9781618857958KissMeLikeYouMeanItLeveyNC (18 page)

Shielding
his emotions, Jackson strode up to the very devil who spawned him and gave no
notice before winding back and letting his rage fuel the uppercut he delivered.
The resonant sound of bone cracking and the shriek of the woman tumbling from Senior’s
grasp didn't stop his second swing. He didn’t give a fuck about his father’s
latest choice of gold digging pussy. All he saw was Carlie's scared face.

The
bar erupted with calls for security as he took out years of anger on the man he
had no respect for, the man he hated. The man, in retrospect, he’d almost
become. Carlie’s words to walk away sounded so good, if only he had the self-control
to follow her advice. Advice he knew was spoken out of concern and caring. Senior
gripped at him, landed punches to his kidneys. He slammed an elbow into his
face.

His
father’s blood covered his hands as they rolled on the floor trading jabs. The
weak ass fuck didn’t know how to fight. Two beefy security guards came close. Jackson
kicked a leg out knocking one down, then another. Two more appeared. There was
no way he could fight them all off. He snarled as the guards stepped closer and
broke he and Senior a part. Their grip cut the circulation from his hands as
they hauled him away from his father. While restrained his father dealt him
blow after blow getting in the shots he failed to land.

“Let
me go. I’m done.” He broke free from their lax grasp and took notice of the
growing crowd. No wonder they released him on command. Father and son danced
around each other. Jackson cracked his neck and swiped his face. His nose felt
broken again, but he'd think about that another time.

“You
ungrateful little boy.” Senior poked him in the chest. “Fuck with me and I’ll
close your restaurants in all of my resorts. You won’t have shit, you sniveling
fuck.”

Jackson
smirked. “You wish you could, you old fool. Mom was smart, to do that you need
my signature. To sell any of the resorts you need my signature. Her will is
ironclad you should’ve read it better.” Glaring at his father, he swiped the
blood from his nose.

“Is
this over a puny small city girl? You throw away your inheritance—choose tail
over family, over loyalty? Boy, no cunt is that good, not even your mama’s.”
Bloody and battered his father moved past the guards to stand toe to toe with
him again.

"Watch
what you say about my mother and Carlie. I could kill you for how you used
threats when you spoke to my girl. How. Fucking. Dare. You." He clenched
his fists. "Come to my house and spout your bullshit." The guards shoved
at him as he fought to reign in his temper. He took a calming breath to clear
his head.
What do I want?
He exhaled.
I want to walk away with control of this
situation.
With calmness came clarity. "I'm done. Either buy me out or
I'll sell my shares to the highest bidder. But make no mistake. You will be out
of my life either way."

Two
uniformed officers entered the bar. “Mr.
Laraunt
.”

“Yes,”
both men answered simultaneously.

“We
received a complaint from the employees, stating there was an assault in
progress.” The cops looked from father to son and shook their heads.

“No
assault, a family matter to attend to. It’s over. You can leave.” Jackson
straightened and wiped the blood dripping down his jaw. “My father and I were just
coming to an understanding.”

“Sir?”
The officers addressed his old man.

“Thanks
for coming but this is between my son and I.” He turned to Jackson. “You know
where the door is. See yourself through it. I’ll have my lawyers contact your
for the sale.”

“Good.
The sooner the better.” Jackson righted his clothing and headed outside. The
cops getting into their cruiser stopped to look at him. The older one came over
and put a hand on his arm. For a second he thought he was going to jail.

“Son,
it’d be a shame to have to take you in and book you. Every man has demons he
has to fight, but he also has to know when to walk away. Take care of
yourself.” The older officer pressed his fingers into Jackson’s shoulder and
fixed his hat. A call came over his radio and he took his leave.

He
watched the lights flip on and the sirens wail as he and his partner left. He
flipped his phone open and it buzzed with new messages.

We’re
on our way to you with Raul. None of us can drive after two beers. Don’t catch
a cab. God I hope you’re okay, please tell me you’re okay.

I’m
fine. Standing in front of my father’s hotel. How close are you?

Don’t
lie to me you can’t be fine. I saw all the blood. What the hell happened to
walk away? Garrick is taking the phone from me.

Bro?
You good? Damn thought you quit fighting years ago. Trish is going postal, the
entire fight was streamed and posted on every social media.

“
Fuck,”
Jackson groaned. Talk about
tunnel-vision.

When
I get home and cleaned up we can handle the press. Strangely there’s none here
to bother me. Maybe I scared them off.

Doubt
that happened. More likely stuck in traffic or some other shit, but you know
what happens next. How are you physically?

Yeah,
I do. You can tell Trish my hands are fine. Threw a lot of elbow blows.
Knocking that asshole on his ass was a long time in the making and bound to
happen at some point.

Yeah,
well I owe him one for how he treated my sister.

I
got you, no need to dole out a second beating. Don’t think he’d be as generous
to you. I don’t know what his game is or why he didn’t send me to the slammer.

Raul
pulled up in the car before he had a chance to ask Garrick to give the phone
back to Carlie. He opened the door and shuffled into the backseat. Carlie launched
herself into his arms.

“Your
face is broken.” She had such a tortured look on her face that he wanted to
soothe her worry.

“I’m
okay. This is nothing.” He kissed the top of her head and winced when she
hugged him too tight.

“I’m
sorry, didn’t mean to make it worse. I want to kiss you and strangle you at the
same time. Oh my God, your nose.” She reached up to touch the swollen
cartilage.

