"Jake."
Something in his tone suggested a distinct lack of brotherly love. I recalled what Jax had told me earlier, that the story was embarrassing. But from the look on his face, he wasn't embarrassed. He was ticked off.
I asked, "So, what'd he do?"
"Alright, lemme back up," Jax said. "It's the night of the party, right? And for the last few months, Jake's been threatening to come pick up this car."
"Wait, what do you mean by threatening?"
"I'm just saying, we didn't invite him."
"Oh." I still wasn't quite sure what that meant. "What car do you mean?"
"The way he sees it? His car."
"But it's not?"
Jax made a waffling gesture with his hand. "Depends on who you talk to."
"So what's your version?" I smiled. "From the beginning, okay?"
"Alright. A few years ago, Jaden and I borrow this car—"
"Wait. How many years ago?"
Jax gave it some thought. "I dunno…fifteen I guess."
I shook my head. That was a lot of years, too many, in fact. "But that can't be right."
"Why not?"
"Well, because you're twenty-nine years old."
"Yeah, so?"
"So, that means you'd be fourteen at the time." I did the math. "And Jaden would be what, twelve?"
"Close. He'd just turned thirteen." Jax got this faraway look as he added, "I remember, because we did this birthday cake thing in the car. It was just a vending machine snack, but…" He paused. "Eh, that's not important."
It was to me.
I wasn't a huge fan of Jaden, but the image struck me as just a little bit sad. "But you weren't alone, right?"
"No."
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Jax grinned. "There was Jaden, too. Remember?"
"Oh, come on," I protested. "You know what I meant."
He was still grinning. "Did I?"
Now, I couldn’t help but smile back. "I know you did."
He shrugged. "Yeah, well…"
"So?" I prompted. "Fifteen years ago, you and Jaden 'borrow' this car and…?"
"And Jake's been wanting it back."
I gave a snort of laughter. "After fifteen years? I'm sure he does. So, why didn't he just get it already?"
"Because," Jax said, "we wouldn’t give it up."
"For fifteen whole years?'
"Hey, we paid him."
"How much?" I asked.
"Five-hundred bucks."
My mouth fell open. "That's all?"
"Why not? That's what he paid."
Even fifteen years ago, five hundred dollars would've been incredibly cheap for a car. I murmured, "He must've gotten some deal."
"Nah. The car's a hunk of junk."
"So why didn't you give it back?"
"Because we didn't want to."
Well, that was informative. "Why not?" I asked.
"Because we paid him. It's ours."
Obviously, there was a lot more to this story. "But you have like a dozen cars already. And so does Jaden."
"Hey, it's not a dozen."
I gave him a look. "It is between the two of you." I hadn't seen all of the cars, but thanks to Allie, I knew they stored most of them in a warehouse near their corporate headquarters. "So, why'd you want to keep this one?"
Jax turned to gaze out over the horizon. "Because he's a dick, just like I said."
That hardly seemed like a good reason. Plus, I couldn’t quite understand why any of them wanted the car if it was so terrible. Searching for some clue, I said, "Is he short of money or something? I mean, if the car's that awful, he must've been pretty desperate to want it back."
"He's not desperate," Jax said. "It's just a power-play, something to piss us off. He's good at that."
"So that's why you got in a fight?"
Jax shook his head. "I didn't fight him."
"So, who did? Jaden?"
Jax turned again to face me, and his gaze warmed. "Before it all happened, we're at this party. And I'm dancing with this incredible girl…"
I felt a silly smile spread across my face. "Really?"
"Really. And one of my security guys comes up to tell me that my dick of a brother has picked that night to show up and try to lift the car."
"Lift?"
"Steal, whatever."
"Do you think he picked that night on purpose? Like he knew you were tied up?"
"Knowing him? Probably. So Jaden and I take off, thinking we're gonna be gone maybe an hour, just long enough to tell our brother to fuck off, but by the time we get there, Jake's gotten to the security guy."
That sounded bad. Bracing myself, I asked, "You mean, like he hurt him?"
