Fabricating Jada

  As a twenty-three-year-old woman with no kids, I had zero idea what she was talking about. So I just did the old smile and nod.

  Toya gestured to my arm. "What about you? Are you okay?"

  I shrugged noncommittally. "Uh, not really. I think it's infected."

  Her face softened with sympathy. "Oh, honey. You definitely need to get that looked at. It's not worth putting it off and having something bad happen because of an infection. The worst they can do is bill us. It's not like they can come take your arm back once it's been treated or keep my daughter from being born. They can't refuse to treat for the inability to pay. Do like I do, pay as little or as much as you're able to when the bills roll in and they won't come after you."

  Our eyes met and an understanding passed between us. I had no idea how she knew the kind of boat I was in. But she did. There'd been a connection between us and her beautiful boy since the moment we'd met. It gave me a bit of hope for the world.

  "Do you have your phone?" she asked.

  I nodded and passed it to her with the screen unlocked. She typed something out, and a moment later her phone rang, and then she handed it back to me. "I just put my number in your phone. Call me any time you need to talk, okay?"

  Tears welled in my eyes at her kindness. The kindness of a stranger and now a new friend.

  "Jada Carmen?" a nurse called from the doors that led back to the ER.

  I waved to the nurse to acknowledge I'd heard her before turning back to Toya and Quinten. Jesse stood, towering over the three of us. His size was hard to hide, and he was even bigger in person than he seemed on TV and in magazines.

  "You're huge," Quinten breathed.

  Jesse chuckled. "Eat all of your vegetables, even the ones you don't like and drink milk. You'll get big like me one day too."

  He shot me a wink and smiled. I pulled Toya into a hug and gave one to Quinten, too.

  "Mrs. James, may I borrow your phone for a moment?" Jesse asked.

  My brows furrowed as I tried to figure out what he was up to.

  "Sure." She passed it over with a smile on her face.

  He lifted Quinten up and took a selfie of them together on her phone.

  When he set him down, he handed back the phone. "Thank you, sir."

  He knelt down in front of his newfound friend and rested his massive paw on Quinten's shoulder. "Be a good boy and help your mama with anything she needs, okay?"

  Nodding with excitement, Quinten couldn't stand still.

  "Remember what I told you. Work hard and one day you'll be building cars too."

  The nurse called my name again, "Jada Carmen?" She sounded agitated. Not that I blamed her.

  "I've got to go. I'm sure I'll see you on the bus. We'll talk." I waved goodbye and headed toward the nurse.

  As I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Toya pull Jesse in for a hug. His smile was easy and genuine before he waved goodbye and met me at the door.

  The nurse was bristling with annoyance … that was until she saw the wall of a man walk up beside me.

  Her eyes darted back and forth between us. "Are you … uh together?"

  "Yep. Lead the way," Jesse rasped, not giving me any room to interject.

  I wasn't sure if she'd recognized who he was. Who we were, after the shenanigans of the day, or if she was simply awestruck by his beautifully masculine face and sheer size.

  Either way, I didn't like the way she was gawking at him.

  I felt territorial even though I had no right to.

  The doctor yelled at me. Like, a lot. She basically told me I'd put myself at risk of losing my arm. Now if that was true or not—who knew? But if it was only a scare tactic, it worked.

  Between the two nurses, who turned out to be as cool as could be and seemingly oblivious to the tabloids of the day, as well as the doctor … they had the infection cleaned from my arm.

  I was given oral antibiotics and a numbing spray to help with the pain after I declined pain meds. And after Jesse explained what was in his burn salve, she gave me permission to keep using it.

  As we left the hospital, Jesse wore an unusual smile.

  "What's that look for?" I really wanted to know. I'd never seen him look quite so thoughtful.

  He shook his head with what looked like disbelief across his face. "So he's the kid you got the stuff from Dee for?"

  I nodded back at him without speaking.

  His expression was contemplative. "I've never met anyone like him before. And I've met a lot of fans. He didn't want anything from me. Just to talk about cars. It's unbelievable."

