Conversely, it seemed to Jake when Lorna Ernesto’s eyes shifted between him and Jason, they had her full attention.
“Aviva, you’re late. I told you Walters wanted to meet with us about the next album, and baby, that in itself is a coup. I’m on fire right now. Hell, I’ve still got a couple more tracks to release, and he’s already talking about the next album!”
“Hi, Carlos. From what I remember, you didn’t tell me a particular time for this meeting.”
From where Jake was standing, Aviva looked and sounded a little pissed off at Carlos. He couldn’t blame her. He had shown incredible bad manners. Without even a greeting or introduction, he had immediately dove into a speech about his success.
“Hi Kenzie, how are you? You look beautiful.”
Aviva’s comments in greeting to her friend turned Jake’s eyes back to MacKenzie, who in his opinion looked ill at ease. Why, he wasn’t sure, but Jake wasn’t so conceited as to suppose it had anything to do with his presence.
Jake also noticed that Jason was now standing directly behind Aviva. It seemed to him that his brother was almost daring Carlos to take a step closer. It also seemed to Jake that Jason and Carlos had some kind of history. That topic was something he would have to store away until the right time to ask questions.
“Hello, MacKenzie.” Jason said, giving her a smile in greeting.
“Hi, how are you, Jason?”
“Well, thank you. You remember Jake don’t you?”
“Yes, of course. Jake, it’s... how are you?”
Jake wanted to laugh. It seemed that she was unable to say anything other than how are you where the Kingdoms were concerned. She also refused to meet his eyes, her gaze fixed, as far as he could tell on his forehead.
“It’s nice to see you again, MacKenzie.”
“We haven’t met, I’m Lorna, Carlos’s mother. So you’re Jake,” Lorna held out her hand to him. His father’s son, he took her extended hand and performed a slight bow over it.
Turning to Jason, Lorna again extended her hand as she spoke. “That means you must be Jason.”
“Correct,” was all Jason said by way of a greeting. Watching MacKenzie, Jake never saw the elbow that connected with Jason’s abdomen. “Yes, that’s correct.” Jason amended as he shook her hand.
“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you both.”
“I wonder why?” Jason asked under his breath. By the sound of his low spoken question, Jake could tell Jason had already lost interest in Lorna of the fluttering eyelashes.
“Jason,” Carlos broke into the conversation. “It’s been a while.”
“Yes, it has.”
Jake had to rub his hand over his mouth to hold in his laughter. He had known Jason had been pissed from the moment he and Aviva had met him in the lounge. Carlos’s demand of Aviva’s attention as soon as they had arrived only seemed to have pushed him further into his foul mood.
“By the sounds of it, Carlos and Aviva need to talk business. Why don’t you two young men come buy me a drink?”
Jake knew Jason was warming up to telling the older woman where to get off, and decided to step in. If he didn’t help his blunt brother out, he would probably be sleeping on the couch for the rest of the month.
“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Jake jumped in, extending his arm to MacKenzie, taking away the opportunity for her to have Jason as an escort, or for Lorna to get her claws into him.
Having been left with no other recourse, Jason extended his arm to Lorna. Jake didn’t wait to see if they followed as he escorted MacKenzie away.
Very aware of MacKenzie’s tension, Jake spoke without thinking. “Relax, you’re safe with me, I don’t bite.”
“Get over yourself. If you bite, you better believe I’ll bite back!” MacKenzie immediately shot back at him.
Okay, maybe not the smartest thing to have said if he wanted to make amends for the way he had behaved at their last meeting.
“About the last time we met...”
“Save it. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
“I just want the opportunity to say...” Before Jake could complete his apology, MacKenzie cut him off again.
“Shh.”
“MacKenzie, don’t do that again, I don’t like it, not to mention that this behavior is completely unbecoming to you. All I want to do is talk to you for a few minutes.” Looking down at her, Jake saw that she still refused to look at him. So he was taken by surprise when she agreed.
“Fine, let talk, Jacob.”
“Not here.” Leading her down a hallway, Jake listened at a few doors before turning a handle and pulling her into an empty room. Closing the door behind them, he saw that they had entered some sort of office.
He could see MacKenzie was also looking around the semi-darkened room, still wearing a poker face that he would have been proud of.
“Talk!”
MacKenzie stood before him, arms folded and foot tapping with impatience. When he looked down at her foot, the sound immediately stopped.
“Say what you have to say so that we never have to speak to each other again, Jacob.”
The way she said his name reminded Jake of the way someone sounded when they had eaten something they found distasteful.
“I was out of line for the things I said to you the last time we met. MacKenzie, I apologize. Do you accept my apology?”
“Good, fine. You feel better now?”
“What is wrong with you? I’ve gone out of my way to ensure that you know how sorry I am for the things I said to you, and that’s all you have to say to me, good, fine?”
“Let’s see, you called me, God knows how many times, and I hang up each and every time. What does that say to you? Obviously not a damn thing because here you are tonight. I thought I had made it abundantly clear that I don’t want see or speak to you. But here we are!”
