Page 197 of Restless
“Mistook her for a commoner,” Jeremiah mumbled.
Knox drew his brows together. “Uh…” He cleared his throat. “I-isn’t she?” He looked at Cam. “Does she have royal blood?”
“I don’t mean like that,” Jeremiah said.
“How the fuck do you mean?” Digger asked. “You either common or royal. No fucking in between.”
“In Society, there’s the privileged and the pretenders,” Jeremiah answered. “Apparently, Zuria believed Roxanne was the latter. Two minutes before you and I walked up, she, uh, she…she…she…”
“Spit it out, man! She what?”
“Knox.” Jeremiah swallowed. “Over the past eighteen months, I’ve lost half my money in bad investments and the other quarter in loss of income from commercial real estate. I opted not to sell my company when an offer was made, and I regret the decision—”
“I don’t give a fuck, Jeremiah. What did JaZuria do to Roxanne?”
“Offered her money to fill in for our bartender, then demanded she do it. When Roxanne refused, JaZuria…if we hadn’t walked up when we did, she was going to call security—”
“Motherfucker, me and you visiting the meatshack,” Mort said, shooting to his feet. “That’s my mama-in-law your bitch insulted.”
Jeremiah flinched.
“I can’t believe you,” Knox fumed.
“I thought you knew. Our deal to install security systems at Harrington Enterprises didn’t fall through—”
“She didn’t fucking tell me!”
“Don’t worry, little dude,” Digger said to CJ. “Roxanne probably ate that bitch alive by now. One less sadity motherfucker you have to worry about.”
“JaZuria would’ve told me,” Jeremiah said. “And…they’ve served…”
“Barely,” Cam said. “Jordan is the peacemaker between them. The only reason JaZuria cedes to Roxanne is because of the money. But Roxanne can’t stand your wife.”
“JaZuria likes—”
“Nofuckinbody,” Christopher said flatly. As much as he didn’t want to embarrass his boy, he couldn’t hold his tongue any longer. At the beginning of the year, he’d take a refresher course in Language Arts. Saddened at how royally he’d fucked up CJ’s night, he forged on. “And I’m thinkin’ she put a bug in your girl’s ear with the way she was treatin’ my boy tonight.”
“I refuse to allow my daughter to give up her life on a dead-end criminal.” Jeremiah glared at CJ, and Christopher wanted to pluck his fucking eyes out. “What are your prospects? What are your intentions? Sweet talking my daughter and then moving on to the next girl. You were barely on my radar. You won Homecoming King to her Queen and was her date to the dance. I didn’t know how much she liked you. Then she started picking up your homework, asking permission for you to visit, talking about you constantly. I refuse to allow her to throw her life away. If you don’t back off, I’ll bring charges against you. Statutory rape.”
“Jaleena’s four months older than me,” CJ protested, ignoring Christopher’s curses.
“I’ll think of something!”
“You need a fuckin’ brain to think,” Christopher said, weighing his options since he’d never killed a motherfucker in his mancave.
“I have a very big brain.”
“As soon as I blow it the fuck outcha head, Ima letcha fuckin’ know.”
“Do you hear this, Knox?” Jeremiah looked at Christopher. “Sir, I will have you arrested—”
When Christopher stood, CJ and everyone else did, too.
“Dad, please,” CJ said.
“Sorry, boy. I know my ass embarrassin’ you. Ima work on it, but the night fucked anyway—”
“You’re not embarrassing me, Dad! Stop that. I don’t give a good fuck what this motherfucker said. He’s wrong. I…” CJ looked at Jeremiah Davis and shook his head. “I have no idea what jacked up, preconceived notions you walked in with. Maybe, we haven’t shown the best of ourselves, but you arrived with your worst face on. I’ve never seen Jaleena act like she has. Snobbish and self-righteous. I don’t want anything from your daughter but her friendship, sir. If you want to judge me because of my father and my uncles, then I’m well judged. I know no finer men. And you should be ashamed of the way Mrs. Davis treated Lolly. You should be ashamed if she treated anyone like that.”
