31. Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
Jackson
“D on’t flirt with her again.” I shut my office door behind me and Rome tosses the paperweight in the air before catching it, a smirk playing on his lips.
“She’s hot.” He glances over at me, his smirk still present. “Nice tits too.”
“Watch it, kid,” I warn one last time as I walk over to my seat.
“She your nanny or something?”
I lean back in my seat as I study him. “Why is it so hard to believe that I take care of my kid on my own?” I ask, remembering his last assumptions of me only seeing my own daughter on weekends.
“Because you’re a man,” he deadpans.
“Men are more than capable of raising kids. Boys choose not to. Learn the difference and choose wisely which one you want to be.” I gesture to the chair in front of me. “Sit.”
He does before a smile lights up his face. “Before we start, was that Sire Griffin driving out of your driveway when I pulled in?”
I nod. “He’s not going to watch you play until the charges for beating up Chase are dropped.”
Rome sinks in his seat at that. I feel bad that this is happening to him, but I’m at the end of my rope here—there’s been no good news since we last met.
“He’ll watch you on TV though. He said he’ll let me know if he has any tips after watching you play.”
I see the bit of hope he regains.
“Is there any chance you can set up a meeting for him to tell me himself? If he has any tips, I mean.”
I tell him I will before jumping into the meeting. “We need to do a major cleanup on your image. We tried getting your contracts back after releasing our statements, but there’s too much damage done.”
Rome runs his hand down his face before sulking in his seat. “I’m supposed to go to the basic needs kitchen the day before Thanksgiving,” he says, monotone as ever. “It’s something my sisters and I do every year in the neighborhood I grew up in. We relied on that kitchen for Thanksgiving growing up, so we give back. My sisters think I should post about it, but people are going to think it’s just to look good.”
“That’s… really good of you.” I watch him, surprised by his words since I thought he grew up rich but it’s clear there’s more to him than his spoiled attitude. “You should post a bit about it. There’s always going to be people who think you’re doing it for the press, but stay true to yourself.”
I open my laptop. “Share your calendar with me. I have multiple other events you will be participating in and these are for the press, but we need all the help we can get.”
He pulls out his phone.
“For the charity event, do not bring a date,” I warn him.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t trust your horny ass to not sneak off backstage or to the bathroom.”
A smirk grows on his face, but he complies.
Before I can add more, a message pops up on my phone.
Sire G
Hey, my sister still there?
I feel my brows furrow at his text and rise from my seat. When I open my office door, Lisette’s sweet laugh echoes through the house before my daughter’s laugh follows. I smile at the sound of the happy house and respond to him.
Yeah. Why wouldn’t she be?
Just making sure.
His text bubbles appear and then disappear. This happens three more times before another message comes through.
I’m gonna pick her up later but do me a favor & lmk if she leaves.
You her chauffeur now?
Just let me know. Please.
I will.
Everything okay?
I’m worried about her.
His text bubbles disappear then come back.
Keep an eye on her for me. Let me know if she seems off, zoning out and stuff. Joking more than usual about being sad and shit.
A bad feeling settles in my stomach, but I only like his message.
I walk back to my desk but as I look back at my laptop, I can’t think about anything else but that girl in my kitchen.
“You don’t need a second mommy.”
Was that her way of telling me she doesn’t want this? My mind trails back to our conversation in her room, the way she tried to push me away from the hard part of her life. I know she doesn’t want my support, but I can’t shake this overwhelming need to help her. To do everything in my power to make sure every day is a good day, one she can look back on when those dark thoughts run through her mind.
I shut the laptop and pull in a deep breath.
“I’ll call you to discuss the rest,” I tell Rome. “Charity event on Tuesday. Do not be late,” I warn.
“Okay, Dad,” Rome mumbles as he rises to his seat. He turns to look out to the backyard and nods to himself. “You have a really nice house.”
He glances over to the side before nodding again. “You’re a good dad, Jackson.”
I’m thrown off that he called me Jackson, but I don’t miss the sincerity in his words. I follow his eyes to Isabelle’s newborn pictures.
“Thanks,” I reply.
He nods in return before we walk out of my office. He keeps his head low as he walks for the door, but before walking out, he turns to me. “Thanks for this,” he mumbles. “You can clearly afford a lawsuit from me and simply drop me as your client, but you won’t.”
“Yet,” I add and his brows pull together. “This is my last resort, kid. The Red Sox put your contract on hold.” I tell him the actual reason I needed him to come in today and I see the fear in his eyes.
“When?”
“They called yesterday, some bullshit about wanting to alter it, but I know how this goes. They’re giving you time to fuck up. Making you a model citizen is my last resort . The Major League isn’t just about hitting a ball and having a pretty face, Booker.”
I can see his nerves skyrocketing as he runs a hand down his face. “I should’ve signed when you told me to.” He sounds like he’s about to cry and my dad heart practically bleeds for him. He’s spoiled and bratty and doesn’t care about much, but he’s mine.
“We’re going to fix this, but I need you to work with me.”
He quickly nods in agreement. “I will. I swear.”
I nod in return before opening the door and he thanks me profusely.