  I cut my gaze to his. "Not everyone wants something from you, Jesse."

  He dipped his chin in a nod. "I can see that. Do you know what he said when I asked him if he wanted a picture with me?"

  My lips pulled into a grin. I could only imagine. "No, what?"

  Jesse's eyes cut from the road to mine for a beat. "He said, 'No thank you sir. Meeting you has been enough of an honor.' What kind of kid, especially at his age, says that?"

  "He's definitely the most respectful kid I've ever met," I said with a fond smile, thinking of my new little buddy.

  "And you just met them on the bus one day?" That seemed to surprise him.

  "Yeah. I offered Toya my seat and we just kind of clicked, I guess." I lifted my shoulders in a shrug, not really able to understand it either.

  "I'd like to do something for him sometime. Maybe bring him to the shop and give him a project. What do you think?"

  My grin grew into a full blown, ear to ear, teeth showing like a horse, kind of smile. "I think that would be very generous of you."

  His palm slid onto my thigh, and he gave it a squeeze. "You were the generous one. When Dee told me about the swag, I wasn't sure what to think—but I can see that you asked for a genuine reason. What you did was selfless. Hell, everything you do is selfless."

  The turn of the conversation was making me uncomfortable, so I focused on the part of it that I could turn around. "Is there anything your sister doesn't tell you?"

  Jesse chuckled. "Nope. She told me you think Miguel's good-looking too. Makes sense why you two flirt all the time."

  I groaned. This topic of conversation wasn't any better.

  Stupid DeAnna and her big fat mouth.

  "He is, but I do not flirt with him."

  Jesse scoffed at me. Freaking scoffed. "Oh, bullshit. You two make my stomach roll the way you flirt and giggle all the time."

  I rolled my eyes. "Jealous much?"

  His mouth pulled into a hard line.

  Well, that went from zero to sixty to a dead stop in less time than it takes to drag race a quarter mile.

  "I'm not jealous of Nunez," he ground out through his teeth.

  Oh he was. So freaking jealous.

  Not that he had anything to be jealous of.

  "You can stop at a cheap motel anywhere along the way. I'll get a room and figure out the rest later."

  He glared at me as if I had sprouted a second head.

  "Don't look at me like that," I snapped.

  "You're not going to a bedbug-infested motel, Jane. You're coming home with me."

  I crossed my arms over my chest in a huff. "The last time I checked, you weren't in charge of me."

  He snorted. "As your new boss, I kind of am."

  He totally had me there. Jerk.

  "I'm not moving in with you, Valentine. It would be too weird."

  Obviously agitated at me and traffic, he grunted. "It's not like you moving in is going to be for my benefit, despite what you may think about the media. This is for you."

  "For me?" I scoffed.

  "Well, we both know by your stubborn ass being there you're going to annoy the shit out of me. I wouldn't exactly call that a benefit for me."

  My jaw worked back and forth in my own annoyance. "Then drop me anywhere along the highway and I will figure it out, if I'm going to cramp your style so much."

  "That is exactly what I'm talking about. The smalle
st things piss you off. Can you imagine what will happen if I leave toothpaste in the sink, or a dirty pair of underwear on the floor? All hell would probably break loose."

  I sneered at him. Even though both of those cases were completely plausible when it came to Carter, who did drive me nuts … I couldn't see Jesse doing them. He was too meticulous about how he kept his things. "You're just proving my point on why this is a bad idea."

  At the next red light he turned his head to really look at me. "You have nowhere else to go. It's not like you have much of a choice."

  That reality smacked me hard. He was right. I had nowhere else to go.

  The argument was settled as he pulled into Drew's garage and parked.

  A few things struck me as odd. The first, was how at ease he seemed pulling into someone else's space. The second was when he walked into the house through the garage without knocking.

  The final thing that took me by surprise was when he called out, "Mom, are you home?"

