The Legend (52 page)

The
boisterous surroundings caught my attention and drew me to the crowd around
Grady.

Easton had
the upper hand but I had a feeling that Grady also knew he deserved it and got
what he had coming to him. Spencer and Aiden separated them quickly before
anyone got in trouble but Easton was happy and kept trying to get at him.
Apparently his licks he gave at the shop weren’t enough.

“You son
of a bitch!” he screamed at Grady pointing his finger at him as he tried to
basically climb over Spencer to get back at him. “She’s seventeen!
Seventeen asshole!”

“That’s
enough, Easton.” Jameson voice, calm but threatening, came from behind the
crowd as he stepped from the darkness, his left hand remained in his pocket,
his right dragging his cane. He stopped beside me, his lashes danced shadows
over his cheek as he slowly blinked, his eyes remained focused on the ground as
he handed me his cane. With a limp, he moved to stand beside Spencer.

Alley and
Emma came outside to see why we left so quickly. “What’s going—” Alley came to
a stop and looked at the boys. “Ah shit.”

“Pretty
much,” was my response. “Where’s Nancy?”

“Inside,
Axel and Lily are with her.” Emma said and then smiled. “I might add, she found
the wine,”

Aiden grabbed
Easton and flung him back against the building holding him in place. “Let
Jameson take care of this.” He said to Easton. When he was confident Easton was
calming down, he let go of him but stayed nearby.

In the
meantime, Jameson was standing in front of Grady now for the first time.

Grady
looked at his feet. He knew this was a fight he wasn’t going to win both
verbally or physically.

“I’m
sorry.” He confessed promising the sun where there’s only rain.

Alley
snorted completely disgusted with Grady’s response. I was so pissed for what he
did to Jameson and my daughter that I contemplated taking this cane in my hand
and shoving it up his ass.

“You’re
sorry?” Jameson choked out in a gasp removing his hand from his pocket and
finally looking up. “You tried to kill me and you expect me to just roll it off
my shoulders?”

“No! I
know I messed up.” Grady didn’t know it, but it was too late for apologies.

His glare
at Grady spoke volumes if the hands fisting in his shirt didn’t. “I fucking
warned you. I told you when I hired you, don’t fuck me over or you’ll regret
it.”

That’s
when Grady tried to explain. “My grandparents and my mom went into depression
after my dad died. We were very close with his family and his sister who had
schizophrenia. Their entire family suffered from it. I felt like it was my
responsibility to defend him. I was wrong and I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt
you
...
well, I did, but I’m sorry. I never touched
Jimi’s car
...
” He pleaded
holding his hands up trying to back away from him. Jameson had him pinned
against a car in the parking lot and didn’t appear like he was going to let go.
“I swear that I didn’t!”

Jameson’s
smile was bitter and hard as he ripped his eyes from Grady. His head turned
sideways as the muscles in his jaw tightened with each thought. “What makes you
think I can believe you now?”

Grady
stumbled over a few words that meant nothing as far as Jameson was concerned.

“You had
no right to do that. I don’t care who you are.” Jameson said letting go of
Grady and stepping back. “You had no right to come into my family, my home, and
act like it was your responsibility. This wasn’t your fight to defend and you
know absolutely nothing about what happened with me and Darrin. I did nothing
to you.” He pushed between his teeth, still not looking at anyone.

I watched
his chest expand, his shirt tightening against his skin. Taking my own deep
breath, I contemplated how I could calm him down but knew showing the funbags
would be just a little inappropriate given the circumstances.

But I did think
about it.

“I know
that.” Grady took a hesitant step back distancing himself from Jameson, his
hands finding the car he was against as if he wanted to run away. “I’m sorry. I
will pay for whatever damages I caused.”

Jameson
wasn’t listening at that point, choosing to discard his apology with another
question of his own. “Why?”

Grady
looked at his feet wondering if he should lie. “I wanted revenge for you taking
my dad from me.”

“So what,
you thought killing mine would be an eye for an eye?”