The minute the door is closed, Belle is screaming with a laugh and all of my worries and stress fades.
I walk into the kitchen but come to a stop when I find both girls covered in flour. Their laughs sober as they turn to me. Isabelle slowly drops her hand full of flour I’m sure she was about to throw. Lisette looks guilty as she stands in front of the counter in an empty attempt to cover the mess.
“She started it.” Lisette points at my five-year-old who’s jaw drops.
“I did not .” She scoops up some flour before throwing it at Lisette’s back and it covers the rest of her hair. “Liar.”
A smirk grows on Lisette’s face and I shake my head at the pair of them.
“I can’t leave you alone for one minute, huh?”
“It’s been five minutes.” Lisette shrugs. “I never claimed to be a responsible adult.”
She smiles and with a face like that, I couldn’t be mad if the entire house was drowning in flour.
“Are we in trouble, Daddy?” Isabelle asks quietly.
Lisette lolls her head to the side, a mischievous smirk on her face. “ Are we in trouble, Daddy?”
And there goes all hope of trying not to get hard in her presence. I shake my head at her before closing the distance between us. Her eyes grow with something like excitement as I stop in front of her.
“ You’re going to be in trouble if you keep on calling me that,” I warn quietly and for once, she doesn’t say anything in return. She tries, her mouth falls open but words are never spoken as her eyes land on my lips.
“How’d this happen?” I look up at Isabelle, desperately trying to distract myself from Lisette, who’s still watching me.
“We were going to make our apple cinnamon cupcakes for Thanksgiving, but then Lissy started putting flour on my face.”
I glance around the kitchen island and floor. “And that resulted in the entire bag of flour covering my floors?” I look back down at Lisette.
“She threw it back and I may have taken it a bit overboard.”
I glance at my daughter who could be mistaken for a damn snowman. Lisette follows my line of sight and stifles a laugh.
“This doesn’t look like it was a fair fight.” I walk over to the bag of flour and there’s surprisingly some left. Without thinking twice, I scoop up some flour from the counter and toss it in Lisette’s face. Her jaw drops before Isabelle fills the kitchen with her laugh.
“That’s because you clearly had an advantage on my kid.” I grab more and throw it at her again. “And that’s for the teasing nickname. Clean my kitchen.”
A laugh bubbles from Lisette as she starts to scoop up flour from the counter.
“Don’t even think about it, Lisette,” I warn.
She raises her hand slowly.
“I’m not kidding. Don’t—”
I don’t get to finish my sentence as she tosses the flour at me. My eyes fall shut as their laughs fill my ears. I feel more flour being thrown at me and stand there with my eyes closed as they have their fun.
When I look down at myself, my black suit is now covered in white. My eyes meet Lisette’s and as she looks down at my outfit her eyes slowly widen, as if she somehow just remembered I’m in a four thousand-dollar suit.
She chews on her lip nervously. “Why are you wearing that at home anyway?”
“I was in the office today,” is all I say.
“It’s just flour,” she says, quieter now.
“Yeah, well, now you’re in trouble.” I stalk towards her and a smile grows on her face as she walks backwards. “Don’t make this harder for yourself, sweetheart.”
She takes off running into the living room with a laugh and I walk after her at a steady pace. My long strides quickly catch up to her as she corners herself.
“JJ, wait.” She puts a hand up between us. “Your kid is watching, don’t do—”
Her scream cuts off her sentence as I toss her over my shoulder.
“JJ!” She squirms in my arms, hitting my back and pleading to be let down.
I ignore her as I walk to the backyard while tapping a few buttons on my phone. I slide the back door open and Isabelle runs after me with a laugh as I watch the pool cover retract back.
“Don’t you fucking dare , Jackson Jones,” Lisette warns.
“What did I say about saying bad words?” I taunt, a smile creeping onto my face and she doesn’t get to respond as I toss her into the pool.
Isabelle is hysterical beside me and I can’t help but laugh with her as we watch Lisette in the deep end. Her arms flaunt frantically, but when she coughs, my laugh quickly sobers.
“Can you swim?” I kick my shoe off in a panic and when she screams for help, my other shoe is still on as I jump in for her. I quickly wrap an arm around her, but in a panic, she shoves me under the water.
When my head breaches the surface I hear her laughing .
“You fucking asshole.” I throw water at her and she laughs up a damn storm.
“That’s not funny, Lisette,” I say more seriously and she simply rolls her eyes at me.
“I could’ve drowned. You didn’t know I could swim. Now you know not to throw people into pools for fun.”
With a hand on her shoulder, I shove her under the water again. A splash comes from beside me and I quickly turn to get Isabelle. Her head breaches with Lisette and they both laugh.
“Daddy, I don’t need your help.” Isabelle tries to push me off, but I keep a hand on her as I tread water.
“It’s twelve feet, Belle. Let me help y—”
“I know how to swim.”
My hand slips as she pushes me off and takes off swimming a few feet ahead of us. I stay close to her and when I turn to check on Lisette, a smile is on her face as she watches us.
“Such a helicopter parent,” she teases.
“Call it what you want, but I’d rather she not drown.” I swim a bit further from Lis to catch up with Belle.
