Kicking and Screaming

by Silver, Jordan

  Now I just needed to find out if her brother had been invited as well and if not, extend the invite. Looks like today was a day for exposing people’s dark dealings.

  I went down to the music room where there was supposed to be a lesson going on, instead it was like a Shakespearean tale. They were plotting who knows what.

  The looks of guilt on both their faces were comical. “Hey, did I miss the lesson? That’s too bad I was looking forward to hearing it. Mom you must be tired, why don’t we get out of your hair?”

  I made sure old battle axe was okay before taking her new partner in crime with me. Maybe I can find a way to work off some of that steam she had going under the surface.

  I pulled her into the closest room, which turned out not to be a room after all but a coat closet with barely enough room for both of us to stand.

  “Jackson what...”

  “Shh.” I lifted her shirt over her head and latched onto a nipple while pushing her bottoms down her legs. Thankfully she had changed since our ride and now wore a tank and shorts.

  I released her from just one leg of her shorts and lifted her up so that her legs went around me. Fighting with my belt and zipper, I finally freed my cock, which seemed to be permanently hard around her, and pulled her onto me.

  Each time I came into her felt better than the last. I swallowed the wild sounds she made as I surged up into her.

  Because there wasn’t much room to move around, we were much closer, my cock felt deeper inside her and instead of wild pounding thrusts, I had to fuck her with deep grinding strokes.

  We were both cumming within ten minutes, each catching the other’s scream and growl in the other’s mouth.

  “If you do anything to put yourself in danger, I will tan your ass.” I let her down and fixed myself while she looked at me as if trying to decipher what I was talking about.

  I didn’t give her a chance to question me. “Go clean up, it’s almost time for lunch and your family should be back soon.”

  With a long lingering kiss I let her out of the closet and headed back to my office to make a call. Thomas was due here any second, but if mom was issuing invitations to dinner I might as well kill two birds with one stone.

  ***

  Chapter 33

  JACKSON

  Dinner was fast approaching, and Maxie was getting antsy. She and my mother passed nervous glances back and forth, as I guess the appointed time for Sophia to arrive drew near.

  “Why are you so jumpy? If I didn’t know better I would swear you were up to something.”

  “Nope not up to anything.” She took a sip of her sparkling water and looked anywhere but at me. Little liar.

  “I’m going to the bathroom, I think I forgot to wash up before dinner, be right back.”

  I let her slip away and gave her five seconds before following her. I really wasn’t sure what it was that she had planned, an ambush, or what?

  I pretty much figured out that my little scrapper was planning a showdown of some sort; I just don’t know how she had planned to keep me in the dark.

  I kept to the shadows as the little sneak bypassed the bathroom and headed for the French doors leading to the patio at the front of the house.

  She kept checking her watch and fidgeting from foot to foot. I saw the headlights coming down the driveway and leaned back to watch her reaction.

  “What the fuck?” That was her quiet expletive when Thomas got out of the car and walked around to help his sister out of the passenger side.

  I stepped out of the shadows and stood next to her. “Just needed some fresh air?”

  “Dammit, what did you do?”

  “The question is what were you planning to do? I thought I told you to stay out of trouble, baby?”

  “I wasn’t getting into any trouble. You sucked all the fun out of me pounding the duo of dumbville. Now you have to stick your fat nose in this too.”

  “We’ll discuss it later.” The two Ambrose siblings came towards us, one looking rather expectant, and the other not quite so sure.

  Thomas came forward with his hand outstretched and I took it. “Very nice of you to invite us to dinner, it’s been a while.”

  “Welcome.” It had been a while since I’d seen the younger man. I knew that since the death of his father he’s been struggling to keep the family business alive.

  I remember a very straightforward sort, who mostly kept to himself, but I’d never heard a bad word spoken to or about him.

  Was it really fair of me to humiliate him for his sister’s doings? I’ve always been a fair man or tried to be, but I couldn’t let her get away with what she’d done. Still I couldn’t make him pay for her misdeeds. I had a quick change of plans.

  Dinner wasn’t for another fifteen minutes or so; time enough for me to do what I needed. I introduced him to my fiancé and accepted his congratulations.

  Sophia was pouting and glaring at Maxie, who was doing some glaring of her own, until I took her hand in mine.

  “Why don’t you follow me into the study Thomas, some things we need to discuss before dinner. Sophia, you should come too.”

  “Oh I hope you don’t mind, but I invited my friend along. Your mother didn’t say that I couldn’t so...”

  She wasn’t looking so unsure of herself anymore as she turned to the car and beckoned.

  It was only then that I noticed the passenger in the backseat and wondered what game she was playing at now.

  This whole thing started because of the lies she told in an apparent bid to win me for herself.

  Was it her hope that I would forget the whole sordid incident if she brought along a date? Not very likely!

  “This is Roger Soames, Roger, Jackson Collins and Maxie Dove.” I didn’t like the way the skinny little twerp stared at my girl, but I guess I couldn’t fault him for being taken by her beauty.