"No." Jax gave a humorless laugh. "He's driven the guy nuts."
Huh? "Sorry, I'm not following."
"You'd have to know Jake," he said. "The way it looked, he'd been pushing the guy's buttons, messing with him, getting under his skin. He used to have this saying, that he could make a priest hit him."
"Could he?"
"Hell yeah."
"So…?" I prompted. "What happened?"
"He bit him."
I sucked in a breath. "Seriously? Jake bit your security guy?"
"No. The guy bit Jake."
I paused for a long moment. "You're kidding."
"I wish. But anyway, we show up, and Cooper – that's the security guy – is latched onto Jake like a mongoose on a snake. And there's blood all over the place, and Cooper looks like he'd be foaming at the mouth, except he's not gonna let go."
"And what's Jake doing?"
"The fucker's laughing."
I shook my head. "No."
Jax nodded. "Yeah. He is. And this guy who works for him, he's filming it, like the whole thing's one big joke."
"So, what did you do?"
"So I get the fire extinguisher, and I turn it on Cooper."
"The security guy? And what does he do?"
"Well, at first he's mostly gagging. But then, he finally lets go."
"Uh, well, that's good."
"But now, Jaden's pissed. He and Cooper, they hang out sometimes–"
"But wait," I said. "Shouldn't Jaden be mad at Cooper? I mean, he's the one who did the biting."
"Trust me," Jax said. "You'd wanna bite Jake too if he started messing with you."
I forced a laugh. "Sorry, I don't think I'd ever be that hungry."
"That's what you think," he said. "But anyway, Jaden's so pissed that he grabs a gas can, and get this. He douses the car."
I stifled a gasp. "You don't mean Jake's car?"
"No. I mean our car. We paid for it, remember?"
I didn't want to quibble. "So, what'd Jaden do then?"
"What do you think? He torches it."
"In the warehouse? Isn't that dangerous?"
"Hell yeah, it's dangerous. He almost took out the Bentley and a few other cars, too. They were parked in the same section, with full tanks of gas."
I shuddered to think. "And what about the warehouse?"
"It's got a sprinkler system – a good thing, too, since I'd blown the extinguisher on Cooper. Anyway, the water comes pouring down, dousing all of us, and the car, too."
"You mean the five-hundred dollar one?"
"That's the one."
"So what happened then?"
"So, we've got this mess to clean up, and Jake, I drag his ass to the doctor for stitches."
I almost didn't know what to say. I mumbled, "Well, that was nice of you."
"It wasn't 'nice,'" Jax said. "Mostly, I didn’t want his wife to give me grief."
That made me pause. "He's married? Seriously?"
"Hard to believe, huh?"
"Uh, yeah. His wife – do you know her well?"
"No."
"So when's the last time you saw her?"
"A few weeks ago, when she stopped by the house."
"With Jake?"
"No. With the other wives."
; "You mean your brothers' wives?"
Jax nodded. "They've got this crazy idea that we should all make up, be a regular family." He gave a low scoff. "Like that's gonna happen."
I gave a nervous laugh. "Well, it definitely won't happen if you go around biting each other."
"Hey, we weren't the ones who did the biting, remember?"
I gave him a look. "What about torching each other's cars?"
He paused. "Well, there is that."
I was still trying to process everything I'd just heard. "So that's why you were so late getting back? To the party, I mean?"
"That's the reason."
"Have you guys talked since?"
"Who? Me and Jake?" He shook his head. "No."
"Why not?"
"You've gotta ask?"
"Well, you have to make up sometime, right?"
A ghost of a smile crossed his features. "It's nice that you think so."
"But don't you?"
"No."
"But—"
"What I think is that you need dinner."
It was an obvious change of topic, and I was tempted to argue. But I'd already pried enough for one day, and besides, we had the rest of the evening to revisit the subject.
But as it turned out, talking wasn't the primary thing on either of our minds, and I couldn’t say I regretted it – not even the next day when I returned home half-asleep, only to learn that I'd had an unwanted visitor of my own.
