Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
It takes about five minutes of Jazzy arguing with her brother and this asshole friend of hers before they both leave. She’s now staring at me, not saying a single thing.
“What?” she finally huffs.
“You’re not fucking that guy.” I’m pretty sure the only thing she’s fucking is with my head.
“It doesn’t matter who I’m… sleeping with. All that matters is that it’s not you.” She gives me that sweet smile, the one I want to kiss right off her pretty little face.
“Do you really regret it that much?” I ask, unable to stop myself. I need to know the level of hatred I need to thaw out when it comes to winning this woman back. Wait… Do I even want to win her back? Her father was right. I have no business being anywhere near her.
“What did my dad mean? When he said you were supposed to keep your shit away from me? What shit, Jake?” Jazzy counters, clearly ignoring my question.
My jaw clenches, and pain radiates through my face. Fucking hell, my entire body hurts. I deserved it, though.
Jazzy shakes her head and opens the first aid box that’s sitting on the counter. She pulls out a bottle of antiseptic and some cotton balls. “This is going to sting, and I hope it stings extra hard,” she says as she brings the now-dripping cotton ball to my face.
I don’t move away, staying perfectly still as she works on cleaning my open wounds before she discards the cotton ball and then pulls out a packet of frozen peas from the freezer.
“You need to ice your face,” she says, throwing the packet at me.
I catch it midair and wince.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think your father cracked some ribs,” I groan, pain tearing through my torso.
“You should have fought back, or at the very least, blocked his punches. What kind of idiot lies there and takes a beating like that?”
“I’m not fighting your father, Jazzy,” I tell her.
“Why? Because he’s Carlo Bianchi?” She raises a brow.
I snort. I know her father and uncles hold a degree of power in this city.
They rule the underground. But they don’t hold the same level as The Court, and they all know it.
We aren’t spoken about aloud. Most people wouldn’t know about our existence, but it’s been what’s led this entire country for centuries.
Old money. There’s nothing our families won’t do to protect the masses we’ve accumulated. There are no lines we won’t cross to make more either. Well, there wasn’t. I did just veto a business deal that I was not on board with.
“No, because he’s your father and you care about him. Despite what you believe, I never want to see you hurt. You are my best friend.”
“We are not friends.” Jazzy snorts.
“So, you bring all the men you hate to your apartment to patch them up?” I raise a brow at her.
“It was my fault you got your ass kicked. I felt bad for you momentarily. The moment has passed.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I tell her. “What happened… it’s my fault. I did this to us, not you.”
“Why? If I’m supposed to be your so-called best friend, why not just tell me the truth? I’m a big girl, Jake. I can handle it. Why didn’t you just tell me you didn’t feel the same way about me?”
“What?” Is that what she thinks? That I didn’t fucking love her with every fiber of my being? That I don’t still love her more than anything in this world?
Jazzy shrugs. “You know I crushed on you for years. You had to know that. You didn’t have to pity fuck me on prom night.”
“Pity fuck you?” I shake my head. “I did not pity fuck you, Jasmine Bianchi. I fucking loved you… I love you,” I quickly correct myself. “Love and want have nothing to do with it. You’re not the only one who harbored a crush.”
“Then why? If you supposedly loved me so much, why did you leave?”
Before I can answer, footsteps echo off the walls. I don’t doubt that her brother’s back. I’ve been here too long already. When two faces fill the entryway, I almost wish it was CJ, instead of two people I really don’t want to fucking deal with. Her uncles.
“Princesa, I heard you moved up here,” Emmanuel Lopez hums.
“Tío E, I didn’t know you were in town.”
I watch as Jazzy wraps her arms around him and kisses his cheek. The asshole holds her close. I get that he’s her uncle, sort of, but I don’t like anyone touching her. Not that I have any claim to her.
“Uncle Louie.” Jazzy moves to the next guy, who is staring at me like he’s trying to make me disappear with his gaze alone.