“Oh, but to hell with me?”
“Apparently not since I’m in here with you,” I shoot back.
Isabelle clearly gets tired as she swims back to me to cling to my arm.
“Quick break.” She takes a few breaths before diving under the water.
“Okay, no.” I pull her up before she can swim off. “Everybody out. We don’t even have bathing suits on. Come on.” I swim in front of Belle and she climbs on my back before I quickly make my way to the stairs.
I help her out before stepping out of the pool in a soaking suit. I shake my head like a dog in Belle’s direction and she giggles while doing the same.
“We should get a dog.” She lights up. “A big one, like Titi V’s dog.”
“Let’s go change and finish baking.” I distract her and she takes the bait as she walks off. I quickly grab her before she can leave a trail of water into the house.
“Uh uh, take your wet clothes off out here and grab a towel.” I nod for the rack of pool towels we keep out here.
Isabelle walks over to them and when I turn to Lisette, I falter.
“Your pool is warm,” she comments, her head to the side as she rings out her long hair.
My eyes land on her shirt, her white very see-through shirt, and I can tell clear as day that she’s not wearing a bra since her nipples are on full display for me.
“Is it heated? Because that’s another level of rich.”
I take in the way they harden as a gust of wind blows past us and I know I’m going to be tortured by these images for the next few weeks.
“Why are you just staring like that?” Lisette looks down at herself and a light blush meets her cheeks as she sees what I do. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” She tosses her hair over her shoulder, standing proudly.
“No need,” I mumble in response. I’m sure I suddenly gained a photographic memory because the sight of her wet hair clinging to her forehead in her soaked-through shirt and perky nipples will be in the front of my mind for a while.
I clear my throat and gain the strength to be the gentleman my mother raised as I look away from her.
“Come on, slow pokes,” Isabelle says with a towel wrapped around her. She hurries past us, her clothes in a pile on the floor. “We have cupcakes to bake.”
She disappears into the house, and when I look back at Lisette, my eyes instinctively go to her chest.
Rome was right. She has very nice tits. Was he able to see her nipples through her shirt?
I swallow my annoyance and walk past her for the towel rack. With my back to her, I quickly readjust the problem in my pants. “I can see that, you know,” Lisette whispers from behind me, her giggle touching my ear.
I feel my ears heat as I snatch two towels and hand one to her. She has a smile on her face but doesn’t move to take the towel and cover herself.
“My brother is going to have a lot to say about this,” she teases as she glances down between my legs.
He’ll have a lot more to say if I don’t walk away right now.
A groan escapes me when she smiles and I get harder. I move a hand to cover myself with my towel.
She finally puts me out of my misery and takes the towel from me. My shoulders sag in relief when she turns around. Just when I think I can walk away, she holds the towel between her legs and pulls her shirt off.
My eyes land on her bare back, and images of what she’ll look like if she turns fill my mind. Without thinking, I close the distance between us. My front brushes against her back, and she remains still for half a second before tilting her head back to look at me.
“When are you going to stop holding yourself back and kiss me?” She turns to face me and it should be illegal how pretty this woman is.
My eyes trail to her nipples and I shake my head at myself as I look back up at her eyes and find them filled with need.
What she said in the kitchen rings in my head and as images fill my head of her kissing my daughter’s cheek, calling her sweetie, and carrying her, I think about how easy it’d be with her and that’s rare.
It’s rare for me to take interest in the women in my daughter’s life and it’s even more rare for me to think they’ll be an easy fit, but as I think of Lisette and my kid, deep down, I can see it working.
“Question,” I say after a beat.
“Proceed,” she replies, her eyes trailing down to the bulge in my pants.
“You said Belle doesn’t need a second mom.”
Her eyes meet mine.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Her brows furrow as she studies me. “Why are you asking me that?”
“Because you’re throwing me in for a loop with the mixed signals, Lisette. First, you let me believe you don’t want her in your life, then you tell me you do want her only to literally turn around and say she doesn’t need a second mom.”
“Because she doesn’t need one.”
I throw my hands up in defeat. “I don’t get you.”
“I do want her in my life. Every damn day if you’ll let me, but she should believe she’s enough without anyone more than you,” she tells me sternly. “Either way,” she shrugs now, her eyes falling. “I’ll ruin your kid.”
My brows furrow as my gaze meets her worried one and it finally hits me. She’s scared. “You must not know me if you think I’ll let that happen.”
Her head falls as she takes a step away, but I pull her closer and harder than I meant, causing her to crash into me. Steadying an arm around her waist, I quickly catch her.
When she looks back up at me, her eyes are on my lips but I grab her chin and force her to look at me. “I’m not going to let you hurt her, ever . You need to accept that maybe you aren’t going to end up like your parents,” I tell her, remembering the jokes she’s made about having mommy issues.
Her eyes narrow, a hint of annoyance in them. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” She pulls her face out of my grasp defensively.
I open my mouth to mend my words but she doesn’t let me get a word in.
“You said we don’t have to figure it out right now, so just drop it because I don’t see this working out for a while .”
I let her go and it physically hurts my chest watching her walk away.