Page 30

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

J enn stormed into Ian’s office and slammed the door behind her. “How?—”

She was seething, tension and rage rolling off her body in waves, but she cut off her rant when she noticed he was on the phone. His eyebrows lifted as he studied her from the executive chair behind his heavy mahogany desk. “Chase, I’ll call you back. I think my goddaughter wants to kill me.”

When he hung up the landline, she marched across the room and stood in front of the desk. “How dare you?” she shouted as her hands curled into tight fists.

Leaning back, he set one ankle upon the opposite knee, like he didn’t have a care in the world or any idea what she was talking about. It only pissed her off even more. She usually found his arrogance and sarcasm amusing, but not when it was directed at her.

“How dare I what, Baby-girl?”

“No.” She shook her head and crossed her arms. “No more ‘Baby-girl.’ I’m an adult, Uncle Ian. You don’t get to treat me like a child anymore. And you sure as hell don’t get to threaten the man I love.”

“Is that what Doug told you? I threatened him?”

“Didn’t you?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “I guess it could’ve been interpreted that way. I’m surprised he mentioned it.”

“Don’t you always say that honesty is important in a relationship? That keeping secrets only causes problems down the road? Well, Doug was honest with me about your meeting with him yesterday. I mean, really? All six of you had to confront him? And with BDS&M there too?”

“Are you going to read the rest of them the riot act, or just me?”

“All of them are on my shit list right now—well, not the dogs. But the rest will get an earful, too, in a few minutes. I just started with you since I’m sure you were the ringleader.

In the conference room, now!” Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel, stalked out of the room, past Colleen’s empty desk, and entered the conference room, where her backup awaited.

Angie, Kristen, Kat, Harper, and Fancy stood at the head of the table with beguiled vengeance in their eyes—the vengeance was on her behalf.

After Doug relayed to her what had happened the day before, she told him she would take care of it, as if he had known she would.

Her man wasn’t stupid, and she was glad he let her be the one to stand up to her uncles.

It was time the six of them had a come-to-Jesus moment together.

Of course, she brought her tribe of trusted women to get her point across to the thick-skulled men.

While there to support her, they promised not to intervene unless necessary.

Jenn needed to stand up to her uncles and make them see she was no longer a child.

Nick wasn’t invited to join either group since she was mad at him for being part of yesterday’s antics, even though he hadn’t been in the room when the others accosted Doug.

She already yelled at him, and his punishment was to babysit Mara, Luca, JD, Zane, and Peyton in the she-shed while their mothers were with Jenn.

Nick could handle one or two of the kids at a time, but she wouldn't be surprised to find him pulling his hair out after minding the five little ones by himself.

She joined the others at the far end of the room as Boomer, Marco, and Brody entered, their expressions quizzical.

At her request, before Colleen went out to lunch, she sent a group text to Jenn's uncles, demanding their presence in the conference room. Jenn pointed to the chairs at the other end of the table. “Sit and don’t say one fucking word.”

Their respective eyebrows shot up, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of her tone, the command, or the fact that she’d cursed at them, something she rarely did.

Whatever the reason, they did as they were told.

Ian strode in next, and when he spotted her posse, he stopped short and rolled his eyes. “Are you kid?—”

“No! You sit with them with your mouth shut until I’ve had my say.” When he glared at her, she stabbed her finger toward the chair closest to him. “Now, Uncle Ian.”

With a frown, he pulled out the chair and sat. Jake and Devon were the last two to walk in, and after quickly reading the room, neither needed to be told what to do. They took seats next to the other troublemakers.

“Baby-girl?—”

She gave Ian a dirty look, cutting him off with a low growl. Sighing, he held up one placating hand. “Go ahead. Say your peace.”

After a glance at her support team leaning against the wall behind her, who all gave her nods of encouragement, she took a step forward, straightened her back, crossed her arms, and glared at her uncles.

“Number one—Doug and I are a couple. We’re not breaking up because you don’t want us to date, so get over it.

I’ve been in love with him for a long time, and I had to deal with him fighting his attraction to me ever since.

