“That’s coming out of your last paycheck,” Billie rumbles as she eyes the deep hole that’s predominantly staring at us. “There goes that severance package we were debating on handing out to you.”
“Fuck that. I think he’s given himself enough severance. He took that shit for himself,” Sibley utters through a hiss.
Jameson lets his anger take control of him; he begins tossing chairs around the room and throwing inanimate objects. One missiles over Justine’s head and I’ve had enough of his temper tantrum.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—no one, ever, threatens to hurt or comes close to hurting one of my sisters!” I roar as I leap out of my chair and drive my head into his stomach. His feet momentarily lift off of the ground as I make contact. Once his back is touching the ground, I straddle him and begin whaling on him. I don’t black out per se, but I lose all cognitive thought when all that is running through my head is his deception and the fact that he nearly hit my sister.
In my subconscious mind, I can hear voices buzzing around in the background and feel feather light touches as my sisters attempt to pull me from Jameson’s person. But I have too much anger and resentment stored inside of me; my body feels like a cyclone set on destruction. I have only one target that I wanna rip apart and that happens to be the motherfucker beneath me.
Punch after punch, I allow myself to take out my life’s aggravation. He is the one who was the driving force that took precious years with my daughter away from me after all. As my body begins to wind down, I am pulled off of him by those stronger than my siblings. Finally coming down from my adrenaline rush, I look over and notice two security guards are holding me back as my personal security detail is lifting Jameson’s bloody body from the floor. As soon as he’s back on his feet, I’m not sure what comes over me, but I spit on him. “You’re done, motherfucker!” I make sure to get one more jab out. “All the information gathered by my attorney has been sent to Sebastian. You’ll be lucky if you get a job scrubbing toilets at a stadium. You’ll never work for a band again. Our contract is up for renewal, dickhead, and we refuse to sign until the company places charges on you themselves. You. Are. Through!”
He has to make one last threat before being dragged out of the conference room. “Watch your woman and daughter closely, Rayne. You don’t know what you’ve done making an enemy out of me. I have nothing left to lose.” Then he gives me a menacing smile, thinking he’s gotten the upper hand.
Wrong.
“You fool, you just threatened my family and their safety in front of a room full of witnesses. It’s you who better watch yourself.” My chest is heaving from exertion, but my mind is mentally calculating what all I need to enforce to ensure my girls’ safety from this madman and any associates he may have. He just laid his cards out on the table for me, but in the end, he’ll be the one folding, not me.
“Well, that was fun,” Billie announces, breaking the tension in the room. As we all look around at one another, a burst of laughter leaks out and soon, we find ourselves with tears running down our cheeks and our stomachs cramping from the movement.
“Excuse me,” an officer says, gaining our attention. “We need you all to come down to the station and give sworn statements.”
For the next several hours, this is how we find our day occupied. Statements are taken from each one of us. Our attorney comes in and hands over a stack of copied evidence. Before we get a chance to escape the police department, we find ourselves signing our names on blank slips of paper for our cop fans and taking selfies with them. Something I learned in this industry is the more hands you butter, the easier it is to get away with screwing the pooch. In this instance, the mutt is Jameson. I hope someone makes him their bitch.
Jacey
I’m wrapping up my business day as the phone on my desk begins to ring. Before picking it up, I look at the caller ID and am surprised to see that it’s Chief Langley calling me.
“Hello?” I answer with a quiver in my tone. I’m petrified that Jameson followed through with his earlier threats. Rayne told me that today is the day they planned on firing Jameson. Did that piece of shit do something to my baby in retaliation?
“Jacey, it’s Chief Langley. I need you to come down to the office to meet with me.”
“Is it my baby, Chief? Did something happen to Hadley?”
Fear must be laced in my words because he’s quick to reassure me, “Hadley’s fine, this is about an incident that happened today. It’s been brought to our attention that Jameson Davis has been threatening and blackmailing you.”
“Um. Yes, that’s right,” I agree, clearing my throat. “I can come in quickly, Chief, but I have to pick Hadley up in forty-five minutes from preschool.”
“We’ll make it quick. After you write up your sworn statement, I’ll get it typed up and bring it by tomorrow for you to sign.”
“Thank you, Chief, I’ll be there soon.”
“I’ll have everything ready for you and will personally be waiting up front for your arrival.”
“Again, thank you, Chief,” I respond, hanging up the phone and rushing to my car.
True to his word, everything was waiting for me. It took twenty minutes to write out a brief summary of my dealings with Jameson, and I barely managed to make it in time to pick Hadley up before being fined for being late. That shit gets expensive after the first five minutes. They charge a flat-rate fee for the first five, then it picks up for every minute afterward that a parent or guardian is late.
“I’m in the wrong business,” I mumble to myself as I step out of my vehicle. As I go around to the back to get Hadley from her seat, Rayne comes roaring up behind us. But what has my tongue waggling and my mouth drying up like the Sahara Desert, is that he pulls up on a motorcycle. My heart skips a few beats as my lungs beg for the air I’ve deprived them of.
“Mommy! Mommy, I wants out.” I hear Hadley’s voice, which snaps me out of my Rayne-induced fog.
“Can the asshole get any hotter?” I mutter to myself as I open the back door. Reaching in, I unclasp the belts of the car seat and assist Hadley out.
“Daddy! You’s got a bike! A big one,” she giddily says as her feet begin to tap in exhilaration.
Rayne makes it over to us, and I swear I hear him utter, ‘That’s what she said’, before reaching down and picking up Hads. No, I shake my head dismissing those thoughts, surely, he didn’t. Then I look into his eyes and see the twinkling of mischief dancing in them. Oh God, he did!
“My sisters are coming over and taking Hadley to the hotel for the night. They’re gonna swim in the pool and paint each other’s nails and do all that girly shit with her,” he notifies me. “Plus, it gives the parents enough time to spoil her rotten before they leave. Dad’s been called back to work so they have to leave in two days.”
“They are, are they? Are you asking my permission, Rayne, or are you telling me?” I’m mentally excited about spending an entire evening alone with him, but I can’t let him know that. I have to give him a hard time every now and again, otherwise things become stale and old. “And yeah, spending time alone with her grandparents and aunts will make her little heart leap.”