Page 35 of Jacked and Jaded

“It’s so nice to hear her laugh again, Jackson. I was afraid she wouldn’t find anything joyful again for a long time.”

Jackson swallowed past the lump that had suddenly taken up residence in his throat. “Yeah. I bet it is nice to hear that. I’m glad she was able to find his stories funny.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I was calling to let you know that I won’t be back for another couple of days. Something’s come up. Can you stay with her until I get back?”

“Well, of course, Jackson, she’s my daughter. I never mind spending time with her. Now that she’s home, I’ll get to see her anytime I want.”

He imagined Maureen was ecstatic to have her back in Redemption. As long as she’d lived in Boulder, and more so since she lived with Clint the dickhead, Calliope didn’t come home as much and he’d found out that was all because she didn’t want to run into him while she was home. That had cut deep when he’d gotten her to admit it out loud.

“I was going to talk to Calliope and let her know I’m stuck here for a couple of days, but if she’s in the shower,” Maureen didn’t let him finish, she talked over him quickly.

“She’s here. She just got out of the shower. Hold on and I’ll give her the phone.”

“Jackson?”

The sound of Calliope’s sweet voice came over the line. She’d always had the most beautiful voice and her laugh had a way of lightening any mood he might be in. She always found such joy and happiness in everything. He’d often wondered if she were real.

“Hey, babe. I was just talking to your mom and I’ve got some bad news. I’m afraid I won’t be coming home tonight like I thought. I’m stuck here for another couple of days.”

He heard a rush of air from across the line, like she’d released a pent up breath she’d been holding. “Oh. Okay. I thought when you said you had bad news, it was going to be about Clint.”

“Oh. No. Sorry. I didn’t think about that when I said I had bad news.”

“It’s okay, Jackson. I understand.”

He waited a second, trying to decide how he wanted to proceed. “Listen, when I get home, we have some things we need to talk about.”

“That doesn’t sound good. What kinds of things?”

Jackson chuckled. “Things we’ll talk about when I get home. For now, rest and take it easy. I’ll call and check on you tomorrow.” He waited for her to say goodbye and hung up. He ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck.” He couldn’t wait for the next two days to go by. He couldn’t help feeling like the discussion they needed to have shouldn’t be put off much longer. The longer he put off telling her about Ryker, the more likely she was to not forgive him for not telling her sooner. Sure, he’d kept the news that he had a son from her for three years, but that was before. That was when she was living in Boulder and not coming home for visits. That was before he’d almost lost her. That was before he realized he’d been a complete jackass for not making her his before now. From the minute he went to her in her hospital room in Boulder, she was his whether she realized it or not.

Now, if he could just fucking go home so he could take care of business, there might be hope for him.

11

Calliope came awake slowly. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling as she did a quick assessment of her injuries. All in all she felt like she’d made some improvement. She was able to get around more on her own without her mom hovering nearby and she was able to get herself up and down off the toilet. It was all slow going, but she was able to do it alone without pain medicine. She’d count that as a win.

Today was the day Jackson was supposed to be coming home. Part of her was excited, even missed him while the other part dreaded his return because of the ominous way he’d said they needed to talk. She still had no clue what he wanted to talk about even after many attempts to pull it out of him during their daily phone chats.

She rolled to her side and eased herself up to a sitting position. So far, so good. She was still very sore, but able to breathe without sharp pains ripping through her side. She made it up and to the bathroom, relieved herself, covered her cast and then took a long, hot shower. Stepping out of the shower, she got her first good look in a while at her face. The swelling was down thanks to repeated use of ice packs, but the bruising was starting to change colors and looked horrible. Her ribs were still sore and bruised and she couldn’t take a full breath without pain.

Getting dressed was getting easier, too. She mainly stuck to t-shirts and sweats so far, but still, she was able to do it on her own. She remained barefoot because bending over to put on shoes required more movement than she was ready for at this time.

She went to the kitchen in need of her morning coffee and found that Chris was the only one in sight. “Hey, Chris,” she offered a greeting. She pulled a mug from the cabinet and helped herself to the coffee. “Where’s Mom?”

Chris was a young prospect, around twenty years old if she had to guess. He had light brown hair, green eyes and a slim build. She imagined he’d fill out a lot more with the way he was eating and he was really funny. He’d told them stories about the things the club had him doing in order to earn his patch. He’d told them about how he would have to clean the clubhouse after a party and that included the bathrooms. He said the first time he had to clean the bathrooms, he gagged so much, he thought he was going to throw up and have to clean that as well.

Another time, he’d had to run interference when one brother developed a stalker. Some woman got it in her head that she was someone’s old lady and wouldn’t leave the poor guy alone. Chris said they’d only had sex once, but that was enough for the woman to turn psycho. Eventually, the brother had to get tough with her and she was now banned from ever stepping foot on Redemption property.

“Your mom said she needed to run by the store to pick up a few things and to go by the house to get the mail.” He walked over and leaned against the cabinet. “Don’t worry, Tom came and got her. She’s not alone.”

“Okay. Good.” She added a touch of milk to her coffee and took a drink.

“You feeling any better today?” Chris watched her, running his eyes over her, assessing for himself.

“Yeah. Mostly sore in my ribs, but that’s to be expected for a little while longer.”

“Your mom left you breakfast in the microwave.” Chris tipped his head that direction.

Calliope smiled and set down her mug. She opened the microwave and saw that her mom left her bacon and scrambled eggs. She closed the door and hit reheat. When it dinged, she pulled it out and went to the kitchen table and took a seat. Chris pulled out the seat across from her and settled in with his own cup of coffee.

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