“I
don’t think it’s broken, thought so at first but doesn’t feel like it is.”

“Gee,
you’d think you knew the difference by now. How many times have you had it
busted or broken in a fight?”

“I
don’t know seven or eight, maybe ten? I know they said anymore I’d have to have
surgery to avoid having scar tissue blocking the nasal passages.”

“Yeah,
imagine that.”

“So
long as I’m not on your shit list.” Jackson absently stroked Carlie’s arm. He
met Garrick’s gaze and offered a grim smile. She felt so right in his arms.

“What
happened to walk away? I don’t know how many times I texted those words. Why
did you have to fight him?”

“Princess,
I don’t have an answer for you. It’s not like I thought about it. I had every
intention to just tell him to either buy me out of my inheritance or I’d sell
my shares. But this rage suffocated me, I couldn’t climb out of it and didn’t
want to. I wanted to rip him to shreds for the things he said to you, how bad
he made you feel. I couldn’t let him get away with hurting you or dissing my
mom.”

“Baby,
you didn’t have to do that for me. I think I pretty much laid the verbal smack
down in my own defense.”

“I
know. No one has ever stood up for me to him before. You’re probably one fourth
of his size and weight and you were like a rabid little ankle biter protecting
me. Thank you, you sexy crazy woman. I’m glad he didn’t put his hands on you.
I’ve seen him knock around a few of his women.”

Carlie
pinched him. “Ankle biter? Rabid? Gee that’s really nice of you. I did flinch
once, but then he pissed me off too bad to be scared of him.”

“Oh,
come on, you were totally frothing at the mouth to take a bite out of his hide,
all that sexy temper on display in rare form.”

“Even
when said temper is aimed at you?”

“Yeah,
my little hellcat. I can just imagine being buried in your sweet pussy while
you’re going off.”

“Hey!”
Garrick reached over from his spot on the other side of her and slapped his
head. “Not cool, older brother in the same car.”

“Sorry,
bro.”

The
ringtone for their manager went ape shit. Jackson picked up the phone and
sighed. He already had a headache. Talking to a
pissy
PR manager wanting to kick his ass was the last thing he wanted to do.

“I
can give you a formal statement for media.” He sighed as Carlie snuggled into
his arms to offer him support. “Tell them. ‘Jackson
Laurant
,
son and heir to the
Laurant
Hotel and Resort chain,
is selling his shares of the business to his father, formally removing himself
from all ties to the paternal side of the family business. The fight was the
result of Jackson Sr. verbally assaulting my girlfriend, Carlie Stevens. I
apologize to the fans who’ve been there for me in the past and have given me
support in overcoming my anger issues. This was not a relapse in behavior but a
sign to let others know, I do not take kindly to anyone hurting what’s mine.”

He
listened to their manager repeat his words and promised nothing like this would
happen again, then hung up the phone.

“Hey
there berserker, that was one longwinded statement. I thought you didn’t let
anyone in on that side of you? You gonna be okay with people piecing together
who your father is? You’ve kept that part of your life low-key forever.”

“I’m
sure there are a lot of people who already know. And yeah, he’s about to be out
of my life. A man can only take so much shit before he either loses his mind or
ends up in prison. It’s time to let go of a life I’ve never wanted to be a part
of.”

“So
this is a good thing?

“Yeah,
feels like a huge burden has been lifted. I’m only selling off my forty percent
of
Laurant
resorts. I own the restaurants within the
hotels though. To get back at me, I’m sure his parting shot will be an attempt
to get me to sell those to him too. He’ll use every dirty trick in the book to
make sure I won’t benefit in any way from what he considers his life’s work.”

“Can
he do anything to hurt you through destroying them?”

“Nah.
The restaurants were built with the money from my mother’s family. He has no
legal rights. They made a prenup to protect their business interests that
included any hotel or restaurant built after marriage. Anything that was my
mother’s passed to me as their only son, anything that was my father’s would’ve
been passed down to me too.”

“And
you’re cool with walking away,” Garrick interjected.

“Yeah,
bro. I have a solid plate with the band, my first priority businesswise, and
what my mom and grandma left me. I have no desire to follow in that bastard’s
footsteps.”

“You
need to prepare yourself for the gold diggers and con artists. If we’re lucky
you won’t end up on some reality show for world’s wealthiest bachelors.”

“Shut
up. He’s not a bachelor anymore. He just announced to the world that I’m his
girlfriend.”

Carlie
grinned and touched his busted lip with tenderness. Jackson reached down and
touched his lips to hers in a sweet kiss.

“What
about your future children?”

“I
will leave them a legacy to be proud of, built with the support of the external
family who took me in and showed me love means giving without wanting anything
in return.”

“My
parents love you,
Jacksy
.”

“I
know, I rather love them too and their little princess.”

Raul
pulled up to his house. Carlie scrambled out of the car and turned to yank him
out. When he moved to take her hand, Garrick stopped him.

“I’m
heading to the airport with Raul to pick up my mom, pops and Jordan.
Neveah’s
family will be here tomorrow. Thanks for letting
us have our party here. Can you keep Carlie occupied? I don’t want her worrying
about coming face to face with them. I’ve warned my pops to let it go and not
upset her or my pregnant fiancé.”

“I
can do that. I haven’t been inside her for—”

“Don’t
make me punch you for that shit. I don’t need a visual play by play of what
ya’ll do. I’ve seen you in action and putting the two factors together is
nauseating.” Jackson chuckled and climbed out. As soon as he shut the door,
Raul took off again.

“Where
are they off to?”