“I’m sorry
Jameson, I really am. You are the last person that I wanted to hurt but it was
too late after the cars had left.”

“I saw you
the night before we left.” Jameson said in disbelieve. “It was too late then?”

“You
trusted me. I didn’t want you to be angry with me.” Grady’s voice was breaking
on the verge of tears. He finally understood what he had done and in reality,
it was evident he was still a kid. He had no idea of the repercussions that he
had produced.

“So
because I trusted you
...
” he shook
his head deliberately at the thought, “
...
you let me get inside a car with partial welds and nearly kill myself?”

“I never
wanted to hurt you!” He said it again as if this would mean something.

“But you
did.” Jameson looked at him, his face hidden from my view. His hand rose and he
pointed at me. “You could have destroyed her life too.”

“Jameson,”
Grady breathed as if he was trying to get his point across. “I never got to
know my dad…because of you.”

Yep, he
went there.

“Your
dad,” Jameson stepped closer. Each step was a fiery warning of what was to
come. “
...
was a fucking
murderer. He deserved everything he got.”

Grady
blinked, the realization finally sinking in that he had touched a nerve and
there was no going back now. The guys surrounding them knew too, Clint and Van
stepped behind Jameson.

“Sway,”
Jameson’s eyes found mine and then nodded to Clint. “Go with Clint inside.” he
said looking at me and then Emma and Alley. “Go with them.”

“Jameson,”
I begged reaching to tug on his arm. “This isn’t the answer.”

“I asked
you to go. Please leave.” His eyes met mine and with one look, I knew that he
wasn’t going to do anything stupid but he didn’t want me in the way should
Grady choose to fight them.

I never
saw the aftermath or the conversations with Darrin and Jameson following my
attack. Seeing his temper now, I had no idea that my husband, a man so tender,
a man that could be magic and myth, so violent, so extreme, so
...
deadly with just a look.

I couldn’t
hear everything that was said as we were inside but I had a view of the parking
lot and kept my eyes on Jameson. I knew Grady wouldn’t fight him, he wasn’t
stupid but I was nervous of what would if he hit him in his shoulder or his
head. What would that do to him?

“I never want
to see you again!” Jameson shouted when he started to walk away and Grady
reached out to him.

“Jameson—”

That’s
when Jameson’s temper took over and Van stepped in. Facing me, I could see his
face flushed with anger but also emotion, he was crying. He was crying because
he trusted this kid, let him into his shop and then he tried to kill him. We
had no idea if what happened to Jimi’s car was because of Grady but the thought
was there. That scared Jameson because again, this fell on his shoulders.

“YOU FUCKING
SON OF A BITCH!” he screamed through tears reaching for Grady. Van, knowing
Jameson was in no condition to fight, grabbed him and pushed Grady away from
him. “I trusted you! Goddamn you, I fucking trusted you! I gave you a chance
and that’s how you repay me! Fuck you!”

Van slid
between them, his hands on Grady’s chest. “If you know what’s good for you,
you’ll leave.”

That’s
when Nancy, tipsy from the wine she found, came up behind me. “What’s going on
out there?”

“Nothing,”
Emma, Alley and me all turned around with wide eyes to find Nancy staring at us
all glassy eyed and rosy cheeks.

“Is that
Jameson and Grady out there?” Her hand waved splashing wine around. “You tell
that Grady that I’m gonna kick his ass too!”

“How do you
know about that?” Emma asked taking the wine from her mom.

“Cole.”

“Goddamn
him.” Alley huffed and took off to find Cole who was with Casten by the bar.

If was
official. Another night turned to shit. I knew as well as everyone else in our
family that tonight was going to be a disaster.

Jameson
said nothing, his expression pure stone as he walked inside the banquet hall,
his frustration evident with a rake of his fingers over the stubble of his
hair. It was weird seeing him with such short hair that I stopped and looked.

“Maybe we
shouldn’t do this tonight?” I said when he got closer to me dragging my palms
over his face for him to look at me. “You’re angry. We should do
this another
night.”

