Page 37 of Steel & Jenna
Jenna bit her lip. “I don’t think she would steal it, but…” She felt like shit for even letting her next words cross her lips. “Probably best not to tempt fate.”
“I think it’s better to just find a secure place for it until I know if I can trust Mr. and Mrs. Zarin with it.”
Jenna didn’t like it, but she understood it. “Where are you going to keep it?”
“It was behind a loose panel in the wall of my old bedroom. I suppose I can find something similar at the Zarins’.”
Jenna had never been to his trailer before so she didn’t know what his old bedroom looked like to compare. “Can I ask how much is there?”
Jack’s cheeks heated, making Jenna think it was a low number. So when he said, “Almost thirteen hundred,” her jaw dropped.
“Are you serious?”
He nodded. “I started saving up long before Mom left us. Birthday gifts, loose change, the occasional bill around the house, and then I started my paper route when I was twelve.”
“Jack, you have more than enough to relax. Especially with the Zarins willing to feed, shelter, and clothe both of you. Put the money aside,be a kid,” she said pointedly, “and figure out a job later. Even if something happened, that’ll keep you and Lilly going for a few months at least. Especially with how frugal you are.”
“The shoveling and salting, all my odd jobs around town, I can easily just stop doing those without a fuss. But I’d need to give notice for my paper route. It’s only fair. Give them a chance to fill my position before I go.”
Pride swelled inside her. “You’re a good man, Jack Duncan.”
“I thought I was a kid?” he asked with an amused raised eyebrow.
Jenna’s lips twitched. “You can be both. I think they call it a ‘man-chi—’” Her words were cut off as the door was thrown open. Jenna scrambled off Jack’s lap to her feet. “Mom!”
CHAPTER 9
Claudette Scanlan was the epitome of beauty. Lean with hips, hourglass frame, and ample breasts. Her long hair, redder than Jenna’s orange, was up in a high bun on her head with a thick white band holding it in place. Makeup was professionally applied with precision, accentuating her sea green eyes, high cheekbones, and thin lips. A coating of foundation hid the freckles that dotted her skin.
Her black dress was fitted for her exact measurements. The wide white collar fell over her shoulders and led down to just below her chest, hinting without revealing the curvature of her breasts. Though her dress had pointed sleeves with shoulder pads, she also wore tall, white gloves that stopped above her elbows. Shiny, black pointed-toe stilettos encased her feet, giving her an exaggerated height. Her long legs were protected against the cold by pinstriped stockings.
Behind her were two men, both dressed in black suits, white shirts, and black neckties. One was carrying a woman’s wide brimmed black hat with a rhinestone band. The other had a white fur coat draped over his bent arm.
Claudette was the picture of perfection, but the sneer on her face gave her the aura of someone with a foul soul.
Jack leapt to his feet seconds after Jenna got to hers. He had nevermet either of Jenna’s parents before. Shortly after he’d told her about his family, she’d told him about hers. Jack was no coward, but he also had no desire to create trouble. Jenna warned him from the get-go that her family would cause trouble for him if they knew about him. While they weren’t hiding their relationship—hell, their entire high school knew by now—they also hadn’t gone knocking on her father’s office door to introduce Jack to them.
He was fine with that. He didn’t need anyone’s approval to date Jenna except her own. Did he hope for her family’s blessing one day? It was a pipedream, but sure. Did he require it to claim Jenna? No. Never had, never would.
He did not, however, approve of Jenna steppingin frontof him like she was protecting him.Thathe would not allow. She’d done the same thing on their first day of school with Principal Foote. He’d warned her then never to do so again—and yet here she was. Standing between him and her mother. While Jack did not believe she was in any physical danger from her mother, he still did not like it.
“What do you think you are doing, Jenna?” While their voices sounded similar, there was a nastiness to Mrs. Scanlon’s that Jenna’s had never possessed. Mrs. Scanlon’s nostrils flared like she was smelling something rotten. “Debasing yourself with such riffraff! It’s beneath you!”
Jack had been called worse. ‘Riffraff’ was better than ‘white trash’ in his opinion, though neither was a term he aspired to claim. However, he wasn’t sure if Mrs. Scanlon had just called him an ‘it’ or was referring to the situation as a whole.
“Mom—” Jenna started, but Mrs. Scanlon wasn’t done.
“Do you have any idea the damage you will do to your reputation, toyour family’sreputation, by fornicating with someone like,” her eyes roamed over Jack and clearly found him lacking, “him?”
“Don’t talk about him like that!” Jenna snapped. “He’s a human being, Mom! Aperson! A really, trulygoodperson.”
The laugh that came out of Mrs. Scanlon’s mouth was so cynical, Jack expected horns to appear on the top of her head. “You naive, little girl. Have I taught younothing?Hiskind,” she pointed a perfectlymanicured finger at Jack, “are only good for one thing and that’s scrubbing the floors you walk on. And you,” she moved her finger to Jenna, “are falling for the oldest trick in the book. All you have to do is spread your legs for him and he gets access to our family’s money.”
Jenna’s head ducked. As much as Jack loved making Jenna blush, he absolutelywould notallow anyone to make Jenna feel ashamed or bad for her actions. Fuck this!
“How dare you—” He started forward, but then his foot hit something on the ground. Jack stumbled as something white skidded across the linoleum floor and landed at Mrs. Scanlon’s high heeled feet.
Jack’s eyes went wide as his heart fell into his stomach. His money! His entire life savings currently secured in a white sock now lay at Jenna’s mom’s feet. Jack was frozen where he stood, fear icing his joints into place.
