Chapter 43 – Jordie
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
The rest of the story
Jordie
Dad stands and goes to sit back in his recliner. I’m a bit stunned. I thought he was going to tell me Delphine’s story was complete bullshit, but he didn’t. I can’t imagine why they threatened her to stay away, but I have to believe they had a good reason. I know they’re good men.
I look at Bubba, who’s sitting on a chair with his elbows on his thighs, hands clasped and head down. When he looks up, his eyes are full of what looks like sorrow.
“You were just a baby when Delphine left,” he says, addressing me. “But she came back a few months later and invited me and Jules to stay with her at a hotel. She said it had a pool and everything, so we were excited.”
He looks up when Reno approaches with a tray of drinks and a bottle of Jack Daniels. I hadn’t even noticed he left the room. Bubba takes a glass, slams it back and holds it out for a refill.
“Thanks, buddy,” he says, taking a small sip this time before continuing his story. “Anyway, we went with her because it sounded like fun. We swam that afternoon, and then that evening her boyfriend showed up.”
“We were surprised she had a boyfriend,” Juliette pitches in. “I don’t even think the ink was dry on her divorce papers from Dad yet.”
Bubba shakes his head. “Yeah, neither of us were happy about it, but there wasn’t much we could do,” he says with a shrug.
“We were supposed to stay the whole weekend with her. The hotel room was a suite with three bedrooms, so Jules and I each had our own room. I think I was thirteen and she was sixteen at the time, so we were pretty easily impressed by a nice suite.”
He offers a self-deprecating smile and takes another small drink of his whiskey. “We went to bed, but I was having trouble falling asleep, so I got up to get a drink of water. I noticed Juliette’s door was cracked open, so I went to close it for her. And that’s when I saw him.”
Bubba downs the rest of the drink before continuing.
“Mom’s greasy-ass boyfriend was standing in Jules’s room in his underwear.
” His face contorts into a grimace as my stomach roils at what he’s saying.
“I was just a kid, but I knew there was no good goddamn reason a grown man needed to be in a teenage girl’s room in his underwear. ”
I’m afraid to look at Juliette, but I do. Her look is sympathetic. “Nothing happened to me, but it could have if Bubba hadn’t caught him.” I breathe a sigh of relief, and she pats my leg. “I woke up to my brother beating the shit out of some guy in my room. I was so scared, I couldn’t even scream.”
“What happened next?”
My sister lets out a half laugh. “Bubba was tossing the guy out of my room just as Delphine ran in yelling and asking what the hell was going on. Bubba told her, and she said there must be some misunderstanding.”
“Fucking bitch,” Bubba mutters. “She believed some guy over her own kids. So I told her to get the fuck out, and I pushed a dresser in front of the door.”
“To protect me,” Jules says, giving our brother an appreciative smile.
“Somebody had to,” he replies. “You were such a skinny little thing.”
“Did you call someone?” I ask, and Bubba shakes his head.
“This was before we had cell phones, and there wasn’t a landline in Juliette’s bedroom.
I slept on the floor near the dresser, and when we got up the next morning, they were gone.
” He tosses his hands up and lets them fall.
“Just disappeared and left two kids in a hotel room alone. So Juliette used the phone in the living room to call Dad, who came and got us.”
Jules makes a huffing noise. “Delphine had the nerve to call the next day and threaten to press charges on Bubba because he’d broken her precious pervert Willie’s tooth. Can you believe—”
She stops talking when I grip her arm hard. “Did you say Willie?” My sister nods, and I ask, “Did he have dark greasy hair?”
Bubba answers with a frown. “Yes, why?”
“Which tooth did you break?”
My brother taps his front two teeth. “One of these but I can’t remember which one.”
I shake my head in wonder. “That’s the same guy she’s with now, and his tooth is still chipped.”
Bubba smiles in satisfaction. “Good. I hope he thinks of my fist every time he looks in the mirror.” His nostrils flare in anger. “I can’t believe she’s still with that sleaze.”
Pops speaks up for the first time, his voice soft as usual. “Now you know the reason we threatened her. To protect all of you. We told Delphine not to ever come back or we’d take her to court for back child support. Money is the only language she understands.”
Yeah, Pops. I’m all too aware of that little fact.
I decide not to share the stupidity of me already giving Delphine money. I’m too ashamed I let her fool me into thinking she gave a damn about me, so I think I’ll keep that little nugget under my hat for a while.
