedom it would give him and how, for once in his life, he would get something that Jamie didn’t already have as she wouldn’t be old enough to drive until six months later.

  There had been a big test coming up at school and his dad had promised him that if he did well, he would get him a car. Used to skipping school and getting bad grades, Jake had put a huge amount of effort in, studying every night and working damned hard. He knew the minute he’d finished the test that he’d done well, and it had been confirmed a couple of weeks later when he’d come home with a B-, thrilled. He’d proudly presented the paper to his father, who had merely nodded and walked away.

  It didn’t matter. Jake knew he’d done well and on the morning of his birthday he’d woken up at the crack of dawn, so excited he couldn’t stay in bed any longer.

  He’d waited all day but the car never materialized. A couple of days later, he’d come home to find a shiny new BMW sitting in the driveway in front of the house. He’d rushed inside, almost bursting with excitement. Finding his father in his office, he’d gone to hug him, to thank him, only to be told that the car was for Jamie. Only six months apart in age, they’d taken the same test. She’d got an A+. It made no difference to his father that he’d made a promise, that Jake had worked so very hard and, for him, had done incredibly well.

  He hadn’t been able to stop himself bursting into tears in front of him, tears that his father had looked upon with disdain before walking away and leaving him to his crushing disappointment.

  He’d had to look at that car every day for the next six months, idle in the driveway, until Jamie had gotten her license. She’d been distraught seeing what their father had done and hadn’t wanted the car, but he had insisted. She’d done what she could, though, and every morning, just after leaving for school, she’d pulled that car over and swapped places with him and for the day, at least, it had been his.

  All those feelings were back now, overwhelming him. Furious, he grabbed his car keys and jacket and stormed out of the front door. His black, convertible Mercedes was parked out front and he jumped in. The door was barely closed before he put his foot to the floor and drove off down the drive, wheels squealing and leaving a dust cloud in the air.

  ***

  Jamie was furious with her dad. Could he really not see what he had done to Jake? How much he had hurt him? If he really wanted to give Ted a job, he could have given him any job. Why the one he’d promised to Jake? She walked back into the dining room just as her dad was asking Ted a question.

  “So, have you set a date yet?”

  Jamie opened her mouth to speak but before she could, Ted answered.

  “Well, Jamie doesn’t know this, but I’ve got a surprise.” He was grinning widely at her as she stood in the doorway.

  “What do you mean?” Returning to her seat, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

  “Well, I knew you’d been as anxious as I am to get married as quickly as possible, so I’ve already booked the church. It’s all set for two months from today!”

  He seemed thrilled with himself as he looked around the table at their parents. They seemed thrilled, too. Her mom was clapping her hands together excitedly and her dad beamed. His parents, though, while looking pleased didn’t look at all surprised.

  “What do you mean you’ve already booked the church?” Jamie said quietly, not quite trusting her voice.

  “Yes! Isn’t it wonderful, darling?” Ted took her hands in his and squeezed.

  She pulled her hands away sharply. “You’re joking, aren’t you?” Her voice was getting louder now. “Please tell me you’re joking!”

  He looked confused now. “I thought you’d be pleased.”

  “You’re just going to have to cancel it.” She glared at him, daring him to argue. What on earth was he thinking?

  “Err…I think we’ll leave you kids to talk.” It was her dad. She was so angry she had almost forgotten that he was there. She waited until the others had left the room before speaking again.

  “How could you do this without even talking to me? And I could have said ‘no’ for all you knew!”

  He smiled indulgently. “Come on, Jamie, we both know you weren’t going to say no.”

  Oh really? “You think you know me that well, do you?” She was getting angrier by the minute. How dare he!

  “I know I love you and that you love me.” Once again he took her hands in his own and looked into her eyes. “And I know that we want to be together forever.” Dammit! He knew exactly what buttons to push.

  Her anger was dissolving now. “But I’ve got so many things I want to do before I get married. I was going to talk to you today. At the very least, I want to go to grad school!”

  He nodded. “I know, darling, and I certainly won’t stop you.”

  “So why can’t we wait? What’s the rush?”

  “I just don’t think I could wait for you unless I knew you were coming back to me.”

  “Are you actually saying that if I don’t marry you before I go to school, if I go, you’ll find someone else?”

  “No, I’m saying that it would be hard to hold onto something that you obviously don’t want as much as I do.”

  There it was, then. Her choice. Get married now or lose him, and she didn’t want to lose him. Quite aside from the fact that her parents would never forgive her, eligible bachelors weren’t exactly beating a path to her door.

  For the second time in as many days, she found herself agreeing to something that she wasn’t sure about but didn’t have the strength to refuse.

  Five

  “We’ve got so much to organize, darling!” Jamie groaned as her mother wafted into her bedroom on a cloud of perfume, waving a pen and pad in the air.

  “We’ve got to organize the wedding planner, the dress, the flowers…oh, God, where do we start?”