Chapter 64
When I walked in through the apartment door, Allie gave me a sly smile. "Well, someone had a good time."
She was right. I did. With Jaden out of town, Jax and I had the whole place to ourselves, and I'd enjoyed every inch of it.
I stifled a giggle. I'd enjoyed every inch of him, too – multiple times.
Allie laughed. "You're blushing."
Probably, I was, but it wasn't due to embarrassment. It was the heat of the memories combined with simple happiness. I felt like I was living in a dream – a dream that I never wanted to wake from.
It was late Sunday afternoon, and tomorrow, I'd be seeing Jax again. Already, I could hardly wait.
But tonight, I had to work.
As I got ready, I told Allie all about my time with Jax. Leaving nearly nothing to her imagination, I even told her the story of what had happened between Jake and the bitey security guy.
When I mentioned the part about Jaden torching the car, she said, "God, he's such a tool."
I wasn't going to argue. Poor Allie. To think, she actually worked for the guy. I swear, there were times I wondered whether I'd done her a favor at all by pushing her into that job.
I was just debating asking her when she said, "Hey, guess who stopped by last night."
From the look on her face, I didn't need to guess. "Don't tell me." I cringed. "It was my mom, wasn't it?"
"Nope."
"Really?" I couldn’t imagine who else it could be. "So who was it?"
"Tabitha."
"You're kidding."
I'd known Tabitha my whole life. During all those years, she'd never stopped by to simply say hello, at least not to me. I asked, "What did she want?"
"Oh, you're gonna love this," Allie said. "She came by to gripe that she didn't get a hotel room."
I gave a confused shake of my head. "What?"
"Yeah," Allie said. "She heard about the thing with your mom, and she's all ticked off, wondering why no one put her up in a fancy hotel."
I was staring now. "Please tell me you're joking."
"Hardly," Allie said. "The way it sounds, your mom's been rubbing it in pretty good."
"What do you mean?"
"Apparently, your mom's been ordering steak and lobster from room service. And then, she's been calling Tabitha to tell her all about it."
As I listened, Allie launched into an overblown imitation of my mom. "Guess where I am. Guess what I'm eating. Ooopsie, room service is here. Gotta run."
Funny, I could practically hear it. But this wasn't good. "So who's paying for all of this?"
"Not her, that's for sure."
At this, I literally groaned. This could only mean that Jax was paying for it. Did he know? He had to know, right?
Now, I was embarrassed. It was bad enough that he was paying for the hotel. Now, he was paying for room service, too?
Allie was saying, "And it gets better."
Almost afraid to ask, I said, "By better, do you mean better-better? Or worse better?"
"Worse better."
Damn it. "I knew it."
"Apparently," Allie said, "she's been getting loads of spa treatments, too."
Spa treatments? That sounded expensive. With renewed dread, I asked, "Like what?"
"Facials, massages, pedicures, you name it, she's getting it."
I'd never had a pedicure in my whole life. Come to think of it, I'd never had a facial either. And as far as massages, I'd never had a professional one, that's for sure.
I bit my lip. If Jax didn't know about this already, he'd surely be finding out soon. Would it be better if I called to warn him?
Probably.
And yet, I dreaded the thought.
What on Earth would he think?
Nothing good.
I sighed. "So that's why she stopped by? To complain about my mom?"
"And to gripe about her injury."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, after she got done complaining about her 'missing' hotel room, she launched into this big boo-hoo story about her arm." Allie laughed. "Get this. It's still in a sling."
Okay, I wasn't terribly fond of Tabitha – and that was putting it mildly – but it did seem a bit cruel to laugh about it. I asked, "Am I missing some sort of joke here?"
"Oh yeah," Allie said. "She's a big ol' faker."
"Well…" I hesitated. "I guess I wouldn't put it past her."
"You don’t have to guess," she said. "I'm telling you, she's totally faking."
"How do you know?"