“So what’s the plan?” Dad asks. “You’re going to announce you’re together and take away Delphine’s leverage?”
Phoenix answers. “Yes, sir. And I have a buddy looking into Delphine and Willie. We’re hoping he can find something we can use.”
“Like blackmail her back?” Bubba asks, perking up at the idea.
Phoenix grins. “Of course not. That would be wrong.”
Bubba stares at him for a few seconds before chuckling. “I don’t know what you have planned, Hale, but I think I like it.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to handle this?” Phoenix asks as we stand in an alcove in the back of the Dragons’ media room. He’s holding both my hands. “I can go out there and tell everyone we’re dating, and if they don’t like it, they can kiss my ass.”
Am I tempted by this offer? Yes. I can hear reporters taking their seats for the press conference that’s been called today, and it sounds like there’s a lot of them.
“No, I can do this. I want to do this.”
Phoenix went with me to meet with Lavinia and Winslow Harrison, the owners of our football team, and they wholeheartedly threw their support my way. Same with the coaching staff. I feel like I have the world at my back and the man I love at my side.
With all that, I can do anything.
So I step around the corner and up onto the low stage.
I’m surprised to see three chairs at the purple-topped folding table.
I take the one in the middle, and a few seconds later, my agent, Kam, takes the seat on my right while Jane, the Dragons’ media expert, sits on my left.
I give them each a quick smile, grateful to have them beside me.
The room quiets, and I lean into the black microphone. I’m uncharacteristically nervous. Press conferences are something I’m good at, but they’re usually held after a game and I’m talking about football, but this topic is of a strictly personal nature.
“Can everyone hear me?” I see nods from the reporters.
Jesus, there are a lot of them. Movement behind me draws my attention, and I swivel to see Heather, another receiver on my team, enter, followed by Jax, our kicker.
They both give me a shoulder squeeze. Then Carrie Broxton and Sabrina come up to do the same.
I gape as the entire Dragons football team files onto the stage behind me.
Like, all of them. I hope this stage has reinforced beams underneath.
I turn back to the mic, bolstered by this show of support from my team, and I’m suddenly not so apprehensive.
“You’re probably all wondering why I called you all here today.
” More nods. My eye catches on a blonde standing near the back.
Juliette. As I shift my gaze from side to side, I see the rest of my family there, sans kids.
Dad, Pops, Xander, Reno, Holly, and even Bubba have come to be here for me, and I almost freaking cry.
With a strong voice, I say. “You all know I’m not a fan of discussing my personal life with the press.” There are chuckles from everyone. “But this needs to be addressed, so here I am.”
“Are you here to announce you’re getting married to Miles Soren?” Bob, the same reporter from before, asks, and I tilt my head at him.
“Bob, I’ve already addressed this with you. Do you need your wife to get one of those little devices that cleans the hair from your ears?” I ask, making tiny circles beside my left ear. Everyone except Bob guffaws. “You seem awfully obsessed with Miles. Would you like me to give him your number?”
I deliver that line with saccharine sweetness, which shuts him up and draws more laughter from the crowd. Juliette gives me a thumbs up as nosy-ass Bob slumps in his chair, chastised.
“Once again,” I say pointedly, “Miles and I are friends. We dated some last summer, but when he was traded, we decided we would only be friends. We support each other’s careers, but that’s it.
You see, I can’t be involved with Miles because I’m in love with someone else. ” That proclamation gets some gasps.
“Who is it?” a reporter asks from the back.
“His name is Phoenix Hale.”
The room goes silent for a moment and then bursts into an uproar with everyone yelling. Apparently one of the Hale brothers being taken off the market is very exciting news to the press.
“From the cosmetics family?” one of the women asks, her voice rising above the noise.
I nod at her, and everyone begins to quiet.
“Yes, he’s the marketing director for Hale Cosmetics.
” I can literally hear the tapping of thumbs on phones as they take notes.
“Before anyone asks, Phoenix is thirty-two, and I’m twenty-three.
That’s nine years difference for those of you who don’t want to do the math.
” I receive smiles from a few of the reporters in the crowd.
“I believe that love is love. Sometimes it comes at you from a direction you weren’t expecting, and that’s okay. Sometimes the person is older or younger than you, or the same sex as you, and that’s okay too.”
“Are you afraid he’s dating you for your money and status?” a woman in the third row asks, and I shoot her an are you fucking kidding me? look.