  “Hello Roger, I need to have a word with these two in private, why don’t I leave you with the others in the drawing room for now?”

  I led the three of them back to where the others were gathered for pre-dinner cocktails. The atmosphere seemed lighter than it had been and I was glad of that for Mike’s sake.

  With everything else that was going on around here in the last day or so, I had forgotten that his big day was fast approaching.

  I knew he would be the last to mind, especially since I was doing it to protect my girl, but still.

  I guess I had relaxed too soon, because no sooner had we entered the room than there was a scream of what are you doing here?

  Miranda seemed to get ahold of herself after the outburst, but it was too late, all eyes were already on her.

  I wasn’t sure if I should stay around for this latest drama or carry on with what I’d been about to do.

  Since I didn’t know exactly whom she’d been addressing, I decided she’d been talking to Sophia and in an odd twist, was defending her sister.

  I took Sophia and Thomas from the room, with Maxie on my arm, leaving their guest behind. As we left the room I noticed that he was still staring, kind of star struck I guess.

  As the door closed behind us in the study I got right to it. “Two years ago your sister was on tour in Europe, she had to leave suddenly, why?”

  “What, what’s this about? I thought you brought me here to finally discuss...” he looked at his sister and then back at me.

  She seemed rather relaxed for someone who was about to be exposed and I got a very weird feeling, like someone had walked over my grave.

  Since I don’t believe in old- wife’s tales, I put it down to the fact that I had to restrain myself from strangling her.

  “What did you do Sophia?” He didn’t sound too pleased now. “At the time that you’re speaking of, there was a little mishap.”

  “Where did she go?” He seemed to take forever to answer and I hated the way his shoulders slumped as if he’d been defeated somehow. I felt a pang of pity for the young man and was glad that I hadn’t done this at the dinner
table.

  It’s strange, but I had more care for him than I had my future in laws.

  “She was placed in a hospital. Look, I don’t know what this about. You’ve obviously found out about...Will you just tell me what this is about? Obviously you didn’t invite me here to discuss business, so what is it that you’re really after? Did my sister do something?”

  “You could say that.” The girl in question just sat there like we weren’t discussing her. She had to know what was coming next, but she just sat there with a strange look on her face.

  I told him about what she’d said to Maxie all those years ago and what I’d overheard in the garden that day. Only then did she react.

  “It’s lies Thomas all lies.” Her voice was different, almost sing song you could say, and sent the eeriest fucking feeling down my spine.

  “Oh man she is totally nuts.”

  “Firefox.”

  “No seriously, look at her.”

  I did and was inclined to believe she was right. The sick smile on the young girl’s face could only belong to someone who wasn’t quite there. Not to mention the way she rocked back and forth as she mumbled something that sounded like too late.

  “She’s been having spells since she was a child, the list of what she’s been diagnosed with is as long as my arm, but she’s harmless.”

  “No, she’s not. She was sane enough to make up a very convincing story that blackened my name. What if those lies had gotten back to the wrong ears? Do you know the damage something like that could do to a man in my position? Not to mention what she did to Maxie?

  I’m sorry that she’s ill, but something has to be done. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do, other than wring her neck, and now that I know she’s fucked in the head I can’t say that I feel any less inclined, sorry.

  The bottom line is this, I do not want her in the same county as my wife; she has to go. If she’s not gone by week’s end, I promise you, I will make life unbearable for all of you.

  To ensure that you keep your end of the bargain I will give you that deal you’ve been after, but the first time she sets foot back here the deal is off and I will crush you.”

  It was a mean thing to do to him, but I wasn’t about to relent. Crazy or not, she was dangerous, and I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t protecting her as much as I was my future wife. Knowing her, she wouldn’t stop until she got her revenge. This way I was removing temptation.

  She jumped up from her chair and rushed to her brother. “You can’t send me away, I won’t have it. Mama said you have to take care of me remember?”

  Poor Thomas looked torn. He obviously loved the little horror show. Maxie just shook her head as she looked at her old roommate, who was now singing something beneath her breath.

  How had I missed the signs before? Granted I’d never really paid much mind to the girl before, but...

  “What’s it gonna be Ambrose?”

  “I can’t just...she’s my sister, she needs help I know, can’t we...”

  “No, she can’t stay, you have a few days to decided what you’re gonna do, but I’ve made up my mind. She goes or I destroy you and everything you’ve worked for.”

  “But I don’t understand, why so harsh? She’s sick don’t you understand? She can’t help the things she does.”

  “All the more reason to put her in a hospital where she can get the help she needs, and I will be keeping tabs on her wherever she ends up.”

  “I just don’t see the need for all this, it’s not like she hurt anyone physically.”

  I wasn’t about to argue with him. He’d never understand what she cost me, the time that had been wasted. It was also very unnerving to have lived so close to someone and not know that they had that in them.

  I don’t think she’s crazy, I don’t know what she is, but crazy people as I understand don’t have the faculties needed to plot and carry out something as diabolical as she did.

