Page 22 of JoJo

Chapter 7

We were waiting for Mr. Alexander when my guilty conscious got the best of me. I should have been helping the girls out with getting a place ready for a baby, just in case. “Do you think Angel Girl and Sweet will be okay?”

“If they’re not, it’s on them and not you, babe.” I attempted a smile at his reassurance, but that didn’t alleviate the guilt I felt. Suddenly I was sure that as soon as we were done with the lawyer visit, I would head to the store and pick up some things I could contribute. They were sure to need formula and diapers for the baby as well as some other stuff. Hell, I didn’t really know what all you needed for a baby, to be honest. I worked on cars for a living and none of the women from the club had kids yet aside from Legs. Her daughter had been missing since before I met her though so I never got to see her in a mom role. I turned my head to look at Steel as I was thinking about how weird it would be to suddenly have a kid thrust on you and he just smiled back at me with that cocky, self-assured grin of his. Jesus, my ovaries kind of announced they were ready to find out whenever he looked at me that way. Then it hit me what he’d said. He had just called me babe.

I chose to ignore the endearment, just in case he didn’t actually mean to say it. It could have been a slip up, something he was used to saying with his ex or something and it just toppled out of his mouth. “I think I’m going to head over after this and see if there’s something I can help with. The girls are getting the room ready for Angel to bring the baby back, in case that’s what happens. I’d feel like a real asshole if I didn’t help. It doesn’t matter if I’m mad at Sweet right now. No need to take it out on the baby, you know?”

“I think that’s great if that’s what you want to do. You’re right, it’s not the baby’s fault, and Sweet’s issues aren’t yours or mine to take on, even if he is projecting them onto our situation. Don’t feel guilty about the fact that we figured our shit out quickly while he chose to hide his secrets. That’s not on us.”

“I guess not. I just don’t get why he would do that after knowing everything those two went through when other people meddled in their lives.” Steel was about to say something when Mr. Alexander’s office door opened about the same time my brother came strolling into the lobby waiting area.

“Oh good,” Mr. Alexander said with a smile. “You’re all here. That should make this easier.”

As it turned out, my brother had a whole lot of ‘what if’ style questions to throw around. He also stated that he wanted to contest the validity of our marriage. My. Alexander shut him down by playing the video of my Vegas wedding, and telling him he didn’t have a leg to stand on. To my utter shock and horror my brother then asked his next question.

“What if she were to die before she’s been married for five years?” Mr. Alexander blanched while Steel jumped up from his chair.

“She is your sister, and she’s sitting right here!” There is no doubt in my mind Steel could be heard clear out into the lobby and probably beyond.

“What?” CJ asked, nonplussed by the reactions he received. “It’s a legitimate question.”

“Pardon me for having to answer this one, Cynthia-Jo.” Mr. Alexander apologized. “If she died, her assets, including the business would go directly to her next of kin, which would be her husband. The law sees that she was still married at the time of death, and has a reasonable belief that she would have remained married if she continued to live, therefore the widow would be entitled to inherit. If Mrs…” Mr. Alexander cleared his throat then. “I’m sorry, will you be going by Mason still, or will it be Briggs now?”

“I don’t know. I suppose I’ll be changing it. Isn’t that what married women do?”

Mr. Alexander shrugged. “It’s what they usually do in these parts, but there are plenty of women who keep their maiden name or hyphenate them together. It’s entirely up to you.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. It doesn’t matter what JoJo’s name is, you were saying…” My slimy brother redirected us all back to his morbid question.

“Yes, well, if Cynthia-Jo were to have a Last Will and Testament on file, we would of course go with whatever her wishes were no matter how she died. If she does not, in fact, have a Will on file, and foul play of any kind was suspected her estate would go into escrow until results of the investigation were complete. Obviously, no party deemed responsible for her death would be able to collect. If that were the case, then her estate would be split between any other family.”

I could swear there was a gleam in my brother’s eyes as he listened to the part about foul play. It made me visibly shiver. Steel pulled me in closer to his side by throwing an arm around my shoulder then. I don’t know if he was trying to keep anyone else from seeing my reaction, or if he just thought I was cold.

“No need to play all lovey dovey for me. I know this whole thing is a farce meant to keep me from my birthright.” I think everyone in the room rolled their eyes in unison at my brother.

I ignored him and gave Mr. Alexander my complete focus as I started speaking. “I think we’ve proved the only thing necessary for now.” Steel stood and reached out his hand for me then. “Mr. Alexander if there’s anything else you need, you know how to contact me.”

Steel glanced back over his shoulder at my brother, “CJ, I suggest you go back to New York and give your sister time to get over your callous, greedy bullshit before you attempt to contact her again.”

“This isn’t over,” CJ said with total determination.

“Unless the couple divorces in the next five years, it most certainly is over,” Mr. Alexander sputtered out, apparently just as horrified by my brother’s behavior as I was. Steel and I simply left the office. I was still in a bit of a daze when we got out on the street next to the car.

“I had to ask, JoJo. What do you even know about this guy? He’s a freaking biker,” he sneered.

“I’m a freaking biker, numb nuts! Besides that, I trust him a whole lot more than I trust you right now, and that’s just sad.”

“Why are you being like this?” CJ asked, sounding like he honestly didn’t understand my hostility. Only, he then followed up his question with his own assessment. “I’m the male heir, the oldest child. The business should have fallen to me directly anyway.”

“If you wanted the family business so bad, maybe you should have stayed and run it when dad was too sick to do it. You didn’t though. I did. Do we really need to argue over who deserves to keep it? I put the time in. I did the work. You have a new life in New York. Go, make the best of it.”

“This isn’t over, JoJo. I have lawyers looking into things outside of this little Podunk town.”

“Good for you, CJ.” Steel held open the passenger door on my pickup truck, which I was suddenly glad we’d brought. Instead of saying anything else to my brother, I got in and buckled up. That didn’t stop me from overhearing what Steel said to my brother.

“I’m going to make sure your sister has everything in place to ensure you never get a dime if anything happens to her. She’s more than welcome to put in place the same where I am concerned. But let me be clear, if anything out of the ordinary happens to your sister, I’m coming for you, CJ. You won’t get the chance to fight whatever she’s put in place.” With that, he maneuvered himself into the driver’s seat of my truck, and we took off moments later.

“That was awful.” I finally commented, but I was too emotionally drained to put anything behind the words. The feelings were sort of sitting inside of me, bonded by a barrier of numbness.

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