  “Mom. It’s 7:30 in the morning. Can I at least get up and have some breakfast first?”

  Her mom seemed to realize only then that her daughter had been sleeping soundly until she’d burst into the room.

  “Yes, darling, of course. I’m sorry. I’m just so excited!”

  Jamie smiled indulgently. “I am too, Mom. I’ll see you downstairs in a bit, okay?” Sighing, she dropped back onto her pillows as her mom left the room. She knew she didn’t want to lose Ted, so she’d made the only decision left to if she wanted to keep him. And, after all, it was what she wanted. Just a bit sooner than she’d planned.

  As soon as she’d agreed to the date, they’d told her parents the good news. It didn’t give them long to get everything organized, so it had sent her mom into a whirlwind of frantic activity. It was only on the promise that she would spend the morning with her today that she’d been allowed to escape to her bedroom for some sleep at nearly midnight last night.

  In her en-suite bathroom, she took a quick shower and threw on some blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Not bothering to blow dry her hair, she pinned it up on top of her head and went downstairs to have breakfast. She would need fortifying. It sounded like her mom had a busy day planned for her.

  She was just coming down the stairs when a dishevelled Jake walked through the front door. Taking one look at him, she knew he’d been out all night. He was still wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing at lunch the day before.

  “You okay?” she asked. She’d been worried about him since he’d stormed out the day before.

  “Yeah, fine,” he mumbled, although it was clear from his face that he was, in fact, far from fine.

  “Look, why don’t you
talk to Dad again?” she replied gently.

  “I shouldn’t have to beg my own father for a job that he’d already promised me, that’s why.” He brushed past her and up the stairs but paused, turning to look at her. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t take it out on you.”

  “Do you want me to talk to him?”

  “Thank you, but no. It’s my problem.”

  Jamie watched as he walked upstairs. Her father was harder on him than he was on her but, unlike Jake, she didn’t think it had anything to do with being adopted. Her dad was old school and firmly believed that the men should be tough and women should be cherished.

  A memory flashed into her mind then of when they were both eight years old. They’d been playing in the yard and Jake had started climbing a tree. He’d been halfway up when he’d slipped and fallen.

  Jamie could still remember the way his arm had looked, with the bone snapped and sticking out through his skin, gleaming white in the sun. She’d run back to the house to get her mom but she’d bumped into her dad first. Hysterical, she told him what had happened and he followed her out to where Jake lay sobbing on the ground, clutching his arm to his chest and screaming in pain.

  It still broke her heart and made her eyes fill up when she thought of what had happened next. Offering him no comfort, her dad had told him that he would take him to the hospital, but only when he stopped crying, that no son of his was going to embarrass him by behaving like a girl.

  He made him sit there, in excruciating pain, for nearly an hour before he took him for help.

  Brushing the memory away, she turned her thoughts back to the day ahead.

  ***

  Freedom! She’d finally managed to escape her mother’s clutches and was now looking forward to spending a nice afternoon with Ted. Since the engagement, they hadn’t spent any time alone together at all, really. She’d spent the last couple of hours with her mom going through endless bridal magazines and looking at pictures of celebrity weddings. Her mom seemed thrilled to have a project to work on and Jamie suspected that her life wasn’t going to be her own again until after the wedding. She would be quite happy with a simple service at the local church, but she wasn’t naïve enough to think that that was an option. She loved her mom to absolute pieces, but when it came to social events, she’d never understood her passion for everything having to be bigger and better. She’d left her on the phone to the wedding planner, happily organizing, and was making her getaway before she changed her mind!

  The last couple of days had been a bit of a blur with her birthday party, the proposal and now being hit with wedding plans all of a sudden. It was nice to be able to clear her head and put it all out of her mind as she drove over to Ted’s place. He’d offered to come and get her, but she loved driving and had relished the idea of a bit of time on her own. She sure couldn’t get any peace at home at the moment.

  Ted had his own place on the edge of town. The town itself was not very big, home to only about twenty-five thousand residents, most of who worked in her father’s manufacturing plant, which underpinned the local economy. Those who didn’t either worked for Ted’s family or commuted to other, larger towns nearby.

  His house wasn’t huge and didn’t need to be, as he lived there on his own, but it was nonetheless impressive. The two-storey house was comfortable, and she pondered the fact that it was where she would soon live, seeing it with new eyes.

  The ground floor was split between the kitchen, living room, entertainment room and bathroom. They all contained the latest electronic gadgets and the entertainment room featured a sunken area in the center of the room filled with couches and a movie screen that took up an entire wall.

  The whole top floor was dedicated to a single bedroom and bath, the highlight of which was the glass panels in the ceiling, allowing the room to be flooded with light.

  Jamie had only seen the bedroom, she’d never stayed there. She firmly believed in no sex before marriage, much to the amusement of all her friends, and was still a virgin. Sure, she’d fooled around some but she’d never gone too far. Ted had been wonderful about it, completely understanding and accepting her beliefs, though she knew that it must be hard for him sometimes.