  For that reason I didn’t feel any guilt. “You have a lot to think about, I will make your excuses to the others since I’m sure you no longer wish to stay for dinner.”

  I showed them out after going to fetch their dinner companion. “Okay you’ve succeeded in making me feel bad for her; what’s going to happen to her?”

  “I can’t say that I really care, now let’s go to dinner. I didn’t know that you’d told your family about her and what she’d done.”

  “I didn’t, whatever gave you that idea?”

  “So how did Miranda know?”

  “Beats me, but I never uttered a word to any of them not even dad.”

  Strange! I put it aside as we went in to dinner feeling a little lighter. I had no doubt Thomas would make the right decision in the end.

  There were plenty of places he could send his sister where he could still see her if he wished.

  There hadn’t been much I could do to repay her for what she’d done, short of knocking her the hell off, so this was the next best thing.

  Now all that was left was her stalker and I would’ve removed all her enemies, until she made new ones. With that mouth of hers I had no doubt that I would be cleaning up her scrapes for a lifetime.

  ***

  “What were you doing here tonight, how did you even know I was here?” The young girl smiled into her lover’s eyes as he held her under the moonlight.

  “What does it matter? I’m here now. So, how are you going to sneak me into your room?”

  “Oh I don’t know, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I haven’t told my parents about us as yet.”

  “I won’t wait forever, this is not the way I do things, this sneaking around like a thief. I thought you loved me.”

  “Of course I do, but...”

  “And your sister, why didn’t you tell me that your sister was the great Maxie Shaw?”

  “How do you know about that?” She couldn’t hide her jealousy and he bit back the harsh retort that was at the tip of his tongue.

  He couldn’t believe his luck at being invited tonight. It had been months since he’d been able to get anywhere near her.

  He’d had to be cunning, going so far as to pretend an interest in this insipid creature. As if a man of his caliber could ever fall for someone as pedantic as she.

  She was barely two short steps away from being a simpleton and it was all he could do to endure her presence. She was an okay fuck, but he was sure his ultimate goal would be so much more.

  All he had to do was pretend for a little while longer and then he would have what he wanted. He had the place all ready and waiting for his trophy.

  Now she would play only for him, those magical eyes of hers will only gaze at him from now on.

  He remembered the man’s hands on her earlier and promised to make her pay for her little indiscretion. He hadn’t kept himself pure either, but he was a man, it was expected.

  He couldn’t believe that it was almost at an end.

  All he needed was for this one to find him a way in, that way he wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of figuring it out himself.

  It had to be fate that brought him here tonight, which meant they were meant to be, just as he’d always known.

  He had almost lost his mind the first time he’d lost her. She’d just disappeared that first time and he’d had no way of knowing where to find her.

  There were no listings for Maxie Shaw anywhere that he’d looked all those years ago.

  He’d all but exhausted his every avenue, when he’d been contacted by the Ambrose girl.

  He had no idea how she’d found him he’d been so careful that even the cops had no idea who he was. He’d been right under their nose a time or two, but they’d never suspected. Why would they? He was an upstanding member of society after all.

  Then just as he was about to give up he’d seen the little ad in the paper. It was as if she’d been talking directly to him.

  She’d used the words from one of my missives to Maxie, a little poem that he later found out s
he’d stolen.

  Then Maxie had disappeared again, but this time he knew a lot more thanks to Sophia Ambrose, so there was no way he would ever lose her scent again.

  He only needed a way to get close to her. He knew that as soon as she saw him she would feel the same for him as he did her.

  Getting close to her sister had been a stroke of genius; the stupid girl actually believed he’d been interested in her.

  He’d been careful not to show his real interest in Maxie, not to let on that he even knew who she was.

  This one had obvious issues, so he’d played to her vanity, building her up.

  He’d thought it would take a while to get this close, but once again Sophia had come through.

  He couldn’t put it off much longer now though. No doubt that ruffian had designs on her body and was probably even now making his way to her bed.

  “Roger you’re hurting me.” His thoughts had angered him to the point that he had wrapped his hand around her neck and was squeezing.

  “Pardon me love, you know how I burn with passion for you.” The idiot believed it. He barely restrained himself from following through.

  Not yet, after he had his Maxie safely tucked away he’d come back to deal with her. A man couldn’t have two wives now could he? And divorce was such a messy business.

  Chapter 34

  JACKSON

  Things were finally back on track around here thank fuck. It has been a week since the night of the dinner.

  Her father and brother were finally here to join the festivities leading up to the wedding.

  I told her dad what I’d done with the tests and he assured me that he didn’t need any tests to prove that she was his, because he always knew it in his heart.

  Not to mention the fact that she apparently resembled his great grandmother, even down to the piano playing.

  When I asked him why he never shared that with his wife, his answer was that that was her penance.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, since Maxie paid the price, but I guess I couldn’t fault his reasoning.

  He never expected a mother to actively despise her own flesh and blood.