“She’s
right man.” Spencer stood next to him straightening his jacket and placing his
hand carefully on his shoulder. “We can do this some other time.”

“No. Fuck
no. Let’s do this.” He threw his hands up in the air and began to walk away.
“I’m fine!”

I looked
away blinking away tears.

“He’s
fine.” Casten mocked when the door to the bathroom slammed behind Jameson.
“Totally fucking crazy but yes, he’s fine.”

“Yeah,
fine.” Spencer shook his head and then sighed. “Shit…we should have told him
sooner.”

“What a
disaster.” Tommy shook his head as well, his hands hanging loosely on his hips
before he grabbed a beer. “Might as well call the police now because we know
Grady will show up inside here shortly.”

“What? Why
didn’t Clint and Van take him away?”

Spencer
and Tommy exchanged a glance and Casten spoke up for them. I could always count
on him. “Dad wants him to hear his speech.”

“Oh you
have to be kidding me!” I grabbed another beer and seated myself before I
slapped the shit out of my husband tonight, or better yet, shoved the cane in
my hand straight up Grady’s ass for even coming here tonight.

Eventually
Jameson returned from the bathroom three sheets to the wind and gave a speech
that amazingly held the adoring eyes of everyone that gave stood behind him. I
said it before but this team had a solidarity that was hard to find as it was
hard to attain. This team had casualness to each other and a trust. It was a
trust that Jameson believed in despite the recent turn of events.

He never
had to search for his words and he spoke from the heart, his eyes told me so.
Most of the time he looked at his hands on the podium but he did look up and
the room motionless as a man spoke to a truth we all felt. “I can’t make this
any different. If I could, I would. But
...
” he gave a regretful tip of his head. “
it
is
evident to me that nothing is in your control. I’d love to stand up here and
tell you that I am recovering and moving forward from this but,” he shrugged.
“I do understand that despite all the fucked up shit and dishonest liars in the
world, there’s a group of people who work hard to turn that around. It is a
family that, over the years, has treated me with respect and helps for the
greater good of our team.” Jameson reached for his beer next to him and raised
it. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart
...
” his voice cracked, his weight shifting uncomfortably. His eyes
squeezed shut and he nodded a few times swallowing over the emotion building. “
...
my broken heart, thank you for standing
behind me. I am very grateful for everything you have done for me.”

Watchful
of the crowd and who was there, I breathed a sigh of relief when he left the
podium that Grady hadn’t come inside.

Then I
wondered if I would ever run out of tears. I had this thought a lot in my life
and now, I thought it again. I also wondered why I chose to wear pantyhose. Who
actually wears them anymore? Once I started crying and then found myself in the
bathroom, I ripped those goddamn things off and threw them away.

Just as I
was about to return to the table, Nancy walked in with a bottle of wine. “Oh,
hi sweetheart,” She said through a controlled smile. Alcohol was helping but I
knew at any given time, she was holding on by a thread.

Wrapping
my arms around her was all I could do. We hugged often. It was our way of
dealing with it. Dealing with the void, the hurt, the emotion, all of it was
poured into a hug. “How do you do it?” I whispered pulling back to hold her at
arm length.

Nancy
looked at the bottle and let out a giggle. “This helps
...
but,” her face twisted just as Jameson’s had
moment ago and she fought back the feeling. “
...
there’s a lot hurt can teach us. I miss him so much that I can’t
breathe at times. I can’t look at his clothes and not cry.” Right about this
moment was when I let out a strangled cry and Nancy gripped me, holding onto to
me so tightly that it nearly hurt. “The hurt teaches us that we have a lot to
be thankful for. There are moments that are happening around us that we take
for granted. We think because they’re not there anymore that we have to mourn
their loss until it hurts so bad we can’t take it anymore. That’s not what it’s
about.” She smiled her beautiful smile that could take your breath away and
make you laugh at the same time. “I remember the very last thing he said to
me.” Her hand touched her heart over the locket he gave to her on Christmas
this last year. “
...
he kissed
this locket and told me that he loved me.”