  Parking outside the house, she switched off the car engine and got out. Letting herself in, she found Ted in the kitchen.

  “Have you eaten?” he asked, turning to her as she walked in.

  She shook her head.

  “Good, I’m just making us a salad.” She watched as he chopped tomatoes and tossed them into a bowl.

  She didn’t know why she was having these nagging doubts about marrying him. He’d never given her any reason to feel this way. In fact, the opposite was true. He treated her wonderfully and really did make her happy. But she couldn’t help but feel that something was missing. A spark maybe.

  On the occasions where they had indulged in some fairly heavy fooling around, she’d never felt disappointed when she’d had to put an end to it. She had nothing to compare it to, but from listening to her girlfriends, she knew that this wasn’t the way it should be.

  Maybe it was just her inexperience. It certainly wasn’t his looks. At six feet tall, he towered over her five foot six frame. He couldn’t be described as well built. Lanky was the word that sprang to mind. His hair was dark brown, almost black, and he wore it slightly long, showing its natural wave. He had the brownest eyes she had ever seen.

  Pushing the negative thoughts aside, she went up to him and slid her arms around his waist, resting her cheek on his back.

  “I do love you, you know, and I can’t wait to be Mrs. Ted Coleman,” she whispered.

  Putting the knife down, he turned and wrapped her in his arms. “And I love you,” he said, resting his chin on top of her head.

  ***

  Ted was quite pleased with himself. Everything was going perfectly, exactly according to plan. He knew full well that Jamie didn’t want to get married so soon, but his father’s business was on the brink of collapse and he couldn’t afford to wait.

  He’d known that getting Jamie to do what he wanted wouldn’t be hard. She was so damn eager to please all the time. All it took was a little bit of pressure, a bit of emotional blackmail and she was like putty in his hands. It helped that her parents were completely on board. He knew there was no way she’d let them down.

  As soon as they’d tied the knot, he would find a way to divert some much needed funds. Being given the job was a bonus he hadn’t counted on and it would make things a lot easier.

  “Is your brother okay? He looked really upset yesterday.”

  She sighed into his chest. “Yeah, he’ll be okay. He’s pissed with dad.”

  “Anything I can do?” He didn’t care in the slightest but it was always good to show concern.

  “That’s why I love you.” She smiled up at him. “You’re so thoughtful.”

  He reached down and kissed her. “Okay, come on and sit down. Let’s eat, and then we can have a nice afternoon, just you and me, curled up on the couch watching a movie. And I promise, no talk of weddings.”

  She laughed softly. “Deal.”

  Six

  His father was due home from work any minute, and Jake was determined to talk to him. They hadn’t spoken since the announcement at lunch yesterday and he needed some answers.

  Jake was sitting in his private office at the back of the house where it was quiet. He hated this room, but it was his father’s favorite one in the house. To him it was far too dark and gloomy, but his father liked the dark wood paneling and bookshelves and the big old oak desk. The desk faced the full length French doors, which opened onto a private patio area.

  Jake didn’t know why he hated it so much but it may well be because, when they were kids, this was the room to which they’d be summoned when they were in trouble. If you were called to Dad’s office, you knew you had a big problem.

  But he wasn’t a kid anymore and it was about time his father gave him some answers. />
  Jake jumped as the door opened. He hadn’t heard him approach.

  “What are you doing in here?” his father asked him, a frown on his face.

  “Waiting for you, Dad. We need to talk.”

  “About your behavior yesterday? I’ll say we do. It was a disgrace, and you embarrassed us in front of our guests.” He closed the door behind him and went to sit behind his desk.

  Jake sighed. “And why do you think that was?”

  “Don’t you dare give me any lip, Jake. If you’ve got something to say, say it.”

  “Okay, I will. You promised me that job months ago. It’s what I’ve been working my ass off for.” He tried to filter the anger out of his voice.

  “It’s my company and I’ll give the job to who I damn well like. You’re far too young for a management job, anyway.”

  “But it’ll be my company someday. Surely that counts for something?”

  “So because you’re my son you should automatically have gotten the job?” he laughed. “Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Damn you, no! But I understood that’s what I was working toward, that’s what we agreed.”

  “Well, you’ll just have to get over it, won’t you?” He smiled. “And stop whining. You’ll take what you’re given and be grateful for it.”

  All the frustration, the anger and the bitterness boiled over then. “Yeah, that’s exactly it, isn’t it? I’m not your real son so I should be grateful for every scrap you hand me? That’s what you’re really saying, isn’t it?” he shouted.

  “Stop being so pathetic. Even if you were my biological son, I would be saying exactly the same thing.”

  “So, you admit you don’t think of me as your son?”

  “Now you’re putting words in my mouth.”

  “Come on, admit it. You’ve never thought of me in the same way as Jamie, have you? You’ve always thought of me as an outsider.”