Page 53 of Jacked and Jaded

“Dad, can we pway games now?” Ryker tapped him on the arm to get his attention. Obviously, playing games was way more important than introducing his brothers to Calliope’s friend.

“Yeah. We’ll go play some games in a minute.”

Jed entered the conversation by asking what Bellamy did in Boulder. He immediately worried that he’d said something to upset her when she frowned.

“Well, I used to own a women’s store that carried handmade jewelry, like Calliope’s, shoes, handbags, clothes and all kinds of accessories,” Bellamy explained.

“Used to?” Jed asked.

“Yeah. I had a fire at my store a few days ago and it gutted it completely.” She shared a look with Calliope, then continued, “I believe Calliope’s ex, Clint, did it.”

“What makes you think it was her ex?” Race asked from where he stood at the end of the table. He had one hand in his pocket and the other holding a beer, his brows dipped in question.

“Because he kept coming in to my store asking me where she went and I kept telling him I didn’t know. Which, I really didn’t, but I wouldn’t have told him if I had. The last time he was there he said if I didn’t tell him, I was going to regret it. The next morning I found my store burned.”

All of the brothers in the group exchanged a silent communication that every one of them understood. Clint Maxwell needed to die.

“Will you be able to rebuild?” Chris asked.

“I could, but I’m really thinking about moving to Redemption. There’s really nothing keeping me there now.”

“What about Martha?” Calliope asked.

Bellamy swatted her hand. “Psh. Grandma took off with a bunch of old ladies and they’re taking trips like crazy. She won’t even know I’m gone.”

“Dad?” Ryker tried again.

“All right. All right. Let’s go.” He stood and tossed their plates in the trash. “Calliope, you want to go with us and play games?”

“Sure. Sounds fun.” She got up and was going to gather her and Bellamy’s trash, but her friend beat her to it.

“Trick?”

“Uh, yeah. You think I’m getting out of here without these two playing a few games?” He ruffled his son’s hair and accepted his daughter’s hand in his.

And off they all went. Jackson hadn’t asked if the brothers wanted to go, but he knew Race, Tuck, Jed and Chris were following along anyway. He imagined Bellamy was the reason for that.

He and Trick were leading the way, but he heard Calliope ask Bellamy where some guy named Dallas was at. He stopped in front of a game where the little ones could pull a few ducks out of a pond and win some cheap ass toys. For some reason, the kids loved it.

“I don’t know. We broke up a couple of months ago.” Bellamy shrugged like it was no big deal.

“Really? Why’d you break up?” Calliope asked.

“It probably had a lot to do with the fact that he was lazy in bed. And had a little pecker.”

Jackson’s head shot their direction at the sound of someone choking. It was Race. Bellamy’s words had him choking on his beer. Chris was pounding on his back asking if he was okay. Race’s face was red, and if Chris didn’t clue in that the way the president was looking at him right now meant he was about to get killed, he would find out the hard way.

“Hey, we’re going to get a funnel cake.” Calliope pointed at the food stand twenty feet away, completely oblivious that Bellamy’s comment almost killed Race.

“All right, babe.” He handed the guy working the game some tickets and told Ryker to pick three ducks. He nodded his head at Chris, who immediately took off after the women. Ryker pulled them out, the guy checked the numbers on the bottom and then handed him three cheap ass toys that would break by tomorrow morning. His son didn’t care, though. He was happy with his prizes.

Race stepped up next to him. “Enjoy it now. It gets a hell of a lot more expensive as they get older.”

Jackson was sure Race was right. He looked to see where Calliope was in line for her funnel cake. She’d made it to the front of the line and was getting their food and coming back to him. He frowned as she stopped in front of him. “What have you got?” It looked like she had three plates on top of each other and so did Bellamy.

“We thought you guys might want some, too,” she answered as though it should’ve been obvious.

Jackson checked with the brothers and they were all smiling. “I’ll take one.” Tuck stepped up and relieved Calliope of one of the plates. Jackson took one and handed it to Jed and Race took one from Bellamy and handed it to Chris. Trick took the second one from Bellamy and offered it to his kids. Jackson motioned to a bench under a tree a few feet away, knowing if the kids didn’t sit down to eat the messy treat, it was going to end up all over them or on the ground.

---