Page 22 of Jacked and Jaded

“I know what I’m doing with Calliope. Something I should’ve done three years ago but was too damn chicken shit at the time. I kept letting our age difference come between us and I’m not doing it anymore. And if anyone has a fucking problem with it, I’ll kick their ass.” He glanced at his father to see how he was taking his confession. His dad was smugly smiling at him.

“About fucking time.”

“What?” Jackson honestly thought his dad would have been one of the people to warn him off Calliope. To hear that he supported his decision to pursue things with her stumped him.

“You heard me. Me and your mom have been hoping for years the two of you would get together.” He held his hand up to stop Jackson from interrupting him. “Yes. I know there are eight years between you. So what? Life’s too short to be second guessing yourself. Anybody with eyes could see that girl has been half in love with you for years. I understand why you kept things as friends between you given she was sixteen when she moved here. I would’ve been surprised if you started things up with her after she graduated high school, but we thought for sure you would have made a move before she left for Boulder. Or at least go after her. Shocked the hell out of us when you didn’t. That said, I do realize if she hadn’t left, you wouldn’t have Ryker and I love that little man to death.”

Everything his dad said was true. Especially the part about if he’d gone after her, he wouldn’t have Ryker right now. He couldn’t regret that for a second. That little boy was his whole world. Convincing Calliope that he was ready now to make a go of them together was going to be hard. She wouldn’t automatically trust it. She would be gun shy thanks to Clint and he couldn’t blame her.

She’d given herself to him the night she showed up at his house. He’d been drinking and watching porn on TV before she got there. He’d let her inside where she started taking shots of scotch and found the remote to his TV. She flipped it on and the porn he’d been watching popped up. One thing led to another and they ended up in bed. Then he’d fucked up. He basically told her it was all a mistake and it should never have happened. He’d seen how crushed she’d been when he’d said it. Stupid him, he’d told her to sit still while he took a shower and he’d give her a ride home. No big surprise, she’d been gone when he got out of the shower. He’d tried to find her, but she hadn’t wanted to be found. All of this history was going to be hard to wade through, but he really wanted to make things between them work.

Another hurdle he foresaw was he had a three-year-old son she knew nothing about. He had no idea how she was going to react to that. Something she was going to have to come to terms with was that he and Ryker were a package deal. She’d have to want to be in both their lives. It was a given Jackson would never give up Ryker, but it was also a given he wasn’t walking away from Calliope again.

“Of all the mistakes I’ve made, how he came to be will never be one of them. Do I wish I’d had him with Calliope? Of course, but that’s not how things shook out. She’ll love him once she meets him. Everyone does.” Jackson’s smile slipped as he slowed his truck to a stop on the shoulder of the road. Where he stopped gave him a perfect line of sight up Clint’s driveway. “Huh. They’re actually arresting him.” He watched from his position as an officer put his hand on top of his head and helped him into the back of the cruiser. “Wonder how long it will take for his firm to bail him out?”

His dad snorted. “He’ll be out before dark.”

Jackson put his truck in gear, drove farther down the road and turned his truck around. Seeing the motherfucker being hauled off gave him a little peace of mind. He now felt like he had enough time to check into a room, get a shower and find something to eat before he headed back to the hospital. He needed to be there to make sure she stayed safe. He pulled into the parking lot at a hotel close to the hospital. Grabbing the duffel, he made his way to the front desk, his dad following along.

“Swanky,” his dad teased.

“It’s close to the hospital.” He smiled at his dad and shook his head. At first he hadn’t wanted his dad to come to Boulder with him, but now that he was here, he was grateful.

Once he’d filled out the paperwork, and made it to the room, his stomach was growling uncontrollably. “I’m going to grab a quick shower. Can you order me some room service? I don’t care what it is, just that there’s a lot of it and I need a beer or two.” He slipped his cut off and placed it on one of the beds. Next, he kicked off his boots and emptied his pockets. “Get whatever you want because I’m not sharing. I’m starving.”

8

Jackson came out of the bathroom to the smell of something unfuckingbelievable. The sound of his stomach grumbling loudly had his dad laughing.

“Get over here and eat.” He motioned for him to join him at the small table where he’d spread everything out. “I got you a ribeye dinner, a burger and fries, and cheesecake. Oh yeah, and two beers.”

He pulled out his chair and took a seat, glancing over to see what his dad had ordered. “What is that?” He picked up his beer and took a drink.

“It’s supposed to be steak fajitas. We’ll soon see.” He loaded a tortilla with all the fixings, rolled it tight and took his first bite. “I’ll be damned. It’s pretty fucking good. You want a bite?”

“No.” He chuckled. “I’m good.” Spotting the steak sauce, he poured a little on his plate and dug into his ribeye. “Wow. This is fucking amazing. I didn’t even pay attention to the name of the restaurant in this hotel, but it’s pretty damn good.”

Both men grew quiet while they ate their food. Jackson should probably be embarrassed that he’d eaten all his steak dinner and half his burger and fries, but he wasn’t. Oh, and he demolished the cheesecake. He pushed himself back from the table and rubbed his flat stomach as he stretched over the back of his chair. “Oh my God. I haven’t eaten that much in,” he thought about it, “ever.” Now that he’d eaten, he could feel how tired he was. He needed to get a little sleep before he went back to the hospital or he wouldn’t be any good to Calliope.

“Mind if I take a nap? I didn’t get much sleep last night in that chair.”

“Go ahead, son.”

“Thanks.” He yawned wide enough to crack his jaw. “Wake me in three hours.” Jackson went to the bed where he’d tossed his cut and pulled back the covers. He didn’t care that he was wearing jeans, he climbed in anyway.Holy fucking shit, this bed is soft. That was the last thought he had before falling into a deep sleep.

He was having nightmares of Calliope being beaten right in front of him and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get to her to save her. The harder he tried to reach for her, the farther away she got and that bastard, Clint, was laughing at Jackson as he delivered blow after blow to Calliope. It felt like someone kept pulling him back. That’s when he heard his dad’s voice. “Time to get up.” His dad was shaking him awake.

“Yeah. Gettin’ up.” He rolled to his back and rubbed his scratchy eyes with the heels of his hands. He threw the covers off and swung his legs over the side of the bed and took a minute to get his bearings. “Wow. I just had a flashback to when I was living at home and still a kid. You coming in to wake me up for school. Shit, that was so long ago.” He stood and made his way to the bathroom where he took care of business. It took a minute to brush his teeth and run his fingers through his hair. Once he was finished, he pulled a clean t-shirt and socks out of his duffel. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he pulled on his socks and boots and wondered how things were going with Calliope and her mom. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and then slipped on his cut. Grabbing his phone off the nightstand, he checked for messages. He had one. He listened closely then wanted to throw his phone through the wall.

“God damn it!”

“What is it?” His dad stood from his seat on the other bed where he’d been passing the time watching TV.

“You called it. Clint Maxwell is already out and it isn’t even dark yet.” He checked the time he received the message. Thirty minutes ago. “Shit. I need to get back to the hospital.” He shoved his wallet in his pocket, his phone in another and the hotel keycard in another.

“You think he’s stupid enough to try to get at Calliope?” his dad asked as the door closed behind them. They stopped at the elevators and waited for one to arrive.

“I wouldn’t put it past him. From what Officer Daniels said, Clint has a lot of connections with some really bad people. I’m sure he thinks he can do whatever he wants and he feels untouchable.”

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