  "I'm in here, Jess," a melodic voice called from an adjacent room. The layout was similar to Jesse's but the style in which it was decorated was less clean lines and more homey. Warm cream tones and dark brown hues blended together on the walls seamlessly, while pops of blue and yellow lightened the space.

  We passed through the miniature version of a chef's kitchen, with its high stainless steel range and matching appliances, into the adjacent space set up as an eat-in kitchen. A woman sat at the table with her glasses propped on her nose, reading an iPad.

  Her almond shaped eyes darted to mine. Simply beautiful. She flashed me an encouraging smile, with laugh lines that creased by her honey-colored eyes. The same color honey as Jesse's. Now I knew where he got them from. "Oh, you're even more beautiful in person!" she said and stood from her chair.

  I was pulled into a hug before I knew what was happening. It was funny to think of Jesse's mom as a hugger, when he was usually so cold. Well, if you didn't count the few moments he showed he wasn't a jerk all the time.

  She towered over me and her curves swallowed my slight frame. I now knew where DeAnna got her playmate shape from. "I am sorry you got dragged into all of this, sweetie. How did it go with your parents? Did you get your arm looked at?"

  My mouth parted in shock that she knew all about me and where we'd gone, but as soon as she mentioned my parents, my face fell as my eyes filled with moisture.

  Unable to speak without the tears breaking free, I shook my head and lifted my shoulders in a dismissive shrug.

  Mrs. Valentine backhanded Jesse across the chest. "This is your fault, you big oaf."

  Jesse's frown deepened. "My fault? More like your precious daughter's fault. And I took her to the hospital, so don't blame that one on me either."

  Giving her head a slow shake from side to side, Mrs. V pulled me back in for a hug.

  One I was desperate for. I needed a mother's hug more than I realized.

  "I know, she told me you did and what she did. If it makes you feel better, I smacked her too."

  He dipped his chin in a nod. "It does."

  An amused chuckle rattled though her, into me. "Get over here and give your mother a kiss."

  Jesse grunted as he always did and crossed to press his lips to her cheek.

  At least I wasn't the only person he grunted at. It made me feel a bit better.

  "Why don't you come sit down, Jada? Jesse can take your things over to the house." She gestured to a chair at the table.

  Glancing up at her, I was befuddled. "How do you know I have stuff?"

  A knowing look passed in her gaze. "Because I'm a mom and I know everything."

  I snorted. Well, it was more of a snort, sniffle, choke kind of sound that probably sounded like I was dying when in reality, I was trying not to shoot snot everywhere.

  Classy, I know.

  Mrs. Valentine lifted a delicate dirty blonde brow at Jesse. "Get. Go set up your spare room for her. Make yourself useful while I sort out the mess you two created."

  Hearing the way she talked to him made my chest expand with happiness.

  "I swear, I move out, create an empire and you still boss me around like I'm ten," he muttered and stalked out the door.

  I laughed out loud. I couldn't help it. I'd never seen anyone shut him down like that before without consequence. It was the best thing ever.

  "Funny seeing a big guy like him still surrender to his mama, isn't it?"

  I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. Stray tears rolled down my cheek from laughing so hard.

  Wiping them away with the back of my hand, I sat down at her table.

  "I can't imagine what you must be feeling. From what I've seen, it looks like you've been fed to the wolves. I know you don't know me, but I am here for you, okay?"

  "Thanks, Mrs. Valentine. I appreciate it. Especially after the way everything imploded with my parents."

  "Call me Debbie," she said as she moved from the table to the kitchen, filling a pot of water. "Are you a coffee drinker?"

  I nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

  While the pot was brewing, she sat back down. "Why don't you tell me about what happened with your parents? It might help you gain some prospective."

  So I did. I launched into the downfall of my relationship with my parents, the horrible, awful things I'd said to them both. I was too embarrassed to meet her eyes when I was finished.

  The hiss of the coffee pot finishing its brew filled the silence.

  "So I'm guessing from the sound of things, that's the first time you've ever stood up to your dad?"

