Page 21 of Jack

"His name is Jason!" She raisedher voice and did not even flinch when his brows descended. Seeingthat young lady standing up to him, had given her courage. It mightbe temporary, but she was going to take advantage of it.

"Ms. Bennett is right," shecontinued. "You have neglected him. For god's sake, he's yourson." She linked her fingers together. "I know you had itrough--"

"Rough?" he laughed harshly."That's the understatement of the century, isn't it mother? Iwas raised by a monster, and you stood by and did nothing. Nothing Iever did was good enough. I was not allowed to shed a tear, even whenmy arm was broken at that ice skating match. He told me to suck it upand be a man. I was twelve years old!" Downing the rest of thedrink, he slammed the glass down and struggled to get his controlback.

"Jack--"

"No," he shook his head wearily."I cannot deal with this right now."

"What are you going to do aboutJason?"

His eyes cut to her face. "Nothing fornow. Go to bed. I have a few things to take care of."

Staring at him for a few minutes, sheturned and left, closing the door behind her.

Pouring himself another drink, he took itwith him to the desk and sat on the edge of it, a scowl on his face.

*****

It took several minutes for Zuri to calmdown enough to turn on the engine. And she cursed herself for thejangle of nerves running through her body. The jerk! She thoughtpassionately. How could he treat that sweet child with so muchdisdain. Some people should never have children, she thoughtfiercely. And she was not afraid of him or his damn threats.

And if she wanted to see Jason again, shewould. To check on him and make sure that monster did not make goodon his threat to ship the poor child off to boarding school. Richpeople! She thought with a huff as she took a sweeping glance aroundthe property. All lush green lawns and towering buildings. And eventhe grandmother was terrified of the tyrant. Jerk! She thought again.

A delightful place. Outside, everythinglooked perfect and incredible. But inside the tension was so thick,she could cut it with a knife. The unhappiness in that house was likea layer of thick skin. She had felt it as soon as she stepped intothe lofty foyer with its dazzling crystal chandelier and silk walls.

Shaking her head, she started the engineand went on her way. She was going to have to deal with her brotherand was not looking forward to it.

*****

The bar had emptied out by the time she gotthere, with only a few die-hard patrons lingering over drinks andhalf-heartedly watching the game on the large screen television.Biting her lip, she searched the room anxiously and saw him sipping aglass of what looked like iced tea.His eyes met hers and a scowl came over his face. Jerking his head,he indicated for her to follow him.

Putting his glass down, he murmuredsomething to Gary, before making his way up the stairs to theirliving quarters.

"Where's Jazmine?"

"In the kitchen. She insisted onhelping out with the cleaning up. She's a treasure." He led theway into the small living room and closed the door at his back.

"How did it go?"

Wrapping her hands around her, she went tosit on the sofa and eased out of her shoes.

"His dad was there."

Zach's eyes were steady on her. "Isee. And?"

She hunched her shoulders slightly. "Theman is an asshole and terrifying. He threatened to see to it that ourlicense is revoked."

His eyes flashed. "He threatened you?"

She almost smiled at his automatic instinctto protect. "Not so much threaten as promised." Sheshrugged. "Jason is afraid of him."

Zach marched over and sat next to her, hisface a thundercloud. "He's abusing that boy?"

She shook her head. "I don't think heis, physically. In fact, I am sure of it. It's just that there's nolove there. The man makes an iceberg feel like a warm summer day.Something is wrong there Zach. Even the poor grandmother is afraid.It's as if they're all just skirting around each other and poor Jasonis caught squarely in the middle." Her eyes flashed to him as hegripped her hand. "What?"

"I know you, Zoo." The anger haddrained away to be replaced by concern. "Your first instinct isto save that poor kid. That's what you are thinking. That he needssaving. So, I am going to give you some unsolicited advice. Stay thehell out of it. You don't want to mess with a family like that. AndJack Hadley is not a man to trifle with. You're not the kid's motheror a trained therapist, which it seems to me the kid needs. Stay thehell away from him."

She tugged at his hand and rose a littleunsteadily. Walking over to the mantle, she picked up the photo oftheir dad. It had been snapped when he wasn't looking – one ofthose candid shots that had caught him looking melancholy anddistant. As if he was thinking of something profoundly sad. "Henever got over her."

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