Page 20 of Jake

“The police are searching, but I’m betting that she’ll just turn up somewhere and wonder what all the fuss is about.” Forrest had to agree with that. “I’m going to help them find her.”

“All right.” Jake looked at him, surprise written all over his face. “Did you expect me to tell you no? Or maybe tell you to leave it to the police? I don’t think they’re going to have any luck. She, however, thinks you and her are still going to work this out. You could lure her out faster than most, I think. But I would ask that you have the cops here or wherever.”

“Yes. That’s what I’m thinking as well. I just want this over with, so we can move on.” Forrest told him that’s what he wanted as well. “She’s going to be dangerous. I mean, more than just what she did to her mom, she’s going to be coming here with one thought in her head; that I’m going to do as she tells me.”

“No, you’re well past that.” Jake nodded and handed him the file that had been in the car. “When Tyler told you what he’d done, did he mention who had taken the case? Who had worked out the settlement?”

“My father.” Forrest dropped the file and swallowed twice as he waited for the punchline. “My dad used to be this great attorney. I think that’s the reason that I was allowed to become one too. To see if I could be better than him. Anyway, I did some digging and Tyler has been paying my dad ten grand every two weeks for the last fourteen years. And there was a big settlement put into his account on the day that Carol and I married.”

“Your father knew.” Jake said that was his assumption. “So these two couples, they get together and sort of throw you to the wolves. Christ, and I thought my family was bad. What are you going to do?”

“Tell Grandma.” Forrest felt his cat shiver over him, a fear so profound that Forrest was sure his cat would never have come out for any reason now. “She’ll need to know anyway, but I think this will be just what all parties deserve.”

“Yeah. She’s going to shit a brick. And I’m pretty sure that she’s going to hit your dad with it.” Jake laughed. “Have you told her yet? If you don’t mind, I’d really like to be there for that. I might even take pictures.”

“Good. Because we’re having dinner here with them tomorrow night with Grandma.” Jake stood up, pulled him to his body, and kissed him. When he let go, Forrest staggered slightly. “We’re also going to tell them about us. So gear up.”

Forrest was still standing there when he heard the front door shut. He had an idea where Jake was going and why, but he wasn’t sure how to help him. Thinking of the dinner party and what it might entail, he thought of telling his parents that he was his lover. Forrest was laughing as he entered the kitchen to talk to their cook, Mary.

“We’re having a party of sorts.” Mary asked who was coming and when. “I’m not sure of their names, to be honest. Jake’s parents and Jenna. There might be an attorney or two here, just for the fun of it, but you should also know that it’s not going to be a welcoming party. More of a coming to meet the devil sort of thing, as my grandmother used to say.”

“Ah. Well, we should have something that cannot be thrown at one another.” Forrest said that might be good. “And a good fattening dessert. I don’t believe many will enjoy that part of the meal, being that they’ll be upset and leave early. But I can do that.”

Forrest told her to make and do what she needed, including hiring someone to help her out with serving. He was nearly to the door again, having to get busy moving out of his rental, when Mary stopped him.

“Sir, if this is a celebration of your life with Mr. Jake, then I would suggest you invite your father as well. It might be an enlightening sort of thing to get everything out in the open.” Forrest said that might be too much. “It might, but you won’t have to do it again, ever, if you play this correctly.”

Forrest wasn’t sure what he’d have to do to make his father come. The man hadn’t said a word to him in over a decade. But then he thought of Jenna. The woman was going to hate him for this, but he’d ask her to do it under the guise that he wanted him to meet Jake.

Which was true, he did, but there were other things too. He wanted his dad to see how happy he was, how he’d found his mate, despite all those years of his father telling him he’d never do it. Yes, Forrest thought, this could be just the thing to do.

As he made his way to his house, he was smiling. At one point he whistled. Forrest hadn’t whistled in years. And found that he liked it.

Chapter 9

Carol stomped to where she’d parked her mother’s car. These people, she thought, were going to pay for treating her like this. And as soon as she and Jake were back together, she was going to have a party to end all parties. No matter what Jake said about it.

“He’s going to have to toe the line for a bit now to get me back in his good graces. I’m not going to have him think he can do this to me again. I might not ever fully trust him again, the bastard.” Carol sat in the car and laid her head on the steering wheel. “Why are people so mean to me?”

She wasn’t going to cry. Not over this. Lifting her head, she stared out the window to see couples with brats going into the mall. Carol hated children of all kinds. Not just kids, but anything small and needy. They were nothing but parasites for the most part, dirty, nasty, ankle biting parasites.

Carol had known this woman once who had three of the little buggers, all of them just as evil as the next. And when she’d been asked to hold one of them, a screaming thing, she told the woman to go fuck herself. There wasn’t any way she was going to touch it.

“It’s just a baby, Carol. You might want to have one of your own someday. I’m sure that Jake would be a great dad.” Carol just shook her head. “Come on. I need to change the other two and you’d be helping me out.”

“Drown it. Hell, drown them all.” The woman looked shocked, so Carol thought she’d make sure she understood. “Seriously, you should wrap them in a trash bag and toss them in the river. It’s not like anyone would miss them. Everyone knows what a horrible drain they are on you and your family. It’s what I’d do if I found I’d waited too long to have it taken out of me. Christ, just get rid of them.”

Being asked to leave the house hadn’t been that big of a deal. Carol didn’t care much for the company of other women anyway. And she’d always known that they were well beneath her in status as well as beauty. Carol could have been a contender, if not the winner, of any beauty contest she’d entered. Everyone knew that; that’s what made them hate her. She looked over at the mall.

No one wanted to sell her anything. And every time she told them her name, even the lowliest of clerks, they just told her that without money or credit cards, they couldn’t help her. Jake was going to have to work very hard in suing everyone that had been rotten to her this week. Starting with that little shit that ran the hair shop she’d been in just now.

“The only person in the world I thought I could talk to, and he turns me down for the all mighty money.” Carol wanted to go in there and teach him a lesson, as she had her mother, but the security team, the fat little fuckers, had told her to get out. “Why couldn’t he have just fixed my hair for me? Why? Why? Why?”

Starting the car, she noticed that two police cruisers were entering the lot. They had their lights on and the sirens blasting as they flew past her. She knew that someone had said they were calling the police. Why would anyone care if she had messed up the place a little? It wasn’t like Jake couldn’t fix it for her. Or her daddy.

She thought about her mother and wondered if she’d been taken care of as yet. Carol thought she probably should have told someone that she was in her room, but she had left her door open. Christ, her mother was a pain in the ass most of the time. And if she died, well, Carol would be better off not having to listen to her harp all the time. Carol did regret that she didn’t lay something down first to take care of the mess. She only hoped that there was a good carpet cleaner in the house somewhere. Besides, her daddy would be better off without her mother anyway.

Carol decided it was well past time to talk to Jake. He was going to have to give her a key sooner or later, and while the carpet and mess were being cleaned up at her parents’ house, she could simply move back to her home. And while she was out and about, she could go ahead and get new things. The place, she knew, was going to need her touch after Jake living there all this time alone.

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