  Nodding, I wiped away my stray tears. "Yeah. I never realized how angry I was with him before he attacked Jesse. And then when he attacked me for doing this for myself, I kind of lost it. I feel awful."

  She made her way back over to the kitchen and poured two cups, setting one in front of me. "Black right?"

  My eyes shot to hers. "How could you possibly know that?"

  A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "DeAnna."

  I rolled my eyes, not surprised. "Is there anything she doesn't tell people?"

  Debbie sat down across from me and shook her head. "Not really. We figured out a long time ago that if we shared everything, there was less room for misunderstandings."

  I couldn't help but scoff. That was a foreign concept to me. "In my family it's better to hold how you feel inside, because they just make you feel guilty for wanting your own life."

  She took a sip of her coffee, which she also drank black and hummed in satisfaction. "I think therein lies the problem. You're how old?"

  "Twenty-three."

  "So you've been helping to financially support your parents for most of your life?"

  I nodded as my lips thinned with irritation. Seven years. That was a long time for someone my age to carry a burden that wasn't mine, and I'd been too blind and obedient to see it before now.

  "For what it's worth, and I know it's probably not much—I think this blow-up was bound to happen sooner or later, whether this PR nightmare happened or not. This catastrophe just pushed it along sooner than it may have happened organically.

  "It sounds like your mom has been doing everything she can to get by and she relied on you more of as a partner than as her child. I get that. I was that desperate for money too, but here's the thing—your dad is taking advantage of your kindness and loyalty to your family. It doesn't seem that he's grateful for the sacrifices you make for him, but he expects them from you as your daughterly duty. And that's not right."

  A heaviness centered in my chest. Everything she said rang true. "I guess I'd just accepted I'd never have much in life, even though I had big dreams."

  Her hand covered mine, and she had a look of understanding on her face. "I'm sorry this happened to you, but I am proud of you for standing up for yourself. It takes a lot of guts."

  With my eyes glued to the weathered wood of the table, I gave her a halfhearted shrug. "I feel lousy about it, though. It felt like a goodbye."

/>   "Sweetheart, they'll come around. Give them some time to digest everything and then call your mom. I think she means well. And cut her, DeAnna, and Jesse some slack about returning the check. They only wanted to do something nice for you. Maybe they just went about it the wrong way by not telling you."

  Even that made me feel like a huge jerk. "I know. I'm grateful, I really am. I've just been a charity case my entire life so they were right in how I would have reacted had they told me. I know why they did it and I was too much of a jerk to just say thank you."

  The honey of Debbie's eyes captured mine. A slow easy smile crept up her face. There was no judgment in the way she looked at me. Being around her calmed me down. It was the complete opposite of how I felt when I was around Jesse.

  "Cut yourself some slack, sweetie. You were overwhelmed and lashed out. We've all done it. And it's never too late to say thank you."

  I dipped my chin in a nod, understanding she was right. "Thanks, for being too kind to me. I appreciate it more than you know. Jesse gives me whiplash."

  She laughed. A hearty, deep belly kind of laugh. "Oh, I saw the kind of whiplash you give each other on that video they posted. You two have the kind of chemistry that can only be found in movies."

  I scoffed. "I wouldn't consider our nonstop fighting to be chemistry. More like we annoy the crap out of each other."

  Lifting that brow like she was calling my bluff, she turned her iPad to face me, revealing the picture DeAnna had sent me earlier. "That doesn't look like all you do is fight."

  Heat flushed my cheeks. The picture captured the intimate moment we shared in a way I didn't know a photograph was capable of capturing emotion. "That … was uh …" I had nothing.

  She had me, and I had no way to talk myself out of it.

  "Beautiful," she finished.

  I nodded wordlessly. It was beautiful. In a way, I was happy it had been captured. I just wish the rest of the world hadn't seen me at my most vulnerable moment.

  Jesse cleared his throat from the back door. "Your stuff is all set up in my guest room."