“Damn it, MacKenzie, why can’t you just accept what I’m saying in the spirit in which it’s intended?” Jake asked, his frustration beginning to show in the level of his voice.
“Because it’s my prerogative to accept or decline, that’s why... Jacob.”
Running his hand through his short hair, Jake wanted to shake the stubborn woman. Why she was being so difficult, he had no idea. From what he could tell, she was an important part of Aviva’s life, which meant in the future, they were going to be in each other’s company. Yes, he had behaved badly, and he was doing everything he could to set it right. She, on the other hand, was being completely unreasonable.
“Let’s try this again...”
MacKenzie cut him off before he could finish what he had to say, and it irked the hell out of him.
“Let’s not, Jacob.”
“What is your problem?”
“In a word, you! Do you get it now? Leave me the hell alone. Or do you have some kind of obsession with me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, baby. You’re not my type. I tend to go for women who have, let’s say, an iota of femininity about them, and who don’t try to bust a man’s balls because he tries to say sorry. No wonder Carlos isn’t giving you the time of day!”
Jake didn’t need to see the expression on her face to know he had overstepped the mark, again. He had allowed her to push him until his mouth began to run away with him. What was it about her that only moments in her company and he was in a place that made him act entirely out of character.
“This is the last time you will ever insult me, do you hear me, and you know why? Because this is the last time I will ever speak to you. For some reason, my best friend loves your brother. He makes her happy. That being said, it’s inevitable that we will no doubt be in each other’s company from time to time. But know this about me, Jacob, if you speak to me I’m gonna do more than bust your balls, I’m gonna put them on public display. So, no, I do not accept your apology! Now get out of my way.”
“MacKenzie?”
The sound of Jason’s voice on the other side of the door, momen
tarily pulled Jake’s attention. Swearing under his breath, he cursed his brother’s poor timing, and pulled open the door, Jake gave Jason a look that he hoped said, get lost!
Jake looked over to see MacKenzie edging past him. Once she was standing beside Jason, she stopped moving and turned to him. “Right now I hate most men, but especially your brother. You better be careful I don’t end up hating you too.”
“What did I do?” Jason asked, a little stunned at her attack.
“You look just like him, and right now that doesn’t bode well for you. Just saying!”
Jake and Jason watched MacKenzie walk away, their expressions very different. Jake furious and, Jason amused.
“Looks like you need some help with your game, my man.” Jason teased.
“What game, she’s with that dick I just met!”
“Didn’t stop you from sniffing around.” Jason snorted.
“She’s pregnant, for God’s sake!”
“Look, Jake, you and I both know that relationship in going nowhere. Two minutes in their company must have made that clear.”
Jake was confused. He hadn’t been lying when he had told MacKenzie that she wasn’t his type. He was also unwilling to delve too deeply into why he had travelled so far to apologize in person.
“Why are you here?”
Seeming to accept the directional change of the conversation, Jason answered. “I was looking for Aviva. But you guys were so loud I made a detour.”
“Well, good luck with that.” Jake wasn’t really paying attention to Jason, his thoughts still occupied with what had just taken place. Without further comment, he brushed past his brother and headed back to the party.
Unable to help himself, as soon as he entered the area, Jake’s eyes began a search. It took him a while, but he finally spotted her at the furthest end of the room. She was looking straight at him, daring him to approach her.
Just then, Jake felt a hand on his arm. Looking down, he was confronted by a woman he hadn’t seen in a while. When they had first met she had been known as a wild child starlet. She had come after him with a directness that had raised his curiosity.
“Hi, Jake.”
“Simone, it’s been a while. How are you?”
“Better... now that I’ve seen you.”
“I’m flattered.”
The woman looked like she wanted to eat him, and Jake was restless enough to allow her to.
“This party sucks. What do you say we leave?”
Ah, Jake thought, still the same direct Simone. Sensing eyes piercing into him, Jake looked up sharply and caught, MacKenzie shooting daggers at him. Raising an eyebrow at her in inquiry, MacKenzie turned away.
In an instant, Jake made up his mind. “What do you have in mind?”
“My place. All night long.”
“Lead the way.”
On their way towards the door, Jake met Jason with Aviva in tow. “Don’t wait up.”
Every instinct in his body wanted to look over his shoulder to see if MacKenzie watched. But he didn’t break stride as he followed Simone out the door.
Chapter 27
Steve pressed the button to his intercom to hear Ms. Ellis’s announcement that Jason had arrived.
“Send him in, please.”
Signing one last document, Steve looked up as Jason entered his office.
“Steve.” Jason said by way of a greeting.
“Hi, Jason, do you want a drink?”
“I’m good.”
“Do you have it?”
Raising his hand, Jason placed a large envelope on Steve’s desk before taking a seat facing him.
“Jake gave this to me before he left this morning.”
Steve didn’t respond to Jason’s comment, his attention firmly on the white envelope sitting on his desk. This was it. This was what he’d been waiting for. Yet he hesitated.
“Do you know what’s inside?” Steve asked, looking up at Jason.
