Page 8 of Jacked and Jaded

There were a couple of other instances that added to the death of their friendship after that, but the one that brought their friendship to a stuttering halt was the night she came by his house and they’d ended up having sex. Yep. That’s right. He’d fucked Calliope Reynolds. His friend. Thegirlnext door.

Movement in the driveway across the street caught his attention. The sight of Calliope pulling into the drive pulled him out of memory lane. He watched as her mom ran out of the house, her arms open wide, her smile blinding even from here. The two women embraced, hugging each other tight. When they broke apart, they walked arm in arm through the front door. Two minutes. Two whole minutes was how long he got to see Calliope in the flesh. He wasn’t stupid, he knew she tried to avoid him on her rare trips home and he couldn’t blame her.

“You could go over and say hi you know.” His mom slipped her arm in his, leaning her head on his shoulder, taking in the scene unfolding over at the Reynolds’ house.

He wasn’t sure going over there to say hi was a good idea. She was probably still mad at him if she was making such an effort to avoid him. The last thing he wanted to do was to go over there and have her slam the door in his face. He was a grown ass thirty-year-old man now. A Sons of Redemption MC brother. He didn’t chase women. But Calliope wasn’t just any woman either. He ran a hand over his face, debating on whether or not he should slink over there and try to get her to talk to him. His phone rang in his pocket, putting that debate on hold. He looked at the caller ID and saw it was Trick.

“Hey, man. What’s up?”

“Can you do me a huge ass favor? It’s my turn to go by the old grow shed and check up on Dillon.”

Dillon Fuller was the Sons of Redemption’s resident pot engineer as Jed liked to call it. He did whatever he did to make the best quality marijuana around. He tried to explain to Jackson one time what it was exactly that he did, but once the scientific words started flying, he tuned him out. “Sure. Not a problem. How’s Reagan?”

“My baby girl is pitiful. She just wants to lay in my lap and watch TV.”

Jackson knew exactly how Trick felt. It was heartbreaking for a parent when your kid was sick. “Hope your girl gets better soon. I’ll head over there now.” He hung up and pocketed his phone. “Well, I gotta go take care of something for Trick.” He kissed the top of his mom’s head and got ready to leave.

“One of you has to make the first move, Jackson. Why not let it be you?”

He knew his mom meant well, but if she knew what he’d done to Calliope, she might not be pushing so hard for the two of them to talk.

4

Calliope heard the sounds of a motorcycle start up across the street and knew it was Jackson taking off. She’d recognize the sound of his motorcycle anywhere.

Sitting on the couch with her mom, she felt her heart race at the sound of his rumbling bike pipes. She’d seen his bike in the driveway as she pulled in and hoped for a quick escape into the house before she was forced to face him. Her mom kept saying she needed to make nice with Jackson so they could be friends again. She told her it was hard for her and Jackson’s mom to be stuck in the middle, not knowing what really happened to send Calliope running to Boulder.

They’d talked about several different things, but whenever her mom tried to turn the focus on her, Calliope would deflect and ask about her mom.

She reminded her mom she didn’t want to talk about it and turned the conversation to everything going on in her mom’s life. They talked about life in the ER and how wonderfully she and Tom had been doing. To say Calliope was happy for her would be a gross understatement. She hadn’t seen her mom that happy since her dad was alive.

At seven o’clock sharp Tom arrived to take her and her mom to dinner to celebrate her birthday. Calliope had met him once before when she’d come home and thought she might like him if she were able to spend any time with him. Now that she’d spent several hours with him and seen the way he was around her mother, she knew she definitely liked him. He was so attentive and caring with her, it made Calliope blissfully happy. This was what she’d wanted for her mother for years. Maybe if he’d come along while Calliope was still living at home, her mom might not have smothered her so much. In any case, she was glad Tom was a part of her mom’s life now.

After dinner, he’d come inside for coffee, but didn’t stay very long. He kissed her mom goodbye and was about to take off when Calliope told him he didn’t have to leave on account of her. He smiled warmly and hugged her, telling her he wanted to give the two of them some quality mother/daughter time. He’d catch up with Maureen tomorrow when he picked her up that afternoon to head out on a cruise. Her mom was beyond excited. She’d never been on a cruise and had always wanted to take one, but never had the money. Her mom liked to joke that Tom liked to spoil her. From what she’d seen tonight, he certainly did and she was truly happy that her mom had found someone so amazing.

“So, what did you think of Tom?” She plopped down on the couch next to Calliope. It was so sweet to see her mom all gaga over a man.

She took her mom’s hand in hers and squeezed it. “I gotta say, I really like the way he takes care of you. He listens when you talk, seems to genuinely care about what you’re saying and he looks at you like you’re the sun, the moon and the stars all rolled into one.”

“Yeah. He does, doesn’t he?” Her mom beamed. Since she started dating Tom, she looked ten years younger.

“I’ve wanted that for you for so long. I’m glad that you finally found it. You deserve to be happy.” Calliope scooted down on the couch so she could lay her head on her mom’s shoulder and propped her feet on the coffee table. She suppressed a groan when the movement made her bruised side hurt. She missed this so much. She didn’t miss the smothering at all, but these quiet moments she had with her mom, she missed a lot.

“That’s all I ever wanted for you, too, baby girl.” Her mom kissed the top of her head, then leaned hers against Calliope’s. “Don’t be mad at me, but I don’t think being with Clint is going to find you that kind of happiness.” She could feel her mom hold her breath, waiting for her to come to Clint’s defense.

“Well, Mom, funny you should bring him up.” She felt her mom lift her head, so she did, too. She pulled back, wanting to be able to gauge her mom’s reaction. “I was hoping you’d be okay with me moving home for a little while until I can find my own place.”

“What are you saying?” Her mom’s eyes narrowed on her.

“I’m leaving Clint.”

“Care to tell me why?” She knew her mom had her suspicions and worried what she would say if she told her the whole truth.

“He’s not the man I thought he was and I think it’s time to end things before they go really sour.” She didn’t have the guts to tell her the truth. That he was getting more and more physically abusive with her. She didn’t want to be that woman who waited too long to get out and ended up paying dearly for the mistake. She also didn’t want her mom to know that she’d been stupid enough to stay as long as she did. She felt so ashamed as it was.

Her mom watched her carefully, looking for something. She worked in an ER and could read between the lines. It broke her heart when she saw tears pooling in her mom’s eyes.

“You are welcome here any time. This is your home.” She pulled her into a hug. “God, I’m so happy you’re coming home.”

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