Now that we’ve gotten over a bunch of hurdles, we’re both committed to each other, and it’s going to stay that way unless we— he and I —agree to go our separate ways with no input from you.

When y’all met these amazing women behind me, and Uncle Jake got together with Nick, you eventually reached the point you knew they were your soulmates, the partners you wanted to spend the rest of your lives with.

That’s how I feel about Doug. He means the world to me, and I’ll fight anyone who tries to come between us—even the six of you.

Before anyone could say a word, she continued.

“Number two—how dare you confront him like that, as if he’s an enemy or a traitor or something.

And threatening to fire him over me?” She snapped her pointer finger through the air.

“Yeah, that’s not happening. If you had a problem with his performance at work, which I know for a fact you don’t, it would be a different matter.

But firing him because of our relationship?

You do that, and I’ll move out of the compound so fast it’ll make your heads spin, and I’ll never speak to you again. ”

Pivoting, she paced back and forth several times, trying to get her anger and imminent tears under control.

She didn’t want to cry in front of them and look like the child they seemed to think she still was.

However, the betrayal she felt got the best of her, and a few drops fell. She angrily swiped them away.

“Jenn—”

“No! I’m not done, Uncle Jake.”

Chastised, he let out a heavy breath. “Okay.”

She stopped pacing and resumed her earlier stance.

“Look, I love y’all more than I can ever express.

You’ve been there for me my whole life and took me in after my parents’ deaths, and I could never repay you for everything you’ve done for me.

Not that you’d let me, I know. But it’s time you accept that I’m an adult now.

You can’t keep me in bubble wrap, and you sure as hell can’t keep me isolated from the rest of the world.

You have to let me live my life the way I want to and make my own decisions, whether you agree with them or not.

I deserve to have someone love me in a way nobody else can—the way Doug loves me.

Will I always look to you for guidance and support?

Yes. That’s a given. But in the end, I will make the final decisions that affect me.

You also have to accept that I’ve fallen in love with the most wonderful man I’ve ever known, other than the six of you and my dad.

He’s smart, funny, protective, gentle, caring, giving, and so much more, and I would think.

..” She fought her quivering chin and swallowed a thick lump developing in her throat.

“I would hope that’s the kind of man you’d want to love me in return. ”

When she paused, her godfather started, “Baby-girl?—”

“Nope! No!” She threw up her hands in frustration. “ Arrrghhhh. Please, no more Baby-girl. It’s time to stop calling me that.”

His expression softened. “ Jenn , please sit for a minute.”

Since it was a polite request, and her earlier adrenaline was slowly seeping from her body, she sat in the closest chair. She was still pissed, but her mind was now a jumble of thoughts and emotions, and she forgot the rest of her practiced rant to them.

Ian leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. “First, I’ll try to curb the use of your nickname and encourage the rest of these twats to do the same, but you’ll always be my Baby-girl, so I may slip at times.”

A pang of guilt squeezed her heart. “I know, Uncle Ian. I honestly never minded it before, but now that I’m twenty-three and in love, it feels childish. It’s time to pass the nickname on to Peyton or Mara.”

His smile didn’t reach his eyes, which were full of understanding with a touch of sadness. “Nope. They may get their own nicknames someday, but there’s only one Baby-girl in this family. However, now that I know your feelings about it, I’ll do my best to use your given name.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, the second thing—me and your uncles confronting Doug.” He shook his head. “Did you honestly think we’d let it slide after you both hid your relationship from us? It took balls for him not to come to us—or at the very least me—and say, ‘Hey, I’d like permission to date your niece.’”

Her ire rose again, and she smacked the conference table with her uninjured hand, the loud slap echoing off the walls. “We’re both adults. He doesn’t need your permission, and neither do I.”

“Fair enough. But hiding it from us wasn’t very adult-like, was it?”

Okay, he did have a point there. “Maybe not, but that was my decision, not his. We were going to tell you at Peyton’s birthday party?—

“Where we couldn’t kill him because there would be too many witnesses,” Brody interrupted.