“No,”
Wetting his lips, Steve opened the envelope, and read the contents. Satisfied, he replaced the documents and again looked at Jason.
“Thanks for the help, man.”
“Anytime. If I can help in some way, all you have to do is ask, no matter how far away I am.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aviva and I have been talking about it for a while, and we’ve decided to move to New York.
“Ah, the lure of the new family.”
“I’m not going to lie and say that knowledge of their existence didn’t play a part in our final decision. But that’s not the whole of it. It’s just time for me to move on. Aviva likes L.A. well enough, but she prefers the east coast. She has the idea that we need to live in a smaller house, and get this, in the countryside.”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing, Jason King has been domesticated!” Steve said with a laugh that Jason didn’t return.
“I love her man, and whatever she wants, if I have the means, it’s hers.”
Jason’s words were so uncomplicated they gave Steve pause. For a moment, he too took the time to look deep within.
He had just been handed an envelope that contained the evidence that he hoped would ultimately allow Hope’s family to finally be free of Nixon. Then he considered what had taken place on their wedding day, how much it had humiliated him, hurt him. But here he was going out of his way to help her.
“I understand. You probably think I’m a fool for helping Hope in this way. I need to know...”
“You need to know why she behaved the way she did?” Steve finished for him.
As matters had stood between them up until a few days ago, Steve had no intention of relating Hope’s story to Jason. He now changed his mind.
Pressing his intercom, Steve spoke into it, “Ms. Ellis, I don’t want to be disturbed for the next hour.”
His instructions given, Steve rose from behind his desk and began to pace the floor, wondering where to begin. As his thoughts took shape, he began to speak. “I’m going to tell you this because, I suppose you of all people deserve to know why Hope behaved in the way that she did. I also think it’s important that you know because Hope and Aviva are sisters. If you stand in their way of exploring that, somewhere down the line it might come between the two of you. Remember what Dad said the last time we got into it?”
“I remember.”
“He said there’s nothing family can’t resolve given time and the desire to make it happen. I hope after I finish telling you what’s been going on in that family, you’ll be willing to give her a chance, for Aviva’s sake.”
Retaking his seat, Steve leaned back in his chair and began to speak. He didn’t just tell Jason the mechanics, rather he spoke about how he felt, how Hope felt, and what her family had all been through.
Steve hadn’t realized that while he spoke he had taken on a faraway look. Refocusing, he finally looked at Jason and awaited his reaction.
“It will never cease to amaze me how some adults can fuck up children’s lives no matter how unwittingly.”
About to respond, Steve was distracted by the sound of the intercom sitting on his desk. A quick glance at his watch told him that he had been speaking far longer than he had intended. His next appointment had arrived. It hadn’t been his intention for Jason to be here, but his presence made no difference to what he had to do.
“Send him in please, Ms. Ellis.”
“You don’t summon me, Stephen Blackman!” The disgruntled man shouted as he stormed through the door.
“Be that as it may, you’re here,” Steve said, a look of steely resolve settling over his expression, “so why don’t you take a seat.”
Steve had never liked Percy Cox. First, he had a really dumb name, and second he thought he was smarter than he actually was.
“What’s the purpose of this little meeting?” Cox asked, ignoring Steve’s offer of a seat.
Refusing to relinquish control of the meeting, Steve continued speaking as though Cox hadn
’t asked a question.
“You remember Jason King, don’t you?”
“How could I forget Mr. King?” Cox said, distaste dripping from his voice.
“I know, right. Man, I’ve just got it like that.” Was all Jason said by way of acknowledgment to Cox’s comment.
Steve took the time to shoot Jason a warning look, which stopped him from making further comment. His look also warned, keep quiet or get out. From years of silent communication, Steve knew Jason would get the message.
“Sit down, Mr. Cox.” There must have been something about the look in Steve’s eyes that made Cox comply. “Now shall we get down to business?”
“That’s why I’m here. This has gone on long enough. I’ve already informed you of your choices as I see them. Now I want answers. The court date is pending. Therefore, if you want to at least retain a modicum of your reputation, I suggest you accept my offer.”
“What offer is that?” Jason broke in.
“Jason!” Steve warned again.
“I don’t blame you, Blackman. The last thing you need in a situation as tenuous as yours is a hotheaded partner. Who from past experience is more than capable of derailing your chances of at least coming out of this with your liberty. If you disagree with my suggestions and if you can manage to retain your liberty, maybe you can both find work at one of the establishments you used to frequent.”
“Listen to me you ingrate bastard...”
“Jason, keep quiet or leave. Your choice!” Steve stopped him, exasperated with his lack of ability to hold on to his temper.
Jason’s only response was a lowering of his brows, which indicated his dislike of Steve’s tone.
Steve didn’t care. Jason no longer had an investment in the company and he wasn’t about to allow the hotheaded bastard to derail his business. The last time Jason had arbitrated in a meeting of his company, it had cost him dearly.
Jason settled back in his seat, crossing an ankle over his knee, and seemed to relax.
Aware that was all he was going to get, Steve shifted his attention back to Cox.
The Ties that Bind (Kingdom) Page 20