Page 77 of Hot for the Jerk

My brother-in-law smirked.“I have to say, Raina, I was rather disappointed that I didn’t see you at Elias’s funeral.He was your nephew.You should have been there.”

“You mean the same nephew you tried to get me to marry after Josiah died?”I gritted out, the burn of Jagger’s eyes on me sending waves of nausea crashing through my gut.

“I have no heir,” Soloman said, his eyes anything but genuinely sad.“Just daughters now.Nobody to carry on the Aaronson name.”

The words came out before I could stop them.“Halle-fucking-lujah!”

Crack!

I was not expecting the smack across my face, or that it would hurt so much.Then again, I do remember seeing my aunt, Mariana, having bruises on her face from time to time.Soloman had plenty of practice hitting women and making it hurt.

“How dare you use that tone or those words with me, you vile harlot!”

A cool, porcelain plant pot was shoved into my hand.“All right, you need to fucking leave.Before I shove my foot so far up your asshole you taste leather for a week,” Jagger said, grabbing Soloman by the collar and ushering him away from my door.Soloman Aaronson wasn’t a small man, but Jagger was bigger.He was younger, taller, and significantly stronger.He showed my brother-in-law absolutely no mercy as he dragged him toward the road.I stepped out onto the gravel driveway, just wearing my slippers and holding my palm to my face as I watched Jagger escort Soloman to the road.

“How about I go to the cops and tell them the truth, huh?”Soloman hollered back at me, trying to wrench himself away from Jagger’s grip.“I know what you did to my brother!Marco isn’t safe with you!He belongs with his family.With the Faith.With men who will show him the way!”

Fear buried sharp, ruthless talons into my chest, squeezing my heart and threatening to rip it from my body.How could he know the truth about Josiah’s death?Nobody but my cousins and I knew.

I never told a soul.And the paramedics and coroner ruled it a heart attack.Because it had been a heart attack.That part was true.

“This isn’t over!The Aaronson namewilllive on.I’ll make sure of it.”

Acid covered my tongue, and I had to grip my belly with my free hand to keep myself from crunching over under the weight of horror that whipped into a debilitating froth inside of me.The idea of losing my son … of losing him tothatlife terrified me.

Just like Soloman did to me, Jagger smacked my brother-in-law hard across the face to get him to shut up.“All right,” Jagger growled out.“That’s quite the fuck enough.”He flung Soloman to the ground.“If I ever see you here again, if you even think about going after Raina, Marco, or any of these women or children, you will live to regret it.Now get up, and fuck off, you miserable piece of shit.”He waited until Soloman got up from his belly, shot a glare Jagger’s way, muttered something, and stalked off.

Only when he was certain Soloman was far enough away that he wouldn’t return did Jagger finally jog back to me.He cupped my face and ushered me inside at the same time Gabrielle, Danica, and Naomi all came barrelling into the living room.

Jagger sat me down on the couch, and without saying a word, he went to my kitchen freezer, returning a moment later with a bag of frozen peas and a tea towel wrapped around them.“Here,” he said, cradling it to my cheek.He crouched down in front of me, his palm on my knee—that’s when I noticed he still wore the pink sparkly Barbie nail polish—and his other hand holding the peas to my face.My cousins gathered around behind him.“Who was that?”

I glanced up at Gabrielle.Her face was blank, but her eyes resembled a deer in the headlights.Danica and Naomi were similar.Marco wasn’t with them.He was probably told to stay upstairs with his cousins.

Jagger spun around, focusing on my cousins.“Who was that?”

“My brother-in-law,” I said softly, causing him to face me again.“Josiah’s brother, Soloman.”

“Formerbrother-in-law,” Naomi said with snark.

“What did he say?”Gabrielle asked.

I swallowed, locking eyes with her.“Elias is dead.Soloman has no heir.He wants Marco.”

Naomi gasped and Danica’s hand flew to her mouth.

“Fuck,” Gabrielle murmured, her head lightly shaking.

“Look, I know it’s some deep, dark secret how the four of you are all single mothers.Believe me, the island gossip mill has its theories, and you don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to.But is that prick going to be a problem?”Jagger asked.“Should we be calling the cops?”

“We can try,” Gabrielle said.“Not sure what good it will do.”

“They can keep that motherfucker off the island,” Jagger argued.He stood up with a soft groan and a something in his knee clicked.He scratched at his beard.“How’d he get here anyway?The ferry still isn’t running.”

“Water taxi and walked?”Naomi suggested.“He’s always been resourceful, from what I remember.”

“All the men are when they want something,” Gabrielle said, her tone not lacking any venom.

Jagger sat down on the couch beside me and carefully encouraged me to pull the bag of peas away.“I just want to take a look.”

---