“Princess, you doing okay?” Louie Giuliani is the leader of the Vegas underground. Scary motherfucker to most people. I’m not most people.
“I’m good. What are you two doing here?”
“Heard your father gave your little friend there a makeover.” Louie points to me. “It’s a huge improvement.”
“Uncle Louie, be nice,” Jazzy says. I almost laugh. Her uncles are anything but nice people.
“Nice? To the boy who broke your heart? Never going to fucking happen, Jazzy,” he grits out between clenched teeth.
“First, he didn’t break my heart. I wouldn’t ever give any man that kind of power over me,” she says. “Second, he’s my friend, and if you’re not going to be nice, you need to come back another time.”
My eyes bug out of my head. Is she seriously taking my side right now? And who is this woman? The one who isn’t afraid to stand up for herself. The Jazzy I knew was always so soft-spoken, afraid to make anyone upset. She was a people pleaser.
“Jazzy, Emilio is downstairs. Can you go tell him I want him up here?” This comes from Emmanuel.
“Are you trying to get me to leave so you can finish him off?” she asks.
“No, I’m trying to get you to get my idiot teenage son up here because he listens to you a lot more than he does me,” Emmanuel says.
“I’m not leaving you two with Jake.” Jazzy shakes her head.
I know why they want her gone. They want to have a chat about things she can’t be privy to. “I’ll be fine. I also wouldn’t say no to a bottle of whiskey if you can swipe some from one of the bars,” I tell her.
“Seriously?” she grumbles at me. “If I leave you with those two, I’ll probably never see you again.”
“Well, in that case, you should probably kiss me goodbye.” I smirk.
“I will fucking shoot you in front of her,” Emmanuel says calmly. But his face is nothing but rage.
Jazzy glares at her uncle and then turns back to me.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, promise,” I assure her.
“Your promises don’t mean shit to me, Jacob. You’ve broken them before,” she says before she turns and walks out. Leaving me to my demise apparently.
As soon as the elevator doors ping closed, her uncles start in on me. “You and I both know you had that coming,” Louie says.
“You didn’t fight back? Why?” This comes from Emmanuel.
I don’t say anything. I don’t need to. As much as they don’t want to admit it, they’re worried.
“What are you doing hanging around Jazzy again? What’s your game here?” Louie asks.
“I don’t have a game. And we’re friends,” I say.
“Friends? You expect us to believe that all you’re doing is being her friend?” Emmanuel presses.
“I don’t really give a fuck what you believe. Whatever happens between Jazzy and me is just that, between her and me. No one else.” I’d never speak to her father like this. I have too much respect for Jazzy to do that. But these fuckers? Fuck them.
“You know, your being around puts a target on her back. One she doesn’t fucking need,” Louie says.
“You think I don’t know that?” I’ve just spent more than a decade keeping away from her. “She moved back here. I didn’t go chasing her.”
“She had to come back,” Emmanuel says.
“Yeah? Why is that? What happened in New York?” I ask him.
His lips form a tight line. He’s not going to tell me.
“I know you’re the one who brought her home.” I looked into it. She arrived in the middle of the night on his private jet. “Fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll find out eventually.” I shrug and stand, because I’ve had enough of this bullshit. I do actually have an office to get to, a business to run.
“You taking this further?” Louie points to my face. He wants to know if I’m going to get The Court involved. I have no intention of doing that to Jazzy’s father. But it is entertaining watching the men who never sweat… finally sweat a little.
“No. I would never bring any harm to Jazzy,” I say.
“Then stay the fuck away from her,” Emmanuel counters.
I stare at him. “Would you stay away from your wife?”
“She’s not your wife,” he answers.
“Maybe not yet, but she will be.” I smirk.
There is no way I’m not making that woman mine again. She’s always been mine, but now that she’s back, I’m keeping her. To hell with the consequences. I will find a way to protect her, make sure my world doesn’t touch her. It can’t be that fucking hard. My father has managed to keep my mother safe.