"Because, she's standing in the doorway, blathering on about how awful she's got it, and what a rotten niece you are—"
"I'm not really her niece."
"Yeah. I know. But she's milking that cow for all it's worth."
Well, that was an image I didn't need.
Allie was still talking. “According to her, you're totally breaking her heart."
Sure I was. I muttered, "As if she had one."
"No kidding," Allie said. "But anyway, I go to slam the door in her face—"
"Seriously?"
"Well, yeah," Allie said. "I mean, there's only so much Tabitha I can take."
I knew the feeling. Still, I had to say, "Yeah, but didn't you feel at least a little bad about her arm?"
"Hell no. Because like I said, she's totally faking."
"Yeah, but—"
Allie held up a hand. "Just lemme finish, okay? So I go to slam the door, and quick as anything, she grabs it..."Allie grinned. "…with the arm that's supposedly hurt."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. She's wearing the sling remember?"
I did remember, but the whole thing still bothered me. "Yeah, I know." I grimaced. "But I still wish that security guy hadn't done that."
Allie gave a decisive shake of her head. "It wasn't a guy."
"It wasn't?"
"No. It was a woman. You didn't know?"
"Actually, I didn't ask." Probably, I should've, but it was a subject I'd been studiously avoiding.
"And besides," Allie said, "even if the arm was hurt, it was Tabitha's own fault.'
"Why? For not leaving?"
"No." Allie paused. "Well, yes. That too. But what I mean is that she fell on her arm when she took a flying leap for Rosie."
I shook my head. "Rosie?"
"Yeah. The so-called goon." Allie gave a distracted flutter of her hands. "But you didn't let me finish. So last night, I tell Tabitha that she's a giant faker, and she flips out."
I frowned
. "What'd she do?"
"Well, first, she rips off the sling and throws it on the floor, and then…" Allie gave a dramatic pause. "She yells, 'Where's my fucking lobster!'"
I stared at Allie for a long moment. I wanted to snicker. "Okay, now I know you're joking."
"Alright, fine," Allie muttered. "She didn't say the lobster thing, but she was pretty mad. And she did rip off the sling."
Now, that I could see.
I gave Allie a sympathetic look. "I'm really sorry you got stuck dealing with her."
"Don't be. I'm not."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. You would've been way too nice."
"Hey, I wasn't too nice at the party. You remember, right?" Allie hadn't been there, but I had told her all about it.
"Yeah, but knowing you, you were still nicer than she deserved."
I wasn’t sure I agreed, but that wasn't terribly important in the big scheme of things. I asked, "Anything else?"
"Oh yeah. She said you'd better call her." Allie rolled her eyes. "Or else."
"Or else what?"
"Who knows, who cares? If it were me, I wouldn’t call her at all."
That sounded like a perfect plan to me. After everything she'd done, Tabitha didn't deserve a call back.
See? I wasn't nearly as nice as Allie thought.
Besides, I had a different call to make. That call was to Jax, who definitely deserved a warning about my mom's hotel charges.
But as it turned out, he already knew.
Into the phone, I said, "Really? When did you find out?"
"Tuesday."
"And you never said anything? Why?"
"Because it's not a big deal."
"It is to me," I said. "I mean, don't you feel cheated?"
"Hell no."
"But—"
"Hey, today's the last day, so forget it."
It took me a moment to realize what he meant. A whole week had passed since that ugly scene with my mom. This meant that her stay was officially over.
I asked, "But what if she doesn't leave?"
"Then I'll deal with it. So don't worry, alright?"
I promised to try, but I wasn't sure that I'd be able to.
Sure enough, worry haunted me for the rest of the evening.
And it might have haunted me a lot longer, if it weren't for something crazy that Jax did later that same night.
Chapter 65
I was gripping the sheet with clenched fingers. "Oh, God, don't stop."
"I wasn't planning on it," he said, driving into me hard and fast. Both of us were naked in the penthouse suite of The Plaza – the very same hotel where my mom had been staying until earlier today.
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