Page 20 of Jacked and Jaded

“Thanks, Dad. See you soon.” Jackson hung up and started to return to Calliope’s room. At the last minute, he made a detour and went to the nurses’ station. “Excuse me.”

One of the nurses behind the desk looked up. “Hello. How can I help you?”

“Yeah. I’m with Calliope Reynolds and she was wondering if maybe you guys have her purse back here somewhere?” He leaned on the counter and was sure to smile.

“Oh, okay. Hang on and I’ll go check.” She wasn’t gone very long before she came back with Calliope’s purse. He winked and thanked her before heading back the way he came. He walked past Calliope’s room and made his way to the windows at the end of the hall. He rummaged through her purse looking for her cell phone. Was it really necessary to have all this shit in her purse? Hand sanitizer. Lipstick. A tampon. Tissues. Close to the bottom, he found her checkbook. He flipped it open and found her address on one of the checks. He got his phone out and entered the address into his notes for future use. He wasn’t going to do it, he really wasn’t, but he flipped to the register and was impressed with the amount of money in her account. Not a fortune, but definitely enough to not have to worry about covering her bills every month.

He dropped the checkbook back in her purse and dug around again until he found her phone at the bottom. Finally. He tucked the purse under his arm and swiped to open the phone up. It was locked. He could try to figure out the password, but it could literally be anything. On the back he saw a place for her fingerprint. Could it be that simple?

He slipped back into her room and saw that she was still asleep. Good. Maybe he could get some more information before she woke up. He resumed his seat in the chair next to the bed, dropping her purse on the floor beside him. He slowly reached out and touched her index finger to the back of the phone annnnd he was in. Nice to see luck was on his side.

Jackson decided to pull up her pictures first. He started with the most recent pictures, flipping through several of her mom and Tom and what must’ve been the birthday dinner she’d just been home for. There were some of her with her mom, and a few that had all three of them. He also found some pictures of jewelry; necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings. He thought he remembered that she liked to create different pieces of jewelry when she was younger and thought this must be some of the newer ones she’d designed. Next, there was a picture of her standing at a glass counter and a pretty woman with highlighted hair. They were standing by a display of the jewelry, smiling big for the camera. Huh. Calliope must be selling her jewelry now. He was impressed at how well she was doing for herself.

He kept flipping through the pictures until something caught his eye. Here we go. There were several pictures of Calliope and a tall man with slicked back, black hair. His sleazy smile rubbed Jackson the wrong way. Or it could be the way he held Calliope so possessively at his side. So this was the big bad Clint Maxwell. He took a second to send the picture to his phone along with a really nice one of Calliope by herself.

Next, he moved on to text messages. He was curious if there would be any from Clint. Yep. There they were. There were three from this morning.

Calliope,where are you?

Your car is here,so where are you?

You better answer me.Are you off somewhere pouting about last night? You left the front door open and the rain blew inside. I’m more than likely going to have to replace the entire living room floor and you’re going to have to pay for it.

Offpoutingsomewhere?What the fuck? Was the man insane?

Hearing her stir in the bed, he quickly backed out of her phone and dropped it into her purse. He looked up to see her eyes were open. “Hey, you’re awake. How’re you feeling?”

“Better. I thought I remembered you saying something earlier about Mom calling you to come be with me. Does that mean she canceled her cruise and is coming home?” She didn’t sound too thrilled about the idea of her mom canceling her plans because of her.

“Yeah. She text earlier and said she and Tom would be landing around noon and would catch a cab over.” He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands hanging loosely between. “I heard what you told Officer McMillen earlier.”

Calliope stared at him for a moment. It didn’t take a genius to realize she wasn’t happy with him. So be it. He could deal with it. “The whole point of sending you out to the hall was so you didn’t hear.” She looked away and closed her eyes. “I didn’t want you to know everything. I didn’t want you to hear it and think differently of me. Like I’m some loser who didn’t know when to get out. It’s humiliating.”

“First off, I do not think you are a loser and I don’t think differently of you. Secondly, you shouldn’t ever feel embarrassed about anything around me. And lastly, I needed to know so I would know how to handle him before I finish it.” He kept his intense gaze on her, communicating what he couldn’t say out loud. “Get me?”

She studied him for a moment before she slowly nodded her head. She understood what he was saying. “I want you to promise me something.”

“Anything.” He meant it. Whatever she wanted, it was hers.

“When you do catch up to that asshole, I want to be there.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. This is something—”

She cut him off. “I need this, Jackson. I have a right to confront him.”

Jackson watched the way she clutched her sheet tightly in her fist. Clearly this really meant something to her. He worked his jaw side to side, not liking the idea one bit. She didn’t understand that once you stepped over that line, you had to live with the consequences. One of which were nightmares that woke you in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. He didn’t want Calliope to have to live with what was second nature to him and his club. She was young and innocent and he wanted to keep her that way. He would gladly carry that burden for her.

“Promise me,” she demanded again. If it meant that much to her to be there when the club got their hands on him, he’d work with her. He’d let her come in and slap him around a little, maybe yell at Clint, then she’d be satisfied and feel like she had closure.

“Okay. I promise.”

Jackson was at the nurses’station getting a cup of coffee to fight off the fatigue settling in when his dad stepped off the elevator. Until right now, he didn’t realize how much he’d been wanting his dad to be here. He could breathe a little easier knowing he had someone here to watch his back while he watched Calliope’s. As his dad approached, he set his coffee on the counter and accepted the hug his dad offered. His dad clapped him on the back and pulled away. He silently looked him over and shook his head.

“It must be bad, if you look like this.”

“What?”

“You look like shit. You need to sleep and get something to eat. You haven’t eaten anything since you’ve been here, have you?” His dad fell into step with him as he went back in the direction of Calliope’s room.

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