Page 48 of Reckless Harmony

He was deliberately provoking his cousin, and he fucking knew better, but he couldn’t help it. Jasper’s interest in Rayna was eating away at him.

Jasper gave him a thin smile. “Your father relies heavily on me now. The company may not be legally mine, but it’s technically mine just as much as it’s his. It would fall apart without me.”

“There’s that inflated sense of self-worth I don’t miss,” Stark said.

“Fuck you, Isaac.” The mask Jasper had put on the moment he saw Rayna had disappeared entirely. “You’ve acted like you’re better than the rest of us for years, and I am fucking over it. You’re an entitled prick who doesn’t deserve everything that’s fallen into your lap.”

“Fallen into my lap?” Stark snarled. “I built my company from the ground up, unlike you, who just ‘kissed my father’s ass’ your way up the ladder. You want to talk about entitlement, but I’d rather talk about how you’re running my father’s company into the ground because you don’t have a fucking clue about gaming.”

Jasper froze, his hand tightening on the coffee mug in front of him until Stark expected it to simply shatter under the pressure. His face grim, Jasper said, “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. And I plan on finding who it is in the company feeding you false information and suing their ass into the fucking stratosphere.”

Stark barked harsh laughter. “Are you kidding me? No one is feeding me information, Jasper. Everyone in the gaming community knows that Stark Gaming is in the fucking tank. Your last seven games have all been shit because you have no goddamn idea how to hire a developer who knows what they’re doing. You’ve convinced my father that you know the gaming market, but just because my father refuses to see through your bullshit doesn’t mean the rest of us are in the dark.”

“The changes I’ve made have saved the company,” Jasper said. “Your father would have been out of business years ago if it wasn’t for me. You think because you’re the big fucking name in gaming now that you can just bulldoze over us smaller companies, even when they’re family.”

“Why are you here, Jasper?” Stark asked. He was suddenly exhausted, and he didn’t have it in him to fight with his cousin. Not when it was the same fucking argument they’d had repeatedly over the years.

“Your father wants to meet with you.”

“He sent you to Harmony Falls to tell me that?”

“He’s busy,” Jasper said dismissively.

“And I’m not?”

“It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and you’re babysitting a fucking cat,” Jasper said.

“If my father wants to meet with me, have his assistant set up a phone meeting with Hollis.”

“He wants to see you,” Jasper said.

Dread filled Stark’s stomach. He tried to ignore it and pretend he wasn’t turning into that scared little kid he always was around his father, but just the thought of being in the same room with his father made him feel small and insignificant.

“No,” he said harshly. “Phone meeting only.”

“Not good enough,” Jasper said. “Your father wants to speak to you in person.”

“Too fucking bad,” Stark said. “I’m not a little kid he can order around anymore.”

Jasper sighed. “Get the fuck over yourself, Isaac. Your dad isn’t a young guy anymore, and it won’t kill you to do what he asks for once.”

“For once?” Stark barked bitter laughter. “For fucking once, Jasper?”

Jasper waved his hand dismissively. “Stop clinging to the past, Isaac.”

Stark stood. “Time for you to go.”

“Will you meet with your father or not?” Jasper asked.

“Not in person,” Stark said. “Those are my conditions. He can take them or leave them.”

“You’re such an asshole.” Jasper stood and stalked out of the kitchen toward the front door. “You need to grow the fuck up, Isaac.”

He slammed the door behind him, and Stark sucked in a deep breath before slumping against the wall. There was a soft chirp, and he stared at Molly, who weaved around his feet. She hadn’t left the bedroom once since she’d had her kittens, and he squatted and picked her up.

She purred loudly, headbutting his chin repeatedly until he stroked her soft fur. He glanced around almost guiltily before resting his ear against her side, listening to the rumble of her purr as she kneaded his chest.

After only a few minutes, his anxiety had lessened, and he pressed a kiss against the cat’s forehead. “Thanks, sweetie. Let’s get you